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The Milyas and the Attalids: a Decree of the City of Olbasa and a New Royal Letter of the Second Century B.C.*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

R. A. Kearsley
R. A. Kearsley
Affiliation:
Macquarie University
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Extract

The site of Olbasa was first identified by the discovery of two Latin imperial inscriptions near the modern village of Belenli in 1842 and even today the surviving evidence from Olbasa (including as it does both texts and coins) still belongs chiefly to the imperial period. Olbasa's prominence then stemmed from the fact that it was “refounded” by Augustus as a military colony. Very little has been pieced together of the history and development of the city prior to the arrival of the Romans and the present inscription, therefore, represents a large advance on our knowledge of Olbasa in the Hellenistic period as well as contributing to our understanding of developments in the region at large.

Modern research on the area of south-western Asia Minor now known as Lycia and Pisidia has been greatly assisted by the work of George Bean and Alan Hall both of whom published major articles containing topographical discussions and many previously unknown inscriptions. The Pisidian Survey Project led by Stephen Mitchell has also contributed greatly to our historical understanding of the region in both the Hellenistic and Roman periods by the archaeological studies conducted at the cities of Antioch by Pisidia, Sagalassos, Cremna and Ariassos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 44 , December 1994 , pp. 47 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1994

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References

1 Ruge, W., “Olbasa”, PW XVII, 2 (1937) 2397–9Google Scholar; Levick, , Roman Colonies, 33, 156–9Google Scholar.

2 See, for example the observations on the historical significance of this inscription made by Hall, “Milyadeis”, 147–8 in his article devoted to the Milyas.

3 Bean, “Pisidia I”, and “Pisidia II”; Hall “Milyadeis” and Hall/Coulton, ”Balboura”.

4 Reports have been included regularly in Anatolian Studies since 1983 by Mitchell and others. The most recent archaeological and historical synthesis of this work is Mitchell's “Hellenismus in Pisidien”. (A slightly earlier English version appeared as ”The Hellenization of Pisidia” MeditArch 4 [1991], 119–45.Google Scholar)

5 See, for example, Horsley, G. H. R., “The Inscriptions from the So-Called ‘Library’ at Cremna”, AS 37 (1987), 49–80Google Scholar; id., “Two New Milestones from Pisidia”, AS 39 (1989), 79–94.

6 Reported by French, D. H., “The Year's Work” AS 29 (1979), 6Google Scholar. Hall, , ”Milyadeis”, 147 n. 39Google Scholar refers to plans for publication but no manuscript has been found since his unexpected death in 1986.

7 Inv. 100.40.78.

8 The commencement of this project was announced in Horsley, G. H. R., “The Mysteries of Artemis Ephesia in Pisidia: A New Inscribed Relief”, AS 42 (1992), 120–50Google Scholar. My thanks are due to the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara for financial assistance towards my visit to Burdur in 1988 and to the General Directorate for Monuments and Museums for permission to publish the results of my work in Burdur Museum and to the Director, Mr. Selçuk and the Museum staff for their assistance during my visit there; to Dr. David French, Director of the British Archaeological Institute at Ankara for copies of Dr. Hall's papers relating to this text; and also to Dr. Horsley for making available to me his copy of the inscription and the notes which he made in Burdur in 1987.

9 Because the profile of the stele is not tapered no estimate of the quantity of text lost can be made on the basis of the stone itself.

10 For the historical geography of the Milyas see Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 142–52Google Scholar; Magie, , Roman Rule, II.761–2Google Scholar.

11 Mitchell, , “Hellenismus in Pisidien”, 1–3Google Scholar; Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 151–2Google Scholar.

12 Hall, /Coulton, , “Balboura”, 149–50Google Scholar. Pisidian activity of this period can be traced at Kibyra and at Oenoanda in Lycia (Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 152Google Scholar). The name Pisdes and the ethnic Μιλλυευς in an inscription from Balboura indicate the presence of the Pisidians and Milyadeis there also (Hall/Coulton, ibid., 150–2).

13 Coulton, J. J., “Termessians at Oinoanda”, AS 32 (1982), 126–31Google Scholar; Hall, /Coulton, , ”Balboura”, 133–5Google Scholar.

14 Hall, /Coulton, , “Balboura”, 151–2Google Scholar.

15 Arrian, , Anab., 1.24.6Google Scholar; Livy 38.15.7–11; Strabo 12.7.3, C571. See also Mitchell, , “Hellenisimus in Pisidien”, 3–5Google Scholar.

16 Polyb. 32.8.3; Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 62–3Google Scholar; McShane, R. B., The Foreign Policy of the Attalids of Pergamon (Urbana 1964), 193Google Scholar. Hansen, E., The Attalids of Pergamon (second ed., New York, 1971) 140–1Google Scholar believes this Attalid activity in Pisidia falls at the beginning of the reign of Attalos III in 138 B.C. but cf. Hopp, ibid., 71–3 n. 80, 74; Levick, , Roman Colonies, 19Google Scholar; Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 102Google Scholar.

17 This territory included the Milyas (Polyb. 21.45.10); Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 147Google Scholar.

