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<title><idno type="filename">CGRN_243</idno>: <rs type="textType" key="decree">Decree</rs> concerning an oracular command and a cult of Apollo in Athens</title>
<author>Rebecca Van Hove</author>
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<authority>Collection of Greek Ritual Norms, Collège de France - University of Liège.</authority>
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<p>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International License <ref target="http://creativecommons.org/" type="external">4.0</ref>.</p><p>All citation, reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the DOI (<idno type="DOI">https://doi.org/10.54510/CGRN243</idno>), 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).</p></availability>
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<p>Marble <rs type="objectType">stele</rs> topped by a relief. Only the lower part of the relief is preserved. It shows the Delphic omphalos on a low base between two eagles. On either side of the base are the legs of two standing figures, who, based on strong similarity with a well-preserved Attic-style relief from Sparta, can be identified as Apollo with a lyre and a female figure pouring a libation (cf. Lawton, no. 115).
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<p><dimensions>
<height unit="cm">52</height>
<width unit="cm">47.5</width>
<depth unit="cm">14</depth>
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<p> Both the left and right sides of the inscription are damaged, as well as the lower part. The text is written in stoichedon style (somewhere in the range of 44-46 letters given the restoration in line 1).</p>
<p>Letters:</p>
<p>Line 1: <height unit="cm">2.5</height>.</p>
<p>Rest of the lines: <height unit="cm">1.1</height>.</p>
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<history>
<origin>
<p><origDate notBefore="-0422" notAfter="-0416">422-416 BC</origDate>
</p>
<p><desc>Justification: context (Hiller von Gaertringen; Mattingly). The proposer of the decree, Philoxenos, has been identified as a well-known Athenian who was active in the years after the Peace of Nicias and ridiculed in certain comedies, cf. Ar. <title>Wasps</title> 81, 84; <title>Clouds</title> 686 (see Jameson, with further references).</desc></p>
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<provenance>
<p><placeName type="ancientFindspot" key="Athens" n="Attica"><ref target="https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/579885" type="external">Athens</ref>. Found near the Gate of Athena Archegetis in the Roman Agora. Now in the Epigraphical Museum in Athens (inv. no. 5).</placeName>
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<language ident="grc">Ancient Greek</language>
<language ident="lat">Latin</language>
<language ident="fre">French</language>
<language ident="ger">German</language>
<language ident="gre">Modern Greek</language>
<language ident="ita">Italian</language>
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<change>Revised by XX in 20XX.</change>
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<div type="bibliography">
<head>Bibliography</head>
<p>Edition here based on Jameson <bibl type="abbr" n="IG I³">IG I³</bibl> 137.</p>
<p>Other editions: <bibl type="author_date" n="Svoronos 1911">Svoronos 1911</bibl>;
Hiller von Gaertringen <bibl type="abbr" n="IG I²">IG I²</bibl> 78;
Sokolowski <bibl type="abbr" n="LSS">LSS</bibl> 8.</p>
<p>Further bibliography: ;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Bannier 1928">Bannier 1928</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Bloch 1953">Bloch 1953</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Oliver 1954">Oliver 1954</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Jameson 1994">Jameson 1994</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Lawton 1995">Lawton 1995</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Miles 2016">Miles 2016</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Blok - van 't Wout 2018">Blok - van 't Wout 2018</bibl>;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Humphreys 2018">Humphreys 2018</bibl>: 92-95;
<bibl type="author_date" n="Mack 2018">Mack 2018</bibl>.
