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HIEROPOEI (ἱεροποιοί), commissioners of sacrifices at Athens, were of various kinds. Aristotle classes them with treasurers (ταμίαι) and custodians (ναοφύλακες) as exercising an office separate from that of priests (Pol. 6.8= p. 1322 b, 25); in one of the numerous inscriptions referring to them, ἱερῆς and ἱεροποιοὶ are distinguished (C. I. G. 76=C. I. A. 1.32; Boeckh, Sthh.3 2.45); in another, the latter are classed with βοῶναι and ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν μυστηρίων among those who reckoned with the state for the δερματικόν (C. I. G. 157=C. I. A. 2.741; Boeckh, op. cit. p. 101 ff.; cf. Dem. c. Mid. p. 570.171; BOONAE, DERMATIKON). The ἱεροποιοὶ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν were a body of ten appointed annually by lot for the state sacrifices in general, including those of quinquennial festivals, but excepting, we are told, the Panathenaea [p. 1.961](Pollux, 8.107). Several grammarians also expressly state, quoting the high authority of Aristotle, that these hieropoei had nothing to do with the Panathenaea (Phot., Etym. M.,s.v.; Lex. Seguer. p. 265, 22); but this is either a mistake or refers to a later period: an undoubted inscription of B.C. 410 records that at the Panathenaic festival 5114 drachmas were paid from the treasury for a hecatomb to the ἱεροποιοὶ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτόν (C. I. G. 147=C. I. A. 1.188; Boeckh, Sthh.3 2.5, cf. pp. 8, 118). Other hieropoei were assigned to particular deities and their temples, while others again were elected for particular festal celebrations (Schömann, Antiq. 1.427, E. T.). It is these last, probably, who are called ἐπιμήνιοι in contradistinction to those κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτόν (Hesych. s. vv. ἐπιμήνιοι, ἱεροποιοί). Demosthenes mentions as a high honour his having been selected “from all the Athenians” as one of three ἱεροποιοὶ ταῖς σεμναῖς θεαῖς, i. e. to the Eumenides (c. Mid. p. 552.115); the nomination in this case seems to have belonged to the Areopagus (Müller, on Aesch. Eum. p. 179; Schömann, op. cit. p. 496). Among festivals mentioned as provided for by hieropoei are those of the Delian Apollo and the Brauronian Artemis (Pollux, l.c.), of Bendis, Asclepios, and Ἀγαθὴ Τύχη (C. I. G. 157=C. I. A. 2.741, Boeckh, l.c. p. 107). As regards their duties, the mention of the δερματικὸν shows that they provided the victims with the money voted them for the purpose, and afterwards accounted for their hides; the actual slaying was probably done by inferior priests, but the hieropoei had to begin the sacrificial ceremonies (κατάρξασθαι τῶν ἱερῶν, Dem. l.c.). Hence, though really public officers, they are sometimes represented by the grammarians as sacrificing priests (Boeckh, P. E. p. 216 = Sthh.3 1.273; cf. Hermann, Gottesd. Alterth. § 11, n. 10.62, n. 11).
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
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