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Festival networks in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds1 Onno van Nijf & Christina Williamson
1: INTRODUCTION GREEK CITIES IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD -­‐ OLD AND NEW After the classical period, we can speak of a new rise of the Greek city. Old
and new cities found themselves in a new multipolar world, which John Ma
has described in terms of 'peer-polity interaction', drawing attention to the
way these nominally equal cities established and maintained connections
though diplomatic means, and symbolic practices such as kinship
diplomacy.2 Ultimately the entire Mediterranean became an interconnected
single geo-political and cultural system under the domination of Rome. We
could describe this as a form of ancient globalization - the Greeks
themselves used the term ‘Oikoumene’ (the inhabited world).3
Today we want to discuss how this form of globalization interacted with the
world of the agonistic festivals & show that athletic, dramatic and musical
contests became an important mechanism of linking this globalizing world
together.
After a brief introduction to the world of festivals, and our particular take of
Social Network Analysis, we shall focus on a particular case study – that of
Stratonikeia and Lagina, and show how the festivals of Hekate were used to
build this city’s link to the wider PanHellenic world and establish its position
within the region. After this we will present some observations from a wider
perspective on the main agents in this process of networking. To conclude,
we will discuss how festivals were used to build a ‘small world’, through
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individual activity at various regional scales.
Agonistic festivals had always been at the center of Panhellenic
connectivities, esp. the big events at Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea.
1
This is still a draft version. Annotation is not yet up-to-date & we shall probabbly have to
cut for the presentation..
2
J. MA. "Peer Polity Interaction in the hellenistic Age." P&P 180 (2003), 9-40.
3
C.A. BAYLY. "'Archaic' and 'Modern' Globalization in the Eurasian and African Arena. C.
1750-1850." In Globalization in World History, ed. by A.G. HOPKINS (London 2002), 46-73;
O.M.van NIJF. "Global Players: Athletes and Performers in the hellenistic and Roman World."
In Between Cult and Society. The Cosmopolitan Centres of the Ancient Mediterranean as
Setting for Activities of Religious Associations and Religious Communities., ed. by I. NIELSEN
(Augsburg 2006), 225-236.
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From the Hellenistic period onwards the number of festivals increased
dramatically, reaching its acme around the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries
AD. All these festivals were remarkably similar, with a program that hardly
varied between cities. Some of these festivals only had local appeal, but the
more ambitious cities tried to acquire PanHellenic recognition for their
festivals: one such city was Stratonikeia in Caria
2: NETWORK MODELS AND FESTIVALS Network theory has earned its place as a new paradigm in studying the
ancient world (see the slide). Especially Social Network Analysis has found
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inroads into studies of the ancient Mediterranean world.4 Social Network
Analysis focuses on the spread of knowledge and innovation through
individual contacts and is thus concerned with the quantification of nodes
(people) and the evaluation of their ties (relationships), both strong and
weak.5
In this paper we will suggest ways in which Social Network Analysis can help
show how festivals served to connect Greek cities through ties of cult.6 We
will discuss how sanctuaries were in this way exploited by cities to establish
or even expand their own position, particularly through panhellenic festivals.
Stratonikeia and Lagina: a new city networking its way in. New (panhellenic) festivals were a way for cities to raise their profile while
making connections with other Greek cities - each forming the central hub in
an agonistic network. Many of these festival networks operated within a
local, regional and in some cases with an interregional reach.7
One of the best known examples is of course the case of Magnesia on the
Maeander, which was eager to gain panhellenic recognition for the festival of
its tutelary goddess Artemis Leukophryene.8 After a failed attempt in 221 to
4
See Malkin and Constantakopoulou, et al. 2007 and the contributions in Mediterranean
Historical Review 22 (2007).
5
A good explanation of SNA is given by Anne Collar in Collar 2007 and Brughmans 2010;
see also the ‘Small World’ model (based on the widespread phenomenon of mutual
acquaintances) developed by Watts and Strogatz 1998. See further Gould 1993; Wasserman
and Faust 1994; Chwe 2000; and recently Scott and Carrington 2011.
6
7
8
van Nijf forthcoming.
I. RUTHERFORD. "Network Theory and Theoric Networks." MHR 22, no. 1 (2007), 23-37.
K.J. RIGSBY. Asylia. Territorial Inviolability in the hellenistic World. (Berkeley and Los
Angeles 1996).
