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APARCHAI IN THE GREAT LIST OF THASIAN THEÔROI*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2014

Theodora Suk Fong Jim
Theodora Suk Fong Jim*
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
*
t.jim@lancaster.ac.uk
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Extract

One of the most baffling inscriptions has come down to us from the so-called ‘Passage of the Theôroi’ at Thasos. Situated at the north-eastern entrance of the ancient agora, and consisting originally of two walls on either side of a path paved by marble, the monumental passage way had a long list of names inscribed on the inside of its western wall; this is the so-called ‘great list of Thasian theôroi’. Two of its constituent lists bear the headings ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς and ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς| οἵδε ἐθεόρεον. The meaning of the word aparchê and the nature of the theôroi in question have been the subject of disagreement among historians. The aim of this article is to contribute further suggestions to existing discussions.

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Research Article
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The Classical Quarterly , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , May 2014 , pp. 13 - 24
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2014 

One of the most baffling inscriptions has come down to us from the so-called ‘Passage of the Theôroi’ at Thasos.Footnote 1 Situated at the north-eastern entrance of the ancient agora,Footnote 2 and consisting originally of two walls on either side of a path paved by marble, the monumental passage way had a long list of names inscribed on the inside of its western wall; this is the so-called ‘great list of Thasian theôroi’.Footnote 3 Two of its constituent lists bear the headings ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς and ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς| οἵδε ἐθεόρεον. The meaning of the word aparchê and the nature of the theôroi in question have been the subject of disagreement among historians. The aim of this article is to contribute further suggestions to existing discussions.

Since the monument's excavation by the French archaeologist E. Miller in the 1860s and the publication of his findings in 1889,Footnote 4 scholars have tried to establish the blocks' original placement and chronology. It is now generally agreed that the list consisted of nine columns and eight courses of inscribed blocks arranged chronologically from columns one to nine, confined mainly or totally to the western wall. The structure has been dated on stylistic grounds to c. 480 b.c. from its sculptured reliefs;Footnote 5 but it was at least a century later, perhaps in the middle of the fourth century, that the list began to be inscribed. The inscription begins with Ἀγαθῆι Τύχη[ι οἵδε ἐθεόρεο]ν (‘With Good Fortune. [The following people served as theôro]i’), engraved in the top left corner of the wall and in larger letters than the rest of the text.Footnote 6 Following this heading are several more prescripts and lists of names. The two inscriptions which concern us here, inscribed on the first and fourth blocks of the first column, contain the preambles ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς and ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς, each followed by a list of twelve names of the individuals who served as theôroi. The activities of these two groups of theôroi have been dated on prosopographical grounds to the late seventh and mid-sixth centuries b.c. respectively.Footnote 7 Between these two lists is another preamble and list of names. Lastly, there is a fourth and final heading followed by names in groups of three, extending from the bottom of column one to column nine. In other words, the prescripts and order of the inscriptions in the first column are as follows:Footnote 8

IG XII.8 273 ἀγαθῆι τύχη[ι οἵδε ἐθεόρεο]ν| ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς.

IG XII.8 275A ἐπι τῶν δυώδεκα ἀρχόντων |οἵδε ἐθεόρεον.

IG XII.8 274A ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς| οἵδε ἐθεόρεον.

IG XII.8 276 ὑπο τὸν χρόνον |ὅν οἱ ἑξήκοντα καὶ |τριηκόσιοι ἦρχον| οἵδε ἐθεόρεον.

While the second and fourth prescripts allude more or less clearly to two periods of government under the twelve archons and Three Hundred and Sixty respectively,Footnote 9 the other two headings remain a scholarly puzzle. This article aims to investigate the disputed meaning of the ‘first aparchê’ and the ‘second aparchê’ in IG XII.8 273 and 274, and to suggest possibilities for the nature of the aparchai and theôriai in question. Pouilloux's detailed (but rather dated) study on Thasian history and religion does not tackle the problem, only conceding the impossibility of discovering their precise meaning.Footnote 10 Other historians who attempted an explanation have not done so convincingly. In the late nineteenth century, Jacobs argued that the word aparchê here must be the equivalent of ἀρχή (‘rule’).Footnote 11 As an analogy he mentioned the cognate word ἄπαρχοςFootnote 12 in Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1227 and Persae 327, where it seems to mean ‘commander’ or ‘ruler’.Footnote 13 Jacobs's view was accepted by LSJ, who explain aparchê as a ‘board of officials’.Footnote 14 Following Jacobs, Salviat similarly interprets the word as a political term: he takes it to be a board of magistrates, a detached or local political power, appointed by the mother city to supervise affairs in the colony. He refers to the word ἀπάρρχει in Pindar's fourth Nemean Ode, apparently meaning ‘rules from afar’ according to most commentators.Footnote 15 As parallels he further adduces the nomophylakes envisaged in Plato's Laws, the ten ἀπ[οικοσταί] involved in Athens’ foundation of Brea, as well as the ten people in the foundation of Thurii.Footnote 16 Salviat argues that the two groups of twelve theôroi under the rubric of aparchê might have been charged with the duty of putting in order the institutions of the newly-founded city, and that they appeared twice because there were probably two acts of foundation (presumably by Thasos’ mother city Paros).Footnote 17 Influenced perhaps by these views, some scholars have interpreted the theôroi on these lists as magistrates or eponymous officials at Thasos.Footnote 18

However, the management of Thasian affairs by a special board twice appointed by the mother city is mere conjecture not supported by evidence.Footnote 19 The magistrates alluded to by Salviat were called nomophylakes and apoikostai (if the restoration ἀπ[οικοσταί] can be relied upon) but not aparchai or theôroi. Moreover, the reading of the words ἄπαρχος and ἀπάρχει in both the Aeschylean and Pindaric passages is doubtful; and it is the word ἀπαρχή, not ἄπαρχος (or ἔπαρχος or ὕπαρχος), that we are dealing with in the present inscriptions. More importantly, the above views are undermined by the lack of any epigraphic or literary parallels for ἀπαρχή meaning ‘magistracy’: attested usages of the word ἀπαρχή always refers to an offering or less frequently a cult payment to the gods, and never a board of magistrates or political functionaries (see below). Despite these difficulties, Salviat's contentions have been accepted by some scholars,Footnote 20 and now appear in the revised supplement of LSJ: ‘app. a board of officials sent by a city to order the affairs of a colony, IG 12(8).273, 280, 283, 285 (Thasos, vi b.c., v. esp. BCH 107.185); cf. ἀπάρχης’. It is therefore necessary to consider alternative interpretations of the Thasian inscriptions.

