The PHRC digital library

Uncovering the ritual and social aspects of cultic honours for human beings Until now, the study of cultic honours for Hellenistic political leaders and benefactors has mainly focused on the ideological and diplomatic features of the phenomenon. The project "Practicalities of Hellenistic Ruler Cults...


How it works

This page is meant to provide users with a brief guide to find their way in the PHRC digital library. The active map A quick method to browse the PHRC material is to zoom in on the active map based on OpenStreetMap. Depending on the available information, the precision of the coordinates associated ...


Introducing the beta version of PHRC

Dear readers, We are happy to announce the release of the beta version of the PHRC website (PHRC 0.1).The project The Practicalities of Hellenistic Ruler Cults is a project focusing on the ritual and social aspects of cultic honours for human beings (rulers and benefactors) in the Hellenistic Greek...


PHRC005 : Dedication to Sarapis, Isis, and the Theoi Adelphoi, Kaunos - Karia (246-220 BC) Dedication

The inscription contains a joint dedication to Sarapis, Isis and the Theoi Adelphoi by an agent whose identity is lost. The object, probably belonging to an altar erected in the local sanctuary of the Egyptian gods, was dedicated after the donor had received a divine order, through an oracle or a dr...


PHRC030 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Palaipaphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This plaque, now lost, contained the sole dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos written on marble known from the Paphos area. Despite this material, which was rare and expensive in Cyprus, the inscription is of very poor quality and presents various examples of phonetic writing and spelling mistakes. T...


PHRC019 : Dedication to Attalos I, Herakleia near Latmos - Karia (240-197 BC) Dedication

Herakleia near Latmos is the only city in Asia Minor besides Pergamon having delivered small objects with a dedication to Attalos I. This fragmentary altar, probably made with local marble, bears a text showing clear signs of cursive writing, which may point to a private context of dedication. Alrea...


PHRC034 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Palaipaphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This large limestone block differs from the others inscribed objects of Arsinoe Philaldelphos in the Paphos area. Because of its size and shape it cannot be interpreted as an altar. On the contrary, comparison with other similar specimens from Cyprus (Yalousa) and Halikarnassos suggests that this bl...


PHRC035 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Archimandrita (Palaipaphos) - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

As other specimens from the Paphos area, this object is a small rectangular altar with a shallow depression on the top, probably used for vegetal offerings to Arsinoe Philadelphos. The find spot Archimandrita, about 7 km from the sanctuary of Aphrodite, is probably not the original place where the a...


PHRC040 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Soloi-Mersinaki - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This marble slab contains a roughly written dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos. Together with another dedication to Ptolemy V, this object testifies to the practice of Ptolemaic ruler cults in the sanctuary of Mersinaki, situated along the coast between the city of Soloi and the promontory of Vouni ...


PHRC054 : Foundation plaque of a shrine of Sarapis, Isis, Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III (Alexandria) - Egypt (216/5-210/9 BC) Bilingual foundation plaque

This gold plaque inscribed with a bilingual dedication belongs to the foundation deposit of a sanctuary of the divine couple Sarapis and Isis and of the royal pair Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, in Alexandria. The temple was erected in a central location, along the major Canopic street, west of the cit...


PHRC059 : Dedication to Arsinoe Thea Philadelphos, Lower Egypt (Alexandria ?) - Egypt (270-240 BC) Miniature altar

This dedication to Arsinoe Thea Philadelphos is written on an incense burner carved in the form of a miniature horned altar. A similar object was found in Alexandria (PHRC 051), but another provenance from the Delta or Fayum is also possible for this specimen. The addition of the term Thea to the co...


PHRC047 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Salamis - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This amphora is the sole vase inscribed with a dedication for Arsinoe Philadelphos apart from the Alexandrian oinochoai of Ptolemaic ruler cult. The difficulty in interpreting this object stems from the fact that because of its decoration, the amphora closely resembles funerary amphoras from Eastern...


PHRC049 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Philoteria - Koile Syria (261-240 BC) Dedication

This recently published limestone slab from Philoteria (See of Galilee) has provided the first evidence of the cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos in the Levant. This plaque shows that the close link between Arsinoe’s cult and navigation (for military or commercial purposes) did not only apply to the open ...


