Excavations at Sparta, 1924—25: § 3.—The Inscriptions

A. M. Woodward

doi:10.1017/S0068245400010649

Excavations at Sparta, 1924—25: § 3.—The Inscriptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013

A. M. Woodward

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The yield of inscriptions from our two seasons' work at the Theatre would not have been extensive but for the fact that the marble facing-blocks of the East Parodos-wall proved to be almost covered with a series of texts, for a distance of some fifteen metres from its west end (adjoining the Orchestra). When we had finished excavating this wall, past the point where the inscriptions ended, we had before us an inscribed monument, second only, among monumental inscriptions of the Greek mainland, to the great Terrace-wall at Delphi. Our documents consist of lists of Magistrates, and the cursus honorum of individual Spartan officials, dating from the first half of the second century of our era. Twenty-eight separate documents are recorded on the wall as it stands, and other twenty-four are contained, in whole or part, on fallen blocks and fragments, some of the latter very small, which came to light in front of the wall, or a short distance away from it. In addition, three fragments of similar records, Nos. 1 E 25–27, were discovered close to the east end of the corresponding West Parodos-wall, which has had its marble facing-blocks almost all stripped away, and none of the inscriptions, which we may presume it bore, have survived in situ.

Type: Research Article
Information: Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 26 , November 1925 , pp. 159 - 239

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400010649 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1925

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^{page 159 note 1} I am indebted for help in copying these inscriptions, in 1924 to Miss U. D. Hunt, and in 1925 to Messrs. R. P. Austin and J. H. Iliffe, Students of the British School. Mr. Austin, in addition to much careful work in copying, and in deciphering some of the more difficult texts (Nos. 2 and 20 in particular), made many of the squeezes reproduced in this article, which have proved most helpful to me.

^{page 160 note 1} No. 20 contains also two lists of Imperial-age magistrates, not later than the second century.

^{page 160 note 2} The number in brackets is that of the excavation-inventory, continuing the record from the excavations of 1906–10. A separate inventory-number has not been given to each of the texts on the wall, or its fallen blocks.

^{page 161 note 1} In my commentary I have Latinized the praenomina and nomina of men with Roman citizenship, but only those cognomina which are of Latin origin, e.g. Pius, while retaining a literal transcription for all other cognomina and for the names of those who did not possess it.

^{page 162 note 1} E I, length 1·75 m.; E 2, 1·03; E 3, 1·26; E 4, 1·00; E 5, ·89; E 7, ca. 1·10 (conjecturai); E 10, 1·20; E 12, ·78; E 13, ·80. Total 9·81 metres.

^{page 165 note 1} The sign is not < but

^{page 175 note 1} I.G. v. 1, p. 37. Cf. Tod's discussion, Sparta Museum Catalogue (henceforward cited as S.M.C.), p. 11 f.

^{page 175 note 2} Neither restoration is absolutely certain.

^{page 176 note 1} I.G. vii. 2724b, 1. 6. Πύραξ for Πύρραξ seems the most likely name to meet our requirements here: even if two narrow letters are lost the restoration is no simpler.

^{page 177 note 1} P. 195, where it is shewn that there is not a later Damonikidas, v. 1, 40, being in fact of the Trajanic—or early Hadrianic—period.

^{page 177 note 2} The nominative is confirmed as being ᾿Ασκλαπος for which see Bechtel, Hist. Gr. Personennamen, p. 85 f., by an inscription found in 1926, to be published later.

^{page 179 note 1} See Polykrates, ' account of the festival, ap. Athenaeus, iv. p. 139 D–FGoogle Scholar, and Nilsson's discussion of it in his Griech. Feste, pp. 129 ff.; it is, however, essentially a festival of Amyklai, in origin, though perhaps less exclusively so under the Empire.

^{page 179 note 2} Xenophon, , Agesilaos, 2, 17.Google Scholar Cf. Kahrstedt, , Gr. Staatsrecht, i. (Sparta), pp. 174, n. 4, 226, n. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 3} Pausanias, iii. 11, 9; Nilsson, op. cit. p. 141 f.

