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Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum: 36.165


ATHENS HONOURS MEDON


Greek text:   SEG_36.165
Provenance:   Acropolis , Athens
Date:   304/3 B.C. 
Translated by:   P. Wheatley
Format:   see key to translations

Although further details about Medon have been lost, because the end of the inscription is missing, it is clear that he was acting as an officer of Demetrios; see P. Paschidis, "Between city and king", p. 93 ( PDF ).   But the most interesting feature of the inscription is the date, which (because the Athenian calendar in 304/3 would not be expected to have an intercalary month) is generally assumed to be evidence of the manipulation of the calendar by Stratokles to allow the irregular initiation of Demetrios into the Eleusinian mysteries; see Plut:Demetr_26.   The implications of this for the chronology of the period are discussed by P. Wheatley, "Resolving a Persistent Chronographic Problem in the Early  Hellenistic Period:   SEG 36.165 and the ?Special? Eleusinian Mysteries of 303 BC" ( academia.edu ).



When [Pherekles] was archon, in the tenth prytany of . . ., in which Epicharinos [son of Demochares], of Gargettos, was secretary. On [the ninth] of second {latter} [Anthester]ion, [which was the] ninth day of the prytany. [Assembly with full power]; the presiding officer . . . of Phegous [and his fellow presidents] put the motion [to the vote]. It was resolved by the council [and the people as proposed] by Kalaides son of Lytides [ of Xypete ]: 10 since the father [of Medon] . . . was both a proxenos [and a benefactor] of the people of Athens, [and accomplished] what was advantageous [to the people]; and his [son] Medon, as general, had [earlier] continued [co-operating] with the Kings and brought about the [security] of the people [and the freedom] of the other Greeks, [and] now [the King] has sent him to proclaim to the people his [decision] 20 on the places Kassandros and Pleistarchos [have seized] . . .


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