Alliance between Athens and Sparta
IG II3 1 912 Date: 269/8 BC
Gods.
Decree In the archonship of Peithidemos (269/8), in the second prytany,
of ErechtheisIII.[1] On the ninth of Metageitnion, the ninth of the prytany.
(5) Principal Assembly. Of the presiding committee Sostratos son of Kallistratos
of Erchia was putting to the vote and his fellow presiding committee members. The People decided.
Chremonides son of Eteokles of Aithalidai proposed: since
in earlier times the Athenians and Spartans and the allies
of each made a common friendship and alliance
(10) with each other and contested many noble struggles
alongside one another against those attempting to enslave their cities,
from which they both obtained glory for themselves and won
freedom for the other Greeks; and now when a similar
emergency has gripped all of Greece because of those attempting
(15) the destuction of both the laws and the traditional constitutions
of each, king Ptolemaios in accordance with the
predilection (proairesei) both of his ancestors and of his sister[2] is manifest
in his concern for the common freedom of the Greeks,
the Athenian People having made an alliance with him and
(20) voted to encourage the rest of the Greeks to make the same
choice (proairesin), and in the same way the Spartans, being already friends and
allies of king Ptolemaios and to the Athenian People, have voted for an alliance with the Elians and Achaians and Tegeans and Mantineans and Orchomenians and
(25) Phialians and Kaphyans and as many of the Cretans who are in the alliance
with the Spartans and Areus and the other allies,
and have despatched ambassadors from the meeting of delegates (sunedrōn) to the People,
who, being now in attendance as their representatives, point out the love of honour (philotimian) that both the Spartans and Areus, and other allies,
(30) have for the People, and have come here to deliver the agreement
concerning the alliance; in order, therefore, that, there being collective unanimity (koinēs homonoias) among the Greeks against those who now have wronged us and who have broken
their truces with the cities, they might be enthusiastic champions (agōnistai) with
king Ptolemaios and eachother, and for the rest of time might
(35) save the cities through their unanimity, for good fortune, the People shall
decide: that the friendship and alliance between the Athenians and
Spartans and the kings of the Spartans and the Elians and Achaians and Tegeans and Mantineans and
Orchomenians and Phialians and Kaphyans and as many of the
(40) Cretans who are in the alliance with Sparta and Areus
and the other allies shall be in force for all time, which (friendship and alliance)
the ambassadors have come here to deliver; and that the prytany secretary
shall inscribe it on a bronze stele and stand it on
the acropolis next to the temple of Athena Polias; and the boards of magistrates (ta archeia) (45) shall swear before the ambassadors who are present with them the
oath concerning the alliance according to ancestral custom; and they shall send
the ambassadors elected by the People to
receive the oaths from the rest of the Greeks; and
the People shall elect forthwith two delegates (sunedrous) from all
(50) the Athenians who will hold talks (bouleusontai) with Areus and the
delegates (sunedrōn) despatched from the allies concerning their common
interests; and the board of administrators shall allocate travel expenses (ephodia) to those chosen for the time they are away at a rate that the
People shall decide by show of hands; and to praise the Spartan ephors
(55) and Areus and the allies and crown them
with a gold crown according to the law; and to praise the ambassadors
who have come from them, Theom- son of - of Sparta,
Argeios son of Kleinias of Elis and to crown each
of them with a gold crown according to the law for the love of honour (philotimias) (60) and good will that they have both for the other allies and
for the Athenian People; and it shall be possible for each of them
to obtain other benefits from the Council and People, whatever they may be deemed
worthy of; and to invite them to hospitality (xenia) in the city hall (prutaneion) tomorrow; and the prytany secretary shall inscribe
(65) this decree on a stone stele and the treaty and
stand it on the acropolis, and for the making and inscription
of the stele the board of administrators (tous epi tēi dioikēsei) shall allocate whatever expenditure accrues.
The following delegates were elected:
Kallippos of Eleusis, . . .
Treaty (70) Treaty and alliance between the Spartans and the allies of the
Spartans with the Athenians and the allies of the Athenians for all [time: each shall have their own, being free] and autonomous, [with their] traditional [constitutions]; and if
someone makes war on the territory of the Athenians (75) or subverts their laws or makes war on the allies
of the Athenians, the Spartans and the allies of the Spartans shall come to their aid in full strength as far as possible; and if
someone makes war on the territory of the Spartans or
subverts their laws or makes war on the allies of the
(80) Spartans, the Athenians and the allies of the Athenians shall come to their aid
in full strength as far as possible . . . . . . . . . Spartans and their allies to the Athenians and their allies; and there shall swear for the Athenians (85) to the Spartans and to the representatives of each city the generals and
the Council and the other officials, and the commanders of tribal contingents of cavalry (phularchous) and the
commanders of tribal regiments (taxiarchous) and the [cavalry commanders (hipparchous)]: 'I swear by Zeus,
Earth, Sun, Ares, Athena Areia, Poseidon, Demeter, to be steadfast in the alliance that has been
made; may there be many good things for those that are true to their oath, and the opposite
(90) for those who swear falsely'. And the Spartan kings and ephors and elders
shall swear to the Athenians in the same terms, and in the same terms
the archons from the other cities shall swear; if
the Spartans and allies and the Athenians decide
that it is better to add or remove something concerning the alliance
(95) in terms both sides agree, it shall be sworn to; and they shall inscribe
the alliance on bronze stelai and stand them in a sanctuary of their
choice.