In the late Hellenistic period, it became more common for wealthy women to make public donations in their own name; see S. Aneziri, "Aspects of Female Euergetism in the Ancient Greek World" ( OpenEdition ). There is a full discussion of this inscription, along with a French translation, by N. Deshours, "L'été indien de la religion civique", no. 22 ( OpenEdition ). There is also a commentary on the first half of the inscription, along with an English translation, in CGRN 195.
The mention of a Metroia festival in line B.64 suggests that the unnamed goddess is the 'Mother of the Gods', but nothing else is known about her cult at Minoa.
[A] When Theudemos was demiourgos and Thrason was priest of Rhodes, on the first day of the month of Lenaion, the men - Pankritos son of Pankritos, Agenor son of Ameinokrates and Eunomides son of Kleon - who were chosen by decree of the people to compose a law defining how the money, ... drachmas, which was dedicated and donated by Hegesaretē daughter of Ainesikrates, the wife of Hermokrates son of Pankritos, should be lent out at interest 10 . . .
. . . they shall buy an ox . . . they shall sacrifice it . . . the epimenioi . . .
[B] . . . 10 . . . the epimenioi . . . in the temple . . . [they shall] immediately lend it out at interest . . . they shall [set aside] on the table the tongue and three (?) portions of the meat [of the ox] . . ., and similarly of the other [sacrificial offerings. Out of the offerings that have been set aside] on the table for the goddess, there shall be . . . 20 portion of the priestess, and the rest of the . . . When the priestess performs the initiation, the pelanos that is given by the initiates [shall be] sacred; the pelanos of each initiate shall be one drachma and it shall be lent out at interest immediately. The epimenioi shall collect the interest and they shall spend it on the feast. The rest shall belong to the priestess, in accordance with custom. The priestess who is chosen at any time shall provide the admission fees from her own resources, and she shall serve as priestess for ten years, if she so wishes.
On the second day after the libations, the prytaneis shall hold a vote among those present, 30 as to whether or not the epimenioi have taken care of the sacrifice and the participants in a fine and honourable manner. And if it is decided that they have done so, they shall crown the epimenioi with an olive wreath, and the herald shall announce that the people crowns them on account of their virtue and their honourable conduct towards the people. On the first day after the libations, the epimenioi shall ensure that the herald proclaims silence and announces that the people of the Samians who dwell in Minoa crowns Hegesaretē daughter of Ainesikrates, the wife of Hermokrates son of Pankritos, 40 on account of her piety towards the gods and on account of her virtue and her goodwill towards the people. The agonothetes shall also announce the award of this crown each year during the Hekatombia in the theatre.
If anyone who owes money to the goddess wishes to repay the capital of it, he shall pay the capital to the exetastai at a full assembly during the month of Kronion, and he shall pay the interest to the epimenioi during the month of Panemos. The exetastai, as soon as they receive the money, shall lend it out at interest 50 and they shall inscribe on the doorpost the name of the borrower along with his father's name and whatever pledge he has provided and whether he has supplied a guarantor; and they shall scrape the name of the person who paid the money, along with the name of his guarantor and the pledge that he provided, off from the doorpost. The epimenioi shall also collect the twelfth part of the interest whenever there is an intercalary month, and they shall use it (?) to pay for the feast. The goddess shall receive the money on the property of each of the borrowers, and the goddess shall have priority in collecting the interest 60 and the capital; and those who hold or administer the pledges which are provided to the goddess and which are inscribed on the doorpost shall always be liable to hand them over.
Every year in the elections the people shall choose as epimenioi for the Metrōia two men out of the citizens, who have a property rating of not less than two hundred drachmas. Those who owe money to the goddess shall pay the interest that is due to the epimenioi in the month of Panemos, and they shall prepare a sealed confirmation of the [payment] 70 for the exetastai. If any of those [who owe money] do not pay the [interest at] the appointed time . . .
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