233-240

Dion 1997 : the epistates, the peleiganes and the other citizens

• Παντερμαλής, Δημήτριος

Supplementary excavation in the sanctuary of Demeter contributed to theunderstanding of some of the architectural problems and brought to light fragmentsof figurines, marble statuettes and part of an inscription dedicated to Apollo andArtemis. In the sanctuary of Isis, remains of earlier constructions continued to berevealed beneath the floor of the cella and pronaos. In the sector of the Hydraulismore iron tools and storage vessels were discovered. A long and very narrowtrench, dug from the south gate to the level of the Villa of Dionysos in order to layan electric line, brought to light stone supports at regular intervals. These areclearly the bases of wooden columns belonging to the front of a large stoa thatfaced the central road. The large polygonal building at the crossing of the centralroad and the road to the Olympos gate, which began to emerge in 1996, had, as revealedin the excavation, a floor either of marble plaques or of mosaic. The mosaicin the chamber of the south entrance had a scene showing a pair of wrestlers in acontest in two phases. Excavation of the south supplementary building of theepiscopal basilica was completed. Finally, found in the sector of the Pauleinos, nextto the central road, was a colossal head of the emperor Trajan crowned with laurel.During the building of the dock on the present bank of the Baphyra river in thearea of the sanctuary of Zeus Olympios, a short distance east of the altar, thehorizontal crown of a marble stele (meas.: 76x34x15 cm) was recovered, withantefixes decorated in relief and two lines of an inscription in fine letters, 2,5-3 cmin height. The inscription gives the title of an alliance agreement between Perseusand the Boiotians:ΣΥΜΜΑΧΙΑ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣΠΕΡΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΒΟΙΩΤΩΝThe crown was secured by means of two dowels to the stele itself on which the textof the agreement was inscribed.After the death of Philip V in 179 B.C., Perseus sent ambassadors to Rome totake the vows necessary for renewal of the agreement of “good relations” which hadbeen concluded by his father. Yet at the same time he tried to be in favour in theGreek region by supporting the democratic forces as opposed to the oligarchs whopreferred the friendship of the Romans. This was a period when the political farmers had suffered bad harvests and many citizens were drowned in debt. Perseusopened the way for relief of the afflicted by canceling debts and giving the Macedoniansa general amnesty. At the same time he concluded a friendship treaty withthe Boiotian democrats who, in opposition to the oligarchs, wanted to continue theKoinon of the Boiotians. This activity on the part of Perseus was denounced at theCouncil of Rome by the king of Pergamon, Eumenes II in 172 B.C. The event isreported by T. Livy (42, 12, 5-7) who incorporates it in Eumenes’ speech, and toemphasise its political importance says that not just one but three texts of theagreement were inscribed on stelai and set up: one in Thebes, one in Delphi wherethe prestige of the Macedonians had already been established, and a third in a placethe name of which is transmitted incorrectly in the ancient source. Codex V readsalteradsidenum, which is corrected by Madvig to read altero ad Delium, implyingthe Delion of Boiotia (s.v. Δήλεσι). This emendatio has been generally accepted,even though this means that two stelai would have been erected there and none atall in Macedonia which was the place of the first participant.The Dion find provides the solution: Livy’s text must be emended to read alteroad Dium. This moreover agrees with the designation that follows: augustissimo etceleberrimo in tempio, in the most revered and famous sanctuary (templum isprincipally the temenos), that is in the sanctuary of Zeus Olympios.Found among the foundations of large bases in one of the many pits discoveredand excavated in the sanctuary of Zeus in 1997, especially in the southwest part,was part of a stele with a pedimental finial (30x28x8 cm). Inscribed on it are 11lines of an inscription in letters (Η. 1 to 1,2 cm) typical of middle Hellenistictimes. The text reads as follows:l Βασιλεύς Φίλιππος Διεσ-τών Εύρυλόχωι τώι επιστατείκαι τοΐς πελειγάσι καί τοίς4 λοιποΐς πολίταις χαίρειν.Οί αποδίδοντες ύμϊν τήνεπιστολήν πα ν ραγε-γόνασιν παρά τής των8 [Κ]υζ[ι]κηνών πόλεως ε-[παγγ]έλλοντες τήν τε[πόλιν κα]ί τήν χώραν ίεράν[ούσαν....... ] ΣΑΠThe text of the inscription is preserved complete and is easily understood through line 7. It is a letter of King Philip V of Macedonia to the officials and citizens ofDion. After the initial greeting, the king explains that the bearers of his letter comefrom the city of the [....]κηνών. The name can be restored with certainty since, apart from the five letters at the end, there are traces of two more letters whichpermit the restoration of a Y and a Z. Therefore the city in question is Kyzikos.The embassy of the Kyzikenoi requested that their city and its land be recognised assacred and inviolable.Around 200 B.C., Kyzikos had joined Pergamon and Rhodes in an anti-Macedonian front for the purpose of stopping the interference and expansionism ofPhilip V (N. L. G. Hammond - F. W. Walbank, A History of Macedonia, 1988, p.418 with reference to the sources). Yet at the end of the decade 190-180 B.C., bothKyzikos and Philip V changed their politics. Taking the new situation intoconsideration, the Kyzikenoi were successful in having the Delphi oracle pronouncethat since the Kyzikenoi were the first to perform the Soteria in honour of Kore, itis good to έπανγελλόντεσσι ές όνθρώποις ιερόν τήν πόλιν ούσαν κατά τούς χρησμούςκαι τόν Ουσίαν τός θεός (L. Robert, BCH 102, 1978, 460-477).A decree of the same time that was found at Dion (reported by D. Pantermalisat the International Synedrion of Thessalonike on “Inscriptions of Macedonia”,December 1993, and referred to by M. Hadzopoulos in “Macedonian Institutionsunder the Kings, II [1996], Epigraphic Appendix no. 32, p. 5If.) refers to the samesubject. The 12 fragmentarily preserved lines of the text mention the Kyzikenoi,the forbears of the king, the Macedonians and the request: τήν πόλιν καί τού[ςλιμένας καί] τήν χώραν παρακαλουντες [όπο]δέξασθαι.....ιερόν καί ασυλον.The epigraphical text found in the 1997 excavation of the sanctuary of ZeusOlympios, where other royal letters have also been discovered, is addressed notonly to the epistates Eurylochos but also to the peleiganes, that is the special groupof citizens (on the peleiganes see the recent study of M. Hadzopoulos, op.cit., pp.323, 326, 464 and 482) which probably served as the boule, and to the othercitizens as well. It would appear that Philip V initiated in this way the process ofpublication by the officials and citizens of the decree contained in the otherinscription. Both epigraphical finds, the letter and the decreee, bear witness notonly to international relations between the Macedonians and an important AsiaMinor city, but they show also the relation of the king of Macedonia with his ownadministration and with the civil institutions of the city of Dion.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Δίον, Πιερία, συνέδρια

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