Kyzikos (Mysia and the Troad, Asia Minor — Pleiades map), I BCE
IMT 1539
= H. Mordtmann, "Zur Epigraphik von Kyzikos," MDAI(A) 10 (1885), 204-207 (no. 30)
= Michel, RIG 1225
= PHI 288819
= AGRW ID# 7084
Copenhagen Inventory info: 1232
Slab with a relief of Cybele (enthroned with a tympanon) and Apollo (?) above an altar where a slave makes an offering (57 x 36 cm).
The relief above the inscription portrays the goddess Cybele and (probably) Apollo seated on a throne and, below, an altar where a slave makes an offering. The inscription dedication does not match the gods portrayed in the relief. The occupation of the group is not stated, but the reference to a “chief-contractor of the look-out” (ἀρχώνης σκοπιᾶς; cf. Strabo, Geography 5.2.6, 8) together with other functionaries suggests an occupation associated with the fisheries in the harbor (rather than tax-farming as previously believed), as the Roberts and Ephraim Lytle convincingly argue. Lytle argues that night-fisheries are involved. See IParion 5 (= IMT 1028) on this site and Lytle, The Social and Economic History of the Tuna in Ancient Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming), especially ch. 4.
When Menestheus son of Polyidos was Hipparchos (i.e. eponymous official of Kyzikos), … Name Agatharchos son of Nikias was the chief–contractor of the look–out, … and Meidias son of Apollonios, the son of Meidias, and Menandros son of Menandros were the managers of the funds, the partners (metochoi)—namely, Demetrios son of Theogenes, Aristion son of Aristion, Dionysios son of Aristion, Artemidoros son of Kleimandros, Menestheus son of Herakleitos, (10) Menodoros son of Metrophanes, Theokritos son of Theokritos, Archebios son of Archebios, the son of Dionysios, Artemon son of Artemon, Agias son of Demetrios, and Dionysios son of Dionysios—and those who lead the fish into the nets (epagōgai)—namely, Dionysios son of Soter and Dionysios son of Sokrates—dedicated this to Poseidon and Aphrodite Pontia (“of the Sea”) as a thanksgiving.
Translation by: Harland
ἱππαρχοῦντος Μενεσθέως τοῦ Πολυίδου | ἀρχώνης σκοπιᾶς Ο̣ . . . ρου Ἀγάθαρχος Νικίο[υ] | ἐπὶ τοῦ χρηματισμοῦ Μειδίας Ἀπολλωνίου | τοῦ Μειδίου Μένανδρος Μενάνδρου || καὶ μέτοιχοι Δημήτριος Θεογένου | Ἀριστίων Ἀριστίωνος | Διονύσιος Ἀριστίωνος | Ἀρτεμίδωρος Κλειμάνδρου | Μενεσθεὺς Ἡρακλείτου || Μηνόδωρος Μητροφάνου | Θεόκριτος Θεοκρίτου | Ἀρχέβιος Ἀρχεβίου τοῦ Διονυσίου | Ἀρτέμων Ἀρτέμωνος | Ἀγίας Δημητρίου || Διονύσιος Διονυσίου | καὶ ἐπαγωγοί· Διονύσιος Σωτῆρος | Διονύσιος Σωκράτου | Ποσειδῶνι καὶ Ἀφροδείτῃ Ποντίᾳ | χαριστήριον.
IMT 1539: Facsimile by Mordtmann 1885, 205.
Public domain.
Item added: December 4, 2012
Item modified: October 9, 2020
ID number: 7084
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=7084