The theorodokoi inscription from Nemea (SEG 36, 331) and the date of IG IV, 583


Published: Nov 30, 2017
Keywords:
Cyprus Salamis Nicocreon Argos Ptolemy
Ioannis Xydopoulos
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0843-7496
Abstract

The Argives honored Nicocreon, king of Salamis in Cyprus, by dedicating a statue in the sanctuary of Hera. A well-known epigram (IG IV, 583) was inscribed on the base of the statue, where one could read that Nicocreon, son of Pnytagoras, was king in Cyprus, and that the Argives set up his statue “on account of the bronze which I was sending to the festival of Hera as prizes for the young men”. Although different dates have been suggested for the epigram, scholars have not reached a conclusion. Nicocreon was making donations to the Heraia while he was king, and the language of the epigram, as stated, suggests that he was doing so over a period of several years. Therefore, the date of the inscription should lie between a few years after 332/1 BC, year of Nicocreon’s ascension to the throne, to not long after his death in 311/0 BC. In this paper, an attempt is made to define the political circumstances both in Cyprus and in mainland Greece, to provide persuasive arguments that the epigram should be dated to the year 315 BC.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Amandry, P., “Sur les concours argiens”, in Études argiennes (BCH Suppl. VI, Paris 1980) 211-253.
Anastassiades, A. “The Strategos as High Priest and the Royal Cult in Ptolemaic Cyprus: Some Observations”, in D. Michaelides (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013) 227-234.
Bagnall, R.S., The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions outside Egypt (Leiden 1976).
Baurain, C. “Réflexions sur la ‘Tombe 77’ de Salamine de Chypre”, in H. Hauben and A. Meeus (eds.), The Age of the Successors and the Creation of the Hellenistic Kingdoms (323-276 B.C.) (Studia Hellenistica 53, Leuven 2014) 137-166.
Berve, H., Das Alexanderreich auf prosopographischer Grundlage, Vol. II (Munich 1926).
Billows, R., Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State (Berkeley 1990).
Buraselis, K., Das hellenistische Makedonien und die Ägäis. Forschungen zur Politik des Kassandros und der drei ersten Antigoniden im Ägäischen Meer und in Westkleinasien (Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforchung 73, Munich 1982).
Buraselis, K. “Το πρόβλημα του βασιλικού κενοταφίου της Σαλαμίνας: μία νέα πρόταση”, in D. Michaelides (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013) 293-306.
Christodoulou, P., “Nicocréon, le dernier roi de Salamine de Chypre. Discours idéologique et pouvoir politique”, CCEC 39 (2009) 235-257.
Christou, D. (ed.), Cyprus and the Aegean in Antiquity (Nicosia 1997).
Collombier, A.-M., “La fin des royaumes chypriotes: ruptures et continuités”, Transeuphratène 6 (1993) 119-147.
Destrooper-Georgiades, A., “La participation des Chypriotes aux jeux panhelléniques à l’époque classique: répercussions sur le monnayage de l’île?”, BCEN 41.2 (2004) 37-42.
Errington, R.M., “Diodorus Siculus and the Chronology of the Early Diadochoi, 320-311 B.C. ”, Hermes 105 (1977) 478-504 .
Fourrier, S., “Villages, villes, ethniques: la définition identitaire dans les inscriptions chypriotes”, in S. Fourrier and G. Grivaud (eds.), Identités croisées en milieu méditerranéen: le cas de Chypre, Vol. I (Antiquité - Moyen Âge) (Mont-Saint-Aignan 2006) 101-109.
Fourrier, S., “La réappropriation du passé: Achéens et autochtones à Chypre à l’Âge du Fer”, in S. Müller Celka and J.C. David (eds.), Patrimoines culturels en Méditerranée orientale: recherches scientifiques et enjeux identitaires. 1er atelier (29 novembre 2007): Chypre, une stratigraphie de l’identité (Lyon 2007) 1-7 (electronic publication: http://www.mom.fr/1er-atelier.html).
Fourrier, S. and Grivaud, G. (eds.), Identités croisées en milieu méditerranéen: le cas de Chypre, Vol. I (Antiquité - Moyen Âge) (Mont-Saint-Aignan 2006).
