(Culture and History of The Ancient Near East 84 - Ancient Warfare 1) Krzysztof Ulanowski-The Religious Aspects of War in The Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome-Brill Academic Publishers (2016)

The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome
Culture and History of the

Ancient Near East
Founding Editor
M.H.E. Weippert
Editor-in-Chief
Jonathan Stkl
Editors
Eckart Frahm
W. Randall Garr
Baruch Halpern
Theo P.J. van den Hout
Leslie Anne Warden
Irene J. Winter
VOLUME 84
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/chan
Ancient Warfare
Edited by
Anthony Spalinger
Davide Nadali
VOLUME 1
The Religious Aspects of

War in the Ancient Near East,
Greece, and Rome
Edited by
Krzysztof Ulanowski
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ulanowski, Krzysztof, editor.
Title: The religious aspects of war in the ancient Near East, Greece, and
Rome / edited by Krzysztof Ulanowski.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Ancient Warfare Series ;
Volume 1 | Series: Culture and history of the ancient Near East, ISSN
1566-2055 ; VOLUME 84 | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016020234 (print) | LCCN 2016026678 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004324756 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004324763 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: WarReligious aspects. | Middle East. | Greece. | Rome.
Classification: LCC BL65.W2 R55 2016 (print) | LCC BL65.W2 (ebook) | DDC
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For Niko Gilgamesh Nikephoros, my beloved son,

Who has agreed to share the time destined to him,
On his fathers passion for old civilisations...
Contents
List of Abbreviationsxiii
List and Affiliations of Contributorsxix
Introduction1
Part 1
The Ancient Near East
War in Mesopotamian Culture5
Pietro Mander
Some Remarks Concerning the Development of the Theology of War
in Ancient Mesopotamia23
Vladimir Sazonov
Battle-Descriptions in Mesopotamian Sources I: Presargonic and
Sargonic Period51
Sebastian Fink
A Comparison of the Role of Br and Mantis in Ancient Warfare65
Krzysztof Ulanowski
Eclipses and the Precipitation of Conflict: Deciphering the Signal
to Attack99
Micah Ross
Greece
Part 2
War and Religion in Ancient Greece123

Robert Parker
The Terrified Face of Alcyoneus: The Religious Character of Greek Warfare,
or What about the Vanquished?133
Bogdan Burliga
contents
The Burning of Greek Temples by the Persians and Greek

War-Propaganda166
Eduard Rung
Weather, Luck and the Divine in Thucydides180
Rachel Bruzzone
Xenophons Piety within the Hipparchikos194
Simone Agrimonti
The Mounted Torch-Race at the Athenian Bendideia206
Nicholas Sekunda
Like Gods among Men. The Use of Religion and Mythical Issues during
Alexanders Campaign235
Borja Antela-Bernrdez
Defence and Offence in the Egyptian Royal Titles of Alexander
the Great256
Ivan Ladynin
Egyptian Warriors: Machimoi, in Coroplastic ArtSelected
Examples272
Sawomir Jdraszek
Rome
Part 3
Clenar larans etnam svalce: Myth, Religion, and Warfare in Etruria291

Joshua R. Hall
The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Campus Martius: Peace and War,
Antinomic or Complementary Realities in the Roman World303
Dan-Tudor Ionescu
The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of Antoninus Pius358
Andr Heller
contents
Roman Soldiers in Official Cult Ceremonies: Performance, Participation

and Religious Experience376
Tomasz Dziurdzik
Religious Aspects of the Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Founding of Aelia
Capitolina on the Ruins of Jerusalem387
Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel
Index of Authors407
xi
List of Abbreviations
AA
Archologischer Anzeiger
A&A Antike und Abendland: Beitrge zum Verstndnis der
Griechen und Rmer und ihres Nachlebens
AAAH
Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia
ABull The Art Bulletin: a quarterly published by the College
Art Association
AE
LAnne pigraphique
AEM
Archives pistolaires de Mari
AION (archeol)
Annali dellUniversita degli Studi di Napoli
AJ
Archaeological Journal
AJA
American Journal of Archeology
AJAH
American Journal of Ancient History
AJP
American Journal of Philology
AnCl
LAntiquit Classique
AnnFaina
Annali della Fondazione per il Museo Claudio Faina
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der Rmischen Welt
AntK
Antike Kunst
AOAT
Alter Orient und Altes Testament
APARA.R Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia.
Rendiconti
Archeologia
Archeologia (Warszawa)
ArchN Archaeological News (Athens (Ga): University of
Georgia, Department of Classsics)
ArchCl
Archeologia classica
ARID
Analecta Romana Instituti Danici
ARMT II
Archives Royales de Mari
ASJ
Acta Sumerologica
ASNP
Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
AW Antike Welt: Zeitschrift fr Archologie und
Kulturgeschichte
BACE
Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology
BJ Bonner Jahrbcher des Rheinischen Landesmuseums in
Bonn und des Rheinischen Amtes fr
Bodendenkmalpflege im Landschaftsverband
Rheinland und des Vereins von Altertumsfreunden im
Rheinlande
BzS
Beitrge zur Sudanforschung
xiv
list of abbreviations
CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the

University of Chicago
CAH
Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge 192339)
CAH2 The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge 2nd
edition, 1961)
CA
Classical Antiquity
CAJ
Cambridge Archaeological Journal
CEG H.P. Allan, Carmina epigraphica graeca saeculorum
VIIIV a. Chr. n. [vol. I] and...saeculi IV a. Chr. n. [II].
Texte und Kommentare, 12, 15 (Berlin 19831989)
CdE
Chronique dgypte
CDLI
Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, cdli.ucla.edu
CIL
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin 1863)
CIRPL E. Sollberger Edmond, Corpus des Inscriptions royales
prsargoniques de Laga (Geneve, 1956)
CJ
Classical Journal (American journal on classical history)
ClA
Classical Antiquity
CQ
Classical Quarterly
CRAI
Comptes Rendus de lAcadmie des Inscriptions et
Belles Lettres
CSIR-GB
Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani Great Britain
DHA
Dialogues dhistoire ancienne
DMOA Documenta et monumenta orientis antiqui. Studies in
Near Eastern Archaeology and Civilization. XXII. The
Elephantine Papyri in English. Three Millennia of
Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change (ed. B.Porten,
Leiden, New York, Kln 1996)
EEHAR Atti del convegno presso la Escuela Espaola de
Historia y Archeologa en Roma
EphDR
Ephemeris Dacoromana
EGF Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta (ed. G. Kinkel, Leipzig
1877)
ENDC Proceedings (Estonian National Defense College) Proceedings
ETCSL Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature,
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk
FAOS
Freiburger altorientalische Studien
Gymnasium
Gymnasium. Zeitschrift fr Kultur der Antike und
Humanistische Bildung
HANE.S
History of Ancient Near East: Studies
xv
HCT
A Historical Commentary on Thucydides (eds. A.W.
Gomme, A. Andrews, K.J. vol. 15 (Oxford 194581)
Historia
Historia. Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte
HThR
Harvard Theological Review
IG I2
Inscriptiones Graecae I: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis
anno (403/2) anteriores (ed. F. Hiller von Gaertringen,
Berlin 1924, 2nd edition)
IG I3 Inscriptiones Graecae I: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis
anno anteriores (eds. D. Lewis, L. Jeffry, Berlin 1981, 1994,
3rd edition)
IG II2
Inscriptiones Graecae. Vol. II et III. Inscriptiones Atticae
Euclidis anno posteriores. Editio altera (ed. J. Kirchner,
Berlin 19131940, 2nd edition)
ILS
Inscriptiones latinae selectae (ed. H. Dessau, Berlin
18921916)
IrAn
Iranica Antiqua
JANES
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society
JAOS
Journal of the American Oriental Society
JAC
Jahrbuch fr Antike und Christentum
JCS
Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JHS
Journal of Hellenic Studies
JMS
Journal of Mediterranean Studies
JNES
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JAI Jahreshefte des sterreichischen Archologischen
Instituts in Wien
JRA
Journal of Roman Archaeology
JRS
The Journal of Roman Studies
Klio
Klio. Beitrge zur alten Geschichte
Latomus
Latomus. Revue dtudes Latines
L
Lexikon der gyptologie
LD IV C.R. Lepsius, Denkmler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien
nach den Zeichnungen der von Seiner Majestt dem
Koenige von Preussen, Friedrich Wilhelm IV., nach diesen
Lndern gesendeten, und in den Jahren 18421845
ausgefhrten wissenschaftlichen Expedition auf Befehl
Seiner Majestt, Abth. IV (Berlin, 1859)
LIMC
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae
LSJ Liddell and Scotts Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford, 1st
edition 1889)
xvi
MDAI.R Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts

(Rmische Abteilung)
MEFRA
Mlanges de lcole Franaise de Rome. Antiquit
NABU
Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brves et Utilitaires
OBO
Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
OCT
Oxford Classical Text
PMIV B.Porter, R.L.B.Moss, Topographical Bibliography of
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and
Paintings, IV: Lower and Middle Egypt (Oxford 1934)
PM2II B.Porter, R.L.B.Moss, Topographical Bibliography of
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and
Paintings2, II: Theban Temples (Oxford 1972)
Pritchett 2 W.K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War, vol. 2 (Berkeley,
Los Angeles, London 1974)
Pritchett 3 W.K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War, vol. 3 (Berkeley,
Los Angeles, London 1979)
RAL Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di
Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche. Rendiconti
(Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei)
RBPhil
Revue belge de philologie et dhistoire
RE Paulys Realencyclopdie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft
REG
Revue des tudes Grecques
RIB
The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (eds. R.G.
Collingwood, R.P. Wright; Oxford 1965)
RIC
Roman Imperial Coinage (eds. H. Mattingly et al.,
London 1923)
RIME 1 D. Frayne, The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia,
Volume 1 (27002350 BC) (Toronto 2008)
RIMA 1 A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second
Millennia BC (to 1115 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of
Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods, vol.1, Toronto, Buffalo,
London 1987, reprinted 2002)
RIMA 2 A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First
Millennium BC I (1114859 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions
of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods, vol. 2, Toronto,
Buffalo, London 1991)
RIMA 3 A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First
Millennium BC II (858745 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions
of Mesopotamia. Assyrian Periods, vol. 3, Toronto,
Buffalo, London 1996, reprinted 2002)
xvii
RIME 1 D.R. Frayne, Presargonic Period (27002350 BC)

(The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Early Periods,
vol. 1. Toronto, Buffalo, London 2008)
RIME 2 D.R. Frayne, Sargonic and Gutian Periods (23342113 BC)
vol. 2, Toronto, Bufallo, London 1993)
RIME 4 D.R. Frayne, Old Babylonian Period (20031595 BC)
vol. 4, Toronto, Buffalo, London 1990)
RINAP 4 E. Leichty, The Royal Inscription of Esarhaddon. King of
Assyria (680669 BC) (Winona Lake 2011)
RM
Rmische Mitteilungen
RSI
Rivista Storica Italiana
SAA 3 A. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea
(Helsinki 1989)
SAA 4 Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid
Assyria (ed. I. Starr, Helsinki 1990)
SAA 10 Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars
(ed. S. Parpola, Helsinki 1993)
SAA 19 A. Lenzi, Secrecy and the Gods. Secret Knowledge in
Ancient Mesopotamia and Biblical Israel (Helsinki 2008)
SEG
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, vols. 111
(ed. J.E. Hondius, Leiden 19231954, vols. 1225,
ed. A.G. Woodhead, Leiden 19551971, vols. 2641,
eds. H.W. Pleket, R.S. Stroud, Amsterdam 19791994,
vols. 4244, eds. H.W. Pleket, R.S. Stroud, J.H.M. Strubbe,
Amsterdam 19951997, vols. 4549, eds. H.W. Pleket,
R.S. Stroud, A. Chaniotis, J.H.M. Strubbe, Amsterdam
19982002, vols. 50, eds. A. Chaniotis, R.S. Stroud,
J.H.M. Strubbe, Amsterdam 2003)
SJ
Studia Judaica
TAPA
Transactions of the American Philological Association
TAR F. Schmidt-Dick, Typenatlas der rmischen
Reichsprgung von Augustus bis Aemilianus, vol. I:
Weibliche Darstellungen, vol. II: Geographische und
mnnliche Darstellungen (Vienna 2002; 2011)
TGF A. Nauck, Euripidis Tragoediae superstites et deperditarum fragmenta; ex recensione Augusti Nauckii (1854),
Lipsiae B.G. Teubneri 185469
ThesCRA 3 Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum: Divination,
Prayer, Gestures and Acts of Prayer, Gestures and Acts of
xviii
Veneration, Hikesia, Asylia, Oath, Malediction

(Los Angeles 2005)
UAVA Untersuchtungen zur Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archologie. Ergnzuingsbnde zu ZA
Urk. II. K. Sethe, Hieroglyphische Urkunden der griechischrmischen Zeit (Leipzig 19041916)
Wb. A. Erman, H. Grapow, Wrterbuch der gyptischen
Sprache. Neudruck, vols. IV (Berlin 1955)
YClS
Yale Classical Studies
ZA Zeitschrift fr Assyriologie und vorderasiatische
Archologie
ZPE
Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik
List of abbreviations (ancient authors) according to OCD (The Oxford
Classical Dictionary, eds. S. Hornblower, A. Spawforth, E. Eidinow, Oxford
2012, 4th edition)
List and Affiliations of Contributors

Simone Agrimonti, University of Genoa.
Borja Antela-Bernrdez, Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Rachel Bruzzone, University College Freiburg, a branch of Albert-LudwigsUniversitt in Freiburg.
Bogdan Burliga, Gdask University.
Tomasz Dziurdzik, Department of Archaeology of the Roman Provinces,
Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw.
Sebastian Fink, Leopold-Franzens Universitt Innsbruck.
Joshua R. Hall, Cardiff University.
Andr Heller, Lehrstuhl fr Alte Geschichte, Otto-Friedrich-Universitt
Bamberg.
Dan-Tudor Ionescu, Metropolitan Library of Bucharest.
Sawomir Jdraszek, Gdask University.
Ivan Ladynin, Department of Ancient History Lomonosov Moscow State
University.
Pietro Mander, University of Naples lOrientale.
Robert Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, New College, Oxford
University.
Micah Ross, Center for General Education (), National Tsing
Hua University (), Hsin Chu City () (Taiwan).
Eduard Rung, Department of History, Institute of International Relations,
History and Oriental Studies, Kazan Federal University.
Vladimir Sazonov, University of Tartu.
Nicholas Sekunda, Gdask University.
Krzysztof Ulanowski, Gdask University.
Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel, Bar-Ilan University.
Introduction
Two years ago I was travelling back from Wrocaw to Gdask together with
Nick Sekunda (Gdask University) where I had been attending a conference
on Alexander the Great. It was a very good conference with a wide array of
topics dedicated to Alexander, his campaigns, military achievements, and his
aspirations to be divinely worshiped. The train journey between Gdask and
Wrocaw in those days in Poland lasted 1012 hours, and we had a lot of time
for a discussion. The question was why we, the University of Gdansk, could not
organize such a conference to focus a group of scientists around similar studies. As the conversation progressed we decided that we had enough scientific
capital to organize such a very specialized conference. Nick asked me about
the general topic, and I explained that the best solution would be to find a
theme revolving around the subjects of religion, the divine ambitions of rulers, and the military achievement in Antiquity. In my view this is an extremely
fascinating area which is not explored enough because scientists focus solely
on theological aspects, or the technical nuances of military campaigns. I suggested that the most appropriate title would be The Religious Aspects of War.
After organizing the conference with the participation of nearly 60 scholars
from around the world even more researchers asked me about the future plans
of our initiative. Nick Sekunda was more interested in Hellenistic Warfare with
an emphasis on the more pragmatic factors affecting the course of the war. Our
third colleague, Karol Polejowski (AteneumUniversity in Gdask) began to
work on the publication of his book concerning the Middle Ages.
I was a little bit puzzled and started to think about a publication in the spirit
of the Melammu Project to show many possible ways of influencing our understanding of the role of divinity in ancient Near East and Greek warfare.
The decisive impulse for the shape of this volume was given during my
meeting in Warsaw with Anthony Spalinger from the University of Auckland.
He advised me to use the different points of view from the above mentioned
civilizations without focusing only on influences, but giving the reader the
possibility to build their own opinions, and approaching the topic from many
perspectives.
I invited researchers from various scientific disciplines: Assyriology,
Egyptology, History, History of Art, Archaeology, Classical Studies and
Anthropology, and asked them to focus on the religious aspect of war and to
send me their articles attempting to describe the problem from various perspectives. I received a series of articles which were concerned with the ideology and propaganda of war, with divination and divine signs, with special
koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi .63/9789004324763_002
Introduction
rituals and feasts, with official cults, with symbolism and the representation of
the divine element with piety and morality of war, and even about the archaeological perspectives concerned.
The participants being from many countries only confirmed the need for
our studies and encouraged us to make further attempts in that direction in
the next future.
I want to thank Cezary Kucewicz from University College London, who
offered his valuable assistance; in many cases his advice has been invaluable to
the quality of this volume.
A significant role in shaping this volume was the help offered by Piotr
Walewski, Mateusz Kudelski, Kamil Korzeniewski and Kamil Niedzika, both
of Gdask University that made it became clearer, and gain additional scientific strength.
Krzysztof Ulanowski
Part 1
The Ancient Near East
War in Mesopotamian Culture

Pietro Mander

War in Heaven: Nin-urta.k and Marduk
One of the best-known mythological poems is the one named after its incipit,
Lugal-e. The oldest manuscripts date back to the end of the third millennium,
and many more tablets have been found from the next two millennia. Lugal-e
recounts the struggle between the warrior god Nin-urta.k, who was the son of
the king of the universe, Enlil, and the demon Asag, who wanted to rule the
world. Comprising over seven hundred verses, Lugal-e was one of the few
Sumerian poems to survive from that abrupt, and not yet fully understood,
change in the cultural tradition, which took place in the Kassite period.
The importance of this poem in Mesopotamian culture is not only evinced
by its extensive circulation, but also by the operation the clergy of Marduk
accomplished in eleventh century Babylon, when these priests incorporated
elements of the Nin-urta.k myth into their own myth concerning their polyad
god Marduk.1
It is worth noting that Marduk was a warrior god as well. He was the son of
the demiurge god Enki.k / Ea, the god of subterranean fresh water and wisdom
(which included magic and exorcisms).
Marduk had earlier assimilated the features of the exorcist god Asalluhi,
who was also a son of Enki.k, and became the most important exorcist divinity. In this role, Marduk resembled Nin-urta.k, who was also an active fighter
against the forces of chaos, such as the demon Asag. As a matter of fact, Asag
epitomised the model for all the malefic powers, as the presence of Nin-urta.k
in the healing cult of Isin, inside the temple of the healing goddess Gula,
demonstrates.2
The culminating point of this operation by the priests of Marduka kind
of anointing to the hegemonic and unifying role Babylon was assuming in the
political struggles of that periodwas the composition of the poem in the
Akkadian language Enma eli, When above, in which the clergy included
1 Cf. W.G. Lambert, Ninurta Mythology in the Babylonian Epic of Creation in Keilschriftliche
Literaturen: ausgewhlte Vortrge der XXXII. Reconcontre Assyriologique Internationale,
Mnster, 8.12.7. 1985 (eds. K. Hecker, W. Sommerfeld, Berlin: D. Reimer, 1986) 5560.
2 H. Avalos, Illness and Health Care in the ANE. The Role of the Temple in Greece, Mesopotamia,
and Israel (Atlanta GA: Scholar Press, 1995) 114.
Mander
the fight between Marduk and the sea goddess Tiamat, patterned on the clash
between Nin-urta.k and Asag. In so doing, the clergy could also connect Ninurta.ks father Enlil to the story, in order to let this latter god offer the victorious
Marduk lordship over the universe.

Divine Order vs. Chaos: The Role of Humankind
At the conclusion of the epic battle recounted in the poem Lugal-e, after
Nin-urta.k had defeated his rival, he let the waters of the Tigris flow onto the
plain, which would lead to the invention of agriculture. The gods victory,
therefore, not only enabled humanity to enjoy the prosperity brought about by
a greater access to nutrition, but also allowed it to form a settled society, that
is, as we shall see below, a city-state ruled by a king.
In Enma eli, as well, the victorious god Marduk devoted himself to arranging the universe, in a more consistent way than what Nin-urta.k accomplished
in Lugal-e. Marduk not only created an orderly, liveable environment; he also
fashioned the first man from clay mixed with the blood of the god Kingu, who
was the chieftain of the monsters that formed Tiamats army.
This theme stems from another tradition in which Enki.k plays a pivotal
role, creating man to run the universe, thus replacing the minor gods in this
role.3 The new creature has a divine element inherent in his constitution,
since Enki.k / Ea moulded him not only with clay, but also with the blood of a
murdered god.4

The Individual
Man, therefore, is the only creature endowed with intellect, mu, intellect,
wit, by virtue of this divine component. For this reason, the gods assigned
him the task of running the universe in accordance with the divine principles.
This task had earlier been assigned to the minor gods, hence it was a task for
3 See I.M. Kikawada, The Double Creation of Mankind in Enki and Ninmah, Atrahasis I 1351,
and Genesis 12, Iraq 45 (1983) 435.
4 W.G. Lambert, A.R. Millard, Atra-hass The Babylonian Story of the Flood (Oxford: Oxford at
the Clarendon Press, 1969); J. Bottro, La cration de lhomme et sa nature dans le pome
datrahass in Societies and Languages of the Ancient Near EastStudies in Honour of
I.M. Diakonoff (eds. M.A. Dardamaev et al., Warminster UK: Aris & Phillips LTD, 1982)
2432.
War In Mesopotamian Culture
gods, not for slaves. Man could replace the minor gods and as a consequence of
mans partially divine status, there are some important features in the nature
of this newly created being.
First of all, it must be observed that a person was individually generated at a
divine level, before being generated as a creature in flesh and blood, born to its
parents.5 The divinities from which the human being ensued were its tutelary
divinities and represented the persons divine components.
This divine origin of human being is also clearly detectable in the everyday
struggle of the ordinary person against the evil forces. In the celebration of
the ritual Maql, to counter black magic the patient had to be transformed
into a star after undergoing a trial in the presence of the gods, at which he was
declared innocent and pure, while the warlock or witch who cursed him was
convicted because he or she had violated the cosmic order.6 The aspect of the
trial is of great relevance, as we shall see below.
About mans transformation into a star, it must be kept in mind that brightness is an expression of the Divine.7
After his death, a king becomes a star (see: king ulgi (Third Dynasty of
Ur, 209447 BC),8 and while a king is alive, the sovereign and his role are
compared to the suns brightness: cf. Amar-Suenas (Third Dynasty of Ur,
204638 BC) title dUtu-kalam-ma-ni (god) Sun of his own country; some
280 years later, in his famous stele of the Codex Hammurabi, Hammurabi (First
Dynasty of Babylon, 179250 (?) BC), after restoring justice, as he had been
appointed to by the gods, referred to himself as kma ama, as the sun-god
ama, and, because of this accomplishment, he became arrum gitmlum
the perfect king.9
5 J. Klein, Personal God and Individual Prayer in Sumerian Religion in Das LebenVortrge
gehalten auf der 28. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Wien 6.10. Juli 1981, Archiv
fr Orientforschung, Beiheft 19) (eds. H. Hirsch, H. Hunger, Horn (sterreich): Verlag Berger,
1982) 295306.
6 T. Abusch, Ascent to the Stars in a Mesopotamian Ritual: Social Metaphor and Religious
Experience in Death, Ecstasy, and Other Wordly Journeys (eds. J.J. Collins, M.A. Fishbane,
New York: State University of New York Press, 1995) 1539.
7 Cf. E. Cassin, La splendeur divine: Introduction ltude de la mentalit mesopotamienne (Paris,
La Haye: Mouton & Co., 1968).
8 W. Sallaberger, Ur III-Zeit in Mesopotamia, (OBO) 160 (eds. P. Attinger, M. Wfler), AkkadeZeit und Ur III-Zeit (eds. W. Sallaberger, A. Westenholz (= OBO 160/3), Freiburg & Gttingen:
Univesittsverlag Freiburg Schweiz, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1999) 119390, 1613.
9 M. Bonechi, Hammurapi e ama in Il codice di Hammurabi: da monumento celebrativo a
codice di leggi (ed. L. Verderame, EEHAR, 2021 marzo 2014, Roma: Sapienza, Universit di
Roma) forthcoming.
Mander
The Community of Persons: The City
The texts clearly describe the close relationship between agriculture, which
Nin-urta.ks victory had made possible; the city, as the seat of the temples; and
kingship.
A myth10 tells how the mother goddess Nin-tur elevated humanity from its
beastly condition. To achieve this goal, she had men build cities, where they
could celebrate rituals either for divination (that is to say: knowledge of the
divine plan) or for the worship of the gods (that is: contact with the Divine).
The city was conceived as the seat of divinity, and in order for both worship
and divination, agriculture and construction to run smoothly, (this last activity was a kind of Stichwort for the citys inhabitants), the gods made kingship
descend from heaven.
As every Mesopotamian city was the seat and dominion of a single divinity
in the pantheon, all the cities together were a reflected image of the starry sky
on the earths surface. This distribution of cities and relative divinities across
space is grounded in a profound concept, because, as I have recalled above,
light is the representation of the Divine and, as Bottro explains, in mythology it is assumed to be an expression of being. Indeed, Bottro describes the
gods as creatures with a high ontological density with respect to man, and their
brightness, melamm, indicates their quality.11 These two concepts, Being
and the Divine, are not distinct from each other in Mesopotamian thought.
One of the Sumerian terms for star, mul, has a second meaning as sign,
thus offering an image for the concept that expresses determination or
defined form, such as a specific constellation compared with the dark vault
of the night sky.
The spreading of the Divine throughout the human world takes on the
appearance of this primary determination; by the same token, as a consequence of its impulse to conform to the divine will, time and again in history the human world itself generates unifying forces designed to protect this
pantheon, which I would define as territorial (i.e. a pantheon reflected into
a larger region), from tendencies that would disintegrate it. The unification
of numerous city-states, if not all of Mesopotamia, or nearly, under the rule
of the dynasty of a single city, constituted the realization of a celestial order,
an order made visible by the revolution of the starry vault around the polar
10 See etcsl 1.7.4 The Flood StorySegment A 110; Th. Jacobsen, The Harps that Once...
Sumerian Poetry i Translation (New Haven CT, Yale University, 1987) 1456.
11 J. Bottro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia (Chicago, London: The University of Chicago
Press, 2001) 38.
axis. On a historical level, the creation of wide-ranging territorial states that

included more than one city-state in their domains is a defining characteristic
of ancient Mesopotamia; not surprisingly, the reason for this may be found in
the mythology.
Descending from heaven, as it does, kingship represents the axis connecting heaven to earth. Through kingship the divine force is spread through the
universe, which is to say through the kingdom, which was considered to be
the ordered world, as opposed to chaos. Through kingship humanity operates
according to the divine will and can be connected to the heaven of the gods.
Rituals such as divinization of the living sovereigns or the hieros gamos, dating to the mid-third and up to the mid-second millennium, express this same
necessity in different ways.
To put the world in order according to the divine modelthat is to say, the
divine willis thus humanitys chief task, one it can accomplish only under
the leadership of the king, who is the intermediary with the gods.
This complex subject is beyond the scope of the present paper; further
references to it may be found in the accompanying bibliography.
The struggles of the god Nin-urta.k and later the god Marduk served as
a paradigm for those that exorcists daily sustained at their patients bedsides, against the attacking demons. War fought in the heavens was thus
transferred to the world of men.12 And at the same time as on this personal
level, that celestial war also determined the relationships between human
communitiescities and kingdomsbut with a particular meaning.

War on Earth: Two Historic Wars
We are relatively well informed about two of the most ancient conflicts; they
are the border war between the Sumerian cities-states of Umma and Laga and
the long series of uninterrupted wars culminating in Hammurabis dominion
over almost the totality of Mesopotamia. The former took place in the second
half of the third millennium, around the twenty fourth century, the latter in
the first half of the second millennium, ending with the destruction of the city
of Mari by Hammurabi in 1759 BC.
12 Cf. P. Mander, The Mesopotamian Exorcist and His Ego in Ana turri gimilli, studi
dedicati al Padre Werner R. Mayer, S.J. (eds. M.G. Biga, M. Liverani, Roma, Quaderno di
Vicino Oriente V, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche Archeologiche e Antropologiche
dellUniversit La Sapienza, 2010) 17797.
10
Mander
The relative documentation is uneven, given that Hammurabis wars

only occasionally mentioned in this kings monumental inscriptionsare
described in detail in letters that the officers of the king of Mari, Zimri-Lm,
who were stationed at Hammurabis court, sent to their sovereign to keep him
abreast of diplomatic and military news. The war between Umma and Laga,
on the other hand, is only recorded in dedicatory inscriptions.
However, the relative abundance of information is only one reason for my
choice. Both the sovereigns of the First Laga Dynasty (among them, Eanatum,
En-metena.k and Iri-kagina.k) and the First Babylon Dynasty (I will mention
only Hammurabi) fight on the decision of their respective male polyad divinities, Nin-irsu.k and Marduk, whose typology fully belongs to what we could
call the Nin-urta.k paradigm. I have earlier discussed Marduk, while Ninirsu.k was a Lagashite variant of Nin-urta.k, albeit with slight differences.
A preliminary observation is in order. The cuneiform documentation on
monuments is very often labelled as propaganda, as if the goal of its narrative were to impress and influence other peoples opinions. I, however, have
elsewhere claimed that instead of the fossilised Latin word propaganda to
describe the purpose of the monumental inscriptions, what should be used is
its exact semantic opposite: prservanda.13
As a matter of fact, a very limited public had access to these inscriptions,
when it was allowed at all, and their intention was to preserveprservare
by means of words, and in this case, the written wordthe deeds the king
performed in order to fulfil his role as tutor and guardian of the cosmic order,
in accordance with the gods will.14 This is not the place to discuss the ontological notion conveyed by the word, which Bottro and Michaowski studied
in depth;15 I will simply recall that, paradoxically enough, Bottro quoted
the Latin phrase nomina sunt essentia rerum, with which an Ancient
Mesopotamian would have perfectly agreed.
13 P. Mander, Review of Tammy Schneider, An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian

Religion, Bibliotheca Orientalis 69/34 (2012) 2634.
14 Matthiae discussed this concept at length in: P. Matthiae, Il sovrano e lopera (Bari, Roma:
Laterza, 1994).
15 J. Bottro, MesopotamiaWriting, Reasoning, and the Gods (Chicago, London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1992) 97102; J. Bottro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia
(Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 2001) 93; see: P. Michaowski,
Presence at the Creation in Lingering over WordsStudies in Ancient Near Eastern
Literature in Honor of William L. Moran (eds. T. Abusch et al., Atlanta GA: Scholar Press,
1990) 38196.
11
The War between the Cities of Umma and Laga
At the moment twelve documents devoted to this ancient conflict are at our
disposal.16 They consist of epigraphs of unusual shapes, engraved on a variety of materials; unfortunately, we can determine neither their original placement nor their function. In any case, their use as propaganda may be ruled out.
Moreover, considering their exterior shapes (that of the Stele of the Vultures,
above all) I tend to believe they served as prservanda.
The story begins with the violation of the border agreement between
the two cities, a border Enlil had determined in heaven and the king of Ki
Mesalim accordingly established on earth by placing a stela on the spot. The
king of Umma destroyed this stela when he trespassed the border to occupy
the disputed borderlands, the Gu-edena. The role of Ki will not be discussed
here in any detail, as it probably involved a different kind of kingship.17
Of the twelve texts mentioned above, two provide a thorough report of the
events:
a) the Stela of the Vultures,18
b) the Cones of En-metena.k.19
A short synthesis of these two follows, in order to recall the most important
facts.

Stela of the Vultures
Unfortunately in fragmentary condition, the text begins with the violations committed by Umma, to which the god Nin-irsu.k reacted by generating Eanatum, whose name was imposed by the goddess Inana.k. The infant
Eanatum was nursed by Nin-hursa.k, which explains his extraordinary
height: 2.75 m20 (lines 40104).
16
Cooper arranged systematically and discussed these texts in detail: J.S. Cooper,
Recostructing History from Ancient Sources. The Lagash-Umma Border Conflict (Malibu
CA: Undena Publ., 1983).
17 P. Charvt The Earliest History of the Kingdom of Ki in Who was King? Who Was Not
King? (eds. P. Charvt, M. Vlkov, Prague: Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of
Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2010) 1622.
18 CDLI P222399, P431075 = RIME 1.09.03.01 = FAOS 05/1, Ean 01.
19 CDLI P431117 = RIME 1.09.05.01 = FAOS 05/1 Ent 28 = CIRPL Ent 289.
20 J.S. Cooper, Sumerian and Akkadian Inscriptions, IPresargonic Inscriptions (Vol. 1, New
Haven CT: The American Oriental Society Translations Series, 1986) 38.
12
Mander
As instructed by Nin-irsu.k in a dream (121ff.), Eanatum started the war,

and, although wounded by an arrow (1537), he evidentlythe relative passage is very fragmentarycontinued the fight until victory. He then seized
the opportunity to restore the original border, heaping high the bodies of the
Ummaite warriors who had been killed, as portrayed on the stele. Before a
group of divinities, the king of Umma swore by each of them that in the future
his city would respect Nin-irsu.ks properties (230563). In this latter section, Bauer noted particular features that recall the Sumerian epic.21 The text
ends listing the favours showed Eanatum by many divinities, who granted him
further conquests (564635). The stela itself portrays a gigantic Nin-irsu.k,
dwarfing the human figures, while triumphing over the heap of fallen enemies.
On the back of the stela Eanatums army is shown, along with what are probably funeral rituals after the battle.22

Cones of En-metena.k
The Cones di En-metena.k (together with other integrating epigraphic material) describes the origin of the border decided by the god Enlil and, on his
command, traced on the ground by the king of Ki, Mesalim (lines? 112). By
trespassing that border, therefore, the prince of Umma violated a divine decree,
and the god Nin-irsu.k unleashed a war against Umma, which concluded with
the heaping of the bodies of Ummas dead warriors (1331). En-metena.ks
uncle, Eanatum, is mentioned as the figure responsible for restoring the former border (3268), but the new prince of Umma, Ur-Lumma, once again
violated the agreement (6988). Although En-anatum I (En-metena.ks father,
as well as Eanatums brother), fought in the ensuing invasion (8994), it was
En-metena.k who would win on the battlefield, erecting mounds of corpses.
When Ur-lumma was killed in battle inside Umma itself, an Ummaite, Il, seized
power and claimed the disputed lands, but now the gods themselves held him
back, although the text does not elucidate exactly how (95159). The text
concludes by enumerating En-metena.ks merits as a builder and the favours
showered on him by the gods, before ending with a strong curse on all those
who should dare to trespass the border in the future.
From this brief summary, and in light of the information provided in the
other ten texts, it seems clear that the sovereigns of Umma encroached the
21
J. Bauer, Der vorsargonische Abschnitt der mesopotamischen Geschichte in
Mesopotamia, (OBO) 160 (eds. P. Attinger, M. Wfler), Spturuk-Zeit und Frhdynastiche
Zeit (eds. J. Bauer, R.K. Englund, M. Krebernik = OBO 160/1, Univesittsverlag Freiburg
Schweiz, Freiburg & Gttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1998) 429585, 461.
22 Ibidem, 460.
13
border more than once. One constant in the narrative is the god Nin-irsu.k,
the true owner of the disputed region, whose rights had been reasserted by the
sovereigns of Laga. Despite their repeated intervention, however, their efforts
would have been fruitless without the direct presence of the divine power on
the battlefield.
A sacrilegious violation, therefore, triggers an event which alternates
between two extremes:
A) An act of divination that shows the king which way to follow. It might not
always be directly expressed, given that in the narrative pattern of the
text the mere mention of the divine will suffice to indicate its existence.
B) The victorious outcome, which ends in oaths or curses, both being discursive forms capable of influencing future behaviour by means of the
divine presence invoked.
Both extremes pertain to the celestial and not the human world, and for this
reason, I believe, the texts do not refer to the military campaigns in any detail.
This peculiar aspect seems to be the rule, considering that the most ancient
document on the outcome of battles, recently edited by Steinkeller, appears to
omit the very name of the king (unless it is mentioned in a lacuna), crediting
the warrior Zababa, the Ki polyad god, with each and every victory.23
The general context of the inscriptions is so manifestly focused on the religious aspect that the descriptions of the gods predilection for the sovereign
acquire a particular significance, culminating in the divine birth of Eanatum
in the Stela of the Vultures.24
To conclude the present section, I would like to underline the fact that the
corpus of the texts omits those very details which most interest the majority of
modern historians. The texts pass over military exploits, or political and economic records, or make just slight allusions to them, while entire sections are
dedicated to describing or enumerating ritual acts, including the building of
temples, or events which took place between the gods in the heavenly sphere.
All these aspects puzzle the modern researcher, whose impulse would be
simply to cut away all the oracles, oaths, curses, and gttliche Abstammung,
and confine himself to examining just the data that he feels he can call
23 P. Steinkeller, An Archaic Prisoner Plaque from Ki?, Revue dAssyriologie et Archaologie
Orientale 107 (2013) 131157. I thank my colleague and friend F. Pomponio for pointing it
out to me.
24
Sjberg, Die gttliche Abstammung der sumerisch-babylonischen Herrscher,
Orientalia Suecana 21 (1972) 87112.
14
Mander
objective. A misleading tendency, in my opinion, and in order to discuss it further, by way of example I have chosen the conflict Umma vs. Laga. As a matter
of fact, besides the relative wealth of inscriptions, there was another reason
for my choice: this border war is the paradigm Jacobsen studied in his seminal
paper The Historian and the Sumerian Gods,25 where that scholar discussed
this problem thoroughly.
Having examined the methodology for the study of this class of texts, the
Bau- und Weihinschriften, Jacobsen adopts a middle way, dismissing the idea
of being able to to think like a man from antiquity (as Croce suggested), but
opting to suspend judgement: it is no accident that he uses the Greek term
epoch,26 which Husserl borrowed from ancient Greek philosophy and which
constitutes a tenet of phenomenological thought.
The example Jacobsen discussed is precisely the Umma vs. Laga war examined in this paper. He interprets it, however, not as the history of a military
conflict, as it is held to be today, but as a form of lengthy legal proceedings culminating in the conviction of the criminal.27 Indeed, the polyad god of Umma,
the god ara, is never charged with any offence whatsoever, nor offended in
turn; it is men who are exclusively to blame: the Umma sovereigns, whose
behaviour was a violation of the cosmic order, albeit limited to a specific region.
After the conviction, the champion of the gods, Nin-irsu.k, is given the
task of entering the battlefield to restore order. The god operates on two levels. Besides his direct involvement, he also works indirectly, by generating sovereigns such as Eanatum or En-metena.k, who are attributed with having a
divine birth.
In this regard, it should be remembered that much later, in the maql ritual
for countering black magic, the gods were invoked to deliver judgements, and
the sentence damned a witch or warlock who had violated the world order to
disappear from the universe.

Hammurabis Wars
From a variety of sources covering the ten years (from 1770 to 1760 BC) of
almost uninterrupted military campaigns that led Hammurabi to rule the
whole of Mesopotamia, including monumental inscriptions, year names and
letters reporting news to the sovereigns, we learn that divination was held
25 Th. Jacobsen, The Historian and the Sumerian Gods, JAOS 114 (1994) 14553.
26 Ibidem, 149.
27 Ibidem, 149150.
15
in very high esteem. The Ancients used it not only to seek to understand the
divine will on crucial points, but also turned to it for minor matters. They used
it in wartime to locate as yet invisible enemy troops or to learn the outcome of
a battle in advance. In civilian life divination was deemed to be documentary
evidence in law suits to regain properties or possessions.
As far as major issues are concerned, I have earlier recalled Eanatums incubation rite in the Nin-irsu.k temple, an event that would trigger off the war
against Umma. What follows is a passage from a letter to the king of Mari,
Zimri-Lm, from one of his emissaries, who is reporting on Hammurabis
decisions.28
Frequent raids and looting of troops by the king of Larsa.m, Rm-Sn, have
exasperated Hammurabi, who tells the unnamed emissary:
Now I urged (the sun-god) ama and (the polyad god) Marduk and they
answered me with yes; I would not have risen to this offensive without
(consulting) a god.29
Nonetheless, the most important documents for interpreting the meaning
attributed to war during Hammurabis reign are nonetheless the stelae, lost to
us, with the outstanding exception of one that is almost intact and kept in the
Louvre, called Codex Hammurabi. It is well known that the corpus of the 280
laws is included between a Prologus (I 1V 25) and an Epilogus (XL 1XLII 44).
In these two sections, the king, who had just accomplished the mission the gods
assigned him, elucidates the nature of this mission. Through the polyad god of
Babylon, Marduk, the greatest gods ordered Hammurabi to restore justice in
his reign. Indeed, the conclusive line asserts that this is the task of the king:
To make justice (marum) prevail in the land, to abolish the wicked and
the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, to rise like the
sun-god ama over all humankind, to illuminate the land (I 408).30
This incipit is followed by a sequence of 25 strings, each of them mentioning a city, its polyad divinity, the name of the main shrine and other standard
28 D. Charpin, Hammu-rabi de Babylone (Paris: PUF, 2003) 84 = D. Charpin, Archives
Royales de Mari XXVI/2 (Paris: ditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1988) 385, 1315;
W. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari (Winona Lake IN: Eisenbraun, 2003) 3334.
29 Heimpel, Letters..., 3334.
30 M. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (Atlanta GA: Society of
Biblical Literature, 1997) 767.
16
Mander
information. So, there are 25 units that bring together various manifestations
related to one and the same cosmic force, the polyad divinity. Over these
25 cities Hammurabi, for the peoples good, (ana r nii ubbim I 49), extended
his rule.
This is the list of cities added to the Babylonian kingdom after their conquest by Hammurabi, who freed them, in order to bring them back into the
celestial order.
Just as Gilgame, with his brightness (me-lam), forced his besieger Agga to
surrender by the walls of Uruk, when Hammurabi achieves his goal he also
shines over the conquered cities like a beneficial sun belonging to a divine
order, which recalls Bottros beings with a high ontological density, which
I mentioned earlier.31
Conclusions
The connection between the mythological level (Lugal-e, Enma eli) and
that of the celebrative narration of military exploits (Eanatum, En-metena.k;
Hammurabi) can be made only if the cosmological meaning of the former
is explored more fully. The safest way to do this is a comparison with analogous mythological material from corresponding narrative contexts in other
cultures.
To make this comparison, I now turn to a seminal study by Ananda
Coomaraswamy.
Coomaraswamy broadly outlined such a comparison, gathering material
from various mythological traditions to elucidate the cosmological meanings of the Indian myth of Indra and Namuci, which strongly resembles both
Lugal-e and Enma eli.32 He assumed that the myth of Indra and Namuci
was one of many manifestationsincluding the epic tale of the Round Table
cycle Sir Gawain and the Green Knightof what he described as a hidden
framework common to the mythological heritage of several other cultures
from around the globe. That myth therefore becomes the paradigm of the
expression of concepts which are common to the majority of humanity.
31 J. Bottro, Religion..., 38.

32 P. Mander, The Magic Duel from Sumer to Grail: Considerations on a Study by
A.K. Coomaraswany, IsimuRevista sobre Oriente Prximo y Egipto en la antigedad
forthcoming.
17
Elsewhere33 I have discussed Coomaraswamys study of the Mesopotamian

material at length; here I will confine myself to examining those points that
illuminate our understanding of the religious concepts underlying warfare.
Theme a)
A world ruler god, who intends to impose order on the universe, and whose
paradigm is Indra, beheads a titan (Namuci), whose head rolls on the ground
or, alternatively, becomes the sun. As a consequence of this feat, the victorious
god can release the pent-up waters, which must be understood as the source of
all things.34 In fact, the sun, which indicates the passing of days and months,
is the symbol of time, which devours its own offspring. Even if no beheading
is reported in either Lugal-e or Enma eli, it very likely appears in some as yet
undocumented variation, where the solar nature of the severed head is evident, as the iconography shows.35
Theme b, c)
The two contenders are not strangers to each other: they might even be
brothers36 (theme b), or they may have been friends in the past, or the Titan
may even have spontaneously offered himself as a victim to the god. I have discussed elsewhere the affinities between Asag and Nin-urta.k.37 Any reference
to the struggle between Good and Evil is out of place, because Coomaraswamy
mentions Purua, the divine figure who, when split in half, gives rise to Heaven
and Earth. The defeated god lends his body in order to form the cosmos, the
parts of which are fashioned from his limbs38 (theme c). This latter variation is
documented by the dismemberment of Tiamat by Marduk.
Theme g and h)
Coomaraswamy further examines the topic of the bisectionsuch as that
of Heaven and Earthbroadening his analysis to include the body of death
which Saint Paul exhorts man to cast off.39
33 Mander, The Magic...forthcoming.

34 A.K. Coomaraswamy, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Indra and Namuci, Speculum
19/1 (1944) 10425, 105.
35 H. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Orient, Fourth Revised Impression
(Harmondsworth UK: Penguin Books, 1969) tab. 58 (B); A. Green, Ancient Mesopotamian
Religious Iconography in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (ed. J.M. Sasson, vol. III,
New York: C. Scribners SonsSimon & Schuster Macmillan, 2005) 183755, 1852.
36 Coomaraswamy, Sir Gawain..., 106.
37 Mander, The Magic Duel...forthcoming.
38 Coomaraswamy, Sir Gawain..., 108.
39 Ibidem, 1089.
18
Mander
After his victory over his enemy, Indra becomes Indra the Great and
assumes the role that Namuci (Vtra) once held, before being beheaded.40
Not only does decapitation symbolize here the liberation of the sun from the
darkness; it also stands for the production of multiplicity out of One. Beings
can realise their own potential once they are released from Varuas bonds. It
is important to observe that this realization is possible only between Heaven
and Earth, that is to say, between Time (which is started by the regular rotation of the starry vault) and Space (which is expressed by the Earths breadth)41
(theme g). With this pivotal event, the course of time and becoming is set in
motion, the symbol of which is the flowing of the waters. In figurative terms:
The sacrifice of the One in order to repopulate the wasteland42 (theme h).
Following Coomaraswamys cosmological interpretation, if the metaphysical transition from Unity to Plurality by means of the creation of Space and
Time, and the return to Unity, constitute the universal meaning of the myth,
this meaning forms the underlying principle of the more specific interpretation that Sumerians and Babylonians assigned to war.
War, therefore, does not only enable both the restoration of a violated cosmic order (Laga vs. Umma) and the realization of the divine plan to revive
justice (marum) in the country (Hammurabi), but makes the defeated, and
his mortal remains, part and parcel of the reorganization of the cosmos. Ninurta.k unleashes the waters of the Tigris, but, even more explicitly, Marduk
organizes the world around the carcass of Tiamat, whom he has defeated
and killed.
This, then, is the crucial element: not just the battle in itself, but, above all,
the rituals performed upon the victorious outcome of that battle. And these
rituals take two forms.
The contraposition of two armies is not a deviation from the mythological pattern: the former army fights on behalf of Nin-urta.k, alias Nin-irsu.k /
Marduk, and the latter may consist of a multitude of beings, as documented in
the mythology.
The enemies defeated and killed by Nin-urta.k / Nin-irsu.k, besides Asag,
are well known, although the respective tales are lost to us. The Enma eli tells
how Marduk could only confront Tiamat after overcoming her army of eleven
monsters, led by Kingu.43
40 Ibidem, 1089.
41 Ibidem, 109.
42 Ibidem, 109, fn 2.
43 J.S. Cooper, The Return of Ninurta to Nippur (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum,
1978) 1414; F.A.M. Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits (Groningen: Styx &
PP, 1992) 1457.
19
The first ritual outcome of the battle concerns the remains of the fallen
enemies. The heaps of corpses are more than just a macabre warning; they
constitute the core of a religious ritual intended not only to pacify the ghosts
(gidim / eemmu) of the enemies killed, but also to achieve this pacification by
lifting their corpses on high, toward the heaven of the gods, as a sort of raw
material snatched from the jaws of chaos.
Unfortunately, the passage is fragmentary, but a heap of corpses can be
found in Lugal-e. The following is the description of the conclusive phase of
the battle between Nin-urta.k and Asag:
Nin-urta.ks splendour covered the Land, he pounded the Asag like roasted
barley, he......its genitals (?), he piled it up like a heap of broken bricks, he
heaped it up like flour, as a potter does with coals; he piled it up like stamped
earth whose mud has been dredged. The hero had achieved his hearts desire.
Nin-urta.k, the lord, the son of Enlil,......began to calm down.44
Similarly to the act of heaping high the bodies of fallen enemies, in the erection of a ziggurat earth was lifted towards the sky (in the form of clay bricks),
and the ziggurat became more and more slender towards the top, the point or
the cella at which it touched the sky.
This brings us to the second ritual outcome of the battle.
Just as the defeated monster (Anzu) becomes the gods helper in another
tale from the Nin-urta.k myth,45 in the same way the defeated entered the
winners orbit. Indeed, the oaths at the conclusion of the Stela of the Vultures,
and likewise the erection of the copies of the stela of the Codex Hammurabi
in cities across his empire, reflect the conclusion of the path taken by the vanquished lower forces, symbolically raised by the victors who had gained control over them.
Another analogy is the story of how the king of Ki Agga became Gilgame
vassal, when the latter defeated the former by appearing in all his brightness
(me-lam) on the walls of Uruk. To highlight the overwhelming significance
of this episode, I recall how Achilles shout caused the Trojans to retreat,
44 Transl. etcsl Nin-urta.ks exploits: a ir-sud (?) to Nin-urta.k verses 28199. See also the
translations by J. van Dijk, LUGAL UD ME-LM-bi NIR-L, tome I, Introduction, Texte
composite, Traduction, (Leiden: Brill, 1983) 87-8 and Jacobsen, The Harps...(New Haven
CT: Yale University, 1987) 250, resumed in Th. Jacobsen, The Asakku in Lugal-e in
A Scientific HumanistStudies in Memory of Abraham Sachs (eds. E. Leichty, M. de Jong
Ellis, P. Gerardi, Philadelphia PA: Philadelphia University Museum, 1988) 22532, 22829.
45 Th. Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1976)
128129; Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective..., 151157; P. Mander, I Mischwesen
nella religione mesopotamica in Monstra. Costruzione e Percezione delle Entit Ibride e
Mostruose nel Mediterraneo Anticovol. I (ed. I. Baglioni, Roma: Edizioni Qasar, 2013)
14959, 155.
20
Mander
when the hero appeared before them at the Achaian trench, after learning of
Patroclus death in Book 18 of the Iliad. This episode clearly echoes the one in
the Sumerian poem, and its borrowing through the ages and different cultures
clearly demonstrates its expressive power.
Incidentally, it should be remembered that in the Laga inscriptions the
diverting of canals is also mentioned as one of the violations perpetrated by
Umma.46 Wu Yuhong, in fact, has put forth the theory that the mythical war
between Agga of Ki and Gilgame of Uruk was the paradigm for real wars over
access to irrigation.47
The triumphant brightness of the melamm of Nin-urta.k in Lugal-e, and
Gilgame himself in Gilgame and Agga, as well as Hammurabis solar glow
(kma ama), after he has restored justice, are powerful images, because they
express the assertion of a principle which succeeds in reintegrating the vanquished, and thus restoring the cosmic order to the wasteland.
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Literaturen: ausgewhlte Vortrge der XXXII. Reconcontre Assyriologique
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NABU 1998/4 n. 103, 935.
Some Remarks Concerning the Development of the

Theology of War in Ancient Mesopotamia
Vladimir Sazonov
Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death. The Way
(Tao) to survival or extinction.1
Sun Tzu, 544496 BC, Art of War
Introduction2
As we know, religion and politics in Ancient Mesopotamia have always been
very closely connected. Theology was a very influential and powerful political
weapon. As theologian Espak rightly remarked:
It can be stated that in Ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament and later
Christian understanding, religious warfare or the theology of war was
mostly in service to a desired political goal. When there was a political
need to attack someone, theological reasoning was used to justify, explain
or motivate the war.3
So, the theology of war4 very often served political goals not only in Ancient
Near Eastern but in Old Testament5 and Christian ideologies too. This remains
1 Sun Tzu, Art of War (transl. R.D. Sawyer, Boulder-San Franscisco-Oxford: Westviews Press,
1994) 167.
2 This article was written with the financial support of grants ETF8993, ETF8669 and
PUT500. I am very thankful for critical remarks to dr. Sebastian Fink and dr. Mait Kiv.
3 P. Espak, The Emergence of the Concept of Divine Warfare and Theology of War in the
Ancient Near East, ENDC Proceedings 14 (2011) 127.
4 Different aspects of the theology of war and justification of war in Ancient Near East have
been discussed by many scholars (e.g. S.-M. Kang, Divine War in the Old Testament and in
the Ancient Near East (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1989); F.M. Fales, Preparing for
War in Assyria in Economie antique: La querre das les economies antiques (eds. J. Andreau,
P. Brient, R. Descat, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, France: Muse archologiqque dpartemental, 2000) 3562; W. Mayer, Waffenreinigung im assyrischen Kriegsritual in Kult,
Konflikt und Vershnung (Beitrge zur kultischen Shne in religisen, sozialen und politischen
Auseinandersetzungen das antiken Mittelmeerraums, Verffentlichungen des AZERKAVO/
24
sazonov
the case even today in the post-modern and high-tech world of the Middle
Eastern region at the beginning of the 21st century where the influence of radical political-religious movements and organizationsespecially within Islam
(e.g., Salafism)has become significantly influential and religion is still very
closely related to politics, to such an extent that politics and theology often
cannot be separated. Theology is used even now by religious fundamentalists
and extremists for their political goals and for the justification of wars, terror,
genocide, etc.for example, the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.6
In this article I would like to provide an overview of the development of the
theology of war in Ancient Mesopotamia from the Early Dynastic Period until
Neo-Assyrian times.

Sumer and Akkad
In written sources and iconography we can find evidence for the theology of
war in Mesopotamia from as far back as Early Dynastic Sumer. The earliest evidence for this comes from Early Dynastic Lagash, the ancient city from which
we have managed to gather the largest number of royal inscriptions, including
over 50 from the reign of Ur-Nane (ca. 2520 BC). Almost all of these inscriptions describe building or rebuilding temples for important gods of Lagash
such as Ninirsu or Nane, etc.,7 but, as shown by Peeter Espak, there is one
SFB 493, vol. 2, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001) 12333; W.J. Hamblin, Warfare in the Ancient
Near East to 1600 BC. Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (New York: Routlege, 2006);
Z. Bahrani, Rituals of War. The Body and Violence in Mesopotamia (New York: Zone Books,
2008); R. Schmitt, Der Heilige Krieg im Pentateuch und im deuteronomistischen
Geschichtswerk in Studien zur Forschungs-, Rezeptions- und Religionsgeschichte von Krieg
und Bann im Alten Testament (AOAT 381, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2011); P. Espak, Evolution
toward the concept of Holy War in the Ancient Near East in Society of Biblical Literature
with European Association, of Biblical Studies (International Meeting of Society of Biblical
Literature, Tartu University, 25.29. July 2010, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010) 52;
Espak, The Emergence..., 11529); See also D.S. New, Holy War. The Rise of Militant Christian,
Jewish and Islamic Fundamentalism (North Caroline-London: McFarland&Company, Inc.,
Publishers, 2002).
5 A. Pldsam, Sjast ja rahust Heebrea Piiblis (Of War and Peace in the Hebrew Bible), Eesti
Akadeemilise Orientaalseltsi aastaraamat (2009/2010) 8590.
6
See for example R. Martin, A. Barzegar, Islamism, Contested Perspectives on Political
Islam (Stanford, California: StanfordUniversity Press, 2010); C. Selengut, Sacred Fury:
Understanding Religious Violence (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2003).
7 Espak, The Emergence...; concerning gods in Lagash see G.J. Selz, The Development of
Pantheon in Laga, Acta Sumerologica Japonensia 12 (1990) 11142.
remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia
25
fragment among them (Ur-Nane E1.9.6b) in which the wars of Ur-Nane are
mentioned. This text comes from a destroyed stele fragment which had been
repurposed as a door socket in one house in Lagash.8 The first section of the
text Obverse describes the construction of temples, walls and canal digging by
Ur-Nane. The second part of the text Reverse is more interesting, however;
a war with Umma and Ur is mentioned there.
Reverse
Col. i 1iii 111
[Ur-Nane, king] of Laga went to war against the leader of Ur and the
leader of ia (Umma). The leader of Laga defeated and [captured] the
leader of Ur. He captured admir[al]. He captured Ama-barasi and
Kiibgal, lieutenants. [He captured] Papursag, son of Uuu He captured
[PN, the lieut]enant (and) buried (his own casualties with honour) in
tumuli. He defeated the leader of ia (Umma).9
As Espak points out, this text is probably the earliest known longer description of an historical event in Mesopotamian history and belongs to the first
written records of warfare.10 All the previous texts from Early Dynastic Sumer
were only very short statements about building temples or sometimes digging
canals, or simply named the ruler at the time, or sometimes his titulary. In this
Ur-Nane inscription the city-ruler of Umma, named Pabilgatuk, was killed or
captured. In addition, there is also a list of enemy officers and officials who
were taken as prisoners by Ur-Nane. Ur-Nane also goes on to mention the
construction of burial mounds.11 In Espaks opinion it seems that these burials
were meant for fallen soldiers (and they could also be enemy soldiers). The
interesting fact is that no gods are mentioned in the text, no divine force at all.
Actually we have no evidence from Ur-Nane or any earlier period concerning
the theology of war. I agree with the following opinion proposed by Espak:
8 V.E. Crawford, Inscriptions from Lagash: Season Four 19751976, JCS 29 (1977) 19297.
9 RIME 1 Ur-Nane E1.9.1.6b.
10 Espak, The Emergence..., 118, 120. In 2013 Piotr Steinkeller published an article An
archaic prisoner plaque from Kithis is an edition of one archaic stele from city of Ki
(dated ED II or ED I period) and inscription is a list of prisoner of war and it is the earliest known historical document from Sumer and it gives some information about wars
between Ki and other cities (P. Steinkeller, An Archaic Prisoner Plaque from Ki, Revue
dassyriologie et darchologie orientale 1/107 (2013) 13157.
11 RIME 1 Ur-Nane E1.9.1.6b.
26
sazonov
Maybe this indicates that the concept of holy war or theology of war
was not fully developed in the minds of the ancient Mesopotamians and
warfare was seen as a fight between human forces. Since the early city
deities were mostly gods of fertility and benevolence, and not mighty
war lords, this idea seems plausible. Although divine advice and approval
was most certainly requested of the gods by priests in various ceremonies
and rituals before and during the war, the direct involvement of gods in
violence between human armies might have been unusual thinking.12
Actually, the theology of war was developing all the time and, as early as
c. 2400 BC or earlier, E-anatum,13 ruler of Lagash, tried to justify his military
campaigns using theology, divine forces and gods.
Here I will select only a few examples of wars between E-anatum and the
leader of Umma and Akak. E-anatum used theological justification for his
aggressive politics and war. He also used theology for propaganda.
xi 2123 E-[anatum] destroyed the foreign lands for the god Ninirsu.14
xi 24xii 4 E-an[atum] restored to the god Ninirsus control [his]
belov[ed field], the Gueden[a].15
xvi 1217) E-anatum gave the great battle net of the god Enlil to the leader
of i[a] (Umma), and made him swear to him by it.16
xvi 1824) The leader of ia (Umma) swore to E-anatum: By the life of
the god Enlil, king of heaven and earth! I may exploit the field of the god
Ninirsu as an interest-bearing loan.17
ii 15) [The god Ninirsu] ordered E-anatum and he destroyed ia
(Umma).18
iv 20v 8) All the foreign lands trembled before E-anatum, the nominee
of the god Ninirsu. In the year of the offensive of Akak E-anatum, nominee of the god Ninirsu, crushed Zuzu, king of Akak, (all the way) from
Antasur of Ninirsu to Akak, and killed him.19
12 Espak, The Emergence..., 120.
13 I.J. Winter, Eannatum and the King of Ki? Another look at the Stele of the Vultures
and Cartouches, in Early Sumerian Art, Zeitschrift fr Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische
Archologie 76 (1986) 20512.
14 RIME E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 132.
15 RIME E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 132.
16 RIME 1 E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 132133.
17 RIME 1 E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 133.
18 RIME 1 E-anatum E1.9.3.3, 143.
19 RIME 1 E-anatum E1.9.3.5, 147.
27
As we have seen, E-anatum used gods (Enlil, Ninirsu and other gods) to justify his wars. E-anatums military campaigns were undertaken by divine order
given by the gods or divine powers. E-anatum shows in his inscriptions that
he was led by Enlil or Ninirsu; he was the chief or commander of the army
of Lagash but was always supported or commanded by great gods. He subjugates the foreign lands for the god Ninirsu. At the same time, E-anatum
mentions that he was E-anatum, granted strength by the god Ninirsu and he
was E-anatum, who has strength, declares the foreign land belongs to him. In
Peeter Espaks opinion this is the first evidence of the idea of a theology of war:
The inscriptions of the king E-anatum can be considered to be the first
recorded evidence of holy war or theology of war in human history.20
If we look at texts from the next period in the kingdom of Akkadthe
Sargonic Period (23342154 BC) when the first centralized territorial state
was founded21then the theology of war with the help and support of gods
is clearer and seems to be better formulated. Sargonic kings used different
ways to justify their aggression and military campaigns and the king was a
warlike hero22 supported by gods. In one of his inscriptions the Akkadian king
Narm-Sn wrote as propaganda:
Col ii 1-15) [Na]rm-S[]n, mighty king, king of Akkad, and of the four
quarters, spouse of the goddess Atar-Annunitum,23 leader of the troops
of the city of the god Ilaba, whe[n] the goddess Itar...[h]im LACUNA24
In another inscription Narm-Sn mentions that he is on a mission from the
goddess Itar.25 Many times in his inscriptions Narm-Sn praises the warlike
Itar or atar-annuntum. As remarked by Aage Westenholz:
20 Espak, The Emergence..., 126.
21 See M. Liverani Akkad, the first world empire: structure, ideology, traditions (History of the
Ancient Near East, Padova: S.A.R.G.O.N., 1993).
22 See about king as heroG.B. Lanfranchi, The King as a Hero in Ancient Mesopotamia
in Eroi, eroismi, eroizzazioni dalla Grecia antica a Padova e Venezia (Atti del Convegno
Internazionele, Padova, 1819 settembre 2006, Padova: S.A.R.G.O.N., 2007) 1725.
23
The warlike Itar, see for example G. Colbow, Der kriegerische Itar: zu den
Erscheinungsformen bewaffneter Gottheiten zwischen der Mitte des 3. und der Mitte des
2. Jahrtausends (Mnchen: Profil-Verlag, 1991).
24 RIME 2 Naram-Sn E2.1.4.1, 88.
25 RIME 2 Naram-Sn E2.1.4.3, 96, rev. ii 1620; see for example inscriptions of E-anatum
RIME 1 E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 129130, iv 1819: The goddess Inanna accompanied him.
28
sazonov
I doubt very much that he invented that sobriquet for Akkades leading
deity, but it suited his own taste excellently. I also doubt that Naramsins
personal devotion to Ishtar was ever made and official Imperial ideology,
as is sometimes asserted. With the possible exception of Sennacherib
and Nabonidus, no Mesopotamian king ever sought to tamper with the
religious beliefs and cult practices of their subjects.26
There was no doubt that to be on a mission from a god, goddess or gods meant
that this mission (military or peaceful) was legitimate, was right, because it
was done by divine command in the name of the gods. In another Narm-Sn27
inscription about his campaigns against Ebla and Armanum, which he conquered and destroyed, we find:
i 110) Whereas, for all time since the creation of mankind, no king whosoever had destroyed Armnum and Ebla,
i 1120) the god Nergal, by means of (his) weapons opened the way for
Narm-Sn, the mighty, and gave him Armnum and Ebla.
i 2129) Further, he gave to him Amanus, the Cedar Mountain, and the
Upper Sea.
i 30ii 7) By means of the weapons of god Dagn, who magnifies his kingship, Narm-Sn, the mighty, conquered Armnum an Ebla.
ii 819) Further, from the side of Euphrates River as far as (the city of)
Ulium, he smote the people whom god Dagn had given to him fo the
first time.28
Again, theology was used for the justification of Narm-Sns aggressive politics against territories in Syria and Lebanon, but also in Zagros and Elam. This
fine illustration of Narm-Sns aggressive politics is not only represented in
his inscriptions but also in his famous Victory Stele.29
26 O BO 160/3, 49.
27 RIME 2 Narm-Sn E2.1.4.26, 132133.
28 RIME 2 Narm-Sn E2.1.4.26, 32133.
29 Although the stele of Narm-Sn is not the first triumph stele from Mesopotamia (see
for example Stele of Vultures of E-anatum (see I.J. Winter, After the Battle is Over: The
Stele of the Vultures and the Beginning of Historical Narrative in the Ancient Near
East in Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity to the Middle Ages (eds. H. Kessler, M.S. Simpson,
Washington D.C.: National Gallery, 1985) 1132, or others steles), his stele is, however,
the one of the best examples of state propaganda from Ancient Mesopotamia where
the king was represented as a valiant, well-muscled, mighty man, invincible and deified
hero, who killed Lullubeans. It was fashioned from sandstone and stands approximately
29
From the Ur III period (21122004 BC) or the Old Babylonian Period (2000
1595 BC) we can also uncover many good examples in which theology was
used for the justification of wars. In A praise poem of ulgi (ulgi B) king ulgi
(20932047 BC) declares:
2538. I place my foot on the neck of the foreign lands; the fame of my
weapons is established as far as the south, and my victory is established
in the highlands. When I set off for battle and strife to a place that Enlil
has commanded me, I go ahead of the main body of my troops and I clear
the terrain for my scouts. I have a positive passion for weapons. Not only
do I carry lance and spear, I also know how to handle slingstones with a
sling. The clay bullets, the treacherous pellets that I shoot, fly around like
a violent rainstorm. In my rage I do not let them miss.
3951.I sow fear and confusion in the foreign land. I look to my brother
and friend, youthful Utu, as a source of divine encouragement. I,ulgi,
converse with him whenever he rises over there; he is the god who keeps
two meters high. It was taken by the Elamite king utruk-nahhunte from Sippar to Susa
in the 12th century BC (OBO 160/3, 67). The stele of Narm-Sn with his inscription was
found by archaeologists in Susa in South-West Iran and is now located in Paris in the
Louvre. Narm-Sn was represented as towering above his soldiers, 1.5 times taller than
his warriors. On the stele Narm-Sn is shooting his enemies with arrows from a bow and
he wears a horned crownthis was a typical symbol of the deification of divine creatures in Mesopotamia. This horned crown was used only by gods and demons, and also
defied rulers. This important attribute or sign of deification attests to the fact that NarmSn had already been deified during his reign (W. Orthmann, Der alte Orient, Propylen
Kunstgeschichte (Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Wien: Propylaen-Verag, 1985) pics. 104; OBO
160/3, 67). If we compare, for example, the Narmer Palette from Egypt (31st century BC)
with the Narm-Sn stele we find many similarities (Bahrani, Rituals..., 110119). Both
are propagandistic steles. Although the Narmer Palette is over seven hundred years older
than the Victory stele of Narm-Sn, they have a lot of similarities. On both of them a king
is represented killing enemies, depicted as a hero, larger than his enemies. Narmer, a king
of Upper Egypt, is killing a defeated enemy kneeling in front of the Pharaoh. This is static.
In the Victory Stele of Narm-Sn the king is represented as physically very strong, dominating over all men. Both Narmer and Narm-Sn are deified, and this is very important
from an ideological point of view. In Egypt the pharaoh was represented as a living god, it
is Egyptian tradition, but not from the point of view of theological aspects. On the stele of
Narm-Sn there is a divine emblem incorporating: the sun disk of the god ama; a star
which is probably the goddess Itar, protector of Akkad dynasty; and Narm-Sn wearing a horned crown, a symbol of deification (W. Farber, Die Vergttlichung Narmsins,
Orientalia Nova Series 52 (1983) 6772).
30
sazonov
a good eye on my battles. The youthUtu, beloved in the mountains, is the

protective deity of my weapons; by his words I am strengthened and
made pugnacious (?). In those battles, where weapon clashes on
weapon, Utu shines on me. Thus I broke the weapons of the highlands
over my knees, and in the south placed a yoke on the neck of Elam.
I make the populations of the rebel landshow could they still resist
my weapons?scatter like seed-grain over Sumer and Akkad.30
The Neo-Sumerian king ulgi used theology very effectively to support his military activity. We can see in his hymns and royal inscriptions that the theology
of war played an important part in royal ideology and politics and was used by
ulgi as an effective tool for launching wars, invasions, and of course for the
annexation of countries (e.g., Elam). Theology helped ulgi create a large territorial state (the Neo-Sumerian kingdom) and it was masterfully used in royal
propaganda.
Theology was also used by the kings of Isin, Larsa and Babyon to similar
ends. From the Old Babylonian Period (20001595 BC) we find many good
examples in which theology was used for the justification of wars. For example,
in the inscriptions of King Hammurapi (17921750 BC) we see the following
evidence:
i 111 [Hamm]u-rpi, mighty [ma]n, vali[ant k]ing, king who makes the
four quarters be at peace, favorite of the god An, who [makes] splendid
the...[of] the god En[lil],
i 1217 when the gods [An] (and) En[lil] magnified [his] destiny (and) the
great gods called him (by name)
i 1828 with his fetters he tied up the enemy, [his] weapon smote the arm[y]
that was hostile to hi[m], [in] combat he slew the ev[il] land. [His] force...
the disobe[dient].31

