Crystalising Initiation: The ephebic inscriptions of Hellenistic Athens

de Lisle, Christopher

Abstract

The ephebic inscriptions of Hellenistic Athens were annually erected honorific monuments commemorating young Athenian men’s completion of the ephebate, a year-long training programme that initiated them into public life. These monuments, composed of honorific decrees and a catalogue, crystalised views on the ephebate for ephebes and others through their location, relationship to other types of inscription, their layout, their imagery, and their language. They characterised the ephebes as interchangeably exemplary and the ephebate as prestigious, traditional, egalitarian, and essential to the wellbeing of the whole Athenian community. Their success in this was responsible for the continued vitality of the ephebate as an institution.

Citation

de Lisle, C. (2025). Crystalising Initiation: The ephebic inscriptions of Hellenistic Athens. In J. H. Vennebusch (Ed.), Inscribing Initiation: Written Artefacts in Rites of Passage (135-154). Franz Steiner Verlag

• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 1, 2026
• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 135-154
• Series Title: Hamburger Studien zu Gesellschaften und Kulturen der Vormoderne
• Book Title: Inscribing Initiation: Written Artefacts in Rites of Passage
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1732129
• Publisher URL: https://www.steiner-verlag.de/brand/Hamburger-Studien#rahmendaten_basicdata-HSGKV
• Contract Date: Aug 15, 2023