New PHRC updates - October 2021 (en)

Dear PHRC users, We are happy to announce that two new texts have been just uploaded on our website. They are two important honorific decrees issued by the city of Mylasa (PHRC 062) and by the deme of Rhamnous (PHRC 063), respectively to honour the regional dynast Olympichos and King Antigonos II Go...


PHRC's first birthday! Launch of PHRC 0.2 and new release of texts

Dear PHRC readers,We are happy to celebrate the first year of the PHRC website by reaching 50 published texts and by announcing some improvements we have brought to the platform, which enters now its PHRC 0.2 phase, as well as some novelties for the new year! 1) Digital development: Introducing PHRC...


PHRC051 : Dedication to King Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos, Alexandria - Egypt (270-246 BC) Dedication

A dedication to King Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos is written on both sides of an incense burner carved in the form of a miniature horned altar. The dedicatory formula provides a date between 270 and 246, when Ptolemy II ruled alone after Arsinoe II’s death and deification. The dedication made...


PHRC001 : Dedication to King Ptolemy IV and Queen Arsinoe III, Sarapis and Isis, Ephesos - Ionia (217-209 BC) Dedication

The inscription belongs to a marble cylindrical altar dedicated to King Ptolemy IV, Queen Arsinoe III, Sarapis and Isis by the Ptolemaic garrison, which occupied the acropolis at Ephesos. The altar was probably part of a sanctuary of the Egyptian gods established by the garrison. The strong link bet...


PHRC002 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Kaunos - Karia (270-240 BC) Dedication

The block was part of a structure dedicated to Arsinoe Philadelphos, probably an altar. The original location is unknown. Two possible options are Aphrodite's sanctuary near the harbour, or the temple of the Egyptian gods, which hosted another dedication to the queen as a member of the ruling couple...


PHRC003 : Dossier concerning the cultic honours for Queen Laodike at Sardis - Lydia (Summer 213 BC) Decree

The dossier concerning the establishment and regulation of the cultic honours for Queen Laodike at Sardis was elegantly carved on marble blocks in the monumental vestibule of the temple of the Great Mother, the Metroon. The remaining documentation consists of two royal letters, respectively from Lao...


PHRC004 : Dedication of the Basilistai to Sarapis, Isis and Anubis, Thera - Cyclades (280-220 BC) Dedication

This offertory-box (thesauros) was dedicated in the mid-third century to the divine triad Sarapis, Isis and Anubis by a certain Diokles and the association of the Basilistai. The sanctuary has delivered other contemporaneous traces of Ptolemaic ruler cult, confirming the close link which existed bet...


PHRC006 : Dedication to Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos in Thera - Cyclades (270-246 BC) Dedication

This cylindrical altar, which was found reused in a later house, sheds light on the practice of Ptolemaic ruler cult in Thera at the time of Ptolemy II. The donor probably belonged to the elite of Ptolemaic Thera and the decision to have his name and patronymic carved on the altar suggests that his ...


PHRC007 : Dedication by the official Ptolemaios to Hermes, Herakles, Antiochos III, Soloi - Kilikia (197 BC) Dedication

The inscription, perhaps originally belonging to a statue base of Antiochos III, is a dedication made by the Seleucid governor and high priest of Koile Syria and Kilikia, Ptolemaios son of Thraseas, right after the conquest of Soloi by Antiochos III. The divine recipients, Hermes and Herakles, revea...


PHRC016 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Paros - Cyclades (270-240 BC) Dedication

This small but relatively thick slab of local stone has delivered one of the three genitive dedications to Arsinoe Philaldephos discovered on Paros. The poor quality of this specimen is revealed by the use of both sides for the same text: the carver probably started writing the dedication on one sid...


PHRC015 : Dedication of a nymphaeum to Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, Itanos - Crete (220-209 BC) Dedication

The inscription records the dedication of a nymphaeum, together with its reservoir, to King Ptolemy IV and Queen Arsinoe III, by the commander of the Ptolemaic garrison at Itanos, a Roman called Lucius. The dedication was made before 209 BC, when the son of the royal couple, the future Ptolemy V, be...


