Interstate Arbitrations in Hellenistic Messenia A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences by Simone Agrimonti M.A., Università di Bologna, October 2013 B.A., Università degli Studi di Genova, July 2011 Committee Chair: Peter van Minnen, Ph.D. i ABSTRACT This dissertation explores inscriptions recording interstate arbitrations that involved Messenian polities during the Hellenistic period. We can define interstate arbitrations as a legal and diplomatic tool, in which a third party—either an individual or a community—adjudicates a conflict between two polities by passing a binding verdict after a trial. While previous scholars have compiled corpora of arbitrations and studied only their legal characteristics, I address the full range of diverse messages these documents conveyed, and their broader function for the civic community of the polis. Through close examination of a small corpus of inscribed arbitrations, I show that through these documents Greek poleis conveyed a range of messages and achieved many goals. First, I argue that inscriptions recording interstate arbitrations helped Hellenistic poleis define the relationship between communities and civic elites in terms of mutual benefits. Cities were able to channel the ambition of prominent individuals, which if left unchecked could represent a threat to the democratic institutions of the polis, by encouraging them to participate in the arbitral process. Poleis thus gained access to their influence and expertise, which could be decisive in court. Second, I study the various narratives that poleis constructed within these documents. Some narratives gave emphasis to specific elements of the arbitration and reinforced the importance of one’s victory, while others allowed a polis to put forward a specific representation of itself and to make claims about its civic and ethnic identity. For Messene, this was part of a broader project of self-definition that lasted throughout the Hellenistic period. ii Third, I argue that, thanks to their intrinsic connection with interstate parity, arbitrations stressed parity between poleis. Through inscriptions recording arbitrations, a city thus advertised its status as a self-governing community and its belonging to the network of Hellenistic poleis. Finally, arbitrations help explain how Greek communities reacted to Roman expansion throughout the 2nd century BCE. Inscriptions from Messenia attest that Greeks often had Rome act as an arbiter, thus placing Rome into the network of Hellenistic diplomacy and normalizing Roman political presence. Moreover, by participating in arbitrations Rome implicitly submitted to the dynamics of parity that permeated arbitrations, allowing Greek poleis to deal with the Republic on a level of formal parity. This project argues that inscriptions recording arbitrations conveyed a broad spectrum of ideas, which fundamentally impacted the relations of the poleis with their own citizens and with the polities that surrounded them. The words and ideas we see expressed in these inscriptions had a real impact on the life of the city, as they helped the polis advertise its autonomy, better define its identity, and deal with powerful neighbors. The practices and communication strategies that we see at work in inscriptions recording arbitrations were part of the larger process of adaptation through which Greek poleis were able to survive throughout the Hellenistic period. iii iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Even though completing a dissertation during a pandemic may sound like a solitary process, I was able to rely, every step of the way, on the help and support of many people. First and foremost, the members of my committee. I thank my advisor Peter van Minnen for the valuable advice, the learned suggestions, and his constant guidance in this long project. My second reader, Marion Kruse, has been instrumental with his insightful feedback and helped significantly improve each draft. Towards the end of the project, I was lucky enough to rely on two experts in ancient Messenia. Jack Davis especially contributed with his knowledge of the region and its topography. I am also grateful to him for letting me participate in the excavations at Pylos, which gave me a chance to know Messenia beyond books. I am honored to have had Nino Luraghi as external reader of this dissertation. I thank the American School of Classical Studies in Athens for the amazing experience of the Summer Session and the Regular Program, and the people with whom I shared those great moments. The staff of the School also helped secure study permits for several inscriptions, which I was able to see in person during a trip that was generously funded by the G. Cohen Travel Award. A special thanks goes to Sylvian Fachard, an amazing guide throughout Greece. During all these years, the Department of Classics has been a wonderful place to work, learn, and grow as a scholar. I thank all the Classics faculty, as I learned something from each one of them. Additionally, I owe much to former faculty members Duncan MacRae, for convincing me to come to Cincinnati and teaching me a lot about history, and Lauren Ginsberg, for all her pedagogical and professional advice. My gratitude also goes to the people in the Blegen building. The staff of the John Miller Burnam Library, in particular Mike Braunlin and Shannan Stewart, were of constant help, always v ready to go the extra mile to support my research. John Wallrodt, Joe Katenkamp, Lindsay Taylor, and Emilie Pierce helped in a thousand ways. Still, I would have never made it without the support of the many friends I made in the Department. I first thank my buddies, Mohammed Bhatti, Mitch Brown, and CJ Miller, as I cannot image graduate school without them. Also, thank you to their wives Laura, Sabrina, and Amber for putting up with us. Sarah Beal, Alice Crowe, and Charles Sturge were there from the very beginning and made Cincinnati feel like home. Taylor Coughlan and Kyle Helms were always of support and gave me great advice. I spent many happy moments, in Cincinnati and in Greece, with Jeff Banks, Anna Belza, Efi Tsiolaki, and Valia Tsikritea. Thank you to Haley Bertram, Maura Brennan, and Sarah Wenner for their friendship and for many thoughtful conversations, and to Allie Pohler for all the good talks. Finally, I thank Carina Moss for countless chats, over lunch and coffee, about our respective dissertations and much more. Outside of Blegen, I was also lucky enough to count on the friendship of many people, too many to mention here. I just single out two groups, the Hodgepodge Hedgehogs and the Quaranteam, for countless fun hours together. Last but not least, a special thanks to Chris Motz and Ploy Keener, who have been like a second family to me. I finish by mentioning those who supported me from home. My Italian friends were always ready to welcome me back as if I had never left. However, I owe my greatest debt to my family. To my brother, for always believing in me, and to my parents. I would not be here without their constant love and unwavering support, in my studies and in my life. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Charts ............................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. xiii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xiv Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The arbitrations of Messenia ................................................................................................... 2 1.A. Presenting the Evidence .............................................................................................. 2 1.A.i. Why Arbitrations? ......................................................................................... 2 1.A.ii. Why Messenia? ............................................................................................ 3 1.A.iii. Definitions and Criteria for Evidence ......................................................... 6 1.B. Previous Scholarship on Arbitrations .......................................................................... 9 2. The History of Messenia and its Arbitrations ....................................................................... 13 2.A. The Foundation of Messene ...................................................................................... 13 2.B. Expansion and Regional Control ............................................................................... 18 2.C. Independent Hellenistic Messenia