Gesche, H., “Nikokles von Paphos und Nikokreon von Salamis”, Chiron 4 (1974) 103-125.
Gounaropoulou, L. and Hatzopoulos, M.B., Les milliaires de la Voie Egnatienne entre Héraclée des Lyncestes et Thessalonique (Meletemata 1, Athens 1985).
Hallof, K., “Ehreninschrift aus Samos für den Stadtkönig von Paphos”, AM 122 (2007) 263-272.
Hammond, N.G.L., The Macedonian State: The Origins, Institutions, and History (Oxford 1989).
Hammond, N.G.L. and Walbank, F.W., A History of Macedonia, Vol. III: 336-167 B.C. (Oxford 1988).
Hansen, P.A. (ed.), Carmina Epigraphica Graeca: Saeculi IV a. Chr. n., Vol. II (Berlin 1989).
Hatzopoulos, M.B., Macedonian Institutions under the Kings, Vol. I: A Historical and Epigraphic Study (Meletemata 22, Athens 1996).
Hauben, H. and Meeus, A. (eds.), The Age of the Successors and the Creation of the Hellenistic Kingdoms (Studia Hellenistica 53, Leuven 2014).
Heckel, W., The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire (London 1992).
Heckel, W., Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander’s Empire (Oxford 2006).
Helly, B., “Les monnaies”, in V. Karageorghis, Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis II (Salamis 4, Nicosia 1970), 236-268.
Hill, G., A History of Cyprus, Vol. I: To the Conquest by Richard Lion Heart (Cambridge 1940).
Iacovou, M., “Paphos before Palaepaphos: New Approaches to the History of the Paphian Kingdom”, in D. Michaelides (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013) 275-291.
Karageorghis, V., “Μακεδονικά στοιχεία στον ελληνιστικό πολιτισμό της Κύπρου”, PraktAkAth 67 (1992) 704-712.
Kent, J.H., “The Temple Estates of Delos, Rheneia, and Mykonos”, Hesperia 17 (1948) 243-338.
Knoepfler, D., Décrets érétriens de proxénie et de citoyenneté (Eretria. Fouilles et recherches XI, Lausanne 2001).
Kotsidou, H., ΤΙΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΔΟΞΑ. Ehrungen für hellenistische Herrscher im griechischen Mutterland und in Kleinasien unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der archäologischen Denkmäler (Berlin 2000).
Kritzas, C., “Επισκόπηση των επιγραφικών μαρτυριών για σχέσεις Κύπρου και Αργολίδος – Επιδαυρίας”, in D. Christou (ed.), Cyprus and the Aegean in Αntiquity (Nicosia 1997) 313–322.
Kritzas, C., “Κυπρο-Aργολικά”, in D. Michaelides (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013) 213-227.
Ma, J., Statues and Cities: Honorific Portraits and Civic Identity in the Hellenistic World (Oxford 2013).
Maier, F.G., “Cyprus and Phoenicia”, in D.M. Lewis, J. Boardman, S. Hornblower and M. Ostwald (eds.), Cambridge Ancient History Vol. VI : The Fourth Century BC (Cambridge 19942) 297-336.
Markou, E., “Monnaies en or chypriotes à la tête d’Athéna au droit et au taureau ou à l’aigle au revers”, CCEC 36 (2006) 43-54.
Markou, E., L’or des rois de Chypre. Numismatique et histoire à l’époque classique (Meletemata 64, Athens 2011).
Markou, E., “Menelaos, King of Salamis”, in D. Michaelides (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013) 3-8.
Mavrojannis, Τ., “Il Cenotafio di Nicocreon a Salamina di Cipro e la regalità di Demetrio Poliorcete”, in L. Abbondanza, F. Coarelli and E. Lo Sardo (eds.), Apoteosi. Da uomini a dei: Il Mausoleo di Adriano (Rome 2014) 79-92.
Mehl, A., “Zypern und die großen Mächte im Hellenismus”, AncSoc 26 (1995) 93-132.
