CGRN 125

Regulation concerning sacrificial tariffs at Olbia

Date :

ca. 230 BC

Justification: letterforms and context (Dubois). See also esp. line 1, and below on lines 4-10 for a possible onomastic identification.

Provenance

Olbia . Formerly located in the Museum of Moscow; current location unknown.

Support

Plaque of white marble.

  • Height: 35 cm
  • Width: 31 cm
  • Depth: 9.5 cm

Layout

Letters: 1.1 cm high.

Bibliography

Edition here based on Dubois IGDO 88, with further refs.

Cf. also: Ziehen LGS I 85; Hiller von Gaertringen SIG³ 1039; Sokolowski LSCG 88.

Further bibliography: Lupu 2003b.

Text


ἑπταδεύσαντες
ἐπεμελήθησαν τοῦ
θησαυροῦ·
Ἡρόδοτος Παντακλέους,
5 Ἐπιχάρης Διονυσοφάνους,
Ποσειδώνιος Εὐκράτους,
Ἀδείμαντος Ἀπατουρίου,
Ἱστίκων Μητροδώρου,
Λεοντομένης Ἡροσῶντος,
10 Ἡρακλείδης Εὐβίου.
τοὺς θύοντας ἀπάρχεσθαι
[ε]ἰς τὸν θησαυρόν·
βοὸς μὲν χιλίους διακοσίους,
ἱερείου δὲ καὶ αἰγὸς τριακοσίους,
15 [δ][λφ]ους δὲ ἑξήκοντα.

Translation

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.

Traduction

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 IGDO)

Commentary

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 epimeleia over this treasury was a (necessary or concomitant?) consequence of their office as the 'Seven'. The cult over whose treasury the 'former Seven' had jurisdiction remains unknown. It had long been assumed to be that of Zeus in Olbia (so Sokolowski), but recently Roussiaiéva has proposed that it is the cult of the assembled gods honoured on the acropolis of Olbia (this is tentatively followed by Dubois). We suggest the alternative that the sacred treasury in question is one that was directly associated with the Heptadeion, a building where the 'Seven' must have presided; cf. SEG 34, 758, lines 50-52 (τόδε τὸ ψή]φισμ[α] | γραφῆναι ε̣ἰς τε̣[λαμῶνα λίθινον καὶ στα]θῆναι | ἐν τῶι ἑπταδείωι). But the sacral character of that structure, though probable, remains unclear (SEG 34, 758, lines 53-54, also seems to mention another sanctuary).

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 (SEG 34, 758, lines 3 and 47; 250-225 BC), but not elsewhere. For other attestations of the 'College of Seven' in this region, always with the formula οἱ ἄρχοντες καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ εἶπαν, cf. Dubois. The men apparently served an important political function together with the ἄρχοντες.

Lines 4-10: Leontomenes son of Heroson is perhaps the brother of a Protogenes son of Heroson, who is attested in IOSPE I² 32 (ca. 230-215 BC, from the historical context: King Saitapharnes). The name Heroson is relatively rare (LGPN IV and Va have six instances each). If this identification is correct, it would give the inscription a terminus post quem of ca. 200 BC.

Lines 11-12: As Dubois mentions, we find the identical formula in LSS 72 A2 (regulation for the cult of Theogenes on Thasos). The verb ἀπάρχεσθαι, as with ἐμβάλλειν, in this context refers to deposing money in the money-box, but frames that action as an offering (cf. Lupu, p. 338).

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).

Publication

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License 4.0 .

All citation, reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the DOI (https://doi.org/10.54510/CGRN125), as well as the year of consultation (see “Home” for details on how to cite or click “Export Citation” to create a reference for this specific file).

Authors

  • Jan-Mathieu Carbon
  • Saskia Peels
  • Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge

How To Cite

Brief citation of the Greek text : CGRN 125, lines x-x.

Reference to the file as a critical study of the inscription : Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Saskia Peels et Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, "CGRN 125: Regulation concerning sacrificial tariffs at Olbia", in Collection of Greek Ritual Norms (CGRN), 2017-, consulted on October 13, 2024. URL: http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/file/125/; DOI: https://doi.org/10.54510/CGRN125.

Full citation of the CGRN in a list of abbreviations or a bibliography is the following : Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Saskia Peels-Matthey, Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Collection of Greek Ritual Norms (CGRN), 2017-, consulted on October 13, 2024. URL: http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be; DOI: https://doi.org/10.54510/CGRN0.

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                <head>Bibliography</head>
                <p> Edition here based on Dubois <bibl type="abbr" n="IGDO">IGDO</bibl> 88, with further refs.</p>
                
                <p> Cf. also:
                    Ziehen <bibl type="abbr" n="LGS I">LGS I</bibl> 85; 
                    Hiller von Gaertringen <bibl type="abbr" n="SIG³">SIG³</bibl> 1039;
                    Sokolowski <bibl type="abbr" n="LSCG">LSCG</bibl> 88. </p>
               
                <p> Further bibliography:
                    <bibl type="author_date" n="Lupu 2003b">Lupu 2003b</bibl>.</p>
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<lb xml:id="line_1" n="1"/> <name type="title"><w lemma="ἑπταδεύω">ἑπταδεύσαντες</w></name>
                    
<lb xml:id="line_2" n="2"/> <name type="personnel"><w lemma="ἐπιμελέομαι">ἐπεμελήθησαν</w></name> τοῦ
                    
