IGII34 794 Dedication to Asklepios by a temple attendant (<i>zakoros</i>)

Dedication to Asklepios by a temple attendant (zakoros)

IG II³ 4 794 Date: 1st century BC

Dorion of Herakleia, having become temple attendant (zakoros), (dedicated this) to Asklepios and Hygieia.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 794 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 4466 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Altar

Inscription type: Dedication (public, zakoros), Dedication (public, Asklepios), Dedication (public, Hygieia)

Original location: Asklepieion

Findspot: Acropolis, south slope (EM 8405)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This altar was dedicated in the Asklepieion on the south slope of the Acropolis (on which, see IG II³ 4, 665). Dorion or his ancestors came from Herakleia on the Pontos, which supplied one of the largest communities of resident foreigners at Athens in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (cf. J. D. Mikalson in Festschrift MacKendrick, 1998, 252-63). This is the earliest attestation of the temple attendant (zakoros) of the Asklepieion and the only case of a foreigner in the role. The post, which appears to have been annual, was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the sanctuary. It became more prominent after the introduction of life-time tenure for the priests of Asklepios in the reign of Augustus. Thereafter, all zakoroi were Athenians, many wealthy and well-connected. Some were also practicing physicians. For other attestations, all from the Imperial period, see IG II³ 4, 805, 807-809, 811, 832, 834, 848, 849 A, l. 35, IG II² 3664, 3798-3799, 3804-3805, 3963-3964, 4073, SEG 39.194, l. 4. There was also an assistant temple attendant, the hypozakoros (IG II² 4073). Many other cults also had zakoroi; the term is attested from Mycenaean times and probably originally meant ‘building-sweeper’ (D. Olson, Glotta 98, 2022, 206).

Added: 15 May 2025
Updated: 15 May 2025
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