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Letters:
Encoded for EpiDoc schema 8.17 on 01-01-2014 by S. Peels.
Edition here based on Dubois
Cf. also:
Ziehen
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Having been part of the council of Seven, the following have taken care of the money-box: Herodotos, son of Pantakles, (5) Epichares, son of Dionysophanes, Poseidonios, son of Eukrates, Adeimantos, son of Apatourios, Histikon, son of Metrodorus, Leontomenes, son of Heroson, (10) Herakleides, son of Eubios.Those who sacrifice make an offering into the money-box: for a bovine, 1200; for a sheep or a goat, 300; (15) for a piglet, 60.
Après avoir fait partie du collège des Sept, ont pris soin du tronc à offrandes : Herodotos, fils de Pantaclès, (5) Epicharès, fils de Dionysophanès, Poseidonios, fils d’Eucratès, Adeimantos, fils d’Apatourios, Histikon, fils de Metrodoros, Leontomenès, fils de Heroson, (10) Herakleidès, fils d’Eubios. Que ceux qui sacrifient fassent une offrande dans le tronc; pour un bovin, 1200; pour un mouton et un caprin, 300; (15) pour un porcelet, 60.
(traduction adaptée de L. Dubois
The short regulation in this inscription (lines 11-15) is prefaced by a list of seven officials who, having served on a 'College of Seven' and having been discharged from this office, have now occupied themselves with the caretaking of a sacred treasury. It seems like the second duty of
Very probably, it is at the end of their tenure in this office that the seven officials took it upon themselves to inscribe a short regulation for future use. What motivated their concern is unclear, though inconsistent sacrificial tariffs or a lack of contributions to the treasury is a possibility. Much about the regulation also remains enigmatic: why do the tariffs appear so substantial when they are clearly envisaged only as first offerings (ἀπάρχεσθαι, line 11) and thus presumably as small contributions? Indeed, we would expect the amounts to be in the range of obols or small amounts of drachmae: cf. CGRN 64 (Epidauros) and CGRN 70 (Oropos) for other examples of sacrificial tariffs in the present Collection.
Line 1: A variant of this verb, ἑπταδείω, is attested in another Olbian decree (
Lines 4-10: Leontomenes son of Heroson is perhaps the brother of a Protogenes son of Heroson, who is attested in
Lines 11-12: As Dubois mentions, we find the identical formula in
Lines 13-15: As noted above, the amounts prescribed are extremely large. Dubois supposes that they refer to payments for given sacrificial animals; upon payment of this sum, the temple officials would provide the requested sacrificial animal from a sacred herd. However, if the amounts are in drachmae, they appear exceedingly high for the price of oxen and other animals: cp. the prices in late Classical Athens e.g. in CGRN 45 (oxen at 50-100 drachmae; sheep at 15 drachmae), or the analogous and fairly standard prices found on Hellenistic Delos, CGRN 199. An alternative might be to suppose that these contributions represent the desired total annual contributions, but in this case the regulation would lose some of its immediate impact: the precise individual contributions making up these totals would be quite unclear. The precise economic calculus at play remains to be satisfactorily explained. The generic word ἱερεῖον is almost certainly used for a sheep in line 14 (so Dubois; Lupu, p. 336 n. 84). If we look at the relative proportions of the sacrificial tariffs (1:5:20), with the ox and sheep or goat as the two larger sacrifices, it becomes very likely that the smallest sacrifice is that of a pig, and especially a piglet or χοῖρος (so rightly Dubois, with parallels). The traces [.]ε[..]ους led Hiller von Gaertringen to propose a genitive δέλφους from an unattested variant of δέλφαξ, namely δέλφος; the referent is usually a grown pig, but sometimes a weanling piglet (δελφάκιον; for this term, see again CGRN 199, line 3).