The Lapis Primus and the Older Parthenon

by Margaret M. Miles

Hesperia, Volume 80, Issue 4
Page(s): 657-675
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.80.4.0657
Year: 2011
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ABSTRACT:

The first two sets of Athenian tribute quota lists recording aparchai offered to Athena were inscribed on unusually large blocks of marble that have no parallel among other Greek inscriptions. The author argues that the block used for the first set of lists most likely was originally quarried for use as an architrave on the Older Parthenon, and that the second block may also have been intended for a building, perhaps the Parthenon. The reuse followed the well-attested practice of recycling architectural material held to be the property of a deity, and the monumental size of the blocks enhanced the dedicatory character of the lists of aparchai.