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be the 'first of the Greeks in Asia' to have their local festivals recognised as
stephanitic by their 'fellow Greeks', the Magnesians made a second and
successful effort in 208. This time they launched an incredible diplomatic
mission, sending envoys to the ends of the Greek world, from Sicily to
present day Iran. The documentation was displayed on a long ‘archive wall'
along the perimeter of the agora. The festival established (or aimed to
establish) Magnesia for a brief period as the centre of a Panhellenic world - a
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central hub in the network of its own making - characterised by common
religious and cultural interests, and a common Greek identity.
This case is particularly well documented, but the Magnesians can stand
proxy for a trend that is widely visible. All evidence suggests that in the
Hellenistic period there was a concerted effort to formalise and extend (and
link) such athletic networks. It is particularly noteworthy that specific
institutions arose that regulated - or tried to regulate - the festive relations,
and that this interaction was to a large extent left to network specialists,
without whom the festivals would not have succeeded. Before we discuss
such specialists, we will first examine a similar phenomenon in one particular
city, Stratonikeia and its sanctuary Lagina.
Stratonikeia & Lagina Stratonikeia was founded by the Seleukid rulers in the first half of the third
century BC – rather than being a colony founded ‘ex nihilo’, epigraphy has
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shown it to be a conglomeration of at least 5 autonomous communities that
were pulled into the orbit of the young polis and incorporated into it as
demes. One of these was Koranza, some 8 km north of the urban center,
which was also home to the sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina. It is this goddess
which the young polis promoted to become its patron deity, she appeared on
the earliest coins and her sanctuary, at the northern end of the territory, was
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built up by the end of the second century BC to become one of the main civic
spaces of the polis. Hekate was thus turned into a patron goddess and a
common focus for the wider hybrid community of Stratonikeia - in this sense
we can already see how Lagina functioned as a critical hub in the local
network of Stratonikeia.
In the first century BC, however, after the Mithridatic wars, Lagina also played
179-279; P. THONEMANN. "Magnesia and the Greeks of Asia (I. Magnesia 16.16)." GRBS 47,
no. 2 (2010), 151-160.
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a critical role in the external political network of Stratonikeia, as the polis
used it to petition Sulla and the senate of Rome for a grant of
asylia (inviolability) for the sanctuary. The grant of asylia was awarded in the
Senatus consultum de Stratonicensibus of 81 BC. This decree also included a
major territorial grant, making the polis the largest in the area, and so this
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territory]
prestigious document was inscribed on the temple walls for all to see
(I.Stratonikeia 505-508). The city further responded to the grant by including
the worship of Thea Roma with Hekate, and initiating a new pan-Hellenic
festival for both - the Hekatesia-Romaia.
Lagina as central node in a network that Stratonikeia created Immediately following the inscription of the Senatus consultum are two
documents, one calling for a list to be inscribed at the sanctuary of the
names of all the ‘cities, kings and rulers’ who acknowledged the asylia of the
sanctuary and participated in the games of the pentaeteria.9 And the next
actually presents the list of cities that responded to the invitation.
The resulting roll-call is an impressive outcome of the manpower invested by
the polis in making this festival known throughout the Greek world.10
Though not strictly arranged, the list begins with cities in Karia, followed by
those from Asia Minor, and then expands to include Delphi, Olympia (Elis),
Athens, Argos in the west to Damascus and Seleukia Pieria along the eastern
fringes of the Greek world.
This list fixes Lagina as a bright central dot on the mental maps of the Greek
world. The pan-Hellenic festivals got much of the Greek world involved in
celebrating the cult of Hekate, while making them acknowledge the political
alliance between Stratonikeia and Rome through the asylia and the inclusion
of Thea Roma. Stratonikeia thus skillfully used the event to achieve ‘global’
recognition not only for the sanctuary but also for the polis itself; the
organization of the festival of the two goddesses ensured a strong network
of allies who were obliged to participate, for reasons of both cult and
9
I.Stratonikeia 507, lines 3-7: “αἴδε ἀπεδέξαντο τῶν πόλεων καὶ βασιλέω[ν] | καὶ
δυναστῶν τήν τε ἀσυλίαν τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ τὸ[ν] | ἀγῶνα τὸν τιθέµενον κατὰ πενταετηρίδα |
Ἑκάτηι Σωτείραι Ἐπιφανεῖ καὶ Ῥώµηι θεᾶι Εὐερ-|γέτιδι.”
