Introduction
Offering of aparchai, sometimes known as ‘first-fruits’ in English, is a religious practice widely attested in different parts of the Greek world from the Archaic period onwards. Etymologically speaking an aparche (ap-arche) is a combination of ἀπό and ἄρχω, expressing ‘a preliminary offering from a greater whole’. It was customary for the Greeks, whether on an individual or collective basis, to bring an aparche to the gods using a portion of the proceeds from a wide variety of human activities, such as agriculture, fishing, handcraft work, trade, military victory and mining. Since aparchai might be offered from a wide variety of sources, the English word ‘first-fruits’ with its agricultural connotation is potentially misleading; and aparchai are more appropriately understood as ‘first offerings’ instead. Although the bulk of the evidence pertaining to first offerings concerns dedications, dedicatory practices represent only one of the several contexts in which the langu...

