ISic020489: ISic020489

Apparatus criticus

• Text after Dubois (IGDS 1)

Physical description

Support

Description

Pyxis (Attic).

Object type

pyxis

Material

ceramic

Condition

fragment

Dimensions

height: cm, width: cm, depth: cm

Inscription

Layout

The text is arranged in a circular pattern on the fragment.

Text condition

complete

Letter heights

Line 1: mm

Interlinear heights

Provenance

Place of origin

Gela

Provenance found

Found in Bitalemi.

Map

Current location

Place

Gela, Italy

Repository

Museo Archeologico Regionale di Gela ,

Autopsy

No Autopsy

Date

Evidence

lettering, archaeological-context

Text type

votive

commentary

The fragment is part of a pyxis that was a votive offering for Thesmophoros. A Thesmophorion was would be found in Bitalemi (see Orlandini 1966). Of interest is the term σκανά, variously interpreted by editors. According to Orlandini, the term refers to the wooden building which served to house the women participating in the Thesmophoria, and whose base was found in mud bricks at Bitalemi. More plausible is the interpretation of Dubois (IGDS 1, no. 155), according to whom the term designates by metonymy the group of women, in this case under the direction of Dikaio, who took part in the Thesmoforia. The scholar in fact points out that in the regulation of Halaesa (no. 196, ll.39-46) the term σκανά designates a landmark in the territory, so it must have been a fairly solid building (however, it should be noted that even if this skana had been a wooden building, given its importance in the sacred landscape, it would still have been a landmark. Dubois again notes that in the sacred law of Elatea (LSCG no. 82 ), the verb σκᾱνε͂ν has the sense of θοινᾶσθαι "to take part in a ceremonial meal". So the group of women who took part in the Thesmophoria and conducted their ritual functions in this building, which was also used for ceremonial banquets, were perhaps designated - precisely by metonymy - by the name of the building itself, which would thus serve as a collective name in our text. The name of a woman Δικαιώ is also well attested: in Thessaly (IG 9.0156), Athens (IG 2.9064) and in Bouthrôtos in Epirus.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: -
• EDR: -
• EDH: -
• EDCS: -
• PHI: -

Printed editions

• P. Orlandini, «Lo scavo del Thesmophorion di Bitalemi e il culto delle divinità ctonie a Gela», Kokalos 12 (1966): 8–35, at 20-21, tab.10.4
• M.L. Lazzarini, Le formule delle dediche votive nella Grecia arcaica (Roma, 1976), at 586, p. 125
• Laurent Dubois, Inscriptions grecques dialectales de Sicile : contribution à l’étude du vocabulaire grec colonial, CEFR 119 (Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1989), at 155
• Renato Arena, Iscrizioni greche archaiche di Sicilia e Magna Grecia. Iscrizioni di Sicilia. II. Iscrizioni di Gela e di Agrigento, 2nd ed., vol. 2, 5 voll. (Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 2002), at 46a, pl. XVII.2

Discussion

• P. Orlandini, «Lo scavo del Thesmophorion di Bitalemi e il culto delle divinità ctonie a Gela», Kokalos 12 (1966): 8–35.

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Valentina Mignosa

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• Valentina Mignosa
• James Chartrand
• Michael Metcalfe
• system
• Simona Stoyanova

Last revision

4/15/2021