The Old and Middle Assyrian Periods
Moving on to Assyria, in order to show some examples of the development of

the theology of war we must examine the historical period when the city-state
Aur had become more or less independent of rulers of the Third Dynasty of
Ur (21122004 BC) after the fall of the Neo-Sumerian king. It is from this very
30 ETCSL translation t.2.4.2.02.
31 RIME 4 Hammu-rpi E4.3.6.4, 338.
31
moment that we can chart the beginning of the statehood of Aur. The god
Aur was always seen by Assyrians as a real sovereign and owner of the Land
of Aur.32 The ruler of Aur was simply his vice-regent. Only the god Aur
was regarded as almighty Lord of all Assyrian people.33 Lambert wrote about
Aur in a very interesting article where he remarked that in early Assyrian
inscriptions the rulers address him (i.e., the god Aur) only bl my lord, and
in early Assyrian names...it appears ilum/il the god/my god means Aur.34
In the longest inscription of the ruler of Aur, Erium I,35 we can read the
following:
35.) Aur is king, Erium is (his) appointee.36
This passage seems very similar to the passage from the text of Silulu who ruled
in Aur two or three generations earlier (c. 2000 BC) and who was mentioned
in the Assyrian King List:37
16.) Aur is king, Silulu is vice-regent of the city Aur, son of Dakiki,
herald of the city Aur, (your/his servant).38
As Larsen remarked quite accurately:
32 S.W. Holloway, Aur is King! Aur is King! Religion in the Exercise of Power in the NeoAssyrian Empire (Leiden, Boston, Kln: Brill, 2002).
33 S. Parpola, Monotheism in Ancient Assyria in One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in
the Ancient World (ed. B.N. Porter, Transactions of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute,
Vol. 1, Casco Bay, 2000) 168173. The motive of almighty Lordcompare with Christian
and Muslim God.
34 W.G. Lambert, The God Aur, Iraq 45 (1983) 823.
35 Erium or Irium.
36 RIMA 1, Erium I, A.0.33.1, 21, lines 3536.
37 B. Cifola, Analysis of Variants in the Assyrian Royal Titulary from the Origin to TiglathPilesar III (Napoli:Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1995) 8: The King List becomes reliable
starting from Sulili, the first of series of kings of Ashur whose contemporary epigraphic
sources are preserved. The scribes maintained that they based their work on these texts
to compile the King List itself; see also I.J. Gelb, Two Assyrian King Lists, JNES 13/4
(1954) 20930; J.J. Finkelstein, Early Mesopotamia, 25001000 BC in Propaganda
and Communication in World History, Volume I, The Symbolic Instrument in Early Times
(eds. H.D. Lasswell, D. Lerner, H. Speier, Honolulu: An East-West Center Book, the
University Press of Hawaii, 1979) 634.
38 RIMA 1 Silulu A.0.27.1, 1213, lines 1-6.
32
sazonov
It is echoed, of course, in the Middle Assyrian coronation ritual where the

priests leading the procession cry: Assur is king! The reluctance in
Assyria to make use of the title arrum for human beingsin marked
contrast to Babyloniapoints directly back to the OA period (and earlier) where Assur alone was king and where a man ruled the city as
Assurs representative or vicar.39
We have strong evidence for the theology of war in Assyria dating back to the
Middle Assyrian period when Aur became a territorial kingdom since 14th
13th centuries BC.40 The growth of power and the expansion into the Middle
Assyrian Kingdom was directly connected to this new political-ideological
program41 and, of course, to theology. The purpose of these Middle and NeoAssyrian kings geopolitical ambitions is splendidly reflected in their royal
inscriptions42 that listed their successful military campaigns. In royal
propaganda43 royal titles and epithets played a very significant role44 and their
use therefore became more and more ambitious with every successive ruler.
The kings began to use such universalistic titles and epithets as king of the
39 M.T. Larsen, The City and its King: On the Old Assyrian Notion of Kingship in Le Palais
er la Royaut (Archologie et Civilisation), (ed. P. Garelli, XIXe Recontre Assyriologique
Internationale, organise par le grupe Franois Thureau-Dangin, Paris, 29 juin2 juillet
1971, Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner S.A., 1974) 288; see also S.W. Holloway,
Aur is King!...
40 Cifola, Analysis..., 24.
41 V. Sazonov, Die Knigstitel und -epitheta in Assyrien, im Hethiterreich und in Nordsyrien
(Ugarit, Emar, Karkemi) in der mittelassyrischen Zeit: Strukturelle Gemeinsamkeiten,
Unterschiede und gegenseitige Beeinflussung (Tartu: Tartu University Press, 2010) 37;
J. Llop, The Creation of the Middle Assyrian Provinces, Journal of the American Oriental
Society 131/4 (2011) 591603.
42 H.D. Galter, Assyrische Knigsinschriften des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Die Entwicklung
einer Textgattung in Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten (eds. H. Waetzoldt, H. Hauptmann,
HSAO 6, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag, 1997) 539.
43 Concerning Assyrian propaganda see P. Garelli, La propaganda royale assyrienne,
Akkadika 27 (1982) 1629; G. Barjamovic, Propaganda and practice in Assyrian and
Persian imperial culture in Universal Empire: A Comparative Approach to Imperial Culture
and Representation in Eurasian History (eds. P. Fibiger Bang, D. Kolodziejczyk, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2012) 4359.
44 Cifola, Analysis...; V. Sazonov, Die mittelassyrischen, universalistischen Knigstitel und
Epitheta Tukult-Ninurtas I. (12421206) in Identities and Societies in the Ancient EastMediterranean Regions. Comparative Approaches. Henning Graf Reventlow Memorial
Volume (ed. T.R. Kmmerer, AOAT 395/1, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2011) 23576.
33
universe or king of the four corners,45 etc., and tendencies to universalism

became stronger and more noticeable, leading to the cult of personality of the
living kings. I present here only a selection of examples of the use of theology
for the justification of war.
King Shalmaneser I (12751244 BC), conqueror of Hanigalbat,46 used the
god Aur quite often in his propagandistic inscriptions to justify wars. The
king was even given a weapon by this god:
22-41) When Aur, the lord, faithfully chose me to worship him, gave me
the scepter, weapon, and staff to (rule) property the blackheaded people,
and granted me the true crown of lordship; at the time, at the beginning
of my vice-regency, the land Uruatri rebelled against me. I prayed to the
god Aur and the great gods, my lords. I mustered my troops (and)
marched up to the mass of their mountains. I conquered the lands
Himme, Uatqun, Magun (or Bargun), Salua, Halila, Lhu, Nilipahri (or S/
Zallipahri), and Zinguneight lands and their fighting forces; fifty-one
of their cities I destroyed, brunt, (and) carried off their people and
property. I subdued all of the land Uruatri in three days at the feet of
Aur, my lord.47
Shalmaneser I tried to show that his war against Urautri (future Urartu), fought
against rebels, was started with the support of the god Aur, and was therefore
a just war. It was Aurs wish to conquer Uruatri, and the enemy was subdued
at the feet of the god.
It seems that under the reign of son and successor to Shalmaneser I, king
Tukult-Ninurta I48 (12431207 BC), the theology of war was even more clearly
developed and better presented. We can find the propagandistic theological
justification of Tukult-Ninurta Is wars not only in his inscriptions49 but also
45 M.-J. Seux, Les titres royaux ar kiati et ar kibrt arbai, Revue DAssyriologie et
DArchologie Orientale 59 (1965) 118; see also Sazonov, Die mittelassyrischen..., 23576.
46 A. Harrak, Assyria und Hanigalbat, A Historical Reconstruction of Bilateral Relations from
the Middle of the Fourteenth to the End of the Twelfth Centuries B.C. (Hildesheim-ZrichNew York: Olms, 1987); S. Heinhold-Krahmer, Zur Salmanassars I. Eroberungen im
Hurritergebiet, AfO 35 (1988) 79104.
47 RIMA 1 Shalmaneser I A.0.77.1, 183, lines 2241.
48 See W.G. Lambert, The Enigma of Tukulti-Ninurta I in Studies on the History of Assyria
and Babylonia in Honor of A.K. Grayson (eds. G. Frame, L. Wilding, Leiden: Nederlands
Instituut Voor Het Nabije Oosten, 2004) 197-202; Sazonov, Die mittelassyrischen...,
23576.
49 See RIMA 1, 23199.
34
sazonov
in the Tukult-Ninurta Epic.50 This very propagandistic poem celebrated an

act of aggression against Babylonia by king Tukult-Ninurta I in which the king
of Assyria was portrayed as a brother of the warlike god Ninurta, adopted son
of god Enlil, and as an honorable and extremely powerful ruler with no rival:
His radiance is terrifying; it overwhelms all foes,
Every pious king of the four world regions stand in awe of him.
When he bellows like thunder, mountains totter,
And when he brandishes his weapon like Ninurta,
(15) all regions of the earth everywhere hover in panic.
Though the destiny of Nudimmud, he is reckoned as flesh
godly in his limbs,
By fiat of the lord of the world, he was cast sublimely
from the womb51 of the gods.
It is he who is the eternal image of Enlil,
attentive to peoples voice, the counsel of the land,
Because the lord of the world appointed him to
lead the troops, he praised him with his own lips,
Enlil exalted him as he (Enlil) were his (Tukulti-Ninurtas)
(20) own father, right after his firstborn son!52
50 P.B. Machinist, Literature as Politics: The Tukulti-Ninurta Epic and Bible, Catholic
Biblical Quarterly 38 (1976) 45582; P.B. Machinist, The Epic of Tukulti-Ninurta I.
A Study in Middle Assyrian Literature (A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
1978); V. Sazonov, Kuningas Tukult-Ninurta I: Tema eepos, kuninglik ideoloogia ja
propaganda / King Tukulti-Ninurta I: The Epic of Tukulti-Ninurta and Some Remarks
Concerning the Royal Ideology and Propaganda of the Middle-Assyrian Kingdom, Eesti
Akadeemilise Orientaalseltsi aastaraamat (2013) 3451.
51 cast sublimely from the wombsee for examplePraise poem of ulgi (ulgi A, 16):
I, the king, was a hero already in the womb; I, ulgi, was born to be a mighty man (ETCSL
t.2.4.2.01). The Neo-Assyrian kings also had divine originRINAP 4 Esarhaddon 43, 97:
The goddess Itar, [my lady], gave me [a royal destiny] as [a gift] (while I was still) in the
womb of my mother to refur[bish] the gods [...].
52 Enlils firstborn son was the god Ninurta. A King as son of a god or goddess is an old
motive used since the Early Dynastic periode.g., E-anatum was titled as nourished
with wholesome milk by the goddess Ninhursaga-zi-k-a dnin-hur-sa-ka-ke4 (RIME 1
E-anatum E1.9.3.1, 150, col. ii, lines 56). But not only the Early Dynastic rulers of Lagash
designated themselves as nourished with the pure milk of the goddess Ninhursa or child
born by the deity NN. Lugal-zagesi, king of Uruk and Umma, and some others also used
a similar epithetson born by the goddess Nissabadumu-tu-da dnissaba (RIME 1
35
Precious is he in (Enlils) family, for where there is

competition, he has of him protection.
No one of all kings was ever rival to him,
No sovereign stood forth as his battlefield opponent.53
Here we undoubtedly see influences from earlier periods, especially the
Sargonic period, but also the Ur III, Old Babylonian, etc. Benjamin Foster says
of the Tukult-Ninurta Epic that the narrative is composed in a bombastic,
heroic style, strongly reminiscent of the earlier epics about Sargonic kings.54
Tukult-Ninurta I invaded Babylonia and, as Foster rightly remarks, by
treachery of his Babylonian counterpart Kashtiliash, who broke a longstanding treaty between the two nations. Tukult-Ninurta calls upon Shamash,
god of treaties, to witness the Babylonians perfidy, and he assembles his
forces.55
Lugal-zage-si E1.14.20.1, 435, col. i, lines 2627) and nourished by wholesome milk the goddess Ninhursaga-zu-k-a dnin-hur-sa (RIME 1 Lugal-zage-si E1.14.20.1, 435, col. i, lines
2829). In one of his inscriptions the Akkadian king ar-kali-arr was titled as beloved
son of Enlildivine ar-kali-arr, beloved son of Enlil, migthy king of Akkad...
dar-k-l-LUGALr DUMU da-d-u dEn-ll da-nm LUGAL A-k-deki (RIME 2 ar-kaliarr E2.1.5.2, 188-89). I think that ar-kali-arr was the first king in the history of
Mesopotamia to claim the status of son of the main god Enlil. So, the king will be identified with the warlike hero god Ninurta, son of the main god Enlil (see V. Sazonov,
Vergttlichung der Knige von Akkade, Beihefte zur Zeitshrift fr alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft 374 (2007) 33337. Later it will become quite a popular phenomenon,
especially in the period of domination I Dynasty of Isin. For example, one famous king
of this dynasty Lipit-Itar (19341924 BC) called himself in his hymns and texts the son
of Enlil (Hymn Lipit-Etar A, line 2: dli-pi2-it-e4-tar2 dumu den-lil2-la2-me-en (ETCSL
c. 2.5.5.1); Lipit-Etar D line 39: [d]li-pi2-it-e4-tar2 nun za-a-e3 al2-la dumu den-lil2-la2ke4 (ETCSL c. 2.5.5.4); So, there are some texts that show that ar-kali-arr could be deified some years later.
53 B.R. Foster, Before the Muses. An Anthology of Akkadian Literature (Maryland, Bethesda:
CDL Press, 1996) 2145.
54 B.R. Foster, Akkadian Literature of the Later period (Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual
Record, vol. 2, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2007) 20. As the first Roman emperors Julius Caesar
and Octavianus Augustus became prototypes and archetypes for their successive Roman
emperors and all rulers of Late Antiquity, Middle Age and also later for the whole of
Western Civilization from the fall of the Roman Empire until contemporary history, so the
Sargonic kings Sargon and Narm-Sn became the prototypes of ideal kings or archetypal
rulers in the Ancient Near East for a very long time.
55 Foster, Akkadian..., 1920.
36
sazonov
(32) [The gods became angry56 at] the king of the Kassites betrayal

of the emblem [of Shamash],

Against the transgressor of an oath, Kashtiliash,

the gods of heaven and netherworld.

They were [angry] at the king, the land, and the people,
(35) They [were furious and with] the willful one, their shepherd.

His lordship, the lord of the world

became disturbed, so he [forsook] Nippur,

He would not approach [ ] (his) seat at Dur-Kurigalzu.

Marduk abandoned his sublime sanctuary, the city [Babylon],

He cursed his favorite city Kar-[].
(40) Sin left Ur, [his] holy place [ ],

Sh[amash became angry] with Sippar and Larsa,

Ea [ ] Eridu, the house of wisdom [ ],

Ishtaran became furious w[ith Der ],

Annunitu would not approach Agade [ ],
(45) The lady of Uruk cast [off her
]:

(All) the gods were enraged [ ]

[ ] on account of the verdict [ ]57
Neo-Assyrian Period
The Neo-Assyrian period continued Middle Assyrian traditions but, of course,

several new ideas were added. The growth of power, the expansion of the NeoAssyrian Empire and the creation of Pax Assyrica58 in the 8th7th centuries
BC were all directly connected to the new political-ideological programs of
56 Compare with The Cursing of Agade, where gods also became angry because of NarmSn (ETCSL t.2.1.5) or with the cylinder Cyrus II, king of Persia (559530 BC). In his propagandistic cylinder Cyrus II depicted King Nabonidus, last king of Babylon, as a very
negative person who caused many problems in Babylonia, and because of him the gods
became angry.
57 Foster, Before the Muses..., 213214.
58 On Pax Assyrica see F.M. Fales, On Pax Assyrica in the Eight-Seventh Centuries BCE and
Its Implications, in Isaiahs Vision of in Biblical and Modern International Relations
in Swords into Plowshares (eds. R. Cohen, R. Westbrook, New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2008) 1735.
37
the highly ambitious Neo-Assyrian kings such as Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II,59
Sennacherib,60 Esarhaddon and Aurbanipal. The aim of these Assyrian kings
geopolitical ambitions was splendidly reflected in their royal inscriptions that
listed successful military campaigns, among other feats, which they tried to
justify with the support of theology and the gods.61 Theological justification
also played a very significant role in royal propaganda62 and royal ideology.63
Like other Ancient Near Eastern kingships, Assyrian kingship was sacred.64
As with Narm-Sn, later Neo-Assyrian kings were represented on bas-reliefs
as very strong, well-muscled, men, as heroes, chosen by gods or even deified.
We know that the king in Assyria was depicted as a shepherd of mankind65
and as an appointee of gods, as vice-regent of the main god Aur on the
earth. Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, like many
other Mesopotamian kings and their predecessors such as Ur-Namma, ulgi
and Sargon II, also represented themselves as a true shepherdreu(m)
knu. Simo Parpola gives a very good description of the Assyrian king and
his nature: As a perfect man, the king was not only God in human form,
whose government represented the kingdom of heaven upon earth; he was
the very cornerstone of mans salvation. As we shall see, he was presented
in Assyrian ideology as a child of Godin this case represented by the goddess Itar, the mother aspect of Aur, rather than Aur himselfand his
appointed role was that of the good shepherd leading humans to the right
59 See W. Mayer, Assyrien und Urartu I. Der achte Feldzug Sargons II. im Jahr 714 v. Chr. (AOAT
395/1, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013).
60 See E. Frahm, Einleitung in Sanherib-Inschriften (Arhiv fr Orientforschung, Wien: Institut
fr Orientalistik 1997).
61 B. Oded, War, Peace and Empire. Justifications for War in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions
(Wiesbaden: Dr Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1992).
62 Garelli, La propaganda..., 1629; Barjamovic, Propaganda..., 4359.
63 P. Garelli, La conception de la royaute en Assyrie in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: New
Horizons in literary, ideologival, and historical analysis, Papers of a Symposium held in
Cetona (Siena) June 2628, 1980 (ed. F.M. Fales, Roma: Insituto per LOriente, Centro per
la antichit e ka storia dellarte del vicino oriente, 1981) 111.
64
W. Rllig, Zum Sakralen Knigtum im Alten Orient in Staat und Religion (ed.
B. Gladigow, Dsseldorf: Patmos, 1981) 11425.
65 See for example the inscription of Aurbanipal, who wrote: The god Adad released his
rains and the god Ea opened his springs. Year after year. I shepherded the subjects of the
god Enl[il] in prosperity and with justi[ce].translated byJ. Novotny, Selected Royal
Inscriptions of Assurbanipal (State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts, Volume X, Winona
Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014) Text 1, 90, iv 8.
38
sazonov
path as servants of God.66 Or as Mario Liverani states it: A king, while he

rules in Assyria is always legitimate, and legitimacy is expressed in religious
terms. In a broader sense, the divine approval is not the cause of the legitimacy of this action, it is clearly its expressed form. Therefore it would be incorrect to speak of the Assyrian king as non-absolutist in so far as he acts in
the name and stead of the god Aur, since Aur is precisely the hypostasis of
Assyrian kingship.67
The Assyrian war machine was closely related to the divine power of the
gods; it depended on god and on divine forces. In battle scenes in bas-reliefs
from Assyria we can find many scenes of plundering, razing and different
forms of physical torturehumiliation over the enemys body and violence
to the enemys body, impaling, etc. All these things were done with divine permission, in the name of great godsAur, ama, Enlil or Itar. Depictions
of such acts are commonly found in victory scenes from the Neo-Assyrian
period.68
This ideology is already apparent in the texts of the first great Neo-Assyrian
king Shalmaneser III69 (858824 BC). Shalmaneser used rather long, propagandistic, ideological and theological introductions to his military campaigns
in which he listed the main gods of Assyria who supported him and gave him
power. Shalmaneser III wrote:
i 110) God Aur, great lord, king of all the great gods; god Anu, king of
the Igigu and Annunaki gods, lord of the lands; god Enlil, exalted one,
father of the gods, creator of all; god Ea, king of aps, lord of wisdom and
understanding, god Sn, king of the lunar disk, lofty luminary; (i 5) god
ama, lofty judge of heaven (and) underworld; lord of all, god Ninurta,
strong and mighty one, splendidly preeminent of the gods, goddess Itar;
mistress of war and battle, whose game is fighting; great gods, who decree
destinies, who aggrandize my sovereignty, who have made great my
66 Parpola, Monotheism..., 192; Garelli, La propaganda..., 24.

67 M. Liverani, The Ideology of the Assyrian Empire in Power and Propaganda. A Symposium
on Ancient Empires (ed. M.T. Larsen, Power and Propaganda, Copenhagen: Akademisk
Forlag, 1979) 301.
68 Bahrani, Rituals..., 19.
69 Concerning Shalmaneser III see S. Yamada, The Construction of the Assyrian Empire.
A Historical Study of the Inscriptions of Shalmaneser III (859824 BC) relating to His
Campaigns to the West (Leiden, Boston, Kln: Brill, 2000).
39
dominion, power, my honorable name (and) my lofty command over

(all) lords;
i 1123) Shalmaneser, king of all people, prince, vice-regent of Aur,
strong king, king of all the four quarters, sun(god) of all people, ruler of
all lands, kings, desired object of the gods, chosen of the god Enlil, trustworthy appointee of Aur, attentive prince, (i 15) who has seen remote
and rugged regions, who has trodden upon the mountains peaks in all the
highlands, receiver of booty and tax from all the (four) quarters, who
opens paths above and below at whose strong attack for combat the
(four) quarters are distressed (and) (i 20) cities convulsed, strong male
who acts with the support of Aur (and) the god ama, the god of his
allies, and has no rival among the princes of the four quarters, magnificent king of lands, who has kept progressing by difficult ways through
mountains and seas;
i 2427) son of Ashurnasirpal (II), exalted prince, whose priesthood was
pleasing to gods and (who) subdued all lands at his feet,70 pure offspring
of Tukulti-Ninurta (II), who slew all his enemies and annihilated (them)
like a flood.71
This lengthy introduction to one of his royal inscriptions (Shalmaneser III
A.0.102.6) is a good example of the use of theology and gods in propagandistic ways and, more specifically, his justification of war and aggressive politics.
Shalmaneser, empowered by the gods including the divine judge ama, subdued the enemies at the feet of the gods. The king clearly presented himself
as the agent of divine will, which lent justification and granted success to his
violent acts.
70 Subdued/put all lands at this feet (deity N)a very old motive used as far back as in
in Early Dynastic Sumersee for example RIME 1 Lugal-zage-si E.1.14.20.1, lines i 36
ii 16: When god Enlil, king of all lands, gave to Luga-zage-si the kingship of the land,
directed (all) the eyes of the land (obediently) toward him, put all the lands at his feet,
and from east to west made them subject to him, then, from Lower Sea (along) the Tigris
and Euphrates to the Upper Sea, he (Enlil) put their road in good order for him. From
east to west, Enlil permitted him no rival. See also Middle Assyrian sources (e.g., RIMA 1
Shalmaneser I A.0.77.1, 183, lines 2241).
71 RIMA 3 Shalmaneser III A.0.102.6, 33-34.
40
sazonov
Among many different titles and epithets, Esarhaddon72 (reigned 681669

BC) called himself zikaru qaraduvaliant warrior,73 aarad kal malki
foremost of all rulers,74 migir ilanifavorite of the gods, etc.
This approach proved to be equally popular among the later Neo-Assyrian
kings, which can be amply demonstrated by way of the inscriptions of
Esarhaddon. Like the ancient Sumerian kings (E-anatum, Ur-Namma) who
referred to themselves as true shepherd and several other Mesopotamian
kings, some among them Assyrian, Esarhaddon also continued this tradition
and called himself r knu (true shepherd). Additionally, he listed his very
ambitious titulary and added that he is favorite of great gods, whom from his
childhood the gods Aur, ama, Bel, and Nabu, Itar of Niniveh, and Itar of
Arbela named for the kingship of Assyria.75 Here we can see some similarities
with older inscriptions from Sumer and Akkad when the god NN named those
for kingship,76 or granted kingship, or Itar supported Narm-Sn.77
Esarhaddon waged many military conflicts and wars during his reign.
Here are just a few examples of the way he presented his campaigns. At the
beginning of one of Esarhaddons inscriptions the king emphasised that he
was selected and chosen by gods, that he is their favorite and appointee:
72
The Neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon (Akkadian: Aur-ahu-iddin the god Aur
has given a brother), who was third king of Sargonic dynasty (771612 BC), son of
Sennacherib. Concerning Esarhaddon see for example D.J. Wiseman, The Vassal-Treaties
of Esarhaddon, Iraq 20/1 (1958); E. Leichty, Esarhaddons Letter to the Gods in Ah,
Assyria....Studies in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography presented
to Hayim Tadmor (eds. M. Cogan, I. Ephal, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991) 5257; W. Mayer,
Politik und Kriegskunst der Assyrer (Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995) 38197; M. Luukko,
G. Van Buylaere, The Political Correspondence of Esarhaddon (State Archives of Assyria 16,
Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 2002); RINAP 4; J. Lauinger, Esarhaddons Succession
Treaty at Tell Tayinat: Text and Commentary, JCS 1/64 (2012) 87123; K. Ulanowski, Divine
Intervention during Esarhaddon and Alexanders Campaigns in Egypt in Alexander the
Great and Egypt. History, Art, Tradition (eds. V. Grieb, K. Nawotka, A. Wojciechowska,
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014) 2948.
73 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 1, col II, 13.
74 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 1, col II, 13.
75 See for example RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 77, 154.
76 P. Steinkeller, On Rulers, Priests and Sacred Marriage: Tracing the Evolution of Early
Sumerian Kingship in Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East, Papers of the Second
Colloquium on the Ancient Near East. The City and its Life, held at the Middle Eastern
Culture Center in Japan (Mitaka, Tokyo), March 2224, 1996 (ed. K. Watanabe, Heidelberg:
Universittsverlag C. Winter, 1999) 10413.
77 See for example RIME 2 Narm-Sn E2.1.4, col ii 815.
41
Esarhaddon, great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria,
king of the four quartets (of the world), governor of Babylon, king of the
land of Sumer and Akkad; the one to whom the god Asur has stretched
out his hand, permanently selected by god Enlil, who was chosen by the
god Marduk, favorite of the goddess Irnini.78
In another inscription of Esarhaddon79 we find several lines that illustrate the
justification of his wars very well:
i 5362) I, Esarhaddon, who with the help of the great gods, his lords,
does not turn back in the heat of the battle, quickly heard of their evil
things. I cried out in mourning, I raged like a lion,80 and my mood became
furious. In order to exercise kingship (over) the house of my father I beat
my hands together. I prayed to the gods Aur, Sn, amas, Bl, Nabu, and
Nergal, Itar of Niniveh, (and) Itar of Arbela and they accepted my
words. With their firm yes, they were sending me reelable omens,
saying: Go! Do not hold back, we will go and kill your enemies!81
Later in the same inscription:
i 7476) The goddess Itar, the lady of war and battle, whose loves my
priestly duties, stood at my side, broke their bows, (and) she split open
their tight battle ranks.82
In 671 BC Esarhaddons military expedition began against Egypt and Tyre,
which was allied with Taharqa, king of Egypt.83 If we look at the beginning of
this inscription (unfortunately the first lines are broken) we can see Esarhaddon
trying to show that his campaign against Tyre and Egypt was a mission from
78 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 133, 271272, lines 89.

79 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 1.
80 King as a lion is a very old motive. See for example A praise poem of ulgi (ulgi A): line
3: I am a fierce-looking lion, begotten by a dragon, line 14: I am the growling lion of Utu
(ETCSL t.2.4.2.01).
81 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 1, 13.
83 K. Ryholt, The Assyrian Invasion of Egypt. Literary Tradition. A survey of the narrative source material in Assyria and Beyond. Studies Presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen
(ed. J.G. Dercksen, Leiden: Nederlands Instituut Voor Het Nabije Oosten, 2004) 483510.
42
sazonov
the god Aur who takes Esarhaddon and sends him to war against Egypt
and Tyre,84 as formulated in Esarhaddons inscription Esarhaddon 34:85
68) in my tenth campaign, the god A[ur...] had me take [...(and)
made] me [set out] to [Magan and Meluhha, which are called] Kush and
Egypt in (their) native tongue.86
These inscriptions make clear that the gods commanded Esarhaddon to
wage the wars, and empowered him for fulfilling this divinely prescribed mission. The king connected all his invasions, annexations, deportations,87 and
84 We have hundreds of pieces of evidence from Ancient Mesopotamia where the ruler
used theological justification for his military campaign or invasion of another country.
For example, Cyrus II, king of Persia (559530 BC) and descendant of Teispes, used the
conquest of Babylonias main god Marduk as one such justification. In his propagandistic
cylinder, Cyrus II depicted King Nabonidus, last king of Babylon, as a very negative person
who caused many problems in Babylonia, and because of him the gods became angry.
Cyrus shows himself, unlike Nabonidus, as very positive ruler and legitimate king who was
supported by Marduk and called by Marduk into Babylon. Cyruss cylinder is a clear example of state propaganda composed with the aim of justifying the annexation of Babylonia
and the usurpation of power in Babylon by Cyrus II who was actually an aggressor. The
political methods of Cyrus II are actually very close to those of Neo-Assyrian kings such
as Esarhaddon or Aurbanipal (669630 BC) who also did similar things and, in a similar
way, tried to justify the conquest of countries and tribes in Babylonia by using theology,
proclaiming religious tolerance all the while (R.J. van der Spek, Cyrus the Great, Exiles
and Foreign Gods, A Comparison of Assyrian and Persian Policies on Subject Nations.
Extraction and Control in Studies in Honor of Matthew W. Stolper (eds. W. Henkelman,
C.E. Jones, M. Kozuh, Chr. Woods, Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications, 2014) 260). So,
the kingship of Assyria in the first millennium BC had an impact on the formation of later
Ancient Eastern regional royal ideologies such as those of the Neo-Babylonian kings or
Teispids-AchaemenidsR. Rollinger, Das teispidisch-achaimenidische Groreich: Ein
Imperium avant la lettere? in Imperien in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenbergreifende und
globalhistorische Vergleiche (eds. M. Gehler, R. Rollinger, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014)
149192.
85 See K. Radner, Esarhaddons Expedition from Palestine to Egypt in 671 BC: A Trek Through
Negev and Sinai in Fundstellen: Gesammelte Schriften zur Archologie und Geschichte
Altvorderasiens ad honorem Hartmut Khne (eds. D. Bonatz, R.M. Czichon, F.J. Kreppner,
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008) 30514.
86 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 34, 878; Radner, Esarhaddons Expedition..., 3057.
87 B. Oded, Mass Deportations and Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (Wiesbaden:
Reichert Verlag, 1979); W. Rllig, Deportation und Integration, Das Schiksal von Fremden
im assyrischen und babylonischen Staat, in Die Begeegnung mit dem Fremden, Wertungen
43
killing with theology. All that he did was in the name of gods, by the support of
the gods or by the wishes or orders of the gods. As we see in some examples of
his campaign against a Sidon in revolt:
ii 6582) (As for) Abdi-Milkti, king of Sidon, (who) did not fear my
lordship (and) did not listen to the words of my lips, who trusted in the
rolling sea and threw off the yoke of the god AurI leveled Sidon, his
stronghold, which is situated in the midst of the sea, like a flood, tore out
is wall(s) and dwelling(s), and (ii 70) threw (them) into the sea; and I
(even) made the site where it stood disappear. Abdi-Milkti, its king, in
face of my weapons, fled into the midst of the sea. By command of the
god Aur, my lord, I caught him like a fish from the midst of the sea and
cut off his head.88
Thus Esarhaddon caught the king of Sidon and cut his head off by command of
the god Aur. It was the wish of the main god of Assyria. So this act of violence
was justified by using theology.
A similar justification of violence against the defeated enemy can be seen
in an inscription of Aurbanipal, the successor of Esarhaddon. In one scene,
which seems idyllic at first glance, Aurbanipal and his wife Aurarrat are
having a banquet in the gardens of Nineveh; but here we also find the head of
Teumman, the dead and defeated king of Elam. This, Aurbanipals banquet
scene from c. 645 BC, is now located in the British Museum.89 Aurbanipal
wrote: I, Aurbanipal, king of Assyria, displayed publicly the head of
Teumman, king of Elam, in front of the gate inside the city.90 Torture and
humiliation over the enemy and his dead body was part and parcel of psychical
influence. Not only had Aurbanipal humiliated Teumman, captured him and
cut his head off, it was all done by order of Aur, main god of Assyria. Aur
ordered Aurbanipal to destroy the kingdom of Elam, capture Teumman and
kill him. In the name of Aur, Teumman was beheaded and his dead body was
then humiliated.
und Wirkungen in Hochkulturen vom Altertum bis Gegenwart, (ed. M. Schuster, Colloquium
Rauricum, vol. 4, Stuttgart-Leipzig: Teubner, 1996) 10014.
89 See Aurbanipals banquet scene from Niniveh (645 BC), British Museum (London)
Bahrani, Rituals..., 22; J. Reade, Assyrian Sculpture (London: The British Museum Press,
2011) 88, fig. 106.
44
sazonov
Conclusion
As we can see, theology played an extremely important role in warfare and
especially in the justification of wars in Mesopotamia. We have hundreds of
pieces of evidence from Ancient Mesopotamia where the ruler used theological justification for his military campaign or the invasion of another country.
The theology of war in Ancient Mesopotamia developed with the new
period and became better formulated and more complex during the course
of history. If the inscription of Ur-Nane (Early Dynastic ruler of Lagash)
does not document the use theology (or much use of it) to support his wars
against Umma (we have no evidence) then his grandson E-anatum certainly
did use it and lot of relevant ideas were already quite well developed.91 Many
ideas from the Early Dynastic period (E-anatum, En-metena, Lugal-zage-si,
etc.) were adapted by Sargonic kings such as Sargon of Akkad or Narm-Sn,
or Neo-Sumerian kings (Ur-Namma, ulgi) who tried to implement theology
more effectively than their predecessors. We can see that the theology of war
was used by Sargonic and Neo-Sumerian kings in their aggressive politics as a
tool for justifying war; theology even helped them to create a centralized state
(Akkadian empire, Neo-Sumerian kingdom). In the Ur III period we find many
texts (especially ulgis hymns,92 but also other textsroyal inscriptions, etc.)
in which theology was often used very masterfully and to propagandistic ends,
and it seems that the theology of war at that time was already quite welldeveloped. In Assyria as far back as the late second millennium (Middle
Assyrian period) and the first millennium BC the theology of war became a
very important part of state ideology, one of the fundamental pillars of state
propaganda, and was used for justifying wars, deportations, mass killing, etc.
Like their predecessors, the Neo-Assyrian kings tried to show that they
were supported or commanded by the most significant gods of the Assyrian
Empire such as Aur, Enlil, ama, Itar of Nineveh and Itar of Arbela, etc.
All Assyrian kings wars were ordered by their gods. Shalmaneser III, TiglathPileser III, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon or Aurbanipal used Assyrian traditions,
ideas and methods of justifying war which had already been used for several
generations.
91 See for example inscriptions of E-anatumRIME 1, 125167.
92 J. Klein, A Self-Laudatory ulgi Hymn Fragment from Nippur in The Tablet and the
Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo (eds. M.E. Cohen, D.C. Snell,
D.B. Weisberg, Bethesda: CDL Press, 1993) 12431; J. Klein, Shulgi of Ur: King of a NeoSumerian Empire (Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. J.A. Sasson, New York:
Scribner, 1995) 84357.
45
Many ideas and phenomena originated from II or even III millennium BC,
from Sumer and Akkad (for example, ideas that the king has no rival, or the
king as a shepherd of mankind, or the divine origin of the ruler, lordship from
Upper Sea to Lower or from the east to the west, or the ritual of the washing of
weapons,93 etc.). So the theology of war is a very old and traditional phenomenon, continually changing, developing, transforming with each new epoch or
new term of rule, yet still retaining many similarities with its earlier manifestations. If we compare the theological justification of the Neo-Assyrian kings
with that of the period of E-anatum, En-metena, Lugal-zage-si or the Sargonic
period or the Ur III period, we find a lot of similarities and certain differences.
Of course, on one hand it was the same Mesopotamian cultural area where
people greatly honored ancient tradition, while on the other hand it was also
a dynamic culture, not isolated from outside influences. This is the reason why
in the inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian kings we find several elements originating from earlier timesfrom their predecessors in Assyria, but also from even
the Early Dynastic, Sargonic, Neo-Sumerian and Old Babylonian periods.
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Sun Tzu, Art of War (transl. R.D. Sawyer, Boulder-San Franscisco-Oxford: Westviews
Press, 1994).
K. Ulanowski, Divine Intervention during Esarhaddon and Alexanders Campaigns in
Egypt in Alexander the Great and Egypt. History, Art, Tradition (eds. V. Grieb,
K. Nawotka, A. Wojciechowska, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014) 2948.
R.J. van der Spek, Cyrus the Great, Exiles and Foreign Gods, A Comparison of Assyrian
and Persian Policies on Subject Nations. Extraction and Control in Studies in Honor
of Matthew W. Stolper (eds. W. Henkelman, C.E. Jones, M. Kozuh, Chr. Woods,
Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications, 2014) 233264.
A. Westenholz, W. Sallaberger, Mesopotamien: Akkade- Zeit und Ur III-Zeit
(Annherungen 3, OBO 160/3, Freiburg, 1999).
I.J. Winter, After the Battle is Over: The Stele of the Vultures and the Beginning of
Historical Narrative in the Ancient Near East in Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity to
the Middle Ages (eds. H. Kessler, M.S. Simpson, Washington D.C.: National Gallery,
1985) 1132.
, Eannatum and the King of Ki? Another look at the Stele of the Vultures and
Cartouches in Early Sumerian Art, Zeitschrift fr Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische
Archologie 76 (1986) 205212.
D. J. Wiseman, The Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon, Iraq 20 (1958) 199.
S. Yamada, The Construction of the Assyrian Empire. A Historical Study of the Inscriptions
of Shalmaneser III (859824 BC) relating to His Campaigns to the West (Leiden,
Boston, Kln: Brill, 2000).
Battle-Descriptions in Mesopotamian Sources I:

Presargonic and Sargonic Period1
Sebastian Fink
Our knowledge of ancient battles relies nearly exclusively on written sources
and, even worse, in a lot of cases we only have battle descriptions from one
side while the sources on the other side remain quiet. This is even the case for
battles which are regarded to be of utmost historical importance, like those of
the Persian wars.
But are battle descriptions in general reliable? With only one source available for a certain battle, source-criticism must mainly rely on a literary analysis
of battle descriptions. The limits of our knowledge of seemingly well-known
battles in the Greek world were demonstrated by Reinhold Bichler 20092
and he clearly articulated the problems to reconstruct ancient battles from
texts, which themselves have to reduce the complexity of the events they
describe and try to give these events an appropriate interpretationas the
modern historian does. At this point it seems questionable if a comparison
and source-critical analysis of battle descriptions can really contribute to the
reconstruction of events on ancient battlefield. Therefore this article does not
try to reconstruct the battles in third millennium Mesopotamia on the basis
of a source-critical reading of royal inscriptions. The aim of this article is to
analyze how wars and battles were described in early Mesopotamia in order to
answer the question of whether battle-descriptions follow a template or if they
are rather neutral descriptions of observed events. If the first is the case (which
I assume), than this article should be a further step toward a literary history of
battle descriptions in Mesopotamia, which could also prove useful for other
branches of history.
The method of choice is a chronological collection and analysis of battledescription that can be found in volumes I and II of the Royal Inscriptions
of Mesopotamia Early Periods (RIME). The first royal inscriptions from
Mesopotamia emerge around 2600 BC and are attributed to the Presargonic
1 I have to thank George Lang and Robert Rollinger for comments and language revision.
2 R. Bichler, Probleme und Grenzen der Rekonstruktion von Ereignissen am Beispiel antiker Schlachtbeschreibungen in Das Ereignis. Geschichtsschreibung zwischen Vorfall und
Befund (= Internet-Beitrge zur Archologie und Sudanarchologie X, ed. M. Fitzenreiter,
2009) 1734.
52
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Period of Mesopotamian history. Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300) is rightfully seen

as a major turning point of Mesopotamian history because he created the first
world empire in the Ancient Near East.3 The first known royal inscriptions
contain no narration of what we would consider a historical event; they are
often very short and consist of a kings name and sometimes of a dedication of
an object to a god. Nearly all of them are written in Sumerian, we only have a
few instances of inscriptions in Akkadian, but basically an inscription written
in logographic style could be read in several languages. The dating of the early
texts and therefore the dating of the early kings is very uncertain4 and therefore I will give no exact yearsthe sequence of the kings often relies on the
Sumerian King List which is quite a problematical source, but for large parts
of early Mesopotamian history the only source for a chronological structure at
all. Here I will present the texts simply in the geographical order in which they
were presented by Frayne.

Presargonic Period
The first description of a military event from the ancient city Ki is a text from
the king Enna-il, which is only known from a later copy.5 The text simply states:
1)dINANNA 2)en-na-il 3)DUMU 4)a-an[z] (AM.[IM].MI).MUEN 5)NIM
6)GN.
For the goddess Inanna, Enna-Il, son of A-Anzu, who smote Elam with
weapons.6
The phrase for describing the military event is GN. which is quite formulaic
and could be translated straightforward as to (smote with) the axe. The corpus of texts from Laga is more rewarding when dealing with our question and
the first, somewhat longer description is found in Ur-Nane 6b, reverse:
3 Akkad, the first world empire: structure, ideology, traditions (= HANE.S, v, ed. M. Liverani,
Padova: Sargon Ed., 1993).
4 R IME 1, 13.
5 For the details see the discussion in RIME 1, 75.
6 R IME 1, 75.
Battle-Descriptions in Mesopotamian Sources I
53
I 1)[ur-dnane] 2)[lugal] 3)laga 4)l.uri5 5)l-giKU.KI 6)ME+LAK 526

7)e--DU 8)l-laga II 1)l-ur 2)GN. m[u]-s 3)mu-[dab5]
Ur-Nane, king of Laga went to war against the leader of Ur and the
leader of ia (Umma). The leader of Laga defeated and captured the
leader of Ur.7
Then a long list of other captured enemies follows and at the end of the text a
kind of dust-tumuli (SAAR.DU6.TAG4) is mentioned for the first time, which
is interpreted by Frayne as an honorary burial for the dead soldiers of Laga.
The burial of casualties of war in tumuli will accompany us as a reoccurring
motif in Mesopotamian battle descriptions but the interpretations of these
burials vary. As already mentioned Frayne interprets these tumuli as honorary
burials of ones own casualties and not as heaps of the enemy dead (as some
scholars have previously translated).8 He states that he follows Josef Bauer9
in this respect, but a look at Bauers article shows that he gives arguments for
a contrary opinion and argues in favor of an interpretation of these tumuli as
heaps of dead enemies.10
In the royal inscriptions of Ur-Nane war is not a very prominent topic
only one out of thirty-three inscriptions describes acts of war in some detail.
Things only change with the so called Stele of the Vultures11 with the inscription of the grandson of Ur-Nane, E-anatum, who is one of the most prominent
warrior-kings of the third millennium. It even seems that E-anatum had his
own battle name.12 As the text describing the acts of war is much too long for
a detailed discussion of every line, I will only give an overview of the structure
7 Ibidem, 92.
8 Ibidem, 90.
9 J. Bauer, Der vorsargonische Abschnitt der mesopotamischen Geschichte in Mesopo
tamien. Spturuk-Zeit und Frhdynastische Zeit (= OBO 160/1, eds. J. Bauer, R. Englund,
M. Krebernik, Freiburg Schweiz: Academic Press, 1998) 564.
10 For an in-depth discussion of the question who were the deads in this tumuli with a somewhat open result see G. Selz, D. Niedermayer, The Burials after the Battle. Combining
Textual and Visual Evidence in Its a Long Way to a Historiography of the Early Dynastic
Period(s) (eds. R. Dittmann, G. Selz, Mnster: Ugarit Verlag, 2015) 387404. In this article
Selz also clarifies that Fraynes reference to Bauer is based on a misunderstanding.
11 For a discussion of this monument see Bauer, Der vorsargonische..., 457462 with further
references.
12 See RIME 1, 126 for a discussion and references to literature concerning this complicated
issue.
54
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of the text. It should be mentioned that the text is not complete, as the Stele of
the Vultures is only preserved in fragments.
The first three columns describe the cause for the war, namely the evil acts
of the leader of ia / Umma, that enraged the god Ninirsu. To solve this problem with Umma Ninirsu causes the birth of E-anatum, who is accompanied
by the goddess Inanna and breast-fed by the goddess Ninhursa, and finally
installed as the king of Laga (Col. ivv). So E-anatum clearly has a divine mission. In columns viix (columns viii and ix are heavily destroyed) Enanatum
is told by Ninirsu that he has to punish the evil neighbors in Umma. Peeter
Espak interprets this text as the first recorded evidence for the concept of a
holy war as the war itself and even the implementation of the semen of king
E-anatum in his mothers womb are described as a result of the divine will.13
Due to the lacunas in the text the battle description is missing, we are just
told in in the following columns that E-anatum won the war, established just
regulations and thereby accomplished his divine mission. The rest of the text
consists of oath-formulas that the defeated man of Umma had to swear in
order to secure future peace with the aid of the gods. Even if the real battle
description is more or less missing, this text clearly demonstrates that wining
a battle is based upon divine favor and thereby the description of the events is
highly interwoven with ideological matters. The destruction brought forth by
E-anatum is even described as a destruction of which only gods are capable,
a devastation originating from the kings control of windstorms and floods:
x 1-an-na-tm-me 2giKU.KI-a 3im-hul-im-ma-gim 4a-MAR mu-nitag4
E-anatum provoked a windstorm, like the baneful rain of the storm he
provoked a flood there in ia (Umma).14
At the end of the inscription we have a long listthe list begins after a lacuna
and ends with one, so we do not know its exact lengthof the victories of
E-anatum. The list uses the already known formula place name + GN. + s
(rev. col. vi 10rev. col. ix 2). More interesting than the textual evidence is the
pictorial one of this monument because it seems to contain the first depiction
13 P. Espak, The Emergence of the Concept of divine Warfare and Theology of War in the
14 See RIME 1, 131.
55
of a phalanx, i.e. a closed battle formation of foot soldiers equiped with shield
and spear,15 and E-anatum, who is fighting on a chariot.16
In E-anatum 3 a new formula is introduced to describe the defeat of the
enemy that uses the verb ha.lamto destroy:
ii4 giKUU.KI 5e-ha-lam
and he destroyed ia (Umma)17
Also E-anatums incscription no. 5 features a list of cities smitten with the axe
and mentions that tumuli were heaped up. In this inscription E-anatum is
praised as a mighty warrior before whom all the foreign lands tremble.18 He
appears to be the first ruler who constantly stresses his activities as a warrior
in his inscriptions, but single stages of each battle are not mentioned in any
detail, the defeat of the enemy is only described in stock phrases.
In inscription 2 of En-anatum I19the younger brother of E-anatum who
succeeded himwe find an account of the battle between En-anatum and
Ur-LUM-MA with some details, but again the main actors are the gods. They
decide what is going to happen and the king is depicted as a tool of the goods
who acts in order to establish the divine order. The structure of the text is characteristic for later battle descriptions from Mesopotamia and can be analyzed
by the following pattern:
1)
2)
3)
The evildoer gathers an army, that often includes mercenary soldiers

from foreign lands (vii 7viii 1).
The enemy transgresses (here the characteristic verb bal is used, which
basically means to turn but its meaning in this context is to transgress
the terms of an agreement or to transgress the divine world-order)
former agreements and borders (viii 24).
The enemy does not care about the will of the gods but relies on his own
strength and military power (viii 57).
15 The designation phalanx for the battle-formation depicted on the Stele of the Vultures is
common in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, see, e.g. Selz, Niedermayer, The Burials..., 394.
16
War scenes in Presargonic art are discussed in detail in E. Braun-Holzinger, Das
Herrscherbild in Mesopotamien und Elam (= AOAT 342, Mnster: Ugarit Verlag, 2007)
4654.
17 RIME 1, 143.
18 Ibidem, 147.
19 Ibidem, 17073.
56
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4)
The just king waits for the decision of his god and takes action according
to the gods will (viii 8x 5).
The just king defeats the enemy and reestablishes justice (x 6xi 6).
5)
The inscription 1 of En-metena, the successor and son of En-anatum I, describes

the ongoing conflict with Umma by using this very pattern. Additionally the
inscription of En-metena gives an account of the history of the conflict with
Umma before recounting the deeds of En-metena himself. Here we have the
first occurrence of the later on well-known motive of the enemy full of fear
who leaves his troops in order to save his own life:
iii 15ur-LUM-ma 16ba-da-kar 17-iKU.KI- 18e.gaz 19ane-ni REN60-am6 20g-i7-LUM-ma-r-nun-ta-ka 21e--tag4 22nam-l-ul-ba 23irPAD.DU-bi 24eden-da e-da-tag4-tag4
Ur-LUM-ma escaped, but was killed in Gia (Umma) itself. His asses
there were sixty teams(?) of themhe abandoned on the bank of the
LUM-ma-irnunta canal, and left the bones of their personnel strewn
over the Eden district.20
In contrast to the poor behavior of his enemy, En-metena takes good care of his
own casualties and gives them a proper burial (iii 2527).
Inscription 5 of URU-KA-gina, ruler of Laga, provides an interesting example of a fairly rare account of military events as the text recounts a seemingly successful campaign of URU-KA-ginas enemy, Lugazl-zage-si of Umma,
against the city-state of Laga. No battle is mentionedmaybe due to the fact
that URU-KA-gina lost the battlebut the result of the defeat, the plundering
of Laga and its various temples is described in detail. From the background of
the concept of a holy war the defeat of URU-KA-gina who presented himself
like his forefathers didas a righteous man who defends the claims of his god
Ninirsu, the defeat must have been an ideological disaster. At the end of the
inscription listing the various destroyed temples the text states that Lugalzage-si of Umma is responsible for this destruction and that these actions are
not a sin of URU-KA-gina. Thus Lugal-zage-si should be punished by his personal god (URU-KA-gina 5, vii 10x 3)21 Interestingly, the sources from Umma
do not mention military acts against Laga at all.22
20 Ibidem, 197.
21 Ibidem, 279.
22 Ibidem, 35776.
57
A text of An(u)bu (An(u)bu 1), a king of Mari, states that this king
defeated (GN.S) two cities and raised tumuli. This clearly shows us that the
traditional Mesopotamian formulas of depicting war were widely spread
already in Presargonic times.23 The same formulas are used in Samu 1
and 224, Iup-ar 125 and in the texts of the succeeding kings of Mari. In the
Presargonic corpus from Mari no new ways of describing battles can be found,
the repertoire is built on the well-known standard-formulas.
The last two texts to be discussed in this examination of Presargonic royal
inscriptions originate from Urukthe numerous texts from Ur do not mention wars at all. The first is an inscription of En-aku-Ana in which he states:
For Enlil, king of all lands, En-aku-Ana, lord of the land of Sumer and
king of the nationwhen the gods commanded him, he sacked Ki (and)
captured Enbi-Itar, the king of Ki. The leader of Ki and the leader of
Akak, (when) both their cities were destroyed...26
Finally all the precious items looted from Ki and Akak are brought into the
temple of Enlil. The last text even contains no direct allusion to war but bears
witness of a new trope, one with ideological consequencesthat of a king ruling the whole world:
When the god Enlil, king of all lands, gave to Lugal-zage-si the kingship of
the land, directed (all) the eyes of the land (obediently) toward him, put
all the land at his feet, and from east to west made them subject to him
then, from the Lower Sea, (along) the Tigris and Euphrates to the Upper
Sea, he (Enlil) put their roads in good order for him.27
This new ideology might be seen as an implication of the formation of larger
political units in Mesopotamia. The existence of such larger units and the
claim of one ruler to be king of all lands increase the probability of large-scale
conflicts and the existence of rulers continuously engaged in military conflicts.
To sum up: in the Presargonic texts we have the evidence for warrior-kings
like E-anataum who are constantly involved in warfare and who describe their
victories in their inscriptions. But these inscriptions mostly use standardized
23 Ibidem, 300.
24 Ibidem, 3079.
25 Ibidem, 31213.
26 Ibidem, 430.
27 Ibidem, 436.
58
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phrases that contain no information about what was really going on during the
battle. From an ideological point of view, as Espak has convincingly shown, the
concept of divine warfare is documented in Presargonic times and the pattern
developed in the Stele of the Vultures and described above shows up in many
later royal inscriptions.
As royal inscriptions are often known from copies by later scribes, e.g., the
text of Enna-il28 discussed above survived in a Ur III period copy, this clearly
demonstrates that scribes looked for existing models of describing the kings
deeds. If we consider the high number of later copies of the inscriptions of
the Sargonic Period, which are discussed in the next chapter, then it seems
that they have been regarded as exemplary inscriptions of exemplary kings by
the scribes who collected and copied them. A detailed study of Mesopotamian
scribes copying ancient inscriptions is provided by Stefan Maul.29

Sargonic and Gutian Periods
As already mentioned in the introduction the rise of the first dynasty of Akkad
can be seen as a major turning point in Mesopotamian history. For the first
time a huge territory ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean was
under the control of one Dynasty. After five kings the Akkadian state experiences a Period of Confusion and shortly afterwards the first world empire is
destroyed and only parts of it are taken over by the Gutiuma people from
the eastfor a short period of time. After the dynasty of Akkad the situation
seems to have been like before its riseMesopotamia is divided into a number
of city states again.
A major obstacle for the history of Akkad is the fact that Akkad, the capital
of this empire was never found.30 Nevertheless we have fairly a number of royal
inscriptions from this period as originals and also as copies from later periods
andas one could guessSargon, the founder of the dynasty of Akkad had
to fight numerous battles to establish his empire. The inscription Sargon 1 is
known in two versionsan Akkadian and a Sumerian oneand provides a
link to Lugal-zage-si who claimed to rule the world:
28 Ibidem, 75.
29 S. Maul, Tontafelabschriften des Kodex Hammurapi in altbabylonischer Monumen
talschrift, ZA 102 (2012) 7699.
30 See A. Westenholz, The Old Akkadian Period: History and Culture in Mesopotamien,
Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit (= OBO 160/3, eds. A. Westenholz, W. Sallaberger, Freiburg
Schweiz: Academic Press, 1999) 314.
59
Sargon...conquered the city of Uruk and destroyed its walls. He was

[victorious] over Uruk in battle, [conquered the city], captured [Lugal-z]
age-si, king of [Ur]uk, in battle and led him off the gate of the god Enlil in
a neck stock. (13).31
We can see that the description of the military events remain in the traditional
formulas in this inscription. In Sargon 3 we find a first example of a feature
that later on seems characteristic for the inscriptions of this dynastythe use
of exact numbers for the troops, casualties and captured enemies. It seems
that the information in the text is now becoming a little more informative. The
text states that Sargon conquered the city of Uruk with nine contingents from
Agade and captured fifty governors and the king.32 In a famous inscription that
reports that Sargon was victorious in 34 battles we have another exact number
that was the basis for a heated discussion about the question whether Sargon
had a standing army or not. Lines 3437 of the text read: 5,400 men daily eat
in the presence of Sargon.33
While the instances of the use of exactor seemingly exactnumbers are
relatively few in the inscriptions of Sargon the inscriptions of his successor
Rmu use numbers excessively. Here are some examples:
Rmu 1, 113: Rmu, king of the world, was victorious over Adab and
Zabala in battle and struck down over 15,718 men. He took 14,567
captives.34
Rmu 2, 113: Rmu, king of the world, was victor[ious] over Umma and
KI.AN in battle and struck down 8,900 men. He [took] 3,540 captives.35
Rmu 3, 113: Rmu, king of the world, was victorious over Ur and
[Laga] in battle and struck down 8,040 men. He took 5,460 captives.36
Rmu 3, 3036: Further, he expelled 5,985 men from their two cities and
annihilated them.37
This short listit could be prolonged by details of nearly every inscription
of this kingclearly exhibits that the style of the inscriptions changed with
31 RIME 2, 10.
32 Ibidem, 16.
33 Ibidem, 29.
34 Ibidem, 41.
35 Ibidem, 43.
36 Ibidem, 45.
37 Ibidem, 43.
60
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Rmu. Exact numbers are now considered to be an important part of battle

descriptions. As it seems possible that some persons might think that these
numbers are exaggerations Rmu anticipatorily swears in Rmu 6, 7883, by
the gods ama and Ilaba [...] that these are not falsehoods, (but) are indeed
true.38
In inscription 2 of Narm-Sn we can find a detailed account of the route of
the king and his army during a campaign against a coalition of Sumerian cities
and Amorites:
He (Narm-Sn, went) from Aimnum to iil. At iil he crossed the
Tigris River and (went) from iil to the side of the Euphrates River. He
crossed the Euphrates River and (went) to Baar, the Amorite mountain.
(ii 3ii 20).39
The text gives the details of the route and depicts the opening of the battle as a
personal decision of Narm-Sn (iii 913). After his victory the outcomes of the
battle are summarized as follows: He struck do<wn> in the campaign a total of
9 chiefs and 4,325 man. (iv 1318).40
Narm-Sn 6 describes the events during a battle in much more detail then
the texts discussed before. Ipur-Ki, a rebel king, goes to war and starts raiding southern Mesopotamia. The locations of the battles are given in detail. The
enemy of Narm-Sn draws up his battle lines and waits for him to come. The
encounter between the king and his enemies takes place in between the cities
of TiWA and Urum, in the field of the god Sn (i 38), the second right beside
Ki, at the gate of the goddess Ninkarrak (iii 1421).41
Besides the common enumeration of names and numbers of captured enemies this text uses new metaphors for the description of the destruction:
Further, he filled the Euphrates River with their (bodies), conquered the
city of Ki, and destroyed its wall. Further, he made the river/canal go
forth in its (the citys) midst and struck down 2,525 men within the city.
(iv 2545).42
38 Ibidem, 54.
39 Ibidem, 91.
40 Ibidem, 92.
41 Ibidem, 1056.
42 Ibidem, 107.
61
Narm-Sn 23 mentions a personal deed of the king, namely a heroic act as

hunter. The king defeated ARamat and personally felled a wild bull at
Mount Tiba[r] (614).43 The heroism of Narm-Sn culminates in a motif well
known from Neo-Assyrian inscriptions but found here for the first timethe
idea that a king has to outdo his predecessors by going to places where none
of the former kings had gone before and by accomplishing deeds no one did
before him. The passage reads as follows:
Now, [wh]en he went [t]o Taladumno king (previously) had gone
on such a campaignNarm-Sn, king of Agade, went there and the
goddess Atar gave him no rival. (1732).44
This motif is also present in Narm-Sn 26. This inscriptions begins with
the statement that no king whosoever had destroyed Armnum and Ebla
(i 510),45 and now we already know what is going to happen in the next lines.
Narm-Sn, the heroic king, is able to destroy these two cities. Later on in the
inscription the personal heroism of the king is stressed by the statement that
he personally captured an enemy king (iii 710).46
The inscriptions of the following kings are relatively short and show no new
features concerning the description of military events. Only with Utu-egal
the inscriptions undergo relevant changes again. The idea of restoring the
divine order is constantly stressed, so for example in Utu-egal 1:
For the goddess Nane, the mighty lady, the lady of the boundary, Utuegal, king of the four quarters, restored into her (Nanes) hands the border of Laga on which the man of Ur had laid a claim.47
The longest and most elaborate surviving inscription of this king, Utu-egal 4,
has a highly literary depiction of the evil enemy, which runs as follows:
[...] (as for) Gu[tium], the fanged serpent of the mountain, who acted
with violence against the gods, who carried off the kingship of the land of
Sumer to the mountain land, who fi[ll]ed the land of Sumer with wickedness, who took away the wife from the one who had a wife, who took
43 Ibidem, 127.
44 Ibidem, 131.
45 Ibidem, 13233.
46 Ibidem, 134.
47 Ibidem, 281.
62
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away the child from the one who had a child, who put wickedness and
evil in the land (of Sumer). (214).48
Clearly this situation is unbearable for the god Enlil, who therefore commissioned Utu-egal to restore order by destroying the Gutium (1523). In the following lines the text gives an account of the evil deeds of Tirigan, the king of
Gutium. Tirigan had occupied both banks of the Tigris and he blockedas
Frayne interprets the textthe water from the fields in the south and closed
the roads to the north, thereby ruining the economy of Sumer (3345).
All these features of the text are already known from earlier inscriptions and
were only elaborated in this inscription, but the idea to include the following
speech of the king to the citizens of Uruk and Kullab in a royal inscription is
an innovation:
He [Utu-egalS.F.] called out to the citizens of his city, (saying): The
god Enlil has given Gutium to me. My lady, the goddess Inanna, is my ally.
The god Dumuzi-ama-uumgal.-ana has declared It is a matter for me.
The god Gilgame, son of the goddess Ninsun, has assigned him (Dumuzi)
to me as abiliff. He made the citizens of Uruk (and) Kullab happy. His
city followed him as if they were (just) one person. (5368).49
The campaign starts with a six-days-journey and on the seventh day the battle
against Tirigan takes places. In a quite difficult passage the preparations of
Utu-egal are described in the following way:
98ki-b bar-gu-ti-um.KI 99gi mu-na-bar 100ren mu.na.lah5
In that place, against the Gutians, he laid a trap (and) led (his) troops
against them. (98100).50
The phrase in question is the compound verb in line 99 gibar. Its meaning is
not entirely clear and as far as I can see this is the only instance of gibar as
a compound verb. Fraynes translation follows the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary,
G, 107, s.v. giparru which is seen as a loanword from Sumerian and translated as a trap. There are several first millennium bilingual texts quoted in
the entry which use gi.bar as noun and from the context it is clear that the
48 Ibidem, 284.
49 Ibidem, 28586.
50 Ibidem, 286.
63
meaning of this word has to be trap. If we rely on these late texts then we can
interpret the text as the first description of a special manoeuver or stratagem.
Summary
Our overview of the battle descriptions from the beginnings of writing in
Mesopotamia to the end of the Gutian Period is hamperedas always in
antiquityby the possibility that important texts are lost but the picture
that evolves here is reasonably clear. In the first texts mentioning acts of war
these events are depicted in a very formulaic way. Only with the Stele of the
Vultures war is described with a broader narrative andas described by Peeter
Espak51can a theology of war be extracted from the texts.
With Lugal-zage-si an ideology of world-rule is clearly expressed and realized to some extent by Sargon of Akkad. The inscriptions of the successors of
Sargon show a keen interest in numbers. Beginning with Rmu exact numbers
inform about dead enemies and captives. The inscriptions of Naram-Sn give
some details about the route of the royal army during the campaigns and new
metaphors of destruction show up.
Some major innovations can be found in the inscriptions of Utu-egal. One
of them uses for the first time a speech of the king to his troops as a stylistic
element. Most probably this text also includes information on a stratagem and
thereby introduced new ways of depicting acts of war.
Bibliography
J. Bauer, Der vorsagonische Abschnitt der mesopotamischen Geschichte in J. Bauer,
R. Englund, M. Krebernik (1998) 429585.
, R. Englund and M. Krebernik, Mesopotamien. Spturuk-Zeit und Frhdy
nastische Zeit (= OBO 160/1, Freiburg Schweiz: Academic Press, 1998).
R. Bichler, Probleme und Grenzen der Rekonstruktion von Ereignissen am Beispiel
antiker Schlachtbeschreibungen in M. Fitzenreiter (2009) 1734.
E. Braun-Holzinger, Das Herrscherbild in Mesopotamien und Elam (= AOAT 342,
Mnster: Ugarit Verlag, 2007).
P. Espak, The Emergence of the Concept of divine Warfare and Theology of War in
the Ancient Near East, ENDC Proceedings 14 (2011) 115129.
51 Espak, The Emergence...
64
fink
M. Fitzenreiter, (ed.), Das Ereignis. Geschichtsschreibung zwischen Vorfall und Befund

(= Internet-Beitrge zur Archologie und Sudanarchologie X, 2009).
M. Liverani, (ed.), Akkad, the first world empire: structure, ideology, traditions (= HANE.S,
v, Padova: Sargon Ed., 1993).
S. Maul, Tontafelabschriften des Kodex Hammurapi in altbabylonischer Monu
mentalschrift, ZA 102 (2012) 7699.
G. Selz, D. Niedermayer, The Burials after the Battle. Combining Textual and Visual
Evidence in Its a Long Way to a Historiography of the Early Dynastic Period(s)
(eds. R. Dittmann, G. Selz, Mnster: Ugarit Verlag, 2015) 387404.
A. Westenholz, The Old Akkadian Period: History and Culture in A. Westenholz,
W. Sallaberger (1999) 17117.
, W. Sallaberger, Mesopotamien, Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit (= OBO 160/3,
Freiburg Schweiz: Academic Press, 1999).
A Comparison of the Role of Br and Mantis in

Ancient Warfare
Krzysztof Ulanowski
Divination played a huge role in both the Mesopotamian and Greek civilizations. Diviners were consulted by their clients in all possible situations. The
results of divination were especially important during times of war, when associated with the very life of the king along with thousands of others. Divination
was a salient characteristic of Mesopotamian civilization; likewise, in Greek
politics and warfare, a leader who ignored omens would incur the ominous
anger impressions of those by whom he was followed.1
In this paper I will compare the role and responsibility of diviners in two
different civilizations in relation to the affairs of war. What did the Assyrian
br and the Greek mantis () have in common and in what ways did they
differ? Could they really decide the course of battles? Would it be possible to
describe the skills of the br priest in the words of Euripides: the best mantis
is he who guesses well?2
War
When writing systems first appeared in the history of both Mesopotamian
and Greek civilizations, the first written works not only had a codifyingmythological nature, but above all a military character. Weils essay, LIliade ou
le pome de la force holds that the true hero, the true s ubject at the centre
of the Iliad is force.3 Homer was the poet of war and the Iliad needs hardly
be mentioned. In the case of Mesopotamian civilization, one could refer not
only to The Gilgamesh Epic, but also to many other Sumerian, and therefore
early texts which have war as a leading motif, such as The Victory of Eanatum
1 M.A. Flower, The Seer in Ancient Greece (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of
California Press, 2008) 245.
2 Eur. F 973 Nauck TGF, cf. J. Dillery, Chresmologues and Manteis: Independent Diviners
and the Problem of Authority in Mantik. Studies in Ancient Divination (eds. S.I. Johnston,
P.T. Struck, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005) 212.
3 S. Weil, LIliade ou le pome de la force, publi dans Les Cahiers du Sud (Marseille) de dcembre 1940 janvier 1941 sous le nom de mile Novis.
66
Ulanowski
of Lagash, The Victory of Entemena of Lagash over Umma, The Victory of

Utuhengal of Unug over Guti, Enmerkar and Ensuhgirana, The Lugalbanda
Poems, Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish, Gilgamesh and Huwawa.4 War was deeply
rooted in Mesopotamian culture and it belonged to the gifts offered by the
civilization called ME.5
In many descriptions of war one can find even the poetic ones; in the myth
of Anzu, the Bird Who Stole Destiny, in the description of the struggle between
Anzu and the god Ninurta are used the words: Both were bathed in the sweat
of battle.6 The Seven (Sebeti) who accompanied the war god Erra (Nergal),
told him that war is a very noble profession i.e.: Going to the field for the young
and vigorous is like to a very feast.7 The duels between gods were one of the
most popular representations in the art of the Akkad period.8
According to the royal inscriptions, the Assyrians never lost a battle. In
opinion of Holloway, the immanent censorship in the Assyrian visual sources
included taboos on any representations of Assyrian military defeats, symptoms of physical weakness on the part of the great king and his army, or scenes
revealing the military strength of the opposition (formed battles lines, etc).
Each element of every victorious Assyrian campaign was an act of religious
imperialism.9 It exists Mesopotamian tradition of a victory over an enemy in
each year.10 The Assyrian kings asked the gods about whether and how they
should go about waging war. The kings wanted assurance from the gods that
their weapons and army would prevail.11 Similarly, during a siege, the kings
4 See H. Vanstiphout, Epics of Sumerian Kings. The Matter of Aratta (Atlanta: SBL, 2003);
Eposy sumeryjskie (ed. K. Szarzyska, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Agade, 2003).
5 J. Bottro, Mesopotamia. Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods (Chicago, London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1992) 2356.
6 Anzu, the Bird Who Stole Destiny, iii, 8 in B.R. Foster, From Distant Days: Myth, Tales, and
Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia (Bethseda Maryland: CDL Press, 1995) 128; Mit o ptaku
Anzu, iii in Mity akadyjskie (ed. M. Kapeu, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Agade, 2000) 73.
7 How Erra Wrecked the World, i, 52 in Foster, From Distant..., 135; Erra, i in Mity..., 94.
8 E.A. Braun-Holzinger, FrheGtterdarstellungeninMesopotamien(AcademicPress
Fribourg, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Gttingen, 2013) 73; R.M. Boehmer, Die Entwicklung
der Glyptik whrend der Akkad-Zeit (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1965) 4959, fig. 300.
9 S.W. Holloway, Aur is King! Aur is King! Religion in the Exercise of Power in the NeoAssyrian Empire (Leiden, Boston, Kln: Brill, 2002) 93.
10 L.R. Siddall, The Reign of Adad-nrr III. An Historical Analysis of An Assyrian King and His
Times (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013) 33.
11 D. Nadali, Assyrian Open Fields Battles. An Attempt at Reconstruction and Analysis in
Studies on War in the Ancient Near East. Collected Essays on Military History (ed. J. Vidal,
Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2010) 130.
Role of br and mantis in Ancient Warfare
67
asked the gods about which strategies they should employ; once this was
known, the capture of a city by an Assyrian king was thought to be certain.
Did the Greeks know the military character of the Assyrians?12 Herodotus,
mentioning the first Pythian response regarding the Persian attack alluded to
a Syrian chariot, which was to destroy people, city and temple alike.13 Haubold
explains that Herodotus distinguishes between Syrian and Assyrian, however,
at least according to Rollinger, it seems, the Greeks generally did not.14
War in ancient Greece was treated not only as a holy festival but became a
techne, as Achilles, the ideal warrior of the mythical period, was no longer sufficient and the wily Odysseus emerged as an alternative model stressing rivalry
and competition but also intelligence, cleverness and trickery.15 Archilochus
of Paros, a seventh century BC lyric poet, portrays himself as an infantry soldier
and a poet: I am the servant of Enyalios, Lord of Battle, and I know the lovely
gift of Muses,16 and Xenophon states that it is fated by the gods that wars
should exist, man should be cautious about beginning them and anxious to
end them as soon as possible.17 The Greeks ideas about warfare were permeated with religion.18 Some typical terms correlated with war were commonly
used in the Greek world and included terms such as agon, kleos, aristeia and
tim. Archaic Greek warfare has often been characterized as agonal from the
Greek word agon, meaning contest. Agon was mentioned by Thucydides as
a typically Greek feature in the beginning of their civilization.19 It is worth
mentioning here the Akkadian legend about Sargon, which concerns heroism
and competition for glory among warriors. The story consists of a dialogue
12 In the opinion of Hale, there are a strong evidences for Ionian Greeks fighting the
Assyrian armies in Syria in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, see J. Hale, Not Patriots, Not
Farmers, Not Amateurs: Greek Soldiers of Fortune and the Origins of Hoplite Warfare in
Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece (eds. D. Kagan, G.F. Viggiano, Princeton
and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2013) 176193.
13 Hdt. 7.140.
14 Hdt. 7.63; J. Haubold, Greece and Mesopotamia. Dialogues in Literature (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2013) 122; R. Rollinger, The Terms Assyria and Syria again,
JNES 65 (2006) 2837.
15 E.L. Wheeler, The General as Hoplite in The Armies of Classical Greece (ed. E.L. Wheeler,
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007) 255.
16 Fr. 1, see P.C. Millett, Winning Ways in Warfare in The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the
Classical World (eds. B. Campbell, L.A. Tritle, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) 49.
17 Xen. Hell. 6.3.6.
18 L.B. Zaidman, P. Schmitt Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007) 101.
19 Thuc. 1.6.28.
68
Ulanowski
between the king, who addresses his warriors in praise of heroism,20 and the
champion of the army (aaredu) who answers, feeling growing strength and
bravery. Finaly, the king agreed to erect a statue of the bravest warrior in front
of his own.21 This text, in showing the heroism of the warriors (like the stars
in the sky) and presenting their great weaponry and armor, is similar in style
to the poems of Homer.22
The earliest text which uses the word agon in the sense of battle dates back
to 458 BC.23 The concept of agon in the Greek world is endowed with the ideas
of fairness and respect for ones rival. Battles were seen as competitions for
honor; their aim was to win glory, as opposed to destroying the enemy. It could
therefore be concluded that the concept of agon included trust: one fights only
an opponent who is worthy of it. The funeral games shared a similar agonistic
character, as most of their proceedings were derived from warfare.24 In Homer
and Herodotus, war is the source of undying fame (kleos), for the latter it is also
the greatest impulse triggering historical change and development.25 In the
Greek world, the most courageous warriors on the battlefield won the aristeia,
the award for valor.26 Greek society was therefore very competitive, as men
always aspired to win more honor and glory (tim). It was thought to have a
real, almost physical existence in the Greek world; men ranked themselves
against one another and the best was always the one who possessed the most
tim. Tim could be captured through military prowess and exploits in war,
and battles provided a special arena where men could win glory.27
20 Sargon, the Conquering Hero, i, 49 in J.G. Westenholz, Legends of the Kings of Akkade
(Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997) 63.
21 Sargon, the Conquering Hero, ii, 38-9 in Westenholz, Legends..., 67.
22 Il. 7.8992.
23 A. Eum. 914.
24 Hdt. 8.122.5, 8.123.2, 8.124.8, Xen. Hell. 1.2.10; D.S. 11.25, 11.33, 11.76, 13.33, 14.53.4, 16.86,
17.46; Polybius 3.8513, 6.39.9, Pritchett 2, 27690.
25 K.A. Raaflaub, Persian Army and Warfare in the Mirror of Herodotuss Interpretation in
Herodotus and the Persian Empire (eds. R. Rollinger, B. Truschnegg, R. Bichler, Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 2011) 30.
26 M. Trundle, Commemorating Victory in Classical Greece. Why Greek Tropaia? in Rituals
of Triumph in Mediterranean World (eds. A. Spalinger, J. Armstrong, Leiden, Boston: Brill,
2013) 124.
27 Il. 4.225, 5.5523, 6.208; J.E. Lendon, Song of Wrath. The Peloponnesian War Begins (New
York: Basic Books, 2012) 7.
69
Br
The br28 is a diviner; he is first mentioned in the third millennium BC.29 He

was a kind of priest who was also a diviner. The Akkadian noun br, which
is derived from the verb to see, literally means observer, seer or examiner.
He was a specialist who solicited omens from the gods and interpreted the
signs thus found.30 The br was an expert in brtu, the observation of signs
in the world. Shamash inscribes omens into the world, for example, into the
body of the sacrificial animals. A privileged place for the occurrence of such
signs was in the entrails and livers of sacrificial animals, for it was believed that
the gods placed such signs there.31 If the message from the gods were written
and coded, in order to read it one needed a real technician, a specialist initiated into this writing.32 Br mediated the will of the gods to the king and
made judgments about the congruity between the divine will and the kings
plans.33 The diviner is depicted enthroned in the presence of divinity, ready to
pronounce the verdict.34 The diviners in Mesopotamia viewed themselves as
integral links in a chain of transmission going back to the gods.35
The br priests were part of the royal court and they participated in all military expeditions. They used catalogues of battle omens and strategic queries
28 M. Hutter, Religionen in der Umwelt des Alten Testaments I. Babylonier, Syrer, Perser
(Stuttgart, Berlin, Kln: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1996) 8990; CAD, vol. B, 124.
29 H. Zimmern, Beitrge zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion (Leipzig: Hinrichssche
Buchhandlung, 1901) 82.
30 W. Farber, Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia in Civilizations of
the Ancient Near East (ed. J.M. Sasson, vol. III & IV, New York: Hendrickson Publishers,
2006) 1904.
31 Z. Bahrani, Rituals of War. The Body and Violence in Mesopotamia (New York: Zone Books,
2008) 634, F. Rochberg, The Heavenly Writing. Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in
Mesopotamian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 48; G. Manetti,
Theories of Sign in Classical Antiquity (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993) 5.
32 Bottro, Mesopotamia..., 113.
33 SAA 19, 77.
34 SAA 19, 57. See Ritualtafeln fr den Wahrsager (br) no. 120, ll. 1225 in Zimmern,
Beitrge..., 105.
35 D. Launderville, Piety and Politics. The Dynamics of Royal Authority in Homeric Greece,
Biblical Israel, and Old Mesopotamia (Michigan, Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2003) 214, 216.
70
Ulanowski
to decide about the strategy of war.36 They were responsible for the medical
help,37 spiritual und funerary services during the war time.38

Mari and Old Babylonian Period
In the OB period, diviners are also primarily seen to be engaged in state business having to do with diplomacy and military matters. One may summarize
the functional role of diviners in the vast majority of texts as being in service to
the king in a variety of ways related to intelligenceas diplomats and spies in
foreign courts, on the march with armies, in private council to kings, in charge
of fortresses.39 The diviners of Mari accompanied troops on campaign, often
working in teams of two.40 The diviner Erib-Sin made extispicies for well-being
of the troops (the validity of one month time):
The path was in place. The palace gate was sound. The cleft was in place.
The two bases of the shepherd were attached right and left. The finger
was sound. The outgrowth was a (male) battle ax. Lung and heart [were]
sound. My upper parts were sound.
In my verification the outlook was in place. The path descended
toward the seat of the left. The palace gate was sound. The cleft was in
place. The two bases of the shepherd were pulled out on the right and
attached on the left. On the left, he (god) broke the finger. The outgrowth
36 E. Reiner, Astral Magic in Babylonia (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society,
1995) 64; Bahrani, Rituals..., 1901, figs. 7.12.
37 It is known the contract from Idalium on Cyprus between its king Stasikypros and the
physician Onasilos concerning the treatment of the wounded during the possible siege.
There are no data that this physician was a kind of priest or diviner, see I. Ephal, The City
Besieged. Siege and Its Manifestations in the Ancient Near East (Jerusalem: The Hebrew
University Magnes Press, 2013) 168; O. Masson, Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques
(Paris: E. de Boccard, 1961) 23544, no. 217.
38 F. De Backer, Lart du siege no-assyrien (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013) 116.
39 S.F.C. Richardson, On Seeing and Believing: Liver Divination and the Era of Warring
States (II) in Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World (ed. A. Annus,
Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010) 250.
40 26145 in W. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari. A New Translation, with Historical
Introduction, Notes, and Commentary (Winona Lake: Eisenbraunes, 2003) 173, 231.
71
was a (female) battle ax. Lung, heart, and my upper parts were sound. My
extispicies were sound for their days.41
In the 2nd millennium, the Mari kings eagerly employed diviners. More than
forty-five diviners are known by name from the court of Zimri-Lim alone,
posted in more than two dozen foreign palaces, fortresses, and towns. From the
Mari period a lot of oracles remained.42 Every region, especially at the borders,
i.e. at risk of war, had to have its diviner.43 The diviners predicted the threat
of Babylon.44 The questions before commencing a campaign were always set:
If [the troops], whom he dispatched to Hammu-Rabi, (arrive), will HammuRabi not catch, not kill, not cause to kill, not detain for evil or peaceful intentions those troops? Will those who went out through the gate of Mari alive
enter the gate of Mari alive?45 Ihi-Addu, who was a diviner and military
officer,46 made an extispicy on seizing the city in the next 3 days.47 A diviner
accompanied the king into battle: The diviner Ilu-nair, servant of my lord,
will lead the troops of my lord, and a Babylonian diviner will go with the
Babylonian troops.48
Ilu-nair, the brm-priest,
a servant of my lord leads the forces of my lord
A Babylonian brm-priest goes
With the Babylonian forces
These 600 troops are (now)
In abazim. The brm-priests are gathering
Omens. When an omen appears favorable
41 26 96 in Heimpel, Letters..., 213, and see also 26 97100 in Heimpel, Letters..., 2135.
And, Hali-Hadun and Ilu-nair 26101 in Heimpel, Letters..., 215, Ihi-Addu 26113, 116
117, 120129 in Heimpel, Letters..., 2205.
42 Prophecy and other forms of divination were used in foreign politics as well as in interior politics, see J. Stckl, Mine is Bigger than Yours: Divination (Ethical) Demands and
Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East, paper in SBL (EABS) International Meeting 2010,
Tartu.
43 26138 in Heimpel, Letters..., 227.
44 See 26160 in Heimpel, Letters..., 237.
46 Heimpel, Letters..., 220.
48 Bahrani, Rituals..., 188; U. Jeyes, Old Babylonian Extispicy: Omen Texts in the British
Museum (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1989)
156.
72
Ulanowski
150 soldiers
Go out and 150 return.49
The seer Aqudum was married to a princess and occasionally led military
expeditions.50 His house covered more than a thousand square meters, resembled a scaled-down palace which indicated his prestige and wealth.51 The
seers depicted themselves not just advisors to kings and generals, but as individuals who could literally win battles.52 The notion of leading an army may go
back to the Near East. The expression go in front of the army was used by the
Babylonian seer.53
In the OB letters to Zimri-Lim the god Addu is quoted for this admonition
to the king. There are many examples of texts found at Mari, Eshnunna,54 and
Emar55 connected to military affairs:
This is what I (Adad [Addu] lord of Aleppo)
d[esire] from you.
When you go out on campaign.
Do not go without an oracle,
You will go out on a campaign.
49 ARMT II, 22.2331, see S.-M. Kang, Divine War in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near
East (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1989) 42.
50 26 27 in Heimpel, Letters..., 191.
51 Flower, The Seer..., 50.
53 In the OB period, there are references to the diviner as the one who walks in front of the
army. See M.L. West, The East Face of Helicon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)
349; M.A. Flower, The Iamidae. A Mantic Family and Public Image in Practitioners of
the Divine. Greek Priests and Religious Officials from Homer to Heliodorus (eds. B. Dignas,
K. Trampedach, Cambridge, MT, London: Harvard University Press, 2008) 203; Flower,
The Seer..., 96; Jeyes, Old Babylonian..., 223.
54 The Mari Prophetic Texts in Transliteration and English Translation (trans. J.J.M. Roberts)
in The Bible and the Ancient Near East (ed. J.J.M. Roberts, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns,
2002) 157253; M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (Atlanta: SBL,
2003) 1395; see D. Charpin, I Am the Sun of Babylon: Solar Aspects of Royal Power
in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia in Experiencing Power, Generating Authority. Cosmos,
Politics, and the Ideology of Kingship in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (eds. J.A. Hill,
P. Jones, A.J. Morales, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology, 2013) 789.
55 Ephal, The City..., 1367, 153, 161; A. Tsukimoto, Akkadian Tablets in the Hirayama
Collection (I), ASJ 12 (1990) 190, 7:29-37; D. Arnaud, Recherches au pays dAtata. Emar
6/Textes sumeriens et accadiens/4, Textes de la bibliotheque, transcriptions et traductions
(Paris: Recherche sur les civilisations, 1987) 42, ll. 819.
If I do not
You will [not] g[o] out the gate.56
[M]orever Nergal,
the [k]ing of Hubalum
St[o]od by your [si]de
And by side of your army in the slaughter
Whatever you vowed,
And a large bronze sword
Have made, and let them take (them) to Nergal.57
Adad is indeed the lord of decisions
Who g[o] at the side of my lord.58
Thus says Ishtar of Ninet:
[W]ith my strong weapons
I will stand by you.59
The king without consulting the god
Shall not make a treaty60
Dagan instrute[d me]
Saying, I will open the battle.61
[My lord] wrote me [as follow]s say[ing],
The dream which I saw was disturbing.
...
As soon as I heard the tablet of my lord,
I summoned the diviners, and
The question as follows
I asked them, saying,
[M]y lord made an urgent question
And [wro]te to me. What do you counsel?62
56 2.A.15 = AEM 1/1, 233, 1117, The Mari..., 169.
57 5.A.4260 = AEM 1/1, 194, 2430, The Mari..., 177.
58 12.A.3217 = ARM X 6 = AEM 1/1, 212, 3334, The Mari..., 1889.
59 31.A.2666 = AEM 1/1, 193. 1618, The Mari..., 217.
60 34. A.925 + A.2050 = AEM 1/1, 199. 4950, The Mari..., 225; see 285.
61 38. M.7306 = AEM 1/1, 205 = ARMT XXV, 816. 78, The Mari..., 229.
62 48. M.5704 = AEM 1/1, 225. 619, The Mari..., 241.
73
74
Ulanowski
The Mari prophetic texts forecast the latest Assyrian divinatory texts. Not only
the structure but the content and main points are very similar. It is impossible
to go on a campaign without an oracle, the assurance of the gods presence,
and conviction about the certainty of victory. Without the gods agreement it is
impossible to begin a war or to finish it, that is to say, make a treaty. Despite the
significant difference in time, over a thousand years, the kings are associated
with the same gods: Ishtar, Adad (Addu)63 and Nergal (not Ashur of course, as
this is a god strictly linked to the city but for example, in case of Mari, this god
is Dagan).64 The diviners are part of the military cortege, they participate in
and enable dialogue between the gods and the king. The result of divination is
known only to the king.