PHRC014 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Nea Paphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos is inscribed on a small cylindrical altar, a common support for the cults of the Ptolemies in Cyprus. Among the inscribed dedications to Arsinoe found in the Paphos area, this is the sole specimen having been discovered in the new city, during the excavations ...


PHRC013 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Thera - Ciclades (270-240 BC) Dedication

The block, which bears a well carved dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, was found in a context of reuse during the excavations at the temple of Apollo Pythios. It probably originally belonged to the nearby sanctuary of the Egyptian deities, which was frequented by members of the Ptolemaic garrison ...


PHRC012 : Oenochoe of King Ptolemy IV, Kourion - Cyprus (221-204 BC) Dedication

This is the only extant specimen of the Ptolemaic oenochoae from Cyprus and the sole which does not depict the traditional ritual scene including a female figure performing a libation, the agyieus pillar, and an altar with akroteria. The particular features of this jug reasonably point to a local ra...


PHRC010 : Letter of the strategos Thraseas to the city of Arsinoe, with an appended decree of the city of Nagidos - Kilikia (245-221 BC) Letter

This stele contains a letter of the strategos of Kilikia Thraseas to the city of Arsinoe together with a decree of the nearby city of Nagidos concerning a negotiated agreement between the two cities. The dossier is of particular interest as it sheds light on the issues that the foundation of new Pto...


PHRC009 : Dedication of a statue to Arsinoe Philadelphos Naias, Chytroi - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

The text accompanies the dedication of a statue to the deified queen Arsinoe Philadelphos, here associated with a local nymph, by an Alexandrian citizen. The statue was probably erected near the temple of Aphrodite Paphia, NW of the acropolis of Chytroi, and in the surroundings of a spring. The conn...


PHRC008 : Decree of the city of Skepsis for Antigonos Monophthalmos - Troas (311/0 BC) Decree

This fragmentary stele, once erected within the sanctuary of Athena on the acropolis of the city of Skepsis (Kurşunlu Tepe), preserves a decree by which the civic institutions voted the dedication of a sacred enclosure containing an altar and a cult statue to Antigonos Monophthalmos, together with o...


PHRC011 : Decree of the city of Itanos honouring King Ptolemy III and Queen Berenike II - Crete (246-243 BC) Decree

The text, elegantly written on a stele of local limestone erected in the sanctuary of Athena Polias, is a decree of the city of Itanos establishing cultic honours for king Ptolemy III and queen Berenike II. The absence of the epiclesis Euergetes suggests a date before 243/2 BC. The king is praised f...


PHRC017 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Paros - Cyclades (270-240 BC) Dedication

This block bears one of the three preserved genitive dedications to Arsinoe Philadelphos from Paros. It was probably inserted in a bigger structure, an altar or a wall.Permanent ID http://s.phrc.it/phrc017...


PHRC018 : Dedication to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (240-197 BC) Dedication

This finely inscribed and decorated altar is the only marble specimen from the Pergamon corpus of small altars of Attalos I Soter. Like the other small altars of the Attalid ruler cult from Pergamon, the rough back surface and its proportions suggest that it was meant to be placed against a wall or ...


PHRC020 : Dedication of the priestess Metris to Attalos I, Mamurt Kale (Pergamon) - Mysia (240-197 BC) Dedication

This altar was dedicated by a priestess in the sanctuary of the Mother of the gods in Mamurt Kale, on the top of the mount Yund Dağ situated about 30 kilometers SE of Pergamon. The altar, the biggest among the specimens of Attalid ruler cults at Pergamon, was probably erected during the reign of Att...


PHRC021 : Dedication of Apollodoros to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (197-133 BC) Dedication

This particularly thin rectangular altar was probably erected in the Upper Agora of Pergamon, possibly in relation to one of the sacred (Zeus’ sanctuary) or administrative buildings in the western (nomophylakion) and eastern part of the agora. The writing is irregular and characterized by a shape of...


PHRC022 : Dedication to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (200-150 BC) Dedication

This fragmentary rectangular altar of Attalos I was dedicated inside the precinct of Demeter on the southern slope of the Pergamon hill. It was probably used for libations and the burning of perfumes. The paleographic detail of A with bowed crossbar suggests a date of dedication between the end of A...