10
I.Stratonikeia 508, though incomplete, lists the 57 cities that recognized the asylia of the
sanctuary and participated in the Hekatesia-Romaia. During 1999-2002 several coins were
also found at the site from Alabanda, Bargylia, Rhodes, Ephesos, and Miletos, see Tırpan and
Söğüt 2007b, 394.
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politics.11 The package deal that Stratonikeia created of observance to the
superpower Rome, peer interaction, and the element of inter-polis
competition was apparently an offer that was difficult to refuse. Like
Magnesia, Stratonikeia clearly used Lagina as its formal debut into the global
network of poleis.
Are links enough to constitute a network? But to what extent can we actually see the festival of the Hekatesia-Romaia
as a node in an actual network? In fact, the inscription listing the 57 cities
represents not so much a network as a series of individual 1:1 relationships
between these cities and Lagina (i.e. Stratonikeia). In order to see this as a
full network we would need more evidence of reciprocity, i.e. Stratonikeian
involvement in other festivals, as well as mutual involvement among these
cities. We should, therefore not only focus on the links, but also question
how (and by whom) these links were established and maintained. We should
be on the look-out for ways that knowledge & innovation were shared, and
for the agents (network specialists) who serviced the network.
One inscription from Kos shows the potential: from the later first century BC,
this inscription lists the accomplishments of a highly successful young
athlete, presumably from Kos, who was twice victorious in the ‘Hekatesia in
Stratonikeia’, first in the ‘Isthmian boy’s pentathlon’ and later in the category
‘beardless pentathlon’ (ageneious penthathlon).12 But he participated in
several other festivals as well, earning victories at Metropolis (in the
Kaisarea), Nysa (in the Theogamia), Kolophon (in the Klaria), Halikarnassos
(in the Archegesia, three times), Myndos (in the Apollonieia), and in the
Eleusinian and Kaisarea festivals, which were presumably on Kos itself since
the locations of these festivals is not mentioned.
It is interesting to note in parantheses that this inscription also shows how
11
Laumonier observed a parallel with the intertwinement of local and super-regional
interests in the Amphiareia festival in Oropos, on the border between Boeotia and Attica in
Greece; this festival was also a celebration of Rome within the cult framework of
Amphiaraos, Laumonier 1958, 359; but see also Errington 1987, who shows the worship of
Thea Roma as a sign of gratitude in response to Roman intervention of some kind.
12
Iscrizioni di Cos EV 203 (=Syll.3 1066), lines 9-11: Ἑκατήσια ἐν | Στρατονικήᾳ παῖδας
Ἰσθµικοὺς πέν-|ταθλον, and lines 15-16: Ἑκατήσια ἐν Στρατονικήᾳ | [ἀ]γενείους
πένταθλον· The ‘Isthmian boy’s pentathlon’ and the ‘beardless pentathlon’ are also known
from Iscrizioni di Cos EV 218, another list of athletic victories from Kos from the first
century BC. Complete text in appendix.
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the system may have worked in reality. Stratonikeia may have appealed to
the global community, but the most active part of its network was much
closer to home. Kos was not among the 57 cities who initially recognized the
asylia of Lagina in the early first century BC. But here we find a Koan athlete
taking part in the Hekatesia (in fact it was the only known attestation of their
games outside Stratonikeia) among many other local festivals. It would seem
that Lagina was especially relevant in the regional, rather than global, circles.
So, this inscription from Kos shows that the list of 57 cities may have been a
starting point for the expansion of Stratonikeia’s network, maybe even
primarily served to establish its place on a global map, while validating its
reputation in the first place among its direct peers, i.e communities in the
immediate region.
3: NETWORK AGENTS AT FESTIVALS This case study shows the potential for network analysis at various regional
scales. A full assessment of how effective such networks were, however, can
only be performed using a database of all the athletic festivals and victories.
(which is something we hope to do within the context of a larger project).
This would allow us further examine the role of agency and network
specialists, looking at the ways that they linked various cities together. Their
visibility may be interpreted as a function of the growth and strengthening of
a worldwide athletic network that played a major part in maintaining political
relations between Greek cities and between the Greek cities and the great
centres of power.
