Graninger D. Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly (Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy) (ENG)
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chapter two
to pay their respects to aer their return to autonomy at the conclusion
of Macedonian hegemony in the region. Given the valence of other,
earlier foundations of Zeus Eleutherios cults in the Greek world, such
arguments for a foundation date make good intuitive sense. ere is
no compelling reason to doubt their validity, but positive proof remains
wanting.
e special circumstances of essalian liberation, in particular, the
high prole of Rome and the inuence of Flamininus in reorganizing
essaly in the years aer the Second Macedonian War, must have played
a signicant role in determining the character of this particular Zeus
Eleutherios. ere was probably no shortage of suitable divinities to
laud aer Kynoskephalai and around whom narratives of recent glory
and promised future success could have been established. One can thus
regard the establishment of the Larisan cult as deliberate (again perhaps
bearing the ngerprints of Flamininus), and err on the side of expan-
siveness in reading the signicance of the cult for the new koinon.In
what follows, I examine two historical paradigms which appear to have
exerted a strong inuence over this new foundation—the foundation of
a cult of Zeus Eleutherios at Plataia aer the Greek victory there in the
Persian wars and the funeral honors awarded Pelopidas aer his death at
Kynoskephalai in —before turning to a broader consideration of the
cult and its associated festival, the Eleutheria.
Plataia, Pelopidas, Flamininus
e essalians were conspicuous medizers at the time of the Persian
Wars and thus could not participate in subsequent recollection of that
glorious Greek success.
88
ere is some evidence, however, that suggests
that the Second Macedonian War was ideologically constructed, aer the
fact, as an iteration of the Persian Wars. Compare, for example, the elegiac
testimony of Alcaeus of Messene: ‘Both Xerxes led a Persian host to the
land of Hellas, and Titus, too, led there a host from broad Italy, but the
one meant to set the yoke of slavery on the neck of Europe, the other to
put an end to the servitude of Hellas’.
89
Flamininus’ actions in the Second
88
E.g., Hdt. ... Cf. Westlake .
89
AP ., trans. Paton: TΑγαγε κα Ξ.ρξης Π.ρσαν στρατ4ν 8Ελλδος !ς γ1ν,|κα
Ττος ε0ρεας dγαγ
’ %π’ QΙταλας | %λλ’ 2 μν Ε0ρ:πfα δολον ζυγ4ν α0χ.νι "σων |
mλ"εν, 2δ’ %μπα,σων 8Ελλδα δουλοσ,νας.
the federal sanctuaries
Macedonian War, particularly his invasion of Greece with a foreign army,
can be seen to parallel, in a formal way, those of Xerxes at the time of the
Persian Wars. But the macro-political environment had changed—where
Xerxes sought to enslave a previously free Greece, Flamininus, within the
rhetoric of the epigram, intended to free a Greece that had fallen into a
servile condition. e individual most currently responsible for Greece’s
status, Philip V, is unmentioned, but the association between him and
Xerxes is unmistakable. Philip had actually accomplished what Xerxes
had only imagined, and Flamininus’ reversal is thus doubly sweet, a true
liberation.
90
Against this backdrop, replete with Persian War imagery, the establish-
ment of a cult of Zeus Eleutherios in Larisa acquires an important layer of
meaning. Flamininus’ Isthmian proclamation was predicated on Roman
victory in the Second Macedonian War. Much of the campaigning took
place on essalian soil, including the climactic battle at Kynoskephalai,
and thus this new liberation had by extension a strongly essalian color.
essaly could now be recast as instrumental in the liberation of Greece.
As I will argue below, the panhellenic signicance of the victory was in
some measure mirrored by the panhellenic aspirations of the cult and
festival.
It is therefore not surprising that this new cult foundation at Larisa had
an explicit parallel from the Persian War era, for a cult of Zeus Eleuthe-
rios had been established in the neighborhood of Plataia in , aer
the Greek victory there.