The Neo-Assyrian Period
In a series of queries65 to Shamash, the Assyrian kings determined the course

to be taken in the battle. The best known queries are from the NA period, but we
know them from the OB period (19001595) and the Kassite period (14751155)
as well. The earliest queries, known as tamtu texts, have a similar grammatical
or semantic formulation to the NA omens. The similarity indicates that the NA
queries were based on a long tradition of oracular military strategies, going
back to the beginning of the second millennium.66 The queries are attested
only to Shamash, while the earlier ones from OB times, tamtus and ikribus,
were directed to Shamash and Adad (although at times only to Shamash). The
term npeti brti extispicy is often attested in the tamtus.67 A Babylonian
tamtu text is a question addressed to the Babylonian gods Shamash and Adad
as a duo,68 and begins: Shamash, lord of the judgment, Adad, lord of the
inspection.69
As a source of history, the importance of such queries is enhanced by the
fact that they are free of any kind of tendentious editing, which characterizes
64 26 27 Heimpel, Letters..., 192.
65 The extispicy quries were among the earliest material published: J.A. Knudtzon, Assyrische
Gebete an den Sonnengott fr Staat und knigliches Haus aus der Zeit Asarhaddons und
Asurbanipals. 1893; H. Zimmern, Beitrge zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion. 1901;
E.G. Klauber (ed.), Politisch-religise Texte aus den Sargonidenzeit. 1913.
67 SAA 4, XXIX.
68 W.G. Lambert, Babylonian Oracle Questions (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007) VII, 1.
69 Ibidem, 5.
75
the annals and other related royal records, or the self-serving interests permeating the correspondence of courtiers. The diviners may have manipulated
some of the results of the extispicies, but not the fact stated in the queries
placed before the god of justice.70 The military queries are characterized by the
fact that they refer to the immediate future and further future. These queries
have not even the stipulated term.71 Several tamtus offer questions from kings
about campaigns or other matters of historical interest.72 They are examples of
how detailed questions were and how deep faith was in the necessity of such
questioning to ultimately achieving success. The mode of questioning primarily shows that the questioner was experienced in matters of war and that every
aspect of war was treated seriously; during a campaign there was no place for
even the smallest mistake or the slightest negligence.
At the international level, questions related to military campaigns are the
most frequently recurring themes. Various questions about warfare are settled
with divination: when is the right moment to go to war, what are the required
forces, which techniques and which itinerary would help, what is the level of
safety, what are the enemies intentions, what are the chances of success, and
soon.73 In the NA queries to Shamash, an entire complicated battle strategy
was drawn out on a papyrus and placed before the god (in front of his cult
statue in the temple). The questioner then asked Should this particular strategy, on this document, be followed? The strategy was not written out in detail,
like the other queries, but put before the god in the form of a drawing or diagram. The god, in the guise of his cult statue, observed the document and gave
his response through the entrails of the sacrificial animal, which was offered at
the same time as the submission of the document for divine consent.74
Representations of extispicy are known of in the military camp in NA art.
On the reliefs from Ashurnasirpal IIs (883859 BC) palace in Nimrud from
the ninth century BC, the presence of the br priest (identified by his hat and
fringed robe) in military campaigns is confirmed. In a relief depicting scenes
of war from the kings campaigns, a priest in a military camp is shown leaning
70 SAA 4, XIV.
71 U.S. Koch, Concepts and Perception of Time in Mesopotamian Divination in Time
and History in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique
Internationale at Barcelona 2630 July 2010 (eds. Feliu et al., Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns,
2013) 1378.
72 Lambert, Babylonian..., 20.
73 See for example SAA 10, 100.
74 See Bahrani, Rituals..., 188.
76
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over the altar, in the process of examining the entrails of a sacrificial animal.75
In most of these scenes, priests stand in front of an altar, a high, table-like
object with animal legs carved as its support. The priests wear tall headgear,
a rounded dinos-like vessel is in some cases set in front of them on a stand.
These oracular consultations are requests for signs of sanction from the gods
at the moment of battle; they were a necessary step in justifying war and ensuring victory through the approval of the war by the divine. These catalogued
battle omens and strategic queries reveal an intense anxiety and unease about
deciding the tactics and strategies of war.76
Extispicy was performed in Tiglath-Pileser IIIs (744727) camp.77 Bl-apluiddina combined his activities in the field of extispicy with being a commanding officer:
Moving on from the city Anat I besieged the city Sru, the fortified city of
Kudurru, governor of the land Suhu. Trusting in extensive Kassite troops
he attacked me to wage war and battle. I besieged the city (and) on the
second day fought my way inside. In the face of my mighty weapons,
Kudurru with 70 of his soldiers fell back to the Euphrates to save his life.
I conquered the city, (iii 20) I captured 50 cavalrymen together with the
troops of Nab-aplaiddina, king of Kardunia, Zabdnu his brother with
75 BM 124548, the North West Palace, king Ashurnasirpal II during the campaign of about
880 BC. See E.A.W. Budge, Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum. Reign of Ashur-nasirpal (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1914) pl. XVI; D. Collon, Depiction of Priests
885860 B.C. and Priestesses in the Ancient Near East in Priests and Officials in the Ancient
Near East: Papers of the Second Colloquium on the Ancient Near East, the City and Its Life,
Held at the Middle Eastern Culture Centre in Japan (Mitaka, Tokyo, March 2224, 1996)
(ed. K. Watanabe, Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1999) 24, fig. 23; Reiner, Astral..., 64; Bahrani,
Rituals..., 1901, figs. 7.12; A. Livingstone, New Dimensions in the Study of Assyrian
Religion in Assyria 1995. Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the NeoAssyrian Text Corpus Project. Helsinki, September 711, 1995 (eds. S. Parpola, R.M. Whiting,
Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1997) 173, fig. 3; P. Collins, Attending
the King in the Assyrian Reliefs in Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace Ashurnasirpal II.
A Cultural Biography (eds. A. Cohen, S.E. Kangas, Hanover: N.H.: Hood Museum of Art,
Dartmouth College, 2010) 1901, fig. 7.8.
76 Bahrani, Rituals..., 1889, figs. 7.12.
77 From Nimrud, carved about 730727 BC (BM: Original Drawing I, 14. See R.D. Barnett,
M. Falkner, The Sculptures of Aur-nasir-apli II (883859 B.C.), Tiglath-pileser III (745
727 BC), Esarhaddon (681669 BC) from the Central and South-West Palaces at Nimrud
(London: The British Museum, 1962) 189, pl. LX, Or. Dr. I: pl. XIV.
77
3,000 fighting men, (and) Bel-apla-iddina the diviner, their commanding

officer.78
In the eighth campaign of Sargon II (721705), a haruspex was evidently present at the kings camp.79 In a detail within Sennacheribs (704681) relief series
of the battle of Lachish, two priests in tall hats are performing a ceremony
before an altar within the military camp.80 The representation of two priests
performing a ceremony in front of an incense-burner, an altar and a chariot,
sometimes with divine standards, is repeated continuously.81 This scene occurs
in four of Sennacheribs camps and it has its own space inside the camp, always
on the top left-hand side with the two priests looking towards the right.82
We have only a few pieces of correspondence between Esarhaddon and
Ashurbanipal with haruspices. Anyway, they play an important role in the policy-making decisions of both kings. We know as well not of an oracular text
but rather a literal one, The Sin of Sargon, in which Sennacherib commissioned
diviners to discover the cause of his fathers fate.83 Due to the letter of the divinatory Babylonian priest Kudurru to Esarhaddon we have knowledge of the
presence of priests in the camp during the battle.84 We know the list of scholars accompanying Esarhaddon when the second invasion of Egypt took place.
The list starts with seven astrologers (tupar EAE, literary scribe of the canonical omen series Enma Anu Enlil; often abbreviated to scribe tuparru),
78 A.0.101.1, iii 20, in: RIMA 2, 213.

79 SAA 4, XXX, see more F.M. Fales, Guerre et paix en assyrie. Religion et imperialism (Paris:
ditions du Cerf, 2010) 139; P.E. Botta, E. Flandin, Monument de Ninive (Paris: Imprimerie
nationale, 184950) 14, vol. II, pl. 146.
80 BM 124914, South West Palace, see R.D. Barnett, E. Bleibtreu, G. Turner, Sculptures from
the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh (London: British Museum Press, 1998) 165,
fig. 2; Bahrani, Rituals..., 188; M. Micale, D. Nadali, The Shape of Sennacheribs Camps:
Strategic Functions and Ideological Space, Iraq 66 Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre
Assyriologique Internationale, Part One (2004) 1712.
81 Room V, slab 43; Room X, slab 7; Room XXXVI, slabs 1516; Room XLVIII, slab 20, see
E. Bleibtreu, Kulthandlungen im Zeltlager Sanheribs in Meqor Hajjim. Festschrift fr
Georg Molin zu seinem 75. Geburtstag (ed. I. Seybold, Graz: Akademische Druck- und
Verlagsanstalt, 1983) 438; Collon, Depiction..., 245.
82 Micale, Nadali, The Shape..., 1656.
83 SAA 4, XXXI; see H. Tadmor, B. Landsberger, S. Parpola, The Sin of Sargon and
Sennacheribs Last Will, State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 3 (1989) 351.
84 SAA 10, 371, rev. 611.
78
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followed by nine exorcists (ipu), then five diviners (br), nine physicians
(as) and six lamenters (kal).85
The Mantis and His Role during the Campaigns
Mantis, from a contemporary perspective, is an elusive term. Plato in his Laches,
has Nicias say: It is necessary for a seer to recognize the signs of what will take
place, whether a person is to meet with death or disease or loss of property, or
with victory or defeat in war or some other contest.86 The seer practiced what
the Greeks called a techn, the general word for an art, or skill. This art was
called the art of divination (mantik techn).87 The notion that the seer was
the practitioner of a specialized craft emerges as early as Homer. Calchas is the
model of the archaic Greek seer par excellence: male, ornithomancer, problemsolver, closely connected with the gods and a prestigious warrior. In the Iliad,
Calchas is described as someone who knew all things that were, the things to
come and the things past.88 The mantis was therefore characteristically the
mouthpiece of a god.89 Xenophon thought that a mantis was a basic requirement for any army.90 As such, the military mantis was an interpreter of signs,
portents and dreams; in short, of all events beyond the normal order.
Divinatory rituals were essential prior to combat. The most important role
of the seer in Greek society was arguably on the battlefield.91 No general would
85 K. Radner, The Assyrian King and his Scholars: The Syro-Anatolian and the Egyptian
Schools in Of God(s), Trees, Kings, and Scholars. Neo-Assyrian and Related Studies
in Honour of Simo Parpola (eds. M. Luukko, S. Svrd, R. Mattila, Helsinki: The Finnish
Oriental Society, 2009) 222.
86 Pl. Laches 195e, Pritchett 3, 48.
87 A. PV 484; Soph. OT 709; Hdt. 2.49, 83; F. Graf, Apollo (London, New York: Routledge,
2009) 51.
88 Il. 1.70.
89 Xen. Hell. 2.4.178.
90 Xen. Hell. 7.1.35.
91 Important studies of the seer in warfare are: H. Popp, Die Einwirkung von Vorzeichen
(Diss., Erlangen, 1957); R. Lonis, Guerre et religion en Grce lpoque classique (Paris: Les
Belles Lettres, 1979); R. Parker, Sacrifice and Battle in War and Violence in Ancient Greece
(ed. H. van Wees, London: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000) 299314;
M.H. Jameson, Sacrifice before Battle in Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience
(ed. V.D. Hanson, London, New York: Routledge, 2004) 197228; and above mentioned
Flower, The Seer...
79
leave the camp or begin a battle without first consulting his seer(s), as each
stage of a campaign was tested in advance by means of extispicy.92 The diviners accompanied the army in all its operations.93 Only with the mantis consent
and the fulfillment of specified conditions were the troops moved into battle.94
Common sense dictates that more than one seer was present on an expedition,
in case the generals favorite grew ill or was killed in battle. Without doubt the
two most active periods for independent divination in the Greek world were
the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars.95 The manteis regarded themselves as
the official means of ascertaining the will and intention of the gods, quite apart
from the exigencies of the tactical situation.96 In poetry and in prose, in myth
and in history, seers are said to be able to win battles. Aeschylus even produced
the hapax legomenon, armyseer,97 and Herodotus speaks of Deiphonus as
mantis to the Greek strati at Mycale.98 Mantis was expected by the exercise of
his art to work successfully for his clients, and his art involved no little sagacity, evolved both from the knowledge of his techne and long experience.99 The
preparation for war had not only a technical but first of all a divinatory nature.
Demophon in Eurypides Herakleidai says: All my plans are carefully laid,
the city under arms, the victims stand ready to be slain to every god whose due
that is. My seers have filled the town with sacrifices to turn the foe to flight and
keep our country safe. All those who chant prophetic words have I assembled
and have examined ancient oracles, both public and secret, as means to save
the city.100
The military seer was responsible for two types of divination that preceded
every engagement: the campground sacrifice called hiera and the battle-line
sacrifice called sphagia. The seer was the one who sacrificed the offering during the campground sacrifice and then examined the entrails while the commander looked on.101 Later, the mantis gave the divine sanction for combat

93 S. Dalley, Ancient Mesopotamian Military Organization in Civilizations of the Ancient Near
East (ed. J.M. Sasson, vol. I & II, New York: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006) 421.
94 Xen. Hell. 2.4.178.
95 Dillery, Chresmologues..., 184.
96 Pritchett 3, 78.
97 A. Ag. 122.
98 Hdt. 9.95.
100 Eur. Heracl. 398405, cf. Pritchett 3, 319.
101 Flower, The Seer..., 159; K. Banek, Religia i polityka w staroytnej Grecji. Od epoki mykeskiej
do Aleksandra Wielkiego (Krakw: Wydawnictwo UJ, 1985) 967.
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after inspecting the sacrifice.102 Xenophon in the Anabasis, encourages his

men to join battle with the enemy by pointing out that all three types of omen
are favorable: the omens from sacrifice (hiera) are favorable, the bird omens
are propitious, and the sphagia are excellent. Let us go against the enemy.103
Manteis could have both military and strategic roles.104 The seers did more
than just sacrifice and interpret signs of various kinds; they took an active
part in devising strategy and leading the troops into battle. They could also
be involved in the resolution of conflict and the maintenance of peaceful
relations. For instance, the legendary Epimenides brokered a peace between
Knossos and Athens.105 There is documentary evidence from the historical
period that suggests this function as well. An inscription from c. 550 from
Olympia makes clear that manteis were overseers of a treaty between the
Anaitoi and Metapioi,106 and a Spartan treaty (end 5th, start 4th?) with the
Aetiolians, or more specifically the Erxadieis.107
Disagree with the divine sentences or trying to annihilate the divine voice
was widely considered to be a dangerous thing to do for humans.108 In the
Iliad, Hector rejected the bird signs angrily:
Zeus, that he himself promised to me and nodded assent.
But you tell me to put my trust in birds, who spread
wide their wings. I care nothing for them, I think nothing of them,
whether they go to the right toward the dawn and the sun,
or whether they go to the left toward the murky darkness.
No, let us put our trust in the counsel of great Zeus,
he who is lord over all mortals and all the immortals.
One bird sign is best, to fight in defense of ones country.109
The divination of the mantis and the speeches of the generals seem to have
been two of the most popular means of building up morale in the Greek armies.
102 See Thuc. 6.69.2; Xen. An. 1.8.15.

103 Xen. An. 6.5.21.
104 Pritchett 3, 5660.
105 Arist. Ath. Pol. I: Diels, i, 29f, see also Plat. Leg. 1.642d; Theopomp.FGH 155, FF 67 a, e,
68 bc.
106 S EG 11.183.
108 The most well-known in Mesopotamian civilization is the example of Naram-Sins rejection of the divine verdict. Naram-Sin and the Enemy Hordes 7981 in Westenholz,
Legends..., 317.
109 Il. 12.23643.
81
It was mantis who largely determined the course of the battles.110 Omens could
deter battle or strategic movements, as well as devastate or increase morale.
Onasander insists that soldiers are far more courageous when they believe
they are facing dangers with the good will of the gods...an auspicious sacrifice encourages even those who have private misgivings.111 Dion knew that
an eclipse had a natural cause; but since the soldiers were greatly disturbed
by such a phenomenon in 357 BC, Dions mantis, Miltas of Thessaly, stood up
in their midst and interpreted the eclipse as an omen of victory.112 Polyainos
reports that Alexander, after he had learned from the mantis that the hiera
were favorable, ordered the victims to be carried around and shown to the soldiers in order that they might not depend on what they were told but on seeing
with their eyes might have good hope concerning the ensuing danger.113 On
the other hand, a general could also decide to hide any unfavorable interpretation of the mantis for purposes of armys morale.114

Good both as a Seer and to Fight with the Spear
In a few remarkable cases, manteis were not only present in battle, but
also played important military roles,115 either leading an attack or devising
special tactics.116 Homeric seers were warriors like their followers.117 In the
110 Plut. Arist. 11.23; 15.23, 178. The story of Plataia 479 BC, see Hdt. 9.61.362.1; Wheeler,
The General..., 268; S. Owicimski, Zeus daje tylko znak, Apollo wieszczy osobicie.
Staroytne wrbiarstwo greckie (Wrocaw: Ossolineum, 1989) 39; W. Burkert, Greek
Religion. Archaic and Classical (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) 113.
111 Onos. 10.26, Pritchett 3, 58.
112 Plut. Dion 24, Pritchett 3, 59.
113 Polyainos 4.3.14.
114 D.S. 17.97.47, Pritchett 3, 5960.
115 Even among the seers it happened the cases of changing the opinion due to the results
of divination. The people of Croton say that Callias ran away from Telys the tyrant of the
Sybarites and came to them, since the sacrifices (hiera) were not turning out favorable for him
when he was sacrificing against Croton, see Hdt. 5.445. In the Hellenistic period the seer
Thrasybulus changed the employer cause he foretold victory the enemies, see Paus. 8.10.5.
116 Hdt. 6.83.2, 8.27.3; Thuc. 3.20.1.
117 Being a warrior was so important in the Greek society. Herodotus is also the authority for
a strange rule concerning Oropus: the Thebans could not consult this oracle because the
priestess there once gave them a choice: Amphiaraus could either be a mantis to them
or a warrior, but not both. They chose the latter, Hdt.8.134.2. K. Trampedach, Authority
Disputed. The Seer in Homeric Epic in Practitioners of the Divine. Greek Priests and
Religious Officials from Homer to Heliodorus (ed. B. Dignas, K. Trampedach, Cambridge,
MT, London: Harvard University Press, 2008) 229, ref. nos. 734.
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Iliad, Calchas repeatedly joined the fray; similarly, an Olympian shield-band

illustrates the seer Amphiaraus with full military equipment. Pindar in his
sixth Olympian (472 or 468 BC) emphatically stresses that the seer Hagesias
was due the same praise that Adrastus had given to the seer Amphiaraus:
I long for the eye of my army, one who was good both as a seer and to fight
with the spear.118 The association of mantic and warlike abilities was thus
fairly common in Greece, and the phrase good both as a seer and to fight with
the spear had a long history both before and after Pindar. Pindar, in fact, had
probably borrowed it from an epic poem called the Thebaid, and a roughly similar description of Amphiaraus appears in Aeschyluss Seven against Thebes,119
performed in 467 BC.120 The messenger who describes the seven heroes in the
play, refers to the seer Amphiaraus: I would say that the sixth warrior is a man
most prudent, the best seer in valor, the might of Amphiaraus. Amphiaraus,
even though, he could foresee that the expedition against Thebes would end
in his own death, he participate in it.121 Flower notes that there are very few
cases in which the evidence of different genres can be brought into perfect
harmony, and thus it is highly significant that in this particular instance epic
(the Thebaid), lyric (Pindar), tragedy (Aeschylus), prose (Aeschines) and an
inscription (Cleobuluss stele), all convey the very same image of the seer.122
Mopsus was also presented as an athlete during the funeral games for Jasons
grandfather Pelias.123
A variety of sources indicates that numerous seers were to be found in
armies, cities and in the households of the wealthy. Aeschylus seems to imagine that prophets (prophetai) and dream interpreters were a regular component of a kings household,124 and a century later we still hear of the seers who
served the tyrant Dionysius II of Syracuse.125
Of course, we are interested in prominent seers in Greek history and myths
that participated in battles. In myths, every army had its mantis: Calchas
118 Pi. O. 6.167; J.N. Bremmer, Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2008) 137; Flower, The Iamidae..., 202, ref. no. 49.
119 E GF F 9; A. Sept. 5689, 5879; Flower, The Seer..., 94, 97, 184.
120 See Dillery, Chresmologues..., 175.
121 Od. 15.2447.
123 J.N. Bremmer, The Status and Symbolic Capital of the Seer in The Role of Religion in
the Early Greek Polis. Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cut,
organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 1618 October 1992 (ed. R. Hgg, Stockholm:
Paul strms Frlag, 1996) 99.
124 A. Ag. 409; A. Cho. 3241.
125 Plut. Dion 24.
83
served the Greeks at Troy and Helenus served the Trojans;126 other mythical
warrior-seers include Amphiaraos, Calchas and Phineus.127 Ennomus, the
augur () was killed by Achilles.128 Even the Cyclopes once kept a
famous seer amongst them.129 The border of mythos and history is represented by Karnos,130 and Peripoltas.131
Historical sources similarly mention manteis who fought alongside other
men. Xenophon, for instance, speaks of the mantis, or the seer (with the
definite article), at Munychia, which may suggest that seers were regular members of Greek armies.132 Parker supposed that a mantis received a regular wage
during campaigns.133 Greek sources mention many historical characters:134
MegistiasThermopylae,135 Teisamenos, Hegesistratus136 of Elis, of the clan
TelliadaePlataea, mantis of Mardonius,137 Hippomachus of Leucas, mantis
at Plataea on the Persian side,138 Stilbides, private mantis of Nicias,139 Miltas,
mantis of Dion,140 Aristandros, mantis of Alexander.141
Alexander the Great surrounded himself with manteis, four of whom are
known by name (Aristander, Demophon, Kleomantis and Peithagoras),142 and
126 S.I. Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008) 116.
127 Apollod. Bibl. 1 [120], 9.21.
128 Il. 2.85861.
129 Od. 9.50810, W. Burkert, Signs, Commands, and Knowledge: Ancient Divination
between Enigma and Epiphany in Mantik. Studies in Ancient Divination (eds. S.I.
Johnston, P.T. Struck, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005) 35.
130 See Burkert, Greek..., 357.
131 Plut. Cim. 1; ThesCRA 3, 15.
133 R. Parker Polytheism and Society at Athens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) 117.
134 Others examples include Cleander of Phigalea in Arcadia, who seems to lead a slave revolt
at Tiryns; Tellias of Elis, who comes up with an ingenious plan for a night assault for the
Phocians in their war with the Thessalians; and Theaenetus, who proposes the escape of
the Plataeans in 428/7, see Dillery, Chresmologues..., 200.
135 Hdt. 7.221, 228.
136 Hegesistratus, who had been Mardoniuss seer at Plataea in 479, at some later date was
captured by the Spartans while he was serving as a seer on the island of Zacynthus. He
had once before escaped execution by the Spartans, but this time they managed to kill
him, see Hdt. 9.379.
137 Hdt. 9.37.1.
138 Hdt. 9.38.2.
139 Plut. Nik. 4.2; 23.7.
140 Plut. Dion 22.
141 Arr. An. 1.25.6; Plut. Alex. 30.9.
142 See Arr. An. 3.2.2, 4.15.78; Plut. Alex. 24.5, 26.6, 57.5.
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with magoi and Chaldean priests. Aristander of Telmessus, the most famous
of them, served first under Philip II and then Alexander the Great between
c. 356 and 327 BC.143 He accompanied Alexander to Asia in 334 BC, and is
an outstanding example of a seer whose competence covered the interpretation of entrails, bird signs, and dreams, as well as natural phenomena.144 The
employment of seers by Alexander is also attested by Posidippus:
A mantis lies beneath the crow, the Thracian hero
Strymon, supreme steward of bird-omens.
This is the title Alexander gave him with his seal, for three times he
defeated
The Persians after consulting his crow.145
We know the names of two seers who were employed by king Pyrrhus of
Epirus. One of them was Thrasybulus, he was the seer from the family of
Iamidae, serving with the Mantineans against the Lacedaemonians under King
Agis IV (244241 BC), described as both foret[elling] victory to the Mantineans
and himself t[aking] part in the fighting.146 He must have been a person of
great wealth and influence, since he dedicated a statue of King Pyrrhus of
Epirus at Olympia.147 The other was the seer Theodotus, who is mentioned by
Plutarch as not allowing Pyrrhus to participate in a peace agreement after one
of the victims for sacrifice, a ram, fell dead. Before Pyrrhuss attack on Sparta
in 273BC, a seer told him that a victim without a lobe indicated that he would
lose one of his relatives (who turned out to be his son Ptolemy).148
The sources indicated that manteis went to battle even if he knew that the
result for him would be defeat and his own death.149 However, Xenophon said
that a mantis cannot know his own destiny,150 the archetypal seer is said to
foresaw his own death and even thought determined to fight.151

144 Ibidem, 35.
145 Posidippus 35 AB, cf. Bremmer, Greek Religion..., 1389.
146 Paus. 8.10.5.
147 Paus. 6.14.9.
148 Plut. Pyrrh. 6.5, 30.3.
149 Hdt. 7.221, 228; Xen. Hell. 2.4.18.
150 Xen. Symp. 4.5.
151 Seers were courageous in battle. On the prestige of military mantis, see Pritchett 3, 4956.
85
The casualty lists152 from the classical period include individuals identified as mantis.153 The Athenian record of the war dead from the Erechtheid
tribe for 460 or 459 mentions the seer Telenikos, as well as two generals who
also fell in that seasons fighting. Another inscription is an Argive casualty-list
from c. 400.154 This list mentions the name of a seer prominently near the top
of the inscription. This testifies to the public recognition of the seers importance. Beneath the heading The following died, four individuals are listed by
office in a single column, in a prominent position at the top of the stone; below
these names everyone else was listed by phratry in four columns. Although
the names are missing, the titles have survived: probasileus (a magistrate who
acted in place of a king), seer, general, and, last of all, priest. If these are listed
in order of importance, the implication is that being a seer, at least for the
Argives, was more important than being a general or a priest.155
In 387 BC the maternal uncle of the Athenian orator Aeschines distinguished himself in a naval action after which he may have been formally
awarded the aristeia, or prize for valor. Aeschines claims that his uncle, along
with Demaenetus, won the naval victory over Cheilon, the Lacedaemonian
admiral.156 His grave stele was found near the Attic deme of Acharnae in
Attica. It has a relief depicting an eagle carrying a serpent in its talons, which
is an obvious reference to the portent that appeared to Hector.157 The name
and occupation of the deceased is inscribed above the relief: Cleobulus, from
Acharnae, seer. An epigram, consisting of four hexameters, is inscribed below
the relief in small letters:
Cleobulus, son of Glaucus, the earth covers you in death,
being good both as a seer and as a fighter with the spear,
you whom once the demos (people) of great-hearted Erechtheus
[crowned]
having been the best throughout Greece [to win glory].158
152 The name of mantis was inscribed in larger letters than the rest in the early Athenian
casualty list published as IG I2 929.
153 I G I3 1147 1289= ML 33; SEG 29.361 3 column; Dillery, Chresmologues..., 201.
154 S EG 16.193.
155 Flower, The Seer..., 184; Bremmer, The Status..., 99; Bremmer, Greek..., 138.
156 Aeschin. 2.78.
157 Il. 12.195229.
158 National Archaeological Museum, inv. no. 4473, see Flower, The Seer..., 96, 98, fig. 12.
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Xenophon describes a mantis who died bravely in the front line of battle at
Munychia (403/404). This anonymous seer serving with Thrasybulus and the
Athenian democrats from Phyle, who fought the Thirty Tyrants, predicted that
they would be victorious if they did not attack until one of their own number
was wounded or killed, and that he himself would die in the battle. He then selfconsciously fulfilled his own prophecy in an act of self-sacrifice, for Xenophon
comments: And he did not speak falsely; but when they took up their arms,
just as if he was being led on by a certain fate, he was the first to spring forward
and, falling upon the enemy, he was killed.159 Other manteis killed during battle include Skiros of Dodona, who fell in battle during the war between Eleusis
and Athens, and an unnamed seer who fell in the fighting and at Mantineia,
as mentioned by Pausanias.160 Another well-known example is mentioned in
Herodotus story about Megistias. The seer Megistias from Acarnania, having
looked into the entrails (hiera), proclaimed the death that would come for them
at dawn.161 King Leonidas ordered almost all the non-Spartan Greek forces to
leave Thermopylae before the battle, among them Megistias, but he chose not
to, preferring instead to send away his son.162 Theoclus ends his life by plunging
into the ranks of the Lacedaemonians.163 Finally, Lysanders seer fell with him
before the walls of Haliartus in Boeotia in 395 BC,164 and the Athenian invasion
of Egypt in the middle of the fifth century, the seer Telenikos perished, and we
can still read his name in big letters on the inscription honoring the fallen.165
The clear indication of the prestige of military manteis is the relatively
large number of statues dedicated to them, as the dedication of human statues seems to have been restricted to truly great men.166 Pausanias mentioned
five monuments to manteis in Delphi, Olympia and other places.167 The
poet Simonides of Ceos at his own expense made the epitaph for his mantic
friend Megistias.168 Simonides must have clearly felt that his friend had done
159 Xen. Hell. 2.4.189.

160 Paus. 1.36.4, 1.38.3.
161 Hdt. 7.219.1.
162 Hdt. 7.221; Dillery, Chresmologues..., 203.
163 Paus. 4.21.212.
164 Plut. Lys. 28.5.
165 IG I3 1147.129.
167 Paus. 1.27.6, 3.11.5, 6.2.4, 10.1.10, 10.9.7. Pausanias mentions five statues dedicated to
mantis, and for sure were more. See W.K. Pritchett, Greek Archives, Cults, and Topography
(Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1996) 134.
168 Hdt. 7.228.3; Xen, Hell. 2.4.1819; Pritchett 3, 51.
87
something to deserve such special and personal commemoration (no other

Greek was identified by name on these pillars).169
This is the memorial of famous Megistias, whom once the Medes
slew after they had crossed the river Spercheius,
a seer who, although at that time he knew clearly that the Karae [spirits
of death]
were coming, did not endure to abandon Spartas leaders.170
On the so-called Navarchs monument, Lysander dedicated a statue of both
himself and his seer Agias,171 whose bronze statue was also placed in the
marketplace at Sparta. Agias fame, as Pausanias recounts, resulted from his
exploits at the battle of Aegospotami: They say that Agias while acting as seer
to Lysander captured the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami except for ten ships.172
Moreover, the seers were granted honours not only after their death but also
during their lifetime. Polybius speaks of the precedence and honor enjoyed by
the manteis in the early period. Manteis were often awarded citizenship and
other high civic honors; they also received special consideration in the distribution of booty after battles. There is even some evidence to show their greed
and lust for payment.173 The mantic family of the Iamidai from Olympia, who
traced their descent from Iamos, son of Apollo, provides the best example of
the high esteem and influence enjoyed by the manteis in the fifth century.174
The best of the seers, as mentioned above, could gain citizenship as a reward.
Athens, for instances, awarded a crown to the diviner Cleobulus for his services
during the campaign against Chilon.175
The Thasian mantis Sthorys and Amphitos of Acarnania were granted
Athenian citizenship as a consequence of several successful prophecies.176
A stele preserves two enactments of the Athenian government; one a decree
of the Boule and the other a decree of the Ecclesia, granting Sthorys of Thasos
both Athenian citizenship and the right to eat in the Prytaneum.177 The most
170 Hdt. 7.228; Bremmer, Greek..., 99; Dillery, Chresmologues..., 203.
171 Paus. 10.9.7.
172 Paus. 3.11.68; Flower, The Seer..., 95.
173 Soph. Ant. 1055; Ath. 8.344ef.
175 Aeschin. 2.78, cf. P. Bonnechere, Divination in A Companion to Greek Religion (ed.
D. Ogden, Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) 148.
176 Parker, Polytheism..., 117.
177 I G II2 17 + SEG 15.84 + SEG 16.42.
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remarkable seer seems to be Teisamenus, who won the privilege of full Spartiate
status, something that was completely without parallel. Teisamenus, according to Herodotus, was told by Pythia that he was destined to win five contests.
Misinterpreting this to mean athletic contests, he started to train and nearly
won the pentathlon at Olympia. The Spartans, however, understood contests
to mean battles, and tried, by offering him a wage, to make Teisamenus a
leader in war, together with the Heraclid kings.178 Before the grant of citizenship, Teisamenus was offered a joint-command with the kings of Sparta. He
was to be put on the same level with the kings.179 The seer, alert to the Spartans
urgency, raised his price: he demanded full citizen rights. The Spartans at first
refused, but when they saw the threat of Persian attack looming, they conceded. Later, Teisamenus raised his price higher still: he demanded citizenship
for his brother, Hagias, as well as for himself. Herodotus tells us that Teisamenus
was here imitating Melampus,180 who had similarly won for himself half the
kingdom of Argos, and one-third for his brother Bias. The Spartans agreed to
both of Teisamenus demands, and with him as diviner, they won the battles of
Plataea, Tegea, Dipaees, Ithome and Tanagra.181

Diviner or King?
In the ANE the situation is absolutely unequivocal. There was a known socalled protocol of the diviners, a kind of loyalty oath taken by diviners in which,
among other things, one swore not to reveal the content of oracular consultations to unauthorized persons. It was an attempt to deal with such potential
risk.182 Sennacherib (704681 BC) tells of how he would assemble the diviners
in separate groups, so that they could not communicate, and ask his question.
So Sennacherib leaves this counsel to his son: never make any decision without
the diviners, but make three or four groups of them.183
178 Hdt. 9.3336.
179 According to Flower, Herodotus does not depict Tisamenus as having any active role in
the actual battle, neither in marshaling the troops nor in the fighting. Herodotus must
therefore mean that Tisamenus was the leader in the same way as Calchas. Homer speaks
of Calchas as the one who led the ships of the Achaeans into the land of Ilium through
that seercraft (mantosune) that Phoebus Apollo had given him, see Il. 1.712. Like Calchas,
then, Tisamenus leads the army and practices the art of divination as Apollos gift. See
Flower, The Seer..., 95.
180 Hdt. 9.34.1.
181 Hdt. 9.35.2; Dillery, Chresmologues..., 2067.
182 A EM 1/1, 1122, see The Mari..., 286.
183 S AA 3, 33, o. 137, o. 212; Burkert, Signs..., 40.
89
The Greek historical sources did not report any heated confrontations
between the generals and seers, but in the epics and tragedies political and
military leaders often come into conflict with seers. Those genres focus on the
aspect of confrontation, and so it is only to be expected that Oedipus, Creon,
and Pentheus will disregard the counsel of Teiresias, or that Agamemnon will
turn on Calchas, when the latter appears to undermine his authority.184
In the Iliad, the warrior-seer Polydamas185 is described as Hectors close
companion; yet twice he finds himself having to steer Hector on a safer course,186
and on two other occasions is violently rebuked by him for urging a more cautious plan of action.187
Some seers possessed the strategic ability and cleverness that made them
comparable or even superior to their commanders.188 The mythological tradition knows king-seers, such as Anios of Delos (a son of Apollo), Mounichos (a
king of the Molossians) and Phineus, the blind Thracian king whose divinatory qualities incited the Argonauts to shoot down the Harpies.189 The king of
Sparta was accompanied on the battlefield by the mantis.190 The seer Teiresias
in Euripides Phoenissae claims to be responsible for Athens victory over
Eleusis: I made the sons of Cecrops victorious, and, as you can see, I possess
this golden crown, which I received as the first fruits of the enemy spoils.191
The Lacedaemonian seer Hecas, for his part, interprets an omen, devises the
strategy that leads to the defeat of the Messenians, and gives orders to the
Lacedaemonian army.192
The mantis and the chieftain are ultimately oppositional forces,193 and
this theme finds expression in tragedy. In Aeschyluss Seven against Thebes,
there is a verbally vivid description of Tydeus growing impatient with his seer
Amphiaraus:
Tydeus now rages at the Proetid Gate, but the seer does not allow him to
cross the river Ismenus. For the sphagia are not favorable. But Tydeus,
raging and eager for battle, shouts as a snake hissing at midday, and he
184 Soph. OT 316462, Soph. Ant. 9881090; Eur. Bacch. 215-369; Il. 1.1120.
185 He is evidently not a professional seer and indeed is never called one in the poem.
186 Il. 12.6179, 13.72647.
187 Il. 12.23050, 18 18.243314.
188 See Hdt. 8.27.3; Paus. 10.1.101, 4.21.8; Thuc. 3.20.12.
189 Bremmer, The Status..., 100.
190 Xen. Lak. Pol. 13.7; Cic. De. Div. 1.95.
191 Eur. Ph. 8547.
192 Paus. 4.21.712.
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strikes at the wise seer, the son of Oecles, with reproaches, saying that he
shrinks from death and battle through cowardice.194
An oracle given in Dodona warned soldiers to be on their guard against their
leaders during the battle of Chaironeiaadvice that was sure to destroy
military discipline. Burkert notes that in many cultures and throughout history, diviners have been not merely under the surveillance of authorities but
actively responsible for inciting rebellion against them.195
The final strategical decision was in the hands of the leader.196 According
to Plato, the law enjoins that the general rules the seer and not the seer the
general.197 Some generals kept tighter control over the soothsayers or were
more adroit at concealing, or interpreting the omens.198 The most eminent
generals of the fifth century (Tolmides, Cimon, Nicias, Alcibiades, and perhaps Pericles) were accustomed to employing private seers.199 The leader put
pressure of taking military decisions on the seer.200 The Greeks seem to have
strongly believed that the gods had good strategic sense and that they communicated with men by means of signs. So any general who disregarded the
omens and the advice of his seer did so at his own peril.201
Cyrus, according to Xenophon, was taught the mantic art by his father,
in order that he should know what the gods counseled and not to be at the
mercy of seers, who might wish to deceive him, and in order that he should
not be at a loss how to read the divine signs if he ever found himself without a seer.202 Xenophon clearly believed that divination was a teachable craft,
and that any intelligent person could learn it. Nonetheless, he did not imply
that professional seers were unnecessary. Rather, he was asserting that a
commander needed to be able, if the circumstances required it, to get along
without one.203 Xenophon declared that he himself was always present when
omens were taken.204 He also adds that he learned much about the relevant
liver signs himself just by often standing at the side of the mantis as he cut up
194 A. Sept. 37783.
195 See Burkert, Signs..., 46.
196 Il. 1.7591; Hdt. 9.61; Eur. Phoen. 7549; Soph. OT 30041; A. Sept. 37780; Arr. An. 7.18;
Xen. Cyr. 1.6.2; Onos. 4.5, 10.258; Jameson, Sacrifice..., 2234; ThesCRA 3, 43.
197 Pl. Lach. 199a.
198 D S 13.97.57; Xen. Hell. 4.8.36.
200 Xen. An. 6.4.14; Plut. Arist. 18.
202 Xen. Cyr. 1.6.2.
204 Xen. An. 5.6.29.
91
the victim.205 Aeneas the Tactician explicitly prescribed that during a siege the
mantis should sacrifice only in the presence of a magistrate; to do otherwise
might have a fatal influence on public opinion.206 Polybius reported that it
was the custom of Philip V to take the splaghna of the victim into his own
hands.207 Onosander, in his Strategikos, insisted that a general must himself
be able to read the omens intelligently and that he should summon all his officers to inspect the victims since the gods command them to fight.208 A general
took a risk in overruling the interpretation of the mantis and trusting in his
own judgment; he risked punishment from gods and men if the seers prove to
have understood the divine intention correctly.209 The Spartan generals found
sacrificing and taking omens a good way of keeping their men in hand.210 Even
though Herodotus mentioned that for the Spartans the mantis was a man of
secondary importance, the case of Teisamenos suggests the opposite.211 The
testimony of Pausanias differs from that of Herodotus. When he visited Sparta
he noted that the Elean family of mantis, Spartan priests who fell in battle, were
privileged with special burial.212 Xenophon reported that Lycurgus ordained
that the king shall offer all public sacrifices on behalf of the state in virtue of
his divine descent and he shall be the leader of the army wherever the state
sends it.213 On active service the king acted as a priest in matters relating to
the gods and as a general in matters relating to men.214 In contrast to Athens,
the Spartan king could offer the sacrifice assisted by mantis, just as in the
interpretation of oracles each Spartan king was the keeper of the oracles but
was assigned two o who served as messengers to Delphi and were made
205 Xen. An. 6.4.15, see Burkert, Signs..., 42.

206 Aen. Tact. 10.4, Bremmer, The Status..., 108. On the other hand Curtius says that the seers
examined the victims without the presence of Aleksander, see Curtius 7.7.8; Pritchett 3,
489.
207 Polybios 7.12.1.
208 Onos. 10.25.
209 Pritchett 3, 49, ref. 7.
210 A.R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks (London: Edward Arnold, 1962) 538.
211 Hdt. 9.33-6, Pritchett 3, 50, ref. no. 9; Bremmer, Greek..., 150; W. Burkert, The Orientalizing
Revolution. Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge
MA, London: Harvard University Press, 1995) 42; Flower, The Iamidae..., 187, 197200;
Burkert, Greek..., 113; Burkert, Signs..., 44; ThesCRA 3, 15, 43; P. Cartledge, The Spartan
State in War and Peace in The Landmark Herodotus. The Histories (ed. R.B. Strassler, New
York: Pantheon Books, 2007) 730, 734.
212 Paus. 3.12.8, Pritchett 3, 50.
213 Xen. Lac. 15.2.
214 Xen. Lac. 13.11.
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cognizant of all oracles.215 As far as we know, two generals might react differently to the same portent. The mantis uttered his prognosis, the hegemon
made the final decision and no general was ever impeached because of his
observance or non-observance of a portent.216
Even defeat could not significantly change the prestige of the manteis in the
Greek world. In an epigram dedicated to the dead of the battle of Coroneia,
shortly after 446/447 BC, general Tolmides appears to have acted in spite of an
unfavorable sign.217 This Athenian epigram explained how an unnamed demigod had given the Athenians an oracle which was interpreted as favorable; but
it turned out to mean exactly the opposite and to involve their defeat. The oracle, as often happened, was obscure. In the second line of the epigram we find
the ascription of the defeat to a divine power (By divine power, you lost your
lives in war). After the defeat, neither the strategos Tolmides nor the mantis
was repudiated for his failure. The epigrams conclude: For all men forever he
made accomplishment of oracles trustworthy and to be reckoned on.218 The
gods might grant favorable signs to the pious, which was still however not the
same as an absolute guarantee of success. As long as a general merely indicated
that the gods gave approval for battle or for a particular course of action, then
the responsibility for a defeat laid with him alone. And thus it might often have
been the case that a seers reputation could survive a major defeat that permanently destroyed the career of the general whom he served.219
Xenophon is quite certain that the gods give favorable omens in a crisis to those who revered them when things were going well.220 This was not
exclusively a Socratic view. Pindar implies much the same thing in his eighth
Olympian.221 Nonetheless, even the pious might find it difficult to interpret a
particular omen, and it must have been the norm that both armies received
favorable omens before an engagement. The gods gave advice and indicated
their will; they did not guarantee success or victory.222 Diodoruss account of
Arginusae tells us distinctly about attitudes toward divination and the Greek
mentality.223 Generally in the Greek world, especially before the Sicilian
expedition in the midst of the Peloponnesian War,224 the Athenians had a
216 Ibidem, 13940.
217 Bonnechere, Divination..., 148.
218 C EG 5; Pritchett 3, 89.
219 Flower, The Seer..., 183; see Burkert, Signs..., 423.
220 Xen. Hipparch. 9.89, Xen. Cyr. 1.6.3.
221 Pi. O. 8.18.
223 D.S. 13.97103.
224 Thuc. 8.1.1.
93
genuine faith in the validity of divination and of how the rites of divination,
even when proven wrong in the event, cannot be easily discredited in the eyes
of a true believer.225
Conclusions
Both, the Mesopotamians and Greeks believed that the gods decisions had
important strategic sense and they communicated them to men by means of
signs.
In both civilizations, the diviner was the mouthpiece of the gods. Their
attributes were highly impressive; the throne in Mesopotamia, and the crown
in Greece. In the ANE, divination was a specialized science to be mastered.
In Mesopotamian tradition, divination was very professional knowledge and
being a diviner was available only by long, difficult, long-term study. The art
of divination in Greece, on the other hand, derived largely from a practical
intelligence and was an individual power.226 The seer owed his prestige to the
success and reliability of his prophecies,227 and charisma was far more important than book-learning or technical expertise.228 Xenophon clearly believes
that divination was a teachable craft. The main difference could be in personal
involvement; the Greek seers seem to have been less studious scholars and
more engaged practitioners but this could be due to the different narration of
our literary evidence.
Both br and mantis were very often seers and warriors at the same time.
It seems that the br was not only responsible for divination but that he also
for going in front of the army. In the Greek milieu, it was possible for the mantis to be in conflict with the ruler, while in Mesopotamia such a situation was
impossible and even unthinkable; this, however, was connected with the structure of the society. Nonetheless, in Mari times, diviners very often advised the
king in military affairs: our lord must give strict orders to guards and border
guards outside. They must not be negligent229 an ecstatic demand: [If] you
do not make that city gate, there will be a corpse heap. You will not succeed.230

226 Trampedach, Authority..., 228.
227 E.M. Harris, Aeschines and Athenian Politics (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press,
1995) 27.
228 See Hdt. 9.94.3.
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In the historical, archaeological and literary material we have only limited

evidence of meetings between the Mesopotamian and Greek civilizations
from which to draw the obvious statements and conclusions. The role of Greek
mercenaries in the conflicts of the Near East is quite clear but the question
of the eventual meeting of br and mantis on the battlefield is completely
unknown to us, and for now it seems to be purely speculative. I do not
exclude, and even assumed, that such meetings could have taken place during
the campaigns in Anatolia, Syria and Cyprus, but there is no conclusive evidence for this way of thinking. It is for this reason that I decided on such a
detailed description of these two concepts, to posit the fact that the number
of similarities is too great to be considered merely accidental. Of course, we
have much more evidence from the Greek world, but after diligent analysis I
can state that the role and duties of br and mantis are surprisingly similar.
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A. Livingstone, New Dimensions in the Study of Assyrian Religion in Assyria 1995.
Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus
Project. Helsinki, September 711, 1995 (eds. S. Parpola, R.M. Whiting, Helsinki: The
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1997) 165177.
G. Manetti, Theories of Sign in Classical Antiquity (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1993).
O. Masson, Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques (Paris: E. de Boccard, 1961).
W. Mayer, Assyrien und Urartu I. Der Achte Feldzuf Sargons II. im Jahr 714 v. Chr.
(Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013).
M. Micale, D. Nadali, The Shape of Sennacheribs Camps: Strategic Functions and
Ideological Space, Iraq 66 Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assyriologique
Internationale, Part One (2004) 16375.
P.C. Millett, Winning Ways in Warfare in The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the
Classical World (eds. B. Campbell, L.A. Tritle, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)
4673.
Mity akadyjskie (ed. M. Kapeu, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Agade, 2000).
D. Nadali, Assyrian Open Fields Battles. An Attempt at Reconstruction and Analysis
in Studies on War in the Ancient Near East. Collected Essays on Military History
(ed. J. Vidal, Mnster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2010) 117152.
M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (Atlanta: SBL, 2003).
S. Owicimski, Zeus daje tylko znak, Apollo wieszczy osobicie. Staroytne wrbiarstwo
greckie (Wrocaw: Ossolineum, 1989).
R. Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
, Sacrifice and Battle in War and Violence in Ancient Greece (ed. H. van Wees,
London: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales 2000) 299314.
H. Popp, Die Einwirkung von Vorzeichen (Diss., Erlangen, 1957).
W.K. Pritchett, Greek Archives, Cults, and Topography (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1996).
K.A. Raaflaub, Persian Army and Warfare in the Mirror of Herodotuss Interpretation
in Herodotus and the Persian Empire (eds. R. Rollinger, B. Truschnegg, R. Bichler,
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011) 538.
K. Radner, The Assyrian King and his Scholars: The Syro-Anatolian and the Egyptian
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Oriental Society, 2009) 221238.
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in The Bible and the Ancient Near East (ed. J.J.M. Roberts, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns,
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Eclipses and the Precipitation of Conflict:

Deciphering the Signal to Attack
Micah Ross
Eclipses have inspired awe and wonder. To account for these celestial phenomena, pre-astronomical cultures often proposed mythological explanations
for eclipses.1 These explanations varied, but many cultures imagined that the
lunate shape of the eclipsed body resembled the normal sun or moon with
a bite taken from it. Thus, cultures as varied as the Norse, Indians, Chinese,
and Inca introduced a celestial being which devoured the eclipsed disk. These
mythologies occupied a position between explanation and public religious
narrative. Sometimes the devourers appeared in other legends; sometimes they
merely explained the eclipse. The repetition of these stories did not impede
the development of astronomical explanations, and an intermediary stage
of mythological development acknowledged the role of the sun and moon in
eclipses. In this stage, the tales imbued the celestial bodies with human motivations. Thus, Inuit said that an eclipse occurs when the sun stalked off after a
fight and was overtaken by the moon. In Tahiti, the sun and moon met for amorous purposes. By the seventh-century BC, Assyrians explained lunar eclipses
as seven demons attacking the moon.2 Even after Mesopotamians began to
predict eclipses, iconography from the eclipse myth persisted, lasting until the
Seleucid era. Clearly, the advent of astronomy did not dispel the reverence provoked by eclipses.
In other words, some religious significance adhered to the phenomenon
even after the causes of eclipses were understood. Thus, directly or indirectly,
religion determined the responses provoked by eclipses. For Babylon, the
relationship between religion and eclipses was unmediated. Egypt relied on
Babylonian precedents. By the time of Greek dominance, divine inspiration
was redefined in terms of personal astrology; for Classical historians, the relationship between religion and eclipses had become a literary trope. To connect
an event with an eclipse was to connect it with the forces of the universe and
imbue it with reverence. Even in the modern era, eclipses inspired and drew
1 M. Littmann, F. Espenak, K. Wilcox, Totality: Eclipses of the Sun (New York: Oxford, 2008)
3948.
2 G. Azarpay, A. Kilmer, The Eclipse Dragon on an Arabic Frontispiece-Miniature, JAOS 98.4
(1978) 3724.
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upon religious sentiments. In each of these cases, the wonderment provoked

by eclipses has manifested in warfare.

Babylon and the Huber Hypothesis
Eclipses were correlated with armed conflicts early in written history. Omens
in cuneiform astrological texts ascribed a dire meaning to eclipses and probably reflected more than superstitious fears. Huber has noted that Babylonian
eclipse omens contained two classes: schematized predictions and highly specific descriptions.3 Huber conjectured that the latter class of predictions preserved empirical reports of eclipses which preceded violent changes of reign.
Huber further hypothesized that the coincidence of eclipses and changes of
reign in the Akkad Dynasty prompted the development of omen astrology.4
Huber has advanced a strong hypothesis which correlates calculated eclipses,
historical events, and omen literature and significant challenges have countered his identification of the eclipses.5 Despite the validity of these objections,
a focus on the assessment of the details risks a hasty rejection of an interesting
proposal.
Because of the frequency with which ancient accounts described eclipses
before battles, a weaker corollary may be proposed: an eclipse may precipitate
conflict. Babylonian astrologers regularly associated eclipses with the downfall
of cities and the death of kings.6 These astrologers ascribed their omen literature to divine authors, but these sources did not maintain a causality between
eclipses and state conflicts. Some writings suggest that Babylonian astrologers
perceived celestial omens as unprovoked messages from the gods rather than
3 P. Huber, Dating by Lunar Eclipse Omens with Speculations on the Birth of Omen Astrology
in From Ancient Omens to Statistical Mechanics (eds. L Berggren, B. Goldstine, Copenhagen:
University Library, 1987) 34.
4 Huber, Dating..., 11.
5 For objections, see U. Koch-Westenholz, Mesopotamian Astrology (Copenhagen: Carsten
Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, Museum Tusculanum Press, 1995) 146 and
V. Gurzadyan, On the Astronomical Records and Babylonian Chronology, Akkadica 119120
(2000) 17786. For defenses and recapitulations, see P. Huber, Astronomical Dating of Ur III
and Akkad, AfO 4647 (1999/2000) 5079; P. Huber, Astronomy and Ancient Chronology,
Akkadica 119120 (2000) 159-76 and P. Huber, The Solar Omen of Murili II, JAOS 121.4
(2001) 6404.
6 F. Rochberg-Halton, Aspects of Babylonian Celestial Divination (Horn: Verlag F. Berger, 1988)
16; H. Hunger, D. Pingree, Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia (Leiden, Boston, Cologne: Brill,
1999) 6.
eclipses and the precipitation of conflict
101
the cause of the predicted events.7 A causal relationship between eclipses and
state conflicts corresponds more closely to modern assumptions about astrological doctrines and contemporary notions of fate than to ancient practices.8
Also in contrast to many popular assessments of astrology, Mesopotamians did
not consider the predicted results of an eclipse inescapable. Because proper
rituals could dispel unfavorable omens, the interpretation of omens and the
execution of rituals guided Mesopotamian statecraft.9
Thus, for Babylonian astrologers, eclipse interpretation constituted an element of statecraft. Accordingly, Babylonian omen literature sought to clarify
which king would suffer and how. The value of the portents lay in their interpretation: the death of a Babylonian king constituted a bad omen, but the
death of a powerful inimical king at the hands of an ally was a good omen. In
addition, a bad omen demanded the correct apotropaic rituals to be enacted.10
Hence, the same eclipse could demoralize one army yet inspire another.
For example, the eclipse before the Battle of Gaugamela was observed by
both Darius III and Alexander the Great. The eclipse was open to interpretation by both armies. At least one Mesopotamian interpretation is known: a
tablet from 194 BC preserved an interpretation inimical to Babylon, but his
interpretation may be explained as an empirical report of an eclipse and its
effects.11 The Greek historian Arrian, though, leaves little doubt that Alexander
adopted the eclipse as a favorable portent and sacrificed to the sun, moon,
and earth.12 The fact that Alexander sacrificed to celestial bodies indicates that
he was probably aware of the causes of an eclipse, but most historians have
concluded that Classical Greeks did not have a well-developed astrological tradition of interpreting celestial phenomena.13 Darius would not have communicated the interpretation of the eclipse, and nothing suggests that Alexander
benefited from an intelligence leak. Nor did Alexander disrupt the prescribed
rituals. The favorable interpretation by Alexander simply fits a larger pattern
of ambitious interpretationnamely, an eclipse offers bold leaders a divine
sanction for their undertakings.
7 F. Rochberg, The Heavenly Writing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 478.
8 Rochberg, Aspects..., 15 and F. Rochberg, In the Path of the Moon (Leiden, Boston: Brill,
2010) 41124.
9 D. Lehoux, Tomorrows News Today, Representations 95.1 (2006) 1179.
10 Rochberg, Writing..., 748.
11 E. Weidner, Die astrologische Serie Enma Anu Enlil, AfO 14 (19414) 188.
12 Arr. An. 3.7.
13 For opposition to this general conclusion, see R. Waterfield, The Evidence for Astrology
in Classical Greece, Culture and Cosmos 3.2 (1999) 315.
102

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Egypt and Eclipse Interpretation
Despite the esteem of contemporary Greeks, the decipherment of Egyptian

hieroglyphics has disappointed modern historians of astronomy. Diogenes
Laertius cites pseudo-Aristotle and Sotion to the effect that the Egyptians
recorded 373 solar and 832 lunar eclipses, but none of these reports have
survived.14 The evidence that has survived suggests that Egypt had limited
astronomical development. In the few cases in which Egyptian sources seem
to discuss eclipses, they described the phenomena as something swallowing
the moon or darkening the sun, but none of these sources even reported a
date for the phenomenon.
Because Egyptian accounts of eclipses are generally less reliable than the
Mesopotamian evidence, conclusions about the intersection of eclipses and
political turmoil in Egypt must be considered with caution. The most tantalizing Egyptian evidence occurs in the form of a negative statement. A ninthcentury BC inscription now titled the Chronicle of Prince Osorkon reported a
political revolt.
In Regnal Year 25, Month 4 of the Harvest, day 25... the sky did not
swallow the moon, [but] a great convulsion broke out in this land...
children of rebellion stirred up civil war between southerners and
northerners...15
In his commentary, Caminos considered the possibility of a partial lunar or
solar eclipse, but two other interpretations may explain the oddly negative
phrasing. First, a predicted eclipse may have failed to occur (or was unobservable in Egypt). This interpretation accords with the fact that the account
preserved a highly specific date. Secondly, Egyptian administrators, like their
Assyrian contemporaries, may have expected conflicts after eclipses. Therefore,
a revolt without a preceding eclipse may represent a separate class of troubled
statecraft.
The other preeminent Egyptian source on eclipses borrowed from
Babylonian astrology.16 A Demotic text, now preserved in Vienna, reports
the effects of eclipses for an Egyptian readership. The first portion of this
14 D.L. Proem. 2.
15 R. Caminos, The Chronicle of Prince Osorkon (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum,
1958) 8890.
16 R. Parker, A Vienna Demotic Papyrus on Eclipse- and Lunar-Omina (Providence: Brown
University Press, 1959) 289 and 534.
103
papyrus (Text A) reworked the schematized predictions of Babylon for an

Egyptian setting. The apodoses of the solar eclipses associated with these
predictions have not survived, but among the eight surviving apodoses of
the lunar eclipses, three predicted the fall of the Egyptian army in battle, the
capture of the Egyptian king, or death in Egypt. The second portion of this
papyrus (Text B) resembles the highly specific descriptions which Huber identified as empirical eclipse reports. This section was grimmer. Of twelve solar
eclipses, nine apodoses implied some type of civil uprising.17 Of eight lunar
eclipses, seven apodoses portended armed insurrections, including military
revolts and brigandage. Even the prediction of abundant crops served only
to explain the cause of quarrels. However these two texts are understood,
Egyptians eventually adopted their Mesopotamian association of eclipses and
civil uprisings.