The first scholar to object to these views was Graham. In his article in 1982, and later reiterated briefly in his response in 2001 to other scholars’ criticism, he argues that the word aparchê does not designate magistracy, but the traditional religious offering, and that the theôroi of these boards were appointed irregularly for special occasions. He suggests that a college of twelve theôroi was twice appointed to make an important offering (aparchê),Footnote 21 possibly occasioned by the discovery of a new mine or seam, based on the example of the aparchê of Siphnian mines mentioned in Herodotus Book 3.Footnote 22 While my understanding of the word aparchê is similar to Graham's, this article differs in important respects from his. Its emphasis lies not on the chronology and placement of the wall blocks, but on the nature of the two aparchai and the theôroi. By situating the Thasian lists in the context of what we know about aparchai in ancient Greece, and by examining more closely the documentary evidence on the link between aparchai and theôroi, I will raise possibilities not formerly envisaged by Graham or other historians. My objections to aparchê as meaning ‘magistracy’ are threefold: first, on semantic grounds; second, by comparison with other lists of theôroi monumentally inscribed in other cities; third, by analogy with the connection frequently attested between theôria and aparchai in ancient Greece.Footnote 23

I. APPLICATIONS OF THE WORD APARCHÊ

There are three religious contexts in which the word aparchê (and its cognate verb aparchesthai) was used in ancient Greece, namely animal sacrifice, dedications and cult finance. The most common aparchai in ancient Greece were dedications offered to the gods, whether individually or on a collective basis, using a portion of the proceeds from a variety of human activities,Footnote 24 such as agriculture,Footnote 25 hunting,Footnote 26 work,Footnote 27 military victoryFootnote 28 and other enterprises. This act of offering an aparchê to the gods using a part of a greater whole is described by the cognate verb aparchesthai.Footnote 29 While the bulk of the evidence for aparchai and aparchesthai concerns dedications, the act represented by aparchesthai could also apply to animal sacrifice. It was a conventional practice to set aside some of the sacrificial animal's hair or flesh as a preliminary portion for the gods; this rite could be denoted by the verb aparchesthai.Footnote 30 Sacrificial and dedicatory contexts aside, in cult finance some religious contributions required of individuals or groups of individuals were also termed aparchai, and the act of making such contributions aparchesthai. For example, a first-century lex sacra inscribed on a thêsauros at Thasos concerning the cult of Theogenes reads: τοὺς θύοντας τῷ Θεογένηι [Θα]σ[ίω]ι ἀπάρχεσθαι εἰς τὸν θησαυρὸν μὴ ἔλασσον ὀβολοῦ· τῶι δὲ μὴ ἀπαρξαμένωι καθότι προγέγραπται ἐνθυμιστὸν εἶναι (‘Those who sacrifice to Theagenes of Thasos shall pay no less than an obol into the thêsauros; he who fails to make the offering as prescribed have an enthumiston’).Footnote 31 Here aparchesthai expresses the act of making a cult payment on the occasion of sacrifice.Footnote 32 Although much later than our lists of Thasian theôroi, it shows that the word aparchesthai in its religious sense is not without parallel at Thasos.

What unites these three seemingly different applications of aparchê and aparchesthai is their reference to a religious offering (or payment) designated to the gods, be it part of the sacrificial animal, a dedication, or a sum of money. The word aparchê was used invariably with a religious significance: not even in the sphere of cult finance did it lose its sacred character. The lack of parallels for an aparchê denoting a magistrate or a board of magistrates goes decisively against Jacob's and Salviat's views. Unless the present Thasian usage does not adhere to normal applications of the word, the ‘first aparchê’ and ‘second aparchê’ are extremely unlikely to refer to officials. Rather they are much more likely to be traditional religious offerings, perhaps in the form of dedications, designated for the god(s), whose identity and location I shall explore below.

II. LISTS OF THEÔROI ON MONUMENTAL STRUCTURES

It was not uncommon for the names of theôroi, in the sense of sacred envoys visiting distant sanctuaries, to be inscribed on the walls of monumental buildings. One of the most well-known examples comes from Athens: the names of the Athenian Pythaïsts in four sacred missions to Delphi (138/7, 128/7, 106/5, 98/7 b.c.) were engraved on the south wall of the Athenian treasury at Delphi.Footnote 33 Several inscriptions explicitly mention the dispatch of offerings termed aparchai by these theôroi using various formulations: [ὁ ἐξ]αποστα[λεὶς ἐπὶ τὰς ἀπα]ρχάς (‘the one dispatched for the aparchai’, FD III.2 46.1, 128 b.c.), ὁ [ἐ]πὶ τὰς ἀ[πα]ρχάς (‘the one for the aparchai, FD III.2 13.19, 106 b.c.) and, more fully, [ὁ χει]ροτονηθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξαποστολ[ὴν] τῆς Πυθαΐδος καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τοῦ θεοῦ (‘the one elected for the dispatch of the Pythaïs and the aparchai of the god’, FD III.2 6, FD III.2 54, 98/7 b.c.).Footnote 34 Although they do not appear explicitly in earlier epigraphic evidence, the aparchai are likely to have been traditional offerings already sent by the Pythaïdes in the Classical period.Footnote 35 In the late Hellenistic period the aparchai might have been a sum of money,Footnote 36 but it is unclear what form the aparchai took earlier. The lists of Athenian Pythaïsts and those of Thasian theôroi share some interesting similarities: both associate aparchai with theôroi; both were put up on a monumental structure in a prominent location readily visible to all. The Thasian Passage of Theôroi was situated along the main road running through the ancient city and at the north-eastern entrance of the ancient agora, whereas the Athenian treasury was built along the sacred way at Delphi with its inscribed south wall facing passers-by.Footnote 37 Also illuminating are the formulae concerning the Athenian Pythaïsts: while their constructions are admittedly different, it is tempting to think that the prescripts [οἵδε ἐθεόρεο]ν | ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς and ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς | οἵδε ἐθεόρεον are similar in meaning to such formulations as ὁ [ἐ]πὶ τὰς ἀ[πα]ρχάς (FD III.2 13.19). If it is correct to think that the Thasian formulae refer to theôroi appointed for the task of dispatching aparchai to the god(s), we may understand the preposition ἐπί followed by a genitive as meaning ‘in charge of’ or ‘with reference to’, and translate ‘the following served as theôroi (sacred delegates) in charge of the first/second aparchê (a religious offering)’.