</p>
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<div type="edition">
<head>Text</head>
<ab>
<lb xml:id="line_1" n="1"/> <gap reason="lost" quantity="4" unit="character"/>ὶς <w lemma="πρυτανεύω">ἐπρυτάνευε·</w>
<lb xml:id="line_2" n="2"/> <w lemma="δοκέω"><supplied reason="lost">ἔδοχσεν</supplied></w> <supplied reason="lost">τε͂ι</supplied> <name type="group"><w lemma="βουλή"><supplied reason="lost">βο</supplied>λε͂ι</w></name> καὶ το͂ι <name type="group"><w lemma="δῆμος">δέμοι</w></name>· Ἀντικρατίδες <name type="title"><w lemma="γραμματεύω">ἐγ<unclear>ρ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">αμμά</supplied>
<lb xml:id="line_3" n="3" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">τευε</supplied></w></name> <gap reason="lost" quantity="8" unit="character"/><orig>ος</orig> <name type="title"><w lemma="ἐφίστημι">ἐπεστάτε</w></name>, Φιλόχσενος <w lemma="λέγω">εἶπε</w>· το͂<unclear>ι</unclear> <name type="deity" key="Apollo"><w lemma="Ἀπόλλων"><supplied reason="lost">Ἀπόλλο</supplied>
<lb xml:id="line_4" n="4" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">νι</supplied></w></name> <gap reason="lost" quantity="8" unit="character"/> <w lemma="ἐπειδή"><supplied reason="lost">ἐπ</supplied>ειδὲ</w> <name type="oracle"><w lemma="ἀναιρέω">ἀνεῖλεν</w></name> <w lemma="ἑαυτοῦ">ἑαυτὸν</w> <name type="personnel"><w lemma="ἐξηγητής">ἐχσεγετὲ<supplied reason="lost">ν</supplied></w></name> <gap reason="lost" quantity="8" unit="character"/>
<lb xml:id="line_5" n="5"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="5" unit="character"/> <name type="ethnic" key="Athens"><w lemma="Ἀθηναῖος"><supplied reason="lost">Ἀθεναίο</supplied><unclear>ι</unclear>ς</w></name> <name type="object"><w lemma="θρόνος"><unclear>θ</unclear>ρόνον</w></name> τε <w lemma="ἐξαιρέω">ἐχσελε͂ν</w> <w lemma="ἐν">ἐν</w> το͂ι <name type="structure"><w lemma="πρυτανεῖον">πρ<supplied reason="lost">υτανείοι</supplied></w></name>
<lb xml:id="line_6" n="6"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="12" unit="character"/><orig>ε</orig><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="1" unit="character"/><unclear>ν</unclear>τας ℎος <w lemma="καλός">κάλλιστα</w> καὶ <orig>κα</orig><gap reason="lost" quantity="9" unit="character"/>
<lb xml:id="line_7" n="7"/> <gap reason="lost" quantity="10" unit="character"/><w lemma="νέμω"><supplied reason="lost">νε</supplied>μόντον</w> οἱ <name type="personnel"><w lemma="ἐπιστάτης">ἐπιστάται</w></name> <orig>πα</orig><gap reason="lost" quantity="1" unit="character"/><orig><unclear>λγ</unclear></orig><gap reason="lost" quantity="10" unit="character"/>
<lb xml:id="line_8" n="8"/> <gap reason="lost" quantity="8" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">το͂ι</supplied> <name type="deity" key="Apollo"><w lemma="θεός"><supplied reason="lost">θ</supplied><unclear>ε</unclear>ο͂ι</w></name>, <w lemma="ἀναλίσκω">ἀναλίσκοντες</w> <w lemma="μέχρι">μέ<unclear>χ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ρι</supplied></w> <gap reason="lost" quantity="12" unit="character"/>
<lb xml:id="line_9" n="9"/> <gap reason="lost" quantity="14" unit="character"/> <w lemma="ὅθεν"><unclear>ὅ</unclear>θεμπερ</w> <w lemma="εἰς">ἐς</w> τὰ <w lemma="ἀλλά">ἄ<unclear>λ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">λα</supplied></w> <gap reason="lost" quantity="15" unit="character"/>
<lb xml:id="line_10" n="10"/> <gap reason="lost" quantity="9" unit="character"/> <w lemma="μή"><supplied reason="lost">μὲ</supplied></w> <w lemma="ἐλάσσων"><supplied reason="lost">ὀλ</supplied><unclear>έ</unclear>ζονος</w> ἒ <w lemma="δραχμή">δραχμε͂<supplied reason="lost">ς</supplied></w> <gap reason="lost" quantity="17" unit="character"/>
</ab>
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<div type="translation" xml:lang="eng">
<head>Translation</head>
<p>[…] held the prytany. It was decided by the council and the people, Antikratides was secretary, […] was chairman, Philoxenos proposed: to [Apollo ...] since he commanded that he himself would be exegete [… (5) …] for the Athenians both to reserve a throne in the [prytaneion…] as beautifully as possible and […] let the <foreign>epistatai</foreign> distribute […] for the god, spending up to […] from which source exactly for the other things [… (10) ...] not less than […] drachmae […].</p>
</div>
<div type="translation" xml:lang="fre">
<head>Traduction </head>
<p> […] étant prytane. Il a plu au conseil et au peuple, Antikratidès était secrétaire, […] était président, Philoxenos a fait la proposition : à [Apollon ...], attendu qu’il a ordonné qu’il serait lui-même exégète [… (5) …] pour les Athéniens à la fois réserver un siège dans le [prytanée…] avec le plus d'éclat possible et […] que les épistates distribuent […] pour le dieu, dépensant jusqu’à […] d'où exactement pour les autres choses [… (10) …] pas moins de [...] drachmes […].
