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I Political History I Political History A Alexander the Great 1 Priene Honours Antigonus Tod, GHI 186 (Syll.3 278) Summer 334 Following his victory over the Persians in the cavalry battle at the Granikos River in May 334, Alexander proceeded south in Asia Minor and, after his arrival at Ephesos, set about the liberation of the Greek cities (Arrian 1.18.1–2; on Alexander’s actions and policy here see A. J. Heisserer, Alexander the Great and the Greeks [Norman, OK, 1980], especially chapter 6). To this period (about August 334) belongs the present decree of the city of Priene (cf. the reference to autonomy in the prescript). Antigonus, later known as the ‘One-Eyed’ (Monophthalmos), served in Alexander’s army as commander of the allied contingents until early in 333 when he was appointed satrap of Phrygia (Arrian 1.29.3). From Alexander’s death in June 323 until his own on the field at Ipsos in 301, Antigonus’ role in the struggles of the successors was a major one (see further documents 6 and 7). Precisely what (if anything precise) he did for Priene in 334 is unknown. [Resolved] by the boule [and the demos], on the second of [the month] Metageitnion, at a [principal] assembly, the Prieneans being autonomous, in the term of Hippo[krates] as prytanis: to Antigonus, (son) of Philippos, Macedonian, who has been a benefactor and who is zealous towards the city of the Prieneans, that he be given proxenia and citizenship and the right to own land and house, and freedom from taxation on all things pertaining to 2 ALEXANDER THE GREAT his own house, except land, and the right of import and export, both in war and in peace, free from plunder and without special treaty, and access to the magistrates and the demos of the Prieneans first after the sacred matters; and for these things to belong to him and to his descendants. 2 ‘Letter’ of Alexander to the Chians Tod, GHI 192 (Syll.3 283) 332 (?) Early in 333 the island city of Chios, previously governed by a democracy that supported Alexander, was betrayed to Darius’ commander Memnon (Arrian 2.1.1; cf. Diod. 17.29.2). An oligarchy was thereupon established and a number of people, presumably anti-Persian democrats, expelled from the city. In the latter part of 332 the democrats succeeded in turning the city over to Alexander’s admiral Hegelochos after a siege (Arrian 3.1.3–4; Curtius 4.5.15–18). It is probably to the period immediately after the recovery of the city by Alexander’s forces that this text belongs, although it has been placed soon after the battle of the Granikos in 334. While the prescript indi- cates that the communication, whether a letter or diagramma (order), was addressed by Alexander to the Chians, its original form seems to have been altered in the process of transcription at Chios: note the differing forms of reference to Alexander in the third person, the use of what appears to be the royal plural in the provision about the Chian triremes, and the ambigu- ous ‘us’ (most likely a royal plural, or does it refer to the Chians themselves?) in the last sentence but one. In the term of Deisitheos as prytanis; from King Alexander to [the] demos of the Chians. All the exiles from Chios are to return; the form of government in Chios is to be demos. Law-drafters are to be chosen, who shall draft and revise the laws, in order that nothing may be contrary to the democracy or the return of the exiles; the results of the revision and drafting are to be referred to Alexander. The Chians are to provide twenty triremes with crews at their own expense, and these are to sail for as long as the rest of the fleet of the Greeks sails with us. Of those who betrayed the city to the barbarians, as many as have already departed are to be exiles from all the cities sharing in the peace and are to be subject to arrest according to the resolution of the Greeks; as many as have been caught are to be taken before and judged in the synhedrion of the Greeks. If there is any dispute between those who have returned and those in the city, they are to be judged in this matter before us. Until the Chians are reconciled with one another, there is to be as ALEXANDER THE GREAT 3 large a garrison as may be sufficient among them from Alexander the King, and this the Chians are to maintain. Notes: the peace: The peace treaty concluded between Philip II of Macedon and the Greeks in 338/7 after his victory at Chaeronea and renewed by Alexander in 336/5. synhedrion of the Greeks: The council of the Corinthian League, instituted by Philip and continued by Alexander, to which all member states sent delegates, synhedroi. garrison: Curtius 4.8.12–13 suggests that early in 331 Alexander agreed to a Chian request for the withdrawal of the garrison. 