There are other cases where the names of theôroi were inscribed on buildings or wall blocks. On the neighbouring island of Samothrace, at least seventeen lists of theôroi (without mention of aparchai) were inscribed on marble blocks of a building yet to be identified.Footnote 38 At Magnesia on the Maeander, some sixty-five decrees (not lists of names), consisting of different Greek cities’ responses to Magnesia's invitation to participate in the Leucophryenia (re-established in 208 b.c.), were inscribed along the perimeter walls of the agora.Footnote 39 Some of these decrees make provisions for a religious offering termed aparchê, in the form of a cash gift, to be sent to Artemis Leucophryene (‘of the white brow’) by sacred officials called theôroi.Footnote 40 That the names and/or duties of these theôroi should be displayed in this way suggests that their missions were of great religious significance to the cities’ relations with their gods, so that their permanent commemoration was considered appropriate and important.

III. THEÔROI AND APARCHAI

Our understanding of the two inscriptions also depends on the nature of the theôroi in question. There exists a range of meanings of the words theôroi and theôria: theôroi may refer to sacred envoys sent to announce a festival, sacred delegations visiting a sanctuary to attend a festival or on other occasions, or private individuals who visited a shrine for various reasons (such as oracular consultation, attendance in Panhellenic festivals, making an offering, healing, initiation, sightseeing, etc.).Footnote 41 In some cities, such as Mantinea, Naupactus and Tegea, theôroi can also refer to local officials or overseers.Footnote 42 It is in the last sense that the Thasian theôroi have often been understood. LSJ cite IG XII.8 267 etc. as one of the examples where theôros means ‘magistrate’.Footnote 43 Dimitrova considers the Thasian text as ‘the most significant record of theôroi as local officials’.Footnote 44 While I do not object to the possibility that the Thasian theôroi in our inscriptions might have been local officials, we have yet to consider their precise functions. Instead of Salviat's ‘corps de magistrats’ overseeing affairs in the colony, it seems more probable that they were local officials charged with the religious duty of dispatching an offering termed aparchê to the god(s) in another sanctuary on two special occasions. The juxtaposition between aparchê and theôrein in the present inscriptions, together with the association frequently attested between theôria and aparchai in other parts of Greece (see below), makes this interpretation very likely.

It was a customary practice for sacred envoys visiting another sanctuary to bring gifts to the god(s), be they sacrificial animals, aparchai, or other offerings. The link between theôria and aparchai is borne out in an abundance of epigraphic and literary sources. Apart from the Athenian Pythaïsts journeying to Delphi and the Greek envoys to Magnesia on the Maeander already mentioned, there are further examples of theôroi bearing aparchai. As early as mythical time, the Hyperboreans are said to have sent aparchai (of unknown nature) to Delos each year through a long chain of intermediary Greek cities.Footnote 45 The Delian inventory lists of the Hellenistic period record numerous phialai dedicated as aparchai to Apollo.Footnote 46 So commonly were aparchai dispatched by these sacred missions that Bruneau considers that their unique function was to transport an offering termed aparchê and to present it solemnly to the god.Footnote 47

The four Panhellenic sanctuaries also seem to have received aparchai from Greek cities in the Archaic and Classical periods. There is no direct evidence from the early periods; but indications have come down to us from the dossier of asylia decrees concerning Magnesia on the Maeander mentioned earlier. Clazomenae's response to Magnesia states that ‘the (Magnesian) theôroi who come each time for the proclamation shall be given aparchai and xenia, in the same way as they are given to those proclaiming the Pythian games’ (δ[ίδοσ]θαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς θεω[ρ]οῖς τοῖς ἑκάστοτε πορευομένοις ἐπὶ τὰς [ἐπα]γγελίας τὰς ἀπαρ[χ]ὰς καὶ τὰ ξένια καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς τὰ Πύθ[ια ἐ]αγγέλουσιν δί[δ]οται).Footnote 48 Another response, probably from Mytilene, similarly alludes to an aparchê to the traditional Pythian games: ‘the festival-announcing theôroi from Magnesia shall be given, for the aparchê and the sacrifice at the public hearth and xenia, as much as it is written in the law for those announcing the Pythian games’ (δίδωσθαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐπαγγελλόντεσσι θεώροισι πὰρ Μαγ[ή]των εἴς τε ἐναρχὰν καὶ ἐϕέστιον κ[αὶ] νια, [ὅσ]σα καὶ τοῖς τὰ Πύθια ἐπαγγελλόν[τ]εσσι[ν ἐν] [ν]όμῳ γέγραπται).Footnote 49 The implication seems to be that aparchai had already been sent to the traditional Panhellenic games by theôria in the earlier periods, and that the Hellenistic practice was an imitation and a continuation of an earlier custom.

