Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Epigraphy 

explicitdocumentswhichnotonlynameandlocateofficesandfunctions,
butalsorevealatleastsomeelementsofthevaluespertainingtothesystem.
Thehonorificorcultinscriptionsforkings,thetextsofdecreeshonouring
men who protected a city’s rights against royal encroachment,or the let-
tersofthekingsthemselveswillallrevealatleasttheformalpublicvalues
acceptedinHellenisticsociety.Butbehindthediplomatichistoryoftherela-
tionsofcityandmonarch,whichhasmanyelementsofcontinuitystretching
fromthefourthcentury..tothelateRomanEmpire,andwhoseprimary
documentscould(onceagain)beseenasconstitutingaminorbranchoflit-
eraturewithitsownthemesandvariations,liesthemajorhistoricaltheme
ofthevitalityoftheGreekcitiesandthevigourwithwhichtheycompeted
witheachotheranddemandedacceptanceoftheirclaimsfromthesuccessive
monarchsunderwhoseruletheyfell.
This activity in itself is onlya product of the communal, political, and
ceremoniallifeoftheGreekcities,whichcanbestudiednotonlylocality
bylocality,butalsothematically.Hereagaintherearestrictlimitsonwhat
the formal, public inscriptions available to us will reveal.We cannot hope
togainmorethanpassinghintsoftheoverallsocialcompositionofaGreek
city,ofitseconomiclife,oroftherelationsoftownandcountry.Indeedthe
inscribeddocumentswillhardlymentionthepeasantvillagesofthecountry-
sideexceptwhenakingmakesagrantofsomeofthemtoafavourite.The
inscriptions will rarely even make clear the sources of the surplus wealth
which evidently did pass into the hands of the upper classes of the cities.
Whattheywilldoistoillustratepublicexpectationsastothesemi-voluntary
deploymentofthatwealthonbuilding,theprovisionofshowsorfood,offer-
ings and sacrifices, or embassies to a king—in short, the system ofeuerge-
tismewhoseimportanceintheearlyHellenisticcitywasadumbratedbyPaul
Veyne.^85 Thesevaluesandexpectations—andthespecificrolesperformed—
canlegitimatelybecomparedacrossawholerangeofcities.Simplybywayof
example,Iofferatranslationofoneofthesehonorificdecrees,whichcomes
fromErythraeandprobablydatestothes,justbeforetheopeningofthe
Hellenisticperiodproper:^86

ItwasvotedbytheCouncilandPeopleontheproposalofthePrytaneis,

Generals,andAuditors.SincePhanes,sonofMnesitheus,isagoodman

. P.Veyne,Le pain et le cirque: sociologie historique d’un pluralisme politique(Paris,),
translated asBread and Circuses: Historical Sociology and Political Pluralism(London, ),
ch..
. H.EngelmannandR.Merkelbach,DieInschriftenvonErythraiundKlazomenaiI(Bonn,
),no..