^{page 180 note 1} Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, s.v. Cf. Tod, , International Arbitration, p. 83.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 2} Cf. Roehl, , I.G.A. 322, 1. 10Google Scholar; I.G. ix. 1, 32, 1. 38.

^{page 180 note 3} I regret having had no opportunity of investigating ἐκβολή in the ‘Rhodian Sea-Law.’

^{page 181 note 1} Omitted from Index to I.G. v. 1.

^{page 181 note 2} Tod, , S.M.C. Introdn., p. 15Google Scholar; Kolbe, , I.G. v. 1, p. 14.Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 3} Cf. Liddell and Scott, s.v. γιά ii. 2; e.g. Herod., vi. 118, δι ᾿ ἐτέων εἴκοσι (‘after twenty years interval’); διὰ πολλοῦ etc.

^{page 182 note 1} Cf. Kolbe, , I.G. v. 1, p. xvi. II. 5 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 182 note 2} Cf. Meisterhans-Schwyzer, , Gramm. Att. Inschr. p. 79.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 1} v. 1, 293, 493.

^{page 183 note 2} I feel that the fresh evidence by no means strengthens Kolbe's arguments for dating him to the reign of Trajan; in view of B 8 below it seems we must put him considerably later.

^{page 184 note 1} Possibly refers to his son.

^{page 184 note 2} He is Eponymos in 36, 105, 138.

^{page 184 note 3} See E 5, below.

^{page 184 note 4} Including his Ephorate under Δαμοκλῆς Φιλοκράτους

^{page 185 note 1} Cf. E 4, below. Apparently Β φ Σ In v. 1, 483 we have and below (my original copy, B.S.A. xv. p. 80, No. 85, reproduced in the Corpus, is inaccurate in these particulars).

^{page 185 note 2} See below, note on 2 (δ).

^{page 186 note 1} It is not impossible that Chares himself was the victor in this contest.

^{page 186 note 2} Cf. Tod, , S.M.C. Introdn., p. 9Google Scholar; Kolbe, , I.G. v. 1, p. 21.Google Scholar

^{page 187 note 1} I am indebted to Mr. R. P. Austin for the suggestion that καύδου may = Καιάδου the Spartan ‘Barathron,’ cf. Thucyd. 1, 134. But we cannot in any case be sure that this form of execution continued into Imperial times; nor is the version of the name very probable.

^{page 187 note 2} E.g. τεσεράκοντα in A 12.

^{page 187 note 3} For Eurykles, the friend and contemporary of Augustus, see Kjellberg, E., Klio, xvii. pp. 44 ff.Google Scholar, who discusses all the known evidence. From Strabo viii. 363 we learn that Eurykles at one time owned the island of Kythera: perhaps some of his estates there were still the source of the revenues collected by this Πράκτωρ

^{page 188 note 1} E.g. D 2, below; clearly also in B 8, but without names of Eponymoi.

^{page 188 note 2} My own attempt in B.S.A. xiii. pp. 200 ff. would have to be expanded, and perhaps re-arranged a little, in view of the new material now brought to light; cf. below, p. 195, note on D 3.

^{page 188 note 3} Op. cit. p. 202.

^{page 189 note 1} See note ad loc. I am not convinced that this absolutely proves the later date.

^{page 189 note 2} I hope to re-examine this question on some future occasion.

^{page 189 note 3} There is no need to date him (with Kolbe) to the end of the second century.

^{page 190 note 1} Cf. Θεοκλύμενος the Homeric seer, and as a name in the Imperial period, T. Κλ Θεοκλύμενος on a tomb at Rome, C.I.G. 6606. Κλύμενος is found at Kos, Paton-Hicks, Inscript. of Kos, No. 10 (= G.D.I. 3624) b, 1. 72; at Orchomenos, , IG. vii. 3224Google Scholar; and cf. Κλυμενίγας, at Knossos, Syll. ³ 720, ii. 721, 1. 55.Google Scholar

^{page 190 note 2} I cannot trace the name elsewhere; Δεινοκράτη is not a rare name.