Panhellenic sanctuaries and festival-holding cities aside, the Greeks might also sent aparchai to their mother city or a dominant power. In the fifth century the Athenian subject allies were required to contribute an aparchê of tribute to Athena at Athens and aparchai of wheat and barley to the two goddesses at Eleusis; these were sent most probably by state delegations.Footnote 50 Even after the dissolution of the Athenian empire, in the fourth century the people of Priene decreed that they would (voluntarily) dispatch two theôroi bringing a panoply (line 4), aparchai and sacrifices to Athena Polias at the Great Panathenaea every four years (lines 10–13: αἱρεῖσθαι δὲ [ὸν δῆ]μον θεω[ὺς] δύο τοὺς τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἀπ[ο][σοντας καὶ τ]ὰ ἱε ποιήσοντας τῆι Ἀθηνᾶι τῆι Πολιάδι κα[θ’ ἑκάστην] πεντετηρίδα)Footnote 51 as an expression of their goodwill for the Athenians. The link between theôroi and aparchai is once again attested in the text quoted here.

IV. THASIAN THEÔROI BRINGING APARCHAI?

As aparchai could take many different forms in ancient Greece, such as agricultural produce, monumental dedications, vessels (such as phialai) and monetary offerings, the precise nature of the Thasian aparchai is open to conjecture. We may speculate, as Graham does, that the aparchai were probably religious offerings from the revenue of newly discovered mines at Thasos, by comparison with the Siphnian dedication (in the form of a treasury) to Apollo at Delphi using a tithe of the profits from the Sphnian mines.Footnote 52 Yet in the absence of corroborating information, the nature of the Thasian aparchai must remain conjectural.

In the light of what we know about theôroi bearing aparchai, several possibilities may be suggested for the recipient and destination of the Thasian aparchai. The Thasians might be paying homage to Apollo, who is represented in the relief on the western wall of the Passage of Theôroi. Traditions had it that the god in Delphi had been consulted before the Parian foundation of the city; and it has been suggested that the cult of Apollo at Thasos might have been introduced by the Parians.Footnote 53 A sanctuary of Apollo Pythios was situated on the Thasian acropolis;Footnote 54 his cult is further attested in Thasian inscriptions.Footnote 55 Accordingly, some scholars have conjectured the possible connection between Apollo Pythios and the Thasian theôroi in our texts.Footnote 56 However, other divinities (Hermes, the Charites, the Nymphs) also adorned the walls of the Passage; in particular, the cult of the Charites (and possibly other divinities) might have been located in the Passage.Footnote 57 Furthermore, as Pouilloux pointed out,Footnote 58 the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios on the hilltop is rather far from the Passage of the Theôroi; and the Apollo depicted on the south wall was Apollo Nymphêgetês, not Apollo Pythios. Finally the theôroi at Thasos appear to be responsible not only for the cult of Apollo but also that of Athena (who also had a sanctuary on the Thasian acropolis).Footnote 59

Another possibility concerns festival attendance. We have seen miscellaneous Greek cities making provision for an aparchê to be sent to Magnesia on the Maeander in celebration of the Leucophryenia, perhaps in imitation of an earlier custom of sending aparchai to the traditional Panhellenic games. Well-known athletes from Thasos, such as Theogenes, who won numerous victories in the Panhellenic games in the fifth century,Footnote 60 show that Thasian representatives participated in such games in the Classical period and possibly earlier. Might our Thasian theôroi be bringing aparchai with them when attending the traditional Panhellenic festivals?

In the light of the practice of sending aparchai to the mother city, the Thasians might also have been carrying aparchai to Paros. Chronologically Paros’ foundation of Thasos in the seventh centuryFootnote 61 fits the proposed dating (end of the seventh to the middle of the sixth century) of the activities of the Thasian theôroi in our inscriptions. By analogy with the aparchai sent to Athens by her subject allies and colonies mentioned earlier, might Thasos have been sending official delegations to Paros on two special occasions, whether voluntarily or by some obligation, to express her goodwill for the mother city? The fact that the Thasian inscriptions did not make explicit where the aparchai were dispatched may suggest that the destination was obvious to the Thasians; bringing gifts to the mother city was probably felt to be a practice that needed no explanation. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of Thasos sending aparchai to Paros in the Archaic and Classical periods; nor was Paros in a position to demand contributions of aparchai as Athens did in the fifth century.

The most plausible destination of the Thasian theôroi seems to be the neighbouring island of Samothrace, a possibility not formerly envisaged by Graham or others. Samothrace provides us with a wealth of epigraphic evidence on theôroi, with some 170 lists of theôroi and initiates surviving.Footnote 62 Beginning in the late third century b.c. and continuing into the third century a.d., these lists record theôroi and initiates who had come from different parts of the Greek world. Thasians appear in as many as seven of these lists,Footnote 63 five of which record the names of initiates (nos. 41, 48, 51, 53, 62), and two apparently concern state theôroi on some unknown occasion(s) (nos. 8, 24).Footnote 64 Unfortunately for us, the functions and activities of the numerous state theôroi (from Thasos and elsewhere) are not described in any of these inscriptions. Relatively more informative is an Iasian copy of a Samothracian honorific decree passed in perhaps the mid third century b.c.: it states that the Iasian demos and theôroi were to be honoured at the Dionysia for their eusebeia towards the gods and eunoia towards the Samothracians. It also decrees the acceptance of sacrifice, the aparchê, and the theôria sent from the Iasians (δέχεσθαι τὴν θυσίαν καὶ τὴν ἀπαρχὴν καὶ τὴν θεωρίαν τὴν παραγεγενημένην εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν παρὰ τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἰασεων).Footnote 65 This text has led Dimitrova to propose the Dionysia as the festival at Samothrace to which state theôroi from different Greek cities were attracted, and to consider animal sacrifice, offering of aparchê and festival attendance (theôria) as ‘the typical activity’ of these theôroi.Footnote 66 Cole, on the other hand, thinks that the theôroi ‘were delegates, sent by their home cities to take part in a special festival at Samothrace’ while conceding that the date and the exact nature of this festival are not known. She further suggests that ‘part of their duty may have been the performance of special sacrifices on behalf of their home city … It is possible that the theôroi brought to Samothrace a special tribute paid by their mother city … The theôroi may also have been commissioned to make special dedications on behalf of their home cities’.Footnote 67