Greece and Eclipse Prediction
While Egyptian eclipse reports may fall short of accounts by contemporary

Greeks, Greek reports of eclipses often fall short of modern astronomical standards and differ from Babylonian reports both in accuracy and in the emphasis
placed on the predictions. Among Greek historians, Herodotus reported three
eclipses and associated them with military actions;18 Thucydides recorded
three eclipses but associated only two of them with battles;19 a handful of
Classical writers detailed the role of the eclipse at the Battle of Gaugamela;
another group ascribed the surrender of Agathocles to a solar eclipse. In the
Roman era, Cassius Dio counted an eclipse among the omens which bedeviled
Pompey;20 and another eclipse marked the Pannonian Mutiny. After this flurry
of doomed battles and ominous eclipses, such reports slide from view.
In some cases, the connection between the eclipse and the battle remains
unclear; in other cases, the darkness may not have been an eclipse or was recognized as another atmospheric phenomenon. Xenophon (c. 430354 BC)
provides examples of both types of reports. In Hell. 2.3, he vaguely associated a solar eclipse with the victory of Lycophron, reporting only the year and
neglecting to record whether the eclipse or the victory occurred first. In An. 3.4,
17 For the separation into lunar and solar omens, see M. Ross, A Survey of Demotic
Astrological Texts, Culture and Cosmos 11 (2007) 57 and 123.
18 Hdt. 1.74, 7.37, 9.10.
19 Thuc. 2.28, 4.52, 7.50.
20 D.C. 41.14.
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Xenophon reported that a great cloud engulfed the city of Larisa before its fall,
but modern scholars suggest that the fall of Larisa coincided with the eclipse
of 19 May 557 BC.21 In another case, Xenophon fails to identify
(a moon-shaped sun) with a partial eclipse.22 Plutarch later correctly identified the phenomenon.23 Such lapses suggest either a nascent state of astronomical development or a limited dissemination of astronomical knowledge.
Whereas astrological predictions clarified Mesopotamian and Egyptian
perceptions of eclipses, Classical histories elevated the prediction of the
eclipse itself over its interpretation. Herodotus established this tendency to
esteem the prediction of the eclipse over its interpretation with his famous
report that Thales foretold the solar eclipse of 28 May 585 BC which stopped
the Battle of Halys.24 Thales may have made some speculative declaration,
but at best the insight of Thales was ephemeral, for no method clearly existed
by which Greeks could predict eclipses.25 Besides, Herodotus implies that
both Xerxes ( fl. 486465 BC) was caught unawares by a solar eclipse and that
Cleombrotus, surprised by an unexpected solar eclipse of 2 October 480 BC,
abandoned his defenses after a victory at the Battle of Salamis.26 In the case
of Xerxes, Herodotus reports that astrologers interpreted the eclipse, but their
equation of the two armies with the two celestial bodies does not resemble
Mesopotamian omen literature. More importantly for Herodotus, the eclipses
came as a surprise and the Mesopotamian interpretation proved erroneous.
Though Herodotus was not convinced by astrological predictions, he esteemed
astronomical forecasts.
Early Greeks, apparently, could neither reliably predict eclipses nor interpret them. Greeks often conceded that Mesopotamians were their predecessors in astronomy, yet evidence of Mesopotamian predictions of lunar
eclipses (498 BC) and solar eclipses (358 BC) began after Herodotus. The date
21 G. Airy, On the Eclipses of Agathocles, Thales, and Xerxes, Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London 143 (1853) 179200 and G. Airy, On the Eclipse of Agathocles,
the Eclipse at Larissa, and the Eclipse of Thales, with an Appendix on the Eclipse at
Stiklastad, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society 26 (1858) 13152.
22 Xen. HG. 4.3.
23 Plut. Ages. 17.
24 Hdt 1.74.
25 For a speculative explanation, see D. Couprie, How Thales Was Able to Predict a Solar
Eclipse without the Help of Alleged Mesopotamian Wisdom, Early Science and Medicine
9.4 (2004) 32137.
26 Hdt 7.37, 9.10.
105
of the earliest predictions remains an open question.27 Later Classical historians obfuscated the primitive development of Greek astronomy through
exaggeration. Occasionally their claims strain belief. For example, Plutarch
relates that Anaxagoras predicted the fall of a meteor.28 While some modern
scholars would amend the fall of the meteor to the return of a comet, Greek
accounts thus assume a fascination with prediction that betrays unfamiliarity
with astronomy.29 Xenophon (or his sources, which were composed before his
birth) demonstrates an incipient knowledge of astronomy through his description of a solar eclipse as a cloud and a partial solar eclipse as a moon-shaped
sun. Herodotus concedes that eclipse prediction is possible but does not attribute the art to Mesopotamia. Instead, he reserves the art for sages.
As an early Greek historian, Thucydides presumably had little familiarity
with eclipses and would have reacted to them with curiosity. Contrary to expectations, though, Thucydides revealed little emotion in his reports of celestial
phenomena. Thucydides reported an eclipse at the beginning of a summer
month, near the close of hostilities with Sparta.30 This report agrees with the
solar eclipse of 3 August 431 BC. In his account of the battle, though, Cicero
moved the eclipse to the reopening of hostilities with Sparta and depicted
Pericles as heartening his trembling soldiers with the technical explanations
of Anaxagoras.31 Plutarch concurred with Cicero but embellished the account
by having Pericles demonstrate the cause of the eclipse with his cloak.32 Unlike
Babylonian astrologers who interpreted eclipses as divine communications
even after astronomers had become proficient at predicting them, Classical
historians presumed that an understanding of the causes of an eclipse negated
its emotional effects.
Despite the fact that Classical historians opted to introduce eclipses for dramatic effect, they favored rational explanations over superstition.33 Thucydides
reported the ominous eclipse of 27 August 413 BC during the Second Battle of
27 For the earliest possible dates, see J. Steele, Solar Eclipse Times Predicted by the
Babylonians, Journal for the History of Astronomy 28 (1997) 134 and J. Steele and
F. Stephenson, Lunar Eclipse Times Predicted by the Babylonians, Journal for the History
of Astronomy 28 (1997) 130. For the latest possible dates, see Hunger, Pingree, Astral
Sciences..., 200.
28 Plut. Lys. 12.
29 M. West, Anaxagoras and the Meteorite of 467 BC, Journal of the British Astronomical
Association 70 (1960) 3689.
30 Thuc. 4.52.
31 Cic. Rep. 1.23.
32 Plut. Per. 35.
33 D. Levene, Religion in Livy (Leiden, New York: Brill, 1993) 119.
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Syracuse.34 In his account, Nicias led Athenian forces in an unsuccessful raid

on Syracuse. When long-awaited Athenian reinforcements failed to extinguish
Syracusan resistance, Nicias planned his retreat. However, a lunar eclipse interrupted his preparations. Nicias delayed for 27 days on the advice of a diviner
and missed his chance to escape. Nicias lost the battle and was taken prisoner.
When Plutarch embellished the account by Thucydides, he included a fragment of the historian Philochorus which stresses the proper interpretation of
eclipses.35 According to Philochorus and Plutarch, Nicias erred because a lunar
eclipse clearly favors a retreating army by cloaking the evacuation in total
darkness.36 Notwithstanding the smug consolation of Classical historians,
Thucydides, by recording the interpretation of this eclipse, offers a rare insight
into an era when relatively little is known about the development of Greek
astrology. Perhaps the diviner felt eclipses spelled doom for retreats because
of the disastrous retreat of Cleombrotus during a solar eclipse. However, other
than the origin of the 27 days as a reflection of the lunar sidereal cycle, the
strategy of the diviner remains opaque. In Babylon the interpretation of the
eclipse may have been questioned but early Greeks seem not to have had a
uniform astrological tradition. Thus, the mention of an astrological assessment
invited euhemeristic explanations from later Greeks and Romans.37
In 331 BC, after the conquest of Alexander, Greeks obtained better access to
astrological traditions. Alexander also displayed a change in Hellenistic attitudes toward foreign omens. He made offerings to local divinities and appropriated religious customs. While Alexander prepared for the Battle of Gaugamela,
the moon suffered an eclipse.38 His Mesopotamian enemy recorded the
eclipse in their astronomical diaries and presumably considered the proper
interpretation and the appropriate rituals, but Alexander sacrificed to the
Sun, Moon, and Earth, adopted the omen as a favorable sign, and continued
his attack.39 Although Alexander reverenced local divinities and conformed
to religious customs, later in life he clarified his assessment of divination by
34 Thuc. 7.50.
35 Plut. Nic. 23, 28.
36 Plb. 9.19 declined to editorialize.
37 Y. Gillihan, Civic Ideology, Organization, and Law in the Rule Scrolls (Leiden: Brill, 2012) 450.
38 Plut. Alex. 19; Ptol. Fr. 1.4; Plin. HN 2.180.
39 For the Astronomical Diary, see A. Sachs, H. Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts
from Babylonia, vol. 1 (Vienna: Verlag der O sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
1988) 179. For the Greek account, see Arr. An. 3.7. Compare the account by Curt. 4.10 who
places both an interpretive strategy similar to the one described in Hdt. 7.37 and a scientific rationalization in the mouths of Egyptian diviners.
107
quoting Euripedes: , the best prophet is he

who guesses well.40
Classical historians guessed, too, about the type of eclipse and the time of
its occurrence. Three accounts suggest that an eclipse prompted the surrender of Agathocles. His surrender was probably a foregone conclusion, but the
occurrence of the eclipse is not. Diodorus and Justin, both distant from the
event, claimed the sun suffered an eclipse.41 Frontinus claimed the moon was
eclipsed.42 Moreover, he used the eclipse as an opportunity to insert the literary trope of rational explanations, despite the fact that Agathocles chose to
surrender rather than continue his retreat. Modern scholars have debated the
use of this eclipse as a fixed chronological point.43 However, the ancient discussion of the eclipse is so vague and colorless, so removed from the event and
subject to literary manipulation, that the very occurrence of the eclipse may
be questioned. Although foreshadowing and motifs number among literary
devices, the literary efforts of historians often seem misguided. Plutarch introduced eclipses when they are not needed but criticizes those who would read
meaning in them. Frontinus ascribed a folkloric motif of rational inspiration to
Agathocles but concluded the episode with surrender.
At times, reality abjures the haphazard rhetorical embellishments of historians in favor of a cohesive narrative authored by providence. Alexander
had gambled that an eclipse would mark the rise of the Macedonian Empire
over the Persian Empire, but he did not guess that another eclipse would
mark the close of the Macedonian Empire. More than a century and a half
after Alexander, Perseus, the king of Macedonians lost several scattered battles to Romans. Perseus consolidated his armies, won back his territories, and
deployed his collected force at Pydna to meet the Roman forces. On the night
before hostilities, 21 June 168 BC (or, perhaps 2 September 172 BC), the moon
suffered an eclipse.44 The Macedonians had forgotten the valiant example
of Alexander making his own fate and fell into despair and panic.45 Among
the Romans, Gallus, the commander of the second legion under the general
Paulus, saved the day. Some reported that Gallus had predicted the eclipse.46
40 Plut. De defect. orac., 432c.
41 D.S. 20.5.5; Justinus 36.
42 Frontinus, Strategemata 1.12.9.
43 M. Stanley, Predicting the Past: Ancient Eclipses and Airy, Newcomb, and Huxley on the
Authority of Science, Isis 103.2 (2012) 25860.
44 Liv. 44.37. For a discussion of modern dating, see C. Nothaft, Dating the Passion (Leiden:
Brill, 2011) 263.
45 Plut. Aem. 17.
46 Cic. Sen. 14.49; Liv. 44.37; Plin. HN 2.53; Frontinus Strategemata 1.12.8.
108
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Others suggested that he had explained the causes of the eclipse to fearful
troops.47 Still others related that someone (perhaps Gallus) had interpreted
the eclipse as a positive omen.48 Regardless of the achievement, Romans voted
Gallus a consulship for his service. If the Battle of Gaugamela demonstrates
that eclipses were open to tactical interpretation, then the Battle of Pydna
highlights the notion that those tactics are subject to historical interpretation.
While it is safe to say that Classical historians generally over-reported
eclipses, it is also safe to say that this practice derived from the desire to
create an effect. In some cases, no eclipse can be paired with the literary
description.49 In other cases, the importance of the eclipse is overestimated.
To take one example, Cassius Dio reports that many signs, including a solar
eclipse, presaged the failure of Pompey at Dyrrhachium.50 This battle occurred
on 10 July 48 BC, but the most proximate solar eclipse visible in Rome fell on
4 January 48 BC. Mesopotamians, who generally expected the results of an
eclipse within 100 days, probably would have excused such a remote eclipse as
unconnected to civil strife.51 If Roman astrologers limited the effect of eclipses,
the details have not survived. In the account by Cassius Dio, the eclipse is
nearly lost among a flurry of bad omens: wolves, owls, earthquakes, conflagrations, thunderbolts. The eclipse represents little more than a mere rhetorical
flourish. Likewise, Plutarch and Cassius Dio heighten drama by adding eclipses
to the historically unverifiable life of Romulus.52
One final conflict, the Pannonian Mutiny occurred after the death of
Augustus in 14 AD. The conflict represents a coda to the lengthy Bellum
Batonianum, which had been reinvigorated by the perceived lapse in Roman
leadership. Specifically, the mutiny crystalized after the lunar eclipse of
27 September 14 AD, which was partially visible in the Pannonia. Tacitus
and Cassius Dio both report the lunar eclipse as quelling the short-lived
insurrection.53 Tacitus reported that the untutored soldiers imagined the
luminosity of the moon to represent their efforts. As the eclipse progressed,
they sounded horns to rally its light. However, according to Tacitus, the interpreters despaired when the clearing moon disappeared in a bank of clouds.
47 Cic. Rep. 1.23, V. Max. 8.11.1, Quint. Inst. 1.10.47.
48 Plb. 29.16; Plut. Aem. 17; Justinus 33.1; Zonaras 9.23.
49 D.S. 15.80; Plut. Pel. 31.
50 D.C. 41.14.
51 S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal
(Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker, 1983) XXV.
52 Plut. Rom. 12; D.C. 1.12.
53 Tac. Ann. 1.16, 1.28; D.C. 57.4.
109
This account resembles the efforts of an insightful commander attempting

to appropriate an omen for which the outcome was known but meeting with
unexpected frustration. Cassius Dio neglects the details of interpretation and
reported that the eclipse merely frightened the mutineers.

Astrological Tradition of Eclipses
The Pannonian Mutiny marks the beginning of a long gap in the intersection
of battles and eclipses. In this gap, the Western astrological tradition solidified.
Before the development of this tradition, when eclipses caused consternation
among the citizenry, Europeans had no recourse to an authoritative body of
texts or to common methods of interpretation to clarify the meaning of the
eclipse. After Alexander made hundreds of years of astronomical Babylonian
observations commonplace in the Hellenistic era, Greek astronomy developed
quickly. Shortly after the Battle of Gaugamela, Aristotle first mentioned the
zodiacal signs, and Callippus reformed the calendar. If Classical historians are
trusted, these advances dispelled the fear of eclipses. During this same era, the
doctrines of personal natal astrology also consolidated as a dogma compatible
with other Greek philosophical schools. Presumably, Greeks learned about the
Babylonian astrological tradition at the same time, but works like the Enuma
Anu Enlil seem not to have immediately impressed them.
Unlike Classical historians who had established eclipses and warfare as
a literary trope, Greek and Roman astrologers did not particularly associate
eclipses with battles. Drawing on the zodiacal signs, malefic and benefic planets, oppositions, trines and horoscopic charts of cuneiform,54 they abandoned
the mundane astrology of statecraft and developed a natal astrology appealing
to individuals. When he wrote the Tetrabiblos in the second century AD, Ptolemy
specifically addressed the effects of eclipses. Ptolemy presented strategies for
determining which geographical regions would be affected by the eclipse but
does not count battles, riots, or public uprisings among the effects of eclipses.55
His contemporary Vettius Valens declined to associate eclipses with uprisings,
as did Firmicus Maternus and Paulus Alexandrinus in the fourth century and
Olympiodorus in the sixth century. In counterpoint to Ptolemy, Theophilus of
Edessa dedicated an entire book to the intersection of astrology and war in the
54 F. Rochberg-Halton, Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology,

JAOS 108 (1987) 5162.
55 Ptol. Tetr. 2.69, 3.1.
110
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eighth century. This work considers a wide range of astrological techniques but
does not address eclipses.
Although the Babylonian tradition of mundane astrology might be considered moribund, a handful of sources preserved omens of a strikingly
Mesopotamian character. In the fifth century, Hephaestio of Thebes reported
the effects of lunar eclipses in each month.56 John of Lydus presented a similar
tradition in the sixth century.57 Not only did these authors employ a Babylonian
scheme for interpreting eclipses, but Hephaestio and John of Lydus associated
eclipses with battles. Although both of these ancient astrologers ascribe the
tradition to Egypt, modern scholars have drawn parallels with cuneiform.58
So, even though no direct chain of transmission can be established through
citations, it can be argued that the Enuma Anu Enlil, the Demotic papyrus on
eclipse omina, and these astrologers continued an astrological tradition of
eclipses. To date, modern scholars have dedicated considerable effort to establishing this continuity through a comparison of the protases of these omens
and the astronomy implied by them, but as Huber has noticed, the apodoses
also merit consideration as cultural artefacts.59
The brief rejoining of eclipses and battles in the fifth century demonstrates the diminution of this once ominous phenomenon. At this time, firsthand accounts no longer associated battles and civil turmoil with eclipses.
This divergence occurred neither for the want of battles nor for the want of
eclipses. Late Antique Mediterranean cultures frequently met in battle, and
they often observed eclipses, but for more than 380 years after the Pannonian
Mutiny, battles and eclipses no longer converged. Zosimus reported that an
eclipse occurred during the Battle of the Frigidus.60 However, no eclipse fell
on 5 or 6 September 396 AD. Curiously, Zosimus introduced an eclipse but did
not ascribe it any role in the battle. What had once been a harbinger of conflict had become a pro forma addendum to the after-action report. Although
Classical historians might credit the disassociation of eclipses and battles to
the diffusion of rationalist explanations, other interpretations derive from the
changing dynamics of battle.
56 Heph. Astr. Apost. 1.21.
57 Lyd. Ost. 9.
58 C. Bezold, F. Boll, Reflexe astrologischer Keilinschriften bei griechischen Schriftstellern
(Heidelberg: Winter, 1911) 4554; Rochberg, Aspects..., 4 and 134; and C. Williams,
Some Details on the Transmission of Astral Omens in From the Banks of the Euphrates
(ed. M. Ross, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008) 295314.
59 Huber, Dating..., 34.
60 Zos. 4.58.
111
From Tactical Factor to Strategic Irrelevance
With certain provisions, the rationalist argument that astronomical predictions

demystified eclipses does explain the decline in the association of eclipses and
battles. However, this explanation is countered by the rise in personal astrology and the persistence of other rituals associated with warfare. Moreover, the
development of astronomy may have mitigated the role of eclipses but not by
explaining the causes of the phenomenon. Mesopotamians developed a system of interpretation before they could predict eclipses, and Greeks developed
astronomy before they cultivated an astrological tradition. Yet, both cultures
managed to temper the undesired effects of eclipses. Whereas Babylonians
mitigated the awe prompted by eclipses through astrological predictions and
prescribed rituals, Europeans obtained similar relief through planning and
logistics. Thus, a general rule may be proposed: as skill at eclipse prediction
improves, the oracular value of the eclipse decreases, in part because prediction enables some control over the circumstances in which the eclipse occurs.
Even though improved skill at eclipse prediction enabled some control
over the effect of eclipses, advances in astronomy did not convert Greeks and
Romans from superstition to rationality. After all, Greeks continued to sacrifice before battles; Romans retained their augurs and consulted the sacred
chickens. Rather, the predictability of eclipse enabled the emotional response
to be mitigated by practical management of advances and delays. The role of
delays in battles far from the center of the empire highlights another generality
about the relationship of eclipses and battles. Thus, a second generality may be
proposed: as supply lines lengthen, the oracular value of an eclipse decreases.
Consequently, the emotions prompted by an eclipse seem capable of precipitating a local conflict, but not of directing geo-political hostilities.
Empirical evidence suggests several circumstances are conducive to the precipitation of conflict by an eclipse. First, violent confrontation is more likely
if the identity of enemy is not in doubt. Eclipses favor an outbreak of hostility between long-standing enemies rather than the opening of a new conflict.
Secondly, given the limited range of eclipse visibility and the stronger effects
of panic on shorter supply lines and more direct chains of command, eclipses
are more likely to trigger violence among internal enemies, than to prompt an
attack by foreign enemies. A corollary to this observation is that internal enemies are more likely to be irregular militaries. Under opposite circumstances,
an eclipse is unlikely to precipitate conflict. Organized, hierarchical forces
do not make spontaneous attacks. Nor are they, like Cleombrotus, prone to
panicked retreat, especially if the eclipse had been predicted long in advance.
Forces on distant campaigns have committed to their causes months before
112
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either the eclipse or combat. In other words, eclipses hasten rebellions, insurrections, and regional conflicts but not the strategic realignments of empires.
In one set of circumstances, though, eclipses do seem to presage failure.
Eclipses seem to hasten the surrender of besieged cities. Regardless of whether
a solar eclipse or a dark cloud plunged Larisa into darkness, the despairing
citizens abandoned their defenses, uncomforted by astronomical rationalizations. Nicias attempted to prolong his defense of Syracuse but had already
determined to escape when he was surprised by a lunar eclipse. Likewise, the
lunar eclipse of 22 May 1453 marked the fall of Constantinople.61 These cases
may be interpreted as the propensity of eclipses to precipitate actionsin
this case, surrender. The same logic may explain why a lunar eclipse prompted
Agathocles to exchange his retreat for surrender. In each case, even though the
conclusion may have been foregone, the timing of the final capitulation was
yet subject to external forces.
From the Pannonian Mutiny in 14 AD until about the eighth century, no
battles were coupled with eclipses. This hiatus may derive from a change in
conditions created by the Pax Romana. After the establishment of the Roman
Empire, military conflicts were no longer local affairs prone to limited, regional
conditions. The failure of regional rebellions, insurrections, and border skirmishes became a foregone conclusion, but internal enemies still occasionally
struggled for control of the entire empire. However, these internal enemies
operated as strategically as any regular military. So, too, did their astrology,
apparently.

Modern Conflicts and Eclipses
Once the conditions which blocked the association of eclipses and battles had
dissolved, the potential of eclipses to manifest engagements resurfaced. In fact,
three conflicts of the nineteenth century underscore the observations drawn
from ancient accounts. In 1803, the state of Ohio was admitted to the United
States of America. In order to evade political domination, some members of
the Shawnee tribe relocated from Ohio to Indiana, but their resettlement upset
relations with neighboring tribes. Moreover, the move afforded only short-lived
relief because the frontier was expanding into neighboring Indiana. Before
these changes had taken place, contact with preceding colonial powers had
61 Two primary sources reported this event: George Sphrantzes, Chronicon 35, and the
diary of Nicol Barbero. For a translation of the diary, see J. Jones, Diary of the Siege of
Constantinople, 1453 (New York: Exposition Press, 1969) 60.
113
prompted several waves of religious revivalism.62 Political domination by the

federal government had stimulated Tenskwatawa to a religious calling,63 and
a perceived pattern of American encroachment had prepared a sympathetic
audience for his message.64
Tenskwatawa met with limited success as a religious unifier until the
Territorial Governor, William Henry Harrison, attempted to undercut his religious authority by issuing a challenge. In April 1806, Harrison wrote a letter
demanding proof of Tenskwatawas religious authority, If he is really a prophet,
ask him to cause the sun to stand still, the moon to alter its course, the rivers
to cease to flow, or the dead to rise from their graves, challenged Harrison.65
In response, Tenskwatawa predicted the sun would go dark within a specified
number of days. On 16 June 1806, a solar eclipse darkened many lands controlled by tribes which had resisted Tenskwatawa and solidified his regional
religious authority. On the basis of this authority, the more famous brother of
Tenskwatawa, Tecumseh, undertook several successful military actions.
Few contemporary sources detail the conflict between Tenskwatawa and
Harrison.66 In fact, had Harrison not later attained the presidency, the conflict with Tenskwatawa and the anecdote might have disappeared. Before
Harrisons election to the presidency in 1840, the account of the eclipse prediction was limited to letters and newspaper reports. The first person accounts
were committed to writing only after Harrisons election to the presidency. In
the intervening years, the events were subject to revision. For example, the
time reported for the eclipse may have been changed to match the time in
almanacs printed for coastal cities.67 Later historians have tended to focus on
how Tenskwatawa predicted the eclipse. Some have plausibly suggested that
Tenskwatawa had access to an almanac; others have presumed the astronomical surveys of an 1869 eclipse also occurred in 1806 and argued that he knew
about their travels.68 Notwithstanding the difficulty of reconstructing the
challenge and the response, Tenskawata clearly managed to use the eclipse
62 A. Wallace, New Religions among the Delaware Indians, 16001900, Southwestern
Journal of Anthropology 12.1 (1956) 711.
63 A. Cave, The Shawnee Prophet, Tecumseh, and Tippecanoe: A Case Study of Historical
Myth-Making, Journal of the Early Republic 22.4 (2002) 6402.
64 T. Willig, Prophetstown on the Wabash: The Native Spiritual Defense of the Old
Northwest, Michigan Historical Review 23.2 (1997) 147.
65 L. Esarey, ed. Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison, vol. 1 (Indianapolis: Indiana
Historical Commission, 1922) 183.
66 A. Jortner, The Gods of Prophetstown (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) 67.
67 D. Steel, Eclipse (Washington, DC: The Joseph Henry Press, 2001) 194.
68 Jortner, Gods..., 8.
114
ross
to precipitate regional support which could be used for military ends. This
regional support was possible because the people who witnessed the eclipse
did not have a tradition of making detailed astronomical observations or predictions. In this way, the anecdote confirms the generality that eclipses are
esteemed more greatly as oracles when they cannot be widely predicted.
A decade before the political ramifications of the 1806 eclipse were committed to writing, another eclipse precipitated the Southampton Insurrection.
The details of this case are better known, due in large part to the trial and
confession of the leader of the slave rebellion, Nat Turner.69 Under Turners
leadership, about seventy slaves and free Blacks attacked white Virginians of
predominantly Black Southampton County. Nat Turner was a religious slave
who had learned to read at an early age. When he observed the solar eclipse
of 11 February 1831, he interpreted the event as a divine signal to revolt, but
he did not spring to immediate action. Rather, he recruited conspirators and
repurposed a symbolic date. Turner and his conspirators decided to strike on
July 4, celebrated in America as Independence Day. However, in the intervening months, Turner and his collaborators lost faith in their liberation and
abandoned their plans. Because Turner and his conspirators felt the impact of
the eclipse wane, their response more closely resembled the practice of the
Mesopotamians who fixed temporal limits for eclipses than that of the later
classical authors who connected a battlefield defeat with an eclipse six months
previous. On 13 August, though, Turner once more observed an astronomical disturbance in the form of a blue-green sun, probably caused by volcanic
eruptions.70 Again, Turner interpreted the celestial events as a divine omen of
displeasure with his abandonment of the plan and opened hostilities a week
later on 21 August 1831.
Not only does Turner embody the rule of a bold leader adopting an eclipse
as divine sanction, but he also exemplifies the generality that eclipses prompt
action among long-standing, internal enemies and offer inspiration to irregular militaries. In the course of the rebellion, Turner favored improvised weapons, in part because of the difficulty in procuring firearms, but also in part
because silent weapons raised no alarm. Although his rebellion was suppressed within forty-eight hours, Turner himself remained a fugitive for two
months. On 30 October, Turner was captured. A mere six days separated his
69 T. Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner (Baltimore: Thomas R. Gray, 1831).
70 F. Russell, E. Archibald, Previous Analogous Glow Phenomena, and Corresponding
Eruptions in The Eruption of Krakatoa and Subsequent Phenomena (ed. G. Symons,
London: Trbner, 1888) 396399; J. Milne, Seismological Observations and Earth
Physics, The Geographical Journal 21.1 (1903) 134.
115
trial on 5 November and his execution on 11 November. In that time, Turner

related the astronomical details of his inspiration to Thomas Gray. Separating
Turners account from Grays editorializing is no simple matter. For example,
Turner seems unlikely to have chosen the word hieroglyphic for the cryptic
messages he read in leaves. Nonetheless, some telling details emerge. Turner
had taught himself to read and applied this ability to religious study. Perhaps
as a result of his religious devotion, Turner believed himself the recipient of
divine messages (in visions, characters on leaves, and numbers) since 1825.
Although he had taught himself to read and had undertaken attempts to cast
molds, press paper, and make gunpowder, Turner claimed no knowledge of
predicting eclipses. However, astronomy was not far from his mind. Turner felt
the Holy Spirit would reveal the knowledge of the elements, the revolution of
the planets, the operation of tides, and changes of the seasons to him after the
success of his rebellion.71 Even though his struggle suffered the doom typical
of slave rebellions since the time of Spartacus, Turner followed in the same
tradition as Alexander, a bold prophet who attempts to define a divine event.
In fact, Turner considered himself divinely contacted long before the eclipse.
To him, the eclipse served as a celestially acknowledged sanction for a plan
suggested more by social status than superstition.
Like the tribes united by Tenskwatawa or the conspirators of Nat Turner, the
Zulu forces at the Battle of Isandlwana found inspiration in an eclipse. Quite
likely, this response sealed their strategic advantage. In 1879, nearly 20,000
Zulu forces met a detachment of about 1800 British forces determined to confederate the independent states of the South African Republic and Zululand.72
While the British were outnumbered, the Zulu were outgunned. The British
forces were armed with contemporary breech-loading rifles, two seven-pound
mountain guns, and a rocket battery.73 Moreover, the Zulu, called from agricultural labors, carried thrusting spears and cowhide shields, were armed but
exhausted and hungry.74 Despite their numbers, the Zulu delayed the battle.
Though the reluctance of the Zulu to engage demonstrates rational selfpreservation, according to British accounts, the Zulu had an astrological reason to delay.75 The two armies had begun to approach each other on the day
71 Gray, Confessions..., 10.
72 I. Knight, Isandlwana 1879: The Great Zulu Victory (Oxford: Osprey, 2002) 49.
73 J. McAdam, The Role of the Royal Artillery during the Anglo Zulu War, Journal of the
Anglo Zulu War Historical Society 10 (2001) 1389.
74 J. Guy, A Note on Firearms in the Zulu Kingdom with Special Reference to the Anglo-Zulu
War, 1879, The Journal of African History 12.4 (1971) 564.
75 Knight, Isandlwana..., 51.
116
ross
of a conjunction, that is, a new moon. The Zulu held days on which the moon
was invisible as inauspicious, and the moon had not been observed before the
attack. However, once the impact of the partial solar eclipse began, the Zulu
could see the shadow of the moon, and they engaged. In this way, not only
was the eclipse positively interpreted, but the Zulu avoided squandering their
superior numbers in uncoordinated attacks as they had in other battles. As a
result, the Zulu achieved one of the greatest routs of British colonial forces.
Despite Zulu and British accounts of the eclipse, historians have questioned
the visibility of the eclipse.76 The role of the eclipse was not acknowledged
immediately by British historians. The unexpected outcome of the battle is a
favored topic of speculation among military historians. First person British field
reports did not emphasize the eclipse.77 Other accounts omitted the eclipse
altogether.78 A letter from Commandant Schumbrecher to Colonel Wood mentioned the eclipse and expressed confidence that the Zulu would read it as a
bad omen.79 Others have suggested that because only two-thirds of the sun
was obscured, the eclipse would have passed unnoticed by the Zulu, but this
suggestion ignores the British field reports of the eclipse. Perhaps these explanations merely apply the rationalizing hindsight of Philochorus and Plutarch.
On the other hand, the role of the eclipse in inspiring warriors to rout a technically superior army may have been mitigated by modern historians because it
undermines modern notions of progress. Regardless, it shows that respect for
an eclipse can have strategic implications; moreover, it shows that the reverence accorded an eclipse extended well into the modern era.
Conclusions
Eclipses have been linked with battles, political revolts, and insurrections since
Babylon. This association of eclipses and battles in the ancient world seems
limited to the Mediterranean. India shared in Greek (and to a lesser degree
Mesopotamian) traditions, but Indian historians did not connect eclipses to
battles until the modern era. In 1762, an eclipse occurred during the Battle
76 I. Knight, The Sun Turned Black The Isandlwana Eclipse Debate, Journal of the Anglo
Zulu War Historical Society 7 (2000) 212.
77 F. Colenso, History of the Zulu War and its Origin (London: Chapman and Hall, 1880) 292.
78 P. Thompson, Black Soldiers of the Queen: The Natal Native Continger in the Anglo-Zulu
War (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006) 73, note 66.
79 See the source numbered 1533.4 in H. Raugh, Anglo-Zulu War: A Selected Bibliography
(Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011) 187.
117
of Amritsar in which Sikhs drove back an Afghan invasion.80 Chinese courts

viewed solar eclipses negatively but no accessible anecdotes associate them
with battles.81 The absence of eclipses may have several explanations. In the
case of India, the textual tradition may be complicated. In the case of China,
developed bureaucratic hierarchies may have prevented most emotional reactions to celestial phenomena.
As a panicked response, the precipitation of battle by an eclipse displays
several trends. First, an eclipse-inspired attack favors an outbreak of hostility between long-standing enemies. Secondly, the combatants are likely to
be regional militias or irregular militaries. Insurrections and slave revolts are
more likely than reconfigurations of allies. Third, just as Babylonians limited
the effect of an eclipse to a hundred days, a panicked response has a temporal
limitation: the local excitement generated by an eclipse wanes without further
stimulation. Fourth, eclipses are more likely to inspire forces with few other
prospects, either due to desperation or commitment to a foreign campaign.
Finally, if the eclipse occurred during open conflict, the panicked response
might include the abandonment of defenses or strategies of retreat.
Babylonians expressed this association of eclipses with battles through their
astrological traditions. This association, rather than an independent empirical study or an application of developing astrological doctrines, was adopted
by Egyptians and Greeks and was reflected in their astrological traditions.
Mesopotamians developed rituals of statecraft, whereas Europeans focused
on eclipse prediction and personal astrology. Nonetheless, the pairing of
eclipses and battles emerged as a literary motif subject to folkloric interpretation and propagandistic manipulation. As skill at eclipse prediction improved,
the oracular weight of eclipses decreased. Eventually, the articulation of the
Roman Empire prompted changes in warfare which precluded the association
of eclipses and battles, but when the nature of warfare changed again in the
modern era, eclipses re-emerged as a tactical element.
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Part 2
Greece
War and Religion in Ancient Greece1

Robert Parker
I begin with an incident from the 380s, as reported by a contemporary,
Xenophon (Hell. 4.7.2). The Spartan king Agesipolis was planning to lead a
force against Spartas traditional enemy, Argos. Both Argos and Sparta claimed
the same ethnic origin, as Dorians, and a convention existed that there should
be no hostilities between them during certain festivals acknowledged by both;
on the occasion of these festivals a truce was proclaimed between the two
states.2 But, according to Xenophon, the Argives had developed the practice
of declaring the truce not when the time came but when the Spartans were
about to invade. So Agesipolis sent a messenger to the minor oracle of Zeus
at Olympia and asked whether it was safe for him to reject the truce; he was
told that it was indeed safe to reject a truce unjustly offered. Agesipolis then
sent a second enquiry to the much more prestigious oracle of Zeus son Apollo
at Delphi and asked on the matter of the sacred truce, do you agree with your
father? As a loyal son Apollo had to agree, and Agesipolis went ahead with
his invasion. The story sounds rather too good to be true, but it is again mentioned, still in the fourth century, by Aristotle (Rhet. 2.23.12, 1398b 3334); it
was at all events credible to intelligent Greeks living in the same period. I start
with that incident for two reasons: on the one hand it shows the influence
that religious factorsthe sacred truce, the consultation of oraclescould
have on the conduct of war; on the other hand, it also shows how all parties
manoeuvred within this religious framework to secure their own advantage:
the Argives by fraudulent declaration of sacred truces, Agesipolis by putting
questions to oracles in ways that they were forced to answer as he wanted. It
seems very likely incidentally that the answer to his first question as reported
by Xenophon reflects the actual question that he posed, which would therefore
have been not just is it safe to reject the sacred truce? but is it safe to reject a
sacred truce unjustly offered?; if so, the question to Zeus was just as tendentious as that to Apollo.
1 The main studies are Pritchett 3; R. Lonis, Guerre et religion en Grce lpoque classique
(Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1979); and (briefer) A. Jacquemin, Guerre et religion dans le monde
grec (490322 av. J.-C.) (Paris: Editions Sedes, 2000).
2 Cf. F.J. Fernandez Nieto, Los Acuerdos Belicos en la Antigua Grecia, vol. 1 (Santiago: Universidad
de Santiago de Compostela, 1975) 14784.
124
Parker
It has often been thought that these manoeuvres by both sides are symptoms of a decline in piety in the fourth century, but I reject that interpretation.
When the British anthropologist Edward Evans-Pritchard lived among the
Azande of Sudan in the 1930s, he discovered that for the Azande divination
was a part of everyday life which everybody believed in; but he also found that
the Azande regularly manipulated divination to suit their own interests much
as Agesipolis did.3 It is the society for which divination is important that also
finds ways of, as it seems from outside, cheating with divination; and the same
argument applies to the Argives and the sacred month. The incident shows not
a decline in the importance of religious factors but just the opposite.
I turn now to look at different phases of warfare and the role of religion
in each. Divination could have an influence before a military campaign was
launched, in two ways. There were unofficial collections of oracles publicized
by oracle-singers which could affect public opinion.4 Thucydides tells us that,
after the Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415 BC which ended in complete disaster in 413, the Athenians were angry with the oracle singers and other diviners
who had encouraged them to hope for success in the campaign (Thuc. 8.1.1).
These unofficial prophecies operated at the level of shaping public attitudes,
not as part of the formal decision-making process. But it was also possible to
consult an oracle as part of that formal process leading to the final decision to
go to war. Consultation was not invariable. The Athenians probably did not consult before the invasion of Sicily in 415 (the silence of Thucydides on the point
trumps picturesque elaborations in much later sources),5 but Thucydides tells
(1.118.3) how at the start of the great Peloponnesian war in 431 the Spartans did
consult Apollo of Delphi. The god told them that they would win if they fought
with full strength, cautiously allowing himself a let-out should victory in fact
elude the Spartans; Thucydides adds more surprisingly that Apollo supposedly
promised to aid the Spartan side both summoned and unsummoned. That
consultation is revealing in two ways. The first is the stage at which it occurs
3 A Zande does not readily accept an oracular verdict which conflicts seriously with his interests... a man takes advantage of every loophole the oracle allows him...a man can define
the terms of the answer by stating them in the question: E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft,
Oracles and Magic among the Azande (abridged ed. by D. Gillies Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1976) 163.
4 See M.A. Flower, The Seer in Ancient Greece (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of
5 So at least claims R. Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2005) 109-10. On consultations about going to war see R. Parker Greek States and Greek
Oracles in Oxford Readings in Greek Religion (ed. R. Buxton, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000) 878.
War And Religion In Ancient Greece
125
within the Spartan decision-making process. The Spartans do not entrust

the decision to an oracle while still thinking only vaguely about going to war.
Thucydides makes very clear that on a human level the Spartans have firmly
decided that the time for war has come: the Spartans themselves had decided
that the treaty had been violated and the Athenians were doing wrong, and
sending to Delphi they asked the god whether it would go well for them if they
fought. So the role of the god is to reinforce a decision that the Spartans had
provisionally reached for themselves. This does not mean, as rationalizing
modern historians sometimes suppose,6 that the god merely rubber-stamped
the Spartan decision. How often, if ever, states were advised by an oracle not
to go to war we do not know; too few cases are reliably described to allow us to
track the workings of the institution in detail. What matters is that, in Spartan
perception, the god could have said no, and the yes will have been genuinely
reassuring to them and to their allies. The second point to stress is that Sparta
at this date had an immense military reputation and it was the general expectation throughout Greece that, if war came, Sparta would win and win quickly
(Thuc. 5.14.3, 7.28.3). So in encouraging the Spartans to go to war, Apollo was
not adopting a surprising position, merely echoing what most Greeks anticipated. Nor was he taking sides, except by promising his own added aid to the
Peloponnesians.
A state which had decided to fight needed to acquire divine support in
the conflict. Conditional vowsif we win, then we will do the following in
gratitudecould be made in advance. How common this practice was is
not clear,7 but one such vow supposedly made before the battle of Marathon
became famous: the Athenians are said to have vowed to sacrifice one goat
annually to Artemis for every Persian killed, but killed so many that they had
to set a fixed limit of 500 (Xen. An. 3.2.12).8 Further prayers might be made at
decisive moments of a campaign or even of a battle: during the Persian invasion, for instance, Herodotus tells of the Athenians securing the aid of their
kinsman, the North wind Boreas, against the Persian fleet, and of the Spartan
commander Pausanias appealing successfully to Hera in her nearby sanctuary during the Battle of Plataea.9 There was also the possibility that gods, or
more commonly heroes, might make appearances, epiphanies, in the course of
6 J. Fontenrose, The Delphic Oracle (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978) 222.
7 See Pritchett 3, 230-239; Jacquemin, Guerre..., 547.
8 R. Parker, Athenian Religion: a History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) 154 n. 6.
9 Hdt. 7.189, 9.61.3; cf. J.D. Mikalson, Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars (Chapel Hill,
London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
126
Parker
battle, whether they came in response to prayer or spontaneously.10 A famous

instance was that of a rustic figure who was seen in the battle of Marathon
using a plough to kill many Persians, and then disappeared: no one recognised
him, but when the Athenians enquired of an oracle about him afterwards they
were told to honour Echetlaios hero, Ploughshare hero (from echetle, ploughshare). Echetl(ai)os was duly shown in the depiction of the battle of Marathon
in the Painted Stoa at Athens (Paus. 1.15.3, 1.32.5). That was painted about
thirty years after the event, and the famous battle will surely have attracted
stories in the intervening period; but it is not implausible that participants in
the extraordinarily stressful situation of battles did sometimes think that they
could detect supernatural helpers, and rumours of such sightings were certainly quick to find belief.11
We know about divine help supposedly given during battle above all from
dedications made after it. Dedication of a portion, usually a tithe, of spoils
after a battle was a custom unenforceable by law but, as far as we can see,
always observed. From an overwhelming quantity of evidence12 let us take one
item, an inscription recording a dedication made in the fifth century by Selinus
in Sicily after an unknown victory:
Because of the following gods the Selinuntines conquer. We conquer
because of Zeus and because of Fear and because of Herakles and because
of Apollo and because of Poseidon and because of the Tyndaridai
and because of Athena and because of Apple-bringer (Malophoros) and
because of Pasikrateia and because of the other gods, but most of
all because of Zeus.13
Dedication of a gold object with the names of the gods is then prescribed, the
gold to be of sixty talents. Sixty talents is ambiguous there: does it refer to a
piece of gold costing sixty silver talents (silver being the common standard),
or to a piece of gold actually weighing sixty talents, and thus about ten times
10 See Pritchett 3, 1146, and V.J. Platt, Facing the Gods: Epiphany and Representation in
Graeco-Roman Art, Literature and Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
11 The Angel(s) of/at Mons are a famous and controversial instance from the First World War.
12 See e.g. A. Jacquemin, Offrandes monumentales Delphes (Athens, Paris: Bibliothque
des coles franaises dAthnes et de Rome, 1999) 1999; T.S.F. Jim, Sharing with the Gods.
Aparchai and Dekatai in Ancient Greece (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
13 R. Meiggs, D.M. Lewis, Greek Historical Inscriptions (To the End of the Fifth Century BC)
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969) no. 38.
127
more valuable? Sixty silver talents is already a large sum, sixty gold talents a
huge one; dedication of spoils was a practice of major economic importance.
The dedication from Selinus raises the question of the gods involved in warfare, and illustrates how misleading it can be to think in terms of a fixed class of
war-gods.14 Some gods specialize in war, Ares and Athena above all, but almost
any god can become involved. A passage from Euripides Heraclidae (347352)
is revealing. Iolaos, who is under Athenian protection, is speaking before a
battle between Athens and Argos: Our allies are no weaker than those of the
Argives. Hera, the wife of Zeus, protects them, and Athena us; and this contributes to success, to have superior gods. For Pallas will not endure to be defeated.
The passage is interesting for the theologically problematic situation of clashes
between gods that can occur in a polytheistic world, but what concerns us here
is that Athens is represented by a goddess who is a military specialist but Argos
by one who is not: it is simply as chief goddess of Argos, thus as the citys protectress in all situations, that Hera is expected also to protect her city in war.
A different possibility is that of gods and heroes who have sanctuaries close
to a battlefield, as seen for instance in the local figures to whom, according to
Plutarch, the Greeks were told by Apollo at Delphi to pray before the battle of
Plataea.15 We have seen the list of military helpers given by the Selinuntines on
a particular occasion; on a different occasion they might have given a different
list, and a different city would certainly have made quite different choices.
I turn from the gods as helpers to the gods as advisers, the role of divination
in warfare.16 The possibility of consulting an oracle before declaring war has
already been mentioned. Anyone who has read almost any work of Xenophon
is aware of the apparently central importance that divination has for him,
summed up in a passage of his handbook of advice for the cavalry commander:
If anyone is surprised that I have so often prescribed that one should act
with the gods, it is certain that he will be less surprised if he often comes
into danger, and if he realizes that in a war enemies plot against one
another but seldom know whether these plots are well laid. It is impossible to find any other advisers in such matters except the gods. They
14 Cf. Jacquemin, Guerre..., 1545.

15 Plut. Aristid. 11.3; on the problems of this passage see Parker, Polytheism..., 401 n. 55.
16 See e.g. R. Parker, Sacrifice and Battle in War and Violence in Ancient Greece (ed. H van
Wees, London: Duckworth, 2000); R. Parker, One mans piety. The religious dimension of
the Anabasis in The Long March (ed. R. Lane Fox, New Haven, London: Yale University
Press, 2004) (on Xenophon), Flower, The Seer...
128
Parker
know everything, and give signs to those they wish to through sacrifices,
birds of omen, voices and dreams.17
Omens are taken from sacrificial victims before embarking on a campaign,
before leaving camp each morning on a march, before advancing into battle;
some states take omens also before leaving the boundaries of their own territory, or crossing rivers. Bad omens are regularly said to delay action, and
spontaneous portents such as earthquakes can also cause campaigns to be
abandoned. Xenophon on campaign as described in his Anabasis used divination to make decisions about what to do as an individualwhen offered
the possibility of sole command, should he accept it?and once in command
about the conduct of the whole expeditionshould he lead the army to the
court of king Seuthes?18 On a literal reading the military influence of divination was so great that, one might say, it was more important to have a good seer
than a good general; we know in fact that a few military seers were sufficiently
in demand to become very rich.19
Was it really thus? Or was military divination a kind of show put on to
reassure the troops and provide ritual reinforcement for the decisions of
the general? That is a very complicated question, and it is surely wrong to
see the whole system as a conscious fraud. The Greeks themselves were well
aware that omens could be falsified,20 but that did not lead them, and should
not lead us, to see nothing but cynicism in the whole system. Two points deserve
emphasis. First, Xenophon is very insistent that one should only consult gods
about matters that are beyond the reach of human intelligence. Divination for
him is not a substitute for rationality, but a supplement to be used for questions inaccessible to reason (Xen. Mem. 1.1.9). Secondly, there must have been
more flexibility in the system than may at first sight appear. Omens were taken
from the entrails of sacrificial animals; if a first animal failed to give good
omens, one could sacrifice a second; if that was unsatisfactory too, a third
(three tries may have been by convention the limit, though such a rule is never
stated explicitly). It is incredible that livers from three animals in succession
will ever have given unambiguously negative signs, and if that is so the omens
will never have stopped a general from doing what he was firmly resolved to
do; when a general allowed himself to be deterred by omens, it must have been
because he was already uneasy in his own mind about the wisdom of whatever
action he was contemplating.
17 Xen. Eg. Mag. 9.89.
18 Xen. An. 6.1.1924; 7.2.1517, two instances from many.
20 Xen. Hell. 4.2.18, Xen. An. 6.4.14.
129
An extraordinary contrast between Thucydides and Xenophon is here relevant. The whole apparatus of military divination that is so conspicuous in
Xenophon is largely absent from Thucydides. Almost all that we see of it in
him is the importance for the Spartans of the crossing sacrifices (diabateria)
that they performed before leaving Spartan territory; he mentions several
expeditions aborted when crossing sacrifices proved inauspicious. There are
also Spartan campaigns abandoned because of earthquakes, that great terror to the Spartans.21 But the pre-battle sacrifices so prominent in Xenophon
appear only once in Thucydides (6.69.2), as an element of scene-setting in the
description of a major battle, not as a factor affecting its outcome. We cannot
explain the difference simply by arguing that Thucydides was a sceptic about
divination whereas Xenophon was a believer: Thucydides is not describing
his own beliefs, but the behaviour of historical Greeks. All the omen-taking
described by Xenophon must also have been taking place in battles and
campaigns described by Thucydides, even indeed in those conducted by
Thucydides himself as general; but Thucydides is able to write as if nothing of
the kind occurred. It follows that for Thucydides these practices did not ultimately make a difference.
There is one famous exception where an Athenian general did allow himself
to be influenced by a portent. In Sicily in 413, when the Athenian force was
planning withdrawal, an eclipse of the moon occurred and in obedience to
seers (and also to the mood of his troops), Nicias halted the withdrawal for
twenty seven days with catastrophic results. Thucydides blames him for it
(7.50.4), saying that Nicias was too given to theiasmos, an untranslatable word
etymologically simply indicating something relating to the divine (theion),
but presumably here more specifically divination or respect for omens. The
reaction of pious later Greeks to that incident is very interesting. Plutarch
explains that, because Nicias usual seer Stilbides had recently died, he lacked
an experienced seer who would have interpreted the omen more sensibly. He
quotes the third century Athenian Philochorus, who was himself a seer, for a
different interpretation: an eclipse is a good omen for those wishing to escape,
because one escapes more easily in the dark (Plut. Nic. 23.78). So, according
to Philochorus and Plutarch, the problem was not that Nicias paid attention
to seers, but that he paid attention to the wrong seer: a better seer would have
given an interpretation that allowed the Athenians to do what they obviously
needed to do to secure their safety.22 On this view, it was up to the seer and
the general between them to develop a view of the gods will that made sense
21 Thuc 5.54.1, 55.3, 116.1 (diabateria); 3.89. 1; 6. 95.1; 8.6.5 (earthquakes).
22 Cf. Jacquemin, Guerre..., 11617, on Libert dans linterprtation et manipulation des
prsages.
130
Parker
in tactical terms. And it was because this usually happened that it was possible for Thucydides to ignore the role of divination other than in exceptional
circumstances.
I turn finally and briefly to two rather different questions. The first is that of
rules of war, and the extent to which religion helped to define the permissible
and impermissible. There was nothing in the ancient world equivalent to the
Geneva convention; other obstacles aside, there was no forum in which the cities could have sat down to negotiate such a thing. But by the fifth century there
were accepted norms, sometimes spoken of as laws/customs (nomoi) of the
Greeks, and when these were violated loud protests were raised.23 Those particularly relevant here are those concerning respect for the sacred, in several
aspects: the sacred truces surrounding festivals (already mentioned above);
sacred persons, especially heralds; the sacred places and treasures of the
enemy. It was also sometimes claimed that enemies who held out their hands
in surrender should not be killed, but ransomed; and the convention that a
truce should be granted to allow burial of the dead when an enemy admitted
defeat by suing for it was widely observed. About the origins, persistence and
scope (to what extent if at all did barbarians benefit from these laws of the
Greeks?), questions remain in debate that cannot be discussed here.24
I move instead to my last question, which is whether one can ever speak
of wars of religion in Greece. It is possible to be misled because the expression Sacred War is very familiar to Greek historians. Four such Sacred Wars
are conventionally recognized, even if the historicity of the first has been contested and the second is little more than a name for us.25 But these Sacred Wars
were not wars of religion in the sense familiar from European history: they
23 See J. Ober, The Rules of War in Classical Greece in The Athenian Revolution: Essays on
Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory (ed. J. Ober, Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1996), who usefully lists twelve such laws; and Jacquemin, Guerre..., 12345.
24 Contrast Ober, The Rules..., who argues that these hoplite conventions lasted from c. 700
BC to the Persian wars, serving the interests of hoplite aristocracies, and were destroyed
by Athenian democracy, and the counter of P. Krentz, Fighting by the rules: the invention
of the hoplite agon, Hesperia 71 (2002), who sees the standard image of hoplite warfare
and its associated conventions as itself a creation of the fifth c. and the Persian invasion.
Cf. xx in this volume.
25
See e.g. M. Scott, Delphi and Olympia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2010), index, s.v. Sacred War; on the political background of the Third Sacred War, see
S. Hornblower, Did the Delphic Amphiktiony Play a Poltical Role in the Classical Period
in Greek and Roman Networks in the Mediterranean (eds. I. Malkin, C. Constantakopoulou,
K. Panagopoulou, London: Routledge, 2009).
131
were either wars over what city or other body should control the sanctuary at
Delphi, or wars against a state that was judged to have violated the rights of the
sanctuary in some way, for instance by cultivating sacred land. There was no
clash here of religious values. When states went to war, they often asserted religious offences of the other side as a justification: the Persians in 480 claimed
to be burning Greek shrines in revenge for the burning of the temple of Kybebe
at Sardis in 499 (Hdt. 5.102.1), Alexander a century and a half later professed
to be avenging those Persian impieties when he led his great expedition. But
supposed acts of sacrilege were at issue here, not belief. Greeks never fought
one another or their neighbours on the ground that their own choice of gods
or way of worshiping the gods was the one true way and that of others impious;
there were, as we have seen, religious factors within Greek warfare, but there
were no wars of religion.
Bibliography
E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande, abridged ed. by
D. Gillies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976) of the original (Oxford, 1937).
F.J. Fernandez Nieto, Los Acuerdos Belicos en la Antigua Grecia (Santiago: Universidad
de Santiago de Compostela, 1975).
M.A. Flower, The Seer in Ancient Greece (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of
J. Fontenrose, The Delphic Oracle (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978).
S. Hornblower, Did the Delphic Amphiktiony Play a Poltical Role in the Classical
Period in Greek and Roman Networks in the Mediterranean (eds. I. Malkin,
C. Constantakopoulou, K. Panagopoulou, London: Routledge, 2009) 3956.
A. Jacquemin, Offrandes monumentales Delphes (Athens, Paris: Bibliothque des
coles franaises dAthnes et de Rome, 1999).
, Guerre et religion dans le monde grec (490322 av. J.-C.) (Paris: Editions Sedes,
2000).
T.S.F. Jim, Sharing with the Gods. Aparchai and Dekatai in Ancient Greece (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2014).
P. Krentz, Fighting by the rules: the invention of the hoplite agon, Hesperia 71 (2002)
2339.
R. Lonis, Guerre et religion en Grce lpoque classique (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1979).
R. Meiggs, D.M. Lewis, Greek Historical Inscriptions (To the End of the Fifth Century BC)
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969).
J.D. Mikalson, Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars (Chapel Hill, London: The
University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
132
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J. Ober, The Rules of War in Classical Greece in The Athenian Revolution: Essays on
Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory (ed. J. Ober, Princeton: Princeton
R. Parker, Athenian Religion: a History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
, Greek States and Greek Oracles in Oxford Readings in Greek Religion (ed.
R. Buxton, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 76108.
London: Duckworth, 2000) 299314.
, One mans piety. The religious dimension of the Anabasis in The Long March
(ed. R. Lane Fox, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2004) 131153.
, Polytheism and Society at Athens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
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M. Scott, Delphi and Olympia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
The Terrified Face of Alcyoneus: The Religious

Character of Greek Warfare, or What about the
Vanquished?
Bogdan Burliga
Why I am paralysed by Homer?
Jaume Cabr, Confessions
Introduction: Approaching Greek Religion and War
In the case of ancient Greece the subject war and religion is a topic both
promising as it is challenging. On the one hand, the theme offers a lot of possibilities for a satisfactory study which is due to the fact that religion permeated practically all aspects connected with the conducting of war.1 Many of
them were collected and analyzed by Professor Pritchett in his seminal 1979
study.2 There he presented the numerous data and divided the source material
into several categories: all of which reveal what Mikalson has called practiced
religion.3 An overview of these activities confirms a strong impression that for
the ancient Greeks warfare remained a profoundly religious affair, containing
and requiring innumerable rites and rituals, undertaken with regard to the
gods in order to win their favour:4 for the Greeks religious character of war and
* English edition by Arcadia Press 2014, tr. M.F. Lethem. The translation of the Iliad by
A.T. Murray, Loeb. I thank my former pupil, Dr. Daria Keiss-Dolaska, and Dr. Krzysztof
Ulanowski, the editor of this volume, for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.
1 See the classic treatment by J.-P. Vernant, The Society of the Gods in his Myth and Society in
Ancient Greece (New York: Zone Books, 1981) 92109.
2 See Pritchett 3. There is a shorter but very valuable treatment by D.P. Tompkins, Greek
Rituals of War in: The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World (eds. B. Campbell,
L.A. Tritle, Oxford: OUP, 2013) 52741.
3 Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy (Oxford, 2010) 2, n. 1. Concerning the VIIIth century BC Attica, R. Parker (Athenian Religion. A History, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 27, says
of the process of The petrification of religious sentiment.
4 E.g. Thuc. 6.32; Xen. Resp. Lac. 13.25; Ones. Strat. 10.2526 and 34.1. See R. Garland, Religion
and the Greeks (London, Bristol: Bloomsbury Academic, 1998) 19f., and 46. See H. van
Wees, Greek Warfare. Myths and Realities (London 2004: Duckworth, 2004) 119, on omens
134
Burliga
warfare belonged thus to the obvious order of things, something that needs no
special justification or explication.5
Accordingly, granted the ubiquity and variety of Greek rituals connected
with the conducting of war,6 the theme used to be analyzed from a traditional
viewpoint (let us call it here antiquarian, or descriptive),7 and such an attitude and way of interpreting the religious dimension of warfare prevails in
modern studies on the subject. It is supported by the rise of sociology and
anthropology which are used as analytic tools providing the correct, necessary distance.8 This approach is strengthened and welcomed by an assumption
that the Greeks had nothing similar to a written theology, no Bible, or another
kind of Holy Scripture that would clearly define the divine. As religion was,
therefore, a matter of , rather than ,9 one should deal with
and oracles. It is worth quoting a short, yet telling definition of ritual in the Iron Age by
C. Antonaccio (Religion, basileis and Heroes in Ancient Greece. From the Mycenaean
Palaces to the Age of Homer (Edinburgh Leventis Studies 3; eds. S. Deger-Jalkotzy, I.S. Lemos,
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006) 393): ritual action (i.e. religion); cf. L. Bruit
Zaidman, Guerre et religion en Grce lpoque classique in Guerres et socits dans les
mondes grecs (490323), coord. par P. Brun, Paris: du Temps, 1999) 12750. One of these rituals, very spectacular, was the dedicating of weapons to the gods, cf. A.H. Jackson, Hoplites
and the Gods: The Dedication of Captured Arms and Armour in Hoplites. The Classical Greek
Battle Experience (ed. V.D. Hanson, London, New York: Routledge, 1994) 228f.; also J. Larson,
Votive Arms and Armor in the Sanctuaries of Goddesses: An Empirical Approach in Le
donateur, loffrande et la desse. Systmes votifs des sanctuaires de desses dans le monde grec
(Kernos Suppl.23; ed. C. Prtre, Lige: Universit de Liege, 2009) 12333.
5 See A.J. Holladay, M.D. Goodman, Religious Scruples in Ancient Warfare, CQ 36 (1986)
15152. Cf. D. Dawson, The Origins of Western Warfare. Militarism and Morality in the Ancient
World (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1996) 53.
6 Scholars like to say of embeddedness; cf. J.N. Bremmer, Greek Religion (Greece & Rome
New Surveys in Classics 24; Oxford: OUP, 1994) 24; see the famous essay by Ch. SourvinouInwood, What Is Polis Religion? in The Greek City. From Homer to Alexander (eds. O. Murray,
S. Price, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) 297.
7 Cf. R. Parker, Greek Religion in The Oxford History of the Classical World (eds. J. Boardman,
J. Griffin, O. Murray, Oxford: OUP, 1986) 266.
8 The modern sociological approach was inaugurated by Emile Durkheims influential study,
yet it really begins in antiquity, with Aristotles treatment of religion in the Politics. This
mode of analysis was accompanied by the rise of historicism, requiring from the historian to
describe and, eventually, to understand evens, not to judge (blame or praise) themunless
she/he prefers to become an unmasked moralist, or religious devotee; cf. Ch. W. Hedrick Jr.,
The Ethics of World History, Journal of World History 16 (1995) 34.
9 R. Buxton, Imaginary Greece. The Contexts of Mythology (Cambridge: CUP, 1994) 150;
cf. W. Burkert, Structure and History in Greek Mythology (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of
The Terrified Face Of Alcyoneus
135
the sociology of war rituals, rather than trying to reconstruct any scraps of
theology. As a clear exposition of the need of fulfilling religious rituals at war
as scrupulously as possible remains Xenophons famous The Education of Cyrus
(Cyropaedia)a great epic tale in prose whose hero is proverbially pious and
zealous in sacrificing to the gods.10
This sociological-historical approach is familiar enough among classicists,
yet, whereas it remains a common way of analyzing the phenomenon of war
and religion, it also remains only a part of truth. The reason for this is that the
tendency to focus attention on action, valuable and justified as it stands, often
seems to fall short of appreciating what the Greeks thought/felt, and how they
explained the meaning of what happened to them. It seems, therefore, that
for anyone interested in Greek warfare it is of equal importance to look how
they tried to interpret, understand and explain events by looking for a hidden
(divine) sense of events. This, in turn, is based on a logical assumption that
whatever men did through a network of rituals resulted from the conviction,
or unwavering confidence, that the gods were present at their wars. The Greeks
used to act and to make various undertakings according to what they believed,11
and this was true not only of war but of life in general.12 Constructing shrines
10 On sacrifices cf. T. Szymanski, Sacrificia Graecorum in bellis militaria (diss. Marpurgi
Cattorum: Koch, 1908) 8f.; R. Lonis, Guerre et religion en Grce lpoque classique.
Recherches sur les rites, les dieux, lidologie de la victoire (Paris: Presses Univ. FrancheComt, 1979). 95115; M.H. Jameson, Sacrifice before Battle in Hoplites. The Classical
Greek Battle Experience (ed. V.D. Hanson, London, New York: Routledge, 1991) 197227;
R. Parker, Sacrifice and Battle in War and Violence in Ancient Greece (ed. H. van Wees,
London: Duckworth and Classical Press of Wales, 2000) 299314; T. Mojsik, The
Muses and Sacrifices before Battle in Xenophon: Greece, Persia, and Beyond (Akanthina
Monographs 5; ed. B. Burliga, Gdask: Fundacja Rozwoju Uniwersytetu Gdaskiego, 2011)
8596.
11 A.D. Nock, The Study of the History of Religion in his Essays on Ancient Religion and
History I (ed. Z. Stewart, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972) 331. I am not persuaded by J.D.
Mikalsons statement that The religion found in Greek tragedy is, like the language of
Homer, a complex hybrid, a hothouse plant which never did and probably never could
exist or survive in real life (Honor Thy Gods. Popular Religion in Greek Tragedy, Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1991) ix). What does the term religion mean here? If we see
the term as being synonymous with ritual, this would be true. But Greek tragedy deals
with meditating the gods, so it islike the Iliada kind of moral commentary; it constitutes a part of religious thought; see H. Lloyd-Jones, Ancient Greek Religion, Proceedings
of American Philosophical Society 145 (2001) 461.
12 Adopting a sociological approach occasionally results in the claims that the Greeks did
not believe in the gods, but only acknowledged their presence (see Plato, Apol. 24b:
on Socrates; cf. Euthyphr. 12e: ,
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and temples,13 organizing festivals and processions; performing sacrifices and

consulting oracles14all these activities relied on a deep conviction and faith
thatas the Prussian scholar Wilamowitz-Mllendorf has put it eloquently
Die Gtter sind da.15 Notwithstanding the lack of the Greeks inscribed/written
theology, one cannot thus omit their considerations as reflected in literary
sources. So we come to a second way of approaching the issue of the religious
dimension of ancient Greek warfare. One soon becomes aware that military
conflict remains perpetually intriguing to the Greeks precisely because of the
deeply rooted belief that the gods participated in the process.16 Clashes were
fought, as it was believed, under divine guidance and deitys watchful eyes;17
the sympathy of a god or goddess not only mattered, but was often a d ecisive
), cf. J. Gould, On Making Sense of Greek Religion in Greek
Religion and Society (eds. P.E. Easterling, J.V. Muir, Cambridge: CUP, 1985) 7f.; also G. Sissa,
M. Detienne, The Daily Life of the Greek Gods (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000)
1678. To hold such a view seems to me to fall into a logical contradiction, which was
Xenophons view in Mem. 1.1.5. For what nomidzein might mean, see R. Parker, On Greek
Religion (Ithaca, London: Cornell Univ. Press, 2011) 367; also P. Veyne, Did the Greeks
Believe in Their Myths? An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination (Chicago, London:
University of Chicago Press, 1988) 12, 2739.
13 See J.P. Crielaard, Homer, History and Archaeology. Some Remarks on the Date of the
Homeric in Homeric Questions. Essays in Philology, Ancient History and Archaeology
(ed. J.P. Crielaard, Amsterdam: Gieben, 1995) 247273.
14 Cf. R. Osborne, Archaic and Classical Greek Art (Oxford, New York: OUP, 1998) 210; in particular this point was underlined by Pritchett 3,154.
15
Der Glaube der Hellenen I (Berlin: Weidmann, 1931) 17; see also R. Osborne, The Living
Presence of the Gods in Ancient Greece in The Secret Lives of Art Works. Exploring the
Boundaries between Art and Life (eds. C. van Eck, J. van Gastel, E. van Kessel, Leiden:
Leiden University Press, 2014) 2337; see now Parkers fine study On Greek Religion...,
211.
16 See Il. 20.3132; 20.4755; 20.75. The speech of Thrasybulus in Xen. Hell. 2.4.1417, may
serve as a test case: he says that in battle the the gods [...] are now manifestly fighting on
our side (tr. L.C. Brownson, Loeb; [...] ; cf. also 7.5.13;
Cyr. 3. 3. 34; Lys. 2.58; Cic, De nat. deor. 2.2.6). So it was at Marathon, in the case of the
(notorious) vision of Pan by Phillipides as reported by Hdt. (6.105), or his earlier tale of
Castor and Pollux who were present in the Spartan army (5.75). See P. Krentz, The Battle of
Marathon (New Haven, London: Yale Univ. Press, 2010) 10810; cf. generally A. Klckner,
Getting in Contact: Concepts of Human-Divine Encounter in Classical Greek Art in The
Gods of Ancient Greece. Identities and Transformations (Edinburgh Leventis Studies 5; eds.
J.N. Bremmer, A. Erskine, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010) 1245.
17 A representative case is Apollos participation in fierce contest just before the death of
Patroclus: 16.787796. Here (verse 787) Homer openly says of the heros end of life
; see also divine perspective of the fighting at 16.641651.
137
factor, as it also was in medieval times when the heavy armored knights called
upon God.18 Consequently in ancient Greece war was undertaken with an
expectation of divine aid.19 But as war always entails regrettable subjugation
and loss of life, a great deal of confusion on the part of humans must have
arisen, especially if one adopts the perspective of the fallen and vanquished.
To deal with such perplexity is to move from a purely descriptive sociology,
to a level of contemplation which is profoundly ethical in its character. So, to
anyone interested nowadays in exploring the close connection between war
and Greek religion, this issue may perhaps appear to be an equally interesting
subject of study.20

From Art to Ethics: Becoming Alcyoneus
In many learned books on Greek art the face of the Giant Alcyoneus ()
is perhaps the most frequently reproduced detail of the slab that constituted
a part of the famous east frieze of the Great Pergamum Altar, constructed ca.
180160 BC21 and dedicated to Zeus and Athena.22 As, by a strange coincidence,
the face of his tamer, the goddess Athena, has been damaged and remains
enigmatic now, the modern viewer gazes only upon the emotions of the dying
18 See R. Osborne, The Narratology and Theology of Architectural Sculpture, or What
You Can Do with a Chariot But Cant Do with a Satyr on a Greek Temple in Structure,
Image, Ornament. Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World (eds. P. Schulz, R. von den
Hoff, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009) 212; cf. H.A. Shapiro, Olympian Gods at Home and
Abroad in A Companion to Greek Art II (eds. T.J. Smith, D. Plantzos, Malden, Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) 40510.
19 But not exclusively, asto remind the most intrusive examplethe notorious, sinister
Prussian/German inscription Gott mit uns proves, although its origins go to the ancient
times, and the idea was used by the Byzantines, cf. Maurice, Strat. 2. 18, who translates it
into Greek, however, from Latin; see J. Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine
World, 5651204 (London, New York: Routledge, 1999) 24.
20 See W.K.Ch. Guthrie, The Greeks and Their Gods (London: Beacon Press, 1952) 113.
21 See Ch. Llinas, Pergamon in Die griechische Kunst (eds. K. Papaioannou, J. Bousquet,
Freiburg, Basel, Wien: Herder, 2002) 56264. Now Alcynoeus face decorates, remarkably,
the layout of the newest book by A. Stewart, Art in the Hellenistic World (Cambridge: CUP,
2014), as it did M. Lefkowitzs study Greek Gods, Human Lives. What We Can Learn from
Myths (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 2003).
22 Cf. A. Stewart, Pergamo ara marmorea magna. On the Date, Reconstruction, and
Functions of the Great Altar of Pergamon in From Pergamon to Sperlonga. Sculpture and
Context (eds. N.T. de Grummond, B.S. Ridgway, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University
of California Press, 2000) 32f.
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monster, whom the valiant goddess grasps by the hair.23 And it is Athena (aided
by the winged Nike24) who apparently dominates the composition of the slab.25
Yet, the face of the Giant has been sculpted with an amazing care for physiognomic details and even today makes a great impression on the onlookers visiting das Berliner Pergamonmuseum.26 The slab, as well the whole frieze, is also
familiar to the students of Greek warfare as the monsters are shown to fight
the gods and goddesses in the course of the famous Gigantomachy, a spectacular mythical match between the Olympic deities and the sons of Gaia. To be
sure the mythological contest was the central theme of the Pergamon frieze
of the altar erected on behalf of the king Eumenes II Soter (197159 BC), but
according to many scholars it bore an allegorical meaning too: it was commissioned in order to celebrate the Attalid victories over the invading Gauls.27 But
why did the rulers of Pergamum decide to immortalize their accomplishments
by using well known mythological episodes, rather than putting themselves
on display and praising their own bravery in war? For modern scholars the
answer seems to be obvious. The Greeks and their Hellenistic successors,
the Macedonian dynasts, in this respect imitated an old classical tradition,
more specifically an Athenian one,28 which commemorated the citys courage;
23 Interestingly, there is another, earlier picture of Athena and Alcyoneus, on the red figure
kylix, attributed to Nicosthenes Painter. Here Heracles helps the goddess to slay the sleeping giant.
24 As in the parapet of the temple of Athena Nike on Acropolis, cf. A. Stewart, Greek
Sculpture. An Exploration II (New Haven, London: Yale Univ. Press, 1992) pl. 419.
25 P.H. Demargne, H. Cassimatis, Athena in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae
(LIMC) II (Mnchen, Zrich: Artemis Verlag, 1984) 9551044.
26 A. Stewart called famously such works of art the baroque: Hellenistic Art: Two Dozen
Innovations in The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World (ed. G.R. Bugh,
Cambridge: CUP, 2006) 17172.
27 Cf. G. Shipley, The Greek World after Alexander 32330 BC (London, New York: Routledge,
2000) 312f. Shipley reminds us that Eumenes was engaged in critical with the Gauls from
188 BC onwards. After his victorious campaigns it was the Greeks themselves who gave
the ruler the nickname Nikephoros (Bearing Victory). Consequently, in 181 the king
organized in his capital Pergamon a festival in honour of Athena Nikephoros; cf. also
H. Khler, Der groe Fries von Pergamon (Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1948); see E.S. Gruen,
Culture as Policy: the Attalids of Pergamon in From Pergamon to Sperlonga...,
17f.; cf. B. Dignas, Rituals and the Construction of Identity in Attalid Pergamon in
Historical and Religious Memory in the Ancient World (eds. B. Dignas, R. Smith, Oxford:
OUP, 2012) 139.
28 The point is emphasized by M.D. Fullerton, Greek Art (Cambridge: CUP, 1998) 150151;
cf. esp. S. Muth, Gewalt im Bild. Das Phnomen der medialen Gewalt im Athen des 6. und 5.
Jh. v. Chr. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008) 268f.; cf. P. Schultz, Style, Continuity and the
139
and its glorious achievements during the Persian wars in the form of a mythical . Thus to recall a couple of the most spectacular examples, one may
remind the eastern metopes of the Parthenon Frieze, or on the lost paintings
that were on view in the Stoa Poecile.29
Be that as it may, for the purposes of this paper it is crucial to understand one
basic fact only: that to the ancient viewers the masterpieces of Hellenistic art
from Pergamum, it was the presence and centrality of the gods in the struggle
being fought out that conjured up a picture so suggestive.30 As the altar itself
was a religious construction, the same characterlogicallycarried over into
the spectacular frieze. So, even if the mythical struggle was intended to represent a symbolic equivalent for an actual conflict, its immanent, essential and
obvious feature was the participation of the gods: a perfect instance of how the
Greeks perceived military conflict. Not only is it clear enough from the presence
of divine participants in human conflict in Greek art, the Gigantomachy and
other forms of mythical struggles had been extremely popular topics in Greek
literature and history for a long time.31 Although a long acknowledged fact, it
Hellenistic Baroque in Creating a Hellenistic World (eds. A. Erskine and L. LlewellynJones, Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2011) 313.
29 Krentz, Battle of Marathon..., 1617, inserts a reconstruction of how the painting by
Micon and Panaenus might have looked; originally the draft was prepared by H. Schenck
and appended to the book by C. Robert, Die Maratonschlacht in der Poikile und weiteres
ber Polygnot (Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm 18, Halle: Niemeyer, 1895): it is an
enlightening experience to learn how the Greeks might have imagined the presence of
the gods on the battlefield.
30 Here the problem of the gods appearance is especially significant, as the modern sciences especially psychology, offer another, secular, type of explanation of how the Iliadic
gods should be understood; see generally M.P. Nilsson, A History of Greek Religion (Oxford:
Norton, 1949) 143; V. Platt, Facing the Gods. Epiphany and Representation in Graeco-Roman
Art, Literature and Religion (Cambridge: CUP, 2011). The problem has begun in antiquity,
with Heraclitus Homeric Problems and the rise of allegorical explanation; cf. A.M. van Erp
Taalman Kip, The Gods of the Iliad and the Fate of Troy, Mnemosyne 53 (2000) 385f.;
cf. G.S. Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary. Volume II: Books 58 (Cambridge: CUP, 1990)
114. He rightly observes what may be a programmatic statement that our own particular understanding of the nature of Homeric gods greatly affects the ways in which we
respond to the Iliad as whole; cf. N. Yamagata, Homeric Morality (Leiden, Kln, New York:
Brill, 1993) 3f.
31 Here a perfect example remains the Ionic Monument of the Nereids from Xanthus in
Lycia; cf. K. Schefold, Gods and Heroes in Late Archaic Greek Art (Cambridge: CUP, 1992)
5567; cf. generally M.B. Gensheimer, Greek and Roman Images of Art and Architecture
in The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture (ed. C. Marconi, Oxford:
OUP, 2014) 85f.
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is not a concept that the modern reader is able to evaluate easily.32 Nowadays,
an aesthetic approach towards war in Greek art tends to have replaced the
ancient perception of this phenomenon as an ethical drama.33 It was a sad
reality, not only absorbing the gods, but shaped by them.34 Additionally, it is
now asserted that if Greek religion was so deeply connected with cruelty, away
with such a religion and such deities. As Plato and Christian thinkers once did,35
32 See Lefkowitz, Greek Gods, Human Lives..., 6; cf. L. Bruit Zaidman, P. Schmitt Pantel,
Religion in the Ancient Greek City (Cambridge: CUP, 1992) 3.
33 On this problem, partly, see A. Pontynen, For the Love of Beauty. Art History and the Moral
Foundations of Aesthetic Judgment (New Brunswick NY: Transaction Publishers, 2006).
34 Hesiod already talks about the two types of Strife which characterized the agonistic
nature of Greek social life (Op. 1146); good or bad as these two powers may have been,
what is certainly not denied in the Hesiodic vision is the fact of the domination of such
deities (cf. Theog. 225232); see M.L. West, Hesiod, Works & Days (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1978) 14255, and his Hesiod, Theogony (Oxford 1966) 23032; also H. van Wees,
Rivalry in History: an Introduction in Competition in the Ancient World (eds. N. Fisher,
H. van Wees, Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2011) 1f., on competition as driving force;
cf. his Stasis, Destroyer of Men. Mass, Elite, Political Violence and Security in Archaic
Greece in Scurit collective et ordre public dans les socits anciennes (Entretiens Hardt
54; prpars par C. Brlaz et P. Ducrey, Genve: Fondation Hardt, 2008) 148 (with discussion); also H. Singor, War and International Relations in A Companion to Archaic Greece
(eds. K.A. Raaflaub, H. van Wees, Malden, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) 598.
35 This is presupposed even in such exemplary piece as the Thucydidean Melian Dialogue
(5.103105), where it is brutally and cynically stated that the gods always stand on the
side of the winners (on this see S. Hornblower, A Commentary on Thucydides III (Oxford,
2008) 24145). The phenomenon of an obsession with power in Athenian thought had
thus much to do with the interpreting of the traditional role of gods as powerful entities;
cf. K.A. Raaflaub, Democracy, Power, and Imperialism in Fifth-Century Athens in
Athenian Political Thought and the Reconstruction of American Democracy, (eds. J.P. Euben,
J.R. Wallach, J. Ober, Ithaca, London: Cornell Univ. Press, 1994) 11426. Here one is usually
tempted to interpret Thucydides standpoint either as highly ironic, or deeply critical. Be
that as it may and regardless of the historians personal stanza (I believe his judgment was
deeply moral), he does not deny that for the participants in the dialogue themselves (not
only for the Melians, obviously, but for the Athenians, too) the role of the gods was decisive. On the contrary: to be sure the Athenian are of course shockingly cynical, as were
Critias (Sextus Empiricus, Adv. math. 9.54), Thrasymachus (Pl. Resp. 338c), or Callicles
(Pl. Gorg. 483c484a), but even if so, their cynicism was of a very old provenience:
it simply goes to one line of the archaic understanding the gods and to the Iliad (see
R. Buxton, Religion and Myth in The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece (ed.
P. Cartledge, Cambridge, 2004) 336. This similarity between the old Homeric and sophistic understanding of the mighty (and thus often abusing their powerhence immoral)
gods explains the later strong reaction (whether justified or notit is irrelevant here)
from Plato; cf. D. Turkeltaub, Perceiving Iliadic Gods, HSCP 103 (2007) 5181; see also a
thoughtful paper by H. Lloyd-Jones, Ancient Greek Religion and Modern Ethics, Studi
141
we too are prone to reject the disturbing idea of the (immoral) gods inspiring,
allowing, and wallowing in gore and atrocities.36 And indeed, on this modern,
moral ground whose rejection of violence is based also on the awareness of the
effects of religious conflicts from early modern Europe, to the horrors of genocide during the WWII, ancient Greek religious beliefs and practices, as found
in literature and mythology, are often despised as strange, alien and bizarre.37
Be that as it may, this still remains, I suppose, our most troubling experience
in engaging with the subject of Greek religion and warfare. The difficulty is
not that warfare was obviously religious in its social roots, as is demonstrated
by the necessity of performing numerous rituals (this was always taken for
granted by modern scholarship),38 or that wars were even sometimes called
sacred,39 although in a quite different way, for example, as the medieval
Crusades.40 The quandary appears so intriguing because of the deep conviction and c ertainty the Greeks held about the gods presence in war. Both actual
participants and later observers, philosophers and historians alike, discussed
italiani di filologia classica 20 (2002) 8. The same is true of Roman philosopher Lucretius
who concluded that religion allows and leads to atrocities (tantum religio potuit suadere
malorum: DRN, 1.101), and rejecting thus, e.g. the idea of animal sacrifices.
36 The two books of the Iliad (XX and XXI, narrating theomachy: 20.66: ) were the
most famous instances of deities involved in war. Additionally, as modern scholars point
it out, violence was also at the core, as the most Greeks seem to have believed, of religious
animal sacrifice, see W. Burkert, Sacrificial Violence: a Problem in Ancient Religions
in The Oxford Handbooks of Religion and Violence (eds. M. Juergensmeyer, M. Kitts,
M. Jerryson, Oxford: OUP, 2013) 437f. There is perhaps some exaggeration in this statement but this blood rite remained undoubtedly important, and it was frequently recorded
in Greek art.
37 R. Scruton, The Soul of the World (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2014) 1, has recently
encapsulated the prevailing modern convictions succinctly but acutely: And if faith
justifies murder, faith is not an option. To be fair, however, one must keep in mind that
the presence of gods in wars was problematic and contested by the Greeks themselves,
and their attitude, in many respects, overlaps with the modern, to remind the reader of
Herodotus conviction (1.87.3) that
,
(cf. also 8.3.1). A particularly suggestive vision of a war as a monster devouring warriors
is found at Il. 19.313: .
38 Cf. Y. Garlan, War in the Ancient World (London: Chatto & Windus, 1975) 18.
39 Cf. J.M. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World 1200479 BCE (Malden, Oxford:
Blackwell, 2007) 276f.; V. Parker, A History of Greece 130030 BC (Malden, Oxford: WileyBlackwell, 2014) 281.
40 And the conduct of war in medieval times as such: cf. M. Strickland, War and Chivalry.
The Conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy 10661217 (Cambridge: CUP,
1996), esp. ch. 3, 5597.
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plenty of moral problems, dilemmas and essentially unanswerable questions.41