^{page 190 note 3} See 2 (B) below, enabling us to restore his name as Eponymos here.

^{page 191 note 1} Χάρης (Χάρητος) in B 8 refers to his having been βίδεος δίς πρέσβυς γενόμενος ἄπαξ (but not necessarily in consecutive years).

^{page 191 note 2} iii. 13, 7; Nilsson, Griech. Feste, p. 298; Wide, Lak. Kulte, p. 160.

^{page 191 note 3} Hitzig-Blümner suspect (rightly in my opinion) a disturbance of the text here, as the phrase τὰς δὲ ἄλλας is not intelligible as it stands.

^{page 192 note 1} Also found in 275 as Deputy-Patronomos, and honoured in 480. A Τι. Κλ Δαμόνεικος appears in E 1, l. 13 below.

^{page 192 note 2} For another κάσεν of Tisamenos see v. 1, 103, 1. 12 Σωσίβιος

^{page 193 note 1} Θόας Θόα occurs once in the Imperial period at Athens, , I.G., iii. 1128, 1. 165.Google Scholar

^{page 193 note 2} Kolbe distinguishes them, but possibly Lysippos competed a year under age (under Sejanus), and again the next year; the absence of praenomen and nomen from one of the two is not a serious objection.

^{page 193 note 3} Tod, 's reading, S.M.C, 787, 1. 6Google Scholar is ΝέασΜοΣιΦ- which is, in view of the new text, preferable to the Corpus reading, though Νέασμοσ seems a most unlikely name.

^{page 194 note 1} Cf. Premerstein, A. von, Die Attentat der Consulare gegen Hadrian (Klio, Beiheft viii.).Google Scholar

^{page 194 note 2} Syll. ³, 822, notes 1 and 2; cf. 827, note 1.

^{page 194 note 3} See No. 2 (β), below.

^{page 194 note 4} We seem to get no help from Suidas, who says, ῾Μωλόχιον, λαχανηρὸν γένοσ nor from Hesychios, who, s.v. μωλύχιον says, ἔνθα Λυκοῦργος τὸν Κορυνήτην ἀνεῖλε τόποσ nor again from the Arcadian festival Μώλεια Schol. ap. Apoll. Rhod. Arg. 1, 164. Is the connection rather to be sought in the root μωλυ (cf. Hesychios, μωλύεται γηράσκει and μωλυρὸν νωθρόν βραδὔ) and λόχος i.e. ‘late-born’ or ‘posthumous’? It is clearly not a signum or alternative name, but some distinctive title. (Dijudicent periti!)

^{page 195 note 1} See above, p. 178.

^{page 195 note 2} As I tried to show, B.S.A. xiii. pp. 200 ff., esp. p. 205 f.

^{page 196 note 1} Πρῖμος Νηρέος twice victor at the Orthia Sanctuary.

^{page 196 note 2} And presumably L. Volussenus Aristokrates of A 3–5 above.

^{page 196 note 3} Preferably the latter, as we have no knowledge of any Spartan having been κάσεν to a father and son together.

^{page 197 note 1} Ηρᾶς at Tenos, , I.G. xii. 5, 875, 1. 23 (third century B.C.).Google Scholar

^{page 197 note 2} No likely clue is afforded by the Cascellii in Prosop. Imp. Rom. There is also a Κασκέλλιος Ποντικός at Ephesus, in A.D. 120, Syll. ³, 833, 1. 14.Google Scholar

^{page 197 note 3} The letters may have been spaced wider than in l. 1.

^{page 199 note 1} For we know that he was a member of the Gerousia under G. Julius Philokleidas (v. 1, 97, 1. 16); cf. C 6–7, above.

^{page 200 note 1} Cf. p. 125.

