AgoraXVI 34 Alliance with Boeotians, 395 BC

Alliance with Boeotians, 395 BC

Agora XVI 34 Date: 395 BC

^[1] . . .

Alliance of the Boeotians and Athenians for all time. If anybody goes against the Athenians for war either (5) by land or by sea, the Boeotians shall help with all their strength as the Athenians call on them, as far as possible; and if anybody goes against the Boeotians for war either by land or by sea the Athenians shall help (10) with all their strength as the Boeotians call on them, as far as possible. If it is [decided to add or subtract anything] by the Athenians [and Boeotians deliberating jointly?] . . .

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Greek text

References:

Agora XVI 34 (Translated text) (PHI) (AIO)

IG II² 14 (PHI)

Syll.³ 122

SdA II 223

RO 6

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, P. J. Rhodes

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)
Aleshire - (1)
Krateros - (1, 2)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Treaty

Fragment a - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6884)
Fragment b - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4352)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Above the heading of the alliance in ll. 2-3 there is vacant space and above that two letters which apparently do not, as once believed, come from the heading "Gods" (theoi), but from the end of a previous text on the stone, perhaps of the Athenian decree which ratified the treaty inscribed below. On this see now also A. Matthaiou, Grammateion 1 (2012), 14. Though this inscription is not dated explicitly, it clearly belongs to a period when Boeotia was federal (centred on Thebes) and this dates it before the King's Peace in 386, one consequence of which was the dissolution of this federation. The only plausible context for an alliance between Athens and a federal Boeotia before the King's Peace is the beginning of the Corinthian War in 395. The war developed out of a dispute in which Sparta supported Phokis and Boeotia supported Lokris and was joined by Athens, Corinth and Argos, who were all disgruntled by the way Sparta had handled the position of leadership in Greece that it had acquired through its victory in the Peloponnesian War in 404/3. See Xenophon Hell. 3.5.1-17; Hell. Oxy. 21 Chambers; Diod. 14.81.1-3. It was not uncommon for Greek alliances to be for long periods or, as here, for all time. This, together with their solemn religious aspect (often the oaths binding the parties are inscribed) made them especially appropriate to be inscribed on stone in religious sanctuaries; and the strong sense of agency with which inscriptions were endowed meant that the inscription is often regarded not only as a record of the treaty (of which, by this time, a papyrus copy would have been lodged in the city archive in the Metroon) but as the treaty itself. Destroying the inscription was conceived of as breaking the treaty. Thus, when Athens declared war on Philip II in 340/39, "The People ... on the proposal of Demosthenes ... voted to destroy the stele concerning the Peace with Philip and, establishing an alliance, to fill the ships and prosecute hostilities", FGrH 328 Philochoros F55.

Added: 29 Jul 2014
Updated: 3 May 2021
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