3. Ruler Cult: The Ithyphallic Hymn to Demetrios Poliorketes a. On the context Demetrios’ reception in Athens, returning from the Ionian islands (291 BC) Demochares FGrH 75 F2= Athenaios 6.253b-d Φησὶ γοῦν ὁ Δηµοχάρης, ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ γράφων· «Ἐπανελθόντα δὲ τὸν Δηµήτριον ἀπὸ τῆς Λευκάδος καὶ Κερκύρας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐδέχοντο οὐ µόνον θυµιῶντες καὶ στεφανοῦντες καὶ οἰνοχοοῦντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσόδια καὶ χοροὶ καὶ ἰθύφαλλοι µετ' ὀρχήσεως καὶ ᾠδῆς ἀπήντων αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐφιστάµενοι κατὰ τοὺς ὄχλους ᾖδον ὀρχούµενοι, καὶ ἐπᾴδοντες, ὡς εἴη µόνος θεὸς ἀληθινὸς, οἱ δ' ἄλλοι καθεύδουσιν, ἢ ἀποδηµοῦσιν, ἢ οὐκ εἰσὶ, γεγονὼς δ' εἴη ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Ἀφροδίτης, τῷ δὲ κάλλει διάφορος, καὶ τῇ πρὸς πάντας φιλανθρωπίᾳ κοινός. Δεόµενοι δ' αὐτοῦ ἱκέτευον, φησὶ, καὶ προσηύχοντο.» Demochares, at any rate, writes in Book XXI When Demetrius left Leucas and Corcyra and returned to Athens, not only did the Athenians welcome him with incense, garlands, and libations, but processional and ithyphallic choruses met him, dancing and singing. They stood before the crowds and danced and sang, claiming that he was the only true god, and the others were either asleep, or out of the country, or did not exist; that he must be the son of Poseidon and Aphrodite; and that he was exceptionally handsome and the common benefactor of all mankind. And they approached him like suppliants, he says, and made requests and addressed prayers to him. (trans. Olson) b. Douris of Samos FGrH 76 F 13, ‘ithyphallic hymn’

THE ITHYPHALLIC HYMN FOR DEMETRIOS POLIORKETES 159

8 Marcovich 1988; Henrichs 1999; Green 2003; Buraselis 2003a, 35-6; Kolde 2003, 389-92; Versnel forthcoming. Cf. Ehrenberg 1965 (but with reservations); Habicht 2006, 108-9, on the character of the hymn as a cultic song.

recent years from the tendency to dismiss the hymn as a text of little or no religious importance to an effort to take it more seriously, despite its playful character. The latter approach is represented for instance by Miroslav Marcovich, who pointed to the reception of Epicurean ideas by the poet; Albert Henrichs focused on the convergence of myth and history in this text; Peter Green associated it with philosophical ideas of divine kingship; Kostas Buraselis attributed to the hymn genuine reli-gious feeling; Antje Kolde compared the hymn with the contemporary hymn of Isyllos for Asklepios; and Henk Versnel placed this text in the broader context of ancient “aretalogy.”8 Along these lines, I will attempt to place the hymn for Demetrios in the context of contemporary reli-gious trends. I do not have the illusion that this will in any way be the ultimate study of this text, but I hope to contribute if not to its under-standing, at least to revealing its puzzles.

The text

The text of the hymn is given by Douris9:

Üv oï mégistoi t¬n qe¬n kaì fíltatoi t±Ç pólei páreisin· êntaÕqa 〈gàr Dßmjtra kaì〉 Djmßtrion †ma par±gˆ ö kairóv.5 x© mèn tà semnà t±v Kórjv mustßria ∂rxeqˆ ÿna poßsjÇ, ö dˆ ïlaróv, ¿sper tòn qeòn de⁄, kaì kalòv kaì gel¬n páresti. semnón ti faíneqˆ, oï fíloi pántev kúklwç,10 ên mésoisi dˆ aûtóv, ºmoiov ¿sper oï fíloi mèn âstérev, Øliov dˆ êke⁄nov. √ toÕ kratístou pa⁄ Poseid¬nov qeoÕ, xa⁄re, kâfrodítjv.15 ãlloi mèn Æ makràn gàr âpéxousin qeoí, Æ oûk ∂xousin √ta, Æ oûk eîsín, Æ oû proséxousin ™m⁄n oûdè ∏n, sè dè parónqˆ ör¬men,

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160 A. CHANIOTIS

9 Douris, FGrHist 76 F 13 (= Athen. 7.253 d-f). I reproduce the most recent critical edition by Kolde 2003, 380-1. The most significant difference of her text from that text in FGrHist is the reading of line 32: kólason instead of sxólason. Cf. the edition by Marcovich 1988, 9-10; the most significant difference of his text from that of Kolde is his emendation of lines 23-5: t®n dˆ oûxì Qßbav, âllˆ ºljn t®n ¨Elláda Sfígga peripatoÕsan, Aîtwlón (lines 23-5). For line 35 I accept Wilamowitz’s emendation Æ spodòn poißsei (cf. Mikalson 1998, 96 with n. 58), instead of Æ spilòn poißsei, which is preferred by Marcovich, Kolde and others.

10 Austin 2006, 93-4, no. 43.

oû zúlinon oûdè líqinon, âllˆ âljqinón.20 eûxómesqa dß soi· pr¬ton mèn eîrßnjn pójson, fíltate· kúriov gàr e¤ sú. t®n dˆ oûxì Qjb¬n, âllˆ ºljv t±v ¨Elládov25 Sfígga perikratoÕsan, Aîtwlón, ºstiv êpì pétrav kaqßmenov, ¿sper ™ palai〈á〉, tà sÉmaqˆ ™m¬n pántˆ ânarpásav férei, koûk ∂xw máxesqai·30 (Aîtwlikòn gàr ärpásai tà t¬n pélav, nÕn dè kaì tà pórrw)· málista mèn d® kólason aûtóv· eî dè mß, Oîdípoun tinˆ eüré, t®n Sfígga taútjn ºstiv Æ katakrjmnie⁄35 Æ spodòn poißsei.

I present a translation (modifying that of Michel Austin)10:

How the greatest and dearest of the gods are present in our city! For the circumstances have brought together Demeter and Demetrios; she comes to celebrate the solemn mysteries of the Kore, while he is here full of joy, as befits the god, fair and laughing. His appearance is solemn, his friends all around him and he in their midst, as though they were stars and he the sun. Hail boy of the most powerful god Poseidon and Aphrodite! For other gods are either far away, or they do not have ears, or they do not exist, or do not take any notice of us, but you we can see present here, not made of wood or stone, but real. So we pray to you: first make peace, dearest; for you have the power. And then, the Sphinx that rules not only over Thebes but over the whole of Greece, the Aitolian sphinx sitting on a rock like the ancient one, who seizes and carries away all our people, and I cannot fight against her — for it is an Aitolian custom to seize the prop-erty of neighbors and now even what is afar; most of all punish her your-self; if not, find an Oedipus who will either hurl down that sphinx from the rocks or reduce her to ashes.

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94  THE DIVINE DEMETRIOS POLIORCETES 

the Athenians were happy then to be rid of the Dionysiac Demetrios, and the Demetrieia was abandoned. In 291/0 Demetrios returned to Athens from Leukas and Cephallenia. 

The Athenians, according to Demetrios' enemy Demochares, received him with  incense, wreaths,  libations,  processional dances,  and  ithv­phallic poetry accompanied by dancing (FGrHist 75 F 2). One of these ithyphallic poems is summarized by Demochares and preserved by Duris of Samos  (FGrHist 76 F 13).54 This hymn, though often treated as  a unique and uncharacteristic document in Athenian religious history, is a natural product of its immediate times. We have already noted that songs were sung about Demetrios in the symposia, and we learn from Philochoros (FGrHist 328 F 165) that the Athenians sang paeans "over" (em) Antigonos and Demetrios. A competition was held for the com­posers of such songs, and Hermippos of Cyzicus was  judged the vic­tor.55 This recalls the prize the Athenians in 294/3 had decided to award the citizen giving the most lavish and costly hospitality to the Mace­donian monarch (above, p. 92). If we take this song to be the song of Hermippos, which is not unlikely, then the poet was a foreigner as were most of the lyric poets writing in Athens at the time. The opening lines of the hymn, containing probably an exhortation 

to begin the singing, are lost, but the rest seems complete:56 

1  The greatest and the dearest of the gods are present for the city, for good fortune brought together here Demeter and Demetrios. 

5  She comes to perform the sacred mysteries of Kore. He is present handsome, laughing, and cheerful, as a god ought to be. 

54.  Habicht (1979, 40) dates this hymn to the great Eleusinia of 291. The ithyphallic meter is characteristic of hymns and chants sung in the Dionysiac phallic processions. See Ehrenberg 1946, 180­81; West 1982, 148. 

55.  There is confusion in Athenaios' text (15.697A) about the poet's name. It may be Hermocles or Hermodotos. See Jacoby on FGrHist 328 F 165. 

56.  For detailed studies of the song, see Marcovich 1988,8­19; Ehrenberg 1946,179­98. For a recent account of it in relation to ruler cult and contemporary philosophy, see Green 1990, 55,127, 398­99. Note also Weber 1995, 303­5. I disagree with important claims of Ehrenberg, viz. that Dionysos was addressed in a 

portion of the lost beginning; that Demetrios was, in this song, assimilated to Dionysos and Demeter; and that the song represents in general an early syncretism of deities char­acteristic of late Hellenistic religion. Personally and in cult Demetrios sought, as we have seen, identification with Dionysos and association with Demeter in Athens, but the hymn unmistakably represents Demetrios as a separate, distinct deity. 

THE DIVINE DEMETRIOS POLIORCETES  95 

It is a revered sight—his friends all in a circle, himself in the middle, 

10  as if  his friends were stars, he the sun. Hail, son of Poseidon, most powerful god, and of Aphrodite. The other gods are either far distant, or do not have ears, or do not exist or pay no attention to us, 

15  But we see you present, not made of stone or wood, but real. We pray to you: 

First, dearest one, create peace, for you have the authority. 

20  And especially punish the Sphinx that tramples over not Thebes but all Greece, the Aetolian who sits on a rock, like the old Sphinx, and snatches up and carries off all of us. I am unable to fight  him. 

