DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45246#0059
PRIENE.
47
These fragments appear to belong to one
document. The document relates to the appoint-
ment of a priest, apparently of Poseidon. The
Prienians had the privilege of officiating at the
Panionian festival of Poseidon, according to Strabo,
XIV, p. 639, το Πανιώνιον οπού τα Πανιώνια κοινή
πανηγύρι? των ’Ιώνων συντέλζΐται τω ' Ελικωνίω Ποσειδώνι
και θυσία, ίερώνται Πριηνάς. Our inscription may
perhaps relate to the appointment of a priest to act
on these occasions, although it seems implied by
Strabo, viii, p. 384, that a youthful Prienian citizen
was appointed year by year for this office, and this
would not accord with line 6, unless the practice
varied at different dates. Strabo writes as if the
Panionian festival was still held in his day near
Mykale, but Diodoros (xv, 49) states that it was
afterwards transferred to a spot near Ephesos; and
it is thought to have been finally merged in the
worship of the Ephesian Artemis (K. F. Hermann,
Gottesdienstl. Alt. § 66). This, however, is very
doubtful, as the Ionian League of Thirteen Cities
survived until quite a late period, and Miletos
claimed the headship in it (Marquardt, Rom. Alt. iv,
p. 187). The inscription probably belongs to the
second century b.c. We might have expected this
decree to have been inscribed at the Panionion
itself, like the decree concerning the analogous
priesthood of Zeus Boulaios and Hera, which was
claimed by the Lebedians (C. I. 2909). But perhaps
it was first inscribed there, and these fragments
belong to a duplicate erected at Priene. The men-
tion of Α7ωι/€9, i. e. the delegates of the Panionic
Synod (Ίώνων ή βουλή, C. I. 2909, and Ίώνων TO
κοινόν, Dittenberger, Syll., No. 137) in a, line 14, and
in No. ccccxxvii b, lines 3, 4, makes it certain what
priesthood of Poseidon is intended.
In lines 1 foil, my restorations are fairly probable.
Priesthoods in Greece were often sold by the state
to the highest bidder : see Dionysios of Halikar-
nassos, Antiq. Rom. ii, 21 ; and the following in-
scriptions:— C. I. 2656 (now in the British Mu-
seum); Arch. Epigr. Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich
(Vienna 1882), vi, p. 8, no. 14; Revue Archeolo-
gique, N. S. xxxiii, pp. 107 foil. ; Monatsberichte
d. Berl. Akad. 1877, P· 475· I therefore suggest ό
πρίαμξνο?'. compare No. ccccxxvii c, line 5. Possibly
’Επαμείνων in line 4 (compare No. ccccm, line 42)
was the late priest, whose death or resignation had
occasioned the vacancy; and the first clause of the
decree (lines 1-5) may have briefly enacted that the
new priest should have the same perquisites from
the various sacrifices which Epameinon had en-
joyed, and also a tithe (τδ έπιδέκατον) of certain
offerings.
The next clause (lines 5-12) is easily restored by
a comparison of No. ccccxxvii b, where the same
phrases recur. The lettering of that inscription is
decidedly coarser than the lettering of the one be-
fore us; I therefore suppose it to be rather later in
date, and have suggested (ad loci) what may have
been the relation between the two documents.
In lines 12, 13, in what appears to be a speci-
fication of the priest’s duties and privileges, is an
enactment concerning the wearing of gold. A
similar phrase recurs in the next inscription, which
so much resembles the present one, that at first sight
they might be imagined to be both parts of the same
original document. With line 6 compare the wording
of the Halikarnassian inscription (C. I. 2656), line 8,
Ιεράσζται όπ! ζωή? τη? αύτ^[ν] κ.τ.λ. See also the
Iasian law, No. ccccxl post, concerning the priest
of Zevs μί,γιστο?. As to the wearing of gold see the
Andania decree, Foucart-Le Bas, Pt. 11, No. 326 a,
line 22.
CCCCXXVII.
Four fragments of a white marble stele, from the temple of Athene Polias, Priene: a, broken on all sides, measures 10 in. by 8 in.;
b, entire on right edge only, and with 4 inches blank space at the top, above which are traces of letters on the broken edge,
measures 10 in. by 1 ft. 2| in.; c, broken all round, measures 9 in. by 5 in.; d, broken all round, measures 4J in. by 7^ in.
Presented by the Society of Dilettanti, 1870. Unpublished.
Al x
/ΠΑΤΡΟΣΈΩΣΑΝΞ
“ιγνλμηςτρ;
<ΥΡΕλΝΟΣΕΝΤ
5 ΤΟΥΠΟΚΕΙΔ
XPYrioNAc
*ΟΤλΙΟΠ
Λ ~ 7
α.
.... το]υ πατρδ? Ίω? άν —
’Έδοζζν τώ δήμ\ω, γνώμη στρα^τηγών' ίπζιδή
Ee. ’Ισ~)\υρίωνο? kv τ[ω πρίασθαι
την ιερωσύνην) του Ποσαδ^ώνο? ....
χρυσίον λο . . . .