<lb xml:id="line_3" n="3"/> <name type="structure"><w lemma="θησαυρός">θησαυροῦ</w></name>·
                    
                    <lb xml:id="line_4" n="4"/> Ἡρόδοτος Παντακλέους,
                    <lb xml:id="line_5" n="5"/> Ἐπιχάρης Διονυσοφάνους,
                    <lb xml:id="line_6" n="6"/> Ποσειδώνιος Εὐκράτους,
                    <lb xml:id="line_7" n="7"/> Ἀδείμαντος Ἀπατουρίου,
                    <lb xml:id="line_8" n="8"/> Ἱστίκων Μητροδώρου,
                    <lb xml:id="line_9" n="9"/> Λεοντομένης Ἡροσῶντος,
                    <lb xml:id="line_10" n="10"/> Ἡρακλείδης Εὐβίου.
                    
<lb xml:id="line_11" n="11"/> τοὺς <name type="sacrifice"><w lemma="θύω">θύοντας</w></name> <name type="genericOffering"><w lemma="ἀπάρχομαι">ἀπάρχεσθαι</w></name>
                    
<lb xml:id="line_12" n="12"/> <w lemma="εἰς"><supplied reason="lost">ε</supplied>ἰς</w> τὸν <name type="structure"><w lemma="θησαυρός">θησαυρόν</w></name>·
                    
<lb xml:id="line_13" n="13"/> <name type="animal" key="ox"><w lemma="βοῦς">βοὸς</w></name> μὲν <w lemma="χίλιοι">χιλίους</w> <w lemma="διακόσιοι">διακοσίους</w>,
                    
<lb xml:id="line_14" n="14"/> <name type="animal" key="sheep"><w lemma="ἱερεῖον">ἱερείου</w></name> δὲ καὶ <name type="animal" key="goat"><w lemma="αἴξ">αἰγὸς</w></name> <w lemma="τριακόσιοι">τριακοσίους</w>,
                    
<lb xml:id="line_15" n="15"/> <name type="animal" key="swine"><w lemma="δέλφος"><supplied reason="lost">δ</supplied>έ<supplied reason="lost">λφ</supplied>ους</w></name> δὲ <w lemma="ἑξήκοντα">ἑξήκοντα</w>.
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<p>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.
                </p>
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                <head>Traduction</head>
                
<p>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.</p>
                <p>(traduction adaptée de L. Dubois <bibl type="abbr" n="IGDO">IGDO</bibl>)</p>
            </div>
            
            <div type="commentary">    
                <head>Commentary</head>    
                
<p>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 <foreign>epimeleia</foreign> over this treasury was a (necessary or concomitant?) consequence of their office as the 'Seven'. The cult over whose treasury the 'former Seven' had jurisdiction remains unknown. It had long been assumed to be that of Zeus in Olbia (so Sokolowski), but recently Roussiaiéva has proposed that it is the cult of the assembled gods honoured on the acropolis of Olbia (this is tentatively followed by Dubois). We suggest the alternative that the sacred treasury in question is one that was directly associated with the Heptadeion, a building where the 'Seven' must have presided; cf. <bibl type="abbr" n="SEG">SEG</bibl> 34, 758, lines 50-52 (τόδε τὸ ψή]φισμ[α] | γραφῆναι ε̣ἰς τε̣[λαμῶνα λίθινον καὶ στα]θῆναι | ἐν τῶι ἑπταδείωι). But the sacral character of that structure, though probable, remains unclear (<bibl type="abbr" n="SEG">SEG</bibl> 34, 758, lines 53-54, also seems to mention another sanctuary).</p>
                
<p>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. <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_64/">CGRN 64</ref> (Epidauros) and <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_70/">CGRN 70</ref> (Oropos) for other examples of sacrificial tariffs in the present Collection.</p>
                
<p>Line 1: A variant of this verb, ἑπταδείω, is attested in another Olbian decree (<bibl type="abbr">SEG</bibl> 34, 758, lines 3 and 47; 250-225 BC), but not elsewhere. For other attestations of the 'College of Seven' in this region, always with the formula οἱ ἄρχοντες καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ εἶπαν, cf. Dubois. The men apparently served an important political function together with the ἄρχοντες.</p>
                    
<p>Lines 4-10: Leontomenes son of Heroson is perhaps the brother of a Protogenes son of Heroson, who is attested in <bibl type="abbr" n="IOSPE I²">IOSPE I²</bibl> 32 (ca. 230-215 BC, from the historical context: King Saitapharnes). The name Heroson is relatively rare (<bibl type="abbr" n="LGPN">LGPN</bibl> IV and Va have six instances each). If this identification is correct, it would give the inscription a <foreign>terminus post quem</foreign> of ca. 200 BC.</p>
                    
<p>Lines 11-12: As Dubois mentions, we find the identical formula in <bibl type="abbr" n="LSS">LSS</bibl> 72 A2 (regulation for the cult of Theogenes on Thasos). The verb ἀπάρχεσθαι, as with ἐμβάλλειν, in this context refers to deposing money in the money-box, but frames that action as an offering (cf. Lupu, p. 338).</p>
                    
<p>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 <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_45/">CGRN 45</ref> (oxen at 50-100 drachmae; sheep at 15 drachmae), or the analogous and fairly standard prices found on Hellenistic Delos, <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_199/">CGRN 199</ref>. 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 <ref target="CGRN_199">CGRN 199</ref>, line 3).
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