INTRODUCTION Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly

INTRODUCTION

Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly, examines the state religion of the Thessalian League, ca. –. These were decades of political transfor- mation and economic prosperity, and there is a perceptible effusion of cult activity throughout the region. State cults received special emphasis and I will argue that they played a central role in the successful development of a regional political identity that was vital for the Thessalian League during these years of territorial expansion and consolidation. There is, for example, considerable evidence for the adoption of acom- mon Thessalian calendar by new members of the League, for the estab- lishment of new regional festivals (e.g., the Eleutheria at Larisa), and for the elaboration or reorganization of older cults (e.g., that of Athena Itonia at Philia). I will also demonstrate, however, that older religious traditions of member ethne continued to be maintained in these newly ‘Thessalian’ territories that in some cases assumed new significance by encouraging the persistence of a local, cultic identity beside a regional, political ideal. In Chapter One, ‘Histories’,I introduce the fundamental issues of political geography and cultural identity in ancient Thessaly. In the Archaic period, the two central plains of Thessaly were divided into four districts (tetrads) for administrative purposes. Tetradic Thessaly was inhabited by Thessaloi who may have exercised some form of hegemony in the Archaic and Classical period over the neighboring territories (often described as perioikoi in modern scholarship) of Perrhaibia, Magnesia, and Achaia Phthiotis. The residents of the latter were regarded as politically and cul- turally distinct from the Thessaloi. Some such relationship may also have with the ethne of the Spercheios valley further to the south (Malis, Ainis, Oitaia, Dolopia). From this foundation, the chapter traces the local histories of these regions beginning with the Archaic and Classical periods of Thessalian ascendency and concluding with the formal incorporation of the Thessalian League into the Roman province of Achaia in . Spe- cial emphasis falls on politics and society from , when T. Quinctius Flamininus reorganized the Thessalian League at the end of the Second Macedonian War, to . These  years witnessed the independence and sovereignty of many territories previously subordinate to Thessaly in the Archaic and Classical period and their subsequent incorporation into the Thessalian League.  introduction

Chapter Two, ‘League Sanctuaries’, explores in detail two Thessalian cults—those of Athena Itonia and Zeus Eleutherios—and their relationship to the development of a regional Thessalian identity during the Hel- lenistic era.1 The primary sanctuary of Athena Itonia was located near the modern village of Philia in rural, western Thessaly. Although she had received cult at this site since the early Iron Age, there is no evidence that Athena Itonia was perceived as a central goddess of the Thes- salian state until the second century, when her sanctuary at Philia was reinvigorated after the Flamininan settlement in . The decision to elevate this particular sanctuary at this time seems to have been both strategic and sentimental: It lay near the mythic invasion route of Thes- saloi from southern Epiros and staked a strong claim to territory that in recent decades had been the site of friction among Macedonia, Aitolia, and Athamania. Zeus Eleutherios was, by comparison, a new cult for the region established in Larisa after the renewal of the Thessalian League in . The foundation elevated the prestige of the new capital city of the koinon and deliberately evoked the Hellenic patriotism of the Per- sian Wars. The Thessalians, conspicuous medizers, could here be recast as instrumental in this most recent liberation of Greek territory from for- eign domination. The Eleutheria, a festival with athletic and cultural con- tests, attracted participants from throughout the Greek world. A handful of peculiar equestrian events in the program (e.g., aphippolampas, aphip- podromas) reflect local tradition and may have been open to Thessalians alone. While the ultimate function of Greek calendars was to keep time, such mechanisms could acquire profound ideological significance, espe- cially at times of calendar reform. Such a process of calendar assim- ilation and dissemination throughout the territories of the Thessalian League is traced in Chapter Three, ‘The Thessalian Calendars’. The calendar used by the Thessalian League after its refoundation may have been based on the state calendar of Larisa. The chapter charts the rel- atively swift adoption of this calendar throughout the tetrads and then follows its spread to the former perioikoi as they entered the League. The unmistakable trend is toward greater uniformity. Some regions, like Perrhaibia and Ainis, appear to adopt the league calendar rela- tively soon after their entrance into the League; others, like Malis and

1 For a recent study of the politics of several local sanctuaries in second-century Thessaly (Apollo Kerdoios at Larisa, Athena Polias at Phthiotic Thebes, and Artemis Panachaia at Halos), cf. Freitag .