</p>
</div>
<div type="commentary">
<head>Commentary</head>
<p> This decree concerns the organization of a particular ritual disposition or celebration for Apollo. The inscription’s fragmentary state leaves many of the details of this arrangement or occasion uncertain. One possibility is that it may have included the distribution of meat by the <foreign>epistatai</foreign> (line 7), as a result of sacrifices perhaps lost in the lacunae (see on line 6), but even this is unclear. Somewhat clearer, though equally fragmentary, are a number of financial expenses made in connection with this cult (lines 8-10). The honours for Apollo were instituted after an oracle had been received, whereby Apollo appears to have appointed himself as the <foreign>exegetes</foreign> of his own cult (lines 4-5). The inscription therefore offers important evidence for our understanding of the role of <foreign>exegetai</foreign> in Classical Athens.</p>
<p>Lines 2-3: Following Hiller von Gaertringen, Apollo’s name has usually been restored here. This restoration is based not only on the mention of the oracle in line 4, but also on the document relief which accompanies the inscribed text, showing Apollo with a lyre (see above, Support). On document reliefs and their religious significance, see Mack. Other aspects of the restoration are more elusive. Jameson considered both το̑ι̣ [Ἀπόλλονι το̑ι Πυθίοι] (stoichedon 46) and το̑ι̣ [θεο̑ι το̑ι ἐν Δελφοῖς] (stoichedon 45).</p>
<p>Line 4: The oracle appoints an <foreign>exegetes</foreign>. Who exactly this was and what the word <foreign>exegetes</foreign> precisely means here has been much debated. Some scholars have argued that this oracle appointed an Athenian to the office of <foreign>exegetes</foreign> (Bannier, p. 284), making the assumption that such an office already existed in Athens by the 5th century (the idea is based largely on Plato, <foreign>Laws</foreign> 865d). The term ἐξηγητής and its related verbal form refer to the act of "expounding", usually on religious matters, which was sometimes the prerogative of priests (e.g. Andoc. 1.116) or other religious experts (e.g. Theophr. 16.6; Isaeus 8.39). Athens had officials specially appointed for the task, each of which would normally be "confirmed by the oracle of Apollo" (πυθόχρηστος). When these officials were first appointed is controversial: Jacoby and Bloch proposed that they existed already from the 6th or early 5th centuries, while Oliver argued that these offices were introduced around 403 BC. But as Oliver remarked, the most straightforward reading of the text is that Apollo appoints himself (ἑαυτόν) as <foreign>exegetes</foreign> (cf. also Humphreys). Humphreys (p. 93) offers an interesting suggestion: since the 6th or early 5th century, Delphi had provided Athens with an expounder; at the time of the Archidamian war, this arrangement between Athens and Delphi became difficult, whereupon Delphi decided no longer to send a citizen for the job to Athens, “but cloaked the decision decently by announcing that Apollo would do the job himself. The Athenians, in turn, put a good face on their position by awarding him <foreign>sitesis</foreign>”. In parallel with Humphreys' view, one can note that Apollo also expounded on the subject of <foreign>sitesis</foreign> in the prytaneion in a probably closely contemporaneous decree (<bibl type="abbr" n="IG I³">IG I³</bibl> 131, lines 9-10, ca. 429-424 BC; see further below on this inscription). However, it is not clear that there is a precise historical explanation for the fact that Apollo would designate himself at the Athenians' <foreign>exegetes</foreign>. The god was the <foreign>exegetes</foreign> <foreign>par excellence</foreign> and for everyone (cf. Jameson pointing out that this text corresponds to the idea of Apollo as the πάτριος ἐξηγητής of all human beings: Plato, <foreign>Resp.</foreign> 427c; for Apollo traditionally called ἐξηγητής, see also Aesch. <title>Eum.</title> 595). Accordingly, the explicit phrase here may be analogous to the kind we find elsewhere where Apollo "expounds" himself (cf. again <bibl type="abbr" n="IG I³">IG I³</bibl> 131, lines 9-10: ℎο ᾽Απόλλον ἀνℎε̑λ[εν] ἐχσεγόμε|[νος]; much later, <bibl type="abbr" n="SEG">SEG</bibl> 21, 469 (129/8 BC), lines 8-9: ὑπάρχει δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόλλων ὁ Πύθιος ὢν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις Πατρῶιος καὶ ἐξηγητὴς τῶν ἀγαθῶν). The god (or rather Delphi) took matters of religious interpretation into his own hand, which perhaps needed to be the case here since the cult concerned was that of Apollo (Pythios?) himself.</p>