The presence and bellicosity of the deities thus complicated the Greek perception of war itself, insofar as conflicts which gave an opportunity for displaying
bravery generated at the same time great moral dilemmas, since men knew that
their gods not only permitted but were actively involved in killing (cf. Euripides,
Hel. 3841).42 It is this aspect that makes the experience of the ancient Greeks
a most tragic one. The activity and engagement of the gods, who at the same
time were regarded as the custodians of divine order and justice (cf., e.g.,
Il. 16. 384388)43 in deadly wars were thus contested.44 In what follows I would
propose to take a closer look at this problem from the point of view of the
41 Cf. generally L.M. Slatkin, Gods in The Homer Encyclopedia I (ed. M. Finkelberg, Malden,
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) 320. I agree with J.E. Robson who takes Greek myths to
be moral stories (Bestiality and Bestial Rape in Greek Myth in: Rape in Antiquity (eds.
S. Deacy, K.F. Pierce, London: Duckworth and Classical Press of Wales, 1997) 65; see also
H. Frnkel, Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy (Oxford: OUP, 1975) 6465.
42 Compare the words of the dying Patroclus, see Il. 16.839849.
43 For the gods representing moral order and justice, see H. Lloyd-Jones (The Justice of
Zeus (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971) ch. 1 and W. Allan (Divine Justice
and Cosmic Order in Early Greek Epic, JHS 126 (2006) 135 who have argued such. This
point is raised also by E. Kearns, Order, Interaction, Authority. Ways of Looking at Greek
Religion in The Greek World (ed. A. Powell, London, New York: Routledge, 1995) 514 (an
excellent study); cf. R. Osborne, Greece in the Making 1200479 BC (London, New York:
Routledge, 1996) 141.
44 So, the second part of the famous opinion by A.D. Nock that The Greek attitudes
which we have considered are very far from Christianity, very far from Ethical Culture
(Greek Religious Attitudes in his Essays II, 548) must be treated only as partially correct. It is a mistake to claim, as Dawson does (Origins of Western Warfare, 53), that the
Iliad is the greatest of all literary glorifications of warfare. As Kurt Raaflaub has proven,
the despising of war begins with the Iliad (Homer and Thucydides on Peace and Just
War in Experiencing War. Trauma and Society from Ancient Greece to the Iraq War (ed.
M.B. Cosmopoulos, Chicago: Ares Publishers, 2007) 81f. It was the Iliad that presented
war as tragedy and inspired the tragic poets in the fifth century BC (cf. W. Bernard,
Homers Ilias. Die Bibel der Griechen in Troia. Traum und Wirklichkeit (eds. B. TheuneGrosskopf et al., Stuttgart: Archologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Wrttemberg, 2001)
100. H. van Wees, War and Peace in Ancient Greece in War, Peace and World Orders in
European History (eds. A.V. Hartmann, B. Heuser, London, New York: Routledge, 2001)
39, reminds that in Greek culture there is no glorifying war as such; the same is argued
by S. Hornblower, Warfare in Ancient Literature: the Paradox of War in The Cambridge
History of Greek and Roman Warfare I (eds. P. Sabin, H. van Wees, M. Whitby, Cambridge:
CUP, 2007) 2253. The ambiguous status of the Iliad was pointed out well by Simone Weil
in her famous essay The Iliad, Poem of Might in her Intimations of Christianity among
the Ancient Greeks (London, New York: Routledge, 1998) 2455; see especially C. Macleod,
143
v ictims of war, those who failed to win. How did the Greeks regard them and
how did they explain their failure? What was the role of divine force in their
downfall? Alcyoneus was a Giant, a monster whose fault, for which he could
never be forgiven, was that he stood on bad side. In other words he was a rebel
against the Olympians who represented cosmic justice.45 Yet, first and foremost, he was also a loser whose fate was to be killed, which fact makes an interesting point dappuiwhat about men who have became the vanquished party
in war or battle?46 Here lies one of the most interesting moral issues which I
perceive to be so important to the ancient thinkers, poets and historians: the
cause of those who have been deceived and left by the gods. I consider these
questions became a source of anxiety and disturbance for the Greeks, and
that their comprehension of them was far from being satisfactory. Humanity
remained with open questions, without any clear answers. These and like perplexities stand behind many descriptions of war which contain worrisome,
controversial, yet profoundly ethical issues of the gods sense of justice.47
It was often assumed by ancient Greek thinkers, and by many their modern
followers, that the winners were (always) right, so victories usually led to the
conviction that the gods must have taken the side of those who had won, as
divine force had simply helped the victors to gain success.48 This was indeed
the reason for making sacrifices and taking other appropriate steps in order to
Homer, Iliad Book XXIV (Cambridge: CUP, 1982) 18; and J.M. Redfield, Warfare and the
Hero in the Classical World, Laetaberis 3 (1984) 4.
45 Schefold, Gods..., 153.
46 Generally, the fate of captives was miserable, as they remained at the victors disposal and
mercy; cf. P. Ducrey, Warfare in Ancient Greece (New York: Scholten Books, 1986) 233252;
see H. van Wees, Defeat and Destruction: the Ethics of Greek Warfare in Bser Krieg.
Exzessive Gewalt in der antiken Kriegsfhrung und Strategien zu deren Vermeidung (eds.
M. Linder, S. Tausend, Graz: Grazer Universittsverlag, 2011) 69110; also A. Gat, War in
Human Civilization (Oxford: CUP, 2006) 215.
47 Recently C. Dewald, Justice and Justifications: War Theory among the Ancient Greeks
in Just War in Religion and Politics. Studies in Religion and Social Order (eds. J. Neusner,
B.D. Chilton, R.E. Tully, Lanham MD: University Press of America, 2013) 28f., asks whether
the Greeks had an idea resembling the later concept of just war (discussed openly later
by St. Augustine). Her answer is: no.
48 So in Xenophons Anabasis, 1.8.16, the watchword of the Greek mercenaries before the
battle of Cunaxa was (Zeus Saviour and Victory. In the Cyropaedia,
3.3.21, gods are even called parastatai, they stand abreast in the same battle line (an idea
found, of course, in Homer); cf. N. Sekunda, Greek Hoplite 480323 BC (Oxford: Osprey,
2000) 21.
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keep the gods as allies.49 But the dilemma does not seem to be so straight, as
seems at first glance.50 Let us take a closer look at the most troubling instance.
It is mythical and representative, but it retained its value as a paradigmatic
case. It defined for centuries the way in which the Greeks interpreted the sense
of human existence and fate.

Hectors Perspective
The importance of the iconic Attalid frieze is also significant as it provides a

visualization of what an earlier, equally famous, and, let us say, archetypal war
story tells. For the ancient Greeks such story wasfirst and foremostthe
Homeric Iliad.51 The war praised by the poet was fought out by the Achaeans
and the Trojans, but with the substantial participation and direct intervention
of the gods, vividly engaged in a human conflict. In this sense the Iliad was a
religious text.52 When reading the poem an irrefutable impression arises that
the gods activity in that great deadly match is overwhelming, and decisive for
the course of the whole action.53 It is the gods who, in fact, decide the fate
of the Trojan war, whereas men seem to have been shown as puppets whose
fortunes, triumphs or miseries, victories or failures, are determined by the will,
prejudices, or caprices (principally envy, but indifference occasionally) of the
mighty, divine powers.54 This is worth bearing in mind, especially if r emember
49 In this context we are reminded of Pericles statement in Plutarchs Life of Pericles, 8.6:
he was to have said that to be sure the gods were invisible but their presence may have
been inferred from the blessings they give to the men. One of such blessings were military
victories; see Lonis, Guerre..., 265f.
50 As Euripides Hecube and Andromache, to take the most spectacular examples, prove.
It also Euripides who was the author of the memorable sentence: If gods do anything
base, they are not gods (fr. 286b. 7 Kannicht; translation by Parker, On Greek Religion...,
34); see H. Lloyd-Jones, Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Culture in his Greek
Comedy, Hellenistic Literature, Greek Religion, and Miscellanea. Academic Papers (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1990) 256.
51 See E. Kearns, The Gods in the Homeric Epics in The Cambridge Companion to Homer
(ed. R.L. Fowler, Cambridge: CUP, 2004) 59f.
52 Lefkowitz, Greek Gods., 53f. The same was stated by E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the
Irrational (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1951) 2.
53 Lloyd-Jones, Justice of Zeus..., ch. 1; cf. R. Rutherford, Homer (Greece & Rome New Surveys
in Classics 26, Oxford, 1996) 44.
54 For example: Il. 12.396401; 13. 12; 13.5961; 13.434435; 13.90f. (Poseidons appeal
to continue battle); 13.128; 13.232239; 14.147f.; 15.5677 (a rhetorical prolepsis: Zeus
decides about and predicts the course of the whole war); 15.467470; 15.604614 (another
145
Herodotus famous statement that it was Homer, together with Hesiod, who
gave to the Greeks the names of gods (2.53),55 and that a deity is jealous (1.32.1;
7.46.4).56 Here the gods engagement in human affairs on the battlefield is
particularly pertinent when we take into the consideration one conspicuous
example, worth remembering in this context. It concerns the two main heroes
of the Iliad, Achilles and Hector, when fighting their last deadly duel.57
At the moment, when Achilles is triumphantly about to slay Hector, he
observes something strange, namely that it will be not him who is actually
taking the Trojan heros life, but the valiant daughter of Zeus. It will be Pallas
Athena, as he argues, who with the heros spear will kill Hector (Il. 22.270271:
, ; No more is
there any escape for thee, but forthwith shall Pallas Athene lay thee low by
my spear; tr. A.T. Murray, Loeb; cf. also 15.613614:
/ ). Nicholas Richardson in his remarks
on the passage quotes the words of another distinguished scholar, Professor
Malcolm Willcock, who called it the most extreme case of divine assistance
to a warrior in the Iliad.58 Yes, truly stated and well said. In the Homeric poem
this female deity is shown to be not only a divine patron of the deadly match,
but someone who actively participates in the murderous game on the banks
of the Scamander.59 When reading the Iliad one cannot avoid an obtrusive
impression that, in fact, the mighty figure of Athena dominates the Trojan
prolepsis on Hectors fate); 16.119121 (on Aias); 16.249252; 16.525; 16.646647 and 655;
16.684691; 16.686791; 17.81; 17.97104; 17.175177 (Hectors really horrific reflection
given Zeus statement at 17.201208); 17.446447; 17.544552; 17.567573; 18.117119;
18.311 (the Trojans are fools, as they follow Hectors unwise advice to fight); 18.328; 19.86
145 (a tale on Ate (Delusion) beguiling humans and gods); 19.408410; 20.296 (Poseidon
on Aeneas); 20.325; 21.215 (on Achilles); 21.284286; 21.595596 (Apollo saves Agenor);
22.209247 (Zeus puts the fates of the two warriors on scales, and Athena deceives
Hector). See R. Janko, The Iliad: a Commentary. Volume IV: Books 1316 (Cambridge: CUP,
1995) 17.
55 Cf. G. Murray, Five Stages of Greek Religion (London: Kessinger Publishing, 1935) 44.
56 See L.A. Tritle, Laughing for Joy: War and Peace among the Greeks in War and Peace
in the Ancient World (ed. K.A. Raaflaub, Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) 185; cf. K.J. Dover, Greek
Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974) 7778.
57 For the first time they have meet earlier; Il. 20. 419454. See recently P.J. Ahrensdorf,
Homer on the Gods and Human Virtue. Creating the Foundations of Classical Civilization
(Cambridge: CUP, 2014) 73133.
58 N. Richardson, The Iliad: a Commentary. Volume VI: Books 2124 (Cambridge: CUP, 1996)
134; see M.M. Willcock, The Iliad of Homer (London: St. Martins Press, 1984) 295.
59
Cf. R. Parker, Athena in The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Fourth Edition (eds.
S. Hornblower, A. Spawforth, E. Eidinow, Oxford: OUP, 2012) 194.
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plain.60 It is certainly true that under the sobriquet ,61 ever since the
fifth century a Phidian image in the imagination of the majority of the Greeks,
she is ubiquitous, she leads the action, she is warmonger (Il. 5.872887; 22.394
399),62 she takes personal care of the (favoured) warriors.63 In other words, her
role as a mistress of war,64 is quite similar to that pictured on the Pergamene
frieze.65 As a result, if one turns ones attention to her victims, one comes to
realize that the position and fate of the sculpted monster, and warrior hero of
the poem, were by no means different. Their lot was to the same extent miserable and deplorable. Like Alcyoneus, Hector is shown exactly at the moment
of facing his death,66 and it is the figure of the bellicose, sinister and merciless
60 As was observed by Jane Ellen Harrison, Introductory Studies in Greek Art (London:
T.F. Unwin, 1885) 301302; see especially S. Woodford, The Trojan War in Ancient Art
(Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1998).
61 Cf. Demosthenes, 19. 272; on her famous statue by Phidias cf. now C.C. Davison, Pheidias.
The Sculptures & Ancient Sources I (BICS Suppl. 105; London: Institute of Classical Studies,
2009) ch. 8 [Athena Promachos]) 277296. Also as Parthenos, she was imagined by
Phidias in military entourage, carrying Winged Victory; cf. N. Spivey, M. Squires lavishly
illustrated Panorama of the Classical World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2004) 79; see
T.H. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002) 46.
62 Cf. W.F. Otto, Die Gtter Griechenlands. Das Bild des Gttlichen im Spiegel des griechischen
Geistes (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Klostermann, 2002) 57.
63 E.g. in the Odyssey, 13.296299, but she refuses to help the Trojan women (Il. 6.309311)
and deceives Ajax (Sophocles, Ajax, 92); cf. S. Deacy, Athena and Ares: War, Violence, and
Warlike Deities in War and Violence..., 18598; also her Athena (Milton Park, New York:
Routledge, 2007) 57f.; generally H. van Wees, Status Warriors. War, Violence and Society in
Homer and History (Amsterdam: Gieben, 1992) 142f.
64 Cf. A. Villing, Athena as Ergane and Promachos: the Iconography of Athena in Archaic
East Greece in Archaic Greece. New Approaches and New Evidence (eds. N. Fisher, H. van
Wees, London: Duckworth and Classical Press of Wales, 1998) 14768. A. Chaniotis quotes
a Hellenistic inscription from Pergamon (I. Pergamon, 14), where an unnamed soldier
expresses a deep conviction to have been saved by Athena (War in the Hellenistic World.
A Social History (Malden, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005) 143.
65 B. Graziosi, The Gods of Olympus. A History (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014) 10, suggests that with regard to war there was a difference in perceiving the roles of Athena and
Ares; the former favors tactics and discipline, having none of the mad, murderous rage
of Ares; also J.-P. Durand, The Powers of War: Ares and Athena in Greek Mythology in
Greek and Egyptian Mythologies (ed. Y. Bonnefoy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1981) 114.
66 On this see especially J. Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad. The Tragedy of Hector
(Durham, London: Duke University Press, 1994) 6998.
147
warrior-goddess who cuts off the threads of their lives.67 The Homeric Hymn
to her (11: ), testifies eloquently to her destructive power: ,
,
. ,
(Dread is she, and with Ares she loves the deeds of war, the sack of cities and
the shouting and the battle. It is she who saves the people as they go to war and
come back. Hail, goddess, and give us good fortune and happiness!).68
This truth appears even more evident in the episode with Hector which is
narrated from his perspective. As he throws his javelin which misses Achilles,
at the same moment Hector realizes that the gods have no favor for him yet
(cf. also Il. 5.193on Pandarus; and 15.461on Teucrus). This is a really tragic
moment as he is suspecting and afraid that he has been left without any divine
support and must die. An earlier commentary upon this case may be found
in the end of Book IV, 539542, where one acknowledges that Then could
no man any more enter into the battle and make light thereof, whoso still
67 The inevitability of death is what differentiates humans from gods (henceforth mortals,
. thnetoia synonym for men, in, e.g., Homer, Od. 5.213; 19.593; Hes. Op. 108; Theog.
967; Hdt. 1.216; 2.68; 8.98; E. HF, 451; Bacch. 395); cf. B. Graziosi & J. Haubold, Homer: The
Resonance of Epic (London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2005) 132; cf. B.S. Strauss,
The Trojan War. A New History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006) 85f. and 117f. H. van
Wees apparently undermines the importance of the gods for the Greeks as recorded in
the Iliad, pointing out that the fighters rely much less on the supernatural than one might
have expected (Heroes, Knights and Nutters. Warrior Mentality in Homer in Battle in
Antiquity (ed. A.B. Lloyd, London: Classical Press of Wales, 1996) 1112); but cf. A.W.H.
Adkins, Homeric Ethics in A New Companion to Homer (eds. I. Morris, B. Powell, Leiden,
New York, Kln: Brill, 1997) 709; see Rutherford, Homer..., 44.
68 Tr. H.G. Evelyn-White (Loeb). And the same is true in the case of the Homeric Hymn to
Ares (8: ), although the difficulties with its precise dating are notorious. Let us
call the attention to two epithets which potentially are contradictory: the Lord of War is
the father of Nike ( ) and an ally of Themis ( ).
The hymn in itself is a fine example of contradictory expectations: to be sure Ares is
addressed with a tremendous piety but his craft is of course not highly valued, as the
last prayer shows: rather, the god of war is expected to be a guarantee of peace and quiet
life which clearly indicates Greek fear of war. Accordingly, Ares was not especially and
widely worshipped by the Greeks, so Zeus openly hates this child for his favoring carnage
and gore (Il. 5.890891; see also Hes. Op. 145146: / ;
cf. Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. 2.989: ); see W. Burkert, Greek
Religion (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1998) 169; cf. L. Rawlings, The Ancient
Greeks at War (Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 2007) 177180,
and J. Brouwers, Henchmen of Ares. Warriors and Warfare in Early Greece (Rotterdam:
Karwansaray, 2012) 142.
148
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unwounded by missile or by thrust of sharp bronze, might move throughout

the midst, being led of Pallas Athene by the hand, and by her guarded from
the onrush of missiles ( ,
,
, ).69
So, here one has a clear indication of why Hectors efforts failed entirely.
Although he was, as Odysseus was also, the dearest to the gods, as he always
sacrificed to them (Il. 24.3334), this proved to be of little account. This impression of sense of tragedy is strengthened by the fact that it was Apollo himself, a god who accuses other deities of lack of empathy for the hero. Behind
all this the vengeful goddess stands. It is she who has decided of Hector (Il.
15.612614: / /
).70 Of course, Hector made a fatal, human
error (as he himself realizes: 22.99100), when he rejected Polydamas proposition to withdraw behind the walls of Troy. Similarly, Patroclus refused the
wise advice of Achilles (16.46). But then it was knowledge privy to the reader/
listener, not available to the hero. Now it is too late, as Hector realizes that any
surrender to Achilles will not assuage the anger of the Achaean raging bull
(Il. 21.214215; 21.220; 22.10; 22.4041), who will show no mercy to his family
and whole Troy, as Priam misleadingly hoped (22.5657).
69 Regarding this aspect B. Graziosi, Introduction in Homer, the Iliad (tr. A. Verity,
Oxford: OUP, 2011) XVIXVII, observes that: Divine inspiration, then, is not just a matter of conventional inspirations to the Muses: it tells us something crucial about how
the poet views the things. Hectors tragedy is anticipated by his triumph over the dying
Patroclus (16.818842). Here Hector shows his arrogant pride (aiming also at defiling his
adversarys corpse: 17.125126), as earlier Patroclus showed it having killed Cebriones
(16.745750), and Achilles will later show to the dying Hector (22.331336); on this see
K.A. Raaflaub, Father of All, Destroyer of All: War in the Late Fifth-Century Athenian
Discourse and Ideology in War and Democracy. A Comparative Study of the Korean War
and the Peloponnesian War (eds. D. McCann, B.S. Strauss, Armonk, London: M.E. Sharpe,
2001) 328.
70 Here an old dilemma appears: had the Homeric heroes a free will to decide about their
own fate, or was the whole course of the action decided, as it seems, by fate, or the gods
(cf. Il. 16.688). Such is the case with Sarpedon (16.441), then Patroclus (cf. 644651), or
Pandarus (5.115121). Opinions vary, answers differ. Many scholars pointed out the decisive role of the gods, but othersof men, see W. Kullmann, Gods and Men in the Iliad
and Odyssey, HSCP 89 (1985) 15, who emphasized human independence in making decisions; so did Lloyd-Jones, Justice of Zeus..., 10. But see Il. 16.684691 (again, the case of
Patroclus: Homer does not deny an autonomy of the warriors decision to fight but adds
that, notably, that it was Zeus who put in him fury in the breast).
149
Hectors perspective on his own fate remains paradigmatic as the Homeric

narrator enables us, not for the first time it is true, to see the events through
the eyes of man and god. First, we have the report of what Zeus had done. He
lifted on high his golden scales, and set therein two fates of grievous death (
), one for Achilles and one for horse taming Hector;
then he grasped the balance by the midst and raised it; and down sank the day
of doom of Hector, and departed to unto Hades; and Phoebus Apollo left him
(22.209213). Accordingly, the total loneliness of the Trojan hero is emphasized by the action undertaken at once by Athena who simply cheats Hector
by words (),71 and urges him to stand up and face Achilles. This is
the peak of the tragic irony, for Hector, unconscious of the divine fraud, recovers hope. But when his spears do not hurt Achilles, an understanding of his
own awaiting doom comes quickly:
(22.297).72 The whole passage is thus a realization of the objections and fears
Hector had addressed to Glaucus previously (17.175178). It was not the vision
of coming to the grips with the Achaeans which terrified him so enormously
but the unpredictability, and capriciousness of the deity:
,
, . If any,
these words fully deserve to be counted among the truly tragic in two ways.
Firstly, it evidences the weighty nature of human constraints, and secondly,
the vanity and ephemeral nature of human endeavor, even if they were heroic
accomplishments.
It was Professor Rutherford who once paid attention to the Odyssey as a philosophical poem. Perhaps the same is even nearer to truth when one is dealing
with the Iliad which was treated by the Greeks as a Bible. Hectors case reveals
at least one basic fact the ancient Greeks knew about the pessimistic realities
of their own religion and gods. It was a very hard world whose peculiarities
often had nothing to do with any expectations and ideas men possessed about
their deities.73
71 See the classic treatment by M. Detienne, J.-P. Vernant. Cunning Intelligence in Greek
Culture and Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); cf. B. Louden, The Gods
in Epic, or the Divine Economy in A Companion to Ancient Epic (ed. J.M. Foley, Malden,
Oxford: Blackwell, 2005) 9596.
72 Cf. Hectors last reflections: 22.298304. R.B. Rutherford, The Philosophy of the Odyssey,
JHS 106 (1986) 145162.
73 I think the same is true with the tragedy of Nicias, whose fate carries some Homeric
tonesperhaps not accidentally. This time the pupil of gods became a pious and good
man but much less successful commander whose army failed to win Syracusea notorious military failure of the Athenian army for which Nicias paid with his life: he was killed
150

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Envoi: Simonides Enigma
There is preserved a meaningful story, repeated by Cicero in his De natura deorum, 1.22.60. For anyone studying the problem of the Hellenic gods it remains
exceptionally important, if not crucial. Its importancethats a paradox,
indeed, but perhaps lesser than it might seemlies of course in the confession of ignorance on the title matter.74 The story runs that Simonides, a famous
poet and sage, was once asked by the tyrant Hiero what a deity is. He delayed
his answer for several days, concluding that the more he considers the issue,
the more the answer becomes unclear and difficult to address adequately.75
by the Spartans on the instigation of some Syracusans. Both the historian Thucydides
(who was a very careful reader of the Homeric Iliad) and a later reader of Thucydides
work, the biographer Plutarch, saw in Nicias life a peripatheia, a true drama, an ethical problem and thusa dark, inexplicable riddle. They simply question why did this
politician deserve such unjustified fate. Such curiosity lies behind Thucydides vivid
account of the Sicilian expedition in Book VII. It is also clear that it constituted the core
of Plutarchs vita of Nicias (see esp. chapters 1, 4, 6, 11 and 26 of his biography), comparing him with the Roman Crassus. In both pieces a very sharp contrast between a mans
good character and his exceptional piety, even if it was sometimes close to the symptoms
known from Theophrastus portrait of the Superstitious Man: Char. 16) is made (cf. W.D.
Furley, Thucydides and Religion in Brills Companion to Thucydides (eds. A. Rengakos,
A. Tsamakis, Leiden: Brill, 2006) 415438. Nicias cruel end must have been felt vigorously and generated, again, in many observers questions which were most pivotal, those
concerning human destiny, justice of the divine force, and the logic according to which
such divine force operates, if at all. This was certainly the particularly distressing, if not
frustrating case when considering the role of the divine, or the lack of any divine guidance. Such helplessness in obtaining any knowledge at all, interpreted by some scholars as a proof of a cool religious attitude held by Thucydidesa thinker of the sophistic
Aufklrung, is seen in the historians notorious posthumous judgment of Nicias (7.88;
cf. Hornblower, Comm. on Thuc. III..., 74143).
74 On the difficulties of understanding the nature of the Greek gods cf. Burkert, Greek
Religion..., 216f.; see also Gould, On Making Sense..., 7f.; cf. the essays in What Is a
God? Studies in the Nature of Greek Divinity (ed. A.B. Lloyd, London, Swansea: Classical
Press of Wales, 1997; also P. Cartledge, Putting the Greek Gods in Their Places, American
International History Review 18 (1996) 106, and Ch.W. Hedrick Jr., Religion and Society in
Classical Greece in A Companion to Greek Religion (ed. D. Ogden, Malden, Oxford: WileyBlackwell, 2007) 283f.
75
Nec ego nunc ipse aliquid adferam melius. Ut enim modo dixi, omnibus fere in rebus, sed
maxime in physicis, quid non sit, citius, quam quid sit, dixerim. Roges me, quid aut quale sit
deus: auctore utar Simonide, de quo cum quaesivisset hoc idem tyrannus Hiero, deliberandi
sibi unum diem postulavit; cum idem ex eo postridie quaereret, biduum petivit; cum saepius
duplicaret numerum dierum admiransque Hiero requireret, cur ita faceret, Quia, quanto
151
The anecdote looks familiar, as it corresponds to the sentiments expressed

occasionally by other Greek intellectuals: to name two of the most famous,
Xenophanes of Colophon and Protagoras of Abdera. The former is held to have
said that no one could ever know of the nature of the gods (Diels & Kranz, FVS
21, B34),76 a conviction which was connected with his criticism of the Homeric
imagination of the gods.77 The latter confessed his famous agnostic stance by
assessing that he has no sure knowledge whether the gods exist or not, or how
they look like (Diels & Kranz, FVS 80, B4; Cicero, De nat. deor. 1.12.29; 1.42.117).78
Not different in tone is the sentiment expressed by Semonides of Amorgos
(Fr.1 Bergk):
,
,
,
,

Surprisingly, these and like remarks, widely known,79 are also relevant to modern scholarly uncertainty, but of another kind: for example, where was the
term theos taken from?80
In consequence, given that, nonetheless, the world was for the Greeks full
of the gods, as Thales was to have said (
diutius considero, inquit tanto mihi spes videtur obscurior; see Buxton, Imaginary Greece,
145f.; cf. M. Clark, Exploring Greek Myth (Malden, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) 16.
76 (nor will there ever be a man who knows about the gods
(tr. K. Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
Univ. Press, 1948), 20; cf. Kearns, Order, Interaction, Authority, 511; also J.-P. Vernant,
Mortals and Immortals: the Body of the Divine in his Mortals and Immortals (ed.
F.I. Zeitlin, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) 27; cf. B. Snell, Die Entdeckung
des Geistes. Studien zur Entstehung des europischen Denken bei den Griechen (Gttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975) 131.
77 See W. Burkert, Homers Anthropomorphism: Narrative and Ritual in New Perspectives in
Early Greek Art (ed. D. Buitron-Oliver, Washinghton: National Gallery of Art, 1991) 8191.
78 Cf. E. Kearns, Religious Practice and Belief in A Companion to the Classical Greek World
(ed. K.H. Kinzl, Malden, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006) 311f.
79 S.C. Humphreys, The Strangeness of Gods. Historical Perspectives on the Interpretation of
Athenian Religion (Oxford: CUP, 2004) 54; see J. Strauss Clay, The Wrath of Athena. Gods
and Men in the Odyssey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983) 1718.
80 As W. Burkert, From Epiphany to Cult Statues: Early Greek Theos in What Is a God?...,
15f.; Bremmer, Greek Religion..., 11.
152
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),81 it must be added that human encounter with a deity was always
a highly terrifying experience. In the Iliad, 20.131, Hera expresses a somewhat
memorable credo: hard are the gods to look
upon when they appear in manifest presence, a conviction which has been
repeated in the Odyssey, 7.201 and 16.161.82 These statements may be regarded
as a generalization which expresses the common experience of the ancient
Greeks.83 But the Homeric observation particularly fits the military sphere,
which may be interpreted as an extreme situation, in which one not only
meets god(s), but realizes at the same time that his or her life may be actually
at stake.84 As war was king of all and father of all (Heraclitus notorious dictum: Diels & Kranz, FVS 22, B53),85 and a teacher of violence (Thuc. 3.82.2),86
the problem of the gods eager participation in the killing, and by the same in
its legitimization, must have been, in result, exceptionally acute. Usually, the
winners were seen to have enjoyed the sympathy of the gods. Victory itself,
it was commonly believed, was the evidence for this. Yet if one examines the
case of the deities participation in conflict, given their capricious sympathies
and antipathies, their active role led also to profoundly troublesome considerations, especially if analyzed with a regard to the victims of war (prisoners, the
fallen, and suchlike), who had not always stood on the bad side.87 It was often
81 Diels & Kranz, FVS II, 11A, fr. 22 (Aristotle, De anima, 411a 7); cf. Hes. Op. 250, quoted by
Clement of Alexandria in his Exhortation to the Greeks (Protr. 2.41.12).
82 Cf. the notes in the relevant volumes of A Commentary on Homers Odyssey, Oxford.
83 Even Lucians highly combative and ironic attitude towards traditional religious beliefs
and rituals (with animal sacrifice at the head) proves exactly the contrary: their constant
validity and application in Graeco-Roman societies.
84 So Apollo says of Achilles that he shall have dread hereafter when some god shall come
against him in battle (Il. 20.129131).
85 , ,
, (eds. H. Diels, W. Kranz, Die
Fragmente der Vorsokratiker I (Berlin: Weidmann, 1951); cf. K.A. Raaflaub, War and the
City: The Brutality of War and Its Impact on the Community in Combat Trauma and
the Ancient Greeks (eds. P. Meineck, D. Konstan, New York: Palgrave and Macmillan, 2014)
15. See the commentary by W.K.Ch. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy I (Cambridge:
CUP, 1962) 44649.
86 ; with S. Hornblowers
note: A Commentary on Thucydides I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) 482; see A.W.
Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956)
37374.
87 This is also Sarpedons tragic bad luck (16.433457), esp. 441:
; see J.M. Cook, The Greeks in Ionia and the East (London: Thames &
Hudson, 1962) 41.
153
a subject of reflection that those who died on battlefield lost their life only
for this reasonthat the gods so decided.88 From this point of view Hectors
Trojan and Nicias Sicilian failures are especially memorable, let us say, paradigmatic cases.
We may close these remarks with the words Hector addresses to Andromache
(Il. 6.488490) that no one can avoid his fateregardless of being humble
or noble ( ,
, ) which supports Professor Taplins opinion
that the Iliad is not evidently a story of right and wrong; it tells of a world
in which all suffer, and where the suffering is not apportioned by deserving.89
This statement rings as really tragic, and it perfectly summarizes a message
that the Iliad contains. From it there follows that in war there was no exception to who was killed, no rule remained valid. Above all, it emphasized a
realization that is not particularly reassuring: of the capriciousness and indifference of godhead. Even if humans were fully conscious of this fact, it by no
means minimized their profound feeling of sorrow, converselyit deepened
it more. Undoubtedly, such a sense of sorrow pervades the whole Iliad, and
in this respect Professor Lateiner is quite right calling the poem a n
arrative
88 Again, it must be remembered that in the Iliad (at least) this did not mean to blame or
accuse the gods for all the carnages that always follow on from war (so, in the Odyssey,
1.3244, Zeus famously and explicitly concedes that it is men themselves who are responsible for the miseries that have fallen upon them, yet they still prefer to accuse the divine).
Rather, it should be taken to mean an expression of what remained for man inexplicable
and inacceptable. It meant asking, first of all, then, sometimes, in later literature, contesting (see n. 47, above). S. Pulleyn, Prayer in Greek Religion (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)
196197 quotes Il. 13.631ff. as an example of a critical apostrophe to the god. But, given
that such feelings were expressed in religious language and by the recalling of the gods,
remains valid, for it indicates that they cannot be used as an argument in proving that the
Greeks invented their deities; cf. Lloyd-Jones, Justice of Zeus..., 10.
89 The Spring of the Muses: Homer and Related Poetry in Literature in the Greek and Roman
Worlds. A New Perspective (ed. O. Taplin, Oxford: OUP, 2000) 25. But this statement is true
as far as the poets interest lies apparently in suffering as such: specifically one may say of
Homers philanthropia and compassion; see esp. 13.343344: /
; 22.437515: Andromaches despair after the
death of her husband; see Od. 8.8182), rather than highlighting, or looking obsessively, at
any price, at who was the guilty party in war (cf. n. 95, below). Homer was thus concerned
with the effects of war on mens ethos, their disastrous, tragic consequences, but this is
not to say that his heroes did not retain their own ethos or arete, which they regarded
worth fighting and dying for: tragedy results from these emotions too; see R.B. Rutherford,
Tragic Form and Feeling in the Iliad, JHS 102 (1982) 152f.
154
Burliga
of and meditation on death.90 In the context of our subject, one may add,
also, that the consciousness and proximity of death in war were all the more
terrific, the more one realized that gods played a major, indeed decisive,
role in it (cf. esp. Il. 5.405409; 16.43345791). In the gloomy realities of war,
that march of folly,92 the dilemma connected with the gods engagement
in gore and savagery must have appeared far more challenging and disquieting, carrying an overwhelming message of human helplessness:93 it is
this just this helplessness which the Iliad is also aboutthe suffering of the
heroes, their pain and lack of the knowledge of their fate, they become in this
way their listeners.94 From there it follows that heroism brought little or no
happiness, except one thing which remained worth dying for: fame. However,
as Colin Macleod has perceptively written of the epics heroes,95 in seeking
glory, they always face death.96 Lust for fame appears thus to be a substitute
only, a vain effort. The path the heroes ascend step by step is a path of no
return.97 The ghost of Achilles realizes this bitter and poignant truth in Hades
and transmits it to the visiting Odysseus (Od. 11.488491), and his pungent confession remains, perhaps, the most emphatic, yet frightening commentary on
90 In an excellent chapter The Iliad: an Unpredictable Classic in Cambridge Companion to

Homer..., 11. One is reminded that the same point was observed of Alexander the Great
by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations, 3.3.
91 The conversation between Zeus and Hera is paradigmatic. Especially shocking ring Heras
advice and her claim (450451) that if Sarpedon is dear to Zeus, the father of gods should
let him die; cf. van Wees, Status Warriors..., 145.
92 The title of the famous 1984 study by B.W. Tuchman, although she used it to characterize
the decision of the Trojan defenders to introduce a wooden horse inside their walls.
93 Cf. M.C. Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness. Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and
Philosophy (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) 122; cf. J. Burgess, Homer (London, New York:
I.B. Tauris, 2015) 39.
94 A fine illustration of this is found in the Odyssey, 8. 525531, when the hero weeps listening to the song describing the sack of the city; cf. J.B. Hainsworth, Books VVIII in
A Commentary on Homers Odyssey I (eds. A. Heubeck, S. West, J.B. Hainsworth Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1988) 38182.
95
Homer, Iliad XXIV, 5, citing Il. 12.32328. He rightly says (56) that The many killings in
the poem are meant to evoke horror and pathos, not bloodthirsty glee.
96 Also S.L. Schein, The Mortal Hero. An Introduction to Homers Iliad (Berkeley, Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1984) 6788.
97
See J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980) 103143;
cf. Z. Gombiowska, Czowiek i wiat w poezji staroytnych Grekw i Rzymian (Gdask:
Wydawnictwo UG, 1994) 27; also H. Arendt, Kondycja ludzka (Polish tr. A. agodzka,
Warszawa: Fundacja Aletheia, 2000) 24.
155
the subject Greek war and religion.98 In the margin, one may add that it may
perhaps be somewhat surprising, but it is due to the specific nature of the role
that the Greeks believed the gods played in war,99 that their experience of suffering still remains pertinent now. This is especially true nowadays, when in
a Western, secularized society with huge range of different experiences, it is
not an easy task for the modern, sophisticated mind, fond of many theories, to
grasp the feelings the ancient Greeks. My point is thus that when talking of the
moral implications of the gods presence in war, one ought not to exaggerate
the differences.100 True, the Greeks conceived their deities differently, but we
are still far from statement that their thoughts and reflections concerning such
fundamental human experiences as pain, fear of being killed, or certainty of
imminent death, were totally different from the modern experience. Different
as it was, the Greek religious experience led to formulating ethical questions
not quite so alien to us as some would suppose.
There is fortunately a short modern poem which could be helpful in understanding what the Greeks felt, and making their feelings more comprehensible.
I have in mind the masterpiece by the eminent Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert
(19241998), entitled Nike Who Hesitates. It is of course well known to Polish
classicists, but especially fitting in this context:101
Most beautiful is Nike at the instant
when she hesitates
the right hand beautiful like a command
leans against the air
but her wings are aquiver
because she sees
a lone youth
he is walking a long rut
98 See R. Scodel, Epic Facework. Self-Presentation and Social Interaction in Homer (Swansea:
Classical Press of Wales, 2008) 2930.
99 Lateiner (n. 90, above) calls these gods terrifying, unpredictable, cruel; cf. especially
R. Parker, Gods Cruel and Kind: Tragic and Civic Theology in Greek Tragedy and the
Historian (ed. Ch. Pelling, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997) 143160; see too W. Mastronarde,
The Gods in A Companion to Greek Tragedy (ed. J. Gregory, Malden, Oxford: Blackwell,
2005) 321f.
100 Cf. esp. M. Kitts, What Is Religious about the Iliad?, Religion Compass 7 (2013) 22627.
Bruit Zaidman and Schmitt Pantel, Religion, 3, call Greek religion unfamiliar territory
which requires a preliminary mental readjustment.
101 Translated by M. Lugowski.
156
Burliga
of a war wagon
along a gray road in a gray landscape
of rocks and an occasional juniper bush
this youth will soon die
just now the scale with his fate
falls suddenly
to the ground
Nike has a tremendous desire
to walk up
and kiss him in the forehead
but she is afraid
that he who has not known yet
the sweetness of fondling
upon knowing it
might run away like the others
at the time of battle
and so Nike hesitates
and finally resolves to
remain in a position
which she was taught by the sculptors
very much ashamed of this moment of feeling moved
she understands well
that tomorrow at dawn
they must find the boy
with his chest open
eyes closed
and a tart obol of fatherland
under the stiff tongue
Had Homer ever the possibility to read these words, he certainly would have
agreed wholeheartedly with and approved of them. It was also his vision and
his perspective on human fate at war. This fate, regardless of somewhat different attitudes that prevail in our own, modern culture,102 was inextricably
linked with a deep confidence about the divine engagement in atrocities.
102 But see n. 100, above.
157
Human tragedy, as it is presented in the Iliad,103 irrefutably proves something

that appears to be trivial now, although it was not always so obvious, namely,
that Greek ethical thinking, so close to us, had its roots in their religion.
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Normandy 10661217 (Cambridge: CUP, 1996).
T. Szymanski, Sacrificia Graecorum in bellis militaria (diss. Marpurgi Cattorum:
J.A. Koch, 1908).
O. Taplin, The Spring of the Muses: Homer and Related Poetry in Literature in the
Greek and Roman Worlds. A New Perspective (ed. O. Taplin, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
2257.
L. Tarn, D. Gutas, Aristotle, Poetics (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2012).
D.P. Tompkins, Greek Rituals of War in The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the
Classical World (eds. B. Campbell, L.A Tritle, Oxford: OUP, 2013) 52741.
L.A. Tritle, Laughing for Joy: War and Peace among the Greeks in War and Peace in the
Ancient World (ed. K.A. Raaflaub, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007) 17290.
D. Turkeltaub, Perceiving Iliadic Gods, HSCP 103 (2007) 5181.
J.-P. Vernant, The Society of the Gods in his Myth and Society in Ancient Greece
(New York: Zone Books, 1981) 92109.
, Mortals and Immortals: the Body of the Divine in his Mortals and Immortals
(ed. F.I. Zeitlin, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) 2749.
P. Veyne, Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths? An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination
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A. Villing, Athena as Ergane and Promachos: the Iconography of Athena in Archaic
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H. van Wees, Status Warriors. War, Violence and Society in Homer and History
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, Heroes, Knights and Nutters. Warrior Mentality in Homer in Battle in
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, Greek Warfare. Myths and Realities (London: Duckworth, 2004).
165
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The Burning of Greek Temples by the Persians and

Greek War-Propaganda*
Eduard Rung
In 330BC the soldiers of Alexander the Great, inspired by Thas of Athens,
burned down the splendid palaces in Persepolis.1 This outrageous action was
reported by Diodorus Siculus, Arrian, Plutarch and some other authors.2 Arrian
(An. 3.18.12) supposes that the burning of Persepolis palaces formed part of
the implementation of Alexanders panhellenic program in the war against the
Persians:
He burnt down the Persian palace, though Parmenio advised him to preserve it, for many reasons, and especially because it was not well to destroy
what was now his own property, and because the men of Asia would not
by this course of action be induced to come over to him, thinking that he
himself had decided not to retain the rule of Asia, but only to conquer it
and depart. But Alexander said that he wished to take vengeance on the
Persians, in retaliation for their deeds in the invasion of Greece, when
they razed Athens to the ground and burnt down the temples. He also
desired to punish the Persians for all the other injuries they had done the
Greeks (translated by E.J.Chinnock).
Diodorus (17.72.23) and Plutarch (Alex. 38.17) stress the role of Thas of
Athens in the burning of Persepolis. Diodorus (17.72.23) reports:
* I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Dorothy Thompson (Girton College,
Cambridge, UK) for polishing my English in this article.
1 On the burning of Persepolis by Alexander, see especially: J.M.Balcer, Alexanders Burning
of Persepolis, IrAn 13 (1978) 11933; E.F.Bloedow, Alexander the Great Under Fire at
Persepolis, Klio 79 (1997) 34153; G.Morrison, Alexander, Combat Psychology, and
Persepolis, Antichthon 35 (2001) 3044.
2 Also in Curtius (5. 6. 1920), Strabo (15. 3. 6) and Athenaeus (13. 576 de). Arrian and the
vulgate sources disagree as to the role of the courtesan Thas. A.B.Bosworth, A Historical
Commentary on Arrians History of Alexander, vol.1 (Oxford: Oxford Universiy Press, 1980) 331
reports that the vulgate version and the deliberate firing are generally understood as depending on motives other than revenge: (i) as a demonstration to the people of Asia that the
Persian Empire had perished; (ii) a reaffirmation to the Greek world that Alexander was still
aware of the problem of his homeland; (iii) an attempt to destroy the morale of the Persians
by burning the symbol of their empire.
The Burning Of Greek Temples
167
Thas said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia
if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and
permitted womens hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. This was said to men who were still young
and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out
to form the comus and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance
for the destruction of the Greek temples (translated by C.H.Oldfather).
Thus, as one can conclude from Diodorus account, someone in the Macedonian
forces, at this particular juncture, proclaimed the slogan of revenge and this
stimulated the crowd of soldiers to set fire to Persepolis palaces. Diodorus
(17.72.6) further explicitly states that it was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis of Athens should
have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land
which had suffered it. Plutarch, however, reports this story somewhat differently (Alex. 38.17). He emphasizes that the said Thas was responsible for the
idea of revenge against the Persians: it would be a still greater pleasure to go
in revel rout and set fire to the house of the Xerxes who burned Athens (Plut.
Alex. 38.4). Plutarch goes on to report that the soldiers who had set fire to the
palaces of Persepolis indeed believed that this act of revenge would mean
the end of the campaign in Asia and their return home: For they hoped that
the burning and destruction of the palace was the act of one who had fixed
his thoughts on home, and did not intend to dwell among Barbarians (38.7).
Despite the different versions of the event, there is a consensus in the sources
that the background for Alexanders burning of Persepolis was a Greek sense of
the need for revenge going back to the period of the Persian wars.
In this chapter my aim is to consider the slogan of revenge against the
Persians who had burned down the Greek shrines and, further, to take account
of other aspects of this theme: (a) the Persian practice of burning Greek
shrines in the period of the Persian wars; (b) the influence of Persian imperial
policy in Greece on Greek consciousness and ideology, and (c) when it was that
this Greek slogan for revenge actually effected policy, and the consequences
of this development.
It is well known that the Persians had systematically burned Greek shrines
since the time of the Ionian revolt down to Xerxes invasion of Greece in
480 BC.3 Herodotus (5.102) explicitly states that the burning of the temple of
3 Cyrus the Great has been already responsible for the burning of Greek temples in Asia Minor,
e.g. temple in Phocaea (Hdt. 1.144). R.J. van der Spek, Cyrus the Great, Exiles, and the Foreign
Gods: A Comparison of Assyrian and Persian Policies on Subject Nations in Extraction &
Control. Studies in Honor of Matthew W.Stolper (eds. M.Kozuh, W.F.M.Henkelman, C.E.Jones,
168
Rung
Cybele during the Ionian attack on Sardis in 498 BC was the main pretext for
the subsequent burning of Greek temples by the Persians. Hornblower suggests that Herodotus is here adopting or reporting a Persian line of explanation, which presented the Ionian revolt as an act of Greek aggression, to which
the Persians then replied in kind. As Hornblower notes, the orientalizing
theme of Persian temple-burning in 480 was important long after Herodotus
own time, as it was used as the pretext for Alexander the Greats invasion of
Asia; Herodotus earlier point about Sardis was naturally forgotten, or at any
rate not followed up, in later accounts and later propaganda.4 Of course, one
cannot be certain why the Persians actually did burn the Greek temples, given
their usual religious tolerance towards foreign gods and cults.5 Some alternative views have been suggested for this Persian impiety in Greece. The most
popular view is that the destruction of the temples by the Persians was due to
the religious situation in Iran, as well as deriving from certain features of the
Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism. I note here just a few of the most indicative
scholarly views. Munn claims that the redistributive burning of Greek temples in the time of Xerxes resonates with the zealous temper expressed in the
name of right religion by Xerxes in the Daiva inscription at Persepolis.6 George
supposes that the Persian burning of some Greek shrines stood in contrast to
C.Woods, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2014) 236 mentions this action of Cyrus along
with others as an argument against scholarly opinion on Cyrus religious tolerance. On the
Persian practice of burning Greek shrines, see: P.Tozzi, Per la storia della politica religiosa
degli Achemenidi: Distruzioni persiane di templi greci agli inizi del V secolo, RSI 89 (1977)
1832; G.Firpo, Impero universale e politica religiosa. Ancora sulle distruzioni dei templi
greci ad opera dei Persiani, ASNP ser.3 16,2 (1986) 33193. On the Persian attitude to Greek
temples, see: P.Funke, Die Perser und die griechischen Heiligtmer in der Perserkriegszeit
in Herodot und die Epoche der Perserkriege. Realitten und Fiktionen. Kolloquium zum
80. Geburtstag von Dietmar Kienast (ed. B.Bleckmann, Kln, Weimar, Wien: Bohlau,
2007) 2134.
4 S. Hornblower (ed.), Herodotus Histories Book V (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2013) 9.
5 This is the most traditional view, on which see, for example: A.T.Olmstead, History of the
Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948) 465; R.N.Frye, The Heritage of
Persia (Cleveland: World Publishing, 1963) 78, 82, 120; R.Ghirshman, Iran: From the Earliest
Times to the Islamic Conquest (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1978) 133 T.Cuyler Young, Jr.,
The Early History of the Medes and the Persians and the Achaemenid Empire to the Death
of Cambyses, in CAH2 4 (1988) 42, 100, 102, 111; M.A.Dandamaev, V.G.Lukonin, The Culture
and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 358.
In criticism of this concept, see: van der Spek, Cyrus..., 2336.
6 M. Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens and Tyranny of Asia (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2006) 227 n.19.
169
the veneration of yet other Greek holy places and reflected the Persian practice
of burning the abodes of enemy gods.7 Dandamaev and Lukonin suggest that
by destroying the temples and removing the statues of their gods, Xerxes strove
to deprive a hostile population of the help of their local gods.8 Kuhrt came to
opposite conclusion: the destruction of temples in Greece and perhaps Asia
Minor does not fit with the statement that the king replaced the worship of
daivas with the cult of Auramazda, while Xerxes sacrifices to Greek gods and
use of local rituals and practices contradicts any such notion.9 Some scholars
assume that the Persian treatment of Greek shrines is comparable with similar
sacrilegious actions in Egypt, Babylonia and other places where it is reported
that the Persians also destroyed local temples.10
It is striking that four distinguished experts in the Achaemenid history
(in Herodotus and Babylon Reconsidered), while considering the literary
tradition of Xerxes destruction of the Babylonian temples, refer to similar
practice in Greece: It has recently become clear that Greek accusations made
against Persians, of hierosylia and sacrilege have their Sitz im Leben in the Greek
experience of temple destruction in the course of Xerxes Greek campaign. Yet
it is clear that these destructions were part of the war strategy and not a religiously motivated act of vengeance by the Persians, as Herodotus and others
have implied.11 The problem of Achaemenid religious policy is too complex
7 P. Georges, Barbarian Asia and the Greek Experience (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1994) 56.
8 Dandamayev, Lukonin, Culture..., 360.
9 A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (Oxford:
Routledge 2007) 242.
10 For an evaluation of the Greek evidence for the Persian misdeeds and destruction of
temples in Egypt and Babylon, see: I.Ladynin, Adversary ry(): His Name and Deeds
According to the Satrap Stela, CdE 87 (2005) 108109; A.Kuhrt, S.Sherwin-White, Xerxes
Destruction of Babylonian Temples in Achaemenid History. vol. II: The Greek Sources
(Proceedings of the Groningen 1984 Achaemenid History Workshop) (eds. H.SancisiWeerdenburg, A.Kuhrt, Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1987)
6978; W.F.M.Henkelman, A.Kuhrt, R.Rollinger, J.Wiesehfer, Herodotus and Babylon
Reconsidered in Herodot und das Persische WeltreichHerodotus and the Persian Empire.
Akten des 3. Internationalen Kolloquiums zum Thema Vorderasien im Spannungsfeld klassischer und altorientalischer berlieferungen, Innsbruck, 2428. November 2008 (eds.
R.Rollinger, B.Truschnegg, R.Bichler, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011) 44970.
There is a tendency in the historiography to challenge the testimony of Classical authors
on Xerxes sacrilegious actions towards the native temples and cults in Egypt as well as in
Babylonia.
11 Henkelman, Kuhrt, Rollinger, Wiesehfer, Herodotus..., 458.
170
Rung
to be discussed here in detail12; however, it is still necessary to put forward

some arguments in support of the idea that Persian sacrilegious actions were
not reflections of their more general religious policy, but rather were caused
by the actual experience of military campaign in Greece.13 This view corresponds with the Greek explanation of the Persian burning of the temples since
it focuses not on the religious enmity between the Greeks and Persians but
instead stresses the idea of revenge, which, strictly speaking, was the chief factor in their relations leading to war. Besides, in almost all cases, which involved
Greek temples and shrines, the Persians also burned other buildings inside the
cities and annihilated local population.
The earliest written example of such an act against a Greek city was
recorded by Ctesias (FGrHist. 688. F.13.22). According to Ctesias, when Darius
crossed the bridge over the Propontis he razed to the ground the homes and
temples of the Chalcedonians ( ), because
they planned to set the bridge near them adrift and because they destroyed
the altar which Darius had dedicated on his way through in the name of Zeus
Diabaterios. Similar words are found in Herodotus accounts of the Persian
destructions of Greek temples in 490 and 480/79 BC. Herodotus also records
that the Persians set fire to the Ionian cities including their temples in 494BC
(6.32: ). In the case of the Samians,
neither their city nor temples were burned down in 494BC (Hdt. 6.25:
). In contrast, when in 490BC the Persians were
enslaving the Naxians they burned down both their temples and the city
(Hdt. 6.96: ,
); similarly, in 480BC the cities and temples of Phocis
were set alight by Xerxes (Hdt. 8.33: ).
Herodotus refers particularly to the burning of the cities of various Phocian
ethnic c ommunitiesthe Panopeans, Daulians and Lilaeens, but makes no
mention of their temples being burnt (Hdt. 8.35:
). He similarly omits mention of tem12 See: A.Kuhrt, The Problem of Achaemenid Religious Policy in Die Welt der Gtterbilder
(eds. B.Groneberg, H.Spieckermann, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007) 11742.
13 The case of Babylon shows a close parallel. There is a Greek tradition of a destruction
of sanctuaries by Xerxes in Babylon (e.g. sanctuary of Bel) and Alexanders intention
to restore them (Arr. An. 3.16.4; 7.17.1; Strabo. 16.1.5). The possible Xerxes destruction
of Babylonian temples was probably connected with a revolt mentioned by Ctesias
(FGrHist. 688. F.13.25), and was therefore intended as a punishment for the rebellious
country. There is no Greek or Egyptian direct evidence of a Persian destruction of local
temples in Egypt, however, according to the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, some
Egyptian temples were destroyed by Cambyses (DMOA. XXII. B1920).
171
ples, when recording the burning of Thespiae and Plataea in Boeotia at the
hands of the Persians (Hdt. 8.50: ...
). On his retreat from Athens, however, which had survived
the destruction by Xerxes one year earlier, according to Herodotus (Hdt. 9.13),
Mardonius burnt down the walls, houses and temples ( ,
,
). What these accounts suggest is that the burning of temples was not
an explicit policy on the part of the Persians during their campaigns against
the Greeks.
Herodotus refers to acts of revenge on only a few occasions.14 A careful
reading of his account of the burning of the temple of Cybele in Sardis by the
Greeks (Hdt. 5.102) clearly shows that this temple was not set alight intentionally but was demolished as a result of the burning of the city (
, ). And in recounting
acts of Persian aggression Herodotus draws particular attention to the burning
of Greek temples by the Persians as examples of retaliation:
(Hdt. 5.102);
, (on Eretria: Hdt.
6.101). There are, however, some additional examples of temple-burning in
Herodotus which are not connected by him with any acts of revenge, but are
plain accounts of setting fire to temples. One such example is the burning of
the temple of Apollo in Abae (Hdt. 8.33); secondly, there was the Persian plan
to burn down Delphi, which was never effected since, as Herodotus shows,
the deity became involved (Hdt. 8.3539). In both of these cases, the Persian
actions were not directed immediately against the Greek gods or cults. It was
simply the case, according to other Greek authors, that the Persians, considered sacrilegious by the Greeks, in the course of their invasion plundered
Greek shrines; they also removed to Persia a variety of sacred objects, as they
had already done from Egypt and Babylonia.15 Arrian (An. 3.16.78) reports on
such booty, found by Alexander in Susa in 330BC: Many other things were
14 On the idea of revenge in Greek ideology and culture: H.Bellen, Der Rachegedanke in
der griechisch-persischen Auseinandersetzung, Chiron 4 (1974) 4367; H.-J.Gehrke, Die
Griechen und die Rache. Ein Versuch in historischer Psychologie, Saeculum 38 (1987)
12149.
15 On the removal to Persia of sacred objects from Egypt and Babylonia: Ladynin, Adversary
ry()..., 11011; Kuhrt, Sherwin-White, Xerxes..., 702 and Henkelman, Kuhrt,
Rollinger, Wiesehfer, Herodotus..., 4538, an attempt to downplay Greek evidence for
Xerxes destruction of the Babylonian temples and removal of the statue of Bel-Marduk
(Hdt. 1.183).
172
Rung
also captured there, which Xerxes brought with him from Greece, especially
the bronze statues of Harmodias and Aristogeiton. These Alexander sent back
to the Athenians... ( ,
, .
).16 Arrian provides further
information when reporting the arrival of Greek embassies to Alexander in
Babylon in 323BC (An. 7. 19.2):
He also gave the ambassadors permission to take with them all the
statues of men and images of gods and the other votive offerings which
Xerxes had carried from Greece to Babylon, Pasargadae, Susa, or any other
place in Asia (

). In this way it is said that the brazen statues of
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, as well as the monument of the Oelcaean
Artemis, were carried back to Athens (translated by E.J.Chinnock).
This account carries with it the implication that the removal of sacred and
other objects from Greece to Persia in the course of Xerxes invasion in
480 BC was devoid of any religious motivation. In addition, we should note that
the Greek authors reporting the Persians plundering of Greek temples in all
cases employ the verb , pillage, plunder. According to Herodotus, when
the Persians captured Miletus in 494 BC they plundered the temple and oracle
before they set them alight (Hdt. 6.19: ,
). And when they captured Eretria in 490 BC, they plundered and
then burned the temple as well (Hdt. 6.101: ). As
for the temple of Apollo at Abae, the Persians also plundered this before they
burnt it down (Hdt. 8.33: ). Herodotus also lays
stress on the Persians intention to plunder Delphi and to deliver the treasures
there to king Xerxes (8.35:
).
Scholars often make the point that in many cases the Persians in fact treated
Greek gods in a not unfriendly manner; on occasion Persians even showed
16 According to Pausanias (1.8.5), the statues of Harmodias and Aristogeiton were returned
to Athens only by Antiochus. Valerius Maximus (2.10. ext.1) ascribes this to Seleucus; Pliny
the Elder (NH 34.70), to Alexander. Bosworth, A Historical..., 317 resolves this contradiction by suggesting that Alexander merely promised the return of the statue-group during
his stay in Susa.
173
themselves anxious to respect Greek gods.17 There are numerous examples

that could be adduced but we will mention only those that relate to the Persian
wars. The Lindian chronicle twice mentions Persian offerings to Athena of
Lindos, though it is probable that two reports relate to the same eventthe
attack on Rhodes by Persian forces in 490BC. According to the first record,
Artaphernes sent earrings, a dress, tiara, bracelets, knife and ornate clothing
to the temple of Lindos (Lind. Chron. XXXII. 6569). The second entry records
that, after failing to capture Rhodes by siege, Datis removed his garment and
sent this, together with his bracelets, tiara and dagger, and also his chariot, as
an offering to the goddess (Lind. Chron. XLII. 3538).18 The offering made by
Datis during the expedition against Greece in 490 BC to the temple of Apollo
on Delos was well known (Hdt. 6.97). Finally, Herodotus mentions a sacrifice which Xerxes, after taking Athens in the summer of 480BC, ordered the
Athenian exiles to make on the Acropolis (Hdt. 8.54).
In spite of the fact that Persian sacrilegious actions in Greece were not
caused by enmity towards Greek religion or Greek gods, the Greeks themselves
considered these as impious and needing to be remembered and revenged.
Herodotus reports that both the Greeks and the Persians were well aware
of the significance of temple burning in Greek policy and propaganda, as
becomes clear in several of his comments (Hdt. 8.109, 140, 143144). Moreover,
a number of Greek authors mention the Greek decision not to rebuild the temples destroyed by the Persians, so as to leave them as memorials for the next
generations. Isocrates (4.156) claims a similar decision was first taken by the
Ionians, but Diodorus Siculus (11.29.4) and Lycurgus (Leocr. 81) see this rather
as a requirement of the so-called Plataean oath.19 There has been much debate
about the authenticity of the Plataean oath,20 but it is clear from other Greek
sources that a decision on this subject was indeed taken by the Greeks during
the Persian wars. This is reflected in the archaeological data and confirmed
17 P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire (Winona Lake, Indiana:
Eisenbrauns, 2002) 5479; P.Georges, Barbarian Asia..., 578.
18 C. Higbie, The Lindian Chronicle and the Greek Creation of Their Past (Oxford: Oxford
19 It must, however, be noted that there is no mention of this in the text of the oath preserved on the Acharnae stela: Tod II. 204 = GHI 88.
20 P. Siewert, Der Eid von Plataiai (Mnchen: Verlag C.H. Beck, 1972); H. van Wees, The
Oath of the Sworn Bands: The Acharnae Stela, the Oath of Plataea and Archaic Spartan
Warfare in Das frhe Sparta (eds. A.Luther, M.Meier, L.Thommen, Mnchen: Franz
Steiner Verlag, 2006) 12564; P.Krentz, The Oath of Marathon, not Plataia?, Hesperia 76
(2007) 73142; recently: P.Cartledge, After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End
of the Graeco-Persian Wars (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
174
Rung
by Plutarch reference (Per. 17) to Pericles congress decree (itself also the subject of scholarly controversy21) and by the date when construction work was
started on the Athenian Acropolis in the mid fifth century BC.22
The origin, therefore, of the idea of taking revenge on the Persians for their
burning of the Greek shrines, appears to be contemporary with the period of
the Persian Wars. This is clear enough from Aeschylus, who in his Persians
(472 BC) explicitly expresses the idea. The context here is a description of the
Persians sacrilegious actions in Greece (ll. 809812):
For in coming to the land of Hellas they did not shrink in reverence
from plundering the statues of the theoi or to burn their temples.
The altars and the shrines of the daimones are no more to be seen,
utterly overturned from their very foundations and scattered in
confusion.
( /
, /
).
(translated by Niall McCloskey and John Porter)
The Persians, as the text continues, had already suffered for their sacrilegious
actions in Greece in the outcome of the battle of Salamis; new sufferings will
await them in the future in the battle of Plataea and even later (ll. 813819):
As a result, having acted evilly, they suffer evils
as great or greater, while others are still to come, nor yet has
the foundation of their misfortunes been laid: it still must be
capped off
such is the great libation of the blood of those slaughtered that will be
poured
on the land of the Plataeans by the Doric spear.
The mounds of corpses will bear silent testimony
to the eyes of mortals even to the third generation,
21 See, for example: R.Seager, The Congress Decree: Some Doubts and a Hypothesis,
Historia 18 (1969) 12931; G.L.Cawkwell, The Peace between Athens and Persia, Phoenix
51 (1997) 126.
22 A.E.Raubitschek, The Peace Policy of Pericles, AJA 70 (1966) 39; I.S.Mark, The Sanctuary
of Athena Nike in Athens: Architectural Stages and Chronology (Princeton: Hesperia
Supplement 26, 1993) 100101.
175
warning that, being mortal, one must not have thoughts greater than
ones station (translated by Niall McCloskey and John Porter).
Herodotus also writes of the necessity of taking revenge on the Persians in the
context of Xerxes peace proposals to the Athenians; he suggests that instead of
making pacts, it is necessary for the Athenians to take revenge on the Persians
(Hdt. 8.144:
). There is no clear indication in the sources that the idea of taking revenge for the Persian practice of temple burning had any significance in
the period from the Persian wars down to Philip of Macedon. It was nowhere
explicit in the proclaimed goal of the Delian League (Thuc. 1.96 speaks of
,23 but he does not specifically
refer to the religious factor; so revenge is rather for the Persian devastation of
Greece more generally).
In the Spartan-Persian war of 400394 BC the slogan of Freedom of the
Greeks of Asia Minor was dominant.24 And in Isocrates orations (Panegyricus
and Philip) revenge for Persian religious crimes in Greece was not put forward
as one of the main arguments for launching a Greek expedition for the conquest of Asia.25 The theme of revenge appears again in Diodorus (16.89.2) who
attributes it to Philip of Macedon after the battle of Chaeronea:
23 On the meaning of Thucydides here, see: P.A.Brunt, The Hellenic League Against Persia,
Historia 2 (1953/4) 150; R.Sealey, The Origins of the Delian League, in Ancient Society
and Institutions. Studies Presented to Victor Ehrenberg on his 75th Birthday (ed. E.Badian,
Oxford: Blackwell, 1967) 238, 241; A.H.Jackson, The Original Purpose of the Delian
League, Historia 18 (1969) 126; H.R.RawlingsIII, Thucydides on the Purpose of the
Delian League, Phoenix 31 (1977) 18; N.D.Robertson, The True Nature of the Delian
League 478461 BC I, AJAH 5 (1980 [1981]) 734.
24 See: R.Seager, C.J.Tuplin, The Freedom of the Greeks of Asia: On the Origins of a Concept
and the Creation of a Slogan, JHS 100 (1980) 1446.
25 On the slogans of panhellenism in the fifth and fourth centuries BC: M.A.Flower, From
Simonides to Isocrates: The Fifth Century Origins of Fourth Century Panhellenism, ClA
19 (2000), 65101. J.Seibert, Panhellenischer Kreuzzug, Nationalkrieg, Rachefeldzug
oder Eroberungskrieg?berlegungen zu den Ursachen des Krieges gegen Persien
in Alexander der Grosse. Eine Welteroberrung und ihr Hintergrund. Vortrge des
Internationalen Bonner Alexanderkolloquium, 19.21.12.1996 (ed. W.Will, Bonn: R. Habelt,
1998) 23, cites only two passages in Isocrates (Paneg. 185 and Philip. 125), and claims
that in both the Rachemotiv (concept of revenge) plays a subordinate role; in response
to Seiberts argument, see: E.F.Bloedow, Why did Philip and Alexander Launch a War
against the Persian Empire, AnCl 72 (2003) 2634.
176
Rung
He spread the word that he wanted to make war on the Persians on the
Greeks behalf and to punish them for the profanation of the temples,
and this won for him the loyal support of the Greeks (translated by
C.H.Oldfather).
It seems probable that, in the changed political conditions in Greece and for
his own advantage, Philip revived the old Greek slogan of revenge against the
Persians for their acts of temple-burning in Greece during the Persian wars. It
is difficult to say if this slogan went down well among the Greeks at that time,
but the continuation of the Athenians cooperation with the Persians during
Alexanders invasion of Asia shows that it was not a fruitful one. Alexander
had inherited this slogan from his father, as shown by the events at Persepolis.26
The conclusion must be that, while the burning of Greek shrines by the
Persians was an expression of a religious aspect of war, it did not add up to war
against either Greek religion or Greek gods, nor indeed did it represent any
form of religious war. The Persian sacrilegious actions were not reflections
of their more general religious policy, but rather were caused by the actual
experience of military campaign in Greece. The slogan of revenge against the
Persians appeared originally as an expression of Greek war propaganda. Later,
in the time of Philip and Alexander, it became a demonstration of Macedonian,
anti-Persian propaganda that aimed, as Diodorus (16.89.2) rightly says, to win
the loyal support of the Greeks.
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Weather, Luck and the Divine in Thucydides

