Unwelcome Dedications: Public Law and Private Religion in Hellenistic Laodicea by the Sea By Joshua D Sosin

https://www.academia.edu/106388183/Unwelcome_Dedications_Public_Law_and_Private_Religion_in_Hellenistic_Laodicea_by_the_Sea The Seleucid Laodicea by the Sea has left us but one Hellenistic public decree (IGLS IV 1261). 1 To the extent that scholars have paid close attention to this text it has been to support the argument that Seleucid kings ruled with a heavy hand, operating in concert with entrenched oligarchs and micro-managing through personal appointees. 2 The decree was passed by the peliga˜nev, a council of elders and an institutional transplant from Macedonia; 3 the proposal was moved by the eÒ pistá thv, perhaps another old Macedonian office, 4 and the magistrates (2-3). 5 Thus, the inscription reminds us that Hellenistic cities were administered by powerful men who may have had the ear of the king. No news here. 6 But the decree's focus is neither kings nor power politics. This was a local matter, involving a tangled mess of property rights, religious imperatives, fiscal policy, and legislative problem-solving, a neat piece of local history: 7 Ø Etouv hlr 0 , mhno`v Au Ò dnai´ou l 0 , Ò Asklhpia´dou eÒ pista´tou kaì aÒ rco´ntwn gnẃ mh. eÒ peì Ö˜Wrov kaì Ò Apollo´dwrov kaì Ò Antí ocov, oiÖ i Ö ereĩ v tou˜Sará pidov 4 * I am grateful to Kent Rigsby, Edward Harris, and Robert Parker for their thoughtful criticism of an earlier draft of this paper. ...