Stephen Miller

Pambotadai Found ?In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 117, livraison 1, 1993. pp. 225-231.

AbstractThe remains of a deme site at Draphi in the southern foothills of Pentelikon in Attika are identified with the known, but previouslyunlocated, deme Pambotadai. The basis for the identification, in addition to the coïncidence of small size for the Draphi site andthe Pambotidai deme, is a gravestone now in the collection of Mr. V. Chronis.

περίληψηΑρχιτεκτονικά λείψανα ενός αρχαίου δήμου στο Ντράφι Αττικής, στις νότιες παρυφές του Πεντελικού, ταυτίζονται με το γνωστόδήμο Παμβωτάδων, ο οποίος όμως δεν είχε ακόμα εντοπισθεί. Για την ταύτιση της θέσης στηριζόμαστε, εκτός από τοσυμπτωματικά μικρό μέγεθος της θέσης στο Ντράφι και του δήμου Παμβωτάδων, σε μια ταφόπλακα που βρίσκεται σήμερα στησυλλογή Β. Χρόνη.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Miller Stephen. Pambotadai Found ?. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 117, livraison 1, 1993. pp. 225-231.

doi : 10.3406/bch.1993.1678

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bch_0007-4217_1993_num_117_1_1678

PAMBOTADAI FOUND?

in memoriam Eugène Vanderpool

Draphi, a green and picturesque valley with a good supply of water, is located in the southeastern foothills of Pentelikon, a little more than two kilometers northwest of Pikermi (fîg. l)1. Already more than a century ago its principal landmark was the then new water-powered mill constructed in 1876 (fig. 2). A contemporary description, which captures some of the flavor that still exists despite the intrusion of concrète and asphalt into the surrounding hills, states that at the juncture of two streams lies "Draphi with a great water mill (property of Metaxas). The protected site and the fertile earth eroded from the Tertial-conglomerate hâve, together with the plentiful water of this région, obviously always provided for a spatially limited but productive agriculture. Olive trees, vineyards, and fruit orchards thrive hère in particular abundance. Terrace walls from médiéval and perhaps even earlier times are to be seen on both banks of the main stream. Moreover, antiquities are to be noted including some fragmentary funerary sculpture built into a récent wall and the remains of a une of wall which stretches along the left (west) side of the road and parallel to it at the north end of the vineyard for about 20 paces. It consists of well-joined marble blocks over 2 m. long and appears to belong to a monumental building"2.

The archaeological promise of this description was partially realized during three campaigns of excavation in 1955-1957 which were supported by the owner of the property, Mrs. Athena Rosolimou3. Thèse excavations, on the pine-covered slope of the

(1) It is marked on the Karlen von Attika, sheet XII, as is the chapel and the now defunct monastery of Aghios Ioannis. I thank most warmly Vangelis Chronis and Michales Georgas for introducing me to Draphi. Their enthusiasm for Draphi is worthy of this charming pièce of Attica.

(2) A. Milchhoefer, text of Karlen von Attika III-VI, p. 37 (translated from the German). The sculpture mentioned by Milchhoefer was in the steps in front of the house of Elias Petropoulos and consisted of the lower part of a draped statue with a bird in the left hand, and a fragment of a sarcophagus showing a boy holding a vessel with apples in his outstretched left hand; see J. Schmidt, "Mittheilungen aus Griechenland", AM 6 (1881), 346, no. 26.

(3) Thèse campaigns were reported in "Chronique des fouilles", BCH 80 (1956), 246-248; BCH 81 (1957), 514-518; and BCH 82 (1958), 680-682. I thank most warmly Mrs. Athena Kaloyeropoulou (see especially foot- notes 5 and 8 below), who supervised the excavation, for sharing her expériences and knowledge of the site with me. Thanks also to Mrs. I. Dekoulakou who helped me find the record of thèse excavations in the B' Ephoreia of Classical Antiquities.

Fig. 1. — General view of Draphi from South. A = location of Ilouse A; s location of the "autre maison"; G = monastery of Aghios Ioannis; D == mill.

Fig. 2. — View of river valley from north with mill at left in trees and Aghios loannis at right.

1993] PAMBOTADAI FOUND ? 227

Vigla ton Klephlôn hill west of the river and water mill of Draphi and ranging 250 to 450 m. from the latter, revealed parts of three différent houses (some of the contents of which were clearly of an agricultural nature)4 dating from the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., and part of an extensive cemetery which included several dozen burials 5. The road seems to hâve, at least in this area, a south-west to north-east orientation with a slope down to the north-east and following essentially the line now marked by a modem road. House A is at the uphill end of the area partially explored, and the "autre maison" at the down- hill 6. Remains visible in the scarp of the modem road eut suggest that other houses are to be found between the two excavated examples and, like them, on the uphill side of the road. The graves lie on the downhill side of the road, and probably extended along it mirroring the houses above. The graves were largely of the Classical period, but some burials were as early as Géométrie and Protoattic times. My own observation in walking oyer the site was that most of the pottery belonged to the 4th century B.C., but that the 5th and 3rd centuries were also présent as were examples from the lst and 2nd century after Christ. In other words, the remains at Draphi represent a small, agriculturally oriented, long-inhabited center : a deme.

