IGII31 958 Decree at Delphi on an alliance with the Aitolians

Decree at Delphi on an alliance with the Aitolians

IG II³ 1 958 Date: Ca. 268–266 BC

. . . [ . . . and the prytany secretary shall inscribe^[1] this decree on a stone stele and stand it on the] Acropolis;^[2] and for [the making] [of the stele and for the inscription] the board of administrators (tous epi tei dioikēsei) shall allocate [the expenditure accrued, . . . the ambassadors] sent [to Aitolia . . . ] (5) . . . of Halai, Aristodemos . . .

Decrees of the Aitolians and Amphiktyons follow

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References:

IG II³ 1 958 (Translated text) (IG Online)

SEG 18.239

SdA III 470

Translation by: Sean Byrne, Sebastian Zellner

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Council/People)

Original location: Delphi , Acropolis (other copy)

Fr. a - Findspot: Delphi (Delphi Museum 2618)
Fr. b - Findspot: Delphi (near the Treasury of the Siphnians) (Delphi Museum 4046)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This decree forms part of a dossier in two joining fragments. Fr. A contains this decree and fr. B contains an Aitolian decree (IG IX 1², 1 176), approving some form of alliance (symmachia) between the Aitolians and Athenians, and a decree of the Amphiktyonic Council (CID IV 30), accepting the preceding Aitolian decree. Only the final lines of the Athenian decree, prescribing the modes of publication in Athens, are preserved. It probably honoured the Athenian ambassadors sent to Aitolia to conclude a treaty between Athens and the Aitolian League (koinon), the content of which we can only infer from the fragmentary parts of the subsequent decrees. On Attic inscriptions at Delphi, see IG II³ 4, 17 with notes. [2] The formula used in this publication clause occurs only in the period between 288 and 262 BC (cf. E. Schweigert, Hesperia 10, 1941, 352-54). While the Athenian copy of this decree was to be set up on the Acropolis, the extant parts of the following decrees do not provide the location at Delphi where the Aitolian copy was to be published. Although the findspot of fr. A containing the Athenian decree is unknown, fr. B was found near the Treasury of the Siphnians. Unlike the Athenian inscriptions at Delphi, which are mostly inscribed on the Athenian Treasury, Aitolian decrees and official documents were scattered all over the sanctuary, giving visibility to the League’s claim of control over Delphi and its use as an instrument of Aitolian foreign policy.

The treaty between Athens and the League (IG IX 1², 1 176) provides for the legal protection of Athenians and specifies responsibilities for enforcing these laws in case of infringement by other parties. Combined with the prosopographical information on the delegates to the Amphiktyonic council in CID IV 30, l. 10, and the formulae of IG IX 1², 1 176, this has suggested a date between 277 and 265 BC, in the lead-up to the Chremonidean War (268/7-263/2 BC), in which Athens, Sparta, and the Ptolemaic kingdom fought against Macedon (cf. J. Bousquet, BCH 82, 1958, 69-74; G. Nachtergael, Les Galates en Grèce et les Sôtéria de Delphes, 1977, 263ff.). However, the term “alliance” (symmachia) in the Aitolian decree (IG IX 1², 1 176, l. 1) is problematic for this interpretation since the Aitolian League is not known to have participated in this conflict. D. Knoepfler (BCH 119, 1995, 149-52), followed by IG II³, dates the decree to the period between 268 and 266 BC, shortly after the conclusion of the Athenian alliance with Sparta and the Ptolemies and proposes that the Aitolians were involved in the Chremonidean War in some form or the other on the Athenian side. While accepting the dating, others have challenged this view, pointing out that the remaining parts of the Aitolian decree only mention inviolability (asylia) and safety (asphalia) and that the term “alliance” need not imply Aitolian military support for Athens (B. Dreyer, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des spätklassischen Athen, 1999, 394-95).

Added: 20 Jan 2016
Updated: 13 Sep 2024
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