For now, we want to zoom in on the level of agency and focus on persons
and institution who helped to link this network together, network specialists:
such as the theoroi, the athletes, and the associations of athletes and other
performers. Their visibility may be interpreted as a function of the growth
and strengthening of athletic networks that played a major part in
maintaining political relations between Greek cities and between the Greek
cities and the great centers of power.
Network specialists THEOROI The first examples of network specialists that we would like to discuss are
the theoroi: the official spectators who were sent out to and from Greek
cities and festival sites to observe and participate in religious celebrations,
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including watching the games.
Theoria can be seen as a sequence of reciprocal acts involving ever-larger
circles of participants. (Long) before a particular edition of a festival was
actually held, organising cities or sanctuary sites sent out envoys to
announce the celebrations (epangelia) and to invite Greek cities to take part.
On their part the cities responded by sending their theoroi as official
spectators, but also to take part in the festivities, conduct ritual acts, or to
accompany the contestants in name of their polis, and of course to announce
their own festivals.13
Theoroi had their counterparts in theorodokoi - formally appointed 'official
hosts'- who may in their turn have served as theoroi in the other direction.14
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Although these exchanges had a long history, they become particularly
prominent in the Hellenistic period, when we find a growing number of
inscriptions that testify to their activities: especially formal lists of
theorodokoi connected to a particular festival, and honorific inscriptions for
theoroi and theorodokoi erected by both the organising sites and the visiting
cities. The rise of institutionalised theoria (of new cities, but also by old and
established sites) may have been a response to the growing number of cities
that made a claim to Greek identity, and wanted these claims to be known
and recognised. The job of the theoroi was to generate 'common knowledge'
of these festivals in this expanded world. The monumentalization of these
exchanges, often at great expense, both at the site of the festival and the
host city, as well as in the participating cities, fixed this knowledge for all
eternity. The rise of theoria was, therefore, an important feature of post-
classical inter-city diplomacy, and the exchange of official observers, and
commemoration of these exchanges became an important way to assert
Greek city status in an emerging network of Greek cities, that these
functionaries in turn helped to create.
Prize winning ATHLETES The second group of network specialists were the travelling athletes (and
other performers) who toured the Greek world 'along a perpetual cycle' (ἀεὶ
13
I. RUTHERFORD. "Network Theory” (See. n. 55); C. SOURVINOU-INWOOD. "What Is Polis
Religion?" In The Greek City from Homer to Alexander, ed. by O. MURRAY and S. PRICE
(Oxford 1990), 295-322.
14
P. PERLMAN. City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece; the Theorodokia in the Peloponnese.
(Munich 2000); S.G. MILLER. "The Theorodokoi of the Nemean Games." Hesperia: The
Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 57, no. 2 (1988), 147-163.
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ἐκ περίοδου). 15 The evidence for their activities consists largely of
honorific inscriptions and dedications that recorded their victories in the
festivals, as well as the various honours and privileges that they had
obtained. Over time monuments for individual athletes and artists not only
became more numerous, but also grew longer and more detailed.16 Victories
were listed with great care, and there was a marked tendency to rank these
victories - either in chronological order, or reflecting the relative standing of
the festivals themselves.17 The amazing level of detail of these inscriptions
has allowed modern scholars from Louis Robert to Jean-Yves Strasser to
reconstruct careers of individual artists and athletes. There has been less
reflection on the fact that throughout the Greek world these inscriptions that
were set up at different locations (festivals sites or cities) are so consistent in
the way that they record and value victories and titles. The relative uniformity
of the monuments suggests that they had a meaning that went much beyond
the boundaries of each individual city. Honorific monuments were not pure
self-representation of the athletes; they were civic monuments and
therefore, a joint product, set up to reflect the identities and social aims of
all parties involved. Interesting is that they seem to rely on a common pool
of knowledge, which suggests that information on agonistic victories was
systematically recorded and circulated throughout the Greek world. We know
that Olympia kept records, and other sites and cities seem to have done the
same thing.18 19 Athletics therefore not only produced a festival network,
but also a network of common knowledge.
An example of what we may find is provided by the dossier of an athlete
from Sardeis: Aurelius Demostratos Damas, who was one of the most
successful athletes of antiquity.20 The dossier was collected by Jean-Yves
Strasser and contains documents from sites in Italy, Asia, Egypt and Hellas
15
Roueché Performers and Partisans (See. n. 19). No. 51, l. 14
16
The crowns were often represented on the monuments as well with a brief indication of
the games where they were obtained. Cf. Rumscheid 2000, 79-89. For a good example J.P.
