[12] Decree of Sacrificing Associates of Bendis Honoring Supervisors (329/328 BCE)

Piraeus (Attica, Greece and Macedonia — Pleiades map), 329/328 BCE
AGRW 12 = GRA I 5 = IG II² 1256 = Cynthia J. Schwenk, Athens in the Age of Alexander: The Dated Laws and Decrees of “the Lykouran Era” 338–322 B.C. (Chicago: Ares, 1985), no. 52 = PHI 3471 = AGRW ID# 3055

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Slab of Pentelic marble with a rectangular plaque (pinax) at the top of a shaft containing the inscription, now in Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen (inv. 1043a). The relief (see photo in figure 2) depicts the goddess Bendis on the right, wearing a Phrygian cap and dressed in an animal skin with a spear in her left hand and a bowl or plate extended in the right hand. The other figure is likely Deloptes, her consort. Two bearded male worshipers appear at the left, probably representing the two honorees. In the upper left corner there are five smaller figures carved in low relief. There are two olive wreaths on the shaft below the inscription. It is not clear whether the membership of this association consists of Athenian citizens or Thracians (possibly slaves).

Gods! Philokrates proposed the following motion: Whereas Euphyes and Dexios, who were supervisors (epimelētai) of the sanctuary during the year that Kephisophon was civic leader (archōn), performed their service honorably and with ambition and in a manner worthy of the goddess and of the sacrificing associates (orgeōnes), the sacrificing associates have resolved to crown Euphyes and Dexios on account of their honesty and care, each with a gold crown worth 100 drachmas, and to inscribe this decree on a monument (stele) and to set it up in the sanctuary of the goddess.

(two crowns)

Translation by: Kloppenborg

θεοί. | Φιλοκράτης vv εἶπεν· ἐπειδὴ Εὐφύης κα|ὶ Δέξιος γενόμενοι ἐπιμεληταὶ τοῦ ἱε|ροῦ ἐπὶ Κηφισοφῶντος ἄρχοντος καλῶς || καὶ φιλοτίμως ἐπεμελήθησαν καὶ ἀξίω|ς τῆς θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ὀργεώνων, δεδόχθαι τ|οῖς ὀργεῶσιν, στεφανῶσαι Εὐφύη καὶ Δέ|ξιον δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἐπιμελείας ἕνε|κα χρυσῶι στεφάνωι ἑκάτερον ἀπὸ ∶Η∶ δρα||χμῶν καὶ ἀναγράψαι τόδε τὸ ψήφισμα ἐν | στήλει λιθίνει καὶ στῆσαι ἐν τῶι ἱερ[ῶ]|ι τῆς θεοῦ. | {two crowns}

IG II² 1256 = AGRW 12: Relief with Bendis and Deloptes.
Two worshippers approach with members of the association depicted above.
© Philip A. Harland 2012

Item added: September 14, 2012
Item modified: December 5, 2018
ID number: 3055
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=3055

Category: a) 4th century BCE, a) Attica, Bendis, Honorary inscription, i) Images of monuments or buildings, Member (or leader) of the group, Relief

Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

[12] Decree of Sacrificing Associates of Bendis Honoring Supervisors (329/328 BCE) ║ Piraeus - Attica

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