25  It is an Aetolian characteristic to rob neighbors, but now they do it to those far away. If you will not do it yourself, find  some Oedipus who will throw this Sphinx off a cliff or will make it a pile of ashes. 

Duris laments, as have several modern scholars, that the Athenians, those who two hundred years previously killed a man showing obeisance to the king of Persia and who slew countless Persians at Marathon, used 

to sing this song not only in public but also at home. The song is, as Victor Ehrenberg notes, "not a specimen of high po­

etry." The Greek text is characterized by "simplicity and humdrum triv­iality" (1946,180­81). Only the extended conceit of the Aetolians as the Sphinx gives it some life. Its primary interest to us is as a poetic expres­sion of the attitude that at least some Athenians had developed toward the divine Demetrios over the past seventeen years. At points of  em­phasis, at the beginning of the song and immediately before the prayer, the actual, physical presence of the god Demetrios is emphasized, in con­trast to the traditional gods who are (or whose statues are) made of wood and stone, who may or may not exist, and who, at best, are distant and 

pay no heed to us. Demetrios was there, in person, in Athens. The importance of Demeter (lines 3­5) to grain­starved Athens is self­

57.  On Athenians,  even  in  the  classical  period,  not  expecting epiphanies  of  their 

Olympian gods, see Mikalson 199l­> 2I> 64­65. 

96  THE DIVINE DEMETRIOS POLIORCETES 

evident, and, as we have seen, Demetrios had courted association with 

her and her Mysteries. The friends who encircle Demetrios (8­10) are 

quite likely Adeimantos, Oxythemis, and Bourichos who, as new he­

roes, were like stars to the sun Demetrios. The solar imagery was char­

acteristic of Demetrios' self­established role. In the theater of Dionysos 

he was  represented as "riding on the world" (above, p. 92), and near 

the end of his career he was having a cloak woven for himself that would 

depict the entire cosmos and the heavenly bodies, a cloak that, accord­

ing to Plutarch (Dem. 41.4­5), no later Macedonian king chose to wear. The divine Demetrios  is  handsome, laughing,  and cheerful  (lines 

6­7), probably real traits of Demetrios (e.g., Plut. Dem. 2.2­3) but also virtues of a symposiast and reminiscent of the "youthful" and "sweet­

est king" (above, p. 85 n. 26). In the symposia Eros and Aphrodite were 

his fellow deities, here Aphrodite is his mother, and the lover Demetrios 

had no doubt demonstrated mastery of his mother's art in the orgies 

in the Parthenon. In other ways too the song displays the playfulness 

of symposiastic literature. Two puns have been noted: the true god (aA 17­

divov) as opposed to the stone ones (Aidivov), and the Sphinx (U<f>iyya) made into an ash  (ctttoSoV).55 The mating of Poseidon and Aphrodite, 

unique to this poem, may be explained prosaically as uniting Demetrios' 

two areas of competence, the navy and sex,59 but taken in light of the 

mythological tradition Poseidon and Aphrodite form a ludicrous pair. 

And, as we have seen, to be called the son of Poseidon was not neces­

sarily a compliment (see chapter 1, p. 30). Such playfulness in the song, 

if we are not imagining it, recalls the similarly playful and sophisticated 

"heliomorphic" Demetrios of Phaleron, Demetrios Kataibates, and per­

haps Demetrion, Demetrios' much­manipulated Mounichion. These 

and the Sphinx conceit should make us wary of attributing great reli­

gious seriousness to this song, however much it was performed pub­

licly or privately. The song was quite probably composed by a foreigner, 

and  the  lack  of  specifically Athenian  religious  traditions and  deities 

(apart from Demeter) in it is noteworthy and in this regard may be com­

pared to Aristotle's hymn on Hermeias.60 

58.  Ferguson, 1911, 143 and Marcovich, 1988, 17. The text  (OTTCIVOV)  is corrupt. Wil­

amowitz  proposed  cmoSov, Schweighauser  amvov  ("a  tiny  tit"),  and Meineke  ouiXov 

("rock," "cliff"); the last was accepted, "with some misgivings," by Ehrenberg 1946,179, 

and Marcovich, 19. 

59.  For Poseidon on (non­Athenian) coins of Demetrios, see Ehrenberg 1946,185­86. 

60.  See above, chapter 2, pp. 48­49. Cf. Ehrenberg's comment (1986,186): "The re­

lationship between Demetrius and the two gods Poseidon and Aphrodite was little more 

than a kind of playful invention, and not primarily an expression of religion." 

THE DIVINE DEMETRIOS POLIORCETES  97 

Critical  to  understanding  the  divine  Demetrios,  however,  is  the prayer of the song.61 Here, as before, Demetrios is asked to provide for the Athenians what they themselves could not: peace and, more par­ticularly, escape from harassment by the Aetolians to the north (lines 17­29). These Demetrios with his army and navy could, if he so chose, give. In fact, soon thereafter Demetrios mounted a successful expedi­tion against these Aetolians.62 The song to Demetrios did, in a primar­ily literary and perhaps playful way, raise pressing Athenian issues of life and death, issues that at that time could be addressed only by one greater and more powerful than themselves, only by a god more im­manent and active than traditional gods. That the "immanence" of the divine Demetrios was not just a liter­

art' cliche is suggested by the contemporary decree of Dromocleides.63 In 340 the Athenians had remounted on the newly rebuilt  temple of Apollo at Delphi their dedications of golden shields made from booty captured from the Persians at Plataea in 479­ Now, in the late 290s, the Aetolians controlled Delphi and had removed or were planning to re­move these  prominent dedications. Normally in such a situation the Athenians would consult Apollo through the Pythia, and, in such a mat­ter, Apollo's command would be decisive. But the Aetolians, hostile to Athens, controlled Delphi. The Athenians therefore turned to the new oracular god whom they had recently created: Demetrios. The decree of Dromocleides proposed that the Athenians elect a representative to go to Soter (Demetrios) and "ask him how most piously and best and most quickly the Demos could make the restoration of the dedications, and that the Demos do what he as an oracle bids (xPVav)them to do" (Plut. Dem. 13.2). The language of the decree suits only the consulta­tion of a deity, and Demetrios here, in 292/1, was given, and no doubt took on, the oracular role of Apollo Pythios. Demetrios similarly took on the role of Apollo Pythios in the Pythia 

of 290/89. For centuries this festival had been celebrated quadrennially, in the third year of  the Olympiad, in Delphi, in the god's honor. The festival included, in addition to customary sacrifices and processions, extensive and varied musical compositions featuring the hymn to the god. It had also a full range of  athletic competitions modeled on the 

61.  That the hymn is in fact a prayer to Demetrios is itself noteworthy. It is clearly ex­ceptional in that prayers (and votive offerings), both fundamental acts of Greek worship, are commonly not features of  ruler cult. See Nock 1972, 833­46; Nilsson 1967­7+, 2:182; Z. Stewart 1977,567­62.  Plut. Dem. 41.1, Pyrrh. 7­3­ See Shear 1978, 64 n. 185. 63.  On all aspects of  this decree, see Habicht 1979, 3+­44­

inviolable and consecrated to Chrysaorian Zeus and Apollon Isotimos, and praises their demos and king Antiochos, and crowns both of them with a bronze statue of eight cubits, for all the aforementioned reasons; to erect the statues in the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo, and to proclaim them at the Pythia; (and to say that) the assembly of the Amphiktions also praises Pausimachos son of Iatrokles, and crowns him with a golden crown, on account of his excellence 30 and his zeal towards his fatherland; and to pro-claim the crown in his fatherland, whenever he formally brings in the crown won at the Soteria;—and so that there be a memorial for all time, to write up this decree on the base of king Antiochos, in the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo, and to send it to the Antiocheians, sealing it with the common seal of the Amphiktions. Meidias made (the statue).

Commentary. T h e decree, and the one-line artist's signature, are carved on the base of the statue for Antiochos III mentioned in the decree. The base was found on the terrace of the temple of Apollo at Delphi (in the western part of the terrace, in front of the opisthodomos), along with four other similar bases, including the base inscribed with OGIS 228, the Delphian decree acknowledging the asylia of Smyrna. It has been suggested that all these bases supported statues of Seleukid rulers, and that the statue of Antiochos III was placed among statues of his ancestors (evidence and literature gathered by Hintzen-Bohlen). If so, the gesture elegantly echoed a concept developed by Pausimachos before the Amphiktions, Antiochos' adherence to the example of his ancestors.

See Ch. 2 § 2 (on context); Ch. 4 § 2d (on the pan-Hellenic diffusion of perceptions of the ruler); Appendix 2 (on asylia).

17. First Teian Decree for Antiochos III and Laodike III (probably 203)

Herrmann 1965a: 33-6 (text); 51—5 (textual commentary), and plate 1 (SEG 41.1003, I, document reedited by Herrmann, with an especially full apparatus).

Cf. J. and L. Robert, BE 68, 451 (improvements to the text); BE 69, 495 (detailed analysis of the texts); BE 69, 496 (royal cults in the Teian con-text); Giovannini 1983 (interpretation of the political situation); Gauthier 1985: 51-2; Piejko 1991a: 13-37 (arguments for low dating in 197; uncon-vincing restorations for earlier parts of text; brief line-by-line commen-tary). Translation: Austin 1981: no. 151.

