Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period
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Michael J. Osborne
Abstract
It has become fashionable to characterize the Athenians as hostile to the integration of foreigners prior to the middle of the first century BCE, firstly because grants of citizenship by decree remained available only for very significant benefactors and secondly because ephebic service did not provide a pathway to citizenship. Both of these claims are debatable. In the case of grants of citizenship a major change in formulation and procedure was effected in or soon after 229, whereby recipients were no longer made Athenians but given citizenship, and the longstanding requirement of a second vote in the Assembly was supplanted by a dokimasia in a lawcourt. With some modifications in form rather than in substance these new provisions remained in place until the 130s. In practice grants of citizenship fall into two distinct categories - on the one hand essentially honorific grants to significant benefactors, on the other hand grants to petitioners who intended to implement them. With the exception of a few petitions for the re-affirmation of grants which had not been activated, inscribed decrees are for persons in the first category until (at latest) the mid 130s, when an instance of a petition, which is not for a re-affirmation, is attested. Thereafter numerous foreigners are evidenced as Athenian citizens, surely from the petitioner category. Unsurprisingly, as the foreign residents increased in numbers after 167, grants of enktesis in response to petitions also became more common. In the case of the ephebate, foreign members are attested by 123 and, given the nature of the training program, it is likely that such service provided a pathway, but not a ticket for automatic entry, to citizenship. The claim that no such connection can be entertained because none of the 109 foreigners known to have served as ephebes in the last years of the second century can be identified as citizens later is not supported by the available evidence.
Abstract
It has become fashionable to characterize the Athenians as hostile to the integration of foreigners prior to the middle of the first century BCE, firstly because grants of citizenship by decree remained available only for very significant benefactors and secondly because ephebic service did not provide a pathway to citizenship. Both of these claims are debatable. In the case of grants of citizenship a major change in formulation and procedure was effected in or soon after 229, whereby recipients were no longer made Athenians but given citizenship, and the longstanding requirement of a second vote in the Assembly was supplanted by a dokimasia in a lawcourt. With some modifications in form rather than in substance these new provisions remained in place until the 130s. In practice grants of citizenship fall into two distinct categories - on the one hand essentially honorific grants to significant benefactors, on the other hand grants to petitioners who intended to implement them. With the exception of a few petitions for the re-affirmation of grants which had not been activated, inscribed decrees are for persons in the first category until (at latest) the mid 130s, when an instance of a petition, which is not for a re-affirmation, is attested. Thereafter numerous foreigners are evidenced as Athenian citizens, surely from the petitioner category. Unsurprisingly, as the foreign residents increased in numbers after 167, grants of enktesis in response to petitions also became more common. In the case of the ephebate, foreign members are attested by 123 and, given the nature of the training program, it is likely that such service provided a pathway, but not a ticket for automatic entry, to citizenship. The claim that no such connection can be entertained because none of the 109 foreigners known to have served as ephebes in the last years of the second century can be identified as citizens later is not supported by the available evidence.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
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Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
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Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
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Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
-
Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
-
Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
-
Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
