pothos.org

Hi all

From the "Insriptiones Deli" Volumen XI, FASCICULUS IV and from the "Recherches sur les conditions de penetration et de diffusion des religions orientales a Delos" by Baslez M. F.

In early 2nd BC, Athenion, son of the Macedonian Hephaestion, dedicated a statue to Agathodaimon and to Agathetche on the sanctuary of Delos. His wife's name was Myrtis. Also, in Delos we find a Hephaestion who was son of Lysias from Athens while his mother's name was Diodora and his brother Menodotos.

I am sending to you all the references in case i have made miscalculations. Because of the limit of photos I will post mor emessages for you to have all the attachments.

More of the attachments

And the last 3

Very interesting, thank you.

I have a couple more for you, both from the British Museum online catalogues, and both found at Naukratis in Egypt.

This one belongs to a museum in Alexandria:

Materials
granite (scope note | all objects)
Place (findspot)
Found/Acquired Naukratis (?) (scope note | all objects)
(Africa,Egypt,Lower Egypt,Nile Delta,Naukratis)
Date
58 BC
Period/Culture
Hellenistic (scope note | all objects)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Description
Granite base with Greek inscription

Inscriptions
Inscription Type: inscription
Inscription Script: Greek
Inscription Language: Greek
Inscription Content: Τρύφαιναν τὴν τροφὸν βασιλέως | Πτολεμαίου μεγάλου θεοῦ νέου | Διονύσου Φιλοπάτορος | Φιλαδέλφου π......... αδε ....... | Ἀμμώνιος ....... γενους, | οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐπὶ προστάτου| Ἡφαιστίωνος τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, | γραμματέως Διονυσίου Lκβ
Inscription Translation: Those from the polis (honour) Tryphaina. nurse of Ptolemaios, great god, new Dionysos, Philopator Philadelphos ........., Ammonios ... genes, when Hephaistion, son of Alexander was prostates and Dionysios secretary, year 22
Inscription Comment: The 22nd year of Ptolemy XIII = 58 BC. The list of names of 'those from the polis' is lacunose.

This belongs to the British Museum and was made in Knidos, Caria

Height: 6.2 centimetres (Max preserved)
Height: 2.2 centimetres (Handle)
Width: 4.6 centimetres (Handle)
Diameter: 2.7 centimetres (Stamp)


Inscriptions

Inscription Type
control mark

Inscription Script
Greek

Inscription Position
top of handle

Inscription Language
Greek

Inscription Content
επι Ζη̣[-----]ιωνος Κνι

Inscription Translation
in the term of Ze(nodotos, of Hephaist)ion, Knidian

Inscription Comment
Circular stamp with hexafoil symbol. Retrograde.

Date: 167 BC-146 BC (?)

So, the name Hephaistion/Hephaestion wasn't that rare after all.... both in Macedon and Greece. Thank you very much for posting, both System1988 and Alexias.

Hephaistion son of Alexander looks like sons were being named after heroes as much as ancestors

Alexias wrote:Hephaistion son of Alexander looks like sons were being named after heroes as much as ancestors

Thank you Alexias and Delos for your comments

It seems that from a certain point afterwards the name was given to artists as well. The seal on the handle indicates that the name was spread in the world of commerce. It is not perhaps by accident that the names come from Rhodes island and Egypt where the memory and Hephaestion's good name remained strong because of the monuments dedicated to his name in Alexandria.

Pauline

Perhaps it isn't fortuitous that the name Hephaestion was spread mostly in the South-East Mediterranean world and in the Hellenistic Age - as both Alexias and system1988 said -, neither the most famous owner of its name (of course after Alexander's friend and general) was a grammarian born in Alexandria in Egypt and teacher of the emperor Lucius Verus (a relative of Marcus Aurelius II c. A.D.). But above all he is known for his work 'On metrics' in 48 books (lost), and its surviving outline 'Encheiridion' (shortened by the author himself for the pupils). This latter is the first thing I ever linked up with the name Hephaestion: the way to scan Greek poetry!

As Alexias notes, when observing the frequency of a name, we have to beware of "back-reading": that is looking at the popularity of a name a hundred years later and assuming it must have been popular earlier, as well--especially when there were famous antecendents bearing it.

What would be a lot more welcome would be evidence of the name before, contemporaneous with, or very shortly after the life of Hephaistion, ATG's general. Hephaistion was actually not uncommon in the Greek south (if not common, either). But it's not attested (unless someone's found something recently) in Macedonia before "our" Hephaistion. Likewise, the name Amyntor is rare in Macedonia.

But as I've said as far back as my dissertation when I first made the observation, that assertion could change tomorrow with the discovery of a new graveyard with stele featuring the names, or city dedicationgs (such as the one from Amyntor, son of Amyntor, in Colophon, which is possibly Hephaistion's younger brother). But we need something from or before ATG's era (or at least, say, before Ipsus in 301) for the appearance of the name connected with Macedonia to have significance that is unrelated to the famous guy with that name.

Jeanne Reames wrote:But as I've said as far back as my dissertation when I first made the observation, that assertion could change tomorrow with the discovery of a new graveyard with stele featuring the names, or city dedicationgs (such as the one from Amyntor, son of Amyntor, in Colophon, which is possibly Hephaistion's younger brother). But we need something from or before ATG's era (or at least, say, before Ipsus in 301) for the appearance of the name connected with Macedonia to have significance that is unrelated to the famous guy with that name.

Could I point you in the direction of this thread http://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... ros#p42475 as I am really not convinced that the Kolophon inscription has anything to do with Hephaestion.

The Colophon inscription may not. It's just a guess. Most of these things amount to educated guesses.

I found another Hephaestion who might have been alive in Alexander's lifetime. From 'Inscriptional Records for the Dramatic Festivals in Athens: IG II2 2318–2325 and Related Texts' edited by Benjamin Millis, Douglas Olson, gives details of an inscription found in the Agora of Athens which gives details of the actors who won in the Lenaea, a dramatic festival held in Athens in January. This Hephaestion took the actor's prize in 365/4BC, even though the set of play in which he performed only took third prize. His rival Arexis took the prize for the second time the following year. There is no indication of where this Hephaestion came from.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tEk ... or&f=false

And another one here:



Obtained from this thesis (Painiting techniques in Ancient Greece): https://www.academia.edu/9421891/%CE%91 ... E%AF%CE%B1_



That thesis is full of excellent figures by the way...

Thank you very much for this stele as well as for the thesis. It seems that the name becomes more frequent after chiliarch Hephaestion.

Depicting a young man at his deathbed is a bit rare (death in battle was more glorious). And what did I notice? If I am not mistaken the headboard is made to resemble a shell!

I think the 'shell' is just the pillows or cushions his head is resting on, certainly an unusual scene.