MICHAUD. "Chronique des Fouilles et Découvertes Archéologiques en Grèce en 1968 et
1969." BCH 94 (1970), 946-949.
17
S.A. BRUNET. Greek Athletes in the Roman World : The Evidence from Ephesos. Diss.
University of Texas, 1998.
18
P. CHRISTESEN. Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History. (Cambridge; New York
2007); cf. Philostratus Gymnastikos 2; Pausanias 5.21.9.
19
20
IEph 14.
ISardis 79, the entire dossier in J.-Y. STRASSER. "La Carrière” (See n. 22).
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where Damas had been active. These texts commemorate his athletic
victories all over the world, establishing him as a truly global star.
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Athletes & citizens Onno M van Nijf 6-2-12 22:52
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It is interesting to note that there was a political dimension to these athletic
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honours too. Successful athletes often received awards of citizenship in
different cities. Such citizenship grants were not to be taken lightly. A
handful of inscriptions, normally public honorific decrees, offer information
about the procedures that lead to citizenship. This21 evidence suggests that
grants of citizenship were still the prerogative of the formal political
institutions of the city, and the outcome of a complex process of civic
decision taking.22 In the case of Damas we might see how such citizenships
were commemorated ‘all over the world.’
Seen23 in this light, athletes played a role not unlike the theoroi, they
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embodied the links between the individual cities in the agonistic network:
the ones that organised the contest, as well as those who sent the athletes.
Moreover, their victory monuments helped to preserve and promote the
common knowledge about these links.
ASSOCIATIONS Finally, against this background we should also understand the role and rise
to prominence of the associations of athletes and other performers which,
under various names and titles, travelled form festival to festival all over the
Hellenistic world.24 At the beginning of the third century BCE artists and
performers began to get organised in regional associations under the aegis
of Dionysos. Athletic associations (Herakles worshippers) were a bit slower to
21
E.g. FD 3.1, 209 ; FD 3.2, 102; FD 3.2, 105; FD 3.4, 118; IAph2007, 5 214. Hellenistic
examples: IEphesos1415, 1416; 2005; IvO 54
22
E.g. FD 3.1, 209 ; FD 3.2, 102; FD 3.2, 105; FD 3.4, 118; Hellenistic examples:
IEphesos1415, 1416; 2005; IvO 54.
23
Robert 1978. Louis Robert has published an agonistic catalogue from Xanthos listing
victors in the Romaia, the Roman games that were instituted in the second century BC. The
victors included a Roman citizen, who was resident in Telmessos, Octavius Pollio, who ‘had
himself announced as a Telmessian’ in the horse race; another similar case was Peithô of
Ephesos who had herself announced as an inhabitant of Apollonia
24
S. ANEZIRI. Die Vereine der Dionysischen Techniten im Kontext der Hellenistischen
Gesellschaft. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte, Organisation und Wirkung der Hellenistischen
Technitenvereine. (Stuttgart 2003); B. LEGUEN. Les Associations de Technites Dionysiaques
à l'époque Hellénistique. (Nancy- Paris 2001).
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rise and are first attested in the first c. BCE. Individual associations were
regionally based in the great cultural centres of the Hellenistic world: Athens;
Nemea and Isthmia; Alexandria (with subsidiaries in Ptolemais, Rhodes and
Cyprus); as well as in western Asia Minor (the association of Ionia and the
Hellespont) and in S. Italy and Sicily. A distributional pattern appears that
reflects the organization of agonistic life in the Hellenistic world as a number
of networks, which, however, were not yet fully integrated.
Such associations could only exist if their freedom to travel, their freedom
from seizure, and their freedom against indirect taxes were guaranteed. In
the Hellenistic world these associations therefore relied on international
treaties, or the asylia that was offered by particular festivals, or they could
turn to the Hellenistic kings for protection. But on the other hand they were
also useful to the rulers themselves: Eric Csapo suggested the “ The Attalids,
Ptolemies and Seleucids cultivated them an essential mass media link to their
subjects …”25
As a postlude, it is interesting to see what happened when Rome became the
dominant power in the Mediterranean, and when it acquired the protective
roles. Gradually these regional associations disappear from sight. Under
Hadrian at the latest they seem to have been replaced by one 'global'
(oikoumenical) association under the protection of the emperor, whose
headquarters were ultimately moved to Rome. The regional networks were
thus welded together under imperial influence, and perhaps even at his
behest.26
A recent publication of an exchange of letters between emperors and
associations shows that the emperors were personally following their
activities, in the minutest detail.27 This suggests that the right order of
festivals, and the privileges the athletes got, as well as the proper conduct of
athletes at festivals in individual cities were a matter of imperial concern.
