Conceptions and Sources
politicalgeographyofAttica,^76 andaveryfullprosopographyofthericher
Atheniansandtheirfamilies.^77 Thecombinationof literaryandepigraphic
evidencealsomakespossibleaveryfullunderstandingofAthenianfestivals.^78
Without multiplying furtherexamples, it is enough to pose the question,
inconcludingthissection,astowhyclassicalAthenshasattractednomajor
historicalstudy.
Astrictlygeographicalconcentrationofinscriptions,suchasliesrelatively
unexploitednotonlyintheindividualareasandcitiesmentionedbutalso
inahostofothers,isnottheonlytypeofconcentrationwhichwouldallow
seriousstudy.Fewwouldnowdaretoattemptasyntheticviewofthefunc-
tioningof‘‘theGreekcity’’overmanycenturiesinthemannerofthatgreat
historian,A.H.M.Jones,evenif hisworkremainsessentialreadingforall
studentsoftheGreekworld.^79 Butthereremainmajorthemeswheresub-
stantialseriesofdocumentsareavailable,stretchingoverwideareasintime
andspace.Oneexampleisthemajorsubjectoftheformal,diplomatic,mili-
tary,andfinancialrelationsbetweenGreekcitiesandHellenistickings,in-
volving, for instance, the evolution of royal cults,^80 the form and content
ofroyalletterstocities,^81 theprosopographyofroyalemissariesandoffice-
holders,^82 or the forms of control and exploitation in the overseas posses-
sionsofthePtolemies.^83 Subjectssuchasthesecanbeeffectivelystudiedfor
tworeasons.Firstly,because,inspiteofdiversitiesovertimeandspace,itis
reasonabletostartfromthehypothesisthattheHellenisticmonarchieswere
functioningsystems,inwhicheachitemofevidencewillmakesomecon-
tributiontotheunderstandingofthewhole.^84 Secondly,wearedealingwith
. J.S.Traill,The Political Organization of Attica: A Study of the Demes,Trittyes and Phylae
and Their Representation in the Athenian Council(HesperiaSuppl.XIV,).
. J.K.Davies,Athenian Propertied Families, –..(Oxford,).
. SeeL.Deubner,AttischeFeste(Berlin,);A.W.Pickard-Cambridge,TheDramatic
Festivals of Athens^2 ,rev.J.GouldandD.M.Lewis(Oxford);H.W.Parke,Festivals of the
Athenians(London,).SeenowR.Parker,Athenian Religion: A History(Oxford,).
.The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian(Oxford,).
. Chr.Habicht,Gottmenschentum und griechische Städte^2 (Munich,).
. ThecollectionbyC.B.Welles,RoyalCorrespondenceintheHellenisticEra(NewHaven,
), could now be greatly extended, for instance by the third-century letters from
Labraunda(seen.).
. E. Olshausen,Prosopographie der hellenistischen KönigsgesandtenI:von Triparadeisos bis
Pydna(Louvain,).
. R.S.Bagnall,TheAdministrationofthePtolemaicPossessionsoutsideEgypt(Leiden,).
. Notetheclassic,ifperhapstooschematic,studyofE.Bikerman,InstitutionsdesSéleu-
cides(Paris,),andD.Musti,‘‘LostatodeiSeleucidi,’’Studi Classici e Orientali():
–.