Rachel Bruzzone
Thucydides, the historian of the Peloponnesian War, offers only one extended
analysis of warfare, following his episode on Corcyraean stasis (3.823). In this
editorializing passage, he lists the disappearance of piety as one of the forms
of social decay associated with the war: human relationships are no longer
founded on faith (3.82.6), neither side practices reverence (3.82.8), and oaths
lose their hold on humanity (3.83.2). In this paper, I argue that his four lengthy
episodes featuring the fall of the small city of Plataea form a cohesive narrative
illustrating this sacrilege. Plataea is a particularly appropriate backdrop for a
depiction of this metamorphosis in Greek morality, weighted as the city is with
the sacred legacy left behind by the Persian War victory of 479 BCE, an event
that involved dramatic manifestations of, in particular, Spartan piety. In one of
several demonstrations of their faith, the Spartans refused to defend themselves
from Persian attacks until their leader Pausanias prayer to the local temple of
Hera rendered pre-battle sacrifices auspicious (Hdt. 9.61.362.1). Herodotus, at
least, regards that this belief was well founded, for he surmises that Demeter
intervened directly in the battle (Hdt. 9.65.2). The mounting impiety that takes
place at Plataea in the Peloponnesian War is particularly disturbing because
Thucydides narrative implies that the divine forces associated with the onetime victory over barbarians indeed exist and object to transgression. The
dialogue between the Spartan king Archidamus and the Plataeans insistently
argues that the sacred forces of Plataea judge events there and can be expected
to intervene on the side of justice. And indeed, traditional elements of divine
intervention, including luck, darkness, fire and storms,1 consistently protect
1 In Homer, darkness can hide a man even during daytime, and can be used to interfere in a
battle (e.g. Od. 23.3712; Il. 5.234, 3446, 5068; 16.5678), sometimes by making heavy
things light for chosen individuals (Il. 12.44550). Gods can inspire thoughts (e.g. Hdt.
1.27.3), and change or limit human perception (e.g. Od. 19.4769; Soph. Aj. 512; E. Ion 14;
Pl. Smp. 179d). Belief in the divinity of the natural world, and its capacity to punish injustice,
transcends literary genres (See e.g. A.H. Sommerstein ed., Aeschylus Eumenides (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989) 2367; J.D. Mikalson, Athenian Popular Religion (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983) 1830). The gods employ their most obvious
tool, violent weather, liberally in all types of literature (e.g. Od. 5.2916; Aesch. Ag. 192204;
Hdt. 8.13). Such intervention was thought to be especially crucial in the Persian Wars, when
the Persians suffered a series of disastrous storms. Herodotus reports that the god Boreas
deliberately destroyed much of the Persian fleet at Cape Sepias to help the Greeks. This
Weather, Luck And The Divine In Thucydides
181
and help Plataeas defenders, while blinding, confusing, and frightening

its attackers.2
Invasion
Thucydides account of the initial Theban attack first establishes Plataea as an
extraordinarily lucky city; the episode in fact seems so unlikely that it has been
read as demonstrating the role of the unforeseeable in war.3 Three hundred
Thebans slip into the city, intending either to convince or to compel it to join
the rest of Boeotia (2.2.1). Reinforcements follow, but fail to reach Plataea in
time. After a brief capitulation, the Plataeans fight back, but their luck, most
often in the form of extraordinary natural phenomena, is more decisive in the
victory than their own efforts in battle.
The forces of nature in this narrative, as will be the case in every Plataean
episode, are more decisive than any human action. Thucydides repeatedly remarks on the dark night in which the conflict takes place (2.2.1
, 3.1 , 3.4 , , 4.2 , , 5.1
, 2.2.5.2 ). This darkness disorients the Thebans (2.4.2), but
Thucydides twice observes that the Plataeans know the town and are thus
unimpeded (2.3.4, 4.2). The Plataeans deliberately take advantage of the darkness that they know will confuse their opponents (2.3.3), but they also display
understanding of events appears to have been widely accepted, for the grateful Athenians
established a temple for the god beside the Ilissos River (7.189.3), and nearly 50 years later
Aristophanes Philocleon refuses to change the cloak he was wearing when Boreas delivered
Greece (Vesp. 1124).
2 Thucydides rarely introduces the divine into his work, for example not allowing his characters to comment on the violation of Decelea. But this apparent discrepancy between his treatment of Plataea and other cities is in keeping with one of his characteristic techniques, the
use of exemplary narratives that serve as templates for the reader to supply elsewhere when
appropriate. S. Hornblower, Thucydides and Pindar (Oxford: OUP, 2004) 3423 describes
Thucydides single account of a pre-battle sacrifice: The message appears to be I am not
going to tell you this sort of thing every time: please bear it in mind and assume it elsewhere.
J. Price, Thucydides and Internal War (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) 13 discusses Thucydides treatment of stasis: This is a variation of a known narrative technique of Thucydides, by which
he relates one instance of a recurring event in great detail so that it may serve as an exemplar
for all similar instances in the narrative. H.R.R. Rawlings, The Structure of Thucydides History
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981) 21215 and W.R. Connor, Thucydides (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1984) 144 also discuss Thucydides tendency to use exempla.
3 H.-P. Stahl, Thukydides: Die Stellung des Menschen im geschichtlichen Prozess (Munich:
C.H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966) 6574.
182
Bruzzone
strangely keen vision in the night, unlike the baffled Thebans. Despite the
darkness, they quickly notice when the Thebans make their only viable escape
attempt (2.4.4 ), with Thucydides unusual use of
the substantive calling attention to the idea of perception,4 emphasizing the
Plataeans immunity to the dark that blinds their attackers.
The Thebans remain blinded by darkness well after the text suggests dawn
should have come to their aid. Plataean resistance begins precisely at first light
(2.3.4 ),5 Thucydides emphatic phrasing calling attention to
the timing, which the reader might otherwise overlook. Thucydides reports
that the Thebans then gain the upper hand two or three times (2.4.2), but
eventually lose. They flee the scene and attempt to escape the city, but become
lost, at which point Thucydides observes that they have particular trouble
escaping because it was the moonless time of month (2.4.2). In the time it
took for the battle to go back and forth, the rout to occur and the defeated
troops to lose their way in flight, the arrival of dawn should have rendered the
moonlessness of the night irrelevant, especially in the springtime, when
the attack occurred.6 Instead, time seems to stand still until the Plataeans
work is finished.
4 P. Huart, Le Vocabulaire de lAnalyse Psychologique dans lvre de Thucydide (Paris: Librarie C.
Klincksieck, 1968) 1734.
5 H CT 2.4 translates as the darkest hour before the dawn. This translation makes
the apparently nonsensical narrative more logical but stretches the meaning of the word,
which LSJ translates as simply dawn. J. Classen, J. Steup, Thukydides (Berlin: Weidmann,
1889) 5 take to be gerade die Zeit des ersten Hahnenschreis. The Greeks thought
of it as part of the night (R.W. Wallace, , TAPA 119 (1989) 2017, at 2014), which
ended at dawn, with the rosy fingers of indicating shafts of light emerging over the
horizon. Like English dawn, sunrise and daybreak, is used in apparently contradictory ways. The most important outlier is Platos description of the time between it and daybreak as sufficient for the serious intellectual work of his Nocturnal Council (Lg. 909a, 968a).
Most people would still be in bed (Thuc. 3.112.34) but the industrious (Hes. Op. 5747;
Ar. Eccl. 462) might be up and aboutindeed, well-run households should arise at this time
of night (Pl. Lg. 808a). The fact that some might be busy argues against Wallaces conclusion that occurs several hours before any light appears in the sky, especially given the
problems with artificial lighting he cites in his argument for people going to bed early.
6 The US Naval Observatory reports that the period between civil twilight (dawn) and full sunrise at Plataea on April 29, the day on which there was a new moon in 431 BCE, currently lasts
28 minutes (5:045:32), suggesting that it must have been at least near daybreak by the time
the Thebans fled and became lost. Alternatively, if the storm was heavy enough to block out
the sunrise completely, the absence of the moon should not have been a factor in the battle
at all.
183
Violent weather is also a key factor in the Plataean victory. Thucydides

reports that in the main scuffle the Thebans face the Plataean men, who are
fighting in great disorder (2.4.2 ). The women and slaves, meanwhile, hurl objects from above, while the rain that fell in the night, which
Thucydides describes as violent, causes further problems (2.4.2
). The Plataean troops are thus only the first of
three obstacles the Thebans confront, and Thucydides characterization of
their action as very chaotic (2.4.2) casts doubt on their influence on the outcome of the battle. Thucydides normally treats such uproar as fatal;7 indeed,
this is the only conflict in Thucydides in which chaotic fighting results in
victory,8 suggesting that the Plataeans own contribution to the conflict was
not the deciding factor.
After the Plataean victory, tuch works against the invaders when many of
them mistakenly rush into a large house along the city wall whose door happens to stand open (2.4.5 ). The Plataeans themselves play an almost
entirely passive role in the capture, simply seeing that (the Thebans) had been
cut off (2.4.6). They must only shut the door of the house and gather those
Thebans who are still wandering about in confusion (2.4.7), ready to surrender
unconditionally after their horrible night in Plataea.
The flooding produced by the extraordinary storm also prevents Theban
reinforcements from arriving in time to avert their compatriots annihilation,
an event Thucydides describes at length (2.5.13):
, ,
,
.
,
. .
.
7 J.E. Lendon, The Rhetoric of Combat: Greek Military Theory and Roman Culture in Julius
Caesars Battle Descriptions, CA 18 (1999) 273329, at 2825.
8 indicates ineffective, undisciplined or excessively brutal tactics at 1.49.4, 4.14.3,
8.10.4, and 84.2; it leads to defeat or near-defeat at 3.22.6, 4.127.1, 129.4, 5.110.7, 7.3.1, 37.3,
40.3, 44.4, and 81.4; armies try to create among their enemies at 3.26.1, 78.1, 7.22.1,
and 8.71.1; at 4.104.1 it prevents an effective defense; leads an ally to become concerned at 5.52.1; unnecessary panic strikes Athens at 8.92.7. The Plataean passage is the only
instance in which is associated with a successful military action.
184
Bruzzone
After the message about what had happened was reported to them while
they were still on the road, the other Thebanswho should have arrived
when it was still night with an entire army, in case something turned out
badly for those who had gone inwere coming to help. But Plataea is 70
stades from Thebes, and the rain that fell during the night made them
travel more slowly. For the Asopus river was swollen and getting across it
was not easy. Traveling in the rain and crossing the river with difficulty,
they arrived late.
The extended description of the elements of nature and the Thebans difficulty
in making headway across the river leaves the reader with a growing sense that
the natural world, now consisting of the storm, darkness, and the Asopus,
conspire to protect Plataea. This would not have been an unusual thought in
his day: rivers were sacred forces protecting the local people; Darius ghost
in Aeschylus Persai, for example, calls the Asopus a to the
Boeotian land (806), and this very river became a symbol of barbarian hybris
when the Persians crossed it onto Plataean soil in defiance of their seers advice
in Herodotus (9.3642).9
If the first episode leaves the reader mystified at the strange behavior
of the weather and luck at Plataea, the next episode, a dialogue before the
Peloponnesian attack (2.714), suggests an explanation. This conversation
concentrates almost exclusively on religion, a striking and unusual topic in
Thucydides. King Archidamus, whom Thucydides throughout has presented
as a traditional and pious Spartan,10 betrays a reluctance to attack that implies
that he himself believes that aggression against Plataea might offend the gods,
an implication that is reinforced both by the previous Plataean episode and
9 Cf. Hdt. 6.76.2: Cleomenes, unable to obtain sacrifices favorable for crossing the Erasinus
River, said that on the one hand he admired the Erasinus for not betraying its citizens,
but that the Argives would nevertheless not go unscathed. He turns back and makes his
journey by sea. Xen. An. 1.4.18 reports the case of a river that had never before been fordable becoming so in deference to Cyrus, presumably through divine intervention. Hes.
Op. 73741 describes the appropriate ritual before crossing a river, noting that the gods
hate him [who crosses a river inappropriately] and send suffering afterward
10 For the characterization of Archidamus as a wise and traditional Spartan, see F.M.
Wasserman, The Speeches of King Archidamus in Thucydides, CJ 48 (1953) 193200;
L. Edmunds, Chance and Intelligence in Thucydides (HUP: Cambridge, 1975) 90; E.F.
Bloedow, The Speeches of Archidamus and Sthenelaidas at Sparta, Historia 30 (1981)
12943, at 135; G. Crane, Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity (University of California
Press: Berkeley, 1998) 212; P. Debnar, Speaking the Same Language (Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 2001) 669.
185
when the natural world continues to aid the Plataeans and hinder their attackers in the subsequent siege.

The Plataean Dialogue
The Plataeans first characterize the Peloponnesian attack as a violation of

both the gods and the Spartans own ancestors buried at Plataea (2.71.24).
They cite Pausanias sacrifice to Zeus the Liberator in Plataeas agora and point
out that the same man declared Plataea inviolable (2.71.2), an edict the living
Spartans ignore. The Plataeans call as witnesses to their suffering those gods
who received prayers before the great victory, the divinities of their own land
and the ancestral gods of Sparta, and accuse Sparta of sacrilege (2.71.4).
It is unusual for even one side of a debate in Thucydides to appeal to the
gods,11 but only here do both sides agree that the divine might take an interest in the unfolding crisis. The Spartan king initially claims that he himself is
on the side of the gods (2.72.1), but religious scruples seem to trouble him, for
he makes one of the few apparently sincere attempts in Thucydides to avoid
violence. He urges the Plataeans to remain philoi to both sides (2.72.1) and
promises that, if they temporarily abandon their city, Sparta will deliver food
to the refugees while protecting their city for the duration of the war (2.72.3).
When his offer is not accepted, Archidamus continues to behave as if he is
troubled by the religious implications of an attack on Plataea. Before the subsequent siege, he, too, invokes the gods and heroes of the land, delivering a
highly unusual statement directly to however many gods and heroes possess
this Plataean land (2.74.2), and attempts to win their favor and counter the
Plataean accusations. He tells his divine listeners that we came into this land
here only because those men first violated the oath; reminds them that he has
made many reasonable offers in vain ( ); and asks them to take
his side and punish those who offended first (2.74.2). Few such prayers occur in
Thucydides, and this is the most elaborate.12 The fact that Archidamus apparently feels that he must explain his behavior to the Plataean divinities, while
the locals themselves simply call these entities as witnesses, suggests that he
11 S. Hornblower, Commentary on Thucydides 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 445 discusses the scorn that normally meets appeals to religion.
12 Brasidas also appeals to the gods before attacking Acanthus (4.87.23), and the Athenians
call on the divine after their speech at Sparta (1.78.4). E. Badian, Plataea Between Athens
and Sparta in Boiotika (eds. H. Beister, J. Buckler, Munich: Editio Maris, 1989) 95111, at 98
dismisses Archidamus prayer as all rhetorical display
186
Bruzzone
fears that the sacred world will not judge him to be in the right, and will come
to his opponents aidas in fact turns out to be the case.
Siege
The next Plataean episode, a siege (2.758), features some of the most dramatic natural activity in Thucydides, and scholars throughout the ages have
observed that the storm that rescues Plataea from a dangerous fire is reminiscent of Croesus salvation in Herodotus. Foster offers the most thorough
discussion of the natural world in this conflict, noting in particular the unusually prominent role played by the Plataean soil.13 In the context of the larger
Plataean sequence, this and other features of the narrative help confirm the
pattern of naturaland, implicitly, divineintervention.
The central portion of this second attack is literally a struggle for the soil of
Plataea, which Archidamus fewer than ten OCT lines earlier had described as
the possession of local divinities who had made it favor the Greeks in the Persian
War battle (2.74.2). The soil seems to make its loyalties known again when
Plataeas few defenders easily resist the Spartans earth-working efforts, while
the overwhelming force brought to bear by the Peloponnesians fails to make
headway. The Plataeans prevent the growth of an enormous Peloponnesian
mound along the city wall by excavating earth from beneath it, an operation
that (as HCT 2.2089 observes) would have required slow, careful digging to
avoid collapse or detection. But even though this delicate maneuver competes
with the 24-hour forced labor of a large army performing a simple task, the
mound subtly sinks at the same rate that it grows for a long time (2.76.2), baffling the attackers. The Plataeans also manage to erect a wooden wall inside
their city for part of the siege (2.75.476.3), and later a second wall outside of
it (2.76.3), without any sign of the grueling effort required from their enemies.
The Peloponnesians, on the other hand, have great difficulty moving the soil
of Plataea, as Foster has observed.14 They spend a great deal of time building
their mound, laboring day and night, and sleeping and eating in shifts. Their
work takes on a frantic air, as they throw onto (the mound) brush and rocks
and earth and anything else that might finish (the work) (2.75.2). The labor is
13 E. Foster, The Rhetoric of Materials: Thucydides and Lucretius, AJP 130 (2009) 36799,
at 36978 also argues that the Plataean earth plays a lively role in the conflict.
14
Ibidem, 3723.
187
also forced (2.75.3), a strategy that appears nowhere else in Thucydides.15 As

Foster notes, while the Spartans have many men, the Plataeans have a natural
ally in their own heavy earth16but the earth is far heavier and less cooperative with the Spartans than it is with the Plataeans.
Thwarted in a variety of attempts to take Plataea, the Peloponnesians finally
try to burn the city, hoping that a chance wind will assist them (2.77.2). Their
hopes are badly out of place in a narrative in which nature has consistently
opposed them and now does so again, when a sudden storm saves the city,
and Thucydides draws out the suspense by describing the fire for 16 OCT lines
(2.77.25); his decision to describe the thunder that accompanies it (2.77.6)
suggests that he, and not just his informers, saw the event as one with religious
import.17 Few storms play a decisive military role in Thucydides, but in this
case, as in the account of the previous attack and the escape that follows, the
historian gives credit for the citys salvation to the weather, reporting that the
downpour put out the fire and ended the danger (2.77.6).
Thucydides ends this episode by calling attention to the improbability
of the Plataean success, encouraging the reader to examine its causes more
carefully. He emphatically states that 480 men were inside the city during the
siege, and no more (2.78.4). Earlier he had also reported that the Plataeans
consider themselves few against many (2.76.3), and that the Spartans expect
a quick victory due to the labor of their large army (2.75.1). Additionally, as
the Peloponnesians prepare their attempt to burn Plataea, they fill the ditch
around the city quickly because of their many hands (2.77.2). The successful
Plataean resistance seems so unlikely that Stahl again argues that it demonstrates unpredictability in warfare.18 Especially after the Plataean Dialogue, it
is reasonable to conclude that the Plataeans success is due to the fact that they
are not fighting alone. Rather, the spirits of the place, having chosen sides just
as the participants of the Plataean Dialogue expected, aid its defenders.
15 Although the Spartans make no obvious mistakes and seem rather to be thwarted by circumstances, their failure at Plataea may reflect a general feeling that Spartans lacked talent at siege warfare (Hdt. 9.70.2; Thuc. 1.102.2).
16 Foster, The Rhetoric..., 3723.
17 Hornblower (2007) 145 notes that the thunder was not worth mentioning unless it was
seen by some as an indication of the attitude of Zeus.
18 Stahl, Thukydides..., 83.
188
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Escape
The Plataeans are extraordinarily fortunate one last time in the final narrative passage, when half of the besieged men escape, again aided by a ferocious storm and accompanied by unusual hints of divine activity. The identity
of one of the men who proposes the breakout, the seer Theainetus son of
Tolmides (3.20.1), suggests early on that this is not a mundane operation. This
man, the only named seer in Thucydides, also helps lead the escape alongside
Eupompides (3.22.1). A mantis normally offered religious guidance,19 on rare
occasions adding strategic advice,20 but nowhere else in Thucydides work does
a mantis propose military action, much less lead it, suggesting that Thucydides
may have adjusted the narrative so as to endow the Plataean story with further
religious import.21
Luck again favors the defenders of Plataea as they perform an escape that
has been deemed almost too good to be true.22 An area of the Peloponnesian
fortification where it happened that the wall opposite them had not been
plastered (3.20.3) allows them to count the bricks and calculate the appropriate height for ladders with which to scale it.23 Just as they displayed eerily keen
vision in the storm and darkness of the first episode, they again accomplish
their ends remarkably effortlessly. Thucydides reports that they perform the
count without difficulty, a statement that draws Gommes skepticism: it was
clearly not easy to count the layers, in spite of .24
Fortunately for the Plataeans, the weather continues to confuse, blind and
deafen their enemy but not themselves (3.22.1): they then went out against
the wall of the enemies after escaping notice of the guards, who on the one
hand did not see them through the darkness, and on the other did not hear
them with the wind rattling so as to drown out the noise of their approach.
The guards observe that something has happened only after the majority of
the Plataeans have scaled the wall (3.22.4), but even after this realization, the
storm and the dark night keep them from understanding what is happening
20
Ibidem, 56.
21 For more on manteis see K. Ulanowski in this volume.
22 E.L. Harrison The Escape from Plataea: Thucydides 3.23, CQ 9 (1959) 33.
23 Edmunds, Chance..., 162 observes the role of luck in this operation. E. Eidinow, Luck, Fate
and Fortune (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011) 131 notes that there are only 11 appearances of the
noun tuch in Thucydides.
24
H CT 2.280.
189
(3.22.5). They are effectively paralyzed, unable to move from their posts in confusion (3.22.6). In the meantime, the Plataeans perform a far more sophisticated operation, silently passing ladders, guarding those who are momentarily
vulnerable (3.23.2), and sending weapons forward to the unarmed frontrunners (3.22.3).
Mud () is particularly associated with Plataea, appearing in each of
the Plataean conflicts but only rarely elsewhere in Thucydides,25 and its most
prominent appearance is in this episode. As the escape occurs, Thucydides
reports that the Plataeans were lightly armed and shod only on the left foot for
sure-footedness in the mud (3.22.2). As commentators have noted, this explanation makes little sense, given the difficulty of walking in one shoe.26 But, as
Bal observes, conflicts between the persona an author would like to project
and his literary goals regularly produce statements that measure the difference between the texts overt ideology, as stated in such (authorial) comments,
and its more hidden or naturalized ideology, as embodied in the narrative
representations.27 In this case, the story further associates the Plataeans with
the citys earth, which first thwarted Theban attempts to flee in the nighttime
attack (2.4.2) and then proved so cooperative with the Plataean excavation,
while Thucydides rationalizing explanation preserves his rational persona.
The hint of the divine is all the more powerful because, as several scholars
have observed, the apparently bizarre attire is that of a chthonic ritual,28 further adding to the religious atmosphere already established in the sequence.
The Plataeans choose a stormy night for their escape, and the weather once
more cooperates enthusiastically. Ice makes its only appearance in Thucydides
in a final storm so fierce that it fills the ditch surrounding the city with neckdeep water, the ideal depth to conceal an armed man without drowning
him. Once again, moreover, the historians grammar makes the Plataeans as
much the recipients of the weathers favor as engineers of their own salvation
25 This word appears only three other times in the rest of Thucydides work (1.93.5, 4.4.2,
7.84.5), one of them in the equally eerie Pylos episode and another as the Athenian soldiers in Sicily desperately drink the bloody mud of the Assinarus.
26 E.g. Hornblower, Commentary..., 4067.
27 M. Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1985, Reprinted 1997) 31.
28 L. Edmunds, Thucydides on Monosandalism in Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on
his Eightieth Birthday (ed. K.J. Rigsby; Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984) 714;
P. Vidal-Naquet, The Black Hunter (Trans. A. Szegedy-Maszak; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
190
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(3.23.5): .29
Just as Thucydides earlier use of the substantive aisthesis emphasized the
Plataeans capacity for vision, the rare word 30 here underscores
the idea of a lucky escape (3.23.5).
The natural world continues to intervene as fire and darkness assist the
Plataeans and blind their enemies. First, the Peloponnesian torches make their
bearers position obvious to the Plataeans shooting from the dark, but blind
the Peloponnesians to the Plataeans hidden in the blackness (3.23.4). After the
escape, the torches perform a final service, showing the Plataeans that their
pursuers, having failed to observe which road the Plataeans took despite the
close quarters of the fight, blunder off down the wrong road (3.24.1).
The escaping Plataeans are said to pass the heroon of the hero Androcrates
(3.24.1). As Woodhouse points out, the mention of the tomb is unnecessary if
Thucydides goal is simply to convey an accurate account of the action.31 But
the landmark is another reminder of the Battle of Plataea, which took place
near the tomb. Indeed, Androcrates was among those to whom the Greeks sacrificed before the battle (Plut. Arist. 11.3), so a final nod to him is a fitting conclusion to the series of conflicts at Plataea, in which divinities associated with
the Persian Wars seem to come alive again to favor Plataeas defenders.
Conclusions
The three conflict narratives at Plataea thus combine with the Plataean
Dialogue to provide pervasive and consistent hints that the sacred forces of
the Plataean land, including the Spartans own fallen ancestors, object to the
Peloponnesians breaking their Persian War oaths by attacking the city. This pattern renders the final episode, the Plataean Debate and the trial following it,
even more tragic. In the last minutes of their lives, the Plataeans again beg that
their citys sacred legacy not be forgotten, and appeal directly to the divinities
29 And their escape happened rather because of the magnitude of the storm. J. Classen,
J. Steup, Thukydides (Berlin: Weidmann, 1892) 45: hier nicht bloss als Passivum
zu ..., sondern mit der Nebenbedeutung des glcklichen Erfolgs.
30 Classen, Steup, Thukydides..., 42 observe that this is the only appearance of in
Thucydides era.
31 W.J. Woodhouse, The Greeks at Plataia, JHS 18 (1989) 389: Few can have read the
passage in Thucydides without having been struck by the apparent pointlessness of his
remark as to the position of the monument in question. He goes on to justify its appearance on topographic grounds.
191
of their land (3.59.2). The Spartans, however, simply ask each Plataean individually the brief question of whether he had been useful to Sparta in the
Peloponnesian War (3.52.4), a question that implicitly rejects Plataeas Persian
War past. The Plataeans are accordingly condemned (3.68.1), their city razed
(3.68.3), and their land handed over to Thebes (3.68.3). Because the land, physical city, and its natural forces behaved almost like a living thing attempting to
defend itself throughout the sequence, this mutilation evokes the kind of pity
that similar treatment of a sentient creature would. With its citizens dead, the
city of Plataea, along with its sacred inhabitants, is only beginning to suffer
enslavement to its old enemy Thebes, just as its people had feared (3.58.5).
This reading of Thucydides Plataea sequence suggests that his treatment
of the divine is more nuanced than is sometimes thought.32 He is often conceived of as an atheist, but true atheism seems to have been very rare even
among the most radical thinkers of his era. Rather, his presentation of the
events at Plataea suggests that he views justice, the divine, and forces of nature
to be an interconnected whole, an idea that would be familiar in many earlier
and contemporary philosophers as well as the more traditional thinkers who
might, like Herodotus, also believe in personified divinities (6.117.3). Thales,
for example, famously claimed that all things are full of gods (T 22 DK);
Xenophanes objected to gods in human shape but believed in a sentient, controlling force (e.g. F 24, 25 DK); Anaxagoras Nous manages the universe (e.g.
F 12 DK); the Hippocratic treatise On the Sacred Disease suggests that the natural world is divine (18.12), with no hint that the view might be controversial;33
and Socrates was accused not of atheism but of introducing new gods. The
author who emerges from this reading of the Plataea sequence, a historian
who uses an exemplary narrative to explore the religious implications of the
Peloponnesian War, is a creative thinker, but also a man who belongs to his
own era.
32 See e.g. K.J. Dover, Greek Popular Morality (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974) 12941; D.B. Martin,
Inventing Superstition (Cambridge: HUP, 2004) 3750; J.N. Bremmer, Atheism in
Antiquity in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (ed. M. Martin; Cambridge: CUP,
2007) 1119; M.A. Flower, Athenian Religion and the Peloponnesian War in Art in
Athens during the Peloponnesian War (ed. O. Palagia; Cambridge: CUP, 2009) 123; and
A. Gregory, The Presocratics and the Supernatural (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).
33 L. Edelstein, Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein (Trans. C.L. Temkin.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967) 208.
192
Bruzzone
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Munich: Editio Maris, 1989).
M. Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1985, Reprinted 1997).
E.F. Bloedow, The Speeches of Archidamus and Sthenelaidas at Sparta, Historia 30
(1981) 12943.
J.N. Bremmer, Atheism in Antiquity in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism
(ed. M. Martin; Cambridge: CUP, 2007) 1119.
J. Classen, J. Steup, Thukydides (Berlin: Weidmann, 18621922).
W.R. Connor, Thucydides (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).
G. Crane, Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity (University of California Press:
Berkeley, 1998).
P. Debnar, Speaking the Same Language (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
2001).
K.J. Dover, Greek Popular Morality (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974).
L. Edelstein, Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein (Trans. C.L. Temkin.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967).
L. Edmunds, Chance and Intelligence in Thucydides (Cambridge: HUP, 1975).
, Thucydides on Monosandalism in Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on his
Eightieth Birthday (ed. K.J. Rigsby, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984) 714.
E. Eidinow, Luck, Fate and Fortune (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011).
M.A. Flower, Athenian Religion and the Peloponnesian War in Art in Athens during
the Peloponnesian War (ed. O. Palagia; Cambridge: CUP, 2009) 123.
E. Foster, The Rhetoric of Materials: Thucydides and Lucretius, AJP 130 (2009)
36799.
A.W. Gomme, A. Andrews, K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 194581) 5 Vols.
A. Gregory, The Presocratics and the Supernatural (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).
E.L. Harrison, The Escape from Plataea: Thucydides 3.23, CQ 9 (1959) 303.
S. Hornblower, Commentary on Thucydides (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 19912008).
, Thucydides and Pindar (Oxford: OUP, 2004).
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Horkos: the Oath in Greek Society (2007). Exeter.
P. Huart Le Vocabulaire de lAnalyse Psychologique dans lvre de Thucydide (Paris:
Librarie C. Klincksieck, 1968).
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Julius Caesars Battle Descriptions, CA 18 (1999) 273329.
D.B. Martin, Inventing Superstition (Cambridge: HUP, 2004).
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Press, 1983).
M. Munn, Thucydides on Plataea, the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War, and the
Attic Question in Oikistes: Studies in Constitutions, Colonies and Military Power in
the Ancient World (eds. V.B. Gorman, E.W. Robinson, Leiden: Brill, 2002) 24569.
J. Price, Thucydides and Internal War (Cambridge: CUP, 2001).
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H.R.R. Rawlings, The Structure of Thucydides History (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1981).
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H.-P. Stahl Thukydides: Die Stellung des Menschen im geschichtlichen Prozess (Munich:
C.H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966).
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R.W. Wallace, , TAPA 119 (1989) 2017.
F.M. Wasserman, The Speeches of King Archidamus in Thucydides, CJ 48 (1953)
193200.
W.J. Woodhouse, The Greeks at Plataia, JHS 18 (1989) 3359.
Xenophons Piety within the Hipparchikos

Simone Agrimonti
The number of references to the divine in Xenophons Hipparchikos, a handbook of military advice, is a striking feature, considering the apparently secular nature of the topic.
Gods, sacrifices, and the religious duties of the hipparchos are a constant
presence in the pages of the Hipparchikos. Xenophon dedicates particular
attention to the gods and tells the cavalry commander that he will surely need
their help to accomplish the most difficult or dangerous actions. Thus, he
should do everything necessary to win their favour.
The Hipparchikos, also known with the English title The cavalry commander,
was written between 371 and 355 BC1 and was named after the two commanders of the Athenian cavalry, the hipparchoi ( ). It is a short handbook
that has the aim of helping a future hipparchos make the Athenian cavalry
more efficient and lead it to victory. Pieces of advice contained in this work
range from taking care of the horses to tactical measures, from recruitment to
strategic plans.
What may seem surprising is that the Greek word (god), declined in
all its possible forms, occurs twenty-five times: this frequency in such a short
work highlights the importance religion has in the Hipparchikos.2 References
to the gods fall into two main categories: on the one hand the author often
reminds the reader that the hipparchos has to pray to the gods, offer sacrifices
and hold wonderful mounted parades to them in order to win their favour.
On the other hand, Xenophon also stresses the importance of the gods action
in helping the cavalry commander. The necessity of receiving divine help is
underlined through the constant use of the formula with divine favour (
) which appears seven times;3 other relevant expressions are with the
1 For the dating of the work, see . Delebecque, Essai sur la vie de Xnophon (Paris:
C. Klincksieck, 1957) 4301; C. Petrocelli, Ipparchico. Manuale per il comandante della cavalleria (Bari: Edipuglia, 2001) XIXII. Unidentified textual references are to the Hipparchikos.
Translations are my own. I would like to thank Nick Granitz for his help in improving the
first draft.
2 The contrast between the military argument and the massive presence of religion seems
particularly sharp to us, modern readers, who tend to imagine warfare as a secular activity.
For ancient Greeks this opposition may not have been remarkable.
3 Xen. Eg. Mag. 5.14, 6.1, 7.3 (twice), 7.14, 9.2, 9.8.
Xenophon s Piety within the Hipparchikos
195
gods being favourable ( 1.2, 5.14) and we need the gods as our
strong allies ( 7.4).
One question then naturally arises: how should we explain this massive
presence of the divine and religious element? What is the meaning of the
numerous references to the gods that dot the whole work? Why does the author
choose to insert them? The possible answers to these questions are many. First
of all, one might disagree with my conviction that these references are a significant number and explain them just as a casual phenomenon. Or the constant
reference to the gods might be interpreted just as a literary device, a sort of traditional formula without any real significance. Finally, some scholars have supposed that these numerous allusion to the gods are insincere: through them
Xenophon was faking a deep religious feeling he did not really have.4
In this paper, I will consider all the various references to the gods and to
the religious aspects of the role of hipparchos, in order to offer my answer
to the questions mentioned above; particular attention will be paid to the last
one. Throughout the analysis of all the passages concerning the divine element
and other relevant points of the handbook, I will show that the massive presence of the religious element actually reflects the great importance the author
gave to this sphere.
The first possible approach is that we should not give too much importance
to the passages relating to religion. References to religion are not numerous
enough in and of themselves to constitute a hard proof that the author wanted
to stress this particular aspect. This position can however be easily discarded
by looking at the very end of the work. Here Xenophon explains to the reader
the reason of his insistence in mentioning the gods.
, ,
, , ,
, ,
.

.
,
, .
If anyone is surprised that I have written so often about working with
divine favour, I can assure him he will be less surprised, if he is going to be
often in peril, and if he will consider that in time of war enemies plot
4 For this view, see below.
196
Agrimonti
against each other, but they seldom know what will come of their plots.
Therefore, you could not find anybody else who can give counsel in these
sorts of cases except the gods. They know all things, and warn whomever
they want through sacrifices, omens, voices, and dreams. And one may
assume that they prefer to counsel those who do not only ask what they
should do in the hour of need, but also in prosperous situations honour
them at the best of their ability (9.89).5
The author himself seems to be conscious of the peculiarity of such a recurring presence of the divine.6 Because of this, he offers to the reader a detailed
explanation of his choice, telling him that all the passages mentioning the
gods, far from being just a casual presence, do have a precise meaning.
The explicit self-analysis that is carried out in these lines also challenges
the second interpretation proposed. It is in fact hard to believe that if the all
the references to the field of divine were only a literary device, a formula without any deeper meaning, the author would have dedicated the two final paragraphs of the work to an explanation of these references. We should instead
admit that these passages want to convey a precise religious message, namely
that a constant respect and attention to the gods is the most important prerequisite for the success of the Athenian cavalry. Once we accept the idea that
the various passages convey a precise religious message, the last question we
have to answer is whether the convictions expressed in the work were true or
not, that is, if Xenophon effectively believed in the outmost importance of the
religious element. Some doubts have in fact been raised on the sincerity of
the authors mentions of the religious duties of the hipparchos.
This interpretation was first proposed by Paul-Louis Courier in the nineteenth century.7 The French author is convinced that the continuous references to sacrifices and to the gods are an expedient through which Xenophon
wants to pretend religious piety. This behaviour was intended to divert suspicions about his religious beliefs. At that time a former disciple of Socrates like
Xenophon could easily be suspected of impiety. Although in 399 BC Xenophon
was far from Athens, the memory of the trial and the consecutive execution of
5 The Greek text is that of . Delebecque, Xenophon. Le commandant de la cavalerie. Texte tabli
et traduit (Paris: Les Belles lettres, 1973).
6 Unfortunately, we cannot say whether at Xenophons time military handbooks had already
developed their own conventions. We can just note that Aeneas Tacticus Poliorcetica, the
closest parallel for this period, does not have significant references to the gods or to religious
themes.
7 P-L. Courier, Oeuvres compltes (Paris: Paulin, 1834) vol. 4, 235 n. 1.
197
Socrates was very probably still alive in him. The author thus felt necessary to
constantly remark his acceptance of the traditional religion, his belief in sacrifices and the necessity of worshipping the gods.
The idea of the author being influenced by the memory of Socrates trial is
also somewhat supported, though in different terms, by douard Delebecque.8
In analysing the final paragraphs of the Hipparchikos, he maintains that
Xenophon, while writing these lines, did not want to excessively stress his conviction about the unpredictable nature of war. The memory of what had happened to Socrates thus led him to mention the gods and their relevance again,
confirming his faith in the traditional civic religion. Delebecques analysis is
actually focusing just on the very last passages of the work. However, these
paragraphs have a huge relevance for the interpretation of the religious feeling of the whole work, since they are supposed to explain it. Admitting that
Xenophons remarks are here insincere would lead us to doubt many of the
expressions of religiosity in the work. According to these scholars, references
to religion are not sincere and do not reflect the authors real attitude towards
religion. Moreover, even though passages concerning the divine may somehow
have reflected real religious feelings, the choice of inserting them into the work
was due to an external factor, namely, the necessity of appearing pious towards
traditional gods, in order to avoid any trouble with the Athenian demos.
However, this interpretation does not sound very convincing to me. There
are several reasons which make me think that the author has chosen to insert
religious references without any external pressure.
First of all, time is a relevant factor. The Hipparchikos, as I have said, is unanimously dated after 371 BC, thus at least twenty-eight years after Socrates trial.
It is quite hard to believe that, still at that time, an author could be afraid of
possible popular reactions to the point of inserting false religious elements in
his work. Xenophon would probably be more worried about his recent status
as a lakonistes and close friend of a Spartan king.9
Beside that consideration, a second and crucial element are the motivations
Xenophon himself presents in the already mentioned last paragraphs. Since
8 Delebecque, Xenophon. Le commandant..., 11011 n. 7.

9 Charge with lakonismos as the cause of the exile: Diog. Laert. 2.51. The date and reasons of
Xenophons exile are a much troubled point. On it, see in particular C. Tuplin, Xenophons
Exile Again in Homo viator. Classical essays for John Bramble (eds. M. Whitby, P. Hardie,
M. Whitby, Bristol: Bristol Class. Press, 1987) 5968, who argues for 394 BC as the date of the
exile, and P.M. Green, Text and Context in the Matter of Xenophons Exile in Ventures into
Greek History (ed. I. Worthington, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994) 21527, who prefers 399 BC.
198
Agrimonti
they are crucial for the interpretation of Xenophons religious attitude within
the Hipparchikos, I will now analyse them in detail.
The main reason that he pays such attention to religious topics is that the
gods are omniscient, and this is the main characteristic that distinguishes
them from men. This gap in knowledge, although it always holds true, is
increased further during war. War is in fact a situation of greatest uncertainty,
as Xenophon does not fail to remember enemies plot against each other, but
they seldom know what will come of their plots (9.8). This conception of war as
a moment of great uncertainty is a theme to which the Hipparchikos devotes
significant attention, one of which Xenophon seems to be really concerned.10
He is in fact aware that fourth-century military practice has become both strategically and tactically more complex. Even if major pitched hoplite battles
continue to take place, they are now just a part of the conflict and they increasingly tend to become less decisive.11
Within this frame, particular aspects of the art of war, such as scouting and
information gathering, trickery and deception, gain significant importance.
In the Hipparchikos, Xenophon is very concerned about these themes,12 and
often gives advice on mitigating the uncertainty of the new style of Greek
warfare. For example, many paragraphs of chapter four are dedicated to the
absolute importance of acquiring information, through spies and groups of
scouts, about the enemy: Since discovering the enemy as far off as possible is
most useful both for attack and defence (4.5).13 Significant attention is paid
to the necessity of knowing the locations through which the cavalry move,
while the last paragraphs of this chapter instead stress the importance of hiding your position and manoeuvres from the enemy.
Another example of the relevance given to these new aspects of war is chapter five, which is entirely devoted to the theme of deception. The good hipparchos should in fact be able to conceal the number of his horsemen, to covertly
get close to the enemy and suddenly attack him, to pretend to organize sea
expeditions, and so on. Xenophon is so convinced of the importance of this
10 A similar depiction of war can be found in Thuc. 1.78.
11 A good example of this phenomenon are the two major pitched hoplite battles of Nemea
and Coronea, fought in 394, that failed to end the Corinthian war. This phenomenon
can however be traced back to the Archidamian war: the battle of Delion, the first major
pitched battle of this phase of the war, only took place seven years after the beginning of
the conflict and failed to change the outcome.
12 Such aspects of war can also be found in the Agesilaos, presented through the positive
model of the Spartan king; Xen. Ages. 1.17; 6.7.
13
.
199
theme, that he says: Since nothing is more useful at war than deception (5.9).14
Xenophon, thanks to his considerable military experience, perfectly understood the characteristics of this way of waging war, in which deception and
reconnaissance play a fundamental role. He discussed these themes in detail
in the Hipparchikos because he thought that the new Athenian hipparchoi
would need his advice to deal with the threats of this type of warfare.
This theme and the considerations Xenophon makes are closely linked to
the role played by the gods. Many of the most relevant elements of cavalry
warfare can be summarized into a single point: the importance of acquiring
reliable information, in order to mitigate the constant state of uncertainty.
According to Xenophon, the role of the gods is precisely to help the pious commander gather information through their omniscience. He is convinced that
the gods, being in the position of knowing everything, can help mortals, who
cannot rely on any other reliable source of aid. The gods are thus configured
as the only certain and fixed point in the extreme uncertainty of war; divine
help is the remedy against the continuous uncertainty in war which affects
soldiers and generals. Thus, when explaining why he has decided to insert so
many references to religion in his work, Xenophon does it by closely linking
both the faith in the gods and the necessity of receiving their help to his considerations about some features of the contemporary military practice about
which he really cared, that is to say the importance of information gathering
and deception. This close correlation between religious themes and some of
the most important military aspects of the work leads to the conclusion that
Xenophons references to divine were sincere.
A third element in favour of the sincerity of religious references, is the complexity and internal consistency of the religious system elaborated in the work.
In order to demonstrate this point, I shall now focus on religious references,
still paying particular attention to the role played by the gods. We have seen
that, in numerous passages of the work, they are mentioned helping (or hopefully helping) the hipparchos perform his duties: from the training of the cavalrymen to the conception of new tricks to be used against the enemy. The
number of the passages involving divine help is too high to make here a complete list: for claritys sake I will treat them as a uniform group, not focusing
on the features of every reference, which are, however, quite small. When one
tries to understand the dynamics involved in the assistance provided by the
gods, he immediately has to face a difficulty: divine help is always described
in general terms, without providing details that could help the reader understand the exact functioning of this phenomenon. For example, a very recurrent
14 .
200
Agrimonti
expression, that I have already mentioned, is with divine favour ( ). In

other passages, we may read that something can be accomplished with the
gods being favourable ( ) or only if the gods give their consent
( 9.7). In order to have a clearer view of this point, it is better
to rely again on the interpretation given by the author himself in the final paragraphs: Therefore, you could not find anybody else who can give counsel in
these sorts of cases except the gods. They know all things, and warn whomever
they want through sacrifices, omens, voices, and dreams. And one may assume
that they prefer to counsel those who do not only ask what they should do
in the hour of need, but also in prosperous situations honour them at the best
of their possibility (9,9).
From this passage we understand that Xenophon has a precise idea of how
the gods may help mortals. Having an absolute knowledge of all things, they
can advise humans and tell them what they should do. This communication
between gods and mortals happens through the traditional means of Greek
religion: sacrifices, omens, and dreams. The gods here just have the role of
counselling, warning against making mistakes and thus leading to prosperity.
This important function is the only way they have to interfere with human
actions; Xenophon does not seem to imagine the possibility for the gods to
practically intervene in first person in human events. In the Hipparchikos in
fact, the chance of them deciding the fate of a battle, spreading terror in the
enemies of the hipparchos, or giving courage to his men, is never ventilated.
The gods can just send the commander presages, in order to help him taking
right decisions.15
From this conception of the divine action Xenophon derives the importance of offering sacrifices, which have a double function. On one hand they
are the most important means of communication between men and gods, the
one used by somebody who, being in trouble, needs divine advice to take an
important step. On the other hand, sacrifice, through the immolation of a sacrificial victim, is also a way to show ones piety and gain the goodwill of the
gods. Xenophon, at the end of chapter nine, explicitly says that the gods assistance should not be taken for granted (9.9). The hipparchos who has always
15 In some of his other works, Xenophon takes a far less clear position on the possibility of direct divine intervention. On the gods influence over history (especially in the
Hellenika) see V. Gray, The character of Xenophons Hellenica (London: Duckworth, 1989)
1547; J. Dillery, Xenophon and the history of his time (London, New York: Routledge, 1995)
179237; H. Bowden, Xenophon and the scientific study of religion in Xenophon and
his World: papers from a conference held in Liverpool in July 1999 (ed. C. Tuplin, Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner, 2004) 2415.
201
been pious, even when the situation was favourable, has more chances of
receiving divine help.
However, the need of showing to the gods constant devotion and respect,
is not introduced for the first time in this paragraph. On the contrary, this is
just the final reference to something that has already emerged in the whole
work. The necessity of a hipparchos being respectful to the gods is already present in the very beginning of the Hipparchikos. The first chapter in fact starts
by saying: The first thing to do is to sacrifice to the gods and pray to them.
(1.1);16 another example of that is the beginning of chapter three, where the
reader is told that sacrifice is one of the duties the commander must perform
himself. However, ritual offers are not the only way through which the good
commander can honour the gods: Xenophon also stresses the importance of
processions, in which the cavalry will take part. He devotes many words about
how to properly teach cavalrymen to perform well in these occasions. Chapter
three is entirely dedicated to this topic and the author repeatedly underlines
that processions should be most pleasing both to the gods and to the spectators (3.2); and that they are made to the satisfaction of both gods and men
(3.4).17 Xenophon thus mentions a list of acts that give the hipparchos the possibility to show his devotion; in this way, he can win the favour of the gods, who
will hopefully remember his piety and consequently help him in case of war.
What I have here described is an overall picture, just in its most important elements, of the approach to religion and divine Xenophon has in the
Hipparchikos. The elements we have mentioned and analysed create a consistent ideological structure: the conduct of the good hipparchos is closely related
to the conception of the nature of the gods and the way they interact with
the pious commander. Such a complex and well-constructed religious thought
can hardly be seen as a mere concession to external pressure. We should thus
admit that the references to the sphere of divine come from the authors actual
belief.
The last point in favour of this interpretation is the fact that many of the
religious beliefs and dynamics in the Hipparchikos can also be found in the rest
of Xenophons works, where they are paid significant attention.18 Their presence in works such as the Anabasis, the Hellenica and the Cyropaedia, confirms
16 .
17 Xen. Eg. Mag. 3.2:
; 3.4: .
18 Xenophon is actually the author who gives us most of the information about the religious elements of Greek warfare. His contribution is so relevant that R. Parker, Sacrifice
and battle in War and violence in ancient Greece (ed. H. van Wees, London: Duckworth
202
Agrimonti
that the ideas expressed in the cavalry handbook belong to the global religious
feeling and conception of divine of this author. Since comparing the religious
elements of the Hipparchikos with the related concepts from all other works
by Xenophon would require too much time and lies outside of the theme of
this research, I will just focus on a couple of passages which, according to my
opinion, best show the deep relation between the handbook on the cavalry
commander and the remaining works.
The parallel I find the most relevant belongs to the Cyropaedia. The passages
I am going to focus on belong to a long dialogue between Cyrus and his father
Cambyses, who are marching together against the enemy. Two paragraphs in
particular recall concepts that we have already found in the Hipparchikos. Lets
read what Cambyses says:
, , ,
,
,
.
My son, also learn from me this lesson, which is the most important of all:
never run a risk with yourself or your army contrary to the omens or the
auspices, being conscious that men choose their lines of action by guess,
and they do not know from which of these they will get advantages
(Xen. Cyr. 1.6.44)

. , ,
,
,
. ,
.
So, human knowledge does not know how to choose for the best more than
if one would decide what to do by lot. But the gods, my son, being eternal
know everything: past events, present ones, and what will come from each of
these things, and among the men who consult them, they reveal to those
towards whom they are propitious what they should and should not do. But
that they do not give advice to everybody, this is hardly surprising: since
nothing compels them to care if they are unwilling (Xen. Cyr. 1.6.46).
and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000) 299301 refers to the Classical Greek set of
rituals and sacrifices as the Xenophontic system.
203
The Persian king begins talking about the absolute necessity of relying on the
signs the gods can provide: sacrificial victims and birds. This is due to the distrust in the human capacity of taking right decisions, especially at war. This
theme is taken up in the following paragraph, with the striking image of men
deciding their actions by ballot (kleroumenoi), followed by a consideration
about the omniscience of the gods: the contrast between human ignorance
and divine knowledge is strikingly similar in the two works. Finally, we are told
in which way the gods may help the pious man: if asked, they will probably
tell him what he should do. However, Cambyses warns that they do not advise
everyone. The necessity of winning the gods favour has already been stressed
by Cyrus a few pages earlier. One sentence in particular deserves our attention
for its close resemblance to the Hipparchikos:

, , ,
.
that man would be more effective with the gods, as with men, who did
not flatter them when he was in adversity, but especially remembered the
gods when he was successful (Xen. Cyr. 1.6.3).
In the following paragraph, Cambyses says that Cyrus, since he has always
been respectful towards the gods, can now imagine to receive their help. Based
on a comparison between the two texts, Xenophon believes that the gods
have the power of helping men through the exams of victims, presages, and
dreams. The wise commander, being conscious of the limits of human knowledge, must never take important military decisions without divine advice.
Because of the crucial role played in war by divine favour, it is important to
win the gods goodwill; to do this, the commander should always show himself
devoted and honour them, even when he does not need their help.
Another confirmation of the crucial importance that communication
between men and gods has in Xenophons ideology is proved by his own behaviour at the head of a group of soldiers, as narrated in the Anabasis. He in fact
always acts (or pretends to do so) in a very pious way: he constantly seeks advice
from the gods for any important decision.19 Moreover, he always complies with
19 The extent to which Xenophon is a reliable narrator of his own role and behaviour during the retreat is much debated. However, what we are really interested in is what he
tells us that he did, not what he really did. Xenophon attributes to his character the features of the ideal commander, including being pious towards the gods. On this, see also
Bowden, Xenophon..., 230 n. 2. For Xenophons piety as a commander in the Anabasis
204
Agrimonti
whatever he is told to do. I will just recall you a couple of significant examples:
in the Anabasis Xenophon offers a sacrifice to Zeus and asks him whether
he should be supreme commander of the army; but the god denies and he
thus refuses the command, which is instead given to Cheirisophos (Xen. An.
6.1.224, 31). Xenophon relies again on the will of Zeus in Thrace: the god will
tell him to leave the country. However, similar examples are so numerous that
Xenophon himself tells the soldiers: As you see, soldiers, I offer all the sacrifices I can both on your behalf and my own (Xen. An. 5.6.28).20
We have seen most of the religious beliefs expressed in the Hipparchikos can
also be found in other of Xenophons works. Themes such as the importance of
seeking divine advice, the way gods help mortals, the religious duties of a good
commander, clearly quite dear to the Athenian historiographer, are given considerable attention in many texts. The religious references of the Hipparchikos
are not isolated, but deeply integrated within Xenophons religious mindset.
Consequently, they can hardly be considered a mere preventative measure
against possible allegations of impiety.
This conclusion is also strongly supported by the other elements mentioned
above. Not only may one hardly believe that Xenophon, thirty years after
Socrates trial, was still worried about suffering the same fate of his teacher.
What I find far more convincing are the characteristics of the references to
religion and divine. These elements are in fact given considerable attention
and, if put together and correctly analysed, they create an elaborate picture.
If compared with other texts, this religious system proves to be perfectly consistent with Xenophons religious thought, as it appears from his other works.
I am thus convinced of the genuine character of all the references to the field
of divine: Xenophon inserted these factors not because of some external pressure, but only because of his own convictions. The crucial role given to religion
in war is due to the authors belief that the gods, even though they do not personally intervene on the battlefield, can decide the fate of a war by helping
the pious commander. He thus has to be very devout, offering sacrifices and
respecting the gods. If the hipparchos acts in this way, Xenophon is confident
the gods will give him their decisive support.
see G. Hutchinson, Xenophon and the Art of Command (London: Greenhill Books, 2000)
4551.
20 , , .
205
Bibliography
H. Bowden, Xenophon and the scientific study of religion in Xenophon and his World:
papers from a conference held in Liverpool in July 1999 (ed. C. Tuplin, Stuttgart: Franz
Steiner, 2004).
P.-L. Courier, Oeuvres Compltes (Paris: Paulin, 1834).
. Delebecque, Essai sur la vie de Xnophon (Paris: C. Klincksieck, 1957).
, Xenophon. Le commandant de la cavalerie. Texte tabli et traduit (Paris: Les
Belles lettres, 1973).
J. Dillery, Xenophon and the history of his time (London, New York: Routledge, 1995).
V. Gray, The character of Xenophons Hellenica (London: Duckworth, 1989).
P.M. Green, Text and Context in the Matter of Xenophons Exile in Ventures into Greek
History (ed. I. Worthington, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994) 21527.
G. Hutchinson, Xenophon and the Art of Command (London: Greenhill Books, 2000).
R. Parker, Sacrifice and battle in War and violence in ancient Greece (ed. H. van Wees,
London: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000) 299314.
C. Petrocelli, Ipparchico. Manuale per il comandante della cavalleria (Bari: Edipuglia,
2001).
C. Tuplin, Xenophons Exile Again in Homo viator. Classical essays for John Bramble
(eds. M. Whitby, P. Hardie, M. Whitby, Bristol: Bristol Class. Press, 1987) 5968.
The Mounted Torch-Race at the Athenian

Bendideia
Nicholas Sekunda
The first reference to the cult of Bendis in Greek literary sources comes in a
fragment of the Ephesian lyric poet Hipponax, who wrote around 510 BC.1 The
cult of Bendis is first mentioned in Attic literature in fragments of the
written by the comic poet Kratinos, which dates to circa 430 BC. In one of
these fragments the goddess is mentioned as carrying two spears for hunting.2
This feature, along with her Thracian dress, has enabled Bendis to be identified
on Attic Red-Figure vases painted at about the same time.3 The goddess is also
mentioned, though on the island of Lemnos, in the of Aristophanes,
perhaps of a slightly later date.4

The Bendideia at Athens
At first the cult may have been introduced into Athens by Thracian immigrants
and slaves.5 The goddess may have been worshipped in Athens from some time
before becoming officially recognized as a state cult. The cult of Bendis became
recognized officially at Athens after consultation with the oracle at Dodona.6
1 M.L. West, Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum Cantati, Volumen I (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989) 127 frg. 127 = Th. Bergk, Poetae Lyrici Graeci, Vol. II (Leipzig:
B.G. Teubner, 1882) 4967 frg. 120.
2 R. Kassel, P. Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci (PCG) IV (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1983)
15966 frg. 7389 esp. 165 frg. 85. Popov argued that the weapon carried by Bendis was originally a two-headed spear (D. Popov, Essence, Origine et Propagation du Culte de la Desse
Thrace Bendis, DHA 2 (1976) 289303 at 295).
3 L IMC sv. Bendis 12. No. 1 in the list is ARV 1023, 147 painted by the Phiale Painter. No. 2
was at first thought to be non-Attic, possibly Boeotian (C. Watzinger, Griechische Vasen in
Tbingen (Reutlingen: Gryphius-Verlag, 1924) 59, taf. 41; cf. E. Simon, Opfernde Gtter (Berlin:
Mann, 1953) 25.
4 R. Kassel, P. Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci (PCG) III 2 (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter,
1984) 212 frg. 384.
5 Eg. Z. Goeva, Le Culte de la Deesse Thrace Bendia a Athenes in Primus Congressus
Studiorum Thracicorum = Thracia II (Sophia: Bulgarian Academy of Science, 1974) 816.
6 I G ii 1283, 6.
The Mounted Torch-race At The Athenian Bendideia
207
This original consultation, with the oracle is mentioned in an inscription

recording a decree of the Athenian assembly, IG ii 1283,7 moved in archonship of Polystratos, which fell between the years circa 269262 BC. The first
mention of the cult of the goddess Bendis as a state cult in Athens comes in a
second Athenian inscription, the accounts of the treasures of the Other Gods
for 429/8 BC.8 Therefore establishment of the cult came before, but presumably not much before, that date.
Nilsson and Ferguson both proposed that the cult was probably established
in 431 BC, at the start of the Peloponnesian War, when Athens was in alliance with the Thracian king Sitalkes.9 Parke thought that it was motivated by
Athenian interests in the Thraceward regions, which had been further stimulated by the Peloponnesian war, and an alliance with King Sitalkes.10 Parker
attributes the establishment of the state cult of Bendis to the general fascination Athenians had for Thrace at that period.11
Indeed, the comic authors in the early years of the conflict provide evidence
for the hope of Thracian help. In the first year of the war (431 BC) Thucydides
(2.29.5) records that Sitalkes promised to send Athens cavalry and peltasts.
A fragment of the comic poet Hermippos, preserved in Athenaeus (1. 27e28a),
composed during the early stages of the Peloponnesian War in the 420s, lists a
whole host of goods pouring into Athens in a mock-epic catalogue. Alongside
hoplite mercenaries from Arcadia he lists peltasts sent by the Thracian king
Sitalkes an itch to plague the Lakedaimonians. Aristophanes, in the Acharnians
(160) first performed in 425 BC, wishes for an army of Odomanti, who for two
drachmas a day will petast down (katapeltazien) all of Boeotia. According
to Gomme this passage expresses some of the Athenian feeling of weakness
before a peltast attack following the battle of Spartolos in 429 BC.12 Be that
7 On IG ii 1283 see J. Perka, The Formula for the Grant of Enktesis in Attic Inscriptions
(Prague: Argonaut, 1966) 122130; N.F. Jones, The Associations of Classical Athens. The
Response to Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 43.
8 IG i 310 = IG i 383 vs. 143.
9 M.P. Nilsson, Bendis in Athen in From the Collections of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek III
(1942) 169188, esp. 187 (a revised version of this work was re-published in the authors
Opuscula selecta III (1960) 5580); W.S. Ferguson, The Attic Orgeones, HThR 37 (1944)
96104 at p. 98; cf. Perka, Formula..., 130 who supports this date, though not ruling out
an earlier one.
10 H.W. Parke, The Oracles of Zeus Dodona. Olympia. Ammon (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1967) 149.
11 R. Parker, Athenian Religion. A History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 1745.
12 A.W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, The Ten Years War, Volume II,
BooksIIIII (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956) 214.
208
Sekunda
as it may, it certainly reflects the great military potential that the Athenians
judged that the acquisition of a force of peltasts would give them.
It should be noted that Bendis was accompanied by Deloptes, a Thracian
healing god, and that the cult of Asklepios had not been introduced into Athens
at that time. Consequently Mommsen thought the Bendideia were established
after one of the plagues which ravaged Athens during the years 445, 430 or
420 BC.13 Planeaux favours a date of 429 BC itself, or if not, a date within the
very short period of time 431429 BC. He notes the political relations with
Thrace at that time, but also that this was the period when the plague was at
its worst in Athens. The reasons for the introduction may have been a complex
of associated factors.14
The temple of Bendis was probably built at this time. It is mentioned by
Xenophon (Hell. 2.4.11) in his account of events of 404/3 BC, lying alongside
the temple of Artemis Mounychia.15 The location of the temple was most
probably prompted by the presence of an already existing cult of Artemis in
Mounychia.16
A third Athenian inscription (IG i 136) records a decree of the assembly
regulating details of the cult of Bendis.17 This inscription was at first dated to
around 431 BC, as it was thought to deal with the initial establishment of the
cult. The inscription certainly dates to before 411, for it mentions the board of
the kolakretai, which was abolished in that year. The name of the secretary of
the tribe holding the prytany is given as [] []. Raubitschek
pointed out that Pasiphon was known to have been a stratgos in 410/09, and
consequently suggested a date of around 412.18 Bingen noted that the non-
stoichedon orthography was a feature of the period circa 412405, and suggested a date later than 430, and he furthermore restored the name of the
eponymous archon as [], who is known to have held office during
13 A. Mommsen, Heortologie (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1863) 425 sq.
14 C. Planeaux, The Date of Bendis Entry into Attica, CJ 96.2 (200001) 165192 at 17982.
15 As regards this cult see C. Montepaone, Il Mito di Fondazione del Rituale Munichio in
Onore di Artemis Recherches sur les cultes grecs et loccident, 1 (Naples: Cahiers du Centre
Jean Brard, V, 1979) 6576.
16 R. Garland, The Piraeus from the fifth to the first century BC (Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1987) 121. On the reasons for the location of the cult in Piraeus see also
C. Montepaone, Bendis tracia ad Atene: LIntegrazione del Nuovo Attraverso Forme
dellIdeologia, Annali Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli: Archeologia e Storia Antica
12 (1990) 103121 esp. at 115.
17 F. Sokolowski, Lois sacres des cits grecques. Supplement (Paris: E. de Boccard, 1962)
no. 6, 2023.
18
S EG 10 (1949) 64b, note on p. 41.
209
the year 413/2.19 This dating has been accepted in IG i 136. The decree of the
assembly must, therefore, be concerned not with the original establishment of
the cult, but with changes made to the already established practices in 413/2.

The Mounted Torch-Race
Torch-races are mentioned as having taken place at a number of Athenian

festivals, including the Panathenaia, the Apatouria, the Anthesteria and the
Epitaphia, and also at the festivals of Prometheus, Pan, Bendis, Hermes, and
Theseus.20 Of all these the torch-race at the Bendideia was unique, as it was the
only one which was carried out on horseback rather than on foot.
The first and only reference to the mounted torch-race at the Bendideia
comes at the beginning of Platos Republic. Platos character Socrates tells us
(327 A) that he went down to the Peiraios with Glaukon the son of Ariston, to
pay his respects to the goddess ( ) and to see the new games. Athenians
usually used the term the goddess to mean Athena, and, indeed, the scholiast
to Plato and sources following him understood the words of Plato to be referring to Athena and the festival of the Lesser Panathenaia.21 This is clearly a mistake, however, for later passages (eg. 354 B) clearly set the work at the Bendieia.
Later ancient commentators on the passage make it clear that Socrates has
gone down to the Peiraios to worship the goddess Artemis and to see the festival of the Bendideia.22
Socrates meets some of his friends, led by Polemarchos, who ask him if
he is going to see the evening mounted torch-race in honour of the goddess.
Socrates asks (328 A) if the riders will pass the torch along one to another and
vie with each other on their horses. Polemarchus says yes, invites the group to
his house, and suggests that after dinner they should go and talk to the neoi
who have taken part in the torch-race. The mounted torch race must have been
19 J. Bingen, Le Decret SEG X 64 (Le Piree, 413/2?) Rev. Belge Ph. 37 (1959) 367; cf.
R. Develin, Athenian Officials 684321 BC (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989) 156.
20 Cf. J.G. Frazer, Pausaniass Description of Greece Vol. II (London: Macmillan & Co., 1913)
3913; cf. J.R. Sitlington Sterret, The Torch Race, AJP 22 (1901) 393419.
21 Ed. G.C. Greene, Scholia Platonica etc. (= Philological Monographs published by the
American Philological Association VIII, 1938) 188
At this point he is talking about the festival of the Lesser Panathenaia.
22 Cf. Sitlington Sterret, The Torch..., 403.
210
Sekunda
a very spectacular event, as well as one demanding great standards of horsemanship, for it seems to have been held after dusk.23
At the very beginning of the Republic Plato seemingly locates the place
and the date of the action in great detail. Socrates goes down to the Piraeus
to worship the goddess, and wishing to see in what way they would carry out
the festival, seeing that for the first time there would be games. They see the
procession of citizen devotees and of Thracians,24 and were making their way
back to the city, when they met Polemarchos. They are told that there is to be
a mounted torch-race in the evening in honour of the goddess, upon which
Socrates exclaims That is new indeed! ( ) and a night festival
(pannuchis). It should be noted that the mounted torch-race and the pannychis were two separate events.25 Although the festival may well have been
established for some time, and had perhaps always included the pannuchis
from its inception, Socrates declaration that the mounted torch-race is new
indeed indicates that Plato wishes the reader to believe that the dramatic date
of the Republic is the year in which the mounted torch-race was first run.26
Long before the inscription of 413/2 recording new regulations for the cult of
Bendis was found, Momsen, later followed by Shorey and Ferguson, had suggested that the text of Plato implies, not that the Bendideia as a whole was new,
but rather that special new ceremonies were instituted circa 411 BC.27
Some pictorial information on the competition is provided by an anepigraphic carved relief (Fig. 1), perhaps dating to the late fifth or early fourth
century BC, now in the British Museum (2155).28 Eight naked athletes, wearing
only headbands on, line up behind two cloaked figures, who stand in front of
23 H.W. Parke, Festivals of the Athenians (London: Thames s Hudson, 1977) 151.
24 There were separate parades of citizens and Thracians, and separate bands of citizen and
Thracian orgeones, the latter splintering into two with one in the Piraeus and one in the
city (R. Garland, The Piraeus from the fifth to the first century B.C. (Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1987) 119).
25 L. Deubner, Attische Feste (Berlin: Keller, 1932) 219.
26 Cf. C. Planeaux, The Date of Bendis Entry into Attica, CJ 96.2 (200001) 165192 at 174.
Planeaux (1789) later argues against this interpretation, and that the processions too
must have been new to Socrates.
27 A. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1898) 490 n. 4
Mit letzterer Auffassung mag man sich bengen, da es hernach von der zu Ross exekutieren Lampas heist: ; P. Shorey, Plato V. The Republic, Volume I (Loeb ed.
Cambridge Mass., London: Harvard University Press, 1937) viii n. f; cf. W.S. Ferguson, The
Attic Orgeones, HThR 37 (1944) 96104, esp. 978, 1034.
28 Compare a similar relief to Artemis found at Brauron published in BCH 83 (1959)
595 fig. 26.
211
them. Only the first athlete carries a torch. This supports the statement of Plato
that the race was a relay-race. Torch-races run at Athenian festivals could be
either open to individual competitors, or be relay events. In the case of individual torch-races, it would be possible, in theory at least, for non-citizens to
compete. Relay torch-races would have to have been run by tribal teams however, and there would appear to be no doubt that the event would have been
restricted to citizens.29
A dedication to Bendis by a person called Daos, who states that he had been
victorious in the torch-races, has been discovered at Kamariza in the Laurion
district. It has been suggested that Daos is was Thracian, and possibly a
slave.30 This suggestion is presumably based on the assumption that the name
Daos is Thracian. The personal name is only twice attested for Thrace
(in the city of Apollonia-Sozopolis) by the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names in
Volume IV (p. 87), and four time elsewhere for that volume. By contrast it is
listed five times in volume 1, twice in Volume III.A, three times in Volume III.B,
and no less than seventeen times for Volume V.A. It possibly occurs under the
form in Volume V.B (at Anabarzos in Cilicia). In Volume II it is listed five
times for Athenian citizens and another five times for non-Athenians, in at
least two cases by metics. Daos is used frequently by Menander in his plays,
29 R. Parker, Athenian Religion. A History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 171 assumes that
the torch-race was performed by Thracians.
30 P.G. Themelis, Votive base to Bendis from Kamariza, Horos 7 (1989) 239.
212
Sekunda
admittedly mostly for slaves, but once, in The Arbitrants, for an Attic shepherd.
Thus there is no compelling reason to believe that the Daos responsible for the
dedication to Bendis was not an Athenian citizen.31 It should be noted that it is
not stated in which torch races Daos had been victorious, but the fact that the
dedication was to Bendis suggests that it was in the Bendideia.
In front of the athletes stand two bearded figures clad in himatia, one carrying another torch, while the foremost figure pours out a libation to the goddess Bendis, who, depicted in larger-than-life scale, stands in front of the whole
group. These first two figures are usually interpreted as trainers,32 by which,
presumably, tribal gymnasiarchs are meant. No references are preserved to
equestrian gymnasiarchs in the fourth century, however, so this interpretation
is not likely.
Whilst there can be no doubt that the eight athletes constitute a tribal team,
the two cloaked figures could be interpreted in a number of ways. Firstly they
could be the two hipparchai who commanded the Athenian cavalry as a whole,
which is, I believe, the most probable explanation. Alternatively one of the
figures could be the phylarches, who commanded each tribal regiment, and
the second figure could be the hipparchos commanding the wing to which this
tribal regiment belonged, or, less probably, the hyperetes, or sergeant-major of
the tribal cavalry regiment.

The Dramatic Date of Platos Republic
The dramatic dates in which Plato sets his works are notoriously full of internal
contradiction, a self-evident fact first noted by Eduard Zeller in 1873 and most
recently restated by John Graham.33 We do not know whether Plato inserts
irreconcilable chronological material into his works deliberately, or through
carelessness.
After an initial discussion taking place in the street, Socrates and Glaucon
are invited by Polemarchos to his house, where the later action of the Republic
takes place, in the presence of Lysias and Euthydemos, brothers of Polemarchus,
and of their father Kephalos, who is described as very old and not able eas31 He is listed as such in with a query LGPN II at 99, see also Parker, Athenian Religion..., 172.
32 E.g. Garland, The Piraeus..., 118 (& fig.21); H.W. Parke, Festivals of the Athenians (London:
Thames Hudson, 1977) 151 team of eight young men and their two trainers who are older
and bearded.
33 J. Graham, Platos Anachronisms in Corolla Cosmo Rodewald (ed. N. Sekunda, Gdask:
Fundacja Rozwoju Uniwersytetu Gdaskiego, 2007) 6774; see also K. Moors, The
Argument Against a Dramatic Date for Platos Republic, Polis 7 (1987) 631.
213
ily to make the journey from the Piraeus to Athens (328 BE), while Socrates
describes himself as on the threshold of old age (328 CE). Socrates would
have been aged fifty-eight in 411 BC.34
According to the anonymous Lives of the Ten Orators preserved in Plutarchs
Moralia (835 CE) Lysias was born in 459/8 BC and left for Thurioi with
his brother Polemarchos at the age of fifteen in 444/3 BC, when his father
Kephalos was already dead. He arrived back in Athens in 411/10 BC, when
the Four Hundred already had possession of the city. He left Athens again in
404 BC, when his brother Polemarchos was put to death at the hands of
The Thirty. Hence Plato is clumsy in locating the beginning of the Republic
chronologically. Allan, Dover and others have argued for the primacy of the
biographical details as suggested in the Republic for the biography of Lysias
over the evidence given by the Lives of the Ten Orators.35 There is, however, no
reason to doubt the evidence of the Lives, and Kephalos must have been dead
before Lysias left Athens.36
Despite this difficulty Boeckh seems to have been the first to suggest that
Plato intended to put the dramatic date of Platos Republic in 411 BC,37 that is
in the year of Lysias return from Thureoi: an earlier date is impossible. Boeckh
noted, however, that Kephalos would have had to be at least eighty-four to be
alive in 411.38
In later places in the Republic anachronistic events and persons abound.
The two most obvious anachronisms, also noted by Boeckh, are references
to the strength of Polydamas of Scotussa (338 C), who only became famous
after his victory in the pankration in 408 BC, and to the wealth of Ismenias the
Theban (336 A), whose wealth was due to Persian gold, which he only started
to receive in 395 BC (Xen., Hell. 3.5.2).39 There are many other anachronisms
in the Republic, which have led many modern scholars to believe that the work
was written over a long period of time, or was not originally conceived of as a
single unified work.40
34 Cf. D. Nails, The Dramatic Date of Platos Republic, CJ 93.4 (1998) 38396 at 385.
35 D.J. Allan, Plato: Republic..., 1921; J.K. Dover, Lysias and the Corpus Lysiacum (= Sather
Classical Lectures, Volume 39, Berkeley, Los Angeles: California University Press, 1968)
389.
36 See Graham, Platos Anachronisms..., 70.
37 A. Boeckh, Gesammelte Kleine Schriften (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1874) IV 437449. A list
of later scholars supporting Boeckhs date, or arguing for other dates, or arguing that no
dramatic date can be established is given by Nails, Dramatic Date 383.
38 Boeckh, Gesammelte..., 446.
39
Ibidem, 4467; Nails, Dramatic Date..., 3867.
40 Nails, Dramatic Date..., 393.
214
Sekunda
It seems probable that Plato worked on the Republic over time, introducing
references to historical events on the section of the work he was engaged in
at the time, as suited his current purposes. The manuscript was then put to
one side for a while before work was recommenced on another section. It was
only when the work was finally prepared for publication that the beginning
section was conceived and added. Plato intended to imply to the reader that
the action took place when the mounted torch-race was run for the first time
in the Bendideia.
Therefore Plato makes two mistakes. Not only is it a mistake to introduce
Kephalos into the work, it was also a mistake to introduce Lysias, for Lysias
only returned to Athens in 411/10 BC, when the Four Hundred already had possession of the city. However, the decree regulating the cult of Bendis, which we
may presume introduced the mounted torch-race, was passed by the Athenian
assembly in 413/2. Therefore the first torch-race would have been run either in
that year, or in the year 412/11 at the latest. So Platos dramatic date is at least a
year too late for the events he describes.
There is no mention of the introduction of a mounted torch-race in the preserved parts of the decree of 413/2, but the inscription is in an extremely fragmentary condition. Bingen concluded that the inscription dealt, among other
matters, with the inauguration of the nocturnal celebrations, although I do not
personally believe that all these particular ceremonies need to be new.41 The
evidence from Platos Republic, despite the confusion over the date, strongly
suggests that the mounted torch-race was introduced by this decree.