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[Aea>v καί τ]ής πόλεως τής η ετέρας, και πρότερόν τε ύπάρ- 8 [χων] εν τή έπέκεινα τοΰ Ταύρου πολλών αγαθών εγίνετο παραί-τιος καί παραγενό ενος επί τούς καθ' η άς τόπους απο-κατέστησε τά πράγ ατα εις συ φερουσαν κατάατασιν καί ε-πώη ήσας εν τή πάλει η ών καί θεωρών έξησθενηκότας 12 η άς κα[ι] εν τοις κοινοίς καί εν τοις ιδίοις διά τε τούς συνεχείς πολί ουΙΥ] καί το έγεθος ων εφερο εν συντάξεων καί βουλό ενος τά τε προς τον θεον εύσεβώς διακείσθαι ώι καθιέρωσεν η ών τήν πόλιν καί τήν χώραν (καί) θελων χαρίζεσθαι τώι τε δή ωι καί τώι κοινώι τών 16 περί τον ιόνυσον τεχνιτών παρέλθουν εις τήν εκκλησίαν αύτος ανήκε TI ) [V] πόλιν καί τήγ χώραν ή ών ίεράν καί ασυλον καί άφορολό-γητον κ[αι] τών άλλων ών εφερο εν συντάξεων βασιλεί Άττά-λο>ι ύπεδεξατο άπολυθήσεσθαι η άς δι' αύτοΰ, ίνα γενό ενης ε- 20 παυξήσ[ε]ως τών κατά τήν πόλιν ή όνον ευεργεσίας λάβη τήν επιγραφ[ή]ν τής τοΰ δή ου, άλλά καί σωτηρίας· έπεδή ησε δε καί εν τή πάλει ετά τε τώ φίλων καί τών άκολουθουσών αύτώι δυνά εων άπόδιξιν ποιού ενος εγίστην τής προϋπαρχούσης αύτώι πίσ- 24 τέως προς άπαντας ανθρώπους, καί ετά ταύτα πολλών αγαθών πα-(ρ)αίτιος δ[ι]ατελεί γινό ενος ή ιν παράδειγ α πάσιν εκτιθείς τοις Έλλη[σι]ν 8ν τρόπον προσφέρεται προς τούς εύεργέτας καί εύνους ύπάρχοντας αύτοη, κα[ι τ]α εν συ[ν]τελει τών άγαθών δι' ών εις εύδαι ονίαν παραγίνεθ' ή πόλις ή [ώ]ν, 28 τά δ' ε[πι]τελεσει· επιστείλας δε προς τον δή ον ύπελαβε δείν πε ψαι [προ]? [αυτόν π]ρεσβείαν ή συνλαλήσει περί ών εφη πεπείσθαι καί τώι δ·>7 [ωι] συ -[φερειν], και τοΰ δή ου πρεσβευτάς εξαποστίλαντος ιονύσιον Άπολλο-[ ], Έρ αγόραν Έπι ένου, Θεόδωρον Ζωπύρου ενεφάνισε τούτοις 32 [άτι πα]ραλέλυκε τή πόλιν εις άεί καθότι επηγίλατο ών συνετάξα-[ εν φ\όρων βασιλεί Άττάλωτ ύπερ ών καί γράφας εφη εντετάχθαι τοις [πρεσβευταί]ς άναγγελλειν ή εΐν καί οί π ρεσβευταί άνήγγ[ι]λαν ταΰ-[τα τώι δή ]ωι· κατά ταύτα δε καί ή αδελφή αύτοΰ βασίλισσα Λαοδίκη εν 36 [άπασι «raipjoîs· τήν αυτήν έχουσα γνώ ην διατελεί τώι βασιλεί καί [ η—8 κ]ai εν τοις προς τή πόλιν φιλανθρώποις εκτενή καί πρό-[θυ] ον ε[αυτ]ήν παρέχεται προς τάς εύεργεσίας, καί τά έγιστα [τώ]ν άγα[θώ]ν ό δή ος εϊληφε παρ' ά φοτέρων ίνα οΰν καί ή ίς ε 40 [πα]ντί κα[ιρώ]ι φαινώ εθα χάριτας άξιας αποδίδοντες τώι τε βασι-[Λε]Γ καί τή [βα]σιλίσση καί ύπερτιθέ ενοι ήαυτούς Ιν ταίς τ[ι ]αΐς ταΐς προς [τ]οι')τους «α[τα] τάς εύεργεσίας καί φανερός fj πάσιν 6 δι^ ο^] εύπορίσ-τως διακί ε[ν]ος προς χάριτος άπόδοσιν τύχη αγαθή- 7ί[α]ραστΐ7σαι 44 τώι άγάλ ατ[ι] τού ιονύσου άγάλ ατα αρ άρινα ώς «·άλλιστ[α καί te]-ροπρεπέστατ[α] τοΰ τε βασιλέως Ά ντιόχου καί τής αδελφής αΰ[τ]οΰ [/3α]-σιλισσης Λαο\δί\κης, δπως άφέντες τή πόλιν καί τήν χώραν ίεράν καί άσυλον καί [π]αραλύσαντες η άς τώ φόρων καί χαρισ[ά\ ενοι ταύ- 48 τα τώι τε δή [ω]ι καί τώι κοινώι τώ περί τον ιόνυσον τεχνιτών πα-ρά πάντων τ[ά?] τι άς κο ίζωνται κατά το δ[υνατόν] κ[α]ι ναού καί τών άλλων ε[τέχ]οντες τώι ιονύσωι /cotv[ot σωτήρε]ς ύπάρχωσι τής [7rô]Ae[a)s· η] ών καί κοινή διδώσιν ή[ ΐν άγ]αθά· ίνα δε καί τά 52 [έφ]ηφισ[ ένα aw]TeAijTat άποδείξαι επισ[τάτας δ]ύο εξ απάντων

[τώ ] πο[λιτών οϊτιν]ΐς 4πι ίλήσονται τ[ής re κα]τασκΐνής τών άγαλ-[ άτ]ω[ν και τής άν]αθίσίως· το Sè άργ[ύριον το] eis ταύτα διδόναι

29 τά δ' è[m]r€Àia€i can be justified by the same verb in the parallel expression docu-ment 18, 31; pointed out by Oliver 1968: 321. 37 [αττααι καφ]οΐς Herrmann 1965a; [re τοις â/U]ois Habicht, noted in SEG. 38 [άδίλψώι] Merkelbach 1968: 173; [α'ίρεαιν] Habicht by letter to Herrmann, noted in SEG, which seems better. 52 τάγαθά is the 'formule rituelle' restored by J. and L . Robert, BE 68, 451.

Timou[choi's and strategoi's proposal. Since King] Antiochos . . . inten-tion and, preserving . . . the goodwill which is his from his ancestors and . . . choosing to . . . manifold . . ., he has resolved to become the common benefactor of all the Greek cities and especially of ours, and, whilst staying on the other side of the Taurus, he was responsible for many advantages 10 towards us, and, having come to our region, he restored the affairs to a profitable conclusion and, having stayed in our city and seen our weakness in matters both public and private, on account of the continuous wars and the size of the contributions which we paid, and wishing to be piously disposed towards the god to whom he has consecrated our city and our territory, and wishing to favour the people and the corporation of the Dionysiac artists, he went into the assembly and personally granted that the city and the territory be sacred and inviolate and free from tribute, and, as for the other contributions which we paid to King Attalos, 20 promised that we would be freed through his agency, so that on account of the increase of the affairs of the city, he should not only receive the title of benefactor of the people, but also that of saviour; he stayed in the city with his friends and the forces that accompanied him, making a very great display of the trustworthiness, which was his before, towards all men, and after that, he consistently is responsible for many favours towards us, giving an example to all the Greeks of the disposition he adopts towards those who are his benefactors and show goodwill towards him; and some of the favours through which our city comes to happiness he now brings about, others he will bring about; in his letter to the people, he was of the opinion that it was necessary to send 30 an embassy [to him], to discuss the matters which he was convinced would benefit the people also, and when the people sent as ambassadors Dionysios son of Apollo[. . .], Hermagoras son of Epimenes, Theodoros son of Zopyros, he made clear to them that he had freed the city in perpetuity, as he had announced, from the taxes which we paid to King Attalos; in his letter he said that he had instructed the ambassadors to report to us on these matters, and the ambassadors did so; in the same manner, his sister, queen Laodike consistently adopts the same disposition as the king and . . . and shows h[erself] eager and zealous in benefactions towards the city, and the people 40 has received the greatest of benefits from both;—in order that we too may be seen to return appropriate tokens of gratitude, in every occasion, to the king and the queen, and to surpass ourselves in the honours for them in relation to their benefactions, and in order that the people may show to all that it is generously disposed towards the returning of gratitude,—with good

fortune, (it seemed good) to set up, by the cult-image of Dionysos, marble cult-images, as beautiful [and] as fitting for sacred matters as possible, of K i n g Antiochos and his sister, Queen Laodike, so that, for having granted that the city and the territory should be sacred and inviolate and having released us from the tribute and having accomplished these actions as favours to the people and the corporation of the Dionysiac artists, 50 they should receive from everyone the honours, as much as possible, and that they should share in the temple and the other rituals of Dionysos and be the commfon saviours] of the city and in common bestow favours on us; in order that the content of the decree be executed, to choose [two epis]tatai out of all the ci[tizens], who will see to the making and the dedication of the statues; to provide the money for this purpose . . .

Commentary. T h e decrees are carved on two blocks from a pilaster in the entrance to the temple of Dionysos at T e o s (Herrmann 1965a: 89-93); they were found near the west wall of the temenos of the temple, probably deliberately discarded there (Herrmann 1965a: 31—2).

See Ch. 2 § 2 for context; Ch. 4 §§ 2b, 3 for analysis of the document's functions; on date, see Appendix 2.

18. Second Decree of the Teians for Antiochos III and Laodike III (probably 203)

Herrmann 1965a: 36-40 (text); 56-85 (line-by-line commentary), 99-100 (for date), and plates 2, 3, 4 (SEG 41.1003, II, re-edited with very detailed and fair apparatus, by P. Herrmann.)

