Monumento con dedica di Callimaco di Afidna

Abstract

The inscription, written on two continuous lines in the two fluting cuts of an Ionic column, is a dedicatory epigram and consists of five hexameters. The dedication is attributed to Kallimachos of Aphidna, the Athenian polemarch who died at Marathon in 490 BC, according to Herodotus. The reconstruction of his name was made possible starting with the demotic Ἀφιδναῖο[ς] (l. 1) and the term πολέ]μαρχος (l. 3): it leads to the conclusion that the writing of the dedication took place likely in two moments: when Kallimachos was still alive (lines 1-2) and after his death (lines 3-5). The state of conservation is fragmentary: hence the multiple restitutions of the text proposed by scholars.