Παρκαττίθεται αὐτὰ αὐτάν. Donne al santuario di Demetra a Eraclea di Lucania (SEG 30.1162-1170)

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.