<p>Line 5: The oracle requests that a throne be reserved or taken out for the god. Where is uncertain: Oliver argues this would have been outside (πρ[ονάοι] is the alternative restoration considered by Oliver and Jameson), but Svoronos’ suggestion of a throne reserved "in the prytaneion" is also interesting. One interpretation of this reference to a throne is to see it as part of a <foreign>theoxenia</foreign>. The <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> is a ritual in which worshippers share a meal with a god or hero: a banqueting couch is set out for the deity, alongside certain types of food on a table (see <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_13/">CGRN 13</ref>, Selinous; cf. also Jameson 1994). A <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> organized in the prytaneion would of course connect to the dinners regularly held in this public dining-room: it was a place where the polis entertained public guests as well as invited citizens. <foreign>Sitesis</foreign>, permanent dining rights in the prytaneion, was an honour rarely awarded in the Classical period. Blok and van ‘t Wout have argued that <bibl type="abbr" n="IG I³">IG I³</bibl> 131 (ca. 429-424 BC), an inscription concerning the institution of <foreign>sitesis</foreign> in the prytaneion, provides potential evidence for the practice of <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> in the prytaneion. The fragmentary inscription lists different categories of recipients of the honour of <foreign>sitesis</foreign> and Blok and van ‘t Wout suggest restoring the Anakes, the name by which the Dioscuri were known in Athens, among these recipients: their participation would turn the meal into a <foreign>theoxenia</foreign>. If this reading is correct, it might be possible to imagine that our inscription commands that Apollo also receive a form of <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> in the prytaneion. However, as Jameson (1994) points out, <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> usually involves a couch and not a throne: male deities were thought to eat whilst reclining. Thrones are of course commonly associated with gods and make regular occurrences in ritual settings. Deities were often presented as seated on thrones, both in relief imagery and in their cult statues. Thrones are listed in sanctuary inventories (e.g. <bibl type="abbr" n="IG IV">IG IV</bibl> 39, at Aegina) and remains of marble thrones have also been found inside temples, for example at Rhamnous and at the temple of Apollo at Cape Zoster in Attica: see Miles, p. 214-216. Literary accounts tell us that these thrones were reserved for the gods but could also be used by their priests and priestesses (Hdt. 5.72). The main function of a throne was to symbolise the god’s presence (Jameson 1994: 167). As such, perhaps the most simple explanation is that this inscription commands that the throne is set up for Apollo to witness the honours the Athenians are to perform for him.</p>
<p>Lines 6-7: The proposed restorations for the missing accusative plural participle at the beginning of line 6 have mostly focussed on providing or adorning the throne or couches with coverings (στρόματα) for the <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> (Hiller; Jameson in <title>IG</title>; cf. also e.g. the decree of a group of Attic orgeones, <bibl type="abbr" n="IG II²">IG II²</bibl> 1328, lines 9-10: [σ]τ[ρω]ννύειν θρόνους δύο [ὡς] καλλίστους). Providing animal sacrifices (Sokolowski) is another possibility and the phrase in line 7 might be thought to confirm this interpretation, since it seems to refer to a distribution, perhaps of meat. However, Jameson in <title>IG</title> objects that sacrifices may not be expected in the context of a <foreign>theoxenia</foreign> (see above) and, perhaps most importantly, that the ἐπιστάται are not known as sacrificers, but rather as boards of officials who supervised the Periclean building programme and sacred funds. In this view, the ἐπιστάται were perhaps responsible for a financial distribution or disbursement of some kind here, as well as for supervising the expenses described in the following lines (8-10). Nevertheless, the verb νέμω remains unusual in the context of Athenian finances (e.g. δίδωμι or ἀποδίδωμι would have been more expected) and it could perhaps still have pointed to sacrifices (and meat) rather than money. In a later period (the early 4th century BC), the ἐπιστάται of Asclepius in the Piraeus were responsible both for building works and for sacrifices, as an exegete clarified (cf. <ref target="http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/CGRN_46/">CGRN 46</ref>).</p>
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