Year: 2013
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This paper offers an examination of three significant familial inscriptions from the Hellenistic period.The texts are detailed cultic dossiers initiated by three individuals-Diomedon on Cos, Poseidonios in Halicarnassus, and Epikteta on Thera.Though they are often very briefly grouped together, these inscriptions are discussed here in greater textual and contextual detail.In particular, the analysis focusses on the cult personnel which is appointed in these families, demonstrating that it remains independent from the polis, but is organised with reference to a civic framework.By setting these inscriptions in parallel, the discussion opens up productive perspectives on the evolutions of familial cults in the Hellenistic period.The inscription of Poseidonios is reedited in an Appendix by Jan-Mathieu Carbon.Religious authority takes different forms in Greek cities. Priests and priestesses represent only one aspect of a multifarious system of responsibilities where sacred business is concerned.1 Even though magistrates can be in charge of some sacrificial duties, the handling of sacred offerings, hiera-which is of course closely related to the Greek name for a priest, hiereus, or a priestess, hiereia-is at the very core of priesthood.On an official level, when a sacrifice is put on by a civic community, this essential connection between priests and public rites is manifest.2 For instance, at the sanctuary of Oropos during the fourth century BC, the priest prays and put down the hiera on the altar if the sacrifice belongs to a public performance, but only optionally when the sacrifice is outside the official scope of the city.3 In the latter context, the individual offering a sacrifice may * We are very grateful to Marietta Horster and Anja Klöckner for inviting us to contribute to this volume.We also wish to warmly thank Eftychia Stravrianopoulou for reading this paper and providing many valuable comments and clarifications, as well as for her sometimes different but fruitful perspectives on the texts discussed here.1 Parker 2011: 40-63. 2 Epigraphic evidence is particularly clear on this point.For example, this is the case in Cos after the synoecism of 366 BC: cf.e.g.
Source: De Gruyter eBooks
Institution: University of Liège
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W357932643