OliverMarcusAurelius 5 Decree of the Panhellenion admitting Magnesia on the Maiandros

Decree of the Panhellenion admitting Magnesia on the Maiandros

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 5 Date: 138-161 AD

For good fortune. Leukippos. Decree passed by the Panhellenes. [Since the Magnesians] by the Maiandros river, being colonists (apoikoi) [of the Magnesians] in Thessaly and also first of the Greeks (5)[to cross over] into Asia and settle there, [having competed earnestly and] often with Ionians and Dorians and the Aiolions [of the same] race (genos) as themselves [in Asia], having been honoured also by [the Senate of] the Romans, through the alliances which they made [with them, and] having received exceptional gifts (10)[ . . . from the God] Hadrian, father of Titus Aelius Caesar Augustus Emperor Hadrian Antoninus (138-161), the . . .

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Greek text

References:

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 5 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1091 (PHI)

OGIS 503

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Louvre - (1)

Monument type: Plaque

Inscription type: Decree (Panhellenes)

Findspot: Athens (Louvre LL 150, Ma 957, N 52)
Findspot: Athens (Louvre LL 150, Ma 957, N 52)
Findspot: Athens (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a decree of the Panhellenion, admitting the city of Magnesia on the Maiandros as a member (on the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215 with notes). The Panhellenion was founded by Emperor Hadrian in 131/2 AD, but this decree dates to the reign of his successor Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD), showing that new members continued to be admitted years later. Several cities erected decrees on the Athenian Acropolis commemorating their admission (see Sardes et Synnada 2 for a full list), but this is the only case in which the admission decree of the Panhellenion itself was inscribed. It shows that the Panhellenion had some control over its membership, although we know from IRCyr. C.163 from Cyrene that cities could appeal its decisions to the Emperor. The decree clearly lays out the three conditions of membership of the organisation: Greek identity by mythic descent from the Dorians, Ionians, and/or Aiolians (ll. 3-7); friendship with Rome going back to the Republican period (ll. 7-9); and the personal favour of Hadrian (ll. 9-10). For another possible decree of the Panhellenion, see I Eleusis 489. [2] Magnesia on the Maiandros was a mid-ranking city in the Roman province of Asia, most notable for its sanctuary of Artemis Leukophryene (“of the white brow”), cf. IG II³ 1 1170. The Magnesians made heavy use of mythic kinship links in inter-state diplomacy from the third century BC (see O. Curty, Les parentés légendaires entre cites grecques, 1995, 107-29). I Magnesia 17 of the late third-century BC records a foundation myth, in which the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi ordered some inhabitants of Magnesia in Thessaly to travel to Crete and wait for a sign. After eighty years, they saw a pair of white crows and sent to the oracle, which told them to follow Leukippos (“white horse”), a descendant of Bellerophontes, to the Maiandros river valley and settle. The inscription places that event before the Ionian and Dorian migrations to Asia Minor (which myth placed a generation after the Trojan War). Both the Magnesians of Thessaly and Leukippos could be identified as Aiolians, through different lines of descent. [3] Magnesia went over to the Romans following their victory over the Seleukid king Antiochos III in 190 BC (Livy 37.45) and was granted free status shortly thereafter (Sherk, Roman Documents, no. 7, ll. 40-42). They claimed to have performed some service for the Romans during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC), but it is unclear what this was (A. Keaveney, Aevum 93, 2019, 143-54). The Senate confirmed the inviolability (asylia) of the city's sanctuary of Artemis Leukophryene in 22 AD (Tac. Ann. 3.62). [4] The Magnesians erected several statues of Hadrian (I. Magnesia 173-175), including one at the Olympieion in Athens in 131 AD, which honoured him as their "saviour and founder" (IG II² 3305), but no specific benefactions from Hadrian to the city are known.

Added: 21 Jan 2024
Updated: 17 Aug 2024
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