Cf. J. and L. Robert, BE 68, 451 (improvements to the text); BE 69, 495 (detailed analysis of the texts); BE 69, 496 (royal cults in the Teian con-text); Gauthier 1985: 169-75 ( o n isopoliteia for the cities of the Seleukis); Piejko 1991a: 37—48 (for commentary and—most ly u n c o n v i n c i n g — restorations)

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[17s τ]οΰ αγάλ ατος και τής αναθέσεως καθότι αν οί τι ούχοι και οί στ[ρ]ατηγοι 7ταραγγέλλωσιν τό δε άργύριον τό εις ταύτα διδόναι τους τα ίας εκ τών τι ών τώ βασιλέων ή εκ τής öioiKijaeo/fs]· ίνα δε και τή αδελφή τοΰ βασιλέως βασιλίσση Λαοδίκη προς [rat?] 64 άλλαις ταΐς δεδο έναις τι αΐς νπάρχοισιν αλλαι ή όνον χ[άριν] εχουσαι τή παραυτίκα άλλά Kai νή ην ποιοΰσαι τήν εις το[ν ά]-παντα χρόνον και τοις εις τή πόλιν άφικνου ένοις τών ξένων [παρά]-δειγ α πάσιν υπάρχον ε έσωι φαίνηται τής ευχαριστίας το\ΰ δη]- 68 ου και προσήκουσας εκάστοις φαινώ εθα τάς τι άς φηφιζό [ενοι], κατασκευάσαι τήγ κρήνην τήν εν τή αγορά ι και επι εληθήνα[ι ο]-πως εις αυτήν τό ΰδωρ άχθη και άναθεΐναι τήγ κρήνην τή άδελ[φή] τοΰ βασιλέως Άντιόχου βασιλίσση Λαοδίκη και είναι αυτήν επώνυ [ον] 72 Λαοδίκης, και έπειδή ή βασίλισσα τά τε προς τους θεούς eùae/3[às] διακεΐται και τά προς ανθρώπους εΰχαρίστως και διά ταύτα κ[α]-λώΐ έχον εστίν εκ τής ταύτης επω ύ ου κρήνης πάντας κα-τάρχεσθαι τι ώντας τους θεούς και άγνεύοντας· τύχη άγαθ[η]· 76 όσοι αν ιερείς ή όσαι ίέρειαι προ πόλεως θυσίαν συντελώσιν, )^_ρήσ\-θαι προς τάς θυσίας εν οΐς δει ύδατι τόυτωι, λα βάνιν δε [καί TOUS]

συντελοϋντας τά λουτρά εντεύθεν, ύδρεύεσθαι δε κα[ί ταις νύ ]-φαις τά λο[υ]τρά άπό τής κρήνης ταύτης- όσοι δ* αν λα [βάνωσιν το] 80 ΰδωρ εις r[às] χρείας τάς προγεγρα ένας παραγίνεσ[θαι επι τήγ] κρήνην [/cat ά]ποπορεύεσθαι εν εσθήτι λα πράι εσ[τεφανω] [έ]-νους, τά[? δε ύδρ]ευο ένας τά λουτρά ταΐς νύ φαις [ 6-8 ]ΤΡΙΑ . Σ· [ί]-να δε σ[υντελήται] ή κρήνη καθότι γέγραπται ά[ποδ€ΐ|αι επι]στάτας δύο 84 εξ άπ[άντων τώ ] πολιτών οί'τινες [έπι ελήσον]ται τής κατασκευής τής κ[ρήνης και τής αναθέσεως c. ίο ]νην ύδατος παρεσο ε-[ν . . το δε ε]σό ενον άνάλω[ α τό εις ταύτα δι]δόναι τούς τα ίας ef«·] [τή? διοι]κήσεως καθότι αν οί επι τώ[ν] έργων τεταγ ένοι παραγγέ[λ]- 88 [λωσιν, υ]περ δε τών έργων τής συντελείας τούτων είναι κατά τον νό-[ ον τό]ν γεγ ρα ένο ν ύπερ τής κατασκευής τών τι ών επει δε κ[α]-[Λώΐ ε]χον εστίν ά α ταΐς άλλαις ταΐς δεδο έναις παρά τής πόλε-ις τώι β]ασιλει τι αΐς και άκόλουθον τή τε τοΰ βασιλέως και τών 92 [φίλων] εύνοίαι προς τον δή ον και τή παρ' ή ών πρός τε τον βασι-λέα και] τους φίλους αυ[τ]ού εκτενείαι καθάπερ εις κοινόν τεθήναι τό [τών ε]πωνύ ων πόλευ>ν τών τοΰ βασιλέως προγόνων τά δε[δο]-[ ένα κ]αί δοθησό ενα παρά τοΰ βασιλέως αγαθά τώι δή ωι (ίνα) φη[φισ]- 96 [öeiaiys] αύτοΐς πάσιν παρ' ή ΐν τής πολιτείας και ετοι ότεροι 7t[pôs] [τά? εύ]εργεσίας ύπάρχο>σι σπεύδοντες διά παντός καθά[π]ερ [καλό]ν εστίν, ύπερ τής ιδίας πατρίδος [κ]α£ [τι)]ν προϋπάρχουσαν τοις [. . Jots πρός αύτούς άνανεοισό εθα φιλίαν τύχη άγαθή• TOÙ[S] στρα- 100 [TI77O]ÙS και τούς τι ούχους είσενεγκεΐν εις τάς επιούσας άρχαι-[ρεσία\ς καθότι δοθήσεται πολιτέα τώι δή οη τω Άντιοχέων τώ [προ?] άφνηι και τώι δή ωι τώι Σελευκέων τών ε Πιερίαι [κα]ί τώι δή-[ ωι τ]ώι Λαοδικέων τώ πρός θαλάσση· άναγράφαι δε [κ]αί τό φή- 104 [φισ α τ ]όδί εις τήν παραστάδα τοΰ νεώ τοΰ ιονύσου κα[£ κ]αθιερώ-[σαι , T T ^ S δε αναγραφής τού φηφίσ ατος επι εληθήνα[ι T]OUS ενεσ-

[τηκότ]ας τα[ ί]ας' ίνα δε ό βασιλεύς Άντίοχος καί ή à[S]eÀ</>·)) αύτού [βασί\λισσα [Λ]αοδίκη είδήσωσι τήν εύχαριστίαν τού [δ]ή ου, άποδεί- 108 [£cu 7r]peaj6ei>Tas τρίς ήδη οί'τινες παραγενό ενοι προς αύτούς το [ εν φ]ήφισ α τάδε άποδώσουσι καί άσπασά εν[ο]ι ύπερ τού δή ου [και] συνησθεντες επί τώι ύγιαίνειν αύτούς [και] πράσσειν ον τρόπον [αι)τ]οί τε βούλονται καί η είς τοις θεοίς εύχό εθα καί ε φανίσαν- 112 [res] r à s [ r j / ^ à s τάς εφ[η\φισ [ε\νας καί δ [η ]λώσαντε5 αύτοΐς [ ]

2 Perhaps διαφυλάσσy, in which case this verb and at least lines 2—4 belong to a lva-clause comparable to those at lines 29-31, 64-69, (restored) 96-100; the participle ετέχων m i g ht qual i fy the subject of the clause ( K i n g Ant iochos or rather the demos of T e o s ? ) . 7—8 πάντας τους τής πόλεως άρχοντας or τούς άρχοντας τής πόλεως πάντας proposed by J. and L . Robert , BE 77, 405: the first banquet named is not organized for all the inhabitants of the city (the editor's restoration: τούς . . . ο'ικοΰντας), but only for the magistrates and their choice guests, the Dionysiac artists (cf. Robert 1937, 184). 16—17 J· A N D L . R o b e r t , BE 68, 451 p r o p o s e έν TO[ÎS Λε\ υκαθέοις], 24 τούς άλους on the stone. 26-7 [παύ\εσθαι] D u n s t 1968: 171 . 28 τή έραι with crasis, D u n s t 1968: 171. 36 κατά το[ν νό ον] P ie jko ΐ9 9 ι α : 43· [αΰτ]ουΐ Piejko iggia: 44> [τούτ]ονς fits the four-letter gap publ ished by Herrmann. 52-3 ετ aa^aAe/fas] J. and L . Robert , BE 68, 451. 72 χ[ρήσθαι] D a u x 1973: 235. 83 TCC[S δέ ύδρ]ευο ένας D u n s t 1968: 1 7 1 . T o w a r d s the e n d , J. and L . R o b e r t , BE 69, 499 propose [ ετά οτλεγγ\ίδος, 'wearing a headband' . 86 [καί τής αναθέσεως] Piejko 1991α: 47, by analogy with line 55 of the previous T e i a n inscription and line 61 of the present inscription. 92 O n the grounds of usage in the rest of the document (e.g. lines 30, 32) [τώι β]ααιλεΐ seems better than [τω β]ααιλεί (though see line 102 for τώι δή ωι τώ Άντιοχέων) gg-ioo T h e three-letter gap at the beginning of the line is difficult to fill, though the meaning is clear (renewing the T e i a n s ' friendship for the cities named after the king's ancestors) Herrmann 1965a proposed [πρόγ(ον)\οις, meaning the T e i a n s ' ancestors. Piejko 1991a: 47-8, woul d see [δή ]οις (without any justification; perhaps unlikely), and prints τήν προϋπάρχουσαν τοις [. . .]ois προς αύτούς: 'so that we should renew the friendship w h i c h the peoples had for us'. But the meaning is not the expected one, and the T e i a n documents use the form ή αυτούς or εαυτούς: document 17, 42; present document, line 41; document 19 A , 6. D u n s t 1968: 172, proposes [Τηί]οις, but in these decrees, the T e i a n s refer to themselves in the first person singular or as 'our city ' (document 17, 8, 12, 15, etc). It might be tempting to write τήν προϋπάρχουσαν {rois} [τ?αυτ]οίΐ προς αυτούς . . . φιλίαν, 'our previous friendship for them' (though the expression is infelicitous, and the correction harsh).