91
e history of the cult and its associated fes-
tival, the Eleutheria, is amply attested in literary and epigraphic sources,
although it is no less problematic for being so. A complete rehearsal of
the evidence is not warranted here, but a brief developmental outline may
be useful. In the aermath of the victory, perhaps in fulllment of a vow,
perhaps simply in thanksgiving or to commemoratethe Greeks’ stunning
90
See Walbank , p. , n. . Walbank , p. , n. , and p. , n. , has attractively
suggested that Philip had already been at work attempting to paint the invading Romans
as new Persians, thus reviving the traditional anti-Persian role of Macedonian kings.
Alcaeus’ epigram can in this light be seen to anticipate just such a charge on the part
of the Macedonians.
91
e most comprehensive discussion of the cult of Zeus Eleutherios at Plataia and
the festival of the Eleutheria celebrated there is Schachter –, vol. , pp. –, who
collects the primary sources and provides an overview of earlier scholarship. Important
post-Schachterdiscussions include Mikalson , pp. –, and Rigsby , pp. –
, who discuss the history of the site in the years aer the battle; and Chaniotis ,
pp. –, who discusses the evolution of the cult and festival in the Hellenistic period.
chapter two
victory, the Spartan general Pausanias established a cult honoring Zeus
Eleutherios at Plataia. Possibly associated with this cult, funerary mon-
uments in honor of those killed in battle were erected and there appears
to have been a move to regard Plataia as inviolable and hallowed ground.
e penteteric festival of the Plataian Eleutheria may date to this period,
butwascertainlyobservedbythethirdorsecondcentury,andcontin-
ued until ca. –ce. Competitors hailed from throughout the Greek
world. To judge from the many scattered epigraphic references to vic-
tors over several centuries, the Eleutheria seems to have followed a rel-
atively traditional agonistic program. Especially distinctive, though, was
a hoplite race from the battleeld trophy to the altar of Zeus Eleutherios.
Victors in this contest won the equally distinctive title ‘best of the Hel-
lenes’. e festival was administered by a ‘koinon oftheHellenes’,which
was most probably a cultic, not a political, organization. e membership
of this koinon is obscure, but some cult personnel were certainly Plata-
ian and this polis likely shared administrative responsibilities. Patronage
of the cult and festival varied over time, and one may glimpse various
appropriations of this comparatively pure Persian War ideology by sup-
porters and opponents of Macedonian hegemony on the Greek mainland
in the fourth and third centuries to Roman emperors of the rst and sec-
ond centuries ce.
Another layer of history recalled by the establishment of this cult and
festival looked to a later era—the mid fourth century—when another
major battle fought at Kynoskephalai with essalian freedom at stake.
In , the eban general Pelopidas led a joint essalo-Boiotian force
to victory over Alexander of Pherai. essaly had been a cornerstone
in the development of Boiotian policy in northern Greece aer the
battle of Leuktra in .
92
By , Pelopidas, responding to a essalian
League (perhaps narrowly Larisan) entreaty to intervene in the civil
war being fought against Alexander of Pherai, appears in essaly, rst
negotiating with Alexander, then campaigning against him. While the
nal military result of this activity was inconclusive—Pelopidas was
summonednorthtointerveneinthenowfull-blowncrisisinMacedonia
92
For Pelopidas in essaly, Buckler , pp. –, –, –; Sordi
, pp. –; and Westlake , pp. –. Pelopidas’ earlier ties to the region
areonlyhintedatinthesources,butheseemstohaveestablishedaformalbondofxenia
with Jason of Pherai in the s (Plut. Pelop. .). e specic occasion is unknown.
Jason appears as a eban ally in Xen. Hell. .. at Leuktra (cf. Diod. Sic. ..). How
much earlier this relationship can be pressed is uncertain. Cf. Sprawski , pp. –.
the federal sanctuaries
between King Alexander and Ptolemy Aloros (and their factions)—the
eban general very likely encouraged a thorough reorganization of the
essalian League at this time.
93
e character of this reorganization is ascertainable only through a
pair of Attic inscriptions which reveal a essalian League arranged by
dierent principles than the essaly commanded by Jason of Pherai in
the s.
