FDIII2 3 List of officials organizing the second Hellenistic <i>Pythais</i> at Delphi, 128/7 BC

List of officials organizing the second Hellenistic Pythais at Delphi, 128/7 BC

F.Delphes III 2 3 Date: 128/7 BC

Face A (front)

In the archonship of Dionysios (128/7) in Athens,^[1] the nine officials (archontes) who led the Pythais:^[2] Archon: Dionysios son of Demetrios^XI King: Heliodoros son of Diodotos^III (5)Polemarch: Glaukos son of Lysandros^IX Court Presidents (thesmothetai):^[3] Herakleides son of Herakleides^I Euktemon son of Kallias^II Boukattes son of Lykinos^IV (10)Mnesitheos son of Hagnias^V Pamphilos son of Nikokles^VI . . . son of . . .

Face B (right)

(3)Herald of the Council of the Areopagos: Mnasikles son of Mnasikles. uninscribed space Sacred remembrancer (hieromnēmōn):^[4] traces . . .

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References:

F.Delphes III 2 3 (Translated text) (PHI)

Syll.³ 697a

Tracy, Pythaïs Inscriptions pp. 188-190

Tracy, ALC 170a

Kühn, Pythais-Prozession 321a

Translation by: Banban Wang

Monument type: Block (Wall)

Inscription type: List of names (Pythais)

Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 513)
Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 635)
Findspot: Delphi (Athenian Treasury, south wall, in situ) (Delphi Museum 4671)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This list of nine officials was originally inscribed on one wall-block at the corner of the Athenian Treasury in the Sanctuary of Apollo Pythios at Delphi (on Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes and on the Athenian Treasury, see below). Face A was inscribed on the southern wall, while face B appeared on the eastern face of the southern anta.

The officials named in this inscription had organized the second attested Pythais of the Hellenistic period, which took place in 128/7 BC. The Pythais (pl. Pythaides) was an official Athenian pilgrimage to Delphi, which had taken place irregularly in the Classical period (see IG II³ 4, 18 with notes), but was revived on a grand scale in the second half of the second century BC, now featuring hundreds of participants, who held a procession along the Sacred Way, performed sacrifices, and competed in games at Delphi. Documents for four Pythaides were inscribed on the Treasury (138/7, 128/7, 106/5, and 97/6 BC; for a complete list of Pythais-related inscriptions at Delphi, see I. Rutherford, State Pilgrims and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece, 2014, 226-28, tab. 8). The lists of officials organizing the other Pythaides, equivalent to this list, are F.Delphes III 2, 4-5 (106/5 BC), F.Delphes III 2, 2 and 6 (97/6 BC). For the second Pythais, various groups of participants were inscribed on various unconnected blocks: officials (this text), sacred delegates (theoroi, F.Delphes III 2, 8), Pythaist-boys (F.Delphes III 2, 12), ephebes (F.Delphes III 2, 24), cavalrymen (F.Delphes III 2, 27), and victors in the games (F.Delphes III 2, 34-42). For the other three Pythaides there was also a list of female basket-bearers (kanephoroi, F.Delphes III 2, 29-31), but no such list has survived for the second Pythais. A tripod-bearer is commemorated only in connection with the fourth Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 32). Aside from the lists of officials and the lists of cavalrymen, names are not given in tribal order or with demotics; this contrasts with common practice in Athens but matches contemporary Delphic honorific inscriptions for Athenians (e.g., F.Delphes III 2, 91-92). The Treasury also bore other inscriptions related to the Pythais, such as Delphic honorific decrees for an individual who helped organize the procession (F.Delphes III 2, 33), for an equestrian association (F.Delphes III 2, 46), and probably for the association of Dionysiac artists (F.Delphes III 2, 47), as well as two hymns that were performed during the procession (Pöhlmann and West, Greek Music 20-21). Inscriptions related to the Pythaides were also found in Athens, such as SEG 32.218, a list of contributors of 'first fruits' for the fourth Pythais. Participants of the four Hellenistic Pythaides mostly came from prominent and rich Athenian families. The frequent interconnections and familial links between Athenian citizen groups (Pythaist-boys, ephebes, cavalrymen, and magistrates on Delos) are characteristic of the strong 'small world' of the Athenian elite around 150-90 BC, who held key military, ritual, economic and civic positions and whose children participated in civic affairs at a young age through rituals, processions, and the ephebate, in preparation for taking key positions in civic life (this included female children, e.g. the kanephoroi in F.Delphes III 2, 29-31 and the girls who worked Athena's peplos, [S. B. Aleshire and] S. D. Lambert, ZPE 142, 2003, 65-86, at 79-86, especially 85-6, with AIUK 1 (Petworth House), no.1). On the family links between Pythais-participants, see K. Karila-Cohen in M. Dana and I. Savalli-Lestrade, eds., La cité interconnectée dans le monde gréco-romain, 2019, 287-306; on the elitist social structure at Athens at this period, cf. S. D. Lambert in M. Horster and A. Klöckner eds., Civic Priests, 2012, 67-133, at 81-92; É. Perrin-Saminadayar, Éducation, culture et société à Athènes, 2007, 248-266.