PHRC023 : Dedication to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (240-100 BC) Dedication

This rectangular altar of Attalos I is one of the two found among the Byzantine structures that were built within the ruins of the ‘House with the Podiensaal’, a luxury peristyle house erected in the mid-2nd century and later used, with several changes, until the end of Antiquity. While theses speci...


PHRC024 : Dedication to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (200-100 BC) Dedication

Found in a Byzantine wall near the so-called ‘cult room’ of a Hellenistic elite house on the southern slope of Pergamon, this rectangular altar might testify to the survival of the cult of Attalos I after the end of the dynasty. The writing of A with both a bowed and a broken crossbar further streng...


PHRC025 : Dedication of the archiboukolos Herodes to Augustus, Pergamon - Mysia (27 BC - 14 AD) Dedication

This altar, decorated with an oak wreath, a Capricorn and a cornucopia, was dedicated to Augustus by the leader of the Boukoloi (‘Cowherds), a private cultic association venerating Dionysos Kathegemon in Pergamon. The dedication was probably accomplished soon after the Roman Senate granted Octavian ...


PHRC026 : Dedication of the Bakchoi to Eumenes II, Pergamon - Mysia (158-133 BC) Dedication

This finely inscribed altar was posthumously dedicated to Eumenes II by the cultic association of the Bakchoi. Its original location was probably the precinct of Athena on the acropolis, a prominent space for the royal representation and identity of the Attalids. The inscription testifies to the app...


PHRC027 : Dedication to Eumenes II, Pergamon - Mysia (184-159 BC) Dedication

This altar is decorated with a rosette surrounded by two bucranes and presents an inscription of good quality but with the uncommon detail of a cursive shape of omega, which may be interpreted as the influence of cursive writing on a private dedication. The stone was found in the neighbourhood of Gu...


PHRC029 : Dedication of the royal collaborator Dionysodoros to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (230-197 BC) Dedication

This marble block was the base of the statue of a dancing Satyr dedicated to Dionysos and King Attalos I by Dionysodoros, a top-ranking member of the Pergamon army and court. The finely inscribed dedicatory epigram testifies to the intellectual activity of the Pergamon court under Attalos I and to t...


PHRC028 : Dedication to Eumenes II, Pergamon - Mysia (158-133 BC) Dedication

This marble block is what remains of a statue base which was dedicated to Eumenes II together with an altar of the king in the precinct of Athena. The stone was later reused in the Byzantine walls situated south of the sanctuary's terrace. The identification of the name of the recipient king (in lac...


PHRC031 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Palaipaphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This dedication to Arsinoe is written in three lines, regardless of the word ending, on a very irregular rectangular altar with a shallow depression on the upper surface. Such a small altar would serve to offer vegetables and perfumes to Arsinoe Philadelphos in the sanctuary of Aphrosite Paphia.Perm...


PHRC032 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Palaipaphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This small quadrangular altar with cornices belongs to a type well documented in the dossier of dedications to Arsinoe Philadelphos in third-century Cyprus. It presents a relatively well executed inscription which distinguishes it from other specimens belonging to the sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia a...


PHRC033 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Palaipaphos - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This limestone block with a roughly square front surface is what remains of a small rectangular altar of Arsinoe Philadelphos, of a type well known in Palaipaphos. The stone was then hammered to reduce it into a block to be used as building material. Thus, the anomalous profile of the upper part of ...


PHRC038 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Delos - Cyclades (270-240 BC) dedication

Despite the use of marble (probably from a local quarry), the low quality of this dedication points to a domestic initiative or at any rate to a humble private dedication to Arsinoe Philaldephos. The original place of the dedication is unknown. If we assume that the altar or the other cultic structu...


PHRC037 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Soloi - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This small sandstone plaque shows a particularly low quality of execution, which combined with the use of lunar sigma in the inscription (a common example of the influence of cursive writing) points to a private dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos. It would be tempting to associate this dedication wi...


PHRC039 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Minoa (Amorgos) - Cyclades (270-240 BC) dedication

This block, originally inserted in an altar or in another structure related to the cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos, bears one of the three known dedications to this deified queen from Minoa. The use of a prestigious material such as marble is counterbalanced by the odd division of the epiclesis in two ...