94
e most signicant change is visible at the top of the regional
political structure: gone is the tagos,replacednowbyanarchon.
95
e
tone of the alliance with the Athenians suggests that the essalians
were making a very deliberate break with the political traditions of the
tagos. In the oath which the Athenians are to take to cement the alliance,
they are to swear to oppose anyone who overthrows the elected archon
of the essalian League or imposes a tyrant in the region. Alexander
of Pherai is the obvious referent, but one senses that this inscription is
directed against the broader circumstances which had engendered the
regional conicts of the preceding half century. at there was a formal
constitution at this time cannot be in doubt, although one can do little
more than speculate as to its general shape. e division of the region into
the four tetrads of Aleuas is attested in this dossier, and that essalian
military forces were organized accordingly is suggested by the presence
of a college of four polemarchs,oneforeachtetrad,amongtheoath
takers. ere is reason to suspect that the institutional reformation of
the essalian League was at root a reorganization of essalian military
forces, both infantry and cavalry. Again, Pelopidas’ hand, though not
specically attested, is not hard to perceive.
In , Pelopidas was again in essaly, leading a coalition of es-
salian and Boiotian forces against Pherai and her allies. Pelopidas’ side
would emerge victorious, although the general died in the encounter. At
this point essalian sentiment toward the eban general is clearest.
93
e dating of this reorganization is vexed. I follow the high chronology of Buckler
, pp. –, who reviews the major arguments.
94
IG
2
, , securely dated to by Athenian archon; IG
2
, , fragmentary, but
probably roughly contemporary with IG
2
, . e faintest of hint at such a reorganiza-
tion may be oered by Plutarch at Pelop. . where it is observed that Pelopidas had le
the essalians ‘in concord with one another’ (
πρ4ς%λλλους 2μ#νοιαν)upondeparting
the region to intervene in the crisis over the Argead throne in Macedonia. Cf. Westlake
, p. , with reference to earlier discussions.
95
e issue of the titular head of the essalian League is among the more controver-
sial in scholarship on essaly. For a thorough review of the ancient evidence, see Helly
, pp. –.
chapter two
Plutarch describes a wild scene, worth quoting in full: ‘e essalians
and allies also, aer exceeding in their decrees every honour that can
tly be paid to human excellence, showed still more by their grief how
grateful they were to him. For it is said that those who were in the
action neither took o their breastplates nor unbridled their horses
nor bound up their wounds, when they learned of his death, but, still
heatedandinfullarmour,camersttothebody,andasifitstillhad
life and sense, heaped round it the spoils of the enemy, sheared their
horses manes, and cut o their own hair; and when they had gone to
their tents, many neither kindled a re nor took supper, but silence
and dejection reigned through all the camp, as if they had not won a
great and most brilliant victory, but had been defeated by the tyrant
and made his slaves. From the cities, too, when tidings of these things
reached them, came the magistrates, accompanied by youths and boys
and priests, to take up the body, and they brought trophies and wreaths
and suits of golden armour’.
96
Cornelios Nepos supplements this account
by observing that all of the essalian cities set up bronze statues in
honor of Pelopidas and made substantial gis of land to his children.
97
Αt Delphi a fragmentary statue base is preserved with an inscribed
dedicatory epigram indicating that the essalians had dedicated a statue
of Pelopidas made by Lysippos: ‘Aer destroying Sparta … with praise
…manytimes…toerect…Boiotian.Pelopidas[sonofHippokles,
eban] the essalians dedi[cated to Pythian Apollo]. Lysippos son of
Lys[… of Sikyon made it]’.