Which deme is to be located hère ? The grave stèle of one Polykles of Phegaia led the excavators in 1955 to identify the deme at Draphi with Phegaia. There are, however, two problems with this identification. First, the grave stèle was not in situ 7. The photograph which accompanies the report shows clearly that the stèle was eut off just below the inscription. This can hardly hâve happened while the stèle was standing over the grave. It is also curious that only one stèle was found. I must doubt that the stèle was in its original place marking the grave of Polykles8.

The second problem was enunciated by E. Vanderpool : "Phegaia ... was a larger deme electing three or four councillors, and is in any case more likely to belong to the coastal trittys" 9. In other words, the size of the deme at Draphi was simply too small for a deme like Phegaia which consistently produced relatively large numbers of members of

(4) For a discussion of the house remains see J. E. Jones, "Town and Country Houses of Attica in Classical Times", Miscellanea Graeca I (1975), 102-104.

(5) I count 76 graves on the plan in BCH 82 (1958), 680, fig. 18, but this should be taken as a minimum figure for there seem to be indicated on the plan the traces of earlier graves at lower levels and différent orientations. A. Kaloyeropoulou notes that, while the cemetery seemed to hâve clear limits on the south side of the excavated area, it continued northward beyond the excavated area.

(6) I pace off the distance between the two houses as slightly less than 400 meters although the report, BCH 81 (1957), 517, makes the distance 500 meters.

(7) The report, BCH 80 (1956), 247, reads "... Cet habitat peut être identifié — par la découverte d'une stèle funéraire, en place, portant l'inscription 'Polyclée Phégaieus' — avec le dème de...". This quotation follows immediately upon the description of a house and cornes before that of the cemetery. A normal reading would lead the reader to infer that the stèle was found in the settlement and not in the cemetery.

(8) A. Kaloyeropoulou confirme this suspicion for she reports that, after the fact, the local man who had insisted originally that the grave stèle had been found at Draphi changed his story. He had presented this stèle to the excavators from his personal belongings and it was not found by them in the excavations proper. When questions arose about the true identity of the deme at Draphi (see following footnote), he admitted that the stèle of Polykles had corne into his possession from people living in the gênerai région of Raphina although a spécifie site was not indicated. The Polykles stèle therefore is not évidence for the ancient identity of Draphi.

(9) E. Vanderpool, "The Location of the Attic Deme Erchia", BCH 89 (1965), 26 n. 1. Vanderpool later argued the case for the real location of Phegaia in "The Attic Deme Phegaia", Mélanges helléniques offerts à Georges Doux (1974), 339-343.

228 STEPHEN G. MILLER [BCH 117

the boule. For Vanderpool the deme at Draphi must hâve been one which normally elected perhaps no more than one member of the boule. As we shall see, Vanderpool was, as so frequently, correct.

If the deme at Draphi is not the ancient Phegaia, what is it? J. S. Traill toyed with the idea that it might hâve been Ionidai10, but P. Siewert later pointed out that Ionidai ought to be further to the south on the road to Brauron11. Draphi thus remained unclai- med 12.

Among the several demes of an appropriate size and possible location, we should now turn our attention to Pambotadai for reasons to émerge below. This was a small deme which belonged to the phyle Erechtheis and which normally elected only one councillor, if that, for it has been suggested that Pambotadai actually alternated with the deme Sybridai in the élection of a single councillor13. The size of Pambotadai would, then, be quite appropriate to the small deme at Draphi.

The évidence for the actual site of Pambotadai has, however, been so slight hereto- fore that this small deme has been bounced around Attica by scholars seeking vainly to find it a home. The past twenty years of scholarship will show what I mean14.

In 1970 W. E. Thompson located Pambotadai in the city trittys of Erechtheis based on the order of the demes of that tribe listed in an inscription 15.

In 1978 Pambotadai was assigned to an inland trittys16. Four years later the cycle was completed with the assignment of Pambotadai to a

coastal trittys17.

(10) J. S. Traill, "The Political Organization of Attica", Hesperia Suppl. 15 (1975), 40-41. See also la., Demos and Trittys. Epigraphical and Topographical Studies in the Organization of Attica (1986), 127.

(11) P. Siewert, Die Trittyen Attikas und die Heeresreform des Kleislhenes (1982), 172-173. (12) Mention of the site, with no attempt to identify it with an ancient deme, will be found in

J. S. Boersma, Athenian Building Policy from 561/0 to 405/4 B.C. (1970), 254, no. 154; R. Osborne, Demos. The Discovery of Classical Altika (1985), 195; and J. Travlos, Bildlexikon zur Topographie des Antiken Attika (1988), 335.

(13) J. S. Traill, "Diakris, the Inland Trittys of Leontis", Hesperia 47 (1978), 105. See also là., Démo» and Trittys (note 10 above), 126.