^{page 203 note 1} It does not appear among names formed from metals in Bechtel, Historische Gr. Personennamen; cf., however, Σιδηρεύς, at Teos, , C.I.G. 3064, l. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 203 note 2} Cf. p. 191 f.; as we have seen, the Lycurgus mentioned in A 3–5 may be a mortal.

^{page 203 note 3} The appearance of the stone (v. 1, 1314) does not suggest necessarily a close sequence of the texts on it.

^{page 203 note 4} We find a man serving more than once as βίδους e.g. 1, B 8; v. 1, 138, 140.

^{page 205 note 1} Restored by Kolbe, ad loc. The restoration is not, however, absolutely certain; cf. above, p. 175.

^{page 206 note 1} I.G. iii. 444, add. p. 496, 444a, Gaius; 445, 446, Lucius.

^{page 206 note 2} I.G. ix. 2, 40 (to Augustus and his grandsons).

^{page 206 note 3} A.J.A. 1921, pp. 337 ff.

^{page 207 note 1} The historical sources are usefully collected by Swift, A.J.A., loc. cit., esp. p. 348 f.

^{page 207 note 2} Cf. Kjellberg, E.'s full account of him in Klio, xvii. pp. 44 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 207 note 3} I.G. v. 1, 32 B, 34, 44, 103, 287, 1315.

^{page 207 note 4} I.G. v. 2, 281 (= Syll.³ 841).

^{page 208 note 1} I.G. v. 1, 37, 59, 65 all refer to the same man; in 44 and 105 the restoration is not absolutely certain.

^{page 208 note 2} Ibid. 595, 685 for υἰός β 551 for υἰός π.καὶ β

^{page 210 note 1} Μετά τὴν κατὰ Γετῶν νείκην would seem probably to refer to the second rather than to the first Dacian war.

^{page 212 note 1} He is well known: cf. v. 1, 144, 305, 553, 554, 555, and stemma, p. 123.

^{page 214 note 1} C.I.G. 2932, Tralles; 3426, Philadelphia (Lydiae); cf. C.I.L. iii. 7086, relating to Pergamon, , and C.I.L. x. 515Google Scholar, Puteoli; cf. I.G. Rom. iii. 370, Adada.

^{page 214 note 2} Klee, Th., Zur Geschichte der Gymnischen Agone an Griechischen Festen (Teubner, 1918), pp. 20–42.Google Scholar

^{page 215 note 1} Cf. Klee, p. 41.

^{page 215 note 2} I.G. v. 1, 18.

^{page 217 note 1} I.G. vii. 416.

^{page 217 note 2} Ibid. 1773.

^{page 217 note 3} Ibid. ix. 2, 531, ll. 44–46 (= Syll.³ 1059, ii.)

^{page 217 note 4} Pliny, , Nat. Hist., xxxv. 58Google Scholar, for contests at Delphi and the Isthmus between Panainos and Timagoras; Ibid. 65, for one between Zeuxis and Parrhasios, and 72 for the victory of Timanthes of Samos; cf. Quintilian, , Inst. Or. ii. 13, 13.Google Scholar Mr. A. D. Nock, who kindly drew my attention to these passages, points out that all these passages, except the first, may refer to contests ad hoc. Cf. Recueil Millet, Textes Relatifs … à la Peinture, p. 168, and note 3.

⁵ Cf. Ziebarth, Gr. Schulwesen,⁶ p. 140 f.

^{page 218 note 1} An athlete who is an honorary citizen of Sparta may be safely supposed to have won victories there.

^{page 218 note 2} Numerous Laconian victors appear at the Amphiaraion, , I.G. iv. 416, 417, 420Google Scholar, etc. (cf. Leonardos, B. in Ἀρχ. Ἐø. 1923, pp. 46 ff.Google Scholar for fuller readings and combinations of fragments); also at Thespiae, Ibid. 1766, and for one at Neapolis, I.G. xiv. add. 755a. This does not pretend to give a complete list.

