AIO 3531 Decree of Rhamnous (and Athenian residents?) honouring a general, 288/7 or 236/5 BC

Decree of Rhamnous (and Athenian residents?) honouring a general, 288/7 or 236/5 BC

AIO 3531 Date: 288/7 or 236/5 BC

Gods^[1] - son of Menedemos of Rhamnous proposed: since - having been elected by the People general for the coastal countryside in the archonship of Kimon (288/7 or 236/5 BC) (5)managed both the rest of the countryside well [and the forts where?] the People assigned him well and beneficially [for both the soldiers and?] for the citizens; and also managed [the fortress of Rhamnous?] so that being under guard [the fortress] might be kept safe for the People; and also managed both the (10)[soldiers and the other] citizens at Rhamnous so that . . . they might obtain the provisions (sitarchias)^[2] . . . other things that the People allocated (?) to them . . . continues both collectively for all and individually . . . for everyone in need . . . (15) . . .

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Greek text

References:

AIO 3531 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 50.160

SEG 51.109

I Rhamnous 408

Oetjen, Athen im dritten Jahrhundert, no. 10

Knoepfler, Trésor documentaire, 135-8, 206.5

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Rhamnous and Athenian residents?)

Findspot: Rhamnous (Rhamnous Fortress 2271 Φ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note. AIO follows the text of I Rhamnous except 6, 7, 8 Knoepfler, 11-12 κομίζων|[ται] (they obtained) Chaniotis in SEG 51.

Most scholars have dated this decree honouring a general who had been elected in the archonship of Kimon (l. 4) to 236/5 BC and interpreted the context as the "Demetrian war", but Knoepfler raises the possibility that it dates to the earlier archonship of Kimon , 288/7 BC, in the context of Athens' expulsion of Demetrios Poliorketes for the second time. He supports this dating from the style of the lettering, which he identifies as "less evolved" than that of I Rhamnous 7, of 262-240 BC, and 407, of 248/7 BC, and the invocation "Gods", which is characteristic of decrees of Rhamnous of the end of the 4th and the early years of the 3rd century BC. However, this dating would imply that the Athenians reasserted control over Rhamnous earlier than has generally been inferred from IG II³ 1, 911, 11-43 (with n. 4). It would also be the earliest reference to the general of the coastal countryside (on which see I Rhamnous 3 = 403). As with I Rhamnous 17, of 235/4 BC, it is quite possible that this is a joint decree of demesmen and other Athenian residents. On the deme Rhamnous in general and its inscriptions see I Rhamnous 182. [2] The unusual term sitarchiai ("provisions", "rations"; the more common term is, opsōnia) is also used at IG II³ 1, 928, of ca. 285-280 BC.

Added: 2 Apr 2026
Updated: 2 Apr 2026
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ID: AIO_3531