(14) See the thorough review of the various scholarly théories about the location of Pambotadai in G. R. Stanton, "Some Attic Inscriptions", BSA 79 (1984), 298-301. The attempt by Stanton to locate Pambotadai in the valley of Aghia Marina on the south coast of Attica on the basis of a séries of rock eut horoi which read OPSIIM, which he interprets as δρ(ο)ς Π(α)μ(βωταδών), is unconvincing to me. Stanton seems to hâve had less than full confidence in the notion; note the italicized "may" on p. 301.

(15) W. E. Thompson, "Notes on Attic Demes", Hesperia 39 (1970), 66. P. J. Bicknell, "Kleisthenes and Kytheros", Mnemosyne 28 (1975), 58, n. 15, also assigned Pambotadai to a city trittys on the évidence of the possible place of discovery of the grave stèle of a father and two sons (IG II2 7141), contra Eliot (note 17 below).

(16) Traill, "Diakris" (note 13 above), 105. Siewert, op. cit. (note 11 above), Karte 4, seems to agrée with this assignment.

(17) J. S. Traill, "Rock-cut Inscriptions in the Attic Demes of Lamptrai", Hesperia Suppl. 19 (1982), 167, n. 17.

Given the history just outlined, one can see the wisdom of the judgment pronounced earlier by C. W. Eliot, Coastal Demes ο f Attika, Phoenix Suppl. 5 (1962), 58 and n. 31, when, after reviewing différent théories about the location of Pambotadai (and Kedoi), he concluded: "There is no évidence as yet that enables us to détermine in what trittys (or trittyes) thèse two demes were located".

1993] PAMBOTADAI FOUND ? 229

Fig. 3. — Inscribed grave stèle of Eucharis.

We are, therefore, extremely fortunate that new évidence allows Pambotadai to be identifîed with the site at Draphi. This évidence consiste of an inscribed grave stèle in the collection of Mr. V. Chronis18.

(18) I thank Mr. Chronis for permission to study and publish this inscription, for his hospitality while I studied it, and for his interest in seeing that our scholarly world should know of it. It is most fortunate that he found the stone and retrieved it. The stèle has long since been reported to, and is on record with, the Ephoreia of Private Collections of the Ministry of Culture.

230 STEPHEN G. MILLER [BCH 117

Fig. 4. — View of the "autre maison" (at left) from west with arrow at spot of discovery of the stèle.

Chronis Collection no. 126 (fig. 3) PH : 0.37 m. MaxW : 0.265 m. MinW : 0.262 m. MaxTh : 0.073 m. Letter H : 0.012-0.016 m.

The upper part of a grave stèle broken across the bottom and extremely rough on the back which appears to be split along a vein in the marble rather than eut to size. (It should be noted that the break is not a fresh one.) The front exhibits, at the top, a roughly rounded triangular "pedi- ment" with no trace of décoration preserved. It is based on a small, shallow, flat ovolo beneath which the surface of the stone is 0.008 m. lower than that of the "pediment". This lower surface has, in three Unes, the inscription:

Εύχάρης Άντιχάρος

Παμβωτάδης

Below the inscription is a framed area of low relief with the top of a maie head facing the viewer's right, but located in the left half of the frame.

Pentelic marble with a prominent vein of greenish mica.

This stèle was discovered by Mr. Chronis in 1985 about 30 meters northeast of the "autre maison"19 discovered in 1956. It had been freshly ripped from the ground by a

(19) BCH 81 (1957), 517, shown in fig. 13 on page 516.

1993] PAMBOTADAI FOUND ? 231

bulldozer which was opening a road through this area (fig. 4). It is probable, although unfortunately not absolutely certain because of the limited nature of the excavations, that it came from the cemetery on the downhill side of the ancient road (see above).

The stèle clearly belongs in the 4th century B.C. and probably not far from the middle of the century. Eucharis, and his father Anticharis, hâve known names, but it has not been possible to identify either with a known individual. The importance of this discovery is, however, that indicated : the deme site at Draphi can be safely identified with the ancient Pambotadai 20. The ancient name, derived from παμβώτις — "all-nou- rishing" — is eloquently appropriate to this delightful and refreshing place.

Stephen G. Miller.

(20) Whether Sybridai should also be located near Draphi (see above at note 13) cannot be determined. This small deme has been associated with a river Siberus based on Pliny, NH 37, 114: "in Sibero Atticae flumine", but some editors hâve doubted the text and emended Atticae to Galaliae. At the very least it can be said that Draphi and the area around it do not lack for rivers. On the other hand, Pliny is referring to find places of the precious stone nilios, apparently a form of chrysoprase. Given that Sybridai appears in mining leases associated with Laurion and Thorikos, the text of Pliny may well be correct without need for emenda- tion, and we ought perhaps to look for Sybridai in southeastern Attica and not in the immédiate vicinity of the newly located Pambotadai. See G. V. Lalonde, M. K. Langdon and M. B. Walbank, The Athenian Agora XIX, Inscriptions : Horoi. Poletai Records. Leases of Public Lands (1991), nos. Ρ 18.13; Ρ 27.95; Ρ 35.8.

17