^{page 219 note 1} There are a father, son and grandson of the name of Δαμόνικοσ known who lived in the second century after Christ; Θεόδωρος might be a son of either (cf. I.G. v. 1, 112); the name is, however, not very rare.

^{page 220 note 1} For (Ti.) Cl. Aristoteles, a name borne by more than one person at Sparta, , I.G. v. 1, 68, l. 13Google Scholar; 527, 528, 547, 591, 836. For Ti. Cl. Aristokrates, Ibid. 469, 607, 1. 17.

^{page 221 note 1} The final traces did not look like those of P, but rather of an oblique stroke.

^{page 221 note 2} In v. 1, 557 and 559 respectively.

^{page 224 note 1} I am likewise indebted to Professor Wilhelm for this parallel.

^{page 225 note 1} We must, however, bear in mind the gloss in Hesychius ‘῾δίφουρα διφοῦρα = γέφυρα, Lacones’; and δέφυρα occurs once in Crete (G. D. Inscr. 5000, ii. b, 5) for γέφυρα. Cf. Bechtel, , Gr. Dialekte, ii. p. 692.Google Scholar Here, however, the question rather is, ‘how did the γ get substituted in Attic for the δ’?

^{page 225 note 2} Could Athena, who presided over its building, possibly have received this dedication from some Spartan sailor whose ship was called Argo?

^{page 226 note 1} The beginning of lines 5, 6 and 8 of (b) and 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 of (c) appear at the right-hand edge of the facsimile.

^{page 228 note 1} This seems the most likely meaning for the word ζημιουμένων and we may suggest that the ζημία might arise from their exceeding their annual allocation of funds, etc. It is hard to believe the Board would have been kept on, and given assistance, if fined for any fault.

^{page 228 note 2} We possess six or seven fragments, none of which can be actually joined.

^{page 229 note 1} This is not free from doubt.

^{page 229 note 2} The usual Board consisted of six Patronomoi and six σύναρχοι (cf. I.G. v. 1, p. 21).

^{page 233 note 1} Cf. Syll. ³, 588, l. 4, [κ]σταστησάντων εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχ[ῆς φι]λίαν

^{page 233 note 2} It is quite common elsewhere in Greece.

^{page 234 note 1} See Wilamowitz's note on the date of v. 1, 255.

^{page 234 note 2} For the substitution of σ for θ cf. Thumb, Handbuch d. Gr. Dialekte, § 95; Buck, , Dialects, p. 55, § 64Google Scholar; Bechtel, , Gr. Dialekte, ii, p. 303.Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 3} Cf. Τείσις, at Tenos, , I.G. xii. 5, 873, l. 8Google Scholar, and such feminine names as Τεισίππη, I.G. ii. 2714.Google Scholar

^{page 236 note 1} E.g. Syll. ³, 658, l. 10 f.; 711 k., l. 8.

^{page 236 note 2} Several more fragments of the same text, found in the excavations of 1926, enable us to see that it was a copy of a decree passed by the city of Eretria in honour of a board of dikastai sent by Sparta. The complete text will be published as soon as possible.

^{page 237 note 1} It is just possible, though an unnecessary assumption, that there were two separate lists, one on each side. In this case the difference in the size of the lettering would not be easy to account for.

^{page 238 note 1} Cf. p. 188 above.

^{page 238 note 2} It is probably, however, to be restored in v. 1, 78, l. 11, where five or six letters are lost before κτικός

^{page 238 note 3} Hitherto unknown in Laconia.

^{page 239 note 1} Cf. Isio(n), Dessau, I.L.S., 6150, 8107, 8235; and Εἰσιγένης above, No. 1, C 10.

^{page 239 note 2} Is it connected with φύλαξ etc.? (cf. Φυλάξων Bechtel, Hist. Personennamen, p. 458).

^{page 239 note 3} The interpretation of the last few lines is uncertain, owing to the damaged state of that text.

^{page 239 note 4} I am much indebted to Mr. M. N. Tod for reading this article in proof, and for various helpful suggestions.

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