Given the importance of the athletic games for the celebration of festivals in
the context of imperial cult, it may be suggested that the associations now
played a crucial role organizing and supervising the festivals, which were a
25
26
Csapo, E. (2002). "Review of [Brigitte Le Guen, 2001]" BMCR 07.16:2002
Cf. Nijf, O. M. van (2011). Les athlètes et les artistes comme médiateurs culturels. Médiateurs
culturels et politiques dans l'empire romain : voyages, conflits, identités. [Proceedings of the
conference Médiateurs culturels et politiques dans l'empire romain held in 3 and 4 April 2009,
Paris]. A. Gangloff. Paris, De Boccard: 71-82.
27
Petzl, G. and E. Schwertheim (2006). Hadrian und die dionysischen Künstler. drei in Alexandria
Troas neugefundene Briefe des Kaisers an die Künstler-Vereinigung. Bonn, Habelt.
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crucial conduit for the communication between the emperor and the city. The
activities of the associations shows how the transformation of regional
systems in a global (oecumenical) networks was an important feature of the
way that Roman emperors incorporated the Hellenistic world into one
oecumenical worldwide empire.
4: CONCLUSION
To summarize, we have applied a very rudimentary form of network analysis
to the Hekatesia at Lagina, but have nonetheless been able to show how this
festival was critical to the network building which Stratonikeia engaged in as
it sought to strengthen its position, first among the communities within its
own territory, then on a global political scale, and ultimately within its ‘home
region’, among its direct peers.
We have furthermore been able to identify a number of important signifiers
in the inter-polis relationships that were shaped and reinforced through such
festivals. These include the theoroi, delegates from other poleis who
witnessed but also shared in the festivals, the athletes, who through their
circuit travels literally accumulated and dispersed the knowledge of the
festivals among the various poleis, and finally the associations, who on a
more regional scale were literally the medium, through their performances,
of the festival rituals
In short, the permeability of cult and its ability to provide joint communal
attention and a single common focus was exploited both horizontally, but
also vertically, in order to create a ‘small world’ in which cities at either end
of the spectrum were only one or two handshakes away from each other. The
festivals and the kind of common knowledge which it generated, shared by
so many different poleis across the wider Greek world and binding them
together as the core of their common identity, was in fact the base for the
Oikoumene which Rome inherited and which formed the base for its empire.
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Appendix
Iscrizioni di Cos EV 203 (=Syll.3 1066) 1
5
10
15
20
[— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]
[— — — — — — — —] τοῦ Π[υθ]οδώρου
νικάσαντα
[Ἴσ]θμια ἄνδρας πένταθλον·
[Ἐλ]ε̣υσίνια τὰ μεγάλα ἄνδρας πένταθλον·
[Ῥω]μαῖα τὰ τιθέμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ δάμου παῖδας
Ὀλυμπικοὺς στάδιον· Καισάρηα ἐν Μητροπόλει
[π]αῖδας στάδιον· Ῥωμαῖα τὰ τιθέμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ
δάμου παῖδας Ἰσθμικοὺς στάδιον, δίαυλον,
πένταθλον τᾷ αὐτᾷ ἁμέρᾳ· Ἑκατήσια ἐν
Στρατονικήᾳ παῖδας Ἰσθμικοὺς πένταθλον· Θεογά[μ]ια ἐν Νύσῃ παῖδας Ἰσθμικοὺς πένταθλον· Κλάρια ἐν Κολοφῶνι
[παῖδ]ας [Ἰ]σθμικοὺς πένταθλον· Ἀρχηγέ[σια] ἐν Ἁλικαρνασσῶι παῖδας Ἰσθμικοὺς
[πέ]νταθλον· Ἑκατήσια ἐν Στρατονικήᾳ
[ἀ]γενείους πένταθλον· Ἀρχηγέσια ἐν Ἁλι[κα]ρν̣ασσῶι ἀγενείους πένταθλον· Ἐλευ[σίν]ια τὰ καὶ Καισάρηα ἄνδρας πέντα[θλον]· Καισάρηα τὰ τιθέμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ δάμου
[ἄ]νδρας πένταθλον.
