Kos (Southeastern islands, Aegean Islands — Pleiades map), 310-290 BCE
IG XII,4.1 348 = IKosPH 36 = IKosS ED 149 = PHI 349918 = CGRN 96 (with French translation and English commentary) = AGRW ID# 25100
Copenhagen Inventory info: 1919

(Document 1, side A and part of side B)

Diomedon has consecrated (?). . . this precinct to Diomedontian Herakles, and he has also dedicated the guest-chambers, those in the garden, and the small buildings.  Let Libys and his descendants (5) be free, if they do what has been prescribed.  Those who share in the cult should take care that they will continue to be free and that no one does them injustice.  The children of (10) Diomedon and their descendants should always perform the sacrifices. Libys and the children of Libys should have the garden for hire . . . (erasure). . . as much as seems good.   They should pay. . . the rent (?) . . . on the. . . xth . . . of the month of Theudaisios (15) so that the money is available for the sacrifice on the 16th and . . . 17th (?). . . of Petageitnyos.  They should provide bed-cushions . . . for Herakles and . . . on the first days (20) they should also wash the portraits of the . . . ancestors of (?) . . . Diomedon and they should crown . . . each of them (?) . . . when there is a festival.  Now . . . Herakles . . . always the eldest (25) . . . of the descendants of Diomedon (?).  Let him sacrifice: . . .to Herakles and Diomedon (?) . . . a calf or . . . ; to Dionysos a goat or . . . a kid (?); to Hera a kid (?) . . . or a goat; to . . . all the other gods for whom there (?) . . . are altars in (30) . . . the building (?) . . .; to Aphrodite . . . a goat or a piglet; to . . . there is to be . . . a libation (?) for Herakles (35); . . . and, for all the other goddesses and (?) . . . Diomedon.   . . . Let him provide (?) offerings, . . .bread for (?) . . . the bread-meal . . . and wine and honey for the (?) . . . libation . . ., (side B) (two missing lines ) . . . and firewood for the sacrifice. (40) Let him receive as perquisites from each sacrificial animal, a leg and the skin.  A sacrifice of fish is also to be made, according to the ancestral customs.  It shall not be permitted to anyone to (45) appropriate for themselves the buildings at the precinct or the precinct itself, or to sell them or to mortgage them.  If some aspect of the buildings or the precinct is in need of maintenance, (50) they should make each reparation from the income.  If one of the cult members has a child, he should give as an entrance payment: a piglet, offerings, frankincense, a libation, (55) a crown.

(Document 2, side B)

The statues and the votive offerings should be in the building in the place where they are now.  A sacrifice is to be made on the 16th of (60) the month Petageitnyos and a guest-meal is to be held for Herakles, and the sacrifice of fish on the 17th.  Each year three ‘monthly officials’ (epimenioi; these sacrificial officials do not actually serve on a monthly basis) are to be selected (65), who will fulfill the sacrifices together with the priest.  The ‘monthly officials’ should take care of all that is necessary for the reception.

(Document 3, side B and side C)

If the (70) precinct or the garden or the guestrooms or the . . . small building (?) . . . or the building is in need of repair (side C) . . . or anything else needs (?) . . .  maintenance, . . . money from the income . . . that (75) continuously accrues (?) . . . from the precinct . . . and the garden (?) . . . and the guest-rooms as much as . . . seems (?) . . . enough. The rest of the money and the sum that is set apart should be divided into parts, and use for each sacrifice (80) the corresponding share. And let it not be allowed to those who take part in the cult to cultivate the land in the precinct or to live in the guest-rooms or the house in the precinct nor to use (85) the meeting-place, the one in the temple, as a storeroom, or the covered walk, except when there is a war. If one of the descendants in the male line seems to the members of the cult to be lacking in . . .  private means, when (?) . . . he is about to celebrate . . . his marriage (?), let him organise the marriage in the month of (90) Petageitnyos, the banquet on the 16th, the distribution on the 17th, so that the sacrifice for Herakles is accomplished according to the ancestral customs, on the 18th, the assembly, and on the remaining days (95) the marriage is to be celebrated. The prepared couch and the statues for Heracles should remain . . . in place (?), until the marriage is celebrated.  Take from the sacrificial animals . . . what (?) . . . seems good for the table . . . for the (100) god (?). . ., and the one who is getting married should use all the remaining meat, for the guest-meal of his relatives. Let the priest . . . give up (?) . . . his perquisites for the marriages to the person who is getting married, taking 8 drachmae from the income, and those who possess houses should furnish (105) the men’s house and the women’s house for the marriages, after having set aside rooms for the storage of their furniture, and the person who owns the men’s house should also provide the house every day, both for the sacrifice (110) and for the entertainment of Herakles.  . . . The ‘monthly officials’ should take care (?) . . . of these things . . . so that the marriages will be concluded with all good order and so that (?) . . . (several missing lines; side D) you will provide all the necessary things (115) for the children. May things go well for them and for their descendants, who take care that everything is accomplished as it is prescribed, as far as possible . . . for them (?).  (120) I have also consecrated two lamps and two bronze lamps with seven flames, and a square brazier and a mixing vessel and a carpet and a table and (125) five small golden wreaths for the statues and two staffs and three gilded vessels for fumigation and a couch, so that all these be consecrated to Herakles, and a base for the couch (130) and a bronze circular platter.  If someone dares to dissolve any of what has been ordained by Diomedon, doing injustice to the cult and the ancestors on behalf of which (135) an inscription has been made on the altar and on the stele, the children of Diomedon . . . (erasure) . . . and their descendants should not allow it but come to the rescue (140) of the cult and the ancestors. The ‘monthly officials’ are to assemble them and on the next day invite those who seem good to them.  (145) The children of Diomedon and their descendants should choose ‘monthly officials.’  If anyone, being an illegitimate child, having been examined, is judged to have the right to take part in the cult, let it not be allowed to him to take part in the priestly offices.  You should take from the income (150) 50 drachmae for the sacrifice to (Zeus) Pasios, and for the sacrifice to the Fates (Moirai), 40 drachmae.  The descendants in the male line should sacrifice to (Zeus) Pasios and the Fates.  (155) I have consecrated also four glass libation bowls (phialai) and a . . .  purple (?) . . . mantle.  During the . . . festival of Herakles (?). . ., give portions to the participants in the procession.

Item added: December 7, 2018
Item modified: February 5, 2020
ID number: 25100
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=25100