From the second century BC, Athens also sent sacred delegations and individual envoys to Delphi for the Pythian Games (cf. F.Delphes III 2, 57-58, 89). After 97/6 BC, the Pythais ceased to be held, but the Athenians organised another type of official pilgrimage, the Dodekais, under Augustus and Domitian (see F.Delphes III 2, 59-66 with notes).

The Treasury of the Athenians was situated at the first turn of the Sacred Way as it heads towards the Temple of Apollo Pythios. For a detailed description of its architectural features, see J.-F. Bommelaer, Guide de Delphes. Le site², 2015, 159–162 (images on Commons). On its construction and earlier history see IG I³ 1463 (the "Marathon Base") with notes. Although the Treasury was erected in the late sixth or early fifth century BC, inscriptions only began to be added to it in the early third century BC. There are more than a hundred and fifty of them, dating from the early third century BC to the sixth century AD, mostly relating to Athens and inscribed before 80 BC (F.Delphes III 2, 2–157). Some texts were inscribed on the front / east side of the Treasury (both antae, the architrave, and the stylobate) from the mid-third century BC. Most were inscribed on the southern wall of the Treasury, which is most visible from the Sacred Way, from 150 BC onwards. Eight Delphian manumission records of the mid-second century appear on the northern wall, which is not visible from the Sacred Way (on this type of document, see CID V 534 with notes). Most of the texts deal with Athenian ceremonies, especially the Pythais (see above) and the Dodekais; but there are also records of interstate arbitrations carried out by the Athenians (F.Delphes III 2, 136, 142) and concluded in favour of the Athenian Dionysiac artists (F.Delphes III 2, 68–70), honours and privileges granted by Delphi to the Marathonian Tetrapolis (F.Delphes III 2, 18–22), as well as Dephian proxeny decrees for Athenians and other Greeks (F.Delphes III 2, 76-96).

S. Tracy, ALC, 170-72 argues that all the texts of the second Pythais, except F.Delphes III 2, 12, were inscribed by the same cutter as several documents of the first Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 7, 11, 23, 29). The thickened serifs at the end of terminal strokes are typical of Athenian rather than Delphian lettercutters. On the lettercutter, see F.Delphes III 2, 8 with notes. [2] A large part of ll. 1-2 was re-inscribed in smaller letters over a pre-existing text which is now illegible. The cutter responsible for the re-inscription is different from the rest of this text (G. Colin, Culte d'Apollon Pythien, 1905, 32). [3] The text was aligned to the left, but the letters in l. 6 were spaced out to cover the same area as 24 letters in the line above and allow it to serve as a heading for the court presidents (thesmothetai) mentioned in the following lines. [4] The sacred remembrancer (hieromnemon) was the annually selected Athenian representative on the Amphiktyonic Council, which managed the Pythian Games and other aspects of the sanctuary. Comparison with the better-preserved list of officials of the fourth Pythais (F.Delphes III 2, 2) indicates that the missing lines below this named further officials, such as the chief sacred delegate (architheoros), who led the eleven sacred delegates (theoroi) in F.Delphes III 2, 8. S. Tracy, BCH 99, 1975, 188-89 proposed that F.Delphes III 2, 56α (add. p. 542-43) might also belong to this name list. However, that fragment and its restoration could also mark the beginning of a new text, rather than a continuation of this one.

Added: 3 Dec 2023
Updated: 4 Dec 2023
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