PHRC041 : Dedication to Ptolemy V, Soloi-Mersinaki - Cyprus (199-180 BC) Dedication

This small and irregular block of marble dedicated to Ptolemy V testifies to the cult of this king in the sanctuary of Soloi-Mersinaki. The very poor quality of the inscription is at first sight in contrast with the use of a prestigious material such as marble. However, this detail finds various par...


PHRC042 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Soloi - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This large, horizontal, and rectangular block bears a dedication to Arsinoe Philaldephos. The form and size of the stone as well as the position of the inscription upon it suggest that the block was inserted in a cultic structure or in a wall delimiting an area sacred to Arsinoe, which might have be...


PHRC036 : Record of the dedication of a phiale for the festival Philadelpheia, Delos - Cyclades (240/39 BC) Inventory

Delian inventories since 267 mention a phiale dedicated by Hermias, the nesiarch of the League of the Islanders, to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto on the occasion of the festival Philadelpheia. This inventory is the only one adding King Ptolemy II as a further recipient of the offer...


PHRC045 : Dedication to King Ptolemy II (?), Herakleia near Latmos - Karia (270-240 BC) Dedication

This conical sundail was crafted by an Alexandrian technician and dedicated to King Ptolemy II (or perhaps to Ptolemy III in the early years of his reign), by a donor who probably was an important citizen of Herakleia. It tesifies to the export of technological know-how from Alexandria to the provin...


PHRC046 : Dedication (fake?) to Queen Kleopatra VII, Salamis - Cyprus (47-42 BC) Dedication

This terracotta representation of Eros riding a rooster was dedicated to a queen Kleopatra whose identity is revealed by a Cypriot bronze coin of Kleopatra VII found together with the statuette. The rare iconography of the coin, which represents the queen suckling a baby Ptolemy XV Kaisarion in an a...


PHRC043 : Decree of the city of Iasos establishing cultic honours for King Antiochos III and Queen Laodike - Karia (196-194 BC) Decree

The decree of the city of Iasos honouring Antiochos III and his Laodike was inscribed underneath the text of a letter of the queen granting a donation to the city. This endowment was meant to provide poor girls with a dowry when they got married. The stele was probably erected in the area of the ago...


PHRC044 : Decree of a tribe of Iasos honouring King Antiochos III and Laodike, Iasos - Karia (196-194 BC) Decree

This fragmentary decree was issued by a tribe of Iasos to honour Antiochos III and Laodike. Various Hellenistic documents attest to the participation of demographic sub-partitions of a polis in the celebration of civic honours for rulers, but this specimen provides a rare case whereby the tribe is n...


PHRC048 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Karpasia (?) - Cyprus (270-240 BC) Dedication

This stone constitutes the largest known support inscribed with a dedication for Arsinoe Philadelphos from the whole Mediterranean. The size and shape of the block suggest that it was not an altar, but rather an architectural element which may have functioned as a horos delimiting a sacred area dedi...


PHRC050 : Dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos, Eretria - Euboea (270-240 BC) Dedication

This small plaque is the only specimen of dedication for Arsinoe Philadelphos from Euboea and from the western coast of the Aegean Sea. It probably belonged to a small altar used for the household cult of the deified queen, as suggested by its find spot which is situated within a Hellenistic house i...


PHRC053 : Dedication to the Theoi Adelphoi, Zeus Olympios and Zeus Synomosios, Alexandria - Egypt (243-211 BC) Dedication

This joint dedication to the Theoi Adelphoi, Zeus Olympios and Zeus Synomosios was made by two Alexandrian priests of Zeus in favour of the living royal couple, Ptolemy III and Berenike II (post quem 243/2 BC, suggested by the presence of the epiclesis Theoi Euergetai). The donors dedicated a plot o...


PHRC058 : Dedication to Hestia Pantheos, Ptolemy III and Berenike II, Alexandria - Egypt (216/5-210/9 BC) Plaque

The unknown author of this dedication consecrated two precincts with altars to a set of deities and deceased Ptolemies, on behalf of the living rulers Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III. A first cult place was dedicated to a deity (probably Zeus) bearing the epithet Pantheos, together with Ptolemy III and B...