3 Cyrene Supplies Grain to the Greeks Tod, GHI 196 330–326 Early in the 320s Greece laboured under a serious shortage of grain (cf. document 74). Prices rose widely, but such was the fertility of Cyrene in North Africa that it could at the same time distribute grain from a massive surplus (probably at reduced prices rather than free; so Tod, GHI II, p. 276). The total listed here is 805,000 medimnoi (the equivalent of 1,207,500 Attic medimnoi, if the figure is given according to the Aeginetan standard, cf. Tod, loc.cit.), and it went to numerous places in Greece and the islands, as well as to two individuals: Alexander’s mother Olympias (a total of 72,600 medimnoi) and his sister Cleopatra (50,000). (Cf. SEG 42.1663.) The priest (is) Sosias, (son) of Kalliadas. Those to whom the city gave grain, when there was the shortage of grain in Greece: to the Athenians, 100,000 (medimnoi); to Olympias, 60,000; to the Argives, 50,000; to the Larisaeans, 50,000; to the Corinthians, 50,000; to Cleopatra, 50,000; to the Rhodians, 30,000; to the Sikyonians, 30,000; to the Meliboians, 20,000; to the Megarians, 20,000; to the T[en]ians, 20,000; to the Lesbians, 15,000; to the Theraeans, 15,000; to the Oitaeans, 15,000; to the Ambrakiots, 15,000; to the Leukadians, 15,000; to the Karystians, 15,000; to Olympias, 12,600; to the Thessalians of Atrax, 10,000; to the Kythnians, 10,000; to the Opountians, 10,000; to the Kydoniates, 10,000; to the Koans, 10,000; to the Parians, 10,000; to the Delphians, 10,000; to the Knossians, 10,000; to the Boeotians of Tanagra, 10,000; to the Gortynians, 10,000; to the Eleians, 10,000; to the Akarnanians of Palairos, 10,000; to the Megarians, 10,000; to the Meliboians, 4 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 8,500; to the Phliasians, 8,000; to the Hermioneans, 8,000; to the Oitaeans, 6,400; to the Troizenians, 6,000; to the Plataeans, 6,000; to the Keans of loulis, 5,000; to the Aiginetans, 5,000; to the Astypalaians, 5,000; to the Kytherans, 5,000; to the Hyrtakinians, 5,000; to the Aiginetans, 5,000; to the Keans of Karthaia, 4,000; to the Kytherans, 3,100; to the Keans, 3,000; to the Illyrians, 3,000; to the Keans of Koresos, 3,000; to the Ambrakiots, 1,500; to the [I]ketyr- ians, 1,000; to the Knossians, 900. 4 Restoration of Exiles to Tegea Tod, GHI 202 (Syll.3 306) 324 In summer 324 Alexander sent Nikanor of Stageira to the Olympic Games with instructions for him to have the victorious herald read out the follow- ing communication: ‘King Alexander to the exiles from the Greek cities: We were not responsible for the fact that you are in exile, but we will be respon- sible for your return to your own fatherlands. We have written to Antipater about these matters, that he might compel to bring back (their exiles) those cities that do not wish to do so’ (Diod. 18.8.4; cf. 17.109.1). On the whole the measure was welcomed, especially by the more than 20,000 exiles present, but it produced immediate discontent at Athens and in Aetolia (Diod. 18.8.6ff.). It also produced problems in the various cities affected, and the present text gives an indication of how the situation was handled at Tegea. Apparently a previous piece of Tegean legislation had not found complete favour with Alexander, and what we have is a version revised in the light of the statement of principles communicated to the city in the king’s diagramma referred to at various points in the text. (Cf. SEG 41.383.) [— King Alex]ander [ — ] the diagramma; (it) is to be written as the city has corrected (it) according to the objections raised in the diagramma. The exiles who return are to receive the property on their father’s side, which was theirs when they went into exile; and as many women as, not having been given in marriage, held property and did not in fact have broth- ers (are to receive) the property on the mother’s side. And if it should happen, in the case of a woman given in marriage, that her brother and his line be extinct, then she shall have the property on the mother’s side, and it shall not go to a more distant relation.
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