Hellenistic Inscriptions Research Articles

An Eteocypriot-Greek bilingual inscription and the meaning of Cypriot eupatridai

Abstract This paper investigates the eupatridai of Cyprus and their roles on the island. It examines the only two attestations of the Greek term eupatridēs in inscriptions from Amathous and Kafizin, namely IG XV 1.1 n° 7, an original Eteocypriot- alphabetic Greek monumental decree and IG XV 2.1 n° 67, an alphabetic Greek private dedication. Contrary to previous scholarship, which claims that Cypriot elites easily assimilated into the emerging Ptolemaic administrative apparatus, a deeper analysis of the title eupatridēs demonstrates that the integration process was protracted and uneven. While the assimilation of the upper class did occur, it only happened at a later stage. The study shows that this title was introduced to the island in the late Classical period, likely from Greece, retaining primary meanings it had in Classical Athens. It designates members of local elites who fought to maintain their superior status and preserve the traditional Cypriot socio-political structure - which entailed their great prestige and privileges - during a transitional period from the end of the 4th century BCE until the second half of the 3rd century BCE. During those years, the wars among the diadochi, who aimed to take possession of Cyprus, threatened the traditional subdivision of the island into city-kingdoms, which ultimately dissolved under Ptolemaic rule (c. 294-258 BCE). The appearance of the title eupatridēs in late Classical and early Hellenistic inscriptions may be a significant testimony to the Cypriots’ initial reaction against contemporary political upheavals and the introduction of a new administration.

Two New Inscriptions from Asarönü (Finike, Antalya)

The first part of this article deals with a Severan family monument from Asarönü: Statue bases of father (new) and mother (first published in 1991), erected by their sons in the local sanctuary of Apollo, show important public functions of the elite family in Limyra: local priesthood to the emperors, organisation of sitonia, embassies to the emperors in Rome and Britain, and in the Lycian Confederacy: priesthood to the Roma. The second chapter presents a fragmentary stele from the same sanctuary of Apollo (3rd century B.C.): Asarönü, then still an autonomous polis, was incorporated into the polis of Limyra as a dependent community with the rank and function of a peripolion under the Rhodian occupation of Lycia (188-167 B.C.). The appendix presents a fragmentary Late Hellenistic inscription from Limyra, which informs about the strategia, the division of the official year into two hexamenoi, and the Apolloneioi as Asarönü’s ‘demotikon’ in Limyra.

Lekarz Hermiasz z Kos w świetle źródeł epigraficznych

The aim of my article is to discuss six Hellenistic inscriptions which mention Hermias, son of Emmenidas, a distinguished physician from Kos. Two longer honorary inscriptions are connected with Hermias’ five-year stay on the island of Crete as a public doctor. The epigraphic sources in question will be carefully reviewed, translated into Polish and commented on the article.

Religion and family politics in Hellenistic Kalaureia. Three new inscriptions from the sanctuary of Poseidon

This article presents three unpublished Hellenistic inscriptions from the sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia (modern Poros): two found during archaeological excavations on the site and one recorded in a letter that was once part of Ioannis Kapodistrias’ official correspondence. All three inscriptions were dedicatory and carved on bases supporting portrait statues. Interestingly, they were offered to Poseidon by members of a single family already known from other documents in the Kalaureian epigraphic corpus. Remarkably, eight out of the 18 inscriptions discovered in Kalaureia make repeated references to men and women of this very family, which appears to have materially dominated Poseidon’s temenos and its environs during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC through the careful placement of portraits of its members. Most of these statues were conspicuously placed by the entrance to the sanctuary, though at least one of them was erected inside of the god’s temple. In our article, we present in detail the three new inscriptions, one of them an epigram, and attempt an analysis of the religious behaviour of this prominent local family against the background of contemporary sociopolitical developments.

RIÉ 277: An Inscription of the Time of Ptolemy II?

The article suggests that the inscription known as RIÉ 277 might be a Hellenistic inscription of the period of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. This interpretation is based on a revision of the main hypotheses concerning the geographical centre suggested by the text.

Teisamenos the Son of Mechanion: New Evidence for an Athenian Demagogue

A Hellenistic inscription from Iasos prompts a reconsideration of the career of the Athenian politician Teisamenos the son of Mechanion. I first address some interpretive problems that have beset the study of this figure before turning to the new information from Iasos. I argue that we should understand Teisamenos as a "demagogue" as that term was coming to be known already in antiquity, with negative connotations. Finally, the physical form of Teisamenos's decree, known from an earlier Attic copy, invites us to rethink the relationship between democratic rhetoric and material culture, in this case decrees adorned with sculpted reliefs.

Textes crétois honorant des médecins: histoire et dialecte

In the epigraphical Cretan corpus, four Hellenistic inscriptions relating to physicians are addressed to the cities of which these men were native (Kos, Kasos). The analysis of these texts throws light on their historical context; the linguistic comparison of the Cretan documents with Koan and Rhodian inscriptions (Rhodes controled politically the small island of Kasos )makes evident that Dorian koina and above all Attic-Ionic koine had penetrated into these dialects.

Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 13-14

Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 13-14

Greek History

Epigraphic studies are usually addressed to specialists and are often timid in terms of asking big questions about their evidence. This review includes four brilliant recent studies, which use primarily Hellenistic inscriptions in order to discuss some major issues of Greek history from new perspectives. The first two books focus on politics and political institutions, while the other two raise similar issues from the point of view of Greek religion. All of them are fruitful applications of novel approaches to Greek communities which move beyond traditional approaches to the polis as a static and self-enclosed entity in favour of new approaches that stress the variability of Greek politics and the historical processes that involved regions and networks of which they formed part.

New inscriptions in the Bodrum Museum. A Hellenistic foundation from the area of Mylasa

This article presents two hitherto unknown Hellenistic inscriptions, both of which are fragmentary. They are inscribed on two sides of a stone which is now in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Bodrum (inv. no. 6651) but probably originated from the area of Mylasa. Both inscriptions concern a private foundation that is referred to as the syngeneia in inscription A. The foundation seems to be of a type already known from Halikarnassos, Kos and Thera, for example. This article aims to make the two inscriptions available not least to the many scholars studying associations and foundations.

Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 2010 (EBGR 2010)

The 23rd issue of the Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion presents a selection of the epigraphic publications of 2010 and additions to earlier issues (especially publications of 2008 and 2009). As usual, emphasis was placed on the presentation of editions of new texts. This issue contains several interesting new epigraphic finds, mostly from Asia Minor. I would like to highlight a long Hellenistic inscription from Lykia (Tlos or Xanthos) that concerns a funerary foundation (143); besides p...

Athens and Kydonia: Agora I 7602

A Hellenistic inscription from the Athenian Agora (Agora 17602) concerning syngeneia between Athens and Kydonia in western Crete is reedited here with full commentary. The history of Athenian relations with Kydonia is briefly reviewed. The authors propose a reconstruction of the Kydonians' arguments for mythological kinship between the two cities. Agora 17602 appears to be the earliest firm attestation of mutually accepted syngeneia between Athens and a non-Ionian city. Indeed, it is the first known inscription recording kinship between Athens and another city on grounds other than the latter's status as a colony, at least before the Roman period.

Malika, Zeus Meilichios et Zeus Xénios à Amathonte de Chypre

An Hellenistic inscription from Amathous mentions a cult dedicated to Zeus Meilichios. The chtonian nature of this deity such as it appears in the Greek world is in perfect harmony with our knowledge of this Great God, otherwise known as Malika, and bears out the identification ; this one is very likely late.

Excavations in the Athenian Agora: 1998-2001

This article summarizes the results offour seasons of excavation (1998-2001) in the Athenian Agora. Work concentrated on the Byzantine settlement (roads, houses, and large pithoi) built over the area of the Stoa Poikile in the 10th and 11th centuries. Further work was done in the Classical Commercial Building (ca. 400 B.C.), and a mid-5th-century B.C. well was cleared. Two Mycenaean (LH II-IIIA) chamber tombs, the first discovered in the Agora in over a generation, represent the earliest material yet found in the Agora excavations north of the Eridanos River. The report concludes with the texts of two Hellenistic inscriptions.

Inscriptions hellénistiques d'Amphissa

A block discovered in 1980 during an excavation by the Archaeological Service at Amphissa bears two Hellenistic inscriptions. The first, dating without question to the middle of the 2nd century BC, consists of a letter and an abbreviated honorific decree from Sparta in honour of an Amphissan. The title of the abbreviated decree, while giving further evidence for the magistrature of the nomographs at Sparta, is so ambiguous that it allows of several interpretations. The second inscription is an abbreviated honorific decree from Amphissa, dating probably from the end of the 2nd century or beginning of the lst century BC, granting proxenia, the right of land acquisition, security and grazing rights to a designated Leukios Kaikilos Mnascas, who was deprived of patronymic and ethnie. He must have been a Greek who had received Roman citizenship, or more likely was the freed-man of a Roman citizen.

Inscriptions from the Sparta and Larissa Museums

This paper discusses four Hellenistic inscriptions in the Sparta and Larissa Museums recording decrees for foreign courts. New proveniences, from Krannon and Peparethos, are suggested for two of the decrees. A full restoration, based on a parallel document, is provided for the Peparethian decree. New readings and restorations are also offered for the two other decrees. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the significance of these texts for the history of the late Hellenistic period.