Mehl, A., “Griechen und Phoiniker im hellenistischen Zypern – ein Nationalitäten-problem? ”, in B. Funck (ed.), Hellenismus. Beiträge zur Erforschung von Akkulturation und politischer Ordnung in den Staaten des hellenistischen Zeitalters (Tübingen 1996) 377-414.
Mehl, Α., “Cypriot City Kingdoms: No problem in the Neo-Assyrian, Late Egyptian and Persian Empires, but Why Were They Abolished under Macedonian Rule?” Annual Review of the Cyprus Research Centre XXX (2004) 9-21.
Mehl, Α., “Ein zyprischer Stadtkönig hilft vertriebenen Samiern bei ihrer Rückkehr in die Heimat”, in R. Einicke, S. Lehmann, H. Löhr, G. Mehnert, A. Mehnert and A. Slawisch (eds.), Zurück zum Gegenstand. Festschrift für Andreas E. Furtwängler (Langenweißbach 2009) 509-514.
Mehl, Α., “Nea Paphos et l’administration ptolémaique de Chypre”, in C. Ballandier (ed.), Nea Paphos. Fondation et développement urbanistique d'une ville chypriote de l'Antiquité à nos joursø: Études archéologiques, historiques et patrimoniales (Mémoires 43, Bordeaux 2016) 249-260.
Michaelides, D. (ed.), Epigraphy, Numismatics, Prosopography and History of Ancient Cyprus. Papers in Honour of Ino Nikolaou (SIMA - PB 179, Uppsala 2013).
Miller, S.G., “The Theorodokoi of the Nemean Games”, Hesperia 57 (1988) 147-163.
Mitsos, M., Πολιτικὴ ἱστορία τοῦ Ἄργους, ἀπὸ τοῦ τέλους τοῦ Πελοποννησιακοῦ Πολέμου μέχρι τοῦ ἔτους 146 π.Χ. (Athens 1945).
Mørkholm, O., “The Alexander Coinage of Nicocles of Paphos”, Chiron 8 (1978) 135-147.
Moretti, L., Iscrizioni storiche ellenistiche, Vol. I: Attica, Peloponneso, Beozia (Florence 1967).
Paschidis, P., “Missing Years in the Biography of Polyperchon (318/7 and 308 BC Onwards)”, Tekmeria 9 (2008) 233-250.
Paschidis, P., Between City and King: Prosopographical Studies on the Intermediaries between the Cities of the Greek Mainland and the Aegean and the Royal Courts in the Hellenistic Period (322-190 BC) (Meletemata 59, Athens 2008).
Perlman, P., City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece. The Theorodokia in the Peloponnese (Hypomnemata 121, Göttingen 2000).
RE II (1895), cols. 967-968, s.v. Aristonous 8 (J. Kaerst).
Reger, G., “Private Property and Private Loans on Independent Delos (314-167 B.C.)”, Phoenix 46 (1992) 322-341.
Satraki, Α., Κύπριοι βασιλείς. Από τον Κόσμασο μέχρι το Νικοκρέοντα (Athens 2012).
Spyridakis, Κ., Κύπριοι βασιλεῖς τοῦ 4ου αἰ. π.Χ. (411-311/0 π.Χ.) (Nicosia 1963).
Stylianou, P.J., The Age of the Kingdoms. A Political History of Cyprus in the Archaic and Classical Periods (Meletai kai Hypomnemata II, Nicosia 1989).
Tataki, A., Macedonians Abroad. A Contribution to the Prosopography of Ancient Macedonia (Meletemata 26, Athens 1998).
Tod, M.N., A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions, Vol. II (Oxford 1948).
Tomlinson, R.A., Argos and the Argolid. From the End of the Bronze Age to the Roman Occupation (London 1972).
Tréheux, J., “Les dernières années de Délos sous le protectorat des Amphictions”, in Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire offerts à Charles Picard à l’occasion de son 65e anniversaire, Vol. 2 (Paris 1949) 1008-1032.
Wallace, S., “Defending the Freedom of the Greeks: Antigonos, Telesphoros, and the Olympic Games of 312 B.C.”, Phoenix 68 (2014) 235-246.
Xydopoulos, I.K., Κοινωνικές και πολιτιστικές σχέσεις των Μακεδόνων και των άλλων Ελλήνων (Thessaloniki 20062).