Instead of Dimitrova's Dionysia and Cole's unidentified festival, it seems more probable that the Thasian (and possibly other Greek) theôroi had come to the sanctuary of the Great Gods to attend the Samothracian Mysteries.Footnote 68 The mystêria, with their promises of safety at sea and perhaps of a blissful afterlife,Footnote 69 are known to have attracted a wide clientele especially from the Aegean islands and western Asia Minor.Footnote 70 There was no annual festival of the Mysteries: initiation took place throughout the sailing season, with initiates coming individually or in groups,Footnote 71 though we cannot exclude the possibility that initiation might coincide with a public festival of the Great Gods.Footnote 72 It is unclear when the Mysteries were first established; but religious activities (such as animal sacrifice and ritualized drinking) in the sanctuary of the Great Gods date from the seventh century b.c. onwards.Footnote 73 Given the prestige of the Mysteries and the importance of this sanctuary as a cult centre in the northern Aegean, it is reasonable to think that the Thasians might have honoured the Great Gods with aparchai when they came to be initiated into the Mysteries. Apart from Iasos as already mentioned, other cities known to have sent dedications (albeit not termed aparchai and on unknown occasions) to Samothrace include Patara, the Thassalian League and Paros.Footnote 74 Might the twelve Thasians under the rubric of the first and second aparchai have made a joint financial contribution towards an aparchê, to be dedicated to the Theoi Megaloi on behalf of their city when they came to be initiated?Footnote 75 Or might the Thasians have won two major naval exploits and were giving thanks to the Theoi Megaloi with aparchai for their safety and profits at sea, by analogy with the common Greek practice of returning a portion of the fruits of war to the gods?Footnote 76 Whatever the occasion for bringing aparchai might have been, the presence of Thasian theôroi in seven Samothracian inscriptions and the Iasian delegation conveying an aparchê to Samothrace, together with the other state theôroi bringing gifts to the sanctuary, raise the possibility that the Thasian theôroi in our texts might have been destined for Samothrace. Nevertheless, a chronological gap of several centuries exists between the activities of the Thasian theôroi under the rubric of aparchê and the Samothracian records of theôroi and initiates.

While the destination of the Thasian theôroi must remain conjectural until new evidence becomes available, we should be open to the possibility that the word aparchê in the ‘great list of Thasian theôroi’ could have meant the traditional religious offering rather than ‘magistracy’, and the Thasian theôroi could have been sacred envoys carrying traditional offerings termed aparchai to the god(s) in another sanctuary. If the interpretation presented above is correct, according to the current dating of the inscriptions, the ‘first aparchê’ and ‘second aparchê’ will be the earliest recorded aparchai being sent by theôriai that we presently have knowledge of.

Footnotes

*

I am most grateful to Professor Robert Parker for discussing earlier versions of this paper with me, and to Classical Quarterly's anonymous referee for helpful suggestions. I thank also the Society of Scholars in the Humanities at the University of Hong Kong for making possible a period of research during which this article was written.

References

1 Works frequently cited are: Cole, S.G., Theoi Megaloi (Leiden, 1984)Google Scholar; Dimitrova, N.M., Theoroi and Initiates in Samothrace (Princeton, NJ, 2008)Google Scholar; Graham, A.J., ‘On the great list of theori at Thasos’, Ancient World 5 (1982), 103–21Google Scholar, reprinted in id., Collected Papers on Greek Colonization (Leiden, 2001), 231–56Google Scholar; Salviat, F., ‘Les colonnes initiales du catalogue des théores et les institutions thasiennes archaïques’, Thasiaca (BCH Suppl. 5, 1979), 107–27.Google Scholar

2 On the topography of the ancient city, see Daux, G. et al. , Guide de Thasos (Paris, 1967)Google Scholar, Graham, A.J., ‘Thasos: the topography of the ancient city’, BSA 95 (2000), 301–27.Google Scholar

3 For a reconstruction of the monument and its original placement, see Grandjean, Y. and Salviat, F., Guide de Thasos (Athens, 2000), 82–8Google Scholar, figs 37, 40–2.

4 Miller, E., Le Mont Athos, Valopédi, l'ile de Thasos (Paris, 1889).Google Scholar

5 Holzmann, B., La sculpture de Thasos: corpus des reliefs. 1, Reliefs à thème divin. Études thasiennes 15 (Athens, 1994), 53–9.Google Scholar

6 The block IG XII.8 273 occupies the top left corner of the western wall. Another block of the same height (Thasos inv. 1313 = Pouilloux, J. and Dunant, C., Recherches sur l'histoire et les cultes de Thasos (Paris, 1958), 2.231–3Google Scholar, no. 406) has a nu of the same size and at exactly the same distance from the top edge as the letters of Ἀγαθῆι Τύχη[ι]. It has been convincingly placed in the top course and the heading has been restored by Pouilloux and Dunant to read Ἀγαθῆι Τύχη[ι οἵδε ἐθεόρεο]ν, accepted by Salviat (n. 1), 108 and Graham (n. 1 [1982], 105 = [2001], 234).

7 In other words, if such estimates can be relied upon, the lists of theôroi in our texts were probably put up about two centuries after the theôriai had taken place in the late seventh and mid-sixth centuries. On the chronology of the theôroi, see Graham (n. 1 [1982], esp. 117–18 = [2001], 250–2) and id., ‘Thasian controversies’, (n. 1 [2001]), 365–401, at 400.

8 On the placement of the inscriptions on the wall, see Salviat (n. 1), 116 fig. 6. The lists were inscribed in vertical columns and were not restricted to the space of one wall block, with the result that the college under ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀπαρχῆς consists of twelve names cut across two wall blocks IG XII.8 273 and 275A.1–3; likewise the college under ἐπὶ τῆς δευ[τέρη]ς ἀπαρχῆς consists of twelve names on two blocks IG XII.8 274A and 276.1–3. Here I give the four prescripts without citing the lists of names that follow.

9 These may be translated respectively as ‘in the time of the twelve archons, the following served as theôroi’ (IG XII.8 275A), and ‘at the time when the Three Hundred and Sixty held office, the following served as theôroi’ (IG XII.8 276). I shall return to the meaning of the remaining two prescripts below.