. . . sharing in . . . preserving . . . of sacrifices and lfibations] . . . should increase towards him through ( ? ) . . . with gratitude to conduct [. . . Antioch]eia and Laodikeia . . . to have on this day [all the magistrates of the city] and the [Dionysiac artists] assemble for a feast . . .; and to have 10 [each of the symmoriai] build on its own place next to [the altar of the sym-moria] one [altar] of King Antiochos and [his sister] Queen Laodike, and to perform the sacrifice on it and to have the priest of the king inaugurate the rituals and to have him preside in this festival over the libations and all the other rites which are performed by the symmoriai just as the priest of Poseidon presides at the [Leukath]ea; and to have the people determine once and for all at the future elections the future expenditure per head, and to have the successive tamiai 20 give the fixed amount to the prostatai of the symmoriai, out of the state budget, at the latest on the fourth of Leukatheon, after having received from the prostatai the return of numbers of those in . . ., those in the age-classes and those registered with

them . . .; and to have all the others who live in our city sacrifice and cele-brate the festival in their own houses, each according to his means; and to have all wear crowns in the city on that day; and [to suspend] all working activities in the city and in the countryside, and to have on that day court holidays for all towards all; and to inscribe this festival in the sacred book; and in order that 30 the place be consecrated to King Antiochos Megas where he accomplished some of his favours, and promised the others, which he accomplished later, to dedicate in the bouleuterion a bronze cult-image of the king, as fine as possible, and to have the colleges of the strategoi and the timouchoi and the tamiai and . . . along with the priest and the prytanis perform in the bouleuterion a sacrifice upon the common hearth of the city to the king and the Charités and to Memory, as eisiteteria (entrance-ritual) each year when these colleges enter office, for good result, upon the first of Leukatheon, and to have them offer a full-grown victim; and to have those who leave the ephebes offer a sacrifice with the gym-nasiarch on the same day, as it is written, 40 so that they do not start to handle anything among the common affairs before returning gratitude to the benefactors and so that we should accustom our progeny to value every-thing less than the returning of gratitude and so that we should make their first entrance into the agora as fine as possible, in the same spirit (P);1 and to have those who in the previous year have bought the right to supply the sacrificial victims make available the victims for the sacrifices, and to have the tamiai supply the victims to the magistrates entering office and those who leave the ephebes; and to have those who after a victory in the crown-games make a solemn entrance into the city go from the gate to the bouleuterion first, and crown the cult-image of the king and offer a sacrifice as is written above; and 50 since the king brought us not only peace, but also an alleviation of the heavy and harsh taxes for the future, by releasing us from the syntaxeis, and made the working and harvesting in the land profitable and safe, (it seemed good) to place before the cult-image of the king the first produce from trees that appear each year in the land, as first-fruit offerings; and to have the priest make sure that the cult-image of the king should be crowned at all times with the crown that fits the season; and to have the successive tamiai add the right to supply these crowns to the auction (of the contract) of the crown-supplying and to appoint two epistatai 60 out of all the citizens who should see to the work on the cult-image and the dedication, following the orders of the timouchoi and the strategoi; to have the tamiai give the money for this purpose out of the hon-ours for the kings or out of the state budget;—and in order that Queen Laodike should have, in addition to the honours given to her, other honours which not only contain gratitude in the present but also create memory for the rest of time and so that an example of the gratitude of the people should be seen in the middle before all the foreigners who come to the city and so that we should be seen to decree the honours that suit each and all,2 to build 70 the fountain in the agora and to see that water should

1 Έττι ταύτα: 'ebenso' Herrmann, tentatively. 2 Or 'so that we may be seen by each and all . . .'?

be adducted to it and to dedicate the fountain to the sister of K i n g Antiochos, Queen Laodike, and that it should take its name from Laodike;—and since the queen is piously disposed towards the gods and gratefully towards mankind, and since it is good, for the above reasons, that all those w h o honour the gods and are pure should offer libations from this water named after h e r — w i t h good fortune, (it seemed good) to have all the priests and the priestesses who offer sacrifice in favour of the city draw water from this fountain for the sacrifices where it is appropriate, and to have those w h o make offerings of water take it f rom there, and to draw the baths for the brides 80 f rom this fountain; and to have all those who take the water for the purposes mentioned above go to the fountain and retire from it in white clothing and wearing crowns, and to have the women who draw the vessels of water for the brides . . .; and in order that the fountain be built, as it is written, to appoint two epistatai out of all the citizens, w h o should see to the work on the f[ountain and the dedication . . .] of water . . . and to have the tamiai cover the future expenditure out of the budget, according to the instructions of those appointed to the works, and concern-ing the execution of the works, to follow the written law 90 concerning the work on honours;—and since, in addition to the honours given to the king by the city, it is a fine thing and fitting with the goodwill of the king and his friends towards the people and our eager character towards the king and his friends, to put in common, so to speak, with the cities named after the ancestors of the king the favours which were given and those which will be given by the king to the people, so that, after a grant of our citizenship to them, they should be the readier to benefactions and show eagerness in all matters, just as it is a fine thing to do with one's own fatherland, and so that 100 we should renew our pre-existing friendship with t h e m , — w i t h good fortune, (it seemed good) to have the strategoi and the timouchoi propose at the next elections that citizenship be granted to the people of the Antiocheians by Daphne and the people of the Seleukeians in Pieria and the people of the Laodikeians by the sea; and to write up this decree on the parastas of the temple of Dionysos and to consecrate it, and to have the tamiai in office take care of the writ ing-up of the decree; and in order that K i n g Antiochos and his sister, Queen Laodike, should know of the grati-tude of the people, to appoint three ambassadors who should go to them and 110 hand over this decree, and, after bringing greetings from the people, and after rejoicing that they be in good health and in the situation which they wish and which we pray the gods for them to be in, and after informing them of the honours decreed and after telling them . . .

Commentary. A s in the case of the previous decree, the present text is carved on two blocks from a pilaster in the entrance to the temple of Dionysos; the archaeological context is also the same. T h e present text is certainly later than the previous document (Herrmann 1965«: 89-93), because of the greater elaboration of the honours, and because the promised benefactions of document 17, 27-9, are now described as realized (lines 30-1).

m e s s a g e a b o u t the i n d e p e n d e n c e , real or s y m b o l i c a l , f r o m the k i n g -d o m , is c o n f i r m e d b y the v e r y p r o d u c t i o n of s u c h narrat ives .

(b) Ruler Cult as Social Memory

In a d d i t i o n to e x p l i c i t local n a r r a t i v e s a b o u t the k i n g , r i tual , and e s p e c i a l l y the m e m o r i a l sites and g e s t u r e s c o n v e n t i o n a l l y cal led ' ru ler c u l t ' , also p e r f o r m e d an i m p o r t a n t local role in h e l p i n g cit ies to talk and th ink a b o u t the r u l i n g p o w e r . A s has b e e n r e c o g n i z e d , ru ler cult b e l o n g e d to the s y s t e m of c iv i c τι αί w h i c h r e s p o n d e d to s p e c i f i c b e n e f a c t i o n s or s e r v i c e s ( H a b i c h t 1970: 1 6 0 - 5 , 2 0 6 - 1 3 ) . T h e s e also m a d e a s t a t e m e n t a b o u t the c i t y ' s re lat ion to the k i n g , b y r e c o g n i z i n g his s u p e r h u m a n qual i t ies , h is g o d l i k e p o w e r to save the c i ty ( H a b i c h t 1970: 1 7 0 - 1 , 2 3 0 - 6 ; G a u t h i e r 1985: 4 2 - 7 , 160). F o r S . P r i c e , cu l t i c h o n o u r s acted as a c o g n i t i v e f u n c t i o n , c l a s s i f y i n g the p r o b l e m a t i c e x t r a - p o l i a d m i g h t of the k i n g w i t h d i v i n e p o w e r ; a w a y of c o m i n g to t e r m s w i t h royal p o w e r , or m a k i n g sense o f it, f r o m the p o i n t of v i e w of the G r e e k c i ty and its t r a d i t i o n s ( P r i c e 1984: 2 5 - 4 0 , 5 1 - 2 ) . T h e T e i a n s p r o c l a i m e d that A n t i o c h o s I I I h a d b r o u g h t t h e m to h a p p i n e s s , ευδαι ονία: in r e s p o n s e , t h e y p u t cul t ic i m a g e s o f h i m a n d L a o d i k e in the t e m p l e of D i o n y s o s , the m a i n g o d of the c i ty , to share in the g o d ' s h o n o u r s , and to act as KOLV[OL σωτήρε]s a l o n g s i d e the g o d , b r i n g i n g [τάγ]αθά to the c i ty ; a n o t h e r cul t ic i m a g e , in the bouleuterion, p r e s e n t e d an i m a g e of the k i n g as p r o v i d e n c e , w h o s e m e a s u r e s had m a d e w o r k and h a r v e s t safe: a d m i n i s t r a t i v e ac t ion ( tax-re l ie f ! ) is d e s c r i b e d in t e r m s fitting for d i v i n e p o w e r . 1 1 4 T h e Ias ians o f f e r e d p u b l i c sacr i f ices to A n t i o c h o s I I I and his a n c e s t o r s [ω? καί KOL] \ VOLS θεοΐς τψ πόλεως, '[as to c o m j m o n g o d s of the c i t y ' . 1 1 5

C i v i c ru ler cult is a local p h e n o m e n o n , to be i n t e r p r e t e d f r o m the p o i n t of v i e w of the local c o m m u n i t i e s ( H a b i c h t 1970); th is is i l lus-trated b y a P r i e n i a n d e c r e e f o r L y s i m a c h o s t reat ing ru ler cul t apart f r o m (and h e n c e a f ter) d i p l o m a t i c t r a n s a c t i o n s w i t h the k i n g ( O G I S 1 1 ) . H a b i c h t i n t e r p r e t e d the p h e n o m e n o n as local a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t o f i n f e r i o r i t y and d e p e n d e n c y b e f o r e the g o d l i k e p o w e r of the k ing; th is i n t e r p r e t a t i o n m a y e x p l a i n the o r i g i n s of cu l t i c h o n o u r s ( r e s p o n d i n g to, or m a k i n g sense o f , a p o w e r g r e a t e r t h an the polis b y s u b l i m a t i n g it into d i v i n e or p r o v i d e n t i a l f o r m s ) , b u t there is r o o m to e x p l o r e the r a m i f i c a t i o n s of local m e a n i n g s . T h e s a m e appl ie s to P r i c e ' s findings: the cu l t m a y b e a w a y o f c o m i n g to t e r m s w i t h the p o w e r o f the H e l l e n i s t i c k i n g , and m a k i n g sense of i t — b u t w h i c h t e r m s ? and w h a t sense? H o w d i d this p r a c t i ce insulate c i v i c i d e n t i t y f r o m the s y m b o l i c a l v i o l e n c e of the royal state? T h e s e q u e s t i o n s can

114 Documents 17, 28, 50-2; 18, 50-3. 1,5 Document 26 Β, II 12-13.

be a n s w e r e d , b y s t u d y i n g the detai ls o f the creat ion of ru ler cul t , the ' h o n o u r s w h i c h m a k e m e m o r y ' , and not j u s t the i m m e d i a t e χάρις o f e u e r g e t i c a l i n t e r a c t i on w i t h the b e n e f a c t o r : ή όνον χ[άριν] I εχονσαι τή τταραυτίκα αλλά και νή ην ποιούσα: τήν eis- το [ν α] I τταντα χρόνον.η 6

T h i s a p p r o a c h leads to e x a m i n i n g the m a n i p u l a t i o n of social m e m o r y and c i v i c i d e n t i t y , an act ive p r o c e s s w h o s e c o n t e n t s and f u n c t i o n s w e can s t u d y , t h r o u g h the w e l l - d o c u m e n t e d cases of T e o s and Iasos.

