Some inscriptions from and of the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens

Abstract

Identifying the original place of publication of an ancient inscription represents often a hard task for epigraphists, which is made more challenging by its possible fragmentary state of preservation, the potential later reuse of the stone and the sometimes obscure or confuse circumstances of its discovery. It should be even noted that in the past the attention paid to texts has too often prevailed over that devoted to contexts, which in many cases have been (almost) completely ignored: for this reason, it is worth reaffirming the importance of the relationship between text and context in epigraphic studies and to praise the interest demonstrated to this topic in the more recent times. These considerations have been at the basis of the research project The Epigraphic Landscape Athens and on these same foundations my research on the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens has been grounded, whose purpose has been to identify all the surviving texts once exposed in the proximity of the theatre of Dionysus annexed to the sanctuary, in order to understand why and when the Athenians considered this place, that had a strong political significance over the time, as an appropriate site for the publication of official texts. The analysis of the archaeological data, the reading of the inscriptions discovered in and near the sanctuary and the comparative exam of all the Athenian epigraphic production have enabled me to gather a significant group of inscriptions once set in the sanctuary (1) but also to identify (with certainty or at least with good reliability) other inscribed stones found in the same area but pertaining to other places of the city (2) and, conversely, other inscriptions discovered elsewhere but attributable to the sanctuary on the basis of historical, chronological or textual reasons (3). A selection of a few examples of decrees pertaining to groups (2) and (3) is here presented and discussed.