Gephyra (May 2020)
New Dedications to Hosios and Dikaios from the Museum of Eskişehir
Abstract
In this article we present 18 new dedications to Hosios and Dikaios that are preserved today in the Eskişehir Archaeological Museum. One of the inscriptions (no.14) belongs to the Firuz Kınatlı collection registered to the museum. The deities of Hosios and Dikaios and their cult have been studied in some detailed articles to date. All the dedications offered to these gods and other epigraphic materials related to them have been brought together and the cult has accordingly been investigated as a whole. On the other hand, new monuments concerning the cult of these gods have been continuously published since M. Ricl’s last compilation in 2008. This new material is also given in the article as an addendum. The monuments, including the new ones introduced in this paper, as well as those in the addendum, bring the total number to nearly 200. The first 9 monuments in the article were discovered together during canalisation work in the same place. All of these altars are of large heights and have been worked in almost the same style. Amongst these monuments 8 are inscribed, and it is easily understood from their context that they are dedications or ex-votos to Hosios and Dikaios, while one of them (no. 9) remains uninscribed. The find-spot was either a sanctuary, or they were possibly transported to this spot from a sanctuary nearby. The find-spots of the other monuments in the article are mostly within the territory of Dorylaion, while some monuments don’t belong to this region (for example nos. 10 and 18) and for a few others there is no information availa-ble regarding their find-spots. These must have found their way to the museum from different sanctuaries already known within the territory of Dorylaion. Even though the monuments published here for the first time don’t shed much new light on the cult of Hosios and Dikaios, they increase the number of the dedications of Dorylaion origin and consequently strengthen the thesis put forward earlier that the cult first originated in this region. Most of the dedica-tions are in the form of an altar; there are only a few stelai, which is in line with the general situation for Hosios and Dikaios dedications. From their stylistic features and the lettering style, we can date them to between the 2nd half of the 2nd century and the 3rd century A.D.
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