PHRC055 : Dedication to Sarapis, Isis, the Nile, Ptolemy III and Berenike II (Kanopos) - Egypt (243-221 BC) Rectangular plaque

This limestone plaque bears an elegantly written dedication by a citizen of Bargylia to the divine triad Sarapis, Isis, and Neilos together with the royal couple Ptolemy III and Berenike II, the Theoi Euergetai. The content of the dedication and the actual place where it was accomplished are unknown...


PHRC057 : Dedication to Isis Arsinoe Philadelphos (Kanopos) - Egypt (270-240 BC) Small block

This dedication from Kanopos (ca 270-240 BC) was probably part of an altar of an another cult structure. Its text is particular in at least two respects. Firstly, it provides a rare case where an individual agent accomplished a dedication to a Ptolemaic ruler (in the dative) for (hyper) himself and ...


PHRC056 : Dedication to Aphrodite Akraia Arsinoe, Alexandria (Cape Zephyrion?) - Egypt (125-75 BC) Rectangular plaque

This plaque was originally part of an altar or of another cult structure dedicated to Aphrodite Akraia Arsinoe in the surroundings of Alexandria. The dedicatory formula does not allow to conclude whether the compound denomination points to one or two recipients; in the latter case, we should assume ...


PHRC052 : Dedication to King Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos, Rhakotis, Alexandria - Egypt (270-246 BC) Dedication

This altar of King Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos, discovered on the hill of Rhakotis in Alexandria, is the biggest preserved altar of ruler cults from throughout the Ptolemaic empire. The dedicatory formula points to a date 270-246, while the reference to the dynastic predecessors as the Theoi...


PHRC061 : Dedication to Sarapis, Isis, Neilos, Ptolemy III and Berenike II (Kanopos) - Egypt (243-221 BC) Plaque

This limestone plaque bears an elegantly written dedication by a private donor to the divine triad Sarapis, Isis, and Neilos together with the royal couple Ptolemy III and Berenike II, the Theoi Euergetai. The content of the dedication and the actual place where it was accomplished are unknown. Kano...


PHRC060 : Decree of the villages of Neon Teichos and Kiddiou Kome for Achaios and his collaborators (Lykos Valley) - Phrygia (267 BC) Decree

This marble stele contains a decree of two villages in the Lykos valley honouring Achaios the Elder and two of his collaborators for protecting the local population and ransoming prisoners during a conflict with Galatian tribes. While not a secessionist, Achaios received honours positioning him very...


PHRC062 : Decree of Mylasa honouring the dynast Olympichos (Labraunda, Sanctuary of Zeus) - Karia (240-200 BC) Decree

This fragmentary decree was issued by the city of Mylasa, probably soon after 240 BC, to honour Seleukos II’s strategos Olympichos for liberating the city. Although the order to give the city freedom and democracy had stemmed from the king, Olympichos and the Mylanians represented the events by stre...


PHRC063 : Decree of the deme of Rhamnous honouring Antigonos II Gonatas - Attica (c. 255 BC) Decree

This decree was passed by the Attic deme of Rhamnous to honour King Antigonos II, probably after his decision to withdraw the Macedonian garrison from the city and to return Attic fortresses to Athenian control in 256/5 BC. Being the seat of a strategic defense hub in northern Attica, Rhamnous was d...


PHRC064 : Dedication to King Antiochos III, Queen Laodike and their son Antiochos, Bostan esh-Sheikh (Sidon) - Phoenicia (198-193 BC) Dedication

A fragmentary marble plaque discovered in 1969 in the sanctuary of Eshmun at Bostan esh-Sheikh near Sidon contains a dedication, probably by local priests, to King Antiochos III, Queen Laodike, and their son and co-regent Antiochos. The royal recipients of the dedication are unexpectedly referred to...


PHRC065 : Dedication to King Seleukos I, Thyateira - Lydia (c. 281/0 BC) Dedication

This inscription, now lost, has preserved the rare case of a dedication to a Seleucid king made by agents other than civic institutions. The authors were a group of Macedonian soldiers from the settlement of Thyateira (NW Lydia) honouring the founder of the colony, King Seleukos I. The foundation of...