Repetition of the Possessive Pronouns in the Septuagint (review)

Hebrew Sludies 38 (1997) 185 Reviews REPETITION OF THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS IN THE SEPTUAGINT. By Raija SoUamo. SBL Septuagint and Cognate Studies 39. Pp. x + 120. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. Cloth, $39.95. This monograph represents the latest contribution to the study of Septuagint translation technique by a scholar from the "Helsinki school" which, in addition to Raija SoUamo, includes Septuagintalists like Ilmari Soisalon-Soininen and Anneli Aejmelaeus. In this treatise, Sollamo undertakes to investigate how the Septuagint translators of the Pentateuch dealt with the Hebrew grammatical phenomenon of the repetition of a pronominal possessive suffix in a series of coordinate nouns. This syntactical feature presented the translators with a challenge since, as she demonstrates in chapter 1, it did not correspond to the normal Greek idiom of their time. How they came to grips with that problem should, says SoUamo, reveal something about their competence and consistency as translators and about the kinds of translations-on the continuum between literal and idiomaticthat they intended to produce. Her aim, as well, is to discover if there are differences in translation technique when the books of the Pentateuch are compared, and thus to determine whether or not the prevailing opinion among Septuagint scholars that each book "had its own translator" (except for Exodus which likely had two) can be supported by the results of this research (pp. 4-5). In her introduction, Sollamo explains that when possession is to be indicated in a chain of two or more coordinate nouns, Hebrew characteristically shows a suffix on each noun. Greek, on the other hand, has no pronominaVpossessive suffixes at all but can indicate possession by means of independent adjectival and personal pronouns. In classical Greek, however , possessive pronouns are used sparingly. Even in non-biblical Hellenistic texts that date from approximately the same period as that during which the Septuagint was created, their frequency of use is much lower than in the Greek Old Testament. Furthermore, in the sources that Sollamo investigates in her first chapter (Polybius [Histories I-V], Ptolemaic papyri, Hellenistic inscriptions, Aristeas, 2 Maccabees, Philo [De migralione Abrahami], and Josephus [De bello [udaieo, Book ID, a possessive pronoun normally occurs only once in association with a series of coordinate nouns-it is almost never repeated-and it appears with approximately the same frequency before the first noun or after the first or second nouns. With this as a background, Sollamo proceeds, in chapters 2 through 6, to analyze each of the books of the Pentateuch with regard to how the Hebrew Sludies 38 (1997) 186 Reviews Septuagint translators rendered possessive suffixes on coordinate Hebrew nouns. For every book, she distinguishes cases which involve two coordinate nouns from those which feature three or more, and she treats separately instances in which the Greek possessive pronoun occurs with each noun, those in which it occurs but not with each noun, and those in which it does not occur at all. Statistical breakdowns are given in each of these chapters and then tabulated in chapter 7 where the results from all five books are summarized and compared. Sollamo's investigation gives rise to a number of observations. First, in the Septuagint Pentateuch as a whole, possessive pronouns are repeated with coordinate nouns in the majority of relevant cases (160/244; i.e., more than 65%). Given that this almost never occurs in the contemporaneous non-canonical Greek sources which Sollamo examines, she concludes that this must be evidence of Hebraizing influence. Further evidence of that influence is adduced from the fact that, whereas in non-biblical Greek the possessive pronoun appears quite commonly before the noun with which it is associated, in the Septuagint it almost always follows the noun. Second, because possessive pronouns are repeated rather less frequently in Genesis and Exodus (51 % and 40%, respectively) than in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (75%, 86%, and 76%, respectively), it appears that the translators of the first two books gave greater consideration to the idiom of their target language in this regard than did the translators of the latter three who were more faithful to their Hebrew Vorlagen. SoUamo points out that a similar kind of distinction with respect to transla:.. tion technique...

A hellenistic inscription from Skotoussa (Thessaly) and the fortifications of the city

In 1983 the Larisa Museum received an inscribed stele, purporting to be from the farming area of Agia Triada. Even today, parts can be seen in this area of the fortifications of an ancient city, thought to be the Thessalian Skotoussa. The inscription comprises 154 lines, and is written in the Thessalian (Pelasgian) dialect; it dates from 197–185 BC. It is a decree of the city (which is now proved to be Skotoussa), and concerns the description of a zone inside and outside the city walls, which was to contain no privately owned land. The decree was passed as part of the reorganization of the defences of the city after the collapse of Macedonian supremacy in the region. The zone was defined in detail using as reference points the towers, distances between the towers, and other sections of the walls, as well as parts of the city adjoining the wall. The result of such a systematic body of cross-reference is a description of nearly the whole of the city's fortifications. Following a topographic survey of the Agia Triada region, and taking into account older surveys, a restoration of the course of the wall is attempted. Using the inscription as a guide, a comparison is made between the sections of the wall that are described, together with other place-names appearing in the inscription, and the surviving ruins at Agia Triada.

Foreigners in a Hellenistic Inscription of Rhodes

An inscription from the island of Rhodes was published without commentary, and shielded from attention in a large mass of others, by G. Pugliese Carratelli in 1955. Since then it has attracted some notice, but less than it deserves.

A Hellenistic Inscription from Arsinoe in Cilicia

A Hellenistic Inscription from Arsinoe in Cilicia