The Reason for the Changes in the Bendideia
Towards the end of 413, the Athenians appointed a board of ten probouloi
to stabilize and check the activities of the council and assembly in the post-
Sicilian crisis. The creation of the office is evidence of how severe the crisis was
perceived to be.42 The probouloi were selected one from each of the ten tribes,
as is made clear by the following gloss:43
41 Followed by Parker, Athenian Religion..., 172.
42 The words of B.S. Strauss, Fathers and Sons in Athens. Ideology and Society in the Era of
the Peloponnesian War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) 184. Thuc. 8.1.3 states
that the probouloi should prepare measures to reference to the present situation as there
might be occasion. Cf. A.W. Gomme, A. Andrews, K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides V Book VIII (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) 67.
43 I. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca (Berlin: Typis et impensis G. Reimeri, 1814) 298, here quoted
from P. Foucart, Le pote Sophocle et loligarchie des Quatre Cents, Revue de Philologie
17 (1893) 110 at 4 n. 1.
215
,
.
Among other things, the probouloi were presumably to propose changes in religious practices. This would provide the occasion for a religious reform in 413/2,
but why would the probouloi seek to reform the cult of Bendis in particular?
The Athenians had contracted a force of Thracian mercenaries to come
to Athens in order to serve in the Sicilian expedition, but they only arrived
after the departure of the fleet. The Athenians immediately sent them back,
as they were unwilling to incur the expense due to their current shortage of
money. They appointed one Dieitrephes to conduct them back, giving him
instructions to make use of them to damage the enemy as they sailed back
along the coast. The result was a wholesale slaughter in the small Boeotian
town of Mykalessos, which the Thracians carried out with great savagery.44 It
is evident from Thucydides description of this incident that it was generally
thought to be deplorable, especially as the Athenians had used barbarians
against Greeks.45
In my view it was this incident, committed by Thracians returning from service with Athens, which induced the probouloi to recommend changes in the
cult of Bendis: a Thracian deity.

The Thessalian Origin of the Mounted Torch-Race
A mounted torch-race seems a rather exotic competition to have been introduced into Athens, and this has led various scholars to suggest, since Bendis is a
Thracian goddess, that the mounted torch-race may have been a Thracian custom. This suggestion runs into the difficulty, however, that so far the mounted
torch-race is unattested in Thrace.46 Furthermore, an anecdote in Polyaenus
44 The Mykalessos incident is, in fact, alluded to in his discussion of the reasons for establishing the cult by Parker, Athenian Religion..., 174.
45 Thuc. 7.2930 with A.W. Gomme, A. Andrews, K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides IV (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970) 40910. This is just as Aristophanes
had foreseen in his Acharnians ten years previously cf. B.B. Rogers, The Acharnians of
Aristophanes (London: G. Bell & Sons Ltd., 1930).
46 L. Deubner, Attische Feste (Berlin: Keller, 1932) 219 die jedenfalls von den Thrakern geritte
wurde: H.W. Parke, Festivals of the Athenians (London: Thames Hudson, 1977) 151 The
Thracians must have been responsible for the innovation of racing on horseback. They
were well known as horsemen and lived in a country more suited to horse-breeding than
Greece. Whether such races were held in Thrace is not known.
216
Sekunda
Stratagems (3.9.60) suggests that Thracian horses were unused to burning

torches:47
Iphicrates carried off a great deal of booty from Odrysian territory.
A large number of Odrysians was pursuing him. Having few horsemen,
he gave them burning torches and told them to charge the enemy. The
Odrysians horses, unable to endure the unfamiliar sight of the flame,
turned around and fled.
Given that we lack evidence for the mounted torch-race from Thrace, I believe
it is more probable that the mounted torch-race evolved in Thessaly, perhaps
at Pherai in connection with the cult of Enodia. It is reasonable to suppose that
Enodia was the patron deity of the mounted torch race, but there is no proof
to support this belief.
Enodia (also spelt Ennodia), the goddess of the wayside was a Thessalian
deity closely connected with equestrian matters, and with the Thessalian
hippeis. An inscription from Larissa, dating to the end of the third century
BC, records religious ordinances for the city, and in that inscription a stele to
Enodia is recorded as being located near the hipparcheion.48
Mikro-Kiserli, the ancient Sykyrion, was the site of a fortress guarding the
Tempe Pass,49 which during the Hellenistic period was manned by a garrison
supplied by the forces of the Thessalian League. A series of inscriptions, dating to the second and first centuries BC, record dedications made to a deity by
the garrison. Three of these refer to the deity as Phosphoros bearer of light50
and one as Artemis.51 On Thessalian coins Enodia is typically depicted riding a horse side-saddle, and carrying either torches in both hands or a single torch in her right hand. According to literary sources Phosphoros was a
title given to Artemis when she carried a torch, and thus connects the deity
47 Translation from Polyaenus, Stratagems of War, edited and translated by P. Krentz, E.L.
Wheeler (Chicago: Ares, 1994) 277.
48 B. Helly, A Larisa, Boulversements et remise en ordre de sanctuaires, Mnemosyne 23
(1970) 25096 at 253, 274, 294.
49 Fr. Sthlin, Das Hellenische Thessalien (Stuttgart: J. Engelhorns Nachfolger, 1924) 90
esp. n. 7.
50
I G ix (2) 1060, 1061, 1063. In a note to 1061 Wilamowitz is credited for the identification
of Phosphoros (or ) with Artemis. It should be noted that dedications are also
made to other deities at Mikro-Kiserli.
51
I G ix (2) 1058.
217
worshipped by the soldiers of the garrison with Enodia.52 The dedications to

Artemis/Phosphoros confirm the military connections of that deity, and suggest her identity with Enodia. It is necessary to underline at this point that
within Thessaly Ennodia is never explicitly identified with Artemis, though she
is outside.
The mounted torch-race is attested in Thessaly. Inscriptions from the
beginning of the first century BC list victors in the mounted torch-race
() at the Eleutheria, the federal festival of the Thessalian
League, held in Thessaly.53 Indeed Deubner noted the existence of these
Thessalian parallels in the context of his discussion of the Bendideia.54 The
Eleutheria, or freedom festival dedicated to Zeus Eleutherios, was introduced
to Thessaly after the re-founding of the Thessalian League in 196 BC following
the liberation of Thessaly from Macedonian domination, and was held at a
new temple built in Larissa.55 The games comprised other equestrian competitions, horse-races, the cavalry scout, the cavalry sally and the bull-hunt (here
, elsewhere the bull-attack ). The latter sport, at least,
is attested only in Thessaly. Thessaly was one of the very few areas of Greece
with a tradition of equestrian agonistic competition. The horse was so deeply
integrated into Thessalian society that horses were included in the marriage
ceremony.56 Although the mounted torch-race is only attested in Thessaly so
far at the Eleutheria festival, it is reasonable to assume that the competition
was long established in Thessaly.
The centre of the cult of Enodia seems originally to have been at Pherai,
where the goddess (Artemis) is invariably termed Enodia. The importance of
the goddess in her home city of Pherai is demonstrated by her appearance
on the silver coinage of that city struck both by Alexander of Pherai and by
Astomedon (=Aristomedon).57 Outside Pherai worship of Enodia is first
52 Eg. Schol. Aristoph., Lys. 443 who tells us that Artemis is called Phosphoros when she is
torch-bearing, and connects this deity with Hekate; or Schol. Theocrit., Id. 2, 12 which
tells us that Hekate is called Artemis and Torchbearer and Phosphoros; Cf. P. Philippson,
Thessalische Mythologie (Zrich: Rhein-Verl, 1942) 7677.
53
I G ix. 2. 528, 16; 531, 18 (= Ditt., Syll. 1059).
54 Deubner, Attische..., 219 n. 6.
55 Polyb. 18.47.7 on the creation of the Thessalian League; cf. R. Parker, Cleomenes on the
Acropolis. An Inaugural Lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on May 1997 by
Robert Parker Wykeham Professor of Ancient History (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1998) 18 on the Eleutheria with references.
56 H.D. Westlake, Thessaly in the Fourth Century B.C. (London: Methuen, 1935) 4, 42.
57 A. Moustaka, Kulte und Mythen auf Thessalischen Mnzen (= Beitrge zur Archologie 15,
Wrzburg: K. Triltsch, 1983) 3036, pl. 10: 67, 68, 71.
218
Sekunda
attested at Larissa, where she is first mentioned in a metrical dedication dating to the third quarter of the fifth century.58 It is possible that the cult only
began to spread outwards from Pherai to the other cities of Thessaly at a later
date, perhaps as a consequence of the rise in the power of the Pheraian tyranny during the first half of the fourth century.59 In other cities of Thessaly the
deity is called by her proper name Enodia, or Enodia Pheraia. Elsewhere she
either preserves her proper name, or may be termed Artemis Pheraia outside
Thessaly. Worship of the deity is attested epigraphically in a large number of
Thessalian cities, as well as at Argos, Epidauros, Sikyon, Corinth, Athens, Issa
in Dalmatia and in western Macedonia.60
Pausanias (2.23.5) mentions that the cult of Artemis Pheraia existed in
Athens at the time of his writing in the second century AD, but, if she was ever
one of the official gods worshipped at Athens or not, it is extremely doubtful
there would have been an existing festival of Artemis Pheraia to which the
mounted torch-race could be attached when it was introduced into Athens
in 413/2 BC as an athletic competition. Although Enodia is to be considered
as a separate deity from Artemis, as was stressed by Robert, she belonged to
group of connected deities, which become syncretized with Artemis in later
literary sources.61 The essential distinction is between usage within Thessaly
and Macedonia, and elsewhere. In the former she is Ennodia and can have
epithets of her own; in the latter she often becomes an epithet. The closest
already established Athenian god to Enodia/Artemis Pheraia in religious
58
I G ix, 2, 575.
59 Cf. P. Chrysostomos, Enodia-Enodia et Hcate-Enodia in La Thessalie. Quinze annes
de recherches archologiques, 19751990 Bilans et Perspectives. Actes du Colloque internationale. Lyon 1722 avril 1990 (eds. J-C. Decourt, B. Helly, K. Gallis, Athens: Kapon, 1994)
Vol. II, 33946 at 340 (in Greek).
60 L. Robert, Hellenica. Recueil dpigraphie de Numismatique et dAntiquits grecques XIXII
(Paris: Librairie dAmrique et dOrient, 1960) 58895; B 1964, 225; 1972, 252; 1980, 313;
1981, 313, 316. It is worth underlining that the Macedonian references to the deity come
from western Macedonia, bordering Thessaly, and not eastern Macedonia, bordering
Thrace. See now P. Chrysostomou, () (Athens: TAPA,
1998) non vidi.
61 After e.g. W. Burkert, Greek Religion Archaic and Classical (trans. John Raffan, Oxford:
Blackwells, 1985) 171 who states that Hekate becomes equated with Artemis from the
fifth century onwards. Enodia is given as a title of Hekate by Sophokles in a fragment
of his Rhizotomoi (A. Pearson, The Fragments of Sophocles II (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1917) 176 frg. 535 and compare Antigone 11991120, where the names
Hekate and Hades are euphemistically avoided (Brown in Sophocles Antigone (ed.
M. Griffith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) 330). We also find the equation
of torch-bearing Hekate with Enodia in Euripides, Helen 56970.
219
identity already possessing a major religious festival was Bendis. According

to a gloss in Hesychius, Bendis seems to have been considered as a Thracian
equivalent of Artemis among the Athenians,62 and by extension to Enodia.
This is why the probouloi considered it appropriate that a mounted torch-race
should be incorporated into the Bendideia. In 403 BC Thrasyboulos, rebelling against the rule of the Thirty, marched from Phyle to Mounychia, and
there gathered forces against them. In a description of the action Clemens
Alexandrinus mentions that the action took place where there now stands an
altar to Phosphoros.63 Artemis Phosphoros is mentioned in an inscription of
circa 182/1 BC.64 Presumably the cult of Phosphoros in Mounychia was connected with the sanctuary and cult of Artemis-Bendis,65 and was brought to
Athens along with the mounted torch-race.

The Oligarchic Dimension
We have so far looked at the activities of the ten probouloi from a purely religious point of view. I have suggested that the torch-race was introduced into
the festival of Bendis, who was originally a Thracian goddess, to atone for the
massacre at Mykalessos, carried out by Thracians dismissed from Athenian
service. The religious thinking lying behind the decision may have been that it
was necessary the hellenize the festival by introducing a Thessalian practice
that was appropriate to the cult, but this is impossible to tell. The activities of
the ten probouloi in 413/2 also ushered in a time of intense political upheaval at
Athens, and it could be worthwhile considering if their activities had a political aspect too.
Thucydides at 8.1.3 describes the ten probouloi as being old men, and
indeed the two we know of are old. Hagnon had been general in 440/39 BC.66
In 480 BC at the age of 16 Sophocles was chosen to head a choir of boys at the
celebrations of victory over the Persians at Salamis, his date of birth is usually
62 , (ed. K. Latte, Hesychii
Alexandrini Lexicon recensuit et emendavit. Volumen I (Hauniae: Munksgaard, 1953)
B 5214).
63 , . Clemens Alexandrinus,
Strom. I. 24 (418 P) = 102.
64
I G ii 902, 8.
65 Cf. U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, Der Glaube der Hellenen I (ed. Basel: Schwabe, 1956)
176 n. 1.
66 Kirchner PA 171; J.K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600300 BC (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1971) 227; R. Develin, Athenian Officials..., 91.
220
Sekunda
put at 497/6: so he would, therefore have been at least 83 when appointed

proboulos.67
Both the high age of the probouloi and the lack of any time limit on their
tenure of office may both be regarded as oligarchic features.68 As a political
institution probouloi are found in earlier Greek city-states, such as Megara.69
Hagnon is alleged by Lysias (12.65) to have forwarded the government of the
Four Hundred. Hagnons son, Theramenes, indeed was one of the individuals
responsible for establishing the rule of the Four Hundred, and was later one of
the Thirty.70 Sophocles is known to have been an associate of Socrates (Plato,
Republic 329b). He also displayed philo-Lakonian tendencies in his dress, for
his statue in the Lateran Museum portrays him wearing Lakonian sandals.71
According the Aristotelian Atheniaon Politeia (32.2) the men most responsible for establishing the rule of the Four Hundred were Pisander, Antiphon,
Phrynicus and Theramenes, men who were well born, and appeared outstanding in intelligence and judgement.72 Aristotle (Rhet. 3.18.6) preserves a dialogue that took place between Sophocles and one of the oligarchs, Peisander,
that was largely responsible for establishing the rule of the Four Hundred.73
67 M.H. Jameson, Sophocles and the Four Hundred, Historia 20,56 (1971) 54168 at
p. 545; M. Vickers, Sophocles and Alcibiades. Athenian Politics in Ancient Greek Literature
(Stocksfield: Acumen, 2008) 11 with further bibliography at n. 40.
68 C. Hignett, A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth Century (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1952) p. 269; Vickers, Sophocles and Alcibiades..., 95.
69 Aristoph. Acharn. 755; M. Ostwald, Oligarchia. The Development of a Constitutional Form
in Ancient Gceece (Historia Einzelschriften 144, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000) 26.
70 Though according to A.W. Gomme, A. Andrews, K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides V Book VIII (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) 7 this allegation is hardly more
than an aspect of his malice against Hagnons son Theramenes.
71 N. Sekunda, Laconian shoes with Roman senatorial laces in Sparta and Laconia, From
Prehistory to Pre-Modern (= British School at Athens Studies 16, eds. W.G. Cavanagh,
C. Gallou, M. Georgiadis, London: British School at Athens, 2009) 2539 at 2567.
72
Aristotle. Athenian Constitution. Translation with an Introduction and Notes by P.J. Rhodes
(London: Penguin, 2002) 77.
73 In Athen. 13.604d. See H.C. Avery, Prosopographical Studies in the Oligarchy of the Four
Hundred (Princeton Ph.D. UMI 1959) 286 on the varying ways in which this passage
could be interpreted. Translation after M.H. Jameson, Sophocles and the Four Hundred,
Historia 20,56 (1971) 54168 at 543, where he discusses the possible dates of this
exchange, which he places late on during the four-month rule of the Four Hundred. He
also deals most effectively with the criticism that this passage deals with another individual named Sophocles. See also Vickers, Sophocles and Alcibiades..., 96 n. 6.
221
when Sophocles was asked by Peisander if he had voted, as had the other
probouloi, to establish the 400, he answered yes. What? Didnt it occur
to you that this was wrong? Yes, he said, for there was nothing better
to do.
In the opinion of Ion of Chios, Sophocles was in political matters neither clever
nor active, but like any one of the worthy Athenians. As Victor Ehrenberg
pointed out, much depends on how we understand the word worthy in this passage. He concludes that, whilst it is, of course, true that on the
whole his mind ran on rather conservative lines, he was not a radical oligarch.74
Michael Vickers has described Sophocles as a moderate oligarch.75 An oligarch
nevertheless.

Thessalian Connections
Close contacts between prominent Athenian euporoi and Thessalian aristocratic families are not so evident for the late fifth century than earlier on, when,
famously, for example, Peisistratos named one of his sons Thessalos presumably, after a Thessalian xenos,76 but they are nevertheless there.
For example the historian Thucydides mentions (8.92.8), without further
comment, the presence of Thoukydides of Pharsalos, Athenian proxenos in
that city,77 at Athens in 411 BC, presumably a xenos of the historians family.78
In Platos Crito (45c) Crito urges Socrates to flee to Thessaly and to put himself under the protection of Critos xenoi there. Following Davies Platonic
reminiscence and Socratic tradition made Sokrates companion and fellow
demesman Kriton (I) a well off-man (Plato. Apol. 33e and Kriton 44b), willing
and able...to help his friends financially.79 Kriton son was called Kritoboulos,
74 V. Ehrenberg, Sophocles and Pericles (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954) 138.
75 M. Vickers, Oedipus and Alcibiades in Sophocles (= Xenia Toruniensia IX, Torun:
Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikoaja Kopernika, 2005) 38.
76 G. Herman, Ritualised Friendship and the Greek City (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987) 21.
77 M.B. Walbank, Athenian Proxenies of the Fifth Century BC (Toronto, Sarasota, 1978) no. 74
(non vidi).
78 Herman, Ritualised Friendship..., 141 n. 66.
79 J.K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600300 BC (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1971) 336; J. Stenzel, Kriton (3), RE 11 (1922) 1932.
222
Sekunda
and from Xenophon (Oik. 2.3) we know that his estate was worth over 8 talents
2,000 drachmas.80 In other word he was substantially wealthy.
One further example might be Kritias, a man of whom one would gladly
know much more.81 Kritias was later on one of the leaders of The Thirty and
a member of one of the oldest families in Athens. It is disputed whether he
was a member in the regime of the Four Hundred or one of the leaders of the
5,000 in opposition to the latter.82 It is thought that Kritias was forced into
exile by the people (Xen. Hell. 2.3.15) along with Alkibiades in 406 following
the Athenian naval defeat at Notion. At any rate, in the words of Theramenes
he was absent from Athens later on in 406, in the trial of the generals following Arginousai when he was establishing a democracy in Thessaly along with
Prometheus, and arming the penestai against their masters (Hell. 2.3.36). In
the Memorabilia (1.2.24) Xenophon states that when he was away from Athens
he fell in with men who put lawlessness before justice.83 Historians have long
asked why Kritias did not flee with Alcibiades to Thrace.84 To me the answer is
obvious, Kritias had guest-friends in Thessaly.
In the past it was impossible to say what Kritias might have been doing in
Thessaly at all, because the personal name Prometheus has up until now been
unattested in Thessaly, but a newly-found inscription from the Thessalian city
of Atrax at last may help us to throw some light at last upon this period in the
career of Kritias.85
The text records a court ruling: a panel of judges, composed of at least
seven members, excludes a genos from the community because of the
unacceptable acts committed by one of the members of that genos. The
troublemakers name is Promatheus, the genos complained of is that of
the Kelaindai and the matter has engaged the entire city...
80 S.B. Pomeroy, Xenophon Oeconomicus. A Social and Historical Commentary (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1994) 224 Critoboulus is a member of the liturgical class.
81 G. Norwood, The Earliest Prose Work of Athens, CJ 25 (192930) 373382 at 381.
82 H.T. Wade-Gery, Essays in Greek History (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1958) 279; G. Adeleye,
Critias: Member of the Four Hundred?, TAPA 104 (1974) 19.
83 Xen. Mem. 1.2.24.
84 M. Ostwald, From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law. Society and Politics in FifthCentury Athens (Berkeley, Los Angeles: California University Press, 1986) 464.
85 L. Darmezin, A. Tziafalias, The Twelve Tribes of Atrax: A Lexical Study in Old and New
Worlds in Greek Onomastics (= Proceedings of the British Academy 148, ed. E. Matthews,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 2128 at 21.
223
The genos name is derived from the adjective meaning black or dark, later
replaced by . The authors note that according to one mythological tradition, Prometheus was the husband of one of the Pleiades named Kelain.
It is probably not pure chance that the two names appear in the context, even
if nothing, to our knowledge establishes a particular link between the city of
Atrax and the myth of Prometheus.86
Now we can say that Kritias was most probably operating alongside his
Atragian guest-friend Promatheus during his years of political activity in
Thessaly.87 The newly found inscription is to be dated to the end of the third
century BC or to the beginning of the second on account of its lettering an
dialect, and so presumably deals with a later generation of the same family
that in former times had engaged in activities that were similarly unacceptable
to his fellow citizens. Kritias is known to have composed a Constitution of the
Thessalians.88 Whether this was composed during his time in Thessaly or not
is unknown.
We have already discussed the likelihood that the mounted torch-race was a
Thessalian practice, possibly originating at Pharai where it was associated with
the cult of Enodia, and the likelihood that the cult, and presumably the associated festival, had started to spread to other cities in Thessaly no later than
the fifth century. Thus we have now seen that there are grounds to think that
the mounted torch-race would have been known to Athenian wealthy families
with guest-friends in Thessaly.
An individual who may have been closely involved in the introduction of
the mounted torch-race to Athens is Stephanos son of Thallos of the deme
Lamptrai. He died shortly before 389, leaving considerable estates. His close
links with Thessaly are not attested in any of the literary sources, but they are
demonstrated by the typically Thessalian name he gave to his son Kineas, who
may well have been given the name of a Thessalian guest-friend of Stefanos.
Possibly the family of Stephanos son of Thallos had guest-friends in Pherai
itself, but this is not necessary for the argument. In fact the name Kineas,
86 Ibidem, 256.
87 In commenting on this passage A. Burford, Land and Labor in the Greek World (Baltimore,
London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993) 200, 263 n. 45 suggested that
Prometheus may be the young Jason of Pherai.
88
H. Diels, W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratier (Berlin: Weidmannsche
Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1952) No. 88, 31. Wade-Gery, Essays in Greek History..., 271292
also thinks he is the author of the usually attributed to Herodes Atticus.
224
Sekunda
which is not an uncommon name in Thessaly, is indeed attested in Pherai in

an inscription which has been dated to circa 440430 BC.89
The son of Stephanos, Kineas, was probably born a little before 400 BC.
Kineas son, who was called Thallos, distinguished himself at the battle of
Tamynai in 348 BC (Plut. Phoc. 13.3), and served as secretary of the citizen
orgeones of Bendis in 337/6. His son, Stephanos son of Thallos, in turn served as
an epimeletes of the same association in the late fourth or early third century.90
A later descendant of the same family, one Kineas son of Nikomachos of the
deme Lamptrai, held the offices of hipparchos and stratgos in the second
half of the third century BC.91 It has been noted that the Bendideia was one of
the most important Athenian state festivals, probably involving a hecatomb.
IG ii 1496 informs us that in 334/3 BC the income of 457 drachmas received
by the state from the sale of hides at the Bendidia was only surpassed by
that from the city Dionysia with 858 drachmas, and the Olympia with 671
drachmas.92 Those who held office in the citizen orgeones of Bendis were presumably drawn from the ranks of the wealthiest.93
Given the close connection of the family with both Thessaly and the cult of
Bendis, it is not inconceivable that Stephanos son of Thallos was instrumental
in the establishment of the mounted torch race at Athens.

The Coup of the Four Hundred
I am not trying to suggest that the mounted torch-race was introduced into the
Bendideia for overtly political reasons. The aim of the activities of the probouloi
was to find the best ways to atone for the sacrilege committed, and to expunge
the miasma the city had incurred. Rather, it was introduced by a group of men
89
L GPN III.B, 230 s. v. no. 9.
90 The family is reconstructed by Davies, APF 4913.
91 G.R. Bugh, The Horsemen of Athens (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988) 203;
I.G. Spence, The Cavalry of Classical Greece. A Social and Military History with Particular
Reference to Athens (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) 302 no. 87; for the date see LGPN 2
(13) 261.
92 R.R. Simms, The Cult of the Thracian Goddess Bendis in Athens and Attica, Ancient
World 18 (1988) 5976 at 61.
93 On the citizen orgeones of the cult of Bendis see N.F. Jones, The Associations of Classical
Athens. The Response to Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 25962 and in
particular 260 on the financial responsibilities of the officers of the society. It is possible
that the citizen orgeones of the cult were formed as a result of the reforming legislation
of 413/2.
225
who would have naturally regarded the introduction of an equestrian event

into the Bendieia as an ennobling act.
Nevertheless, an inevitable consequence of the introduction of this new
competition, whether intended by the legislators or not, would have been to
accelerate the politicization of the Athenian cavalry, acting as a focus of agonistic athletic activity for the neaniskoi of the Athenian hippeis. The more these
young men trained together and competed as a separate group, and the more
they associated together in general, the more they developed a distinct political identity and ideology, later to be utilized extremely successfully by the leaders of The Four Hundred and then by The Thirty.
Indeed, the Four Hundred would probably have consisted in the main of
the fathers of the young men serving in the cavalry, which in 410/09 BC probably numbered between 450 and about 600 men.94 A large proportion of the
senior officers of the cavalry, the philarchoi and the hipparchoi, would also
have been supplied by members of the Four Hundred.
Most of the Athenian cavalry would constitute young men in their twenties and thirties drawn from the wealthiest families of Athens.95 As such
they tended to be a highly politicized body displaying oligarchic and philo-
Laconian tendencies, adopting Lakonian dress and long hairstyles and proudly
displaying on their faces the scars received from exercises in the gymnasium.96
In his comedy The Knights, performed in 424, Aristophanes has his anti-hero
Paphlagon, representing the democrat Kleon, calling the chorus composed of
hostile cavalrymen neaniskoi (vs. 731). Antiphanes, an Attic comic poet also
active in the last half of the Fifth Century, also wrote a comedy called the
Neaniskoi,97 though not enough has survived to allow us to form any conclusions about its plot.
The assembly which dissolved the democracy in 411 was held not on the
Pnyx but at Kolonos at the temple of Poseidon (Thuc. 8.67.2). Thucydides
is referring to the precinct of the Temple of Poseidon Hippios. The choice of
this sanctuary as venue suitable for voting in this new constitution was highly
significant.98 Sophocles was himself a native of Kolonos. The dramatic location
94 I.G. Spence, Athenian Cavalry Numbers in the Peloponnesian War: IG 1 375 Revisited,
ZPE 67 (1987) 16775.
95 Bugh, The Horsemen..., 645; cf. A. Martin, Les Cavaliers Athniens (Paris: E. Thorin, 1887)
318.
96 Ibidem, 518.
97 Kassel, Austin, PCG II..., 4023.
98 P. Siewert, Poseidon Hippios am Kolonos und die athenischen Hippeis in Arktouros:
Hellenic Studies Presented to Bernard M.W. Knox on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday
226
Sekunda
of his final last play Oedipus at Colonus, which was only actually performed
in 401 BC, well after Sophocles death in 406/5 BC, reflects his attachment to
the sanctuary of Poseidon Hippios.99 There he describes the area as euhippos
or famed for horses (6689), and later he states that the most prized gifts to
the city were the horse and power over the sea (70711). One of the neokoroi
(temple warders) mentioned in an inscription listing the possessions of the
sanctuary, which probably dates to 413/12 when the temple treasures were
moved to Athens at the beginning of the Dekeleian war for safe-keeping,100 was
Chairelaos of Kikynna (PA 15137), the same individual whose name is given in
the list in Xenophon of the Thirty Tyrants (Hell. 2.3.2).101
During the course of this meeting, Thucydides (8.67.368.) has Peisander
propose the appointment of five proedroi, who are to select 100 men including
themselves, each of whom is in turn to co-opt three men. The resulting 400
thenceforth to constitute a new council with unrestricted authority. The timing of these events seems also to have been carefully planned. According to
Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 32.1) the old Council of 500 was dissolved on 14 Thargelion
before the expiration of his term of office, and the new Council of 400 took
over on 22 Thargelion. Both the Scholiast to Plato and Proclus date the annual
festival of the Bendideia, and thus the mounted torch-race as taking place on 19
Thargelion.102 The selection of the 400 would have therefore taken place over
the intervening period in which the festival of the Bendideia would have taken
place.103 The sequence of events is given by Thucydides at 8.69.1 to 8.70.1.
According to his account it was immediately after ( ) the meeting
at Kolonos, on that day then ( ). In other words, it was not
(ed. G.W. Bowersock, W. Burkert, M. Putnam, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1979)
28089; Spence, Cavalry..., 1889; W.D. Furley, Andokides and the Herms: A Study of
Crisis in Fifth-Century Athenian Religion (London: Institute of Classical Studies, School of
Advanced Study, University of London, 1996) 912 n. 62.
99 Vickers, Sophocles..., 956.
100
I G I 405; W.E. Thompson, The Neokoroi of Poseidon Hippios, Hesperia 40 (1971) 2324.
101 A.M. Woodward, Financial Documents from the Athenian Agora, Hesperia 32 (1963)
144186 at 158.
102 G.C. Greene (ed.), Scholia Platonica etc. (= Philological Monographs published by the
American Philological Association VIII, 1938) 188; ed. E. Diehl, Procli Diadochii in Platonis
Timaeum Commentaria 1 (1903) 26.
103 A point made by M. Ostwald, From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law. Society
and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1986) 378 n. 153.
227
on the same day, but on a day very shortly after,104 that the Four Hundred, each
carrying a concealed dagger and accompanied by the one hundred and twenty
young men (neaniskoi) whom they made use of whenever there was any need
of their handiwork, broke into the bouleuterion.105
At 8.69.4 the neaniskoi are prefixed by the title Greek youths in
some manuscripts. It has been suggested that The Hellenic Youths were foreigners, not Athenian citizens, as the title, indeed, might suggest.106 Why, one
may ask, does Thucydides give the specific number of 120 to this group of
neaniskioi? it suggests a regular formation, as oposed to a force assembled at
random. I would like to suggest that if the ethnic qualifier Greek is to stand,
then the 120 Greek youths are the force of hamippoi then in Athenian service.
In the pseudo-Aristotelian Athenian Constitution, which seems to have been
published in the 320s BC,107 one of the duties of the Athenian Council is to
hold an inspection of the hamippoi and if it rejects anyone that is the end of
his paid service(49.1). So, it is safe to conclude that in the 320s BC and hamippoi were regularly maintained and paid, even in times of peace, in the Athenian
army. This not always been the case. In his work called The Cavalry Commander
(5.13), which Delebecque dated to 357 BC,108 Xenophon states that the hipparchos is to demonstrate to the city the weakness of cavalry without infantry, as
compared to that with pedzoi hamippoi, and, having got his infantry to use it.
This might imply that the Athenians only recruited and paid a force of hamippoi irregularly, for example only in times of war. Diodoros (15.85.4) tells us that
at the battle of Mantineia in 362 BC the Athenian cavalry were inferior to their
Theban counterparts in their numbers and the equipment of their psiloi and
in their tactical arrangement they were far inferior to their opponents. Indeed,
they only had a few javelin-throwers. This is partially confirmed by Xenophon
104 Thus P.J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993) 405 Thucydides account is not wholly unambiguous, but probably the dismissal of the old boule did not take place on the same day as the Colonus assembly.
A.W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, J.K. Dover, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides. Volume V.
Book VIII (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) 180 The interval since Kolonos was presumably short; contra C. Hignett, A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth
Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952) 276 It was perhaps later on the same day as the
meeting at Kolonos.
105 Following the Loeb translation of Charles Forster Smith 311.
106 G. Grote, A History of Greece Vol. VII (London: John Muray, 1869) 273; cf. I.M.J. Valeton, De
inscriptionis Phrynicheae partis ultimae lacunis explendis, Hermes 43 (1908) 481510,
especially 4835.
107 Rhodes, Commentary..., 518.
108 E. Delebecque, Essai sur la vie de Xnophon (Paris: Libraire C. Klincksieck, 1957) 430.
228
Sekunda
(7.5.234), who tells us that the cavalry on the Lakedaimonian side was formed
like a phalanx of hoplites, six deep and without , Epaminondas
on the other hand, have made a strong wedge of his cavalry, with
drawn up with them.109
I would like to suggest that the 120 Greek neaniskoi mentioned by Thucydides
whom they made use of whenever there was any need of their handiwork as
participating in the events of 411 were hammipoi. No historical source specifically mentions that Athenians made use of hamippoi during the Peloponnesian
war. Sophocles, in his tragedy Antigone (985), the production date of which is
unknown seemingly compares the swiftness of the North Wind to a hamippos,
although of unstated nationality. The Boeotians, on the other hand, seem to
have regularly used such troops. For example Thucydides (5.57.2) informs us
that the Boeotians possessed 500 cavalry and the same number of hamippoi
in 418 BC.110 One would normally expect that hamippoi would be recruited in
the same numbers as the cavalry force, but this was not always the case, as
is evidenced by the battle of Mantineia, cited above, in which the Athenians
fielded only a few javelin-throwers as hamippoi. Hence the number of 120
does not debar the Greek neaniskoi from being hamippoi, nor the fact that they
are neaniskoi, for the hamippoi would have to have been recruited from young
men in the prime of physical fitness, as their tactical role was to run alongside
the horses.
Xenophon, again in his work The Cavalry Commander (9.7) recommends
that the infantry who will fight with the cavalry will be most effective if it is put
together from men who are most hostile to the enemy. In the realities of the
Peloponnesian War then, the hamippoi would have been recruited from groups
of political exiles who had found shelter in Athens. Thucydides (6.43) mentioned among the forces that the Athenians sent to Sicily 120 Megarian exile
psiloi. These troops had been recruited from among the Megarian exiles who
had fled to Athens in 424 BC.111 The 120 Megarian exile psiloi might indeed have
been hamippoi, although the Athenans only sent 30 cavalry to Sicily. Another
group will be the Plataeans who have escaped the destruction of their city, and
had been awarded Athenian citizenship.112
109 The manuscripts read .
110 The manuscripts read , but this was corrected to by Harpocration.
111
Mentioned Thuc. 4.74.2. Cf. A.W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, J.K. Dover, A Historical
Commentary on Thucydides, Volume IV, Books V 25VII (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970) 310
exile had impoverished them. The number of 120 is to be treated as coincidental. The
Megarians would have been lost in Sicily anyway.
112 See e.g. Dem. 59 (Against Neara) 104.
229
The big stumbling block with associating the 120 Greek neaniskoi with the
force of hamippoi in Athenian service, is that the exiles living in Athens would
have been pro-democratic in their sympathies, and in fundamental political
opposition to the leaders of the 400. This might have been balanced out to a
certain extent, with their association with the Athenian cavalrymen on a personal basis, but the problem remains.
One key stage in the downfall of the Four Hundred, whose reign lasted
for no more than four months (Ps-Aristotle Ath.Pol. 33.1), was the arrest of
Alexikles, who was stratgos during the year 412/11 and being of oligarchic sympathies was favourably inclined towards the hetaireiai (Thuc. 8.92.4). He was
sent, along with the taxiarchos Aristokrates, to construct a fort at Etoneia.113
When this was announced to the Four Hundred who were at that time sitting
in session in the bouleuterion, Theramenes offered to go immediately to help
Alexikles, and took another of the stratgoi who was of oligarchic persuasion,
proceeded to the Peiraeus to the rescue together with Aristarchos and some
neaniskoi of the hippeis (Thuc. 8.92.7).
Albert Martin has suggested the band of 120 neaniskoi who expel the old
boul of 500 from the bouleuterion and replace them with the Four Hundred
may have been recruited largely from the ranks of the cavalry,114 and that they
are identical to the neaniskoi of the hippeis who some months later accompany Aristarchos in the attempt of the 400 to rescue Alexikles. In that case
they would have been recruited from among the ranks of the young hippeis
who had assembled to carry out the mounted torch-race at the Bendideia festival which had only taken place a couple of days earlier. As we have seen there
is evidence that there were eight riders in each tribal team, but we are looking
for the number of twelve.
Later on in the coup of 404 BC some neaniskoi with daggers helped Kritias
seize Theramenes (Xen. Hell. 1.3.23). In 403 BC, after the deposition of The
Thirty and the retirement of the most extreme oligarchs to Eleusis, The Ten,
with the aid of the hipparchoi, took care of the Men of the City against the
Men of Piraeus. We are told (Xen., Hell. 2.4.24) that even men of the cavalry
113 According to Thucydides (8.90.3), the fort at Etoneia was being built to let the
Lakedaimonians into Attica. According to A. Moreno, Feeding the Democracy.
The Athenian Grain Supply in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2007) 1215 the fort was being built to safeguard the supply of grain from Euboeia.
114 A. Martin, Les cavaliers athniens (BFAR fasc. 47, Paris: E. Thorin, 1887) 472 following Classen. Cf. A.W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides V Book VIII (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981) 1801, who compare the
use of neaniskoi by Kritias to overawe the Boule in Xen. Hell. 2.3.23.
230
Sekunda
did guard duty by night, being quartered in the Odeion and keeping with them
their horses and their shields. They patrolled along the walls in the evening
onwards with their shields, and towards dawn with their horses, constantly in
fear of the Men of Piraeus.
No wonder that later on in the Republic (375 A) Plato asks if there is any
difference for the purposes of guarding ( ) between a well-bred
() hound and a well-born youth ( ).
Conclusion
I suggest that this emerging solidarity and radicalization of the neaniskoi of
the hippeis may have been due, in part, to the introduction of the mounted
torch-race into the Bendideia festival. This may explain why it is unattested,
either textually or epigraphically, other than in Platos Republic. The contest
may have been discontinued shortly after the restoration of democratic government at Athens, though we have no evidence as to the date when this may
have happened.
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Like Gods among Men. The Use of Religion and

Mythical Issues during Alexanders Campaign*
Borja Antela-Bernrdez
The religiosity of Alexander the Great has been a question that attracted many
scholars and researchers.1 In fact, we know better Alexanders daily religious
practices that any other person in Antiquity.2 Likewise, Alexanders divinization is one of the main research topics in the scholarship about him.3
Our purpose in the present study is to focus on the religious aspects of
Alexanders conquest of Persia. First, we must bear in mind that Alexander
was, according to the ancient sources, a very pious person, and an expert in
the religious practices and various divinities; he was always concerned with
religious questions and involved in daily practices of the traditions in relation
to the gods. We must be conscious, in this context, that Alexander cannot act
* This paper is part of a wide research about the impact of Alexander the Greats campaign
against Persia and the relationship between History and Conflict in Antiquity. As such, this
research has been developed within the Research Group History of the Conflict in Antiquity
(2014SGR1111) of the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, funded by the Generalitat de
Catalunya. The author would like to thanks the organizers for being part of the present volume. This paper was also dedicated to Max & Frida.
1 J.-P.V. Balsdon, The Divinity of Alexander the Great, Historia 1 (1950) 36388; L. Edmunds,
The Religiosity of Alexander the Great, GRBS 12 (1971) 36391; E. Fredricksmeyer,
Three Notes on Alexanders Deification, AJAH 4 (1979) 19; E. Badian, The deification of Alexander the Great, in Ancient Macedonian Studies in Honor of Charles F. Edson
(ed. H. Dell, Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies, 1981), 2771; E. Fredricksmeyer, On the
Background of the Ruler Cult in Ancient Macedonian Studies..., 145156; G.L. Cawkwell, The
deification of Alexander the Great: A note in Ventures into Greek History (ed. I. Worthington,
Oxford: University Press, 1994) 496306; E. Badian, Alexander the Great between two
thrones and heaven in Subject and Ruler. The cult of the ruling power in classical antiquity
(ed. A. Small, Ann Arbor: Cushing Malloy, 1996) 1126; E. Fredricksmeyer, Alexanders
Religion and Divinity in Brills Companion to Alexander the Great (ed. J. Roisman, Brill:
Leiden, 2003) 257278.
2 J.M. Blazquez, Alejandro Magno, Homo Religiosus in Alejandro Magno. Hombre y mito
(eds. J. Alvar, J.M. Blzquez, Madrid: Ediciones Clsicas, 2000) 99152; Fredricksmeyer,
Alexanders Religion..., 258.
3 F.J. Gmez Espelosn, La leyenda de Alejandro. Mito, historiografia y propaganda (Madrid:
Servicio de publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcal de Henares, 2007) 1834 for an
optimousa good bibliographical survey of the topic.
236
Antela-Bernrdez
as a private, as far as he is a Macedonian king and as such, he had a key role

in management of the relationship between the Macedonian community and
the gods.4 In fact, we must consider the Macedonian kings as mediators
between the Macedonian kingdom and the divine. Therefore, Alexander, as
with his predecessor Philip, was at the head of any kind of religious institutional act or activity involving the realm. We must not forget that the division
between religion and state, between civil and religious matters, was much
vaguer than in present times and the frontiers between the two were not
always easy to trace during the ancient period. These two domains were always
very closely linked in Antiquity.
The present paper focuses on the use of religion and mythical issues during
Alexanders campaign. In order to do so, we attend specifically to three main
questions: the theme of revenge, the religious memories of the Persian Wars,
and the use of mythical characters by Alexander as propaganda.

The Theme of Revenge
First, we must carefully consider the question of the propaganda employed by

Alexander in relation to two factors: first, the tradition of the use of religious
legitimation for war and the imperialism that started during Philip IIs reign;
and second, the context, especially intellectual, of Alexanders lifetime in the
Greek mentality. Both factors are, actually, deeply linked.
To begin with, and starting with the propaganda of Philip, we must remember Squillaces interesting perspectives, which we follow here, developing a
deep analysis of the question.5 In this sense, Philip had already presented his
conquests and military interferences in foreign polis-states as a result of the
need to defend the gods. This was the case, for example, in the Third Sacred
War, when Philip showed himself to be the protector of Delphi, and so, of
Apollo, in the fight against the Phocians and Thebans. The idea of a Sacred
War was, actually, very effective and a great success of Macedonian propaganda in Greece, as far as it allowed Phillip to validate his war and sanctify the
4 P. Christesen, S.C. Murray, Macedonian Religion in A Companion to Ancient Macedonia
(eds. I. Worthington, J. Roisman, Oxford: Blackwells, 2011) 42845, esp. 44043; M. Mari,
Traditional Cults and beliefs in Brills Companion to Ancient Macedonia (ed. R. Lane Fox,
Leiden: Brill, 2011) 45365.
5 G. Squillace, Consensus Strategies under Philip and Alexander. The Revenge Theme in
Philip II and Alexander the Great. Father and Son, lives and afterlives (eds. D. Ogden, E. Carney,
Oxford: University Press, 2010) 7680.
Like Gods among Men
237
his aspirations for expansion. Likewise, through victory, the Macedonian king
strengthens the connection with the gods favour and protection, obtaining
great prestige as Apollos guardian.
This defence of Delphi, the Panhellenic sanctuary par excellence of the
Greeks, surely assured Philip that, as his victory had demonstrated, he had the
gods on his side. This divine protection must have a cause, and in Macedonian
political propaganda that cause cannot be anything other than the Panhellenic
nature of Philips mission in Greece. In fact, Philip became a hero of the Greek
traditions and gods as a result of his image as a defender of the gods. Not in
vain, for he was a descendant of Heracles and we must not forget that Heracles
was the main Panhellenic hero, champion of Greek civilization and the gods.6
As the new Heracles, Philip presented himself as acting under the auspices
of the divine.
Nevertheless, we must bear in mind what the Panhellenic political perspectives meant in the complex historical context of the Greek poleis of the Fourth
Century BC. Calls from authors like Isocrates or even Demosthenes for the
union of the Greeks in a common cause became a reality forced by the arms of
the Macedonian king with the submission of the enemies of Philip to accept
peace and take part in the Sinedrion of Corinth, a vehicle granting and executing Macedonian hegemony.7 But in the speeches and writings of intellectuals,
the union of the Greeks was also linked to the need to reclaim the attention of
the Greeks and focus it on a common enemy beyond the frontiers of the Greek
world, in order both to eliminate internal conflict between the poleis, to create
cohesion and to find common gain. Philip intended to continue with the construction of his image as protector of the gods, and even more, as the avenger
of injuries suffered during the Persian Wars, in order to start a campaign of
retribution against Persia for Xerxes impious attacks on the Greek gods.
Far from a simplistic vision, the theme of revenge actually seems to be multifaceted. First, because it seems surprising in our judgement that Macedon
could ask for the role of avenger against Persia, so far as the Macedonians were,
in fact, part of the Persian army during the Persian Wars. Maybe Alexanders
destruction of Thebes, the unforgiving traitor among the Greeks since the
times of the Persian invasion, could be understood as an attempt to erase
6 Ch.F. Edson, Antigonids, Heracles and Beroea, HSCPh 45 (1934) 213246, esp. 219; B. AntelaBernrdez, Simply the Best: Alexanders last words and Macedonian royal kingship, Eirene
47 (2011) 118126.
7 B. Antela-Bernrdez, El da despus de Queronea: la Liga de Corinto y el imperio macedonio sobre Grecia in Grecia ante los imperios (eds. J.M. Corts Copete, E. Muiz, R. Gordillo,
Sevilla: Servicio de Publicaciones de la US, 2011) 187195.
238
Antela-Bernrdez
the fact that the Macedonians were also traitors to Greece under Xerxes
command.8 On the other hand, the right to take revenge for injuries to the
Greek gods seems to be related, in the Macedonian case, to the key role of
the Macedonian king as responsible for the nation before the divine, and so as
a unique religious authority. In the end, vengeance allowed the Greeks to be
led together under one unique slogan.
Likewise, it seems noteworthy to remember the texts of Isocrates to Philip
and Alexander, where he indicates that if they could find success in attempting to gather the Greeks together under their command and lead them in the
conquest of Persia, they would certainly gain everlasting fame, which actually
meant immortal glory and perhaps even divinity. This purpose can be clearly
observed in Isocrates speech To Philip:
No, it is not with a view to the acquisition of wealth and power that I urge
this course, but in the belief that by means of these you will win a name
of surpassing greatness and glory. Bear in mind that while we all possess
bodies that are mortal, yet by virtue of good will and praise and good
report and memory which keeps pace with the passage of time we partake of immortality.9
Moreover, this is not a unique passage in our sources exhorting Philip to lead
the Greeks and as a result obtain immortal glory, i.e., almost heroic status (as
holder of kleos). In this sense, two good examples can be quoted; the first one
is a fragment of Isocrates second letter to Philip:
Be assured that a glory unsurpassable and worthy of the deeds you have
done in the past will be yours when you shall compel the barbariansall
but those who have fought on your sideto be serfs of the Greeks, and
8 M. Brosius, Why Persia became the enemy of Macedon in A Persian Perspective: Essays in
Memory of Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg (eds. A. Kuhrt, W. Henkelman, Leiden: Brill, 2003)
227237; I. Worthington, Alexanders Destruction of Thebes in Crossroads of History: The
Age of Alexander the Great (eds. W. Heckel, L.A. Tritle, Claremont: Regina Books, 2003)
6586; B. Antela-Bernrdez, Alejandro Magno, Poliorcetes in Fortificaciones y Guerra de
asedio en el Mundo Antiguo (eds. J. Vidal, B. Antela-Bernrdez, Zaragoza: Prtico, 2012)
77134; B. Antela-Bernrdez, Furious Wrath: Alexanders siege of Thebes and Perdiccas false
retreat in Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research (ed. G. Lee, Cambridge: Scholars
Press, 2015) [in print].
9 Isocr. 5.134 (trans. G. Nolin, Loeb ed.).
Like Gods among Men
239
when you shall force the king who is now called Great to do whatever you
command. For then will naught be left for you except to become a god.10
The second, and maybe the most clear, is one of Aristotles texts which strangely
seems to relate to Philip or Alexander, as far as its contents are so close to the
texts quoted by Isocrates:11
But if there is any one man so greatly distinguished in outstanding virtue,
or more than one but not enough to be able to make up a complete state,
so that the virtue of all the rest and their political ability is not comparable with that of the men mentioned, if they are several, or if one, with his
alone, it is no longer proper to count these exceptional men a part of the
state; for they will be treated unjustly if deemed worthy of equal status,
being so widely unequal in virtue and in their political ability: since such
a man will naturally be as a god among men.12
Beyond the perspective of Aristotle, closely linked with his conception of virtue, in the case of Isocrates we must consider the value of his political ideal.13
Isocrates political proposal aims the Greeks to unite them against a common
enemy, allowing them to stop the traditional internal strife among themselves.14
The true enemy is the barbarian, now embodied by the Persians. The individual who could unify Greece would gain unforgettable glory, and all that would
be left for him would be to become a god. I assume that Isocrates is thinking
in terms of a posthumous cult at this stage, but we do not know what Philip
understood by it. But when Alexander accomplishes all of these challenges, he
actually claimed what Isocrates promised: divinity.
10 Isocr. Ep. 3.2 (trans. G. Nolin, Loeb ed.).

11 M.M. Markle, Support of Athenian Intellectuals for Philip: A Study of Isocrates Philippus
and Speusippues Letter to Philip, JHS 94 (1976) 86. Also, S. Perlman, Isokrates Advice on
Philips Attitude towards Barbarians (V, 154), Historia 16 (1967) 343.
12 Arist. 1284a13 (trans. H. Rackham, Loeb ed.).
13 P. Merlan, Iscrates, Aristotle and Alexander the Great, Historia 3 (1954) 6081; B. AntelaBernrdez, Alexandre Magno e Atenas (Santiago de Compostela: Servicio de Publicacions
da USC, 2005) 21848.
14 B. Antela-Bernrdez, Panhelenismo y Hegemona. Conceptos polticos en tiempos de
Filipo y Alejandro, DHA 33 (2007) 6989.
240

Antela-Bernrdez
The Persian Wars Revisited
The narrative of revenge transformed the Macedonian campaign against Persia

into a kind of sequel to the Persian Wars, which means, after Philips assassination, the need to develop an image of Alexander in Macedonian propaganda as
permanently linked with the events and historical facts of the Persian invasion
of Greece.
In this sense, it seems of great interest to demonstrate the way our sources
show Alexander and Xerxes as contraries, opposing ones history to the other.
We cannot forget that Xerxes represents, for the Greek audience, a character
strongly marked by hybris and impiety against the gods. In contrast to Xerxes,
Alexander is always depicted endowed with vivid, intense religious feeling and
respect for the gods, even those who were not Greek gods. The best example
of these contrasting actions can be viewed in the passages of the sources that
record the crossing of the Hellespont by both kings.
The first example can be viewed in connection with the offering of libations
by Xerxes during his crossing of the Hellespont:
All that day they made preparations for the crossing. On the next they
waited until they could see the sun rise, burning all kinds of incense on
the bridges and strewing the road with myrtle boughs. At sunrise Xerxes
poured a libation from a golden phial into the sea, praying to the sun that
no accident might befall him which would keep him from subduing
Europe before he reached its farthest borders. After the prayer, he cast the
phial into the Hellespont, and along with it a golden bowl, and a Persian
sword which they call acinaces. As for these, I cannot rightly determine
whether he cast them into the sea for offerings to the sun, or repented
having whipped the Hellespont and gave gifts to the sea as atonement.15
The same idea of impious behaviour and lack of respect for the (Greek) gods
is shown in the well-known passage of Xerxes outrage at the gods, especially
Poseidon, again during the crossing of the Hellespont:
When Xerxes heard of this, he was very angry and commanded that the
Hellespont be whipped with three hundred lashes, and a pair of fetters be
thrown into the sea. I have even heard that he sent branders with them to
brand the Hellespont. He commanded them while they whipped to utter
words outlandish and presumptuous, Bitter water, our master thus
15 Hdt 7.54 (trans. A.D. Godley, Loeb ed.).
Like Gods among Men
241
punishes you, because you did him wrong though he had done you none.
Xerxes the king will pass over you, whether you want it or not; in accordance with justice no one offers you sacrifice, for you are a turbid and
briny river. He commanded that the sea receive these punishments and
that the overseers of the bridge over the Hellespont be beheaded.16
Herodotus account is also echoed in the word Aeschillus put in the mouth of
his character of the shadow of the dead Darius, father of Xerxes, in the drama
The Persians:
For he [Xerxes] conceived the hope that he could by shackles, as if it were
a slave, restrain the current of the sacred Hellespont, the Bosporus, a
stream divine; he set himself to fashion a roadway of a new type, and, by
casting upon it hammer-wrought fetters, made a spacious causeway for
his mighty host. Mortal though he was, he thought in his folly that he
would gain the mastery of all the gods, yes, even over Poseidon. Must this
not have been a disease of the soul that possessed my son?17
Not even the tombs seem, in the eyes of the Greek, to escape from Xerxes
impious character. A good example, again in the context of the crossing of the
Hellespont, is the threat Protesilaus tomb in Eleaus received:
He [Xerxes] had been in the habit of bringing women right into the temple of Protesilaus at Elaeus and doing impious deeds there.18
The last of our examples during the crossing of the Hellespont comes from
the stay of Xerxes in Troy, and the sacrifices and threat he offered to the Gods,
especially Athena, and the Heroes:
When the army had come to the river Scamander, which was the first
river after the beginning of their march from Sardis that fell short of their
needs and was not sufficient for the army and the cattle to drink
arriving at this river, Xerxes ascended to the citadel of Priam, having a
desire to see it. [2] After he saw it and asked about everything there, he
sacrificed a thousand cattle to Athena of Ilium, and the Magi offered
16 Hdt 7.35.
17 Aesch. Pers. 745751 (trans. H.W. Smyth, Loeb ed.).
18 Hdt. 7.33.
242
Antela-Bernrdez
libations to the heroes. After they did this, a panic fell upon the camp in
the night.19
In front of these accounts, the narratives about Alexander and his crossing of
the Hellespont are fully developed in trying to present him as a pious figure, in
clear opposition to Xerxes:
According to the prevalent story Alexander made from Elaeus for the
Achaean harbor, and steered the admirals ship himself when he crossed,
sacrificing a bull to Posidon and the Nereids in the midst of the Hellespont
strain, and pouring into the sea a drink offering from a golden bowl. They
also say that he was the first to disembark on Asian soil armed cap--pie,
that he set up altars both where he started from Europe and where he
landed in Asia to Zeus of Safe Landings, Athena, and Heracles, and that
he then went up to Troy, and sacrificed to the Trojan Athena, dedicated
his full armor in the temple, and took down in its place some of the dedicated arms yet remaining from the Trojan war, which, it is said, the
hypaspist henceforth used to carry before him into battle. Then he sacrificed also to Priam at the altar of Zeus of Enclosures (so runs the story),
praying Priam not to vent his anger on the race of Neoptolemus, of which
he himself was a descendant.20
Xerxes is not the only Persian king which Alexander appears to be placed in
opposition to, thus, he is not, in fact, a unique example. Again in relation to
the respect shown by Alexander to the cults of conquered populations, very far
from the usual offensive threats made by the Persians against foreign divinities, the case of Cambises can be quoted, especially in relation to Egypt and
Babylon.21 This can be observed in the case of the respect shown by Alexander
to Apis and Cambises mad behaviour towards the cow-god. In fact, Cambises
actions can hardly be less impious:
When the priests led Apis in, Cambysesfor he was all but maddrew
his dagger and, meaning to stab the calf in the belly, stuck the thigh; then
laughing he said to the priests: Simpletons, are these your gods, creatures
of flesh and blood that can feel weapons of iron? That is a god worthy of
19 Hdt 7.43.
20 Arr. An. 1.11.68 (trans. P.A. Brunt, Loeb ed.); A.B. Bosworth, A Historical Commentary
on Arrians History of Alexander (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 19801995) I, 100.
21 Fredricksmeyer, Alexander Religion..., 259 and n. 24.
Like Gods among Men
243
the Egyptians. But for you, you shall suffer for making me your laughingstock. So saying he bade those, whose business it was, to scourge the
priests well, and to kill any other Egyptian whom they found holidaymaking. So the Egyptian festival ended, and the priests were punished,
and Apis lay in the temple and died of the wound in the thigh. When he
was dead of the wound, the priests buried him without Cambyses
knowledge.22
Thus, Alexanders behaviour is clearly intended to be compared in contrast
with the memory of preceding Persian conquerors, placing them in stark contrast to his own ability to accept the religious practices of conquered peoples
and offering a kind attention to the acceptance of these cults and gods almost,
as if they were his own.
Thence he crossed the stream and came to Memphis where he offered
sacrifice to Apisand the other gods, and celebrated a gymnastic and
musical contest, the most distinguished artists in these matters coming
to him from Greece.23
The memories of the past were very current and present at almost every point
during Alexanders campaign; this is especially evident from a religious perspective. Good evidence for this is the three main examples of actions of war
related to religious memories that use the religious sphere to justify extreme
military decisions: The destruction of Thebes, the massacre of the Branchidae
and the looting and burning of Persepolis.
On the matter of the destruction of Thebes, a tense situation and harsh
threat given by Alexander to the Thebanid rebels is explicitly justified by
Arrian with religious arguments that discharged Alexander for the responsibility of having committed a horrific massacre, the likes of which modern observers would probably label genocide:
But the Thebans having effected their revolt suddenly and without any
previous consideration, the capture of the city being brought about in so
short a time and without difficulty on the part of the captors, the slaughter, being great, as was natural, from its being made by men of the same
race who were glutting their revenge on them for ancient injuries, the
22 Hdt. 3.29.
23 Arr. An. 3.1.4; Bosworth, A Historical Commentary..., I, 262: this is Alexanders first sacrifice to a native deity in native guise.
244
Antela-Bernrdez
complete enslavement of a city which excelled among those in Greece at

that time both in power and warlike reputation, all this was attributed
not without probability to the avenging wrath of the deity. It seemed as if
the Thebans had after a long time suffered this punishment for their
betrayal of the Greeks in the Median war.24
In the case of the Branchidae, the uncontrolled violence shown by Alexander
in his decision to kill them all is again a result of the memory of the Persian
Wars, and the definitive cause of this punishment is strongly linked with the
religious crime of the ancestors of the Branchidae against Apollo. Herodotus,
again, explains (6.19) the events that transpired during the Persian Wars, but
the more transparent account is that of Strabo:
Next after the Poseidium of the Milesians, eighteen stadia inland, is the
oracle of Apollo Didymeus among the Branchidae. It was set on fire by
Xerxes, as were also the other temples, except that at Ephesus. The
Branchidae gave over the treasures of the god to the Persian king, and
accompanied him in his flight in order to escape punishment for the robbing and the betrayal of the temple.25
Alexanders decision to exterminate the Branchidae is recorded by Curtius:
While Bessus was bringing to him, he came to a little town, whose inhabitants were called Branchidae. They were by Xerxes Order (when he
returned from Greece) transplanted from Miletus, and assigned this settlement in consideration of their having pillaged the Temple of Apollo
Didymaeus, in his favour (...). They expressed a great deal of joy at the
kings arrival, and readily surrendered both themselves and their
town to him. (...) The next day, when the deputies of the Branchidae
came to meet him, he commanded them to attend him, and being
come to the town, he entered the gates thereof with par of his army, and
ordered the phalanx to surround the place, and upon the signal given, to
pillage that receptacle of traitors, and put them all to the sword.26
24 Arr. An. 1.9.67; Bosworth, A Historical Commentary..., I, 88.

25 Strab. 14.1.5 (trans. H.L. Jones, Loeb ed.).
26 Curt. 7.5.32 (trans. J. Digby); H.W. Parke, The Massacre of the Branchidae, JHS 105 (1985)
5968; C. Sierra, La venganza se sirve fra: Tebanos, Brnquidas y el recuerdo de las
Guerras Mdicas in Ms all de la batalla. El impacto de la guerra contra la poblacin
Like Gods among Men
245
Finally, we can observe that accounts of the burning of the palace of Persepolis
also stress the same perspectives. Arrians account is actually very clear in
attributing the episode to religious factors:
He burnt down the Persian palace, though Parmenio advised him to preserve it, for many reasons, and especially because it was not well to
destroy what was now his own property, and because the men of Asia
would not by this course of action be induced to come over to him, thinking that he himself had decided not to retain the rule of Asia, but only to
conquer it and depart. But Alexander said that he wished to take vengeance on the Persians, in retaliation for their deeds in the invasion of
Greece, when they razed Athens to the ground and burnt down the temples. He also desired to punish the Persians for all the other injuries they
had done the Greeks.27
In the case of Diodorus, the account is more detailed, but the conclusions are,
in fact, very similar to those of Arrian:
At this point one of the women present, Thas by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if
he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted womens hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. This was said to men who were still young and
giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to
form the comus and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for
the destruction of the Greek temples. Others took up the cry and said
that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had
caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed
the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysius.
Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound
of voices and flutes and pipes, Thas the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into
the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace
area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the
civil en el mundo antiguo (eds. J. Vidal, B. Antela-Bernrdez, Zaragoza: Prtico, 2013)
5566.
27 Arr. An. 3.18.12.
246
Antela-Bernrdez
acropolis of at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years
by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport.28
As we have seen, the more interesting parts of the memories of the Persian
Wars for Alexanders propaganda were those linked with religious issues, as
Arrians account of the destruction of Thebes demonstrates in detail. Likewise,
there were other religious issues that were used to justify the military measures and violent acts of retribution, both in Thebes and in the case of the
Branchidae and Persepolis.