98
e essalians argued with the ebans
96
Plut. Pelop. .–, trans. Perrin: ο6 δ Θεσσαλο κα ο6 σ,μμαχοι π1σαν %ν"ρω-
πνGη πρ.πουσαν %ρετG= τιμν το5ς ψηφσμασιν (περβαλ#ντες
, 3τι μ1λλον !πεδεξαντο
το5ς π"εσι τν πρ4ς τ4ν dνδρα χριν
. τος μν γρ παραγεγον#τας τX 3ργXω λ.γουσι
μτε ":ρακα ".σ"αι μτε Rππον !κχαλιν σαι μτε τραμα δσασ"αι πρ#τερον
, Hς
!π,"οντο τν !κενου τελευτν
, %λλ μετ τ ν πλων "ερμος #ντας !π τ4ν νεκρ4ν
nσπερ ασ"αν#μενον
, τ τ ν πολεμων κ,κλXω περ τ4 σ μα σωρε,ειν λφυρα, κε5-
ραι δ Rππους
, κερασ"αι δ κα α0το,ς, %πι#ντας δ πολλος !π σκηνς μτε πρ
%νψαι μτε δε5πνον Iλ.σ"αι
, σιγν δ κα κατφειαν ε?ναι το στρατοπ.δου παντ#ς,
nσπερ ο0 νενικηκ#των !πιφανεσττην νκην κα μεγστην, %λλ’ \ττημ.νων (π4 το
τυρννου κα καταδεδουλωμ.νων
. !κ δ τ ν π#λεων, Hς %πηγγ.λ"η τατα, παρ=σαν
αR τε %ρχα κα μετ
’ α0τ ν 3φηβοι κα πα5δες κα 6ερε5ς πρ4ς τν (ποδοχν το σ:μα-
τος
, τρ#παια κα στεφνους κα πανοπλας χρυσ1ς !πιφ.ροντες. Cf. Georgiadou ,
pp. –.
97
Nep. Pelop...
98
Σπρτημ μγ χρ[ωσας -----]|ε0λογαι πιστ ---------|[πλε]ιστκι
.
ΔΗ ---
------|[
στ=]σαι Βοιω[τ --------]|Πελοπδαν 8Ιπ[π#κλου Θηβα5ον]|Θεσσαλο
%ν.
["ηκαν QΑπ#λλωνι Πυ"ωι]|Λ,σιππος Λυσ[- - - Σικυ:νιος !ποησε]. For a text, cf.
Bousquet , pp. – (SEG , ; BullÉp, no. ). For a new restoration of
the federal sanctuaries
for the honor of tending to Pelopidas’ burial, noting that while the
ebans had lost their general, theessalians had lost both their general
and their freedom.
99
e eban general was presumably buried in
essaly.
100
And so the recovery of essalian freedom under the leadership of
a foreign general aer a culminating battle at Kynoskephalai in can
only have recalled these chapters of essalian history from the s. Yet,
once recalled, the dierences between the outcomes of the two battles of
Kynokephalai may have overshadowed the similarities. Pelopidas’ death
during the battle ensured that the essalian League would not grow
past its infancy, and that regional civil war would continue. e ultimate
outcome would be the intervention of Philip II and his probable election
as archon of the essalian League which inaugurated over years
of essalian subordination to Macedonian rule. Flamininus’ victory in
, if not on the same battleeld then certainly in the same area,
101
would in some ways put the nishing touches on Pelopidas’ northern
project, albeit in radically altered political circumstances.
Despite the regional, essalian signicance of a second battle at
Kynoskephalai, and the plainly panhellenic aspirations of the establish-
ment of a Zeus Eleutherios cult in Larisa, victory in the Second Macedo-
nian War can only be described tendentiously as narrowly essalian or
Greek. For this was a predominantly Roman victory, fought primarily by
Roman forces led by Roman generals. In , Livy depicts Roman ambas-
sadors appearing before the council of the essalian League, where
mutual courtesies were exchanged—the Romans for essalian support
during the Second Macedonian War and the War with Antiochus, the
essalians for the gi of their freedom.
102
Responsibility for essalian
freedom and autonomy lay at the feet of Flamininus most of all, and it
would be surprising if his memory was not honored in some way at the
Eleutheria in Larisa. Roman intentions, to say nothing of broader policy,
towards essaly and Greece more generally were receiving their rst
the epigram, cf. Gallavotti , pp. – (SEG , ; BullÉp , no. ). e date
of the monument is somewhat controversial. I follow Buckler , p. , in assigning
the dedication to aer Pelopidas’ death, against the higher chronology of e.g. Wilhelm
, who would prefer . Cf. Helly , pp. –.
