The permanent exhibition of the Epigraphical Museum
Decree of the Athenians on the Sicilian expedition
This inscription is related to one of the most tragic events of the Peloponnesian war: the Athenian expedition against Sicily and their annihilation at Syracuse in 413 BC, described in detail by the historian Thucidides. A total of eight fragments belonging to two separate steles containing the decree have survived. This particular fragment belongs to the left side of one of these steles. Fifteen patchy lines of text are preserved, yet they succeed in conveying the tension and emotion of that difficult time in Athens. The inscription is carefully carved, as is appropriate to such an important public text, with equally spaced letters and lines.
Exhibit Features
Date:
Classical period, 415/4 BC
Place of discovery:
Athens, Acropolis
Dimensions:
length: 0,30 m, width: 0,145 m, height: 0,20 m
Material:
pentelic marble
Inventory number:
ΕΜ 6591 β
Exhibition hole:
Hall II
Copyright:
Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Suggestive Bibliography
Tod M.N., A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth Century BC, Οξφόρδη, 1946, 77
Gomme A.W., Andrews A., Dover K.J., A Historical Commentary on Thucydides (Vol. IV), Οξφόρδη, 1970, 224-7
Η ελληνική γραφή: κατάλογος έκθεσης, Αθήνα, 2003, αρ. 17
Λαγογιάννη-Γεωργακαράκου Μ. - Μπουραζέλης Κ. (επιμ.), Έδοξεν τη βουλή και τω δήμω. Η αθηναϊκή δημοκρατία μιλάει με τις επιγραφές της., Αθήνα, 2007, 78-80
