IRhamn 57 Decree of Rhamnous and Athenian residents honouring Sopolis the mercenary leader and his soldiers

Decree of Rhamnous and Athenian residents honouring Sopolis the mercenary leader and his soldiers

I Rhamnous 57 Date: Late 3rd-early 2nd cent. BC?

. . . [proposed:?^[1] the Rhamnousians] and the the other citizens stationed in the fort shall decide, to praise (5) the mercenary leader (xenagon) Sopolis son of Sosistratos of Phokis and crown him with a gold crown according to the law, and the soldiers with him with a (10)foliage crown, for their discipline and good will; and the managers shall inscribe this decree on a stone stele and stand it in the sanctuary of (10)Nemesis.

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References:

I Rhamnous 57 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 49.157

SEG 36.195

SEG 31.112 (PHI)

R. Osborne, The demos and its divisions, no. 68

Oetjen, Athen im dritten Jahrhundert, no. 24

Knoepfler, Trésor documentaire, 30, 42 n. 52, 178, 210.9

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele

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

Original location: Rhamnous (sanctuary of Nemesis)

Findspot: Rhamnous (Rhamnous Nemesion 21+453 N)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. Our text follows Petrakos' in I Rhamnous, except that it is not clear from his photograph that 1 was the original first line. The decision formula with which the preserved text begins may have been towards the end of the decree and preceded by text justifying the honours. The beginning of the decree might have been similar to I Rhamnous 56.

On the pair of decrees from Rhamnous honouring xenagoi see I Rhamnous 56, with notes. This one is more fully preserved, but the precise context is equally obscure. Cf. P. Gauthier in M. Launey, Recherches sur les armées hellénistiques II (1987), xv-xvi (SEG 36.195). Erection of the decree in the sanctuary of Nemesis is characteristic of decrees to which the deme itself was party (cf. the inscriptions of the deme alone listed in the notes to I Rhamnous 182). On the deme Rhamnous and its inscriptions in general see I Rhamnous 182.

Added: 2 Apr 2026
Updated: 2 Apr 2026
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