Ekklesia materials
Thank-offering for Marathon

Text:

Ἀθεναῖοι τ[ο]ῖ Ἀπόλλον[ι ἀπὸ Μέδ]ον ἀκ[ροθ]ίνια τ]ς Μαραθ[]νι μ[άχες].

Translation:

The Athenians t[o] Apoll[o from the Med]es as fir[st-fr]uits from the b[attle] of Marath[o]n.

Date:

490 BCE

Provenance:

Delphi, limestone base in front of the Athenian Treasury.

Major editions:

• Print: SIG 1(3).23; Meiggs & Lewis 19.
• Photographic: inscription: 1992.12.0125 (general view); 1992.12.0126, 1992.12.0127, 1992.12.0128 (three parts of the text); Treasury and inscription base: 1992.12.0129, 1992.12.0130, 1992.12.0137

Commentary:

The inscription visible today dates approximately to the 3rd century BCE but constitutes a recopying of the largely-faded original text beneath, which belongs to the period just after the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. Pausanias (10.11.5) relates that the Athenians, in the flush of a tangible and symbolic victory over the Persians, constructed a treasury with the spoils "taken from  the army that landed with Datis at Marathon." Archaeological exploration of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi has revealed that the limestone base on which the inscription appears may not have been built coincidentally with the treasury (see the photos above), and that the Athenian Treasury may date to some time prior to the battle (perhaps 506-490 BCE, in the first two decades of Athenian democracy; cf. Meiggs & Lewis 19). The date of the original inscription is consistent with the year of the battle and the publication of this document reveals the intention of the Athenian demos to proclaim to all visitors to the panhellenic oracular sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, in a prominent location along the Sacred Way, its role in defeating the Persian army at Marathon. Note that the enemy is referred to not as “the Persians” (τν Περσέον) or as “the enemy” (τν πολε[μίον], as in the inscription on the Stoa of The Athenians nearby erected ca. 479 BCE after the conclusion of the wars), but as “the Medes.” Typical of many dedicatory inscriptions, this text lacks one of the commonly used verbal forms of ἀνατίθημι that indicate the erection of this monument.

Bibliography:

• Thomas Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, 8.3.4, “The Battle of Marathon.”