ΠΑΡΚΑΤΤΊΘΕΤΑΙ ΑὐΤΆ ΑὐΤΆΝ. DONNE AL SANTUARIO DI DEMETRA A ERACLEA DI LUCANIA (SEG 30.1162-1170)

Abstract

This paper discusses nine bronze tablets (end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century BC) from the Demeter
sanctuary in the Greek polis of Herakleia in Southern Italy. While some are in poor condition, the
better-preserved ones allow us to conclude that they were written on behalf of women and meant for public
display; the mention of the eponymous magistrate shows that they were dated ad annum. The main interpretations
offered so far will be discussed, but against prevailing opinion it will be argued that these tablets
are not acts of manumission in the form of self-consecration to the divinity. Indeed, the verb παρακατατίθημι
and, above all, the similarities and differences to epigraphic texts of “liberation by consecration” from mainland
Greece suggest that these texts document public acts of entrustment to the goddess by former slaves
already freed through a process of civic manumission. These freed women were looking for safe protection
when leaving the security of their former oîkos.