18 Trogus, Pompeius, Prol. 34Google Scholar. The reading of Year 1 of Attalos seems certain despite the unusual lay-out of the date formula. Only exceptionally (e.g. Welles, Royal Correspondence, no. 55) is the letter representing the smaller number placed first in the dating formula of the royal correspondence and use of the name of a month without a day-date is also uncommon (ibid., 95). Despite the existence of the AK cistophori of Attalos II (Kleiner, F. S., “The Dated Cistophori of Ephesus”, ANSMusN 18 [1972], 17–72Google Scholar) numismatic practice cannot be said to offer support for dating the Olbasa royal letter to Year 21 of Attalos because of the inconsistency with which the die-cutters placed the letters used for dating, both within this issue in particular and also more generally. Wells' observations (ibid., liv) on the use of space to punctuate the text of royal letters is likely to be of greater relevance as an indication that the alpha should indeed be read separately from the kappa and that it alone indicates the year-date even though the Olbasa letter remains distinctive in that the day-date precedes rather than follows the name of the month.

19 On Pergamon and Galatia: McShane, ibid., 183–4 and Welles, Royal Correspondence, 241–51 nos. 55–61; Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 83Google Scholar; Hopp, , Geschichte der letzten Attaliden, 70–1Google Scholar.

20 Welles, ibid., 237–9 no. 54. A date of c. 160 B.C. for this letter is based on a reference to the Galatian War of 168–66 B.C. and an estimate of the years taken for Amlada to have convincingly demonstrated its loyalty to Pergamon subsequently (ibid., 239).

21 Prol. 34; Habicht, C., “Prusias II”, PW XXIII, 1 (1957), 1116–19Google Scholar.

22 Magie, , Roman Rule, II.775Google Scholar; Hopp, , Geschichte der letzten Attaliden, 74Google Scholar. Pompeius Trogus remarks in Prol. 34 that there had also been trouble between Eumenes II and Selge, and Polyb. 31.1.3 records that in 164 B.C. Selge had joined with the Galatians and Prusias II of Bithynia in an embassy to Rome to complain about Pergamon. Hence Strabo's comment (12.7.3, C571) that Selge was always contending with the kings probably applied to Eumenes II and his successor Attalos.

23 Termessos, : TAM III, 1.4, 9Google Scholar; Magie, , Roman Rule, II.1136–7Google Scholar. It is possible that Attalos' activity can be traced at Oenoanda also (Magic, ibid., II.1159). The traditional enmity between Termessos and Selge (Arrian, , Anab. 1.28.1Google Scholar) may have been influential in the position adopted by Termessos in relation to the Pergamene king.

24 Strabo 14.4.1, C667; Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 81–3Google Scholar; Hopp, , Geschichte der letzten Attaliden, 103–4Google Scholar. Mitchell, , “Hellenismus in Pisidien”, 24–5Google Scholar emphasizes the impetus for architectural development in the relatively peaceful circumstances which Attalid control of the Pisidian region provided.

25 From the wording (l. 25) of Attalos' letter to Olbasa it is clear that the city's decree honouring Aristarchos was inscribed separately.

26 Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 107Google Scholar.

27 SEG II.663Google Scholar: ”when the citizens were in severe hardship as a result of the war he provided at his own expense oxen and other animals for the public sacrifices and having notified the King he provided corn for sowing and for sustenance …” (text and translation together with date in Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 88–90Google Scholar).

28 OGIS II.483.57Google Scholar with discussion in Allen, , The Attalid Kingdom, 170–2Google Scholar.

29 Bengtson, , Die Strategie, 240–4Google Scholar.

30 See for example, Diodorus Siculus 35.3 where the term πόλεων τεταγμένοι is used and OGIS I.329Google Scholar (period of Attalos I from Aegina) for epistates. The ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως is most probably also attested at Tyana in Cappadocia in I B.C. (Rott, H., Kleinasiatische Denkmäler aus Pisidien, Pamphylien, Kappadokien und Lykien [Leipzig 1908], 370 no. 785Google Scholar. Cf. Magie, , Roman Rule, II.1352)Google Scholar.

31 Cf. Welles, , Royal Correspondence, no. 74, ll. 2–4Google Scholar; Schwertheim, op.cit. (commentary on l. 14 above), ll. 2–7.

32 His patronymic, Patroklos, may betray an aristocratic lineage. See Hall, /Coulton, , ”Balboura” 139Google Scholar for the association of epic/heroic names with civic elites.

33 Atkinson, K. M. T., “The Seleucids and the Greek Cities of Western Asia Minor”, Antichthon 2 (1968), 34–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Cf. also Welles, Royal Correspondence, nos.10–13.

