LazarTyche 181-190 Honours for envoys from Priene sent to the Panathenaia

Honours for envoys from Priene sent to the Panathenaia

Lazar, New readings 181-190 Date: Ca. 200 BC?

. . . Assembly in the theatre. Of the presiding committee . . . was putting to the vote, and his fellow presiding committee members . . . ^[1] . . . proposed: since the Prienians being friends [and kinsmen of the Athenian] 5 [People] from ancient times, . . . [call to mind?] by all means both the other benefactions of the People towards them, and especially that the Athenians -settled (?) them after . . . ^[2] and now wishing to join in enlarging the honours done to the gods 10 by the People, have sent [ambassadors] to the Panathenaia, who . . . the . . . . . . which there was for Athena Archegetis [and . . . ^[3]] of the city; and those who were present . . . . . . took care of this also splendidly . . . 15 and of the Great [Panathenaia] . . . ^[4] . . . . . . . . . . . . good will of the People [of Priene] 20 [ . . . to praise the Prienian People] and [crown it with a gold] [crown] according to the law [for its] goodwill [and] [love of honour towards the] Council [and the Athenian People and] [to announce] the crown [at the City] Dionysia at the competition for new tragedies,^[5] and the generals shall take care of 25 the announcement, and to praise also the ambassadors . . . . . . son of Arke[ph]on (?), Lakon . . . . . .

References:

Lazar, New readings 181-190 (Translated text)

IG II³ 1 1239 (PHI) (IG Online)

AIO Papers 4 1239 (ll. 4-5, 8, 12) (AIO Paper)

IK Priene 99

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Leah Lazar

Monument type: Block (Wall)

Inscription type: Decree (Council/People)

Findspot: Priene (Asklepieion) (Lost , formerly Priene Asklepieion inv. 162)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This entry is currently undergoing revision

This document was possibly inscribed on a block from a stoa in the sanctuary of Asklepios at Priene. Inscription on buildings was a common epigraphic practice in the cities of Western Asia Minor. [2] It is not clear what this reference to Athenian involvement in the settlement of Priene means. It may refer to Athens’ mythical status as the mother-city of the cities of Ionia (including Priene). Alternatively, it may suggest that the Athenians had a hand in the Prienians’ resettlement after their enslavement by Cyrus the Great in the 6^th cent. BC (see Hdt. 1.161). [3] "Archegetis" signifies "divine leader" or "patron deity." A possible restoration of the second epithet is [Kleidouch]ōi, "Keyholder", a conventional attribute of both Athena and her priestess. [4] This provides unique evidence for a community that had been in the 5^th century BC Athenian Empire sending ambassadors to the Panathenaia at Athens in the later Hellenistic period. In the 5^th cent., all communities in the empire were required to send delegations to this festival (see AIO 959, ll. 56-58). This requirement may have been rooted in the promotion of Athens as the Ionian mother-city, as a part of imperial ideology; in the Greek world, colonies often maintained religious ties with their mother-cities. It not clear whether the Prienian participation in the Athenian festival recorded in this document was an imperial legacy from the 5^th cent., or was a more recent diplomatic phenomenon (see Lazar, Tyche 38, 2023, 181-190). Priene also sent ambassadors to the Athenian Panathenaia in the late 4^th cent. BC (see IK Priene 5). [5] The crowning of the Prienian People at the Athenian Dionysia festival is also attested in an Athenian decree found at Athens, dating to c. 230 BC (IG II³ 1, 1065, ll. 9-15). Clearly, religious and diplomatic interaction was repeated between the two cities over time (see also IG II² 565-567; IG II³ 1, 474; IK Priene 98). A similar formula of crowning is also found in decrees honouring Ephesos (IG II³ 1, 1215, ll. 6-10) and Alabanda (IG II³ 1, 1178, ll. 14-20) around the end of the 3^rd cent. BC. The Athenians likely wanted to strengthen diplomatic relationships with cities in Western Asia Minor due to political instability in the region.

Added: 29 Jul 2014
Updated: 11 Mar 2025
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