Manumission in Hellenistic Boeotia: New Considerations on the Chronology of the Inscriptions

Claire Grenet

1 Manumission in Boeotia: The Epigraphic Evidence

Manumission is a phenomenon well-attested in Boeotia through a corpus of 172 inscriptions. For the most part, these inscriptions are individual acts of manu- mission, engraved in order to make known the former slaves’ new status. These manumissions mainly come from the western part of Boeotia. To date, seven Boeotian cities have provided such documents: Chaironeia (125 inscriptions), Lebadeia (6), Orchomenos (14), Koroneia (16), Thespiai (7), Thisbe (4) and Oro- pos (1).1 These documents all belong to the Hellenistic period except for three manumissions from Thisbe, which date to the Roman Imperial period. In Boeotia, slaves were generally freed through consecration. This procedure of manumission is known as early as the fifth century bc in the Greek world.2 It is mainly attested, however, in Central Greece from the Hellenistic period, espe- cially in Boeotia, but also in Delphi, Phocis (Daulis, Hyampolis, Stiris), West Locris (Physkeis), and Euboea (Histiaea), as well as in Epirus and Macedonia.3 It is also attested in all the Boeotian cities mentioned in the first paragraph here, except (a) in Thespiai, where slaves were freed in the presence and under the protection of Asklepios (sometimes along with Apollo) but without being consecrated to them;4 (b) perhaps in Oropos;5 and (c) in Thisbe during the

1 References in Appendix 1. 2 See, e.g., in Laconia: Ducat 1990, pp. 173–194. 3 See Darmezin 1999; see also Mulliez 1992, pp. 31–44 (seven slave-dedications, all made by for- eigners); Rousset 2006, pp. 349–379; Cabanes and Drini 2007; Chrysostomou and Panayotou 1993, passim (BE [1994] nos. 403, 408, 410); Petsas et al. 2000. 4 See Mulliez 2000, pp. 441–442. A Thespian manumission (I.Thespiai 214) indicates that the freedom of the freed slaves will be proclaimed by a herald after the death of the former master. 5 I.Oropos 329. The beginning of the manumission is lost. The freedman Moschos practiced incubation in the Amphiaraion, as he engraved his manumission on the orders of Amphiaraos and Hygieia (ll. 11–15: Μόσχος Μοσχίωνος Ἰουδαῖος | ἐνύπνιον ἰδὼν προστάξαντος τοῦ θεοῦ | Ἀμφιαράου καὶ τῆς Ὑγιείας καθ’ ἃ συνέταξε | ὁ Ἀμφιάραος καὶ ἡ Ὑγίεια ἐν στήληι γράψαντα | ἀναθεῖναι πρὸς τῶι βωμῶι).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi: 10.1163/9789004273856_015 396 grenet

Imperial period, to judge from a manumission which was proclaimed by the civic herald.6 At least in Chaironeia, there were probably two distinct steps in the procedure of manumission, i.e. the manumission proper and the consecra- tion, since two slave-dedications concern freedmen (ἀπελεύθερος).7 In this context consecration means that the slaves were freed and conse- crated by their owner to a civic divinity,8 thus becoming hieroi of this god, a status whose exact obligations remain somewhat unclear in Boeotia.9 In fact, only one Boeotian document, the Lebadeian manumission IG VII 3083, states that the freedman should officiate in sacrifices to the gods to whom he was con- secrated. This isolated clause does not indicate whether this duty was usual or exceptional. Moreover, the ‘title’ hieros only appears in manumission inscrip- tions, so one cannot conclude that it designates a legal status distinct from that of the freedmen.10

2 The Chronology of the Boeotian Manumission Inscriptions: New Developments

The bulk of the corpus of Boeotian manumissions belongs to the Hellenistic period, more precisely to the second century bc. Its maximum span extends

6 Pappadakis 1916, p. 262, no. 1: ἄρχοντος Φιλίππου | Παράμονος Δάμωνος καὶ | Σωτηρὶς Ἀφροδει- σίο(υ) καὶ | Σωτήριχος Παραμόνου | ἠλευθέρωσαν Ἀφροδᾶν ο|ἰκέτην ἀνακηρύσσοντος [Φ]|[α]ρά [δ]ου τοῦ Νικοφάνους. 7 IG VII 3318, ll. 3–7: Ἀγαθοκ|λῆς Κάλλωνος ἀνα|τίθησι τὸν ἴδιον ἀπε|λεύθερον Δᾶον ἱε|ρὸν τῷ Σεράπει (Agathokles son of Kallon consecrates his freed slave Daos as sacred to Serapis); IG VII, 3360, ll. 2–7: Ἀλε|[ξίων] Ἁ[γ]νίαο Λε|[βαδ]ε[ὺ]ς ἀνατίθει|[τι τ]ὰν [ϝ]ιδίαν ἀπε|[λε]ύθερον α[ὐ]τῶ Εὐ[νίκα]|ν ἱερὰν τεῖ Σαράπι. See also IG VII (Darmezin 1999, no. 67) 3381: a woman consecrates a slave with the assistance of those who freed her, [παριόντων]| αὐτῆ τῶν ἀπελευθερωσάντων. On this question, see Darmezin, 1990, pp. 224, 241. 8 The consecration formula ἀνατίθημι ἱερόν (+ name of the divinity, in the genitive or dative case) is the most frequently used formula in Boeotia, although there are some variants. On these formulae, see Darmezin 1999, pp. 180–182. The divinities to whom slaves were consecrated vary from one city to another and within the same city: Artemis Ilithya, Asklepios (and Hygieia, once), Serapis, the Mother of the Gods, and maybe Dionysos in Chaironeia; Asklepios, Sarapis and Isis, the Mother of the Gods in Orchomenos; Zeus Basileus and Trophonios in Lebadeia; Herakles Charops and Serapis in Koroneia; Artemis Ilithya in Thisbe; Apollo and Asklepios as protectors and/or witnesses in Thespiai. 9 See Darmezin 1999, pp. 219–224; Petsas et al. 2000, p. 60. 10 In Chaironeia, several hieroi manumitted their own slaves: IG VII 3315, 3331, 3333, 3335, 3366–3367, 3374, 3377.