Epigraphic Landscape Athens

Graindor, RA 6, 1917, 6-7Revue Archéologique, 1844-, ascribed the text to 12/1 BCE observing a close similarity of the letters with those of a text of 14/3 BCE, suggesting that the broken name of the archon mentioned in l. 1 (ἐν τῶι ἐπὶ Λ....δου ἄρχοντος ἐνιαυτ[ῶι]) should be restored with Leonidas, archon of that year. Later Follet proposed to ascribe the inscription to the restoration works undertaken by Diokles "the younger" from Kephissia, who served as priest of Asklepios and Hygieia in 51/0 BCE (Lysiades' archonship); see IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner = ELA id: 222. She thus restored l. 1 as follows: [Διοκλῆς Διοκλέου]ς Κηφισιεὺς ἱερεὺς γενόμενος ἐν τῶι ἐπὶ Λ[υσιά]δου ἄρχοντος ἐνιαυτ[ῶι]. In spite of this, some recent works still attribute the text to 12/1 BCE (e.g. Melfi 2007 422 no. 146Melfi, M., «I santuari di Asclepio in Grecia I», (Studia Archaeologica 157), Roma 2007; Ma, Tekmeria 9, 2008, 14 fn. 25Τεκμήρια: συμβολὲς στὴν ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ καὶ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ κόσμου, 1995-), so that the issue is still unsolved. The formula restored by Follet, although plausible, lacks the definition of Diokles as νεώτερος, as he is remembered four times in IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner (ll. 11, 20, 24, 28).
On Diokles "the younger" and his family see Aleshire 1989 214 and fn. 1Aleshire S.B., «The Athenian Asklepieion. The People, their Dedications, and the Inventories», Amsterdam 1989; Aleshire 1991 105-106 no. 4032Aleshire S.B., «Asklepios at Athens. Epigraphic and Prosopographic Essays on the Athenian Healing Cults», Amsterdam 1991; SEG 57, 114Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum

The inscription bears a dedication to Asklepios and Hygieia by a priest of the two healing gods coming from Kephissia. It regards some restorations undertaken by the dedicator on a building in the precinct ([- - - τὸν π]ροσκείμενον οἶκον) and an exedra. It is the first attestation of an exedra in the Asklepieion of Athens, perhaps to be associated to a dining hall or room with couches (see Ma, Tekmeria 9, 2008, 13-14Τεκμήρια: συμβολὲς στὴν ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ καὶ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ κόσμου, 1995-).

It is likely that the repairs here mentioned should be attributed to Diokles "the younger" or to a member of his family and that the text should be associated, at least chronologically, to IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner. Nevertheless, as cleverly remarked by Melfi 2007 361Melfi, M., «I santuari di Asclepio in Grecia I», (Studia Archaeologica 157), Roma 2007, the text seems to deal with facilities of the precinct different from those mentioned in IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner, that is the entrance doors to the temple, the roof behind a propylon of the precinct and the cella of the shrine of Asklepios and Hygieia. The adjoined "oikos" and the exedra, both still unattested archeaologically, were most probably restored by Diokles in addition to the specific repairs of IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner and our text may thus reveal an even more ambitious and large program of restorations undertaken by him on the Asklepieion in the middle of the I cent BCE.
Contra, Follet (as quoted in SEG 39, 212Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum) and Aleshire 1991 106Aleshire S.B., «Asklepios at Athens. Epigraphic and Prosopographic Essays on the Athenian Healing Cults», Amsterdam 1991 identified the "oikos" with the elements of the propylon mentioned in IG 2[2] 1046Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriores (2nd ed., Pars I-III, Berlin 1913-1940; Pars V: Berlin 2008), Ed. J. Kirchner, especially with the roofed rear hall of the propylon; see also REG (BE) 1991, 69Bulletin épigraphique (dans la Revue des Études Grecques), 1888-.

The fragments were part of an epistyle block. The bottom surface is decorated with a pearls and ovolos moulding for the reuse of the stone in an Early Byzantine basilica.
Photos in Follet, as quoted in SEG 39, 212Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, pl. 6, figs. 1 and 4