99
Plut. Pelop. ..
100
Plut. Pelop. .–. Cf. Georgiadou , pp. –.
101
For reconstructions of the two battles, see Decourt , pp. –, –;
Hammond ; Pritchett , pp. –.
102
Liv. ...
chapter two
concrete expression in the aermath of Kynoskephalai. In some ways,
Rome was just another Hellenistic kingdom, Flamininus another (eec-
tive) general. While Plutarch presents an image of Greeks who are rapt
and rapturous upon hearing his Isthmian proclamation,
103
the truth of
the matter is that such sentiments were a commonplace in interstate rela-
tions.
104
Was this a case of empty rhetoric, or could Flamininus actually
deliver? e following years would see him intervening directly in es-
salian aairs with great benets to the region. Over the course of several
extended stays, he put the essalian League on a rm institutional foot-
ing and helped adjudicate in what must have been an endless series of
messy legal disputes. Despite every indication in the region’s history that
would suggest otherwise, this foundation held, and over y years later
in newly essalian Narthakion in Phthiotic Achaia it is possible to read
ofthelawsthat‘TitusQuinctus…gave’.
105
e Larisa Sanctuary and the Eleutheria
Federal documents of the essalian League published in the post-
period regularly refer to a sanctuary of Zeus Eleutherios as a locus of
publication. No other sanctuary of the god is attested in essaly. Unfor-
tunately, the site of the sanctuary is not precisely known. A. Tziaphalias,
however, has made a plausible, if circumstantial, case that the sanctuary
was near the so-called ‘free agora’ of ancient Larisa, where rescue exca-
vations have exposed a number of architectural members of Hellenistic
date suggestive of a large, public building of the Doric order, together
with bases for votive oerings and an inscription with a preserved publi-
cation clause mentioning the sanctuary of Zeus Eleutherios.
106
Much of
103
Plut. Flam. .–; cf. Polyb. ..–; Liv. ..–.
104
Walsh . For Flamininus’ dealings with the Greek East, see now Pfeilschier
. Dmitriev appeared too late for me to take into full account.
105
IG ., .
106
On the ‘free agora’, see Arist. Pol. a–, trans. Rackham: ‘But it is tting that
the dwellings assigned to the gods and the most important of the ocial messes should
have a suitable site, and the same for all, excepting those temples which are assigned
a special place apart by the law or else by some utterance of the Pythian oracle. And
the site would be suitable if it is one that is suciently conspicuous in regard to the
excellence of its position, and also of superior strength in regard to the adjacent parts
of the city. It is convenient that below this site should be an laid out an agora of the
kind customary in essaly which they call a “free agora” (
πρ.πει δ’ (π4 μν τοτον
τ4ν τ#πον τοια,της %γορ1ς ε?ναι κατασκευν οRαν κα περ Θετταλαν νομζουσιν oν
!λευ".ραν καλοσιν
), that is, one which has to be kept clear of all merchandise and into
the federal sanctuaries
this evidence was not discovered in situ, however, and Tziaphalias’ iden-
tication must remain tentative.
107
In the material record, the most con-
spicuous aspect of the cult of Zeus Eleutherios at Larisa is the Eleuthe-
ria. Fragments of seven Eleutheria victor lists dating to the second and
rst centuries are preserved, and these provide important insight into the
character of the festival.
108
Several commemorative or honorary inscrip-
tions celebrating victorious competitors at the Eleutheria are known from
throughout the Greek world, the latest of which suggests that the festival
continued to be celebrated ca. ce, if not later.
