• Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities



Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities
Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities
Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities
Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities

The “Cretan Polis” ➔ Inscribed stone stele with treaty between Eumenes II and 30 Cretan cities

Ε85Α, Β
Stone (Poros stone)
Two joining, unmended fragments with much chipping and flaking. Incomplete on left side, with missing text between fragments and on lower part.
a) Height: 28.8 cm. Width: 77.5-78 cm. Thickness: 8.5-9.5 cm. b) Height: 16-41 cm. Width: 62 cm. Thickness: 12-13 cm. Height of letters: 1-2 cm.
Gortyn
Temple of Pythian Apollo
Hellenistic period:
183 BC:
Gallery:
XXII
Exhibition thematic unit:
Classical - Hellenistic - Roman period (5th c. BC-4th c. AD). The Cemeteries
Inscriptions of the Classical and Roman periods
Description
Two joining, unmended fragments of a stele recording a treaty of “friendship and alliance” between King Eumenes II of Pergamon (197-159 BC) and thirty Cretan cities (a thirty-first was erased) forming a large part of the loose league of the Cretan Koinon. Dated to 183 BC. Α.1 ἀγαθῆι τύχηι. ἐπὶ τοῖσδε συνέθεντο τὴμ φιλίαν καὶ συμα- χίαν ἑαυτοῖς τε καὶ ἐκγόνοις εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον βασι- λεὺς Εὐμένης καὶ Κρηταιέων Γορτύνιοι, Κνώσιοι, Φαίστιοι, Λύττιοι, Ῥαύκιοι, Ἱεραπύτνιοι, Ἐλευθερναῖοι, Ἀπταραῖοι, Πολυρ- 5 ρήνιοι, Συβρίτιοι, Λαππαῖοι, Ἄξιοι, Πριανσιέες, Ἀλλαριῶται, Ἀρ- [κ]άδες, Κεραῗται, Πραίσιοι, Λάτιοι, Βιάννιοι, Μαλλαῖοι, Ἐρώνιοι, Χερ- [σ]ονάσιοι, Ἀπολλωνιᾶται, Ἐλύριοι, Ὑρτακίνιοι, Ἐλτυναιεῖς, Ἀνω- [πο]λῖται, Ἠραδήννιοι, Ἰστρώνιοι, Ταρραῖοι, [....]ι̣ο̣ι̣, ὡς μὲν [βα]σιλεὺς Εὐμένης ἄγει, ἔτους τετάρτου καὶ δεκάτου, μηνὸς 10 [Π]ανήμου, ὡς δὲ Κρηταεῖς κοσμούν<των> ἐν Γόρτυνι τῶν σὺν Σα- Β.11 [— — — — — —]ενα [ὅσα] βασιλεὺ̣ς Εὐμέν̣ης ὡμολόγησεν· καὶ [ἂν χρείαν] ἔχωσι π̣[ρὸ]ς τοὺς συνισταμένους πολέμους [ἢ συμμάχ]ων ἢ σίτου ἢ ὅπλ[ω]<ν> ἢ βελῶ[ν], συναντιλήψεσθαι [τούτων χἰ]ππεῖς ἀποστέλλειν οἷς τ[ὰ ὀ]ψώνια δώσειν [ὅ]σον 15 [ἂν χρόνον] τὴγ χρείαν παρέχωντα[ι]· τῶν δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν βοήθε̣[ι]- [αν συλλεγ]ομένων οἱ μὲν θέλοντες πρὸς βασιλέα Εὐμέ- [νη καὶ ἐκ]γόνους αὐτοῦ ὑπήκοοι ἔστωσαν τούτων καθ’ ὁ- [μολογίαν ὡς ἂ]ν οὗτοι π̣[ρο]στά[ξωσι]ν, οἱ δ’ εἰς Κρήτην τῶν ἡγου- [μένων τῶν Κρητα]ιέων· ὅσοι δ’ [ἂν ἀ]πειθῶσι τῶμ παραγ- 20 [γελλομένων ὑπὸ] β̣α̣σιλέ[ως Εὐμένους] κ̣[αὶ] τῶν ἐκγόνων [καὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων τῶν Κρηταιέων, ἀπο]τινέτωσαν [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]ε[ι]ς τῆς βοηθείας [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — δραχμ]ὰς̣ τριακοσί- [ας — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]θω 25 [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — ἀ]πολυθῶσι [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — βοη]θεια [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —] Free translation: With the aid of Good Fortune. On these terms a treaty of friendship and alliance was concluded for themselves and their descendants for all time, by King Eumenes and the members of the Cretan Koinon, the Gortynians, Knossians, Phaistians, Lyttians, Rhaukians, Hierapytnians, Eleuthernaians, Aptaraians, Polyrrhenians, Sybritians, Lappaians, Axians, Priansians, Allariotes, Arcades, Keraïtes, Praisians, Latians, Biannians, Mallaians, Eranians, Chersonesians, Apolloniates, Elyrians, Hyrtakinians, Eltynaians, Anopolitans, Aradennians, Istronians, Tarrhaians and … [erased]; when King Eumenes was in the fourteenth year of his reign, in the month of Panemos, and when Syn [...] and others served as kosmoi of the Cretan Koinon at Gortyn … whatever King Eumenes agreed: if in case of war [the Cretan cities] have need of allied troops or wheat or arms or arrows, he will support them by sending cavalrymen and the necessary supplies for as long as they shall need them. And those who are assembled and go to assist King Eumenes and his descendants shall obey him in everything he commands, and similarly those [the cavalrymen] who come to Crete shall obey the leaders of the Cretans. And any who disobey the orders of King Eumenes and his descendants, and similarly those of the leaders of the Cretans, shall pay [the amount of] …
Bibliography:
Inscriptiones Creticae IV, 179-180 (3rd fragment). Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 16:534 S. Kreuter, Aussenbeziehungen kretischer Gemeinden zu den hellenistischen Staaten im 3. und 2. Jh. v. Chr. (Münchener Arbeiten zur Alten Geschichte Band 6), München 1992, 99-105.
Author:
K. S.


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