Dedica dei Focidesi a Delfi

In the storage of the Archaeological Museum of Delphi two limestone fragments most probably belonging to the same inscription are preserved (inv. no. 1091 and inv. no. 37). The text consists of two lines, both heavily fragmentary; the letters are in the stoichedon pattern. 1091 reads τῶι at the beginning of the second line, whereas 37 reads αν, which is restored as [δεκάτ]αν in the first line, and λῶν in the second line, which is restored as [Θεσσαλ]ῶν (cf. Plut., De Pyth.or., 15: Φωκεῖς ἀπὸ Θεσσαλῶν). Both fragments feature traces of previous inscriptions engraved later in a Phocian context. As a consequence, it is highly probable that the authors of our inscription are Phocian. Modern scholarship maintains that the dedication referred to a tithe to Apollo by the Phocians after a victory over the Thessalians. However, as in the case of Syll.3 202B, there are at least four possible explanations: an archaic victory told by Herodotus, Pausanias and Plutarch; the battle of Argolas (modern Mendenitisa?), fought in 355 BC and referred to by Diodorus; a victory over the Galatians of Brennus (279 BC, cf. Paus. 10.8.3 and 10.23.3); an otherwise unknown victory by the Phocians. An analysis of the events that led to the Peace of Philocrates and then to the battle of Chaeronea seems to provide evidence for the first explanation.