ε)φ’ δτω ό π[ριάμενο? . ο
47
These fragments appear to belong to one
document. The document relates to the appoint-
ment of a priest, apparently of Poseidon. The
Prienians had the privilege of officiating at the
Panionian festival of Poseidon, according to Strabo,
XIV, p. 639, το Πανιώνιον οπού τα Πανιώνια κοινή
πανηγύρι? των ’Ιώνων συντέλζΐται τω ' Ελικωνίω Ποσειδώνι
και θυσία, ίερώνται Πριηνάς. Our inscription may
perhaps relate to the appointment of a priest to act
on these occasions, although it seems implied by
Strabo, viii, p. 384, that a youthful Prienian citizen
was appointed year by year for this office, and this
would not accord with line 6, unless the practice
varied at different dates. Strabo writes as if the
Panionian festival was still held in his day near
Mykale, but Diodoros (xv, 49) states that it was
afterwards transferred to a spot near Ephesos; and
it is thought to have been finally merged in the
worship of the Ephesian Artemis (K. F. Hermann,
Gottesdienstl. Alt. § 66). This, however, is very
doubtful, as the Ionian League of Thirteen Cities
survived until quite a late period, and Miletos
claimed the headship in it (Marquardt, Rom. Alt. iv,
p. 187). The inscription probably belongs to the
second century b.c. We might have expected this
decree to have been inscribed at the Panionion
itself, like the decree concerning the analogous
priesthood of Zeus Boulaios and Hera, which was
claimed by the Lebedians (C. I. 2909). But perhaps
it was first inscribed there, and these fragments
belong to a duplicate erected at Priene. The men-
tion of Α7ωι/€9, i. e. the delegates of the Panionic
Synod (Ίώνων ή βουλή, C. I. 2909, and Ίώνων TO
κοινόν, Dittenberger, Syll., No. 137) in a, line 14, and
in No. ccccxxvii b, lines 3, 4, makes it certain what
priesthood of Poseidon is intended.
In lines 1 foil, my restorations are fairly probable.
Priesthoods in Greece were often sold by the state
to the highest bidder : see Dionysios of Halikar-
nassos, Antiq. Rom. ii, 21 ; and the following in-
scriptions:— C. I. 2656 (now in the British Mu-
seum); Arch. Epigr. Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich
(Vienna 1882), vi, p. 8, no. 14; Revue Archeolo-
gique, N. S. xxxiii, pp. 107 foil. ; Monatsberichte
d. Berl. Akad. 1877, P· 475· I therefore suggest ό
πρίαμξνο?'. compare No. ccccxxvii c, line 5. Possibly
’Επαμείνων in line 4 (compare No. ccccm, line 42)
was the late priest, whose death or resignation had
occasioned the vacancy; and the first clause of the
decree (lines 1-5) may have briefly enacted that the
new priest should have the same perquisites from
the various sacrifices which Epameinon had en-
joyed, and also a tithe (τδ έπιδέκατον) of certain
offerings.
The next clause (lines 5-12) is easily restored by
a comparison of No. ccccxxvii b, where the same
phrases recur. The lettering of that inscription is
decidedly coarser than the lettering of the one be-
fore us; I therefore suppose it to be rather later in
date, and have suggested (ad loci) what may have
been the relation between the two documents.
In lines 12, 13, in what appears to be a speci-
fication of the priest’s duties and privileges, is an
enactment concerning the wearing of gold. A
similar phrase recurs in the next inscription, which
so much resembles the present one, that at first sight
they might be imagined to be both parts of the same
original document. With line 6 compare the wording
of the Halikarnassian inscription (C. I. 2656), line 8,
Ιεράσζται όπ! ζωή? τη? αύτ^[ν] κ.τ.λ. See also the
Iasian law, No. ccccxl post, concerning the priest
of Zevs μί,γιστο?. As to the wearing of gold see the
Andania decree, Foucart-Le Bas, Pt. 11, No. 326 a,
line 22.
CCCCXXVII.
Four fragments of a white marble stele, from the temple of Athene Polias, Priene: a, broken on all sides, measures 10 in. by 8 in.;
b, entire on right edge only, and with 4 inches blank space at the top, above which are traces of letters on the broken edge,
measures 10 in. by 1 ft. 2| in.; c, broken all round, measures 9 in. by 5 in.; d, broken all round, measures 4J in. by 7^ in.
Presented by the Society of Dilettanti, 1870. Unpublished.
Al x
/ΠΑΤΡΟΣΈΩΣΑΝΞ
“ιγνλμηςτρ;
<ΥΡΕλΝΟΣΕΝΤ
5 ΤΟΥΠΟΚΕΙΔ
XPYrioNAc
*ΟΤλΙΟΠ
Λ ~ 7
α.
.... το]υ πατρδ? Ίω? άν —
’Έδοζζν τώ δήμ\ω, γνώμη στρα^τηγών' ίπζιδή
Ee. ’Ισ~)\υρίωνο? kv τ[ω πρίασθαι
την ιερωσύνην) του Ποσαδ^ώνο? ....
χρυσίον λο . . . .
ε)φ’ δτω ό π[ριάμενο? . ο