Honorary inscriptions from the sanctuary of Thermia Artemis (Thermi, Lesbos)
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In the article titled “Στα θερμά νερά, στη Θερμή”, published in the local newspaper of Lesbos (see Εμπρός, 12 Ιουνίου 2013) the author M. Axiotis writes about the sanctuary of Thermia Artemis at Thermi and emphasizes the significance of the inscribed honorary statue bases of agonothetae, high priests and panigyriarchai, who financed the festival of the goddess. Axiotis also notes that these pedestals are kept in the outdoor collection at the church of Ag. Konstantinos.1 He then publishes the photographs of four of them, two of which I identify below:2
Phot. 1. Photograph by M. Axiotis showing the two honorary inscriptions from the Sanctuary at Thermi.
1. IG XII 2, 243. G.Paton, the editor of IG XII 2 corpus, considers the inscription lost. Regarding the find spot of the inscription he states: “In thermis Mytilenaeis in eadem pila portae, in qua n. 244. Nunc periit. Exstat in archivis Mytilenaeis apographum a sacerdote factum”. G. Labarre (op. cit. nr. 38) saw the inscription at the Sanctuary of Thermia Artemis but did not publish a photograph.
It is a statue base with a honorary inscription dated to the 2nd c. A.D.1 (See Phot. inscription in the red circle). According to the inscription, the Boule and the demos honor Aulus Clodius Perennianus for his services as strategos (general), hiereus (priest), archiereus (high priest) and agonothetes. Paton edited the inscription “ex apographo”:
Ἀ βόλλα καὶ ὀ δᾶμος
Αὖλον Κλώδιον Περεν-
νίανον, στραταγήσαν-
τα ἄγνως καὶ εὐσταθέως
5 ἐν καίροις ἐπιμεληΐας
δευομένοις, τὸν εἴρεα
καὶ ἀρχείρεα καὶ λόγιον
πρύτανιν ἀγωνοθέταν
ἔνι ἐνιαύτω, πεπληρώκον-
10 τα δὲ καὶ τὰν ἐν τᾶ πρώτα
πάτριδι καὶ νεωκόρω Περ-
γαμήνων τῶν συνγενέων
πόλει τὰν ἐπώνυμον
ἀπὺ βασιλέων πρυτανηΐαν,
15 ἄν ἐκ γένεος διαδεξάμε-
νος τοῖς τᾶς ἀξίας βάσ-
μοις ἀνελόγησε.
2. IG XII 2, 248. Regarding the find spot of the inscription Paton mentions: «Thermis ad viam prope aquas calidas».
It is a statue pedestal with a honorary inscription dated to the 2nd c. A.D. (See Phot.inscription in the blue circle). According to the inscription, the Boule and the demos honor L. Antonius Servelius for his piety as priest, high priest, agonothetes and panigyriarches in the festival of Artemis.
Ἀγάθα Τύχα.
Ἀ βόλλα
καὶ ὀ δᾶμος
Λ. Ἀντώνιον, Λ. Ἀν-
5 τωνίω Σερβιλίω ὔ-
ον, Σερβήλιον, τὸν
εἴρεα καὶ ἀρχείρε-
α καὶ ἀγωνοθέταν
καὶ πανηγυριάρχαν
10 τᾶς Θερμιάκας πα-
ναγύριος,[εὐσεβή-
ας μὲν [τᾶς πρὸς τοίς
θέο[ις κ.τ.λ.
MARIA S. DIAKOUMAKOU
_________________
1 Regarding the dating of the inscriptions, see G. Labarre, Les Cités de Lesbos aux époques hellénistique et impériale, vol. I, Lyon 1996, nr. 38 καὶ 40.
2 I publish again Axiotis’ photographs.