10 Pouilloux, J., Recherches sur l'histoire et les cultes de Thasos (Paris, 1954)Google Scholar, 1.285, with n. 6.

11 Jacobs, E., Thasiaca (Berlin, 1893)Google Scholar, 15, 48.

12 LSJ s.v. ἄπαρχος: ‘for ἔπαρχος, A. Pers. 327’; LSJ s.v. ἔπαρχος: ‘commander … governor of a country … 2. = Lat. praefectus … II. … the office of admiral’; in the LSJ Supplement ‘commander’ is deleted.

13 Aesch. Ag. 1227: editions differ between (1) ἔπαρχος (e.g. Kennedy, B.H., The Agamemnon of Asechylus [Cambridge, 1882Google Scholar2], 39; Sidgwick, A., Aeschylus. Agamemnon [Oxford, 1931]Google Scholar, Lawson, J.C., The Agamemnon of Aeschylus [Cambridge, 1932]Google Scholar, 149), (2) ἄπαρχος (e.g. Verrall, A.W., Aeschylou Agamemnon [London, 1904]Google Scholar, 146; Denniston, J.D. and Page, D., Aeschylus. Agamemnon [Oxford, 1957]Google Scholar, 47, 182; Fraenkel, E., Aeschylus. Agamemnon [Oxford, 1962], 3.565–6Google Scholar) and (3) τάγαρχος (Campbell, A.Y., The Agamemnon of Aeschylus [London, 1936]Google Scholar, 45).

Aesch. Pers. 327: most editions have (1) ἄπαρχος, translated as ‘commander, leader’ by most commentators (e.g. Broadhead, H.D., The Persae of Aeschylus [Cambridge, 1960]Google Scholar, 112; Hall, E., Aeschylus. Persians [Warminster, 1996]Google Scholar, 59; Sommerstein, A.H., Aeschylus, vol. 1. [Cambridge, MA and London, 2009]Google Scholar, 53), but some have (2) ἔπαρχος (e.g. MS Pyp, adopted in Jurenka, H., Aischylos Perser [Leipzig and Berlin, 1902]Google Scholar, 13; Sidgwick, A., Aeschylus. Persae [Oxford, 1903]Google Scholar) and (3) ὕπαρχος (Hermann ap. Broadhead [this note], 112).

14 LSJ s.v. ἀπαρχή. I. 6.

15 Pind. Nem. 4.46. See e.g. Bury, J.B., Pindarou Epinikoi Nemeonikais (London, 1890)Google Scholar, 73: ‘reigns at a distance’; Sandys, J., The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments (London and New York, 1919 2)Google Scholar, 351: ‘reigneth afar’; Farnell, L.R., The Works of Pindar (London, 1930–2)Google Scholar, 1.175: ‘beareth rule far removed’; Puech, A., Pindare. Tome III. Néméennes (Paris, 1952)Google Scholar, 56: ‘loin de sa patrie, règne Teucer’; Nisetich, F.J., Pindar's Victory Songs (Baltimore and London, 1980)Google Scholar, 247: ‘rules far from home’; Willock, M.M., Pindar. Victory Odes (Cambridge, 1995)Google Scholar, 102: ‘Teukros … went into exile (ἀπάρχει) to found a new Salamis on Cyprus’; Race, W.H., Pindar, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA and London, 1997)Google Scholar, 39: ‘rules in exile’; LSJ s.v. ἀπάρχω II: ‘prob. reign far away from home, of Teucer, Pi. N. 4.46’. Note that manuscripts B1D1 have ὑπάρχει. For a different but implausible view see Fennell, C.A.M., Pindar: The Nemean and Isthmian Odes (Cambridge, 1883)Google Scholar, 41: ‘the word [ἀπαρχει] may here mean “receive ἀπαρχαί,” i.e. offerings made to the dead hero-founder of the Aeakid colony in Cyprus, cf. Eur. Phoen. 1523’; there is no such usage of the word to my knowledge.

16 Pl. Leg. 751–5; ML 49 (Brea); Σ Ar. Nub. 332 (Thurii). The foundation of Brea and Thurii is discussed in Graham, A.J., Colony and Mother City in Ancient Greece (Manchester, 1964), 34–5Google Scholar, 37.

17 Salviat (n. 1), 120–1, reiterated in id., ‘Catalogues des théores à Thasos: objections et résponses’, BCH 107 (1983), 181–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 185.

18 e.g. LSJ s.v. θεωρός II; G. Reger, ‘The Aegean’, in Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H., An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford, 2004), 732–93Google Scholar, at 780.

19 On the foundation of Thasos, see Graham, A.J., ‘The foundation of Thasos’, BSA 78 (1978), 61–101Google Scholar (= [2001], 165–229); Martin, R., ‘Relations entre métropoles et colonies: aspects institutionnels’, Φιλίας χάριν. Miscellanea di studi classici in onore di Eugenio Manni 4 (1980), 1435–45Google Scholar; J. Pouilloux (1982), ‘La fondation de Thasos: archéologie, littérature et critique historique’, in Hadermann-Misguich, L. and Raepsaet, G. (edd.), Rayonnement grec: hommages à Charles Delvoye (Brussels, 1982), 91–101Google Scholar; Martin, R., ‘Thasos colonie de Paros’, ASAA 61 (1983), 171–7.Google Scholar

20 e.g. Martin (n. 19 [1980]), at 1442–3.

21 Graham (n. 1[1982], 113–17 = [2001], 245–50), reiterated in id. (n. 7), 396–7.

22 Hdt. 3.57.2 (on the Siphnian offering), 6.46–47 (on Thasian mines). The word used of the Siphnian offering is dekate, not aparchê; I will return to this below.

23 Graham's arguments are based mainly on lexicographical grounds. He also mentions the general connection between theôroi and aparchai, but does not provide parallels.

24 For a survey of the religious applications of the words aparchê and aparcheshai, see Jim, T.S.F., ‘The vocabulary of ἀπάρχεσθαι, ἀπαρχή and related terms in Archaic and Classical Greece’, Kernos 24 (2011), 39–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25 e.g. Eur. Meleager, fr. 516.

26 e.g. IG I3 828, Arr. Cyn. 33.