[Ἀπο]λλωνίεια ἐν Μύνδωι πένταθλον·
[Ἀρχηγέσια ἐ]ν Ἁλικαρνασῶι πένταθλον, ἐπιστατεῦντος
[— — — — — — —]ου τοῦ Πυθοδώρου.
Damas: I.Sardeis 79 (A) M. Aurelius Demostratos Damas, highpriest of the entire athletic association, president
of the athletic association for life for life and supervisor the imperial baths, pancratiast,
twice period victor, boxer without a lost match, victor extra-ordinaire, citizen of Sardeis,
Alexandria …Paergamon Corinth (?) ..Argos, Sparta, .. Elis, having obtained in all … victories,
of which [67] in sacred contests. In Italy, Hellas, Asia and Alexandria including the
following: the Olympia at Pisa [… times], the Pythia at Delphi three times, the Isthmia, five
times, the Nemeia [… times] ; the Aspis at Argos three times; in Rome the Capetolia twice,
in Puteoli twice, in Nea Polis [ … times], the Actia twice, in Athens ten times: of which the
Panathenaia [… times], the Panhellenia three times, The Olympeia [ … times], the Hadrianeia,
once; in Rhodes the Haleia three times; at Sardeis the Chrysanthinos four times, At Ephesos
nine times; at Smyrna six times; at Pergamon the Augusteiea three times; at Alexandria [ …
times]; at Riome in the triumphal contests of our Lords the emperors Antoninus and
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Commodus he was crowned with a golden crown and he obtained the gold prize. Upon
request he obtained from our most divine Lords the emperors Severus and Antoninus the
right to transfer his highpriesthood and his presidency oof the athletic association to his
sons.
His statue was erected by his sons Aurelius Damas, highpriest of the entire athletic
association, president of the athletic association for life, and supervisor of the imperial
baths, multiple victor and victor extraordinaire, Marcus Demostratianos multiple victor and
victor extraordinaire, and by Demostratos Hegemonides multiple victor and victor
extraordinaire, and Damianos president of the athletic association.
(B) And of all the prize games [where he competed in the pankration in the categories boys
and men]: [unknown] three times; at [Larissa] in Thessaly, three times; at Thespiae, the
Erotideia once; [unknown] once; [unknown] twice; [unknown ending in AS] once;
[unknown] four times;[unknown ending in N] once; [unknown] once (now a sacred contest);
[unknown] once (now a sacred contest); at [Byza]ntion once, (now a sacred contest); at
[Peri]nthos once, now a sacred contest); [The Olymp]eia of Macedonia [ …]; [unknown] twice;
the contests [of the koinon] of the Arcadians in Mantienai three times; at Sparta(?) six times:
the [Euryk]leia twise (now a sacred contest); [unknown ending isn IIA?] twice; [unknown
ending in EIA] three times; at [Demetri]as in Macedonia once; in the [unknown ending in EIA]
in the Isthmos four times; at [unknown ending in ONA] once.
(C ) The only and first ever of men to have won 20 contests in the category boys, and
having attained adulthood after boyhood, he won 48 sacred contests among which the
boxing in the Pythian games at Delphi, in the Isthmian Games, in the Nemean Games; in the
Hadreianeios Philadelpeios of Alexandria. And he was honoured by the Divine Macrus and
the Divine Commodus with citizenship at Alexandria on the terms of a native Alexandrian,
and with the presidency of the athletic association of the contests listed below: the
Capetolia in Rome, the Chrysanthinos in Sardeis; the contests of the koinon of Asia in
Sardeis; the Didymeia in Miletos, the Hadrianeios Philadelphios in Alexandria, the
Sebasteios in Alexandria, the Seleukeios in Alexandria , the contests of Antinoopolis, and all
the contests in Egypt, the contests of the koinon of Asia in Tralleis, the contests of the
koinon of Bithynia in Nikomedeia, the Eurykleia in Sparta. He was honoured by the divine
Severus and our most divine Lord Antoninus with many other great honoursand with the
presidency of the athletic association at the Eusebeia at Puteoli and the Sebasta at Neapolis.
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