109
I begin with a consideration of some preliminary issues—the date,
sponsorship, and periodicity of the festival—before oering a system-
atic analysis of the festival program. I have argued above that the cult
of Zeus Eleutherios was initiated in Larisa in the wake of the successful
conclusion of the Second Macedonian War and Flamininus’ reorganiza-
tion of the essalian League. It is logical, though not strictly necessary,
that the Eleutheria would have been closely connected with this original
cult foundation. e earliest securely-dated attestation of the festival is a
which no artisan or farmer or any other such person my intrude unless summoned by
the magistrates’. Cf. Schütrumpf , p. ; Xen. Cyropaed. ... For the remains of
the ‘free agora’ of Larisa, see Tziaphalias , pp. –, who argues that this space
changed function in the Hellenistic period from the political heart of Larisa to the city’s
religious center.
107
For a brief presentation and discussion of the evidence, see Tziaphalias ,
pp. –.
108
New editions of these inscriptions with commentary can be found in Epigraphic
Appendix –. A fragmentary eighth list (Epigraphic Appendix ) may also be associated
with the festival.
109
E.g., IG , , a Megarian inscription dated to post- and mentioning victories in
boxing and pankration; Zachos , pp. –, no. (SEG , ), an inscription
from Nikopolis dated to the end of the rst century ce and honoring a Nikopolitan for
winning the boys stadion at Larisa ([
\π]#λις \ Ν[ει]|[κ]οπολειτ ν | Νεικνορα | Ττου
νεικ
|σαντα !ν |ΛαρσσGη πα[]|δων στ|διον). Stadion races were part of the agonistic
program of the Kaisarea and the Po[seidon]ia, both of which were apparently sanctioned
and supported by the koinon,intherstcenturyce(IG ., b); and so it is possible
that Nikanor’s victorydid nottake place at the Eleutheria. Nothing further is knownabout
the Kaisarea or the Po[seidon]ia. I pass over a number of other monuments that simply
mention victories in Eleutheria; these may refer to the celebration at Plataia or Larisa
or elsewhere in the Greek world (for other attestations of Eleutheria festivals, cf. Stengel
). Finally, several inscriptions honor competitors who were victorious at the
κοιν4ν
Θεσσαλ ν
in Larisa, vel sim. e phrase probably refers to the essalian Eleutheria:
Iesp – (IG , –) which is dated to the rst or second century ce (cf. SEG
, ); plausibly restored at Buckler and Robinson , no. , face B, line ([
κοιν4ν
Θ
]ε
.
σ[σα]λας), a monumentcommemorating the many victories of Demostratos Damas
and dated to ca. –ce.
chapter two
decree of the Delphic Amphictiony dated to / which honors Nikos-
tratos of Larisa, a essalian hieromnemon at the Amphictionic coun-
cil.
110
Nikostratos’ honors are to be announced at the Pythian Games,
‘and also at the Eleutheria in the athletic contest, which the essalians
organize’.
111
Two partially preserved Eleutheria victor lists also belong
to the rst half of the second century.
112
is earliest evidence for the
Eleutheria is not at odds with a hypothetical date of ca. for the estab-
lishment of the cult and games at Larisa.
Discussion of the evidence for the foundation date of the Eleutheria
has already begun to merge into a consideration of festival sponsorship,
and it is signicant that two of the earliest attestations of the Eleutheria
both closely associate the ‘essalians’ with the conduct of the festival.
e essalians ‘organize’ the Eleutheria (
τι".ασι)andanocialholding
the title of ‘agonothete of essalians’ supervises.
113
Honorary decrees of
the essalians were not simply to be published in the sanctuary of Zeus
Eleutherios at Larisa, but could also be announced at the Eleutheria.
114
Similarly, when foreign bodies wished to honor representatives of the
essalian League, they could request that their honors be announced at
the Eleutheria.
115
us both sanctuary and festival fell under the purview
of the essalian League and can be regarded as federal.
Periodicity is a nal preliminary issue. As will become clear, the Eleu-
theria attracted participants from throughout the Aegean and broader
Mediterranean world. Such festivals were not typically annual aairs, but
trieteric (every two years) or penteteric (every four years).
116
Afragmen-
tary Eleutheria victor list from the early rst century contains a partially
110
CID , . For the date, see Daux , p. , no. L.
