The Parian Marble
The Parian Marble (IG XII.5.444) survives in two fragments:
- Fragment A (ll. 1-93). This fragment arrived at the palace of the Earl of Arundel in London in 1627 after being probably purchased in Smyrna. The upper part (ll. 1-45) is now lost and known thanks to the transcription published by John Selden in the Marmora Arundelliana (London 1628-1629: pp. 1-14 and 59-119). The surviving portion (ll. 46-93) is displayed in the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford. See images and RTI scans of fragment A (courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford).
- Fragment B (ll. 1-34). This fragment was discovered on the island of Paros in 1897 and is currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Paros. See images of fragment B (courtesy of the Archaeological Museum, Paros).
The author of the text of the Parian Marble is unknown, but the date of the composition can be fixed after 264/63 BC thanks to the mention of the name of the Athenian archon Diognetus (l. 3). The stone includes a list of events from the reign of Cecrops (1581/80 BC) to the archonship of Euctemon (299/98 BC) with a main focus on the Athenian history.
Events are arranged in paragraphs which present a very similar format including a short description of the event, the name of the Athenian king or archon, and the number of years that elapse from 264/63 BC and that are expressed with Attic acrophonic numerals.
For more information on the Parian Marble, see the Bibliography.