O n e i n s t r u c t i v e case is the creat ion of a n e w fest ival at T e o s , the A n t i o c h e i a and L a o d i k e i a , and the w a y in w h i c h it w a s w o v e n into c i v i c l i fe . T h e fest ival took p l a c e in L e u k a t h e o n , the first m o n t h of the y e a r , a c e r e m o n i a l l y c h a r g e d m o m e n t in the ritual c a l e n d a r , w i t h the i n a u g u r a t i o n o f n e w m a g i s t r a t e s , the ' g r a d u a t i o n ' to c i t i zen status of the e p h e b e s , and the L e u k a t h e a , a fest ival o f the c iv i c s u b d i v i s i o n s k n o w n as the summoriai. It w a s into this c i v ic t i m e that the A n t i o c h e i a and L a o d i k e i a w e r e i n t r o d u c e d . 1 1 7 T h e fes t iva l m o b i l i z e d all l eve l s o f the p o p u l a t i o n : the m a g i s t r a t e s (and their g u e s t s , the D i o n y s i a c art ists instal led in T e o s ) h e l d an off ic ia l feast ; the c i t i zens sacr i f i ced b y summoriai, and the f o r e i g n e r s in the c i ty p e r f o r m e d pr ivate sacr i f ices in their h o u s e s ; the fest ival reasserted the b o u n d a r i e s w i t h i n the c i t i zen b o d y and b e t w e e n c i t i z e n s and o t h e r s , e v e n as it a f f i r m e d the polis as a p h y s i c a l p lace a n d a p o p u l a t i o n integra l l y a f f e c t e d b y the p r e s c r i b e d h o l i d a y and c o u r t v a c a t i o n . 1 1 8 T h e r i tuals p e r f o r m e d b y the summoriai w e r e p a t t e r n e d o n the L e u k a t h e a , w i t h a s u b s i d y f r o m the centra l finances of the polis, and s u p e r v i s i o n b y a pr iest o f the c i ty (the pr iest o f P o s e i d o n f o r the L e u k a t h e a , the pr iest o f A n t i o c h o s f o r the A n t i o c h e i a and L a o d i k e i a ) ; t h e y i n v o l v e d o f f e r i n g s o n an altar w h i c h e a c h summoria bui l t o n its p r o p e r t y , n e x t to its altar (παρά [τον βω ον της σν ορίας]): the j u x t a p o s i t i o n of altars i l lustrates h o w r e p r o d u c t i o n of e x i s t i n g ritual a l l o w e d the i n t e g r a t i o n of ru ler cu l t w i t h i n e x i s t i n g s t r u c t u r e s . T h e n e w fest ival i n t r o d u c e d ru ler cul t at the level o f local associa-t ive l ife b e l o w the level o f the polis, y e t a l w a y s a w a r e of b e l o n g i n g to it ( t h r o u g h central f u n d i n g a n d centra l r e l i g i o u s s u p e r v i s i o n ) . T h e c i v i c s u b - u n i t s , b y their v e r y n a m e s , m a y h a v e s e r v e d as r e m i n d e r s

116 Distinction in document 18, 65-7 ('(honours) which not only have gratitude in the immediate present, but which also make memory for all times').

117 Leukatheon: document 18, 21, implies that the festival took place in this month, since the deadline for financial applications to the city tamias was Leukatheon 4. Ceremonial month: ibid., 37—8, 39. Leukathea and summoriai: Çahin 1985 for evidence.

118 Document 18, 3-28. T h e holiday, as moment of ritual celebration or simply of general pause from daily labours, and more abstractly as a time for memory and self-aware communion, must count among the mechanisms which define the 'imagined community ' (Anderson 1991).

o f the c i t y ' s m y t h i c a l h i s t o r y , and h e n c e acted as i m p o r t a n t loci f o r c i v i c i d e n t i t y . 1 1 9 T h e n e w fest ival for A n t i o c h o s and L a o d i k e w a s i n s c r i b e d in the ' h o l y b o o k ' o f the c i ty , b o t h l i tera l ly , as a n e w e n t r y in the off ic ial c a l e n d a r (άναγ[ράψαι] I [Sè τ]αντην τήν εορτήν els τήν ίεράν βύβλον), b u t also, m o r e g e n e r a l l y , as i n s c r i p t i o n w i t h i n the c o n -st i tuent s t r u c t u r e s of c iv ic ident i ty .

T h e o t h e r p h e n o m e n o n d o c u m e n t e d at T e o s is the c r e a t i o n of n e w c e n t r e s f o r c iv ic l i fe, i n t e n d e d as m e m o r i a l acts of h o m a g e to the b e n e f a c t i o n s and the c h a r a c t e r of A n t i o c h o s and L a o d i k e . T h e T e i a n s cr eat ed a n e w site f o r ru ler cul t , the bouleuterion a d o r n e d w i t h a sacred statue (άγαλ α) o f A n t i o c h o s , as a m e m o r i a l o f his b e n e f a c t i o n s , ' s o m e of w h i c h he rea l i zed, s o m e he p r o m i s e d and s u b s e q u e n t l y rea l i zed ' : w h a t h a d b e e n a c o n s t r a i n i n g f o r m u l a in d i rect a d d r e ss to the ruler (§ 2b) has n o w t u r n e d into ce lebrat ion. 1 2 0

T h e i n t e n t i o n w a s 'to c o n s e c r a t e to K i n g A n t i o c h o s the G r e a t ' the p lace w h e r e these e v e n t s h a p p e n e d , the bouleuterion as v e n u e f o r his s p e e c h b e f o r e the a s s e m b l e d ekklesia:{2x the c o n s e c r a t i o n itself is a c u l t i c h o m a g e to A n t i o c h o s as r e c i p i e n t of d i v i n e h o n o u r s , and e c h o e s his b e n e f a c t i o n , the c o n s e c r a t i o n o f the c i ty and t e r r i t o r y of the T e i a n s as asylos. In f r o n t of th is statue, o n L e u k a t h e o n 1, the p r i n c i p a l m a g i s t r a t e s (strategoi, timouchoi, tamiai) sacr i f i ced o n the c o m m o n h e a r t h o f the c i ty , to the k i n g , the Charités, and Mneme, the e u e r g e t i c a l v a l u e s of r e c i p r o c a l g r a t i t u d e and m e m o r y . 1 2 2 O n the s a m e d a y , the e p h e b e s , u p o n g r a d u a t i o n into adul t s tatus , w e r e led b y the g y m n a s i a r c h into the agora f o r the first t i m e , and o f f e r e d the s a m e sacri f ice; the i n t e n t i o n w a s d i d a c t i c , s h o w i n g the c i t i z e n s - t o -b e that g r a t i t u d e t o w a r d s b e n e f a c t o r s w a s the m o s t i m p o r t a n t part of pol i t ica l l i fe , τα κοινά:123

ίνα ηθεν πρότερον άρξοινται πράσσειν τών κοινών πριν ή χάρ[ι]~ [ra]s a7roS[o]wai τοις ευεργεταις και εθίζω εν τους εξ ήαυτών πά\ν\-[τα] υστέρα και εν ελλάσσοντι τίθεσθαι προς άποκατάστασιν χάριτος

119 Rogers 1991. f ° r Roman Ephesos. T h e only attested summoriai are the Έχίνον συ ορία (Çahin 1985), presumably named after a local hero, and ή ατύλου συ ορία, attested on a Teian gravestone recording honours paid to the deceased by various bodies. (The form α τύλου was suggested by Wilhelm for Άλτύλου, proposed by H. Hauvette-Besnault and E. Pottier, the editors: the stone bears traces rendered as ΑΛΤΥΛΟΥ; Datylos might be the same as an Athenian hero Datylos/Datyllos, first identified by Wilhelm in IG ι3 383, line 76; for references, see J. and L. Robert, OMS vii. 310 n. 58).

120 Document 18, 29-63. 121 Document 17, 17. T h e bouleuterion (perhaps the 'small theatre' which can still be

seen on the site) could presumably have held many, or all, of the Teian citizen body (on the 'small theatre' or odeion at Teos, Béquignon and Laumonier 1925: 288-9).

122 Document 18, 33-8. 123 Ibid. 38-44.

so that they do not start to undertake anything concerning the community before returning gratitude to the benefactors and so that we should accustom our progeny to value everything less than the returning of gratitude.

T e i a n athletes, victorious in the prestigious pan-Hel lenic ' c rowned ' contests were now to crown the king 's agalma (presum-ably w i t h the very wreath they had won) and offer the same sacrifice to king, Charités, and Mneme on the c o m m o n hearth, their first act on their eiselastic entrance into the city.1 2 4 T h e traditional gestures of the city 's finest, v ictorious in contests abroad, are now recon-figured as tribute to the king, the path of their m o v e m e n t in the city rechanelled to the new centre. T h e message is perhaps that the k ing 's p o w er to benefit the city is superior to the symbolical advan-tages athletic victory brought to the city, or that the athletic contests are less important than the contest to gain a city 's gratitude through euerget ism (on this notion, G a u t h i er 1985: 11—12, 129—30).

T h e bouleuterion was already an important location on the map of civic life, since it was the meet ing place of the council , and probably of the assembly, and also served as the spot where publ ic lists and decisions were temporari ly publ ished on whitened boards, thus making it a centre for publ ic communicat io n between the polis as state and the citizens;1 2 5 marked as a memorial site, it now became the centre to w h i c h civic ritual accompanyin g cardinal m o m e n t s was shi f ted 1 2 6 —the uncertain m o m e n t w h e n the magistracies were renewed; the rite de passage by w h i c h the city admitted new members ; the tr iumphal entrance of the victorious athletes—to pay homage to the agalma and the sacrifice to king, Charités, and Mneme. C i v i c life was reconfigured around a particular image: K i n g A n t i o c h o s the Great , whose benefact ions had brought prosperity. T h i s image was made concrete by the cult statue, to w h i c h first fruits of 'the crops w h i c h g r o w on trees' were offered, and w h i c h stood c ro w n ed with a wreath w h i c h was changed as the seasons went by:1 2 7 a s y m b o l of the providential nature of the king, and the per-manence of the ci ty 's gratitude, manifested by recurring patterns of change centred around the enduring , monumental statue.

