As work continues on the Krateros Project, the comparison of squeezes in the collection of the Institute for Advanced Study with their publications – a critical step required for quality control – has revealed errors that have previously been overlooked by the scholarly community, which are being presented here in advance of eventual publication:
* The editions of Agora XV 289 and 289a, two badly damaged prytany inscriptions, present incorrect information regarding their respective inventory numbers. Agora XV 289 is said to be comprised of four fragments (Agora I 995, Agora I 1647, Agora I 1748, Agora I 1768), and Agora XV 289a of just one fragment (Agora I 1806); however, examination of squeezes of Agora I 1748 and 1806 reveals that the former clearly matches the text of Agora XV 289a, while the latter matches Agora XV 289 (frag. c). Sterling Dow in his editio princeps treated all five fragments as part of a single text (S. Dow, Prytaneis: A Study of the Inscriptions Honoring the Athenian Councillors [Hesperia Suppl. 1; Athens, 1937], 183-185, No. 114). Meritt and Traill re-edited Dow frag. b as a separate text (Agora XV 289a) after determining that “the lettering [of frag. b] is so distinctively different that it must be assigned to a separate stele.” In the course of so doing, they evidently switched the two inventory numbers. They retained the correct information regarding the respective dimensions of the fragments, but swapped their texts, find spots, and excavation dates. (This error was an indirect result of Dow’s treating all five fragments as Agora I 995 rather than providing them with individual inventory numbers, leaving Meritt and Traill to rectify this oversight.)
To clear up any confusion, the fragments are:
Agora I 1748
Hesp. Suppl. 1 No. 114 frag. B
Discovered April 2, 1934, brown earth on the floor of the Tholos
H. 0.066 m.; W. 0.087 m.; Th. 0.029 m.; L.H. 0.011 m.
Listed as Agora XV No. 289 (frag. c), should be Agora XV No. 289a
Agora I 1806
Hesp. Suppl. 1 No. 114 frag. C
Discovered April 18, 1934, late fill in the wall trench, southeast side of the Tholos
H. 0.041 m.; W. 0.07 m.; Th. 0.023 m.; L.H. 0.01 m.
Listed as Agora XV No. 289a, should be Agora XV No. 289 (frag. c)
– Gil Renberg, Project Associate
Notes from Krateros 