that name particular kings alongside the names of gods.^12 Far from being
cynical attempts to ingratiate themselves with their Macedonian overlords,
these acts of public respect, offered by regional communities of the
northern Aegean, are indicative of a regional understanding of the cultic
role of leaders in society.
This cultic role may originally have developed (before the emergence
of the historic kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace) because leaders of
communities that were often geographically isolated could assure sup-
plies of meat at collective gatherings. We have seen in Chapter 7 that
feasting was a key way in which kings, princes (and, by analogy, local
leaders) cemented trust amongst their peers and subordinates. Hunting
dramatized the role of leaders as facilitators of supplementary meat
resources. The managerial role of kings in the organization of hunting
expeditions is reflected in a royal letter concerning the revenues of the
sanctuary of Herakleskynagidas, patron of hunting and of young men in
Beroia,^13 and also in the duties and privileges of different age classes
during hunting episodes.^14 The close relationship between the Macedo-
nian king and the young men who provided personal assistance to him as
part of their training was paralleled by the king’s dedications to Herakles,
and Herakles’patronage of the youngkynegoi(hunters). Here we can see
how cult reinforced the social roles of the participants, but also gave the
king himself a decisive role in the young men’s wellbeing.
Civic and other types of community cult provided opportunities for
collective dining in much the same way that they did elsewhere in
Greece.^15 In principle the kinds of pressures on land resources that
were exerting tension on the magistrates of growing populations in
southern Greece were less relevant in the northern Aegean, where
pasture land was plentiful and collective anxieties focused on the danger
(^12) Mari 2007, and p. 385, Table 1 (Amphipolis; Berga; Kassandreia; Maroneia; Nikiti;
Oreskeia; Philippoi; Philippopolis; Pydna; Thasos). These northern expressions contrast
with the understanding of‘divine’status in more southerly communities, such as Athens
(Christesen and Murray 2010, 441–3, with earlier bibliography).
(^13) Hatzopoulos 1994a, 102–4,I. Beroiano. 3 (= Hatzopoulos 1996, II, no. 8; 248 bc, three
letters of Demetrios, son and co-regent of Antigonos Gonatas, thefirst of which refers to
kynegoi(l. 2), to priests of Herakles (ll. 4–5), and toprosodoi(l. 5), SEG 43.379);
Hatzopoulos 1994a, 103–11, argues thatkynegoiwere the equivalents ofephebesin
Macedonia.
(^14) Plb. 31.29.3–5(kynegoi basilikoidrafted into Scipio’s reserve forces after the battle of
Pydna); Ar.Pol.1324b (referring to a former Macedonian law requiring men who had not
yet killed an enemy to wear a halter in place of a belt); Hegesandros ap. Athen. 1.18a
(Kassander forced at the age of 35 to sit at table, and at his father’s feet, because he had yet to
kill a boar without nets); Hatzopoulos 1994a, 87–111 with discussion; Carney 2002, 59–66.
(^15) McInerney 2010, 184–95.
304 Continuity and commemoration