T h e T e i a n s honoured Laodike w i t h an e p o n y m o u s fountain,1 2 8

124 Document 18, 46-50. On eiselastic entrances and customary sacrifices, J. and L. Robert 1989: 21-2; there is an instance in document 16, 31-2 (Pausimachos will 'intro-duce' into Antiocheia/Alabanda the crown he won at the Soteria).

125 Temporary publications: see the inscription relative to the absorption of Kyrbissos by Teos , published by J. and L. Robert, and reprinted in OMS vii. 299, lines 17-18.

126 'Umgestaltet' , Herrmann 1965a: 68. 127 Document 18, 50-9. 128 Ibid. 64-90.

w h i c h can be a n a l y s e d in the s a m e t e r m s as the n e x u s of r i tuals a r o u n d the bouleuterion. T h e f o u n t a i n h a d the s a m e m e m o r i a l f u n c -t ion, e s t a b l i s h e d a m o n u m e n t o f T e i a n eucharistia in the m i d d l e of the p u b l i c space of the c i ty , ε έσωι, and paid h o m a g e to h e r p i e t y . A r o u n d this n e w c e n t r e , the T e i a n s r e a r r a n g e d p u b l i c r e l i g i o n — pr ies ts and pr ies tesses d r e w w a t e r f r o m the f o u n t a i n to use in p u b l i c sacr i f ices προ πόλεων—and p r i v a t e r itual: j u s t as i m p o r t a n t m o m e n t s o f c i v i c l i fe w e r e r e l o c a t ed at the statue o f A n t i o c h o s , the cardinal e v e n t s of d e a t h and m a r r i a g e in T e o s w o u l d n o w r e q u i r e the f e t c h -ing of w a t e r f r o m the f o u n t a i n of L a o d i k e , for use in the p r e s c r i b e d a b l u t i o n s , t h u s i n t e g r a t i n g the p r e s e n c e o f ruler cu l t and its m e s s a g e s into p r i v a t e l i fe . T h e f o u n t a i n and the c e r e m o n i e s , p u b l i c a n d p r i v a t e , w e r e m a r k e d as sacred b y r e l i g i o u s d re s s w o r n w h e n d r a w i n g w a t e r ( w h i t e c lothes , c r o w n s , a n d , f o r the br idal b a t h , s o m e v e s t i m e n t a r y or ritual f e a t u r e d e s c r i b e d in a l a c u n a o f the text) .

T h e p r o c e s s e s at T e o s f ind c lose paral le ls at Iasos. B e f o r e the altar o f A n t i o c h o s I I I , the strategoi p a s s e d the k e y s of the city to the ir s u c -cessors , w h o t h e n o f f e r e d sacr i f ice , o n the altar, to the k i n g a n d his a n c e s t o r s , '[as to c o m j m o n g o d s of the c i ty ' : 1 2 9 a paral lel w i t h the i n a u g u r a t i o n o f n e w m a g i s t r a t e s at T e o s ; in b o t h cases , the del icate m o m e n t in the l i fe o f the c i ty is p u t u n d e r the p r o t e c t i o n of the k i n g a n d a m o n u m e n t w h i c h m a k e s h i m v is ib le (a s tatue at T e o s , an altar at Iasos). T h i s p iece of c e r e m o n y o c c u r s in a decree m o s t l y d e v o t e d to h o n o u r s f o r L a o d i k e : it m u s t be an a d d i t i o n to a n e x u s of r i tuals d e c r e e d earl ier and c e n t r e d a r o u n d the altar of A n t i o c h o s (a l ready in e x i s t e n c e w h e n the c e r e m o n y o f the k e y s w a s d e v i s e d ) : if w e k n e w a b o u t these , w e w o u l d p r o b a b l y n o t i c e m a n y p o i n t s o f c o n t a c t w i t h p r a c t i c e s at T e o s . It is also l ike ly that the t ransferra l o f the k e y s h a d b e e n a p r e - e x i s t i n g c i v ic c e r e m o n y , n o w c a p p e d w i t h a sacri f ice to the k i n g , its c i v ic m e a n i n g s o v e r l a i d w i t h the f u n c t i o n s o f ru ler cul t f o r A n t i o c h o s I I I . 1 3 0 A l s o paral le l is the sense of m e t a p h o r : the k e y s , a s y m b o l a n d an i n s t r u m e n t of the state 's s e c u r i t y , are p a s s e d b e f o r e the altar of the k i n g w h o has p r o v e d the φύλαξ o f the c i ty : the title is u n u s u a l , and w a s d e v i s e d b y the Iasians, to art iculate the m e t a p h o r in the ritual . 1 3 1 L i k e w i s e , the Ias ians ins t i tute d a cul t o f L a o d i k e as A p h r o d i t e L a o d i k e , w h i c h p r e s i d e d o v e r m a r r i a g e : the cul t i n v o l v e d sacr i f ices b y n e w l y m a r r i e d c o u p l e s a n d p r o c e s s i o n s of w o m e n of m a r r y i n g age. It c o m m e m o r a t e d L a o d i k e ' s b e n e f a c t i o n a p p r o p r i -ately (the q u e e n p r o v i d e d d o w r i e s for p o o r c i t i zen w o m e n ) and also e x t e n d e d ru le r cult into p r i v a t e l i fe , j u s t as the f o u n t a i n of L a o d i k e

125 Document 26 Β, II 6-14 150 Parallel: document 30, 5, for the practice as purely civic ceremony at Euromos. 1!1 Document 26 Β, II 6.

d i d at T e o s . F i n a l l y , the d i s t r i b u t i o n of ruler cu l t into c iv ic s u b -d i v i s i o n s a p p e a r s in the decree of an Iasian phyle, h o n o u r i n g A n t i o c h o s and his f a m i l y ; the Ias ian phyle m a y also h a v e bui l t an altar to the king. 1 3 2 R u l e r cult at T e o s and Iasos , t h o u g h r ichly d o c u -m e n t e d , fits into w e l l - k n o w n and s t u d i e d pat terns , and an e x t e n s i v e c o m m e n t a r y c o u l d be eas i ly p r o v i d e d b y d r a w i n g on m a n y paral le ls w h i c h can be f o u n d t h r o u g h o u t the H e l l e n i s t i c w o r l d — f o r the i n v o l v e m e n t o f e p h e b e s ; the g r a f t i n g of ru ler cu l t o n t o p r e - e x i s t i n g f o r m s (for instance , at A t h e n s , i m a g e s of A n t i g o n o s M o n o p h t h a l m o s and D e m e t r i o s P o l i o r k e t e s w o v e n into A t h e n a ' s peplos)·, the c o n -secrat ion of m e m o r i a l sites ( s u c h as the p lace w h e r e D e m e t r i o s P o l i o r k e t e s set f o o t in A t h e n s in 304); c u l t i c p r a c t i c e at the level o f c i v i c s u b d i v i s i o n s ( for instance the i m i t a t i on in the d e m e o f R h a m n o u s of the A t h e n i a n cult f o r A n t i g o n o s G o n a t a s ) , o f t e n w i t h f u n d i n g f r o m the c i ty ; a n d the e x t e n s i o n to the p r i v a t e sphere . 1 3 3

T h e s e paral le ls e n s u r e that the case of T e o s is not u n i q u e . I ts i m p o r t a n c e l ies in the r i c h n e s s a n d the c o n c e n t r a t i o n of detai ls . R o b e r t , in the o u t l i n e of an u n p u b l i s h e d art ic le o n ' n o u v e a u x cu l te s de T é o s ' , e m p h a s i z e d the e l e g a n c e w i t h w h i c h ru ler cul t w a s inte-g r a t e d into p r e - e x i s t i n g re l ig ion and c iv ic c e r e m o n y , and h e n c e its c o n n e c t i o n w i t h local ins t i tut ion s o f great v i ta l i ty . 1 3 4 T h e c r e a t i v e -ness a n d s m o o t h n e s s o f the p r o c e s s s h o u l d not o b s c u r e h o w d e l i b e r a t e l y and c o m p r e h e n s i v e l y i m p o r t a n t c o n s t i t u e n t s of social l i fe w e r e r e o r g a n i z e d a r o u n d n e w centres , to ' create m e m o r y ' . B y a c o n s c i o u s , o p e n , pol i t ica l , p r o c e s s ( d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g in the a s s e m b l y ) , the T e i a n s c o n s t r u c t e d and m a n i p u l a t e d social m e m o r y , at all l eve ls of p u b l i c and p r i v a t e l i f e — i n c iv ic c e r e m o n i a l s s u c h as the m a g i s t r a t e s ' passation de pouvoirs or the g r a d u a t i o n of e p h e b e s ; in p r i v a t e g e s t u r e s s u c h as the w a s h i n g of a c o r p s e o r the b a t h i n g of a b r i d e . T h e p r o c e s s d e m o n s t r a t e s h o w a rat ional , h i s t o r i c a l l y -m i n d e d soc ie ty can c o n s c i o u s l y m o b i l i z e social r e s o u r c e s (in the p r e s e n t case, the i n s t i t u t i o ns of the polis) to create a n d m a n i p u l a t e

132 Documents 26 Β, II 17-44 and frag.; 27. 133 Ephebes: Inschr. Delphinion 139 (ephebic oath); I. Ilion 31; ruler cult in the g y m -

nasion is attested at Soloi under Antiochos III (document 20), and was widespread: Robert i960: 124-55 with further references; Habicht 1970: 143-4; Robert 1987: 291 and n. 66. Demetrios: Habicht 1970: 44-5, 48-50 (on Diod. 20.46.2, Plut. Dem 10.5 and Mor. 338a). Festivals grafted onto, or imitated from, pre-existing festivals: Habicht 1970: 50-5 (Demetria and Dionysia, Athens), 76-8 (Demetria and Dionysia, Euboia), 85-7 (Dionysia and Seleukeia, Erythrai), 149 (Seleukeia as extension of Panathenaia, Ilion). Subdivisions: SEG 41.75 (Rhamnous); Habicht 1970: 152, on I. Ilion 31, which also shows central funding for tribal cult; this practice is further documented in OGIS i l , lines 24-6. Private elements: Robert, OMS vii. 599-636.