111
CID , , l. –: %ναγορεσαι δ κα !ν | το5ς QΕλευ"εροις !ν τ ι γυμνικ ι
%γ νι
, Lν τι".ασι | ο6 [Θε]τταλο.
112
Epigraphic Appendix – (IG ., –).
113
essalian organization: CID , ; ‘agonothete of the essalians’: Epigraphic
Appendix (IG ., ); this title is also present in a rst century victor list (Epigraphic
Appendix (IG ., )).
114
Publication: IG ., –; SEG , ; Announcement: IG ., .
115
CID , . FD ., , a ca. / honorary decree of the city of Delphi for Isagoras
of Larisa was also to be announced at the essalian Eleutheria. CID , , an honorary
decree of the Delphic Amphictiony ca. / for this same individual, probably contained
a similar prescription. Isagoraswas likely a current or former hieromnemon to the Delphic
Amphictiony and by extension representative of essaly qua ethnos.
116
ere is no distinction in the inscriptions between ‘greater’ and ‘lesser’ Eleutheria,
i.e., between regional, annual versions of the event and the larger, ‘panhellenic’ versions
of the event celebrated at greater intervals.
the federal sanctuaries
preserved preamble with language suggesting that this particular festival
was anywhere between the twentieth and twenty-ninth celebration of this
kind: ‘When Isagoras … was agonothete for the twenty … contest for Zeus
Eleutherios’.
117
If one assumes that the Eleutheria were indeed founded
ca. , two ranges of dates become possible: – for a trieteric
festival, – for a penteteric festival.
118
e prosopography of the list
better suits the later range of dates and the essalian Eleutheria were
thus almost certainly a penteteric festival.
119
Much about the Eleutheria, however, remains unknown. Our evidence
is silent on matters of sacrice and procession, for example, although one
assumesthatbothmusthavefeaturedprominently.ecalendardate
of the festival is also unattested. e agon was clearly a central compo-
nent of the festival and oered a suitable venue for announcing hon-
orary decrees. From a broader perspective, to identify the Eleutheria as
a ‘panhellenic’ festival begs the question of what precisely ‘panhellenic’
means in a Hellenistic agonistic context.
120
Certainly competitors from
around the Mediterranean participated in the festival. But no invitations
issued by the essalian League to outside polities to send theoroi to the
Eleutheria or to recognize the sanctuary of Zeus Eleutherios as invio-
lable, for example, have survived, nor have outside decrees of acceptance
responding to such invitations. As will be seen in Chapter Four, however,
theessalianLeaguewasanactiveplayerininterstatecultinthelater
Hellenistic period, and it would be surprising if their acceptance of invi-
tations issued by the Koans or Mytileneans, for example, were not met
with reciprocal invitations on the part of the essalians. So developed
the politics of cult in the Hellenistic period.
121
117
Epigraphic Appendix (IG ., ), l. –: QΙσαγ#ρου
.
τ
.
ο[.........ca. ......
......
%γωνο"ε]|τοντος τ4ν εκ
.
ο[στον κα.....ca. ....τ ν Θεσ]|σαλ ν %γ να τ ι Δι
.
τ
.
[ ]
[ι QΕλευ"ερωι.
118
Trieteric:
×
= , – = ;
×
= , – = . Penteteric:
×
=
, – = ;
×
= , – = .
119
See the commentary on Epigraphic Appendix (IG ., ), where it is argued
that Stratios son of Melanthios from Kierion, victorious trumpeter, was also victorious
at the Ptoia ca. – (Bizard , pp. –, no. ); for the date, cf. Gossage ,
pp. –.
120
See the lapidary formulation at Robert b, pp. – (Robert b, pp. –
). Cf. Slater and Summa , p. .
121
e language of IG ., , a mid-second-century decree of the essalian League,
in particular implies an international audience.For the text, see Kawerau and Rehm ,
p. , n. ; Canali de Rossi , p. (BullÉp , no. ). Kramolisch , p. ,
proposed a date ca. ; Helly , vol. , p. , pushes the decree to ca. .