DOI article:
Buck, Carl Darling: Discoveries in the Attic Deme of Ikaria, 1888
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8678#0097
82
THE CHOREGIA IN ATHENS AND AT IKARIA.
the view taken in the various dictionaries of antiquities, and accepted by
all the authorities which are referred to at the beginning of this paper,
with the exception of the last two, who depart more or less from it. It
is observed by Rcisch, that none of the inscriptions having the usual
phraseology of monuments of the official class contains any reference to
a dramatic chorus. Out of twenty-six such inscriptions or fragments
collected by him, nineteen distinctly mention the kind of chorus, and
it is always lyric, of either men or boys; of the remaining seven, three
are complete and do not state the nature of the chorus, and four are
broken, so that, if the chorus was mentioned, it is no longer possible
to know its nature. There are, however, a few choregic inscriptions
plainly referring to a dramatic chorus, one being of the private class
and referring to a comic chorus (Ka>yu.a>Sot9 being used), and two, pub-
lished by Koehler,11 which are important enough to be given in full.
M^crtcrTpaTo? Micty<mz/o? Mzn;en'//,a^o? M-vrjcrtcrrpdro
At07ret^? AioScopo e^op^yov ©eoTi/ao? Aiotl/u,o e^op^jyop
AtKaioyevrji; iSl&acrKev. 'ApLcjjpcov eS[SaaKe,
JJoXv^dpri'; Kco/a&jz'o? i[Sr\SacrKev.
The Dikaiosrenes mentioned in the last line of the first is held to be
identical with the tragic poet who flourished in the beginning of the
fourth century. The first peculiarity to be observed in these two in-
scriptions is the fact that two persons are named together as choregoi.
A passage in the Scholia to Aristophanes' Frogs, 406,12 informs us that,
in the archonship of Kallias (406 b. c), it became customary for two
persons to act together as choregoi for the tragic and comic choruses
at the Diouysia. This passage is the authority for the statement, fre-
quently made (as in Boeckh, Staatsh.^ i, p. 538), that synchoregia was
one of the stages of the general system of choregia; but the words of
Aristotle quoted by the Scholiast, which limit it to the dramatic chorus,
are supported by the fact that it is not mentioned in any of the inscrip-
tions relating to the lyric chorus, while in the two inscriptions just
given, referring to the drama, it is found in use. However, the law
under Kallias embodied only a permission for two choregoi to bear the
expense of the chorus in common, not a command, as is proved by
Lysias, xxj. 4, Demosthenes, Meid. 59 and 156 (of. C. I. A., h, 1275),
where the choregos serves alone, though all three cases fall later than the
"Hermes, ii, p. 23; cf. Eeisch, p. 44.
1_'tVl yovv tov KaWlou tovtou (pri<r\v 'ApKTTOTeATjs art ffvvtivo '5u£e x0P7)y*~tv T« Atu-
vvaia rots rpayuSo^s Kal KUfxcySois.
THE CHOREGIA IN ATHENS AND AT IKARIA.
the view taken in the various dictionaries of antiquities, and accepted by
all the authorities which are referred to at the beginning of this paper,
with the exception of the last two, who depart more or less from it. It
is observed by Rcisch, that none of the inscriptions having the usual
phraseology of monuments of the official class contains any reference to
a dramatic chorus. Out of twenty-six such inscriptions or fragments
collected by him, nineteen distinctly mention the kind of chorus, and
it is always lyric, of either men or boys; of the remaining seven, three
are complete and do not state the nature of the chorus, and four are
broken, so that, if the chorus was mentioned, it is no longer possible
to know its nature. There are, however, a few choregic inscriptions
plainly referring to a dramatic chorus, one being of the private class
and referring to a comic chorus (Ka>yu.a>Sot9 being used), and two, pub-
lished by Koehler,11 which are important enough to be given in full.
M^crtcrTpaTo? Micty<mz/o? Mzn;en'//,a^o? M-vrjcrtcrrpdro
At07ret^? AioScopo e^op^yov ©eoTi/ao? Aiotl/u,o e^op^jyop
AtKaioyevrji; iSl&acrKev. 'ApLcjjpcov eS[SaaKe,
JJoXv^dpri'; Kco/a&jz'o? i[Sr\SacrKev.
The Dikaiosrenes mentioned in the last line of the first is held to be
identical with the tragic poet who flourished in the beginning of the
fourth century. The first peculiarity to be observed in these two in-
scriptions is the fact that two persons are named together as choregoi.
A passage in the Scholia to Aristophanes' Frogs, 406,12 informs us that,
in the archonship of Kallias (406 b. c), it became customary for two
persons to act together as choregoi for the tragic and comic choruses
at the Diouysia. This passage is the authority for the statement, fre-
quently made (as in Boeckh, Staatsh.^ i, p. 538), that synchoregia was
one of the stages of the general system of choregia; but the words of
Aristotle quoted by the Scholiast, which limit it to the dramatic chorus,
are supported by the fact that it is not mentioned in any of the inscrip-
tions relating to the lyric chorus, while in the two inscriptions just
given, referring to the drama, it is found in use. However, the law
under Kallias embodied only a permission for two choregoi to bear the
expense of the chorus in common, not a command, as is proved by
Lysias, xxj. 4, Demosthenes, Meid. 59 and 156 (of. C. I. A., h, 1275),
where the choregos serves alone, though all three cases fall later than the
"Hermes, ii, p. 23; cf. Eeisch, p. 44.
1_'tVl yovv tov KaWlou tovtou (pri<r\v 'ApKTTOTeATjs art ffvvtivo '5u£e x0P7)y*~tv T« Atu-
vvaia rots rpayuSo^s Kal KUfxcySois.