27 e.g. IG I3 628, 695.

28 e.g. Soph. Trach. 183, 761.

29 e.g. Hdt. 3.24.4, IG I3 730, IG II2 4320.

30 e.g. Hom. Od. 3.446, 14.422, Hdt. 4.188, LSAM 50.23–5. However, note that the noun aparchê was never used to denote a sacrificial portion in the Classical period.

31 LSS 72A. This example is also noted by Graham (n. 1 [1982], 116 = [2001], 248). To have an enthumiston means that the transgressor could expect divine anger or evil as a result of infringement: see Parker, R., Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion (Oxford, 1983), 252–4Google Scholar, Karila-Cohen, K., ‘L'étude du sentiment religieux à partir du lexique: l'exemple de ἐνθύμιος et ἐνθυμιστός’, in Carlier, P. and Lerouge-Cohen, C. (edd.), Paysage et religion en Grèce antique (Paris, 2012), 109–21Google Scholar. On the Thasian cult of Theogenes, see Martin, R., ‘Un nouveau règlement de culte Thasien’, BCH 64–5 (1940–1), 163–200CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chamoux, P., ‘Le Monument ‘de Théogenès: autel ou statue?’, Thasiaca (Paris, 1979), 143–53.Google Scholar

32 For other examples of aparchesthai denoting the act of making a cult fee on the occasion of sacrifice, see LSCG 88 (third century b.c., Olbia), Parker, R. and Obbink, D., ‘Aus der Arbeit der “Inscriptiones Graecae” VI. Sales of Priesthoods on Cos I’, Chiron 30 (2000), 415–49Google Scholar, no. 1.10–12 (second century b.c., Cos).

33 FD III, 2 nos. 2–58.

34 Aparchai are mentioned in FD III.2 nos. 6.3 (= Syll. 3 728 B), 13.19 (= Syll. 3 711 D1), 46.1 (= Syll. 3 697 K), 48.11 (= Syll. 3 711 L), 54.4.

35 On the Athenian institution of Pythaïs, see Parker, R., Polytheism and Society at Athens (Oxford, 2005), 83–7.Google Scholar

36 As in IG II2 2336.

37 On the strategic placement of the Athenian treasury, see Scott, M., Delphi and Olympia (Cambridge, 2010), 77–81.Google Scholar

38 Dimitrova (n. 1), nos. 1–17, and probably no. 23. The identity of the building is disputed: Conze, A., Hauser, A. and Benndorf, O., Archäologische Untersuchungen auf Samothrake I (Vienna, 1880), 97–101Google Scholar, esp. at 101, attributed the wall blocks to the Temenos (also known as the Hall of Choral Dancers) in the sanctuary of the Great Gods. Cf. Lehmann, P.W. and Spittle, D., Samothrace. The Temenos (Princeton, NJ, 1982)Google Scholar, 17, 19, with nn. 45–6; Cole (n. 1), 55; Marconi, C., ‘Choroi, theoriai and international ambitions: the Hall of Choral Dancers and its frieze’, in Palagoa, P. and Wescoat, B.D. (edd.), Samothracian Connections (Oxford, 2010), 106–35Google ScholarPubMed, at 125 n. 36.

39 Collected in Rigsby, K.J., Asylia. Territorial Inviolability in the Hellenistic World (Berkeley and London, 1996).Google Scholar

40 Asylia 68.18, 79.21, 80.1, 81.35, 86.19–20, 97.26, 102.40, 107.35, 109.a.6, 110.24, 127.10–11, 128.12–13, 129.22, 27, 131.20.

41 On theôria and theôroi, see Daux et al. (n. 2), Dillon, M., Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece (London, 1997)Google Scholar, Rutherford, I., ‘Theoria and Darśan: Pilgrimage and Vision in Greece and India’, CQ 50 (2000), 131–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 136–8, Perlman, P.J., City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece (Göttingen, 2002)Google Scholar, Elsner, J. and Rutherford, I. (edd.), Pilgrimage in the Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity (Oxford, 2005)Google Scholar, I. Rutherford, State-Pilgrims and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece (Cambridge, 2013).

42 Thuc. 5.47 (Mantinea), Xen. Hell. 6.5.7 (Tegea), IG IX.12 638, 639, 640 (Naupactus); LSJ s.v. θεωρός, II: title of a magistrate at Mantinea, Naupactus, Thasos, etc.

43 LSJ s.v. θεωρός, II.

44 Dimitrova (n. 1), 11 n. 14. See also Reger (n. 18), 780.

45 Hdt. 4.33, Callim. Hymn 4.275–99, Paus. 1.31.2.

46 e.g. Inscr. Délos nos. 298.A.14, 313.AB.11, 313.AB.75, 314.B.83, 320.B.42, 58, 338.C.48 (supplemented), 372.B.21–22, 379.12 (supplemented), 442.B.114, 443.B.38; IG XI.2 161.B.74–75, 184.6 (supplemented), 199.B.7, 244.10 (supplemented), 287.B.42. See also Bruneau, P., Recherches sur les cultes de Délos à l'époque hellénistique et à l'époque impériale (Paris, 1970), 97–114Google Scholar; Sherwin-White, S., Ancient Cos (Göttingen, 1978)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 91 n. 50.

47 Bruneau (n. 46), 111–12.

48 Asylia 102.39–41.

49 Asylia 101.31–5. The word ἐναρχὰν, as Rigsby (n. 39), 242 notes, is an error for ἐπαρχή, a variant of ἀπαρχή. See also Asylia 49.30–3.

50 IG I3 259–90 (Athenian tribute lists); IG I3 78 (Eleusinian first-fruits decree).

51 Inscr. Prien. 5 (326/5 b.c.).

52 Graham (n. 1 [1982], 117 = [2001], 250). On the Siphnian treasury, see Hdt. 3.57.2, Paus. 10.11.2. On the mines on Thasos, see Hdt. 6.46–7; Holzmann, B., ‘Des mines d'or à Thasos?’, Thasiaca (Paris, 1979), 345–9Google Scholar. The words aparchê and dekatê are closely related as religious offerings: both constituted the offering of a portion from a greater whole, but differed mainly in their proportion. On the relationship between aparchê and dekatê, see R. Parker, ‘Dedications. Greek Dedications. I.’, in ThesCRA 1.269–81, at 275.

