The Epigrams IG3 503 and 504: a reappraisal

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to summarize and reevaluate the scholarship on IG3 503/504, attributed to Simonides of Ceos, through a bringing together of the results of the archaeological research (mainly through Epigraphy) and those of Classical Philology and History. One main point of this article is to show how the hypothesis that the inscriptions were made by two different engravers is untenable and, in so doing, assess how this assumption impacts upon our present view of the epigrams’ character and function. It also shall be argued that the monument on which the epigrams were written was of a commemorative character, rather than funereal, and that accordingly it could have never stood in the Athenian public cemetery, the Ceramicus. Furthermore the possibility that the epigrams were designed for a war memorial or even a religious offering shall be also taken into account.