134 BE 69, 496, announcing a new document from T e o s relevant to the question; also Price 1984: 37-9 (against the conventional (or obsolete) thesis of decline in traditional religion in conjunction with the rise of ruler cult).

pervasive, living memories of the past, for a political purpose. T h e consequence of this finding is that it allows us to examine the political functions and the effect of social memory as deliberately reconstructed in reaction to the coming of Antiochos III. 1 3 5

T h e analysis and laying out of the workings of social memory thus leads us back to the question of its function. T h e memorial sites and rituals of 'ruler cult' , within the community, confronted and processed a large, extra-poliadic, threatening event: the campaigns of (re)conquest waged by Antiochos I I I , as they worked themselves out in local contexts. T h i s event was fast consigned to νή η, by the almost immediate creation of commemorative ritual.136 Ruler cult worked as 'instant memory ' : it created memory and hence meaning out of the confused present; the T e i a ns (and, likewise, the Iasians) made sense of a potentially traumatic occur-rence (armed takeover by the Seleukid empire, alarmingly resurgent under Antiochos III) by classifying it into the past and choosing how to remember it. T h e memories would be not be those of con-quest, violence, submission by local communities which had no choice, but acceptable ones, consonant with civic pride, its sense of worth, its sense of participation in a process of exchange: memories of euergetical χάρις, the king's benefactions, motivated by concern for the Teians ' plight and resulting in the city's happiness, the city's desire to reciprocate by honours (which themselves, through repeti-tion, would become memorials). T h i s is the message carried deep into civic structures, by a new festival, and by the reconfiguration of public ceremonial and private ritual around new centres. T h e process was a speedy one: the T e i a n and the Iasian decrees docu-ment the creation of 'instant memory ' soon after the Seleukid takeover; at Xanthos, a priest of the kings, Antiochos III and Antiochos the son, is in office in 196 BC, the year following Antiochos ' campaign in the region.137

135 See Loraux 1997, for the world of the polis presented as a timeless, anthropologi-cal world, where 'everything happens in the present tense', and for the deliberately depoliticizing force of this way (both ancient and modern) of conceiving the polis. T h e thoughts presented here owe much to Rogers 1991, notably at p. 139, on the rational, systematic character of the creation of civic ritual in Roman Ephesos by Vibius Salu taris.

T h e second Teian decree, document 18, cannot come much later than Seleukid takeover; the same applies for the Iasian decree 26 B, which is not the first decree in honour of Antiochos and Laodike.

137 Xanthos: document 23. A t Amyzon, a local priest of Antiochos III and Antiochos the son is not attested in document 9 (autumn 202), but appears in document 10, in late 201, two and a half years after the Seleukid takeover, which took place in M a y 203 (document 5). However, document 10 only shows when the Amyzonians started to date their civic documents by the priest of the kings, not when they created the priesthood: this could have taken place earlier.

T h e manipulation of social m e m o r y — s w i f t l y cast into monu-ments, iterated in public and private rituals to mobilize civic sub-divisions and human groupings, and proclaimed by inscriptions in visible spots of the c i t y — w o u l d ensure the uniformity of remem-brance and impose consensus. T h e creation and perpetuation of an agreed-on version of the recent past could help to reinstate social harmony and polis coherence after the potentially divisive adhesion to a new power: it is likely that certain Teians had supported the Attalids, or that some Iasians had favoured the Antigonids (just as the Seleukids had long-standing partisans in K y m e or Miletos: RC 17; 22). Monuments and ritual thus substituted social memory to politics. So the Teians would reach consensus on consciously crafted memories of Antiochos' coming and its results. Consciously crafted memories: in preference to a narrative of conquest by Antiochos III , imperialist, restorer of the Seleukid fortunes, warrior king, mouth scarred and teeth missing from a cavalry battle in Baktria, prone to heavy drinking and after-dinner dancing in arms,138 the Te ians unanimously and repeatedly made themselves commemorate the king's beneficence, the speech in the bouleuterion declaring the city asylos and free from tribute, euergetical promises kept, all these events subsumed and fetishized in the unarguable, concrete image around which manifestations of civic life r e v o l v e d — Antiochos III as benign agrarian deity, first-fruits at his feet, a changing crown of seasonal produce on his head.

(c) The Pol is ' Version

T h e motivations of the civic decrees and the selective social memory created by ruler cult worked to the same effect: they created local narratives, which we might call 'non-realistic' in contrast with the realistic way of talking about empire in the passage of Polybios analysed in Chapter 2 (21.41.2) or in documents where the exploita-tive nature of empire is stated without qualms. T h e local narratives historicize the potentially traumatic present: conquest, subordina-tion (greater or lesser, but real) were written into the inert stuff of history,139 in which form they could be shaped to produce accept-able versions, leaving the power relation unsaid, and focusing on

133 Warrior: Ch. 2, introduction (the 'imperialist' tag is borrowed from Sherwin-White and Kuhrt 1993). Drinking: Bikerman 1938: 34-5 on Aelian, VH 2.41. Teeth: Pol. 10.49. Dancing: Athen. 4.155b.

139 Veyne 1978: 63: 'l 'histoire est un des produits les plus inoffensifs qu'ait jamais élaborés la chimie de l'intellect' (silently reworking an epigram by P. Valéry, substitut-ing 'inoffensifs' to 'dangereux'). On civic epigraphy as local history, Boffo 1988 (e.g. 21-2, on the production of local memory and local knowledge).

memories of euergetical exchange; they neutralized the problematic realities of Hellenistic high politics, and insulated civic pride from their impact. In the aftermath of traumatic events, the Te ians and the Iasians could reassure themselves that the local historiography of civic decrees and memorial rituals would pass on to their descendants carefully controlled narratives crafted out of the con-fused present.

Local narratives also allowed the cities to offer their own definitions of the world, if only for local consumption: they judged the king, praised him, spoke approvingly of his trustworthiness, gave meaning to his actions, honoured him in certain terms, remem-bered his actions in certain forms; through local narratives the cities could objectify, and hence exercise some form of symbolical power over, their rulers. T h e Teians, in their decree, proclaim confidently that the honours they offer to Antiochos and Laodike will show the world that they know how to 'decree the honours which are suitable for each person': an assertion of the capacity to judge, and the ability to reward adequately anyone, including a Seleukid royal couple.140 Talk ing about the ruler was a way for the cities to talk about themselves, imagine their relation to the ruler, and by talking about the world, in the past or the present tense, to try to control it. T h e s e local versions were quite different from the administrative, legal, and ideological structures of the Seleukid empire (explored in Chapter 3): the very difference illustrates the function of 'non-realist narratives '—to offer local definitions within, and against, a broader imperial ideology where definitions were the monopoly of the king. In T . Morrison's Beloved, a slave-owner beats a slave (after an argument over the interpretation of the slave's eating the master's pig: theft, or improvement of the master's property, i.e. the slave himself?): the beating demonstrates that 'definitions belonged to the definers, not the defined'.1 4 1 But the cities offered their own selective narratives about the king and his relation to them, affirming their own definitions, and their right to define; they created local forms of ideological counter-power, and took an active part in the 'struggle for the real' through their own discursive resources (Rogers 1991: 69, quoting Geertz , on the parallel case of civic ritual in Roman Ephesos).

T h e s e practices should not be scorned as pure wishful thinking or local delusions. T h e 'non-realistic' narratives organized the experi-ence of empire, from the point of view of the subordinate com-munities, a fact that is sufficient to warrant examination; that the

140 Document 18, line 69. 141 Quoted by K . Bradley, CJ 90 (1995), 445.

local communities responded to imperial power by offering narra-tives where power was omitted in the favour of beneficence and reciprocity is itself revealing of their strong self-identity, the tenacity of their values and sense of autonomy. T h e phenomenon had practical political consequences. By insulating local civic iden-tity and pride, 'non-realistic' narratives allowed the polis to preserve a sense of purpose in the face of subordination and integration with-in a supra-polis empire. T h i s could realize itself in action to seize independence from the Hellenistic empires, as the recalcitrant cities of Smyrna and Lampsakos did. Smyrna had earlier offered cultic honours to the Seleukids (Habicht 1970: 99-102); these must have been conceived in ways that preserved civic identity as well as inter-acted with the rulers. A t the very least, this persistence of purpose allowed the local communities to develop the patience, the sense of local interests, and the opportunism1 4 2 which characterized their behaviour in the multi-polar Hellenistic world.

4. The Successes of Royal Discourse

T h e interpretation offered above might seem too optimistic, and another is possible: instead of focusing on local versions preserving polis pride, we might notice the speed and fluency with which the ceremonies of ruler cult introduced into the heart of the city images of kingship which corresponded to the royal ideology itself, the power-as-benefaction which was the central representation in the king's discourse. T h e Hellenistic polis, for all the resilience of its ideology, was not impermeable to this discourse; its acceptance within the polis contributed to the creation of a cultural koine centred on empire, and diffusing the effects of the ideological force of empire, analysed earlier (Ch. 3 §§ 2 and 3).143

T h e case of the Teians, again, is worth pondering. I have tried to show that ruler cult performed local functions, that might have strengthened or insulated civic identity; nonetheless, it is impossible not to notice that ruler cult thoroughly reorganized civic ritual around royal images, by manipulating civic structures at a ver}' deep level. T h e Teians put concrete representations (a statue of Antiochos III , a fountain named after Laodike) of the Seleukid king and queen in sites which were central to the symbolical map of the

142 Rostovtzeff 1941: 35. 143 'Cultural koine': the concept is inspired by Mourgues 1995, studying the propaga-

tion of official ideology into the decrees of the Graeco-Roman cities; Price 1984, for the role of the imperial cult in Roman Asia Minor.