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Encoded for EpiDoc schema 8.17 on 06-06-2016 by Z. Pitz
Edition here based on Hallof - Bosnakis
Other editions:
Cf. also: Sokolowski
Further bibliography:
Face B
Those who celebrate the marriages in the sanctuary are also to bring a sacrifice of an adult animal of 30 drachmae. Anyone else who wants to may also sacrifice the customary sacrificial animal on those days on which it is religiously sanctioned to sacrifice. The priest, at the sacred ceremonies (5) which the people organize on the 20th of Petageitnyos, is to walk in procession together with the
Face B
Que ceux qui célèbrent les mariages dans le sanctuaire sacrifient également un animal adulte de 30 drachmes. Parmi les autres, que celui qui le souhaite sacrifie un animal conforme à l’usage, les jours où il est religieusement permis de faire un sacrifice. Que le prêtre, lors des cérémonies sacrées (5) qu’organise le peuple le 20 Petageitnyos, défile en compagnie du monarque, des hiéropes et des vainqueurs aux concours stéphanites, vêtu d’un chiton de couleur pourpre, d'anneaux en or et d'une couronne d’olivier. (10) Qu’il porte la même tenue dans le sanctuaire et lors de tous les autres sacrifices. Qu’il soit vêtu de blanc le reste du temps et qu’il se tienne pur de ce qui a été également prescrit aux autres prêtres en matière de pureté. Qu’il reçoive comme parts d’honneur des animaux sacrifiés, (15) d’un bovin ou d’un mouton, la peau et une patte, du reste, une patte, et que les sacrifiants (les) placent sur la table à offrandes pour la déesse, et qu’ils déposent dans le tronc à offrandes, pour chaque bovin, 1 drachme, pour les autres, 3 oboles (?). De (20) cela, que la moitié en revienne à Nikè, l’autre moitié au prêtre. Que les prostates ouvrent le tronc à offrandes en compagnie du prêtre tous les deux ans, et qu’ils prélèvent du revenu le coût de l’ouverture. Et afin que (25) la procession soit de même accomplie de la façon la plus éclatante, que les joueurs de cithare élus par le peuple mènent les garçons, en jouant à la cithare le spondée comme il le font lors des autres processions, et qu’en jouant les pièces à la cithare [...]
We only possess the upper part of Face B of this inscription, which was apparently an opisthographic stele detailing various rules concerning the cult of Nike; Face A has been rendered illegible and would be presumably have contained the proper beginning of the document. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that our inscription begins
Nike was an important goddess on Kos. Her cult on this island is first attested as early as 278 BC, when the Koans decreed a series of sacrifices of thanksgiving after the defeat of the Galatian expedition against Delphi (
Lines 1-2: In the founding document of the family cult of Heracles Diomedonteios (CGRN 96, lines 94ff.), it is permitted for cult participants of little financial means to celebrate their marriages in the sanctuary, on the last day of the festival in honour of the god. We should see the current prescription in a relatively similar light: individuals could come to the sanctuary of Nike to celebrate a marriage, provided that they sacrificed the necessary animal on this occasion. The regulations are related to the more general role of the goddess Nike as a patron of marriage, an aspect of her that is less known, but which is represented on vase paintings (cf. Lissarrague).
Lines 3-4: After having presumably detailing required sacrifices for various groups (some on the now missing Face A), the text concludes by mentioning voluntary sacrifices of all other persons (not belonging to these groups). Here, the requirements are not spelled out, but the regulation refers to traditional knowledge that was orally transmitted or recorded in (an)other inscription(s) now lost (ὅ νομίζεται, τὸ ὅσιον; a similar expression is found in CGRN 142, lines 5-7, also from Kos). The requirement to make sacrifices on days on which this is religiously sanctioned may imply that the sanctuary was only open on those specific days. We may aptly compare CGRN 188 (Kos), lines 8-9, in which the priestess of Artemis was to open the sanctuary on all days "on which this is ὅσιον". On the recurrent use of the term ὅσιον to describe the "who, what, where, when and how" of ritual actions, cf. Peels.
Lines 4-8: The precise nature of these public sacrifices on the 20th of Pedageitnyos (the second month of the calendar, according to Bosnakis and Hallof) eludes us; was this a major occasion for the procession to Nike, which is also described later in lines 24-29? Other celebrations for Nike are known, such as a sacrifice to Zeus and Athena accompanied by a procession for Nike in early Gerastios, attested in the calendar of the gymnasium on Kos (
Lines 8-12: The outfit of the priest is very similar to the one worn by the priest of Zeus Alseios on Kos, cf. CGRN 167, lines 15-18. Specific prescriptions concerning the clothing and accessories of priests are given in various sales of priesthoods in this Collection: CGRN 221 (Kos), lines 22-24; cf. Plut.
Lines 12-14: These lines probably refer to purity regulations for priests such as those preserved on Kos for the priestesses of Demeter (CGRN 148) and other priesthoods (CGRN 85). In the former case, the priestesses had to stay away from impure persons, from contact with death or with women after childbirth (as well as abortion/miscarriage), from particular foodstuffs (?) and from dead animals; in the latter case, the priests also needed to steer clear of the shrines of heroes.
Lines 14-17: The hide and the leg were the most common perquisites for priests, as is particularly apparent on Kos (see CGRN 164, lines 7-9). The genitive τῶν ἱερῶν here complements the noun τράπεζαν (“the table of the offerings”), making for a rare expression; perhaps the reference is to a specific table in the sanctuary that was reserved for ἱερά, i.e. for animal portions and/or sacred objects (it is not clear what the function of the other table(s) may have been). Though here explicitly to be deposited on the table by the participants, these offerings were usually taken by the priest afterwards as part of his perquisites, cf. for instance CGRN 188, lines 4-5.
Lines 17-24: On sacrificial fees deposited in
Lines 24-29: These prescriptions seem to be an addition to the usual rules for the cult, aimed at making the procession for Nike more splendid through song and musical accompaniment. The procession mentioned is perhaps the same as that which formed part of the festival organised on the 20th of Petageitnyos, mentioned earlier in the text (cf. lines 4-8 above). Music would probably have been a regular and traditional part of any procession, yet in no other inscriptions from Kos are arrangements explicitly made in this respect. The fact that this regulation insists on this subject might be explained by the role of Nike as the personification of victory in musical contests: we often find the goddess represented on vases as offering the prize to winners of musical competitions or in the company of musicians (Paul, p. 152). More broadly, it might be concluded that we cannot precisely evaluate the innovative quotient of the rules at hand (new elected "head musicians" to lead the boy musicians?). At any rate, the σπονδεῖον mentioned in line 28—apparently a song for accompanying libations or victories, part of the νόμος Πυθικός (see