Other New Institutions of the Hellenistic Kings, and the Decline of Local Autonomy.
People and Places:
| Lysimachus | Priene |
| Aristodemos | Herodorus |
| Demetrius Poliorcetes | Harmodius and Aristogeiton |
| Philippides | Jonathan Maccabee |
| Eumenes and Antigonus at the Battle of Paraitacenae: | Diodorus Siculus 19.28-9. |
| Amorgos | Crannon |
| Polyperchon | Cassander |
| Plutarch's Life of Phocion 32ff. | Demetrius of Phaleron |
| Antigonus Gonatas | Chremonidean War: 268-262/1. |
Terminology:
M.M. Austin, “Hellenistic Kings, War and the Economy”
S.M. Burstein, The Hellenistic Age
J.J. Gabbert, “Pragmatic Democracy in Hellenistic Athens”, The Ancient World, vol. 13, 1986
Peter Green, Alexander to Actium
N.G.L. Hammond, “Royal Pages, Personal Pages, and Boys trained in the Macedonian Manner during the period of the Temenid Monarchy”, Historia, vol. 39, 1990, pp. 261-290.
W. Heckel, “Somatophylakia: a Macedonian Cursus Honorum", Phoenix, 1986.
G. Herman, “The 'Friends' of the Early Hellenistic Rulers: servants or officials?” Talanta, 1981, pp. 103-141.
G. Herman, “The Court Society of the Hellenistic Age”, in P. Cartledge, ed., Hellenistic Constructs, Berkeley, 1997, pp. 199-224.
L. Mooren, Aulic Titulature
[King Lysimachus to the boule and] the demos [of the Prienians], greeting. [Your] ambassadors, Antisthenes [and those with him, came and delivered] to us [your] decree
and themselves rejoiced at [the fact that] we are in good health and (likewise) our friends [and] forces and affairs through [the entire] land, and they spoke along the lines of what is written
in the decree, declaring about [the] good-will which the demos holds towards us and that, when we sent (instructions) to obey, (the demos obeyed So[sthenes the (?)]
strategos with enthusiasm and [in no way] stood apart from what was useful to us, although the land was being [ravaged] by the Magnesians [ … ] and the [soldiers] marching
along with them. [Wishing therefore to exercise care for] all [of you in common] and [each one] individually, and [considering it to be] to our advantage [that you should be our friends as]
even previously, [we grant,] as [your ambassadors] requested – – –
Decree of the Athenian demos in honour of Herodorus, 295-294 B.C.; translation adapted from S.M. Burstein, The Hellenistic Age from the Battle of Ipsos to the Death of Kleopatra VII, Cambridge University Press, 1985, Document 6. Note that the edges of the decree are damaged and hard to read.
[---] indicates an unknown number of letters missing
[words] indicates words missing from the stone and reconstructed by modern scholars
words indicates that the words are still partially visible on the stone.
Gods.
[In the archonship of] Nikostratos1, in [Demetrias']
prytany (which is) the ninth, Elaphe
bolion's2 ninth (day), fif
teenth
of the prytany. [Main] assembly.
The motion was put to the vote by (the chairman) of the proedroi [---]
[---] from Acharnai and by his fellow pro
edroi. [Resolved] by the People. Gorgos, son of Phryni-
[---] introduced the motion. Since Herodor
os,
[before], while residing with [King] Antigo
nos,
was sympathetic to the people
of the Athenians and now, being a confidant of
[King] Demetrios, (whatever) good he can,
[he does] publicly on behalf of the city an
d
[privately on behalf of] each Athenian who at any time
[asks]; and, moreover, he is said by
[the ambassadors], who were sent concerning p
eace
[to] King Demetrios, to
[have aided] the People in arr
anging
both friendship with
[King] Demetrios and that the Peopl
e,
[having been freed] from the war as soon
as possible and having recovered the city,3
[might continue to have] democracy; with good fortune, it has been re
solved
[by the People] that it praise Herodoros, son of Ph-
[---] for the good will a
nd
[zeal] which he continues to have for
[the people of the] Athenians and that it crow
n
[him with a] gold wreath in accordance with the la
w
[and that it proclaim] the wreath
at the competition for tragedies in honor of Dionysos [in] the city.
[In addition, he shall be an] Athenian together with his des
cendants, and he shall be enrolled in whatever tri
be
[and deme] and phratry he wish
es
[and he shall have] also the right of maintenance in the pryt
aneion,
[and] (likewise) the eldest of his descendants in each generation
[together with a] front seat at all con
tests
[which the city holds]. There shall [also] be set up
[by the People] a bronze statue of him in the Agora
[next to] Harmodios and Aristogeiton
and the Saviours4, and there shall be chosen
[by the People] three men from [all the] Athenians
who shall supervise [t
he
manufacture of the] statue; and there shall be allocated to th
em
by the exetastes and the trittyar
chs
[for the] statue whatever costs are
[incurred; and the] prytaneis shall schedule [the vote] concerning
[him] for the next assem
bly;
and the thesmothetai shall bring
the scrutiny of his citizenship
[and of his gift] before the court in
accordance with [the law as] soon as the juries
[have been empanelled by them]. This decree shall be inscribed
[by the] secretary for the prytany
[on a] stone [stele] and set up on
[the Akropolis], and [for] the inscribing of the s
tele
the financial administrator shall pay.
(in wreath) (in wreath)
[The Boule] The People
1 295-294 B.C.
2 Approximately April.
3 “having
recovered the city” in terms of having driven out the tyrant
Lachares, who had been imposed by Cassander.
4 Antigonus and Demetrius.