34 See especially the stele in Isparta Museum from Sofular in north eastern Pisidia (Brixhe, C., Drew-Bear, T. and Kaya, D., “Nouveaux monuments de Pisidie”, Kadmos 26 [1987], no. 32, pl. XV, 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar). Cf. also Möbius, E. Pfühl/H., Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs (Mainz, 1977) nos. 1402 (Late Hellenistic date)Google Scholar; 1653 (imperial), and also the index where there are some thirty entries recording eagles on tombstones. At Aezani in the imperial period the eagle was the most frequent subject on gravestones for males and use of the eagle in such a context is also attested in Syria and Commagene (Levick, B., Mitchell, S., Potter, J. and Waelkens, M. (edd.), Monuments from the Aezanitis, MAMA IX, [JRS Monograph 4, 1988], xlix)Google Scholar. For stelai of similar shape to that from Olbasa see Fraser, P. M., Rhodian Funerary Monuments (Oxford 1977), figs. 19, 21–2, 113Google Scholar.

35 Cf. Schwertheim, E., “Ein postumer Ehrenbeschluss für Apollonis in Kyzikos”, ZPE 29 [1978], 213–28Google Scholar; Herrmann, P., “Ehrendekret von Iulia Gordos”, AAWW 111 (1974), 438–44Google Scholar; Pallas, D. et al. , “Inscriptions lyciennes trouvées à Solômos près de Corinthe”, BCH 83 (1959), 499Google Scholar, ll. 60–9 and also 506.

36 For another example of a mixed family, see Brixhe, C./Gibson, E. “Monuments from Pisidia in the Rahmi Koç Collection”, Kadmos 21 (1982), 158–9, nr. 11CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This appears to be an unusual situation in the countryside of Pisidia however, where local names generally prevail (C. Brixhe/E. Gibson, ibid., 144–5; Mitchell, , “Hellenismus in Pisidien”, 26Google Scholar). On problems associated with the study of heterogeneous populations in the Hellenistic period see Briant, P., “Colonisation hellénistique et populations indigènes: la phase d'installation” Klio 60 (1978), 57–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar and especially id., ”Colonisation hellénistique et populations indigènes II”, Klio 64 (1982), 83–98.

37 Amlada: Welles, , Royal Correspondence, 238–9Google Scholar; Bean, , “Pisidia II”, 61Google Scholar. Balboura: Hall, /Coulton, , “Balboura”, 123Google Scholar.

38 Bean, , “Pisidia II”, 58–60Google Scholar; Hall, /Coulton, , “Balboura”, 152Google Scholar.

39 For discussion of the Pogla inscription see Bean, , “Pisidia II”, 55–60Google Scholar; Hall, , ”Milyadeis”, 146 n. 31Google Scholar. Cicero's, reference (Verr. I.95)Google Scholar about 80 B.C. to the commune Milyadum has often been thought to indicate that the Milyas cannot have been urbanized but this is disputed by Bean, (“Pisidia II”, 61)Google Scholar.

40 Zgusta, L., Kleinasiatische Ortesnamen (Heidelberg 1984), 435Google Scholar.

41 Magie, , Roman Rule, 1.264–5Google Scholar. As fortified sites Olbasa and Pogla stand out beside neighbouring settlements which lay in unprotected positions and which must have been very vulnerable for that reason (Bean, , “Pisidia II”, 61)Google Scholar.

42 Levick, , Roman Colonies, 33Google Scholar.

43 Levick, , Roman Colonies, 48–50Google Scholar.

44 Mitchell, , “Hellenismus in Pisidien”, 21Google Scholar. At Balboura urbanization also appears to have occurred under Pisidian influence before Hellenic influence is apparent (Hall, /Coulton, , “Balboura”, 148–9Google Scholar).

45 Bean, , “Pisidia I”, 98Google Scholar.

46 See Welles, , Royal Correspondence, 186–8 no. 45Google Scholar which demonstrates the existence of democratic constitutions in the Greek cities under the Seleucids also.

47 Magie, , Roman Rule, I.10Google Scholar; Cohen, G., Seleucid Colonies (Wiesbaden 1978), 14–19Google Scholar; Levick, , Roman Colonies, 17–18Google Scholar.

48 Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 137–9, 153–4Google Scholar. The text was a dedication to Rome and Augustus from the Milyadeis, the Romans living among them and the Thracians settled among them (Θρᾶκες οἱ κατοικοῦντες παρ᾽ αὐ[τ]οῖς). A second, as yet unpublished royal letter, possibly of the second century B.C. or earlier (reported by Hall, A., “The Year's Work”, AS 36 [1986], 11Google Scholar) may also point to the settlement of Greeks in the area. My thanks are due to Dr. N. P. Milner for making a copy of this text available to me while this paper was in preparation.

49 Cf. the comments of Bagnall, R. S., The Administration of Ptolemaic Possessions outside Egypt [Leiden 1976], 110–14Google Scholar.

50 Arrian, , Anab. 1.24.5Google Scholar. See the discussion of Alexander's movements in the Milyas in Hall, , “Milyadeis”, 143–5Google Scholar.

51 Mitchell, , “Hellenismus in Pisidien”, 23–4Google Scholar.

52 A Hellenistic ostotheca decorated with a Macedonian shield at Sagalassos indicates Greek colonists were settled in that area also (Mitchell, S., Owens, E. and Waelkens, M., “Ariassos and Sagalassos 1988”, AS 39 [1989], 67)Google Scholar.