Among the inscriptions found at Delphi is a stele, written on all four sides, which seems to have regulated the function of the phratry of the Labyads.
Description
In 1893, slightly after the beginning of the Great Excavations at Delphi, was discovered a stele of a rectangular plan inscribed on all four sides. The director of excavations Th. Homolle was the first one to have studied the inscription, concluding that it contained a series of rules concerning the normal function and the internal relations of a phratry, namely the Labyads. For years the stele remained literary in the shadow. Its transferral to the Epigraphic Portico in the museum revived the scholarly interest as reserarchers could not read it better. Several questions ensued, such as whether the Labyads constituted actually a phratry, as they are nowhere referred to as such. However, the mention of "Poseidon Phratrios" continues to argue for the phratry theory. The inscription dtes to the late classical period. The inscription dates to the late classical period. There is a lengthy mention of funerary rituals, where it is mentioned, amongh other things, that the deceased should be accompanied in utmost quietness, without lamentations.