53 On the oracle, see Oenomaeus ap. Euseb. Praep. evang. 6.256b; Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W., The Delphic Oracle (Oxford, 1956)Google Scholar, 1.66, 2 no. 230.

54 Excavations of the city rampart in this area have unearthed a late sixth-century Attic cup inscribed with ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ in Parian alphabets: see Grandjean, Y., Salviat, F. et al. , ‘Thasos’, BCH 119 (1995), 661–96Google Scholar, at 661–7, fig. 6. On the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios at Thasos, see Daux et al. (n. 2), 54–6, Wynne-Thomas, R.J.L., The Legacy of Thasos (London, 1978), 45–6Google Scholar, Grandjean and Salviat (n. 3), 109–13.

55 e.g. IG XII, Supp. 350, 355, 358, 362, SEG XLII 785.9 (the so-called ‘Stele from the Harbour’). On the cult of Apollo at Thasos, see Pouilloux (n. 10), 47, 336–7, 341–2, 380.

56 C. Fredrich in IG XII.8, p. 89; Grace, V., ‘Early Thasian stamped amphoras’, AJA 50 (1946), 31–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 35: ‘… a semi-dependent state of which the presiding officers were theôroi, with their record office apparently an adjunct of the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios’.

57 Graham (n. 2) argues that there was probably a cult of the Charites in the Passage, but not of the Charites alone.

58 Pouilloux (n. 10), 240.

59 e.g. IG XII.8. 267.10, 268.5–6. On the relationship between the cult of Apollo Pythios and Athena, see Pouilloux (n. 10), 40, 380.

60 On Theogenes, see Paus. 6.11.2–9; Pouilloux (n. 10), 62–105; id., ‘Théogénès de Thasos … quarante ans après’, BCH 118 (1994), 199–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

61 Graham (n. 19) dates the foundation to c. 650 b.c., reiterated in id. (n. 7), but others – e.g. Salviat (n. 1), Martin (n. 19, [1980]), Pouilloux (n. 19), Martin (n. 19 [1983]) – argue for a date slightly earlier in the seventh century b.c.

62 Collected in Dimitrova (n. 1), nos. 1–171.

63 These are Dimitrova (n. 1), nos. 8 (= IG XII.8, 161), 24 (= IG XII.8 172), 41 (= IG XII.8 220), 48 (= Fraser, P.M., Samothrace. The Inscriptions on Stone [London, 1960]Google Scholar, no. 59), 51 (= IG XII.8 184), 53 (= IG XII.8 206), 62; their dates range from the second century b.c. to the second/third century a.d.

64 To avoid confusion and to follow Dimitrova's classification, I differentiate ‘mystai’ (by which I mean initiates at the Mysteria) from ‘theôroi’ (by which I mean official delegations visiting Samothrace) in the Samothracian inscriptions as Cole (n. 1) and Dimitrova (n. 1) do, though individuals who journeyed to Samothrace for initiation may also be regarded as theôroi, given the broad meanings of the word as noted earlier (with bibliography in n. 41 above).

65 Inscr. Iasos 72; Habicht, C., ‘Iasos und Samothrake in der Mitte des 3. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.’, Chiron 24 (1994), 69–74Google Scholar; SEG XLIII, 715; Dimitrova (n. 1), 253, appendix I.3, no. 3.

66 Dimitrova (n. 1), 72–4.

67 Cole (n. 1), 48, 53–4.

68 On the Samothracian mystery cult, see Cole (n. 1), passim, Clinton, K., ‘Stages of initiation in the Eleusinian and Samothracian Mysteries’, in Cosmopoulos, M.B. (ed.), Greek Mysteries (London, 2003), 50–78Google Scholar, at 61–70, Dimitrova (n. 1), 77–8, Bowden, H., Mystery Cults in the Ancient World (London, 2010), 49–67.Google Scholar

69 Protection at sea: Ar. Pax 277–8, and probably Theophr. Char. 25.2; Burkert, W., Greek Religion, tr. Raffan, J. (Oxford, 1985)Google Scholar, 284; Parker (n. 35), 411. Blessed afterlife: see Karadima-Matsa, C. and Dimitrova, N., ‘Epitaph for an initiate at Samothrace and Eleusis’, Chiron 33 (2003), 335–45Google Scholar, also in Dimitrova (n. 1), no. 29; discussed in Parker, R., On Greek Religion (Cornell, 2011), 253–4Google Scholar with n. 81.

70 On the geographical representation of states sending theôroi to Samothrace, see Cole (n. 1), 48–53, Dimitrova (n. 1), 71–2.

71 Initiation in groups: Cole (n. 1), 40–4.

72 Plut. Luc. 13.2 says that Voconius fell behind owing to initiation and attendance at a public festival at Samothrace (ἀλλα Βοκώνιος μὲν ἐν Σαμοθρᾴκῃ μυούμενος καὶ πανηγυρίζων καθυστέρησε), implying that there was a panêgyris during which initiation might take place. But the evidence is late and the public festival alluded to might or might not date back to the Archaic period. Cf. also the combination of a panêgyris in honour of the ‘Great Gods’ with initiation in Andania in Messenia (LSCG 65, first century b.c.), with commentary in Deshours, N., Les mystères d'Andania (Bordeaux, 2006)Google Scholar, Gawlinski, L., The Sacred Law of Andania (Berlin and Boston, 2012).Google Scholar

73 Lehmann and Spittle (n. 38), 267–71.

74 Dimitrova (n. 1), nos. 21, 26, 27, 28.

75 Cf. IG II2 2336: the aparchê presented by the Pythaïs to Apollo at Delphi in 98/7 b.c. was jointly contributed by Athenian and Delian officials.

76 Cf. e.g. Lindos II, no. 88A: in c. 265–260 b.c., a group of Lindian naval officials and crew dedicated an aparchê of their booty won at sea to Athena at Lindos.