In this second of two essays on the topic of ancient Greek inscriptions, I will briefly explore and discuss the textuality of ritual norms or, 'sacred laws', by looking 1) at the reasons for these ritual norms to have been written down in the first place and 2) how these norms/laws/decrees were able to get their observers to adhere to them. Throughout the essay I have made use of J.L. Austin's Speech Act Theory to better contextualize the meaning of the (...) inscriptions dealt with. (shrink)

This list of the documents found in Lois sacrées de l’Asie Minseure attempts to classify them in terms of the categories formulated in Harris, “Towards a Typology” (2015). 1. Sinope. Law/decree about a priesthood (polis) – third century BCE (I. Sinope 8) This appears to be a law/decree of the polis for the priest of Poseidon Helikonios (line 2) and mentions public rites (lines 2-3), but there is no enactment formula. On the other hand, it may have been a contract (...) between the polis and speci... (shrink)

At the end of his life of Aratus Plutarch recounts the death of the Achaean statesman in 213 BC, the subsequent transport of his body — after a consultation of the Delphic oracle — from Aigion to his native Sicyon, his burial inside of the city, and the annual festival established in his honor. Although Plutarch’s account of the retrieval of the body is for several reasons highly suspect historically, his description of the festival rings true and appears to derive (...) — not directly, I argue, but indirectly through an intermediate source — from an inscription. Most of the content and language finds close parallels in surviving inscriptions concerned with the conduct of sacrifices and, especially, with the large, organized processions that very often preceded them. I use material from these inscriptions to supplement and shed light on Plutarch’s brief account and to offer a tentative reconstruction of the festival and its procession, in the context of what is known of the topography of Hellenistic Sicyon. I also make a suggestion, again tentative, of the identity of Plutarch’s source for the passage. (shrink)

This list of the documents found in Lois sacrées des cités grecques. Supplément attempts to classify them in terms of the categories formulated in Harris, “Towards a Typology” (2015). 1. Athens (Agora). Law/decree of the polis (?) – between 510 and 480 BCE (IG I3 231; IE 7) This fragmentary inscription is written in boustrophedon, which dates the text to the late sixth or the early fifth century BCE; Clinton dates the inscription more precisely to 510-500 BCE. Perquisites for officials (...) at th... (shrink)

This list of the documents found in Lois sacrées des cités grecques attempts to classify them in terms of the categories formulated in Harris, “Towards a Typology” (2015). 1. Attica. Athens. Calendar (probably subdivision of the polis) – early fifth century BCE (IG I3 234) The inscription is damaged, but contains the names of months (line 3: Thargelion; line 16: Gamelion), the names of gods, and animals to be sacrificed. The authority cannot be identified, but the non-standard sequence of mo...