Men becoming Heroes, Heroes becoming Gods. Planned Imitatio
The process through which Alexander started an intense imitation of his

ancestor Achilles is a very well-known subject that has attracted many scholars. Nevertheless, Achilles was not a unique referent used by Alexander to
differentiate his behaviour from that of an ordinary man. Both in questions
of mythological perspective and physical adoption, Heracles, Alexanders
ancestor also, served him as a model. Next, we briefly analyse the recreation
of certain aspects of the mythical figures of Achilles, Heracles and Dionysos
by Alexander, as essential elements in his programme of propaganda. Through
these mythical characters, we can observe a series of changes in the perception
of the campaign by the conqueror.
In the case of Achilles the links are very old and may have begun during
Alexanders early childhood, thanks to reinforcement from Olympia and her
circle in the Macedonian court, treating the young Alexander as if he was
Achilles, as the sources show.29 The identification was so strong that even
Alexanders close friends would become part of this mode of thinking, as is
the case of Hefestion, always a special case, who appears to have been considered something of a new Patroclus.30 Nevertheless, beyond this, we also
find many episodes during Alexanders campaign where an explicit imitation and assimilation of the Iliad is shown.31 As a result of his young age and
28 Diod. 17.72.26 (trans. Bradford Welles, Loeb ed.).
29 Plut. Alex. 5.8; 15.89; 24.10. Also, Pl. Rep. 390e is the source of Plutarch in this point. See
also J.R. Hamilton, Alexander Early Life, G&R 12 (1965) 117124; Heckel, Who is who...,
153 (s.v. Lisimachus).
30 Arr. An. 1.12.1; 7.14.4; 7.14.4, 16.8.
31 L. Pearson, The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great, Florida (1960), 10. The remembrance of the Iliad is present in examples like the fight against the river, the killing of
Like Gods among Men
247
his family links with Achilles, Alexander surely preferred him as referent to
that of Agamemnon, who was recommended in Isocrates speeches.32 In fact,
Agamemnons family were strongly marked by some sacrileges, like those carried out by Agamemnons father Atreus and his twin brother Thyestes, and
he can also be observed as a symbol of authoritarian rule, so similar to the
figure of a tyrant. So, Achilles, almost a teenager like Alexander himself, who
fought with bravery in the first rank, was closer to Alexanders own character
in battle.33
Achilles allows Alexander to suggest some aspects of his propaganda. First,
Herodotus talks (1.3.5) of the siege of Troy as a direct precedent to the Persian
Wars, so if Alexander was renewing the Persian Wars he could also bear in
mind the siege of Troy as his own precedent.34 As such Achilles is a simple warrior fighting against barbarians, and being also a key agent for victory. From
a physical perspective, both Alexander and Achilles were young and beardless, far from the ideal of the king as a bearded father.35 Alexander used this
Baetis in Gaza or the comparison between Roxanna and Briseis. On the fight of the river:
D.S. 17.97.3; L. Prandi, Diodoro Siculo. Biblioteca storica, libro XVII. Commento storico
(Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2013) 163; on Baetis: Curt. 4.6.29; J.E. Atkinson, A Commentary on
Q: Curtius Rufus Historiae Alexandri Magni, Books 3 and 4 (Amsterdam: Gieben Publisher,
1980) 342; Heckel, Who is who..., 71 s.v. Batis; on Roxanna like Briseis: Curt 8.4.26. On
this kind of artifice in Alexanders historians, see E. Carney, Artifice and Alexanders
History in Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction (eds. A.B. Bosworth, E.J. Baynham,
Oxford: University Press, 2000) 272.
32 B. Antela-Bernrdez, Panhelenismo..., 82. Also, on the use of Homer to provide historical
examples by Fourth Century BC Athenian orators, especially Isocrates, see D.H. Hamilton,
Greek Rhetoric and History: The Case of Isocrates in Arktouros: Hellenic Studies Presented
to Bernard M.W. Knox (ed. G.W. Bowersock, Berlin: De Gruyter, 1979) 294295.
33 Probably, a conscious identification with Achilles was planned by Alexander: A. Cohen,
Alexander and AchillesMacedonians and Mycenaeans in The Ages of Homer: A Tribute
to Emily Townsend Vermeule (eds. J.B. Carter, S.P. Morris, Austin: University of Texas Press,
1995) 483; contra P. Carlier, Homeric and Macedonian Kingship in Alternatives to Athens
(eds. R. Brock, S. Hodkinson, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 259268.
34 Alexander used to travel keeping with him a copy of the Iliad: Plut. Alex. 8.2; Plin.
H.N. 13, 23; J.R. Hamilton, Plutarch: Alexander (London: Bristol Classical Press, 1999)
2021; P. Pdech, Historiens compagnons dAlexandre (Paris: Les Belles Letres,1985) 45
has argued that this copy of the Iliad was in fact an edition commented by Aristotle and
Callisthenes for Alexanders own use. Also, G. Bounoure, Lodeur du hros. Un thme
ancien de la lgende dAlexandre, QS 17 (1983) 11, 38 n. 33.
35 Plut. Alex. 4; J.R. Hamilton, Plutarch..., 913; V. Alonso Troncoso, The Bearded King and
the Beardless Hero. From Philip II to Alexander the Great in Philip II and Alexander...,
1324; R.R. Smith, Hellenistic Royal Portraits (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) 46.
248
Antela-Bernrdez
esthetical tool in his own representations. Also like Achilles, Alexander tries to
associate himself with the lion.36 We must not forget that the lion motif was
also an icon of Alexanders assimilation with Heracles. Likewise, the incorporation of the iconographical element of the into his image in art
would probably be related to his identification with Achilles.37
Although the links with the Achillean model were evident throughout the
whole Asian campaign, a change seems to start on the way to Egypt, when
the assimilation of the image of Heracles, Alexanders Macedonian ancestor, began to be stressed more strongly. This assimilation, easily observable
through the iconography of Alexanders coinage during these times, comes to
a head during a visit to Siwah, where the priests revealed that, like Heracles,
Alexander was not just a hero (like Achilles had been) but even more: the son
of the god Zeus Ammon.38 As such, Alexander gained more security in his
dealings for victory: as far as Achilles dies to obtain victory before the walls of
Troy, Heracles survives and himself enjoyed the success of his deeds. In fact,
Heracles seems to fit Alexanders own propaganda better (a good example is
the episode of Aornos Rock),39 as far as he can be considered the main heroic
figure in Greek mythology, usually observed in close relation with the progress of (Greek) humankind.40 Then, Alexander and Heracles are both great
36 Il. 22.262, 24.40; Plut. Alex. 2.6; J.R. Hamilton, Plutarch..., 45; K.C. King, Achilles:
Paradigms of the War Hero From Homer to the Middle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1987) 19; E. Schwarzenberg, The Portraiture of Alexander in Alexandre le Grand:
Image et Ralit (ed. E. Badian, Geneva: Foundation Hardt, 1975) 249; P. Moreno,
Limmagine di Alessandro Magno nellopera di Lisippo e di altri artisti contemporanei in Alexander the Great: Reality and Myth (eds. J. Carlsen et al., Roma: LErma di
Bretschneider, 1993) 10136, esp. 1034; id., Alessandro e gli artisti del suo tempo in
Alessandro Magno, storia e mito (Roma: LErma di Bretschneider, 1995) 127; id., Limmagine
di Alessandro nella maniera classica (323301 a.C.) in Alessandro Magno..., 1402. Also
F. Olaguer Feliu, Alejandro Magno y el arte (Madrid: Encuentros, 2000). The lion motive
was also an iconical element of Alexanders assimilation with Heracles.
37 B. Kiilerich, The Public Image of Alexander the Great in Alexander the Great: Reality...,
878; A.M. Nielsen, The Mirage of AlexanderA Minimalist View Alexander the Great:
Reality..., 140.
38 Fredricksmeyer, Alexanders Religion..., 2708; A.J. Classen, The Libyan God Ammon
in Greece before 331 B.C., Historia 8 (1959) 349355; A.B. Bosworth, Alexander and
Ammon, in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean in Ancient History and Prehistory:
Studies Presented to Fritz Schachermeyer (ed. K.H. Kinzl, Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1977)
5175.
39 D.S. 17. 85.12; G. Radet, Aornos, JS (1929) 6973.
40 M.S. Silk, Heracles and Greek Tragedy, G&R 32 (1985) 45; A.R. Anderson, Heracles
and his Successors, HSPh 39 (1928) 8.
Like Gods among Men
249
founders of cities, civilizers and PanHellenic protectors. Not in vain did the
image of Heracles have such prominence in the reconciliation of the Greeks,
perfectly fitting the new objectives, more ambitious than a simple invasion of
Asia Minor by Alexander. Nevertheless, the Macedonian background of the cult
of Heracles cannot be dismissed, especially in relation to the mythical ancestry of the Argeads.41 At the same time, the more usual epithets of Heracles
were kosmokrator (universal ruler), soter (defender of humanity, which in fact
means just the Greeks: Haerens 1948), hoplophylax (guardian of the arms),
promachos (protector), aniketos and kallinikos (victorious) were all very useful
to Alexanders political intentions and propaganda within the Greek world.42
Likewise, these epithets are also strongly linked with war.43 Finally, Heracles
was also an interesting referent as far as once died he became a god. Likewise,
the behaviour and especially the excess Alexander assumed in his own life,
both as an undefeated warrior, kind conqueror, drinker or killer of friends, he is
actually revealing in some way the same uncontrolled, almost divine, nature of
his ancestor Heracles, and this can be observed by a Greek audience, probably,
as a step towards claiming divinity, following Heracles example.44 Actually,
the use of Heracles as an iconical reference seems better than that of Achilles,
destined to die as a condition for glory, once the first phase of the conquest of
Asia was successfully completed.45
Lastly, Dionysos, also an ancestor of Alexander by way of Deianira, is the
referential figure of the remote conquests.46 Considered the god that comes
from the east, and even the unrecognized god, Dionysos is also a civilizer and
a furious, terrible figure. The best example is recorded by Euripides, in a work
41 O. Mrkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage: From the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of
Apamea (336188 B.C.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) 42; A. Stewart,
Faces of Power: Alexanders Image and Hellenistic Politics (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1993) 93; P. Goukowski, Essai sur les origines du mythe dAlexandre: 336270 av.
J.C. (Nancy: Universit de Nancy, 19781981) I, 17, n.13.
42 Arr. An. 4.11.7; A.B. Bosworth, A Historical Commentary..., II, 8486; B. Antela-Bernrdez,
Alexandre Magno e Atenas..., 179248. On the use of heroic models by Alexander, see
also M. Flower, Alexander the Great and Panhelenism in Alexander the Great in Fact...,
10719.
43 L.R. Farnell, Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970)
1468.
44 Silk, Heracles and..., 5.
45 G. Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999)
6971.
46 Hdt. 8.137138; Isocr. 5.32. The main study is P. Goukowski, Essai sur..., esp. vol. II, titled
Alexandre et Dionysos.
250
Antela-Bernrdez
which was written during his stay at the Macedonian court: arriving in Thebes,
and not recognized as a god, Dionysos unleashed his fury provoking horror and
destruction.47 The message of Alexander with this assimilation seems clear,
especially if we bear in mind that during the remote conquests Alexander had
also started to ask for proskynesis and divinization.48 Then, we can consider
this assimilation in similar terms to those of Achilles and Heracles, as politically motivated.49 And again, the Macedonian perspective of Dionysos must
not be forgotten.50 What victory in war gives, religion confirms. The assimilation with Dionysos seems to start at some point near the burning of the palace
of Persepolis, when Alexander engaged, maybe helped by the Athenian courtesan Thais, a dionysiac procession.51 Nevertheless, we do not know if Dionysos
would finally, in the passage of time, completely replace Achilles and Heracles
with Death finding Alexander in Babylon. But it seems interesting to note
that, contrary to Achilles or Heracles, Dionysos was himself a god not just a
warrior or a hero. His visual aspect as a young male and his character as conqueror and civilizer, victorious against the barbarian peoples, seems to join the
best and most useful elements of both Achilles and Heracles for Alexanders
47 We must bear in mind that, in addition to the Iliad, Alexander also travelled with a copy
of Euripides Bacchae: Plut. Alex. 8.3; Hamilton, Plutarch..., 144; T.S. Brown, Alexanders
Book Order, Historia 16 (1967) 359368.
48 J.M. OBrien, Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy (London: Routledge, 1992) 155;
A.B. Bosworth, Alexander, Euripides, and Dionysos in Transitions to Empire: Essays
in Greco-Roman History 360146 B.C., in Honor of Ernst Badian (eds. R.W. Wallace,
E.M. Harris, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996) 140166.
49 On the cults to Heracles and Dionysos in Macedonia until the Roman age, see J. Gag,
Alexandre le Grand en Macdonie dans la Ire moiti du IIIe sicle ap. J.C., Historia
24 (1975) 116.
50 Goukowski, Essai sur..., II, 89, with bibliography; E. Fredricksmeyer, The ancestral
Rites of Alexander th Great, CP 56 (1966) 17982; M.-H. Blanchand, Les Cultes Orientaux
en Macdoine Grecque dans lAntiquit, Ancient Macedonia IV (Thessaloniki: Institute
for Balkan Studies, 1986) 84. In defence of the Thracian, nearly Macedonian, origins of
the cult to Dionysos, see N.G.L. Hammond, G.T. Griffith, A History of Macedonia (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1979) II, 166.
51 Arr. An. 3.18.11; Curt. 5.7.3-7; D.S. 17.72.2-6; Plut. Alex. 38.28; Bosworth, A Historical
Commentary..., I, 330332; Prandi, Diodoro Siculo..., 118. See also, E. Fredricksmeyer,
Alexander and the Kingship of Asia in Alexander the Great in Fact...., 14951; H. SancisiWeerdenburg, Alexander and Persepolis in Alexander the Great. Reality..., 177188. On
Thais, see Heckel, Who is who..., 262; S. des Bouvrie, Euripides, Bakkhai and Menadism
in Aspects of Women in Antiquity (eds. L.L. Lovn, A. Strmberg, Jonsered: Astron Forlag,
1998) 5868.
Like Gods among Men
251
ends.52 Dionysos was also frequently linked with considerable loot and wealth,
as the triumphal Alexander.53 As far as Heracles would need to die in order
to be considered divine, Dionysos seems more appropriate for Alexander to
become a god among men.54
Conclusions
As we have just seen in the above examples and commentaries, we can observe
the main importance of the religious elements in the war of Alexander against
Persia, not only from the point of view of legitimating his actions, but also as
a source of power and a transformation of royal authority towards the later
practices of the Hellenistic rulers. In this sense, it should be asked what reasons Alexander would have had for claiming to be a living god, and although
there is a strong controversy on this matter, we have always considered that
there is a pragmatic reason: after all, Alexander needed to create an element of
common connection that involved all the peoples under his rule, so different
in kind, culture and religion, that only one thing can be commonly accepted
by all of them: Alexander himself.55 As the Romans perfectly understood some
hundred years later, divinization was the best method to settle into the rulership gained by force of arms. War and religion hand in hand in the construction of a unique empire.
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H.W. Parke, The Massacre of the Branchidae, JHS 105 (1985) 5968.
L. Pearson, The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great (Florida: American Philological
Association, 1960).
P. Pdech, Historiens compagnons dAlexandre (Paris: Les Belles Letres, 1985).
Like Gods among Men
255
S. Perlman, Isokrates Advice on Philips Attitude towards Barbarians (V, 154), Historia,
16 (1967) 338343.
A. Piganiol, Les Dionysies dAlexandre, REA 42 (1940) 285292.
L. Prandi, Diodoro Siculo. Biblioteca storica, libro XVII. Commento storico (Milano: Vita e
Pensiero, 2013).
H. Rackham (trans.), Aristotle (London: Harvard University Press, 1944).
G. Radet, Aornos, JS (1929) 6973.
H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Alexander and Persepolis in Alexander the Great: Reality
and Myth (ed. J. Carlsen, Roma: LErma di Bretschneider, 1993) 177188.
E. Schwarzenberg, The Portraiture of Alexander in Alexandre le Grand: Image et
Ralit (ed. E. Badian, Geneva: Foundation Hardt, 1975) 223278.
C. Sierra, La venganza se sirve fra: Tebanos, Brnquidas y el recuerdo de las Guerras
Mdicas in Ms all de la batalla. El impacto de la guerra contra la poblacin civil en
el mundo antiguo (eds. J. Vidal, B. Antela-Bernrdez, Zaragoza: Prtico, 2013) 5566.
M.S. Silk, Heracles and Greek Tragedy, G&R 32 (1985) 122.
R.R.R. Smith, Hellenistic Royal Portraits (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
H.W. Smyth (trans.), Aeschyllus (London: Harvard University Press, 1926).
G. Squillace, Consensus Strategies under Philip and Alexander. The Revenge Theme
in Philip II and Alexander the Great. Father and Son, lives and afterlives (eds.
D. Ogden, E. Carney, Oxford: University Press, 2010) 7680.
A. Stewart, Faces of Power: Alexanders Image and Hellenistic Politics (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1993).
J. Tondriau, Alexandre le Grand Assimil a Diferentes Divinits, RPh 25 (1949) 4346.
I. Worthington, Alexanders Destruction of Thebes in Crossroads of History: The Age of
Alexander the Great (eds. W. Heckel, L.A. Tritle, Claremont: Regina Books, 2003)
6586.
Defence and Offence in the Egyptian Royal Titles

of Alexander the Great*
Ivan Ladynin
For any epoch of Ancient Egyptian history, the traditional royal names played
the most important role in the presentation of their bearers.1 During the third
millennium BC there appeared five royal titles which were used in combination with especially composed names; and in the early second millennium
BC, when the royal declarations started being conveyed in linear inscriptions rather than in pictographical monuments, there appeared a standard
sequence of these titles. The first of them was the so-called Horus name which
described the king as a temporary terrestrial incorporation of the sun-andsky god Horus;2 the second was the name of Two Ladies, which somehow
accentuated the kings connection with the two goddesses of his crown (the
snake-goddess Uadjet, i.e. the uraeus on the kings front, and the vulture
goddess Nekhbet, who personified kerchief covering the kings hind-head);
the third name was that of Golden Horus, which was probably intended to
stress that the kings flesh was made of gold, like the flesh of real gods;3 the
fourth name is often called by Egyptologists solar prenomen, throne-name
or the name of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (this is a conventional
* I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Ian Worthington (University of Missouri) for reading the manuscript of this paper and correcting inevitable imperfections of my English.
1 See in general on the Ancient Egyptian royal name-giving: J.vonBeckerath, Handbuch der
gyptischen Knigsnamen (Mnchner gyptologische Studien 49, Mainz: Zabern, 1999) 133;
R.Leprohon, Patterns of the Royal Name-Giving in UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (eds.
E.Frood, W.Wendrich, Los Angeles, 2010) 110 (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/51b2647c);
R.Leprohon, The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (Writings from the Ancient
World 33; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013) 720. If not indicated otherwise, general information of the Ancient Egyptian royal names given below can be checked in these
publications.
2 A.O.Bolshakov, Royal Portraiture and Horus Name in Lart de lAncien Empire gyptien.
Actes du colloque, Muse du Louvre, les 3et 4avril 1998 (ed. Chr. Ziegler, Paris: ditions du
Louvre, 1999) 3112.
3 O.D.Berlev, Zolotoe imya egipetskogo tsarya (The Golden Name of Egyptian King) in JeanFranois Champollion i deshifrovka egipetskih ieroglifov ( Jean-Franois Champollion and the
Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs) (ed. I.S. Kaznelson, Moscow: Nauka, 1979) 4159.
257
translation of the title nsw-bity preceding it),4 and it described the kings connection to the supreme sun-god and the utmost ruler of the word Re (in fact,
this name including the name of Re must have characterized a specific creature, which seemed similar to the sun-god in its substance but existed separately of it and was embodied in the king);5 finally, the fifth name of the king
was his personal name given at his birth, which was preceded by the title son
of Re. The whole set of these names was composed normally at the time of
kings accession to throne; each of the first former four names was a wordcombination that conveyed some message; and taken together they presented
a sort of ideological program for the reign that was inaugurated with their
composition.
This tradition was maintained by the foreign rulers of Egypt in the first millennium BC; it continued well into the Greco-Roman time and did not cease
before the successors of Diocletian.6 However, one can definitely say that
the meaning of some of these titles must have been vague for the Egyptians
already in the first millennium BC. This must apply first of all to the names
of Two Ladies and Golden Horus; moreover, in a number of occasions from
the start of the first millennium BC onwards these names could be absent
from the titularies of the kings, whose legitimacy in Egypt should not be
questioned.7 The key topoi of the royal sacrality at that time (as, in fact, earlier)
were certainly conveyed by the Horus name, by the solar prenomen, and by
the title of the son of Re attached to the personal name of the king.
4
See on it in more details: A.I. Blbaum, Denn ich bin ein Knig, der Maat liebt:
Herrscherlegitimation im sptzeitlichen gypten (Aegyptiaca Monasteriensia 4; Aachen:
Shaker, 2006) 6270.
5 Yu.Ya.Perepyolkin, Keye i Semnekhkere: K ishodu solnzepoklonnicheskogo perevorota v Egipte
(Kiya and Smenkhkare: On the Outcome of the Sun-worship Revolution in Egypt) (Moscow:
Nauka, 1979) 268. It is deplorable that the interpretations by Oleg Berlev and Yuri Perepyolkin
are not known to the international scholarship in other language than Russian; but due to
their importance I feel it impossible to dispense with references to them.
6 See the royal names of the Nubian Dynasty XXV and the Persian Dynasty XXVII: Blbaum,
Denn ich bin..., 31327, 3446; the royal names of the Argeads: Ibidem, 419428; the royal
names of the Ptolemies: vonBeckerath, Handbuch..., 23447; the royal names of the
Roman emperors: J.-Cl.Grenier, Les titulatures des empereurs romains dans les documents en
langue egyptienne (Papyrologica Bruxellensia 22; Bruxelles: Fondation egyptologique Reine
E lisabeth, 1989).
7 M.-A.Bonheme, Les noms royaux dans lEgypte de la troisieme periode intermediaire
(Bibliotheque detude 98; Cairo: Institut francais darcheologie orientale du Caire, 1987)
2567.
258
Ivan Ladynin
The royal names of Alexander as a legitimate Pharaoh are known fairly

well8 and were extensively discussed, though sometimes addressed rather
descriptively.9 At present an important contribution to this research is being
made by Francisco Bosch-Puche of the Griffith Institute at Oxford: his intention is to present a comprehensive classification of Alexanders royal names
in all their attested forms, both in the hieroglyphic inscriptions and in the
Demotic documents of the period.10 On some points I disagree with my colleague: I believe that a splendid titulary of Alexander attested on a pedestal
from the Oasis Bahariya and containing all the five traditional names11 is in
fact not from his time but is an early Ptolemaic imitation;12 and I think there
8 H.Gauthier, Le livre des Rois dgypte. T. IV: De la XXVe dynastie la fin des Ptolmes.
Premier fascicule. (Mmoires publis par les membres de lInstitut franais dArchologie
orientale 20; Cairo: Institut francais darcheologie orientale du Caire, 1915) 199203;
vonBeckerath, Handbuch..., 232233; Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 41922.
9
S.
Burstein, Pharaoh Alexander: A Scholarly Myth, AncSoc 22 (1991) 13945;
H.deMeulenaere, Le protocole royal de Philippe Arrhide, CRIPEL 13 (1991) 538;
G.Hlbl, Knigliche Legitimitt und historische Umstnde im Spiegel der pharaonischen Titulaturen der griechisch-rmischen Zeit in Sesto Congresso Internazionale di
Egittologia (Torino, 18 sett. 1991). Atti: I (Turin: Societa italiana per il Gas, 1992) 2735;
G.Hlbl, Zur Legitimation der Ptolemer als Pharaonen in Selbstverstndnis und
Realitt: Akten des Symposiums zur gyptischen Knigsideologie in Mainz 15.17.6.1995
(ed. R.Gundlach, Chr.Raedler; gypten und Altes Testament 36(1) = Beitrge zur altgyptischen Knigsideologie 1; Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1997) 227; B.Menu, Le tombeau
de Ptosiris (4): Le souverain de lgypte, BIAO 98 (1998), 24952; G.Capriotti Vitozzi,
Note sullimmagine di Alessandro Magno in Egitto in Atti del V Convegno Nazionale
di Egittologia e Papirologia, Firenze, 1012 dicembre 1999 (ed. S.Russo, Firenze: Istituto
Papirologico G.Vitelli, 2000) 301; J.Kahl, Zu den Namen sptzeitlicher Usurpatoren,
Fremdherrsher, Gegen- und Lokalknige, ZS129 (2002) 356, 39; J.D.C.Sales, Ideologia
e propaganda real no Egipto ptolomaico (30530 A.C.) (Lisbon: Fundaco Calouste
Gulbenkian, 2005) 13943, 1739.
10 F.Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I: Horus, Two
Ladies, Golden Horus, and Throne Names, JEA 99 (2013) 13154; F.Bosch-Puche, The
Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, II: Personal Name, Empty Cartouches,
Final Remarks, and Appendix, JEA 100 (2014) (forthcoming); F.Bosch-Puche, J.Moje,
Alexander the Greats Name in Contemporary Demotic sources, JEA101(2015)
(forthcoming).
11 F.Bosch-Puche, Lautel du temple dAlexandre le Grand Bahariya retrouv, BIAO 108
(2008) 2944.
12 I have made this point of mine clear in my Russian publications (I.Ladynin, Altar iz
khrama Amona v oazise Bahariya s egipetskoy titulaturoy Alexandra Velikogo. I: Nadpisi
pamyatnika (The Altar from the Temple of Amun at the Baharia Oasis with the Egyptian
Royal Names of Alexander the Great. I:Inscriptions of the Monument), VDI 2(289) (2014)
259
is no reason to add to Alexanders titles a Horus name on a fragment of A

clepsydra of unknown provenance, now preserved at the State Hermitage at
St.Petersburg.13 However, even without these objects, there are a number of
edifices in Egypt built in the time Alexander and bearing his royal names.
Of five traditional names Alexanders doubtless attestations inside Egypt
contain only three: Horus name; the throne name of a king of Upper and Lower
Egypt; and the personal name combined with the title son of Re.14 As already
mentioned, the absence of the names of Two Ladies and of Golden Horus in
his titulary is not unusual for the first millennium BC; and in this respect a natural parallel for the case of Alexander is certainly the protocols of Cambyses II
and Darius I.15 The recognition of these Achaemenids as Pharaohs at least by
a part of Egyptian elite and, probably, their own interest for this should not be
doubted; and the three names that they and Alexander possessed were in fact
cardinal for defining their Pharaonic sacrality. There is a degree of variability
in the hieroglyphic writing of Alexanders throne and personal names;16 however, the latter just transcribes his Greek name in hieroglyphs, and the former
is known only in one variant (though its reconstruction is debatable: it can be
read either stp.n-Ramry-Imn The chosen of Re, Beloved by Amun17 or mryRastp.n-Imn The beloved by Re, Chosen by Amun.18
Unlike them, the Horus name of Alexander is attested in Egypt in two variants, one of them falling into 3 sub-variants: mk-Kmt (Defending/Defender of
312; Altar iz khrama Amona v oazise Bahariya s egipetskoy titulaturoy Alexandra
Velikogo. I: Interpretazia i datirovka (The Altar from the Temple of Amun at the Baharia
Oasis with the Egyptian Royal Names of Alexander the Great. II: Interpretation and
Date), VDI 3(290) (2014) 320) as well as in a lecture, which I gave together with F.BoschPuche under the auspices of the New College, Oxford, on 11 February 2014 (I plan to publish in due course its text being an expanded version of these Russian publications).
13 Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I..., 134; see: I.Ladynin,
A Fragment of an Early Hellenistic Egyptian Clepsydra from the State Hermitage,
St. Petersburg (Inv. No 2507): A Native View of Early Macedonian Rule in Egypt in
Ruthenia Classica Aetatis Novae: A Collection of Works by Russian Scholars in Ancient Greek
and Roman History (eds. A. Mehl, O. Gabelko, A. Makhlayuk, Stuttgart: Steiner, 2013)
93116.
14 Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 41923.
15 Ibidem, 3926.
16 Ibidem, 4212; Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I...,
14254 (on the throne-name).
17 vonBeckerath, Handbuch..., 2323.
18 deMeulenaere, Le protocole royal..., 5557; see on this debate: Bosch-Puche, The
Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I..., 14851.
260
Ivan Ladynin
Egypt)19 attested at the bark sanctuary at Luxor (see below); and HoA on tknxAswt (Brave ruler, trampling on foreign countries,20 with shortenings HoA
on (Brave ruler)21 and on (Brave).22 The first and the third sub-variants of
the latter form of the name are attested at the temple of Akhmenu at Karnak,
in a room restored in the time of Alexander, while the second and the third are
found at the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis (see below).
The variance in the basic forms of the Horus name is also not unusual: it is
attested for many kings of Egypt starting with Mentuhotep II/I who re-united
Egypt at the end of the twenty-first century BC, before the Middle Kingdom.23
Minor changes of subsidiary epithets in the Horus names are attested for a
great number of kings, including, shortly before Alexander, Nectanebo II;24
but the basic forms of the Horus names were in the first millennium BC varying
with the kings Piye,25 Shebitqu26 and Nepherites I27 (Bosch-Puche added to
them Hakoris28 but what he had in mind was not a real shift of the title but an
usurpation of a predecessors monument, on which his name was retained).29
19 Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 419; Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander
the Great, I..., 132 I.
20 Urk.II6.14; Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 419; Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of
Alexander the Great, I..., 133 II.2.
21 LDIV3a, 3c; E.Winter, Alexander der Grosse als Pharao in gyptischen Tempeln in
gyptenGriechenlandRom: Abwehr und Berhrung, Stdeliches Kunstinstitut und
Stdtliche Galerie 26. November 200526.Februar 2006 (eds. H. Beck, P. C. Bol, M. Bchling,
Frankfurt am Main: Liebighaus; Tbingen/Berlin: Wasmuth, 2005) 209 fig. 2; Blbaum,
Denn ich bin..., 419; Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great,
I..., 133 II.1.
22 Winter, Alexander..., 210 fig.3ab; Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 419; Bosch-Puche, The
Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I..., 133 II.1.
23 H.Stock, Die erste Zwischenzeit gyptens. Untergang der Pyramidenzeit, Zwischenreiche
von Abydos und Herakleopolis, Aufstieg Thebens (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum,
1949) 789; A.H. Gardiner, The First King Menthotpe of the Eleventh Dynasty,
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 14 (1956) 4251;
D. Arnold, Zur frhen Namensformen des Knigs MnTw-Htp Nb-xpt-Ra, Mitteilungen
des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 24 (1969) 3842; J. von Beckerath,
Mentuhotep II, in Lexikon der gyptologie, IV (eds. W. Helck, E. Otto, W. Westendorf,
24 Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 411.
25 Ibidem, 366.
26 Ibidem, 371.
27 Ibidem, 398.
28 Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I..., 136 n. 20.
29 Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 400 n. 84.
261
The distribution of these titles on the monuments of these kings shows that
their variants were not local (e.g., two major variants of Shebitqus Horus name
are both attested at Karnak); thus, this variance has probably to be explained
by the consequent changes in protocol during a respective reign. One should
wonder whether it is possible to discern a similar evolution of Alexanders protocol attested on his Egyptian monuments.

The Bark-Sanctuary of Alexander the Great at Luxor and the

Graffito of Ankhpakhered
The earliest of Alexanders monuments in Egypt must have been the sanctuary of divine bark at Luxor once erected by Amenophis III and refurbished
under Alexander.30 A graffito in the name of a priest Ankhpakhered on the
wall of the Luxor temple31 says that the building activities at Luxor started
under his direction on the first day of the first month of Alexanders Year 1
(col.5: rnpt-zp 1 1 tpy Axt sw 1 xr Hm (n) nsw-bity Arksndrys),32 which
30 M. Abdel-Razig, Die Darstellungen und Texte des Sanktuars Alexanders des Groen im
Tempel von Luxor (Archologische Verffentlichungen 16; Mainz: Zabern, 1984).
31 PM2 II 335 (219).
32 According to: K.Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau- und Bittinschrift am Tempel von Luxor, ZS
140 (2013)2, 5 comm.12. M.Abdel-Razig (Ein Graffito der Zeit Alexanders des Grossen
im Luxortempel, ASAE 69 (1983) 213) read the date as Year 3; however, K. JansenWinkeln emended it from his own collation of the text as Year 1 (K.Jansen-Winkeln,
Biographische und religise Inschriften der Sptzeit aus dem gyptischen Museum Kairo.
1: bersetzungen und Kommentare (gypten und Altes Testament 45/1; Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 2001) 180; see now his overall publication of the text: Jansen-Winkeln,
Eine Bau- und Bittinschrift..., 2, pl. II; F.Bosch-Puche confirmed to me personally from
his own collation the reading by Jansen-Winkeln). G. Gorre, Les rlations du clerg gyptien et des Lagides daprs les sources prives (Studia Hellenistica 45; Leuven: Peeters,
2009)545) suggested relying on this emendation that Alexander of the text is the son
of Alexander the Great and Roxane, so that the works started under the direction of the
priest Ankhpakhered in prt II, Year 4 of Philip Arrhidaeus (col. 1 of the graffito; March
April 320 BC) had to be completed in AHt I, Year 1 of the son of Alexander and Roxane
(NovemberDecember 317 BC; see on the conversion of the Argeads years in Egypt into
absolute chronology: P.WPestman, Chronologie gyptienne daprs les textes dmotiques
(332 av. J.-C.453 ap. J.-C.) (Papyrologia lugduno-batava 15; Leiden: Brill, 1967) 1112;
J.vonBeckerath, Chronologie der pharaonischen gypten (Mnchner gyptologische
Studien 46; Munich;Berlin: Zabern, 1997) 198). This is highly doubtful, as in such case
an earlier activity of Ankhpakhered is described in his graffito after a later one; besides,
there was no building at all at Luxor under the son of Roxane (M.Chauveau, Chr.Thiers,
262
Ivan Ladynin
corresponded in fact to 15 November 332 BC; in fact, this must have been be
the first month of Alexanders stay in Egypt!33 So precise a date might, of
course, be conventional;34 but anyway, it indicates the start of these activities very early in Alexanders Year 1, i.e. the Egyptian year 332/1 BC. The first
publisher of this graffito,35 Abd el-Razig, thought that it described the erection
of some building in the temple of Amenophis III at Luxor;36 unfortunately,
it is not quite clear from his words if he meant specifically the bark sanctuary or some other structure. Recently D.Schfer said definitely but without
much argumentation that the graffito applied to the bark sanctuary.37 In the
most recent and compendious publication of the text Jansen-Winkeln strongly
doubted that the structure described in the graffito can be any of those known
to us from the time of the Argeads in Theban region: in his idea, the term
golden house used in the text is applicable neither to the bark sanctuary at
Luxor built under Alexander nor to the bark sanctuary at Karnak built after his
death, in the formal reign of Philip III Arrhidaeus.38
Let us, however, examine the information of the graffito thoroughly.39
Ankhpakhered said that on 1AxtI Year 1 of Alexander, he made a foundation inside a golden house of Amenopet (col.6: pD.i Ss wHa.i wAwA(t) m
Lgypte en transition: des Perses aux Macdoniens in: La transition entre lempire
achmnide et les royaumes hellnistiques (Persika 9; eds. P.Briant, F.Joanns, Paris:
DeBoccard, 2006) 3956). Thus, the king named in the text is without doubt Alexander
the Great.
33 A final episode of the siege of Gaza that preceded the invasion in Egypt is November
332 BC: J.Seibert, Die Eroberung des Perserreiches durch Alexander der Groen auf kartographischer Grundlage (Beihefte zum Tbinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B:
Geisteswissenschaften 68; Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, 1985) 85 n. 29.
34 Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau- und Bittinschrift..., 5 comm.12; F.Bosch-Puche, Alexanders
Egyptian Names in the Barque Shrine at Luxor Temple, in Alexander the Great and Egypt:
History, Art, Tradition. Wrocaw/Breslau 18./19. November 2011 (Philippica74; eds.V.Grieb,
K.Nawotka, A.Wojciechowska, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014) 812 n.152.
35 The transcription of the text published by G. Daressy (Notes et remarques, Recueil de
travaux relatifs la philologie et larchologie gyptiennes et assyriennes 14 (1893) 334)
was in fact no more than a signal of its existence calling for a further investigation. See on
its research history: Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau- und Bittinschrift..., 1 n. 7.
36 Abdel-Razig, Ein Graffito..., 217.
37
D.Schfer, Alexander der Groe. Pharao und Priester in: gypten unter fremden
Herrschern zwischen persischer Satrapie und rmischer Provinz (Oikumene Studien zur
antiken Weltgeschichte 3; ed. St. Pfeiffer; Frankfurt am Main: Antike, 2007) 59: ein Art
Bauinschrift fr das Alexandersanktuar.
38 PM2 II 99102.
39 Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau-..., 9.
263
pr-nbw n Imn-Ipt... I spread a cord, I untied a rope in the golden house of

Amenipet... (the designations of the god follow).40 Abd el-Razig pointed
out that the term golden house might mean not necessarily a treasury but a
room, in which gods limbs were preserved.41 The bark sanctuary at Luxor was
intended to host a manifestation of Amun-Re coming on a visit from Karnak
on the feast of Opet;42 thus, the designation golden house, if applied to a
repository of divine substance, corresponded to the purpose of this building.43
Further on, Anchpahered defined the dimensions of the structure built (col.6):
its height (i.e. length: kAw) was 11 gods cubits (mH-nTr);44 its depth below
the roof (i.e.height: mDw.f xr kApw) was 9 gods cubits (=472.5cm); and
the signs denoting the width (wsx) of the structure were read as 6 gods
cubits (=341.25cm) by Abd el-Razig45 and 5 gods cubits (=288.75 cm) by
Jansen-Winkeln.46
A possibility strangely overlooked by the students of the graffito is comparing these figures with the real dimensions of the bark sanctuary at Luxor.
A couple of observations should be made beforehand. First, one can easily see
that Ankhpakhered did not use fractions of his measurement units: he spoke
of a half cubit only when he measured a really small stretch. Second, the definition of the sanctuarys height as depth below the roof makes it very clear
that he spoke about the interior and not exterior measurements of his structure. Besides, there was an empty space over the roof in the bark sanctuary
40 Ibidem, 23.
41 Wb.I 517.89; a designation for mammisi, i.e. a specific building in the Egyptian temples
of the Late Period and the Graeco-Roman time dedicated to the birth of a child of a divine
couple: F. Daumas, Les mammisis des temples egyptiens (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1958)
348 n. 4, 514; Abdel-Razig, Ein Graffito..., 217.
42 L.Bell, The New Kingdom Divine Temple: The Example of Luxor in: Temples of Ancient
Egypt (ed. B.E.Shafer, London: American University in Cairo, 1997) 158, 293 n. 101.
43 M.Abd el-Razig read at the end of col. 6 grH.f wAh(t) aAyt he (a shift from the 1st to
the 3rd pers. occurring in Egyptian inscriptions) completed the processional sanctuary
of the temple: Abdel-Razig, Ein Graffito..., 213 n. 15. This indication pointed at the bark
sanctuary (as the aim of the processional route of the feast of Opet; see my preceding
footnote) quite definitely; however, K.Jansen-Winkeln emended this reading into grH n
wAH aAt (end of the foundation in the hard stone: Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau-..., 23.
44 See on this measure unit, with bibliography: Ibidem, 6 comm. 17. One gods cubit makes
52.5 cm: Ibidem, 9 n. 12 (with reference to S.Vleeming, Mae und Gewichte in Lexikon
der gyptologie, III (eds. W.Helck, E.Otto, W.Westendorf, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1980) 1209).
45 Abdel-Razig, Ein Graffito..., 21213.
46 Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau-..., 23. In fact, the former version does not seem impossible;
see the photography of the inscription: Ibidem, pl.III.
264
Ivan Ladynin
reconstructed by Alexander at Luxor perhaps used for giving oracles;47 thus,

the interior of the sanctuary was lower than the overall height of the structure.
With these provisos the comparison of the real dimensions of the sanctuary48
with the figures in the graffito give the following results:
Length: real: 600 cm. (= 11.43 gods cubits); in the graffito: 577.5 cm
(rounded down to 11 gods cubits);
Width: real: 360 cm. (=6.86 gods cubits); in the graffito, if the reading by
Abd el-Razig is accepted: 341.25 cm49 (rounded down to 6 gods
cubits);
Height: real: 490 cm. (= 9.33 gods cubits); in the graffito: 472.5 cm
(rounded down to 9 gods cubits).
Taking into account Ankhpakhereds habit of rounding down, one should say
that the figures of the graffito fit the real measurements of the bark sanctuary
at Luxor rather well. What remains to be considered in the evidence of his graffito is the information that the work at the structure was completed by 9 Axt
II of the same year (23 December 332 BC), i.e. in 39 days (col. 67: grH n wAH
aAt nfry(t) (r) 2 Axt sw 9 m rnpt tn mH hrw 39 end of laying the hard stone till
9 Axt II in this year, filling 39 days).50 It has been said that the date for the start
of the refurbishing might be unrealistic, and, if so, one should perhaps also
question the date of its finish; but is the entire time span, however short, unrealistic too? Probably not, when the matter is really about so small a structure!
If the identification of the edifice rebuilt under Ankhpakhered with the
bark sanctuary at Luxor is accepted, then it certainly belonged to the very
start of Alexanders time in Egypt and might be said, indeed, to inaugurate
his reign there. In this case Alexanders Horus name mk-Kmt (Defender of
Egypt) attested at Luxor only51 must have been compiled for him almost at
the very point of his entering Egypt. As this put AN end to the Second Persian
Domination, the motive of this name, i.e. the protection of the country,52 must
47 Abdel-Razig, Die Darstellungen..., 9, pl. III.
48 Ibidem, pl. I, III.
49 288.75 cm, if the reading by K.Jansen-Winkeln (see my note 46) is accepted, though the
comparison that is being made now seems itself to be an argument for the earlier version
by M.Abd el-Razig.
50 Jansen-Winkeln, Eine Bau-..., 23.
51 Abdel-Razig, Die Darstellungen..., 36, 55, 59, pl. 10, 12; Blbaum, Denn ich bin..., 419;
see, with a detailed characteristic: Bosch-Puche, Alexanders Egyptian..., 64.
52 Kahl, Zu den Namen..., 356.
265
have been highly topical at the moment. One should certainly not underrate
that aside of such motive the epithets of Alexanders Horus name having parallels in earlier royal titles must have expressed a feeling of continuity to his
predecessors (thus, mk-Kmt is attested in a Two Ladies name of Ramesses II
mk-Kmt waf-xAswt Defender of Egypt, Bending Foreign Countries, a Horus
name of Sethi II kA-nxt mk-Kmt Mighty Bull, Defender of Egypt, a Two
Ladies name of Ramesses IV mk-Kmt waf-pDt-9 Defender of Egypt, Bending
Nine Bows, a Horus name of Nectanebo II mry-tAwy mk-Kmt Beloved by
Two Lands, Defender of Egypt; tkn-xAswt is attested in a Two Ladies name
of Nectanebo II sxr-ib-nTrw tkn-xAswt Making joyful the heart of gods,
Trampling on foreign countries).53 However, the repertory of earlier royal
names was wide enough to allow quite a liberal choice among them; thus, the
task of denoting succession to predecessors could be accomplished with the
help of an epithet with almost any wished meaning! Thus, the epithets for each
new royal protocol, and Alexanders protocol as well, must have been certainly
chosen for their meaning.

The Horus Name HoA on tkn-xAswt and the Argeads Building at

Hermopolis
As already mentioned, another Horus name of Alexander had the complete

form HoA on tkn-xAswt (Brave ruler, trampling on foreign countries) attested
at the room restored by Alexander in the temple of Akhmenu at Karnak, which
had once been erected by Thuthmosis III.54 This name is obviously distinct
from the first in its motive: it reflects not just the defense of the country on the
part of the king but his offence on the outer world. To be mentioned in a royal
name this action must have had a prospect of success: however, the meaning
of the verb tkn used in this name (to approach with hostility)55 implies that
this offence was inconclusive and its outcome was not known yet. Probably,
this is enough to assume that the name was compiled before the final victories
of Alexander over the Persians in 331 and 330 BC.
53 Check for these antecedents: Blbaum, Denn ich bin...,419.

54 PM2II11920 (394398); P.Barguet, Le temple dAmon-R Carnak: Essai dxegse (Cairo:
Institut franais darchologie orientale, 1962) 1927; Schfer, Alexander der Groe...,
pl. 118 (photos by St. Pfeiffer).
55 Wb.V334. 7; F.Bosch-Puche, The Egyptian Royal Titulary of Alexander the Great, I...,
133 n. 12.
266
Ivan Ladynin
There is, however, an episode, in which the motive of this future victory must
have become prominent in Alexanders propaganda: namely the aftermath of
his visit to the oracle of the Siwa Oasis. The only one of the oracles answers to
Alexander that is made known by Callisthenes, as we know via Strabo, was the
declaration of the king being the son of Zeus; however, according to the same
author, on his return to Memphis Alexander met the Milesian ambassadors
with the news from their local oracles not only on the same point but also on
Alexanders future victory near Arbela.56 According to Bosworth, we can be
sure that the Milesians did send oracles to Memphis, because otherwise it
would have taken a simple declaration by the Milesians... to make a laughingstock of Callisthenes.57 One should probably agree with this; and while the
mention of the battle of Arbela could be adjusted by Callisthenes ex eventu,
there is no reason to doubt that this embassy could bring a prediction of some
big victory over the Persians. As remarked by Fredrichsmeyer about the eventual allegation of Cleitarchus tradition that the oracle of Ammon promised to
Alexander the dominion over the entire world, even if we think of the world
in this context as essentially the oikumene consisting of the Persian empire
in the East and the Mediterranean basin in the West, there is no evidence
whatever to support Cleitarchus claim to the effect that Alexander already by
now (by the time of his consultation at Siwa) had conceived an appetite for it
all.58 The passage of Callisthenes work transmitted by Strabo makes it more
probable that like other oracles addressed by Alexander or his father Philip the
oracle of Siwa predicted to him more or less vaguely triumph over Persia.59 The
topicality of this propagandist motive at Alexanders return from Siwa gives a
reason to speculate that at this point a new Horus name could be introduced
for him. Let us repeat that, at any rate, its compilation before the ultimate victory of Alexander over Darius is doubtless.
Further history of this title can be traced from what we know on the building of the Argeads at the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis.60 Its remains are
preserved very poorly after the demolitions of the nineteenth century; but the
faade of its pronaos was drawn by John Gardner Wilkinson in 1822 (quoted
56 FgrH124. F.14a=Strab.17.1.43.
57 A.B.Bosworth, Alexander and Ammon in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean in
Ancient History and Prehistory: Studies Presented to Fritz Schachermeyr on the Occasion of
His Eightieth Birthday (ed. K.H. Kinzl, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 1977) 73.
58 E.A.Fredricksmeyer, Alexander, Zeus Ammon, and the Conquest of Asia, TAPA121(1991)
2012.
59 Ibidem, 202.
60 PM IV 165, 167.
267
as Wilkinson MSS.* I, 133).61 This drawing62 shows somewhat chaotically

the inscriptions on the vanished portico of the temple: in its upper part there
was the protocol of Alexanders successor in Egypt Philip III Arrhidaeus; and
below went a large composition with the royal names of Alexander. His Horus
name there is HoAon (Brave ruler),63 which is a shortening of the complete
title HoA on tkn-xAswt (Brave ruler, trampling on foreign countries) and if
this title was preserved so demonstratively on a monument after the death of
Alexander, when the building was carried out already in the name of his successor, there is a good reason to believe it did not change till the very end of
his reign.
In conclusion, I would like to return to an article by Stanley Burstein that
appeared over two decades ago.64 He doubted if the existence of Alexanders
titulary should indicate to us his interest in legitimating his power over
Egypt according to its local tradition. In Bursteins opinion, the variability of
Alexanders royal names revealed the absence of a uniform concept underlying it; if so, the initiative for its compiling must have come not from the
Macedonian king or his surrounding but from the Egyptian priests who needed
merely to maintain intact the succession of the god kings of Egypt essential
to cosmic survival,65 without giving any particular loyalty to a foreigner who
filled the vacancy of a ritual-king. The interpretation I proposed is intended
to show that, contrary to the view of Burstein, there is a possibility to trace
in the varying Horus names of Alexander a reaction to the political circumstances of his reign. There is, certainly, no doubt that these names were composed by Egyptian priests; however, the message attached to them described
rather adequately the features of Alexander as a king-warrior that might have
replaced one another before the Egyptians in the course of the years 332331
BC. This presentation of Alexander in terms of the Egyptian sacral kingship
as a defender of Egypt and, soon, as an offender of its foes corresponded
closely enough to the propagandist needs of the new Macedonian masters of
61 PM IV167.
62 Reproduced in: Winter, Alexander der Grosse..., 209, fig. 2.
63 According to S.Snape, there is no irrefutable evidence linking his name with the Portico,
unless Wilkinsons copies of texts on the monument can be taken as reliable (S.R.Snape,
D.M.Bailey, The Great Portico at Hermopolis Magna (British Museum Occasional
Publications 63; London: British Museum, 1988) 3). However, with another shortening of
the same Alexanders name being attested at Hermopolis (see my note 22), there is not
much doubt about their reliability.
64 Burstein, Pharaoh Alexander...
65 Ibidem, 145.
268
Ivan Ladynin
the country. Thus, there is a good reason to see in the compilation of these
names, to say the least, a conscious loyalty of those who performed that task
(as it had once been the case with Udjahorresnet, who compiled the titulary of
Cambyses II);66 but maybe it was due also to the direct order of Macedonians,
who wished to translate necessary ideas to their Egyptian subjects via the most
important terms of the Egyptian sacral kingship.
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Egyptian Warriors: Machimoi, in Coroplastic Art

Selected Examples
Sawomir Jdraszek
The subject of my paper deals with problems surrounding the interpretation
of terracotta figurines from Hellenistic Egypt. In it an attempt will be made to
answer the question of whether any particular groups of terracotta figurines
and plaques, within the huge spectrum of iconographic and stylistic variations
produced, can be associated with the native military class, which were called
the machimoi.
In order to do this I intend to carry out an analysis of certain aspects of
the iconography of these figurines, above all in the case of Egyptian deities.
I have chosen as examples for analysis the particularly popular solar deity
Harpocrates,1 who is depicted as a naked young boy with a finger raised to his
lips, and also the apotropaic deity called Bes, who is depicted as a deformed
dwarf, represented by a whole series of images as a benevolent being who
functions as the protector of the family, especially during the night.2 I hope
to illustrate the religious (essentially private religious practices) as well as the
political and social aspects of the spheres within which they operated.
As Jan Winnicki showed in his study, groups of Egyptian professional soldiers, a native military cast, whom the Greeks called machimoi, are found serving under Ptolemy I Soter I, from the very beginning of his reign. The Greek
historian Diodorus Siculus makes it clear that certain groups of Egyptians
found fighting on Ptolemys side at the battle of Gaza in 312 BC,3 were not
1 About Harpocrates figurines in Egyptian Hellenistic coroplastic art, see: L. Trk, Hellenistic
and Roman Terracottas from Egypt (Roma: LErma di Bretschneider, 1995) 2022; D.M.
Bailey, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the British Museum, vol. VI, Ptolemaic and Roman
Terracottas from Egypt (London: British Museum Press, 2008) 1317.
2 For more about the Egyptian dwarf-deity known as Bes, see: H. Altenmller, Bes, L I
(1975) 720724, (col.); J.F. Romano, The origin of the Bes-Image, BACE 2 (1980) 3956;
J.F. Romano, Notes on the Historiography and History of the Bes-image in Ancient Egypt,
BACE 9 (1998) 89101; M. Malaise, Bes et les croyances solaires in Studies in Egyptology:
presented to Miriam Lichtheim. Vol 2 (ed. S. Israelit-Groll, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, The
Hebrew University, 1990) 680729.
3 J.K. Winnicki, Die gypter und das Ptolemerheer, Aegyptus 65, 1/2 (1985) 47; see also:
Ch. Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt (Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press 2014) 41; About Egyptian elite see: A.B. Lloyd, The Egyptian elite in the
273
simply baggage-carriers: but in the words of Diodorus himself a great number

were the Egyptians, of whom some carried the missiles and the other baggage,
but some were (fully) armed (kathplismenon) and serviceable for battle.4
The same views were also presented, for example by the scholar Philippe
Rodriguez in his article Les gyptiens dans larme de terre ptolmaque
(Diodore, XIX, 80, 4).5 He also noted: La socit gyptienne, depuis longtemps, affectait ses membres une tche laquelle correspondait le plus souvent un statut, statut hrditaire dans la majorit des cas. Pour le mtier des
armes, il en allait comme pour les autres arts ou fonctions.6
As Christelle Fischer-Bovet has also shown, throughout the Ptolemaic
period machimoi seem to have played an increasing role in the Ptolemaic army
and represented an ever-larger share of it.7 She also argued that the Ptolemaic
machimoi were not at the bottom of the social ladder as is commonly thought.8
Also, what appears singularly important is that the term machimoi was
not coined by the Ptolemies as a designation only for the soldiers of Egyptian
origin. Fischer-Bovet also showed that the term machimos was not automatically a determinant of ethnicity. But rather, it is a category related to the type of
land allocation, and it may be connected with their military functions.9
The situation of this group, as an ethnic category, was generally changed
before the battle of Rafia in 217 BC.10 The Egyptians had up to this time, as
indicated above, generally played an auxiliary role, but they now took on a new
role in the army. At this battle they would appear armed in the Macedonian
fashion and formed up as a phalanx for the first time. Polybius (5.65) tells
us that:
[5] Polycrates undertook the training of the cavalry of the guard, about
seven hundred strong, and of the cavalry from Libya and of those enlisted in
early Ptolemaic period in The Hellenistic world: new perspectives (eds. D. Ogden, S. Le
Bohec-Bouhet; et al., London: Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth, 2002) 117136;
A.B. Lloyd, The Ptolemaic Period (33230 BC) in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
(ed. I. Shaw, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) 395.
4 D.S. 19.80.4.
5 Revue des tudes Grecques, tome 117, janvierjuin 2004, 104124.
6 P. Rodriguez, Les gyptiens dans larme de terre ptolmaque (Diodore, XIX, 80, 4),
REG 117 (2004/1) 115116.
7 Ch.Fischer-Bovet, Egyptian Warriors: The Machimoi of Herodotus and the Ptolemaic
Army, CQ 63.1 (2013) 210.
8 Ibidem, 210.
9 Ibidem, 219.
10 G. Hlbl, A History of the Ptolemaic Empire (New York: Routledge, 2001) 131.
274
Jdraszek
the country,11 all of whom, numbering about three thousand, were under his
command.
[8] They also armed in the Macedonian fashion three thousand Libyans
under the command of Ammonius of Barce.[9] The Egyptians supplied twenty
thousand men to the phalanx and were commanded by Sosibius.12
This fact suggests that previously, at the battle of Gaza for example, they
may have been equipped as lightly armed warriors, perhaps in the old Egyptian
fashion, which was no longer effective. Their number: 20,000 phalangites and
2,300 cavalry (inclusive of the Libyans armed in the Macedonian fashion)
comprised practically a third part of the army fielded.13
The reasons for mobilizing the Egyptians were doubtless complex and
varied, but certainly the most important one was the need to field the most
numerous army in the shortest possible time. For this reason recourse was
made to the local reserves, and above all to the machimoi, although the reforms
of king Ptolemy IV Philopator (221204) embraced all Egyptians.
According to Polybius (5.107.13) the arming of the Egyptians and their use
in battle was to have tragic political consequences. The Egyptians were buoyed
up by their victory and were no longer obedient to orders. Soon revolts against
Ptolemaic rule broke out. The account of Polybius directly connects these
events with the uprising which broke out in 207/206 to 186 BC, and which
embraced the whole of Upper Egypt.14
In later periods the role of Egyptians increased significantly. In the opinion
of Fraser in the second century BC we find Egyptians serving in the royal guard
in the garrison of Alexandria. Also in opinion Fischer-Bovet, some bodyguards
of Ptolemy II came from Egyptian military families and were thus probably
hired as machairophoroi.15
In this general characteristic the Ptolemaic machimoi have many interesting
aspects, which may correspond, or have associations with Egyptian religion
in the Ptolemaic times. For example, Fischer-Bovet has demonstrated in her
research, that the katoikoi hippeis and the 7-aroura machimoi serving under
11 Translation modified by Ch. Fischer-Bovet, (Fischer-Bovet, Army...79). See also: Ch.
Fischer-Bovet, W. Clarysse, A military reform before the battle of Raphia?, Archiv fr
Papyrusforschung 58 (2012) 28.
12 Fragments of Polybius by the Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Fischer-Bovet, Army..., 79.
13 See also: Fischer-Bovet, Army..., 80, table 3.7.
14 F.W. Walbank, The Hellenistic World (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993)
119120; S.M. Burstein, The Ethiopian War of Ptolemy V: An Historical Myth, BzS 1 (1986)
1723.
15 Fischer-Bovet, Army..., 152.
275
Chomenis financed one of the temples to the god Soknebtunis at Kerkeosiris

in the Fayoum during the reign king Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (P.Tebt. I 63,
ll.1823; P.Tebt. 61a, ll.51105);16 and she also suggests that the Egyptians were
integrated into the army.
What is more, she suggests that the soldiers were also incorporated into the
local elite. Some of the examples imply the formation of local elite that comprises both Greek and Egyptian soldiers acting on behalf of the local deity.17
At this place, we should also mention that we have evidence for the association of Egyptian deities like Osiris with ephebic institutions. This fact may
indicate that we have Greco-Egyptian and Egyptian young males exercising in
the gymnasium.18
The question is how did the relationships between the machimoi and religion, especially private religion, as well as the established Egyptian deities
look?
Nowadays, it is relatively easy to arrive at an intuitive understanding of
the difference between state and private religion (personal piety),19 and official cult. I am not interested directly in rituals undertaken by the king, but I
want to examine the rites associated with the protection of soldiers, especially
Egyptians. I am of the opinion that such intuitive definitions have merit in that
they are probably closer to the ancient mindset, especially when we take into
16 Ibidem, 343, tab. A.2, no. 30; See also Ch. Fischer-Bovet, Army and Egyptian temple building under the Ptolemies in Conference Paper, XXV International Congress of Papyrology,
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Version 1.0 October, Princeton/Stanford Working
Papers in Classics (2007) 120. [publication online]
17 Fischer-Bovet, Army..., 361362; See also Ch. Fischer-Bovet, Army...,14. About
Egyptian local elites in Hellenistic period see A. Blasius, Die lokalen Eliten im ptolemischen gypten in Lokale Eliten und hellenistische Konige zwischen Kooperation und
Konfrontation (eds. B. Dreyer, P.F. Mittag, Berlin: Verl. Antike, 2011) 132190.
18 Fischer-Bovet, Army..., 285.
19 See the article by Michela Luiselli, which mentions is among other things, also some
problems about specific terms like personal religion and piety: M.M. Luiselli, Personal
Piety (modern theories related to) UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (2008) 19;
J. Baines, Society, Morality, and Religious Practice in Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods,
Myths, and Personal Practice (eds. B.E. Shafer et al., Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1991) 180n. See also J. Assmann, Conversion, Piety and Loyalism in Ancient Egypt in
Transformations of the inner self in ancient religions (eds. J. Assmann, G.G. Stroumsa,
Leiden, Boston: Brill, 1999) 3144; M.M. Luiselli, Images of Personal Religion in Ancient
Egypt: An Outline in Kult und Bild: die bildliche Dimension des Kultes im Alten Orient, in
der Antike und in der Neuzeit (eds. M.M. Luiselli, J. Mohn, S. Gripentrog, Wurzburg: Ergon
Verlag, 2013) 1339.
276
Jdraszek
account the silence that is associated with all archaeological material, such as
terracotta figurines and coroplastic art in general.
Some years ago the French researcher Franoise Dunand, formulated the
view, based on the material from the Cairo Museum, that Egyptian terracottas
coming from the Hellenistic and Roman periods alike, in the majority of cases
fulfilled a religious function, which linked them directly with the secret world
of cult and ritual.20
The same views were also presented by Donald M. Bailey in his Catalogue of
the Terracottas in British Museum, from Ptolemaic and Roman periods.21
We can suggest that their iconographic formulas, were related to personal
beliefs, or manifestations of personal religious cult, faith and domestic religion
and personal piety. In the context of Egyptian warriors, we would expect that
an Egyptian deity will play a role in the beliefs of the Egyptian military elite
and soldiers. It is only natural to suspect a connection between Egyptian deities and the Egyptian soldiery, particularly with Egyptian soldier-priests.
In this context, we have some interesting terracottas coming from the
Ptolemaic times. For example, in the collections of the British Museum, there
are several examples of terracotta figures, showing Egyptian deities with military equipment22 such as swords, knives and different types of shields as well
as being dressed in military uniforms, such as the most popular Egyptian apotropaic, domestic deity Bes, and the Horus the Childthat is Harpocrates,
a manifestation of Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis.
We can suggest that the addressees of such images could be both Egyptians
and Greeks and Macedonians, but especially Egyptians?
In the same collection, we have an interesting example of such an Egyptian
deity associated with military uniform and equipment.
Nicholas Sekunda, in his popular book about Reforms in the Ptolemaic
Army,23 suggested that this terracotta plaque (from Collection Fouquet) is
20 F. Dunand, Religion populaire en Egypte romaine: Les terres cuites isiaques du Muse
du Caire (Leiden: Brill, 1979); S. Jdraszek, Religijne znaczenie sztuki koroplastw na
przykadzie zabytkw pochodzcych z Egiptu okresu grecko-rzymskiego, Przegld
Religioznawczy 3, 248 (2013) 321.
21 Bailey, Catalogue..., 13.
22 Ibidem, 35, no. 3068GR pl. 12; 3940, no.: 3095EA3102GR pl. 1618.
23 N. Sekunda, A. McBride, Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies 168145 BC. Volume 2:
The Ptolemaic Army (Stockport: Montvert Publ, 1994) 75, fig. 95; More about Ptolemaic
and Seleucid reforms, carried out in 160 BC, when was the armies were reorganized
to make them more successful and competitive against the might of the Romans, see
N. Sekunda, Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC. (d: Oficyna Naukowa MS, 2001).
See also Fischer-Bovet, Clarysse, A military..., 2635.
277
Figure 1
Harpocrates armed, on model shield. Egypt, Hellenistic period,
Collection Fouquet. After P. Perdrizet, Les terres cuites grecques
dgypte de la collection Fouquet (Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1921),
pl. XXXII
typical for Hellenistic iconography, and it can be dated back to the end of
the second century, or the beginning or middle of the first century, on the
grounds of its military equipment and various stylistic criteria. It shows an
Egyptian machimos, shown in the convention of the Graeco-Egyptian god
Harpocrates, whose armour, in the opinion of Paul Perdrizet, is reminiscent of
Egyptian types.24
The very fact that a warrior is shown in a Graeco-Egyptian convention is
sufficiently interesting in itself to give rise to a whole discussion on the significance of the iconography of Harpokrates, when shown in his military manifestation, and equally connects this type of representation and the traditions of
native military service.
This object (but not this object alone)25 may be taken as the evidence, not
only for the presence of Egyptians in the Ptolemaic armed forces, but also
of their adoption of contemporary military equipment characteristic for the
armed forces of the Hellenistic kingdoms.
The dwarf Bes, after his transformation from an original leonine form into
his later military form in the Hellenistic period often shown fully armed,26
24
25
26
P. Perdrizet, Les terres cuites grecques dgypte de la collection Fouquet (Nancy: BergerLevrault, 1921) pl. XXXII.
See also the interesting terracotta plaque (The Collections of the British Museum, from
second to first century BC), modeled as rectangular shaped shield. God Harpocrates,
wearing Macedonian armour. He holds in his right hand a spear and a small round shields
on his left arm. (Bailey, Catalogue..., 35, no. 3065EA, pl. 12). See also interesting terracotta
plaque from Memphis (now in Collection Petrie Museum, UC8792), as above also rectangular shape, is decorated with a figure of Harpocrates. God was shown in relief in centre,
wearing a mail cuirass and sword, and rectangular shield; (http://petriecat.museums.ucl
.ac.uk/detail.aspx#66528).
Bailey, Catalogue..., 40, no. 3102GR, pl. 18; S. Jdraszek, Wojownicze Bstwo Bes, Scripta
Biblica Et Orientalia 4 (2012) 145177; C. Boutantin, Terres cuites et culte domestique: bestiaire de lE gypte grco-romaine (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2014) 137; S. Hodjash, God Bess
278
Jdraszek
Figure 2
Harpocrates armed, on model shield. Ptolemaic period, second to first century BC.
Egypt, Fayum.
The Trustees of the British Museum.
indicating his protective role in driving away demons. A very common pose in
terracotta represents the god in his aggressive aspect, wielding with his right
hand a sword held on high, and various kinds of shields (such as the Galatian
images in the Ancient Egyptian Art, in the Collection of the Pushkin State Museum (Moscow:
Vostochnaya Literatura, 2004) 108 no. 80; 109 no. 81; 110 no. 82; E. Breccia, Terrecotte figurate greche e greco-egizie del Museo di Alessandria (Bergamo: Officine dellIstituto italiano darti grafiche, 19301934) 56, pl. XXII, fot. 7; A.J. Reinach, Les Galates dans LArt
Alexandrin, Monuments et mmoires 18 (1911) 3738; See also the interesting discussion
about Egyptian gods in foreign armour: F. Naerebout, Cuius regio, eius religio? Rulers
and Religious Changes in Greco-Roman Egypt in Power, politics, and the cults of Isis.
Proceedings of the Vth International Conference of Isis studies, Boulogne-sur-Mer, October
1315, 2011 (eds. L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2014) 5155.
279
(Celtic) oval shields called the thureos)27 on his left arm. We know of other
examples, in which the god bears a small round shield,28 most probably of
Macedonian origin, on his left arm.
Another interesting example, shows a flask modeled as Bes. The deity is
shown in a running position, wearing a Macedonian armour, a cuirass over
a tunic with short sleeves and pteryges.29 This example (and the other) may
correspond with an interesting terracotta group: a Macedonian horseman
trampling enemies,30 which a iconographic prototypes could have been
27 F. Dunand, Catalogue des terres cuites grco-romaines dEgypte (Paris: Ministere de la culture, de la communication et des grands travaux, Reunion des musees nationau, 1990)
38, no. 30 (E2400), 39, no. 3133 (E 20695; N 4207; E29796) 41, nr 40 (E 29795). About
the Celtic shield known as thureos (door-shaped), see N. Sekunda, The Introduction of
Cavalry Thureophoroi into Greek Warfare, Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae 19 (2006)
917; N. Sekunda, Military forces. A. Land forces in The Cambridge History of Greek and
Roman Warfare: Vol. I: Greece, the Hellenistic World and the Rise of Rome (eds. P. Sabin,
H. van Wees, M. Whitby, New York: Cambridge University Press Dec. 2007) 340341. See
also U. Hausmann, Zur Eroten und-Gallier, Ikonographie in alexandrinischen Kunst
in Alessandria e il mondo ellenisticoromano, Studi in onore di Achille Adriani 5 (Rome:
LErma di Bretschneider, 1992) 283295; See also statuettes, Erotes with the thureos
shield, H.P. Laubscher, Ein ptolemisches Gallierdenkmal, AntK 30, 2 (1987) 152, 21.7;
Trk, Hellenistic..., 45, no. 36; S. Besques, Catalogue raisonn des figurines et reliefs en
terre-cuite grecs, trusques et romaines: poques hellnistique et romaine. Cyrnaique,
gypte ptolmaique et romaine (Paris: Editions des Musees nationaux 1992) 104, Fot. 64a;
E. Breccia, Municipalite dAlexandrie. Alexandrea ad Aegyptum; guide de la ville ancienne
et moderne et du Musee greco-romain (Bergamo: Istituto italiano darti grafiche, 1914)
271272, fig. 137.
28 Perdrizet, Les terres cuites..., 46. p. XLI, no. 131; Laubscher, Ein ptolemisches..., 151, 154,
pl. 21, 6; see also, P. Ghalioungui, G. Wagner, Terres cuites de lEgypte grcoromaine de
la collection P. Ghalioungui, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts.
Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Abteilung Kairo, 30 (2), (1974) 191192, pl. 61e;
W. Weber, Die gyptisch-griechischen terrakotten (Berlin: K. Curtius, 1914) 159; E. Breccia,
Terrecotte figurate greche e grecoegizie del Museo di Alessandria II (Bergamo: Officine
dellIst. Italiano dArti Grafiche, 1934) 37, no. 189. (23246), pl. XLIX 242; A. Adriani,
Annuaire du Muse GrcoRomain (19351939), (Alexandrie: Societe de publications
egyptiennes, 1940) 108, pl. XLII, no. 25116.
29 Bailey, Catalogue..., 40, no. 3103EA, pl. 18; See also V. Tran Tam Tinh, Bes, LIMC III/1
(1986) 104, 77b, 77d; see also: F. Naerebout, Cuius..., 44; F. Dunand, Catalogue..., 3941,
no 34 (AF 6839), no. 37 (E 20694), no. 39 (E 29794).
30 J. Fischer, A triumphant Macedonian horseman: Evidence of a Ptolemaic Victory
Monument in Faraoni come dei, Tolemei come Faraoni, Atti del V Congresso Internazionale
Italo-Egiziano Torino, Archivio di Stato 812 Dicembre 2001 (eds. N. Bonacasa et al. , Torino:
Museo Egizio di Torino Palermo: Universita degli studi di Palermo, Dipartimento di beni
culturali, Sezione archeologica, 2003) 375380. One exceptionally interesting group
280
Jdraszek
Figure 3
Bes armed, with sword and shield.
2ndC BC1stC BC (?).
The Trustees of the British
Museum.
of terracotta figurines from Ptolemaic Egypt shows a rider dressed in the Macedonian
fashion in a triumphal pose. Originally the terracottas would have been painted, but the
colours have only been preserved irregularly. On his head the rider wears the Macedonian
national headgear, a type of beret known as a kausia, together with heavy cavalry boots
on his feet. In some versions of the terracotta the rider wears a short tunic, while in other
representations he wears the short type of Greek cavalry cloak known as the chlamys.
The iconographic motif of the Macedonian rider shown in a triumphal pose could date
to any time from the beginnings of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt onwards. However the figure of the Gaul shown under the hooves of the horse is surely a reference the victory of
Ptolemy II Philadelphos over the Galatians in 275 BC. The series of miniature figurines
repeating this scene are surely based on a monumental prototype: a statue group commemorating this victory which once stood somewhere in Alexandria. Such a monument,
encoded with its propaganda message, fits in well with what we know of the political
activities of the monarchs who then ruled the lands of the Nile. For example, in the opinion of Joseph Vogt, the representation has a symbolic character, showing the victory of
the Macedonians over the Egyptians (J. Vogt, Die griechisch-agyptische Sammlung Ernst
Figure 4
281
Bes with sword and shield. Ptolemaic period, probably third to second century BC.
282
Jdraszek
actual riders of Macedonian descent, who were present in the Lagid armed
forces.31
Another interesting example of the deity Bes, is a figure once in the Fouquet
collection, bearing a round shield and trampling on an oval shield, possibly
reflecting the victory of the Ptolemaic army over a mercenary revolt in 275 BC.32
At a point when Ptolemy II was caught between the forces of his own brother
Magas of Kyrene, attacking from the west, and those of Antiochus I (281261
BC) attacking from the east, the Gauls mutinied, hoping to profit from the situation. Ptolemy reacted quickly, forcing the around 4,000 mercenaries onto an
island in the ninth (and middle) Sebennytic branch mouth of the Nile, named
after the town of Sebennytos33 which lay upon it, where, as Pausanias informs
us they perished at one anothers hands or by famine.34
Images such as Bes, and also Harpocrates, in their military forms, could be
addressed at Egyptians and Greeks and Macedonians alike, but, as I would like
to suggest, mainly at Egyptians.
By way of conclusion I would like to make the following remarks:
First I have not found any papyrological evidence, for instance to connect
the god Bes with the Ptolemaic machimoi, based on the sources from Upper
Egypt. This is one of the ways in which my research will be directed in the
future.
Second we should give sufficient attention to a significant complication
in research in this field, namely the Hellenization of some native Egyptians,
not least the semantic translation of some of their names into their Greek
equivalents, which may mask the presence of the local ethnic element in the
military elite surrounding the king during this period.
von Sieglin. 2. Terrakotten. Expedition Ernst von Sieglin. Ausgrabungen in Alexandria. Bd. II,
2. (Leipzig: Giesecke & Devrient, 1924) 61, 187.
31 About guard cavalry regiments in Ptolemaic Egypt, see N. Sekunda, The Ptolemaic Guard
Cavalry Regiment, Anabasis 3 (2012) 93108.
32 H.P. Laubscher, Ein ptolemisches..., 133; W.H. Mineur, Callimachus, Hymn to Delos,
Introduction and Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 1984) 17; E. Kistler, Funktionalisierte
Keltenbilder: die Indienstnahme der Kelten zur Vermittlung von Normen und Werten in der
hellenistischen Welt (Berlin: Verlag Antike, 2009) 214.
33 Strabo 17, 19; H. Hubert, M. Mauss, R. Lantier, J. Marx, M. R. Dobie, The greatness and
decline of the Celts (London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1934) 51; S. Jdraszek, Wybrane
aspekty odnoszce si do obecnoci celtyckich najemnikw w siach militarnych
Lagidw in Celtica. Studia z dziejw Celtw, T.1 (ed. D. Waszak; Kalisz: Stowarzyszenie
Humanitas, Oswiecim: Wydawnictwo Napoleon V, 2013) 7192.
34 (Paus. 1.7.2, translation W.H.S. Jones Loeb ed.). See also Callim. Hymn 4, 171187.
Figure 5
283
A pottery flask, modelled in the round, in the form of Bes riding a horse, which has
fallen to its knees. Ptolemaic period, second century BC.
284
Jdraszek
Figure 6
Bes as warrior. Egypt, Tell Atrib, Hellenistic period, Collection
Fouquet.
After, H.P. Laubscher, Ein ptolemisches Gallierdenkmal,
AntK 30, 2 (1987) 154, pl. 21.6.
Third common sense dictates that Egyptian deities like Harpocrates and Bes
should have been mainly worshiped by Egyptian warriors, both by lower rank
and hierarchy and but also by the military elite.35
Fourth in the case of terracotta statuettes, which imagined the deity in the
iconographic context of warriors, we have multi-level symbolism of meaning.
Finally, with regard to the Bes aspect, it should be noted that the unusually diverse iconography of this deity refers to its military aspect constitutes
a mechanism enabling an unusually broad range of contemporary interpretations, not only aimed at the attributes of the deity itself, but enabling the drawing of conclusions regarding historical changes which took place in Hellenistic
and also in Roman Egypt, as has been implied in this paper.
35 According to David Frankfurter: ...Bes the soldier, reflecting a new Egyptian image
of protective power developed through the centuries Greek and Roman rule, [...] His
shield is Galatian, however, not Roman, suggesting a Barbarian from the Roman perspective instead of the southern tribes that Bes had traditionally recalled. His strength
comes from this new frontier, after: D. Frankfurter, Religion in Society: Greco-Roman
in A Companion to Ancient Egypt: Two Volume Set (ed. A.B. Lloyd, Chichester: John Wiley
& Sons, 2010) 528.
285
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1995).
V. Tran Tam Tinh, Bes, LIMC III/1 (1986) 98108.
W. Weber, Die gyptisch-griechischen terrakotten (Berlin: K. Curtius, 1914).
J.K. Winnicki, Die gypter und das Ptolemerheer, Aegyptus 65, 1/2 (1985) 4155.
Part 3
Rome
Clenar larans etnam svalce: Myth, Religion, and

Warfare in Etruria
Joshua R. Hall
The Etruscans were a notoriously superstitious people when it came to religion.
Livy describes the Etruscans as more devoted to religion than all other peoples (5.1.6), while Arnobius, at the beginning of the fourth century AD, could
still recall the Etruscans as the source of all superstition (7.26.4). This picture
is often repeated by modern authors, but at least as far back as Pallottino, we
have been reminded that perhaps it was the differences between Greco-Roman
religion and that of the Etruscans which resulted in this ancient consensus.1
While considerable work has been done on the religion of the Etruscans in the
last century and first decades of this century, its relationship with warfare has
been almost entirely ignored.2 The purpose of this paper is to explore the links
between these two aspects of Etruscan society and to serve as a preliminary
survey showing how war and religion influenced one another. It will first look
at how religion and warfare fit into a complex picture of social power and its
execution, next we will examine the connections between the deities of the
Etruscan pantheon and warfare, and finally this paper will examine evidence
for practical connections between religion and warfare in Etruria.

Religion, War, and Social Power
The analysis of this chapter is heavily influenced by modern ideas of social

power and the creation of networks of power within a given society. Within
this modern theory, the work of Michael Mann occupies an important place.3
The framework that he has created for social analysis helps to understand
the interactions of different social phenomenon with each other; these phenomena are broken down into four basic types of social power: ideological,
1 M. Pallottino, The Etruscans (London: Penguin, 1955) 15457.

2 For an up to date introduction to Etruscan religion (with bibliography), see G. Camporeale,
Gli Etruschi: Storia e civilt (third edition) (Milan: UTET, 2011) 13556.
3 M. Mann, The Sources of Social Power. Volume 1: A history of Power from the Beginning to AD
1760 (New Edition) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
292
Hall
economic, military, and political.4 Unique to Manns conception of social

power is his separation of military power from political. For the current analysis, it is helpful to acknowledge, as Mann does, that different sources of power
affect different expressions of said power, and that to understand the workings
of a society we must understand how these elements of power were expressed.
In Etruria, all aspects of social power were expressed through the dominant
elites who seem to have ruled the Etruscan cities. In particular, the following analysis examines how ideological and military power were connected
throughout Etruscan history in order for the dominant social players to maintain their positions.
The intertwining of ideological and military power can be seen as far back
as the Terramare culture, for which we now have evidence of ritual destruction
of bronze swords/daggers being incorporated into a burial ritual.5 Although
these practices were not common in Etruria during much of the Bronze Age,
as the Iron Age culture developed, the institutionalizing of the warrior identity in burial began to be elaborated.6 The ritualized warrior burial reached its
zenith around the turn of the eighth century, a predominance which lasted
until the middle of the seventh century.7 These ritualized warriors should
not, however, be confused with actual warriors/soldiers; we cannot say for sure
whether the individuals we have recovered from tombs actually fought in wars,
but what is important for us to acknowledge is the inclusion of this warrior
ideal as an element of elite identity.8
4 Ibidem, 2228. This type of analysis in sociology is not entirely new, although Manns
articulation is the most useful and influential in the modern scholarship, see R. Schroeder,
Introduction: the IEMP model and its critics in An Anatomy of Power: the Social Theory of
Michael Mann (eds. J.A. Hall, R. Schroeder, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
116.
5 C. Iaia, Warrior identity and the materialization of power in Early Iron Age Etruria, in
Accordia Research Papers Volume 12 (eds. R.D. Whitehouse, J.B. Wilkins, London: Accordia
Research Institute, University of London, 2013) 724.
6 Ibidem; C. Iaia, Metalwork, rituals and the making of elite identity in central western Italy at
the Bronze-Iron Age transition in Exchange Networks and Local Transformations: interaction
and local change in Europe and the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age
(eds. M.E. Alberti, S. Sabatini, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2013) 10216.
7 P.F. Stary, Foreign Elements in Etruscan Arms and Armour: 8th to 3rd centuries B.C., PPS 45
(1979) 179206.
8 C. Riva, The Urbanization of Etruria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 7495.
For a comparative view on Greek warrior burials see J. Whitley, Objects with Attitude:
biographical facts and fallacies in the study of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warrior
graves, CAJ 12 (2002) 21732.
Myth, Religion, and Warfare in Etruria
293
Although the militaristic aspects of these burials is often emphasized, they

provide evidence that power was expressed in a more complicated way, and
often included religious, or cultic, aspects. As Riva points out, tools relating
to ritual sacrifice and cooking were present in a number of these tombs.9
Connections between military and religious power exist, also, outside of
the tomb. For example, the frieze from Poggio Civitate (Murlo) (inv. 68-265)
depicts a seated figure, most probably a figure of authority, holding a lituus
while his attendant, immediately to the figures rear, holds a spear and sword
at the ready.10 An actual example of a lituus was found in a sixth century tomb
at Caere.11 This priestly wand is described by the Roman sources as a curved
staff without knots.12 Further evidence provides a link between elites (ritualized warriors) and religion.
We know that certain presumably elite families were closely connected to
certain deities and certain rituals. When the Romans sacked Veii (c. 396), the
young men who were responsible for moving Junos statue back to Rome were
apprehensive about touching the statue as only members of a certain Etruscan
gens were accustomed to touching it.13 It is also known that some Etruscan
families had familial cults associated with important deities, such as the cult
of Uni Ursmnei, or Uni of the Ursmnei family.14 We also know, from the Capua
Tablet (TLE 2), that certain families were responsible for conducting rituals
prescribed by a formal religious calendar.15
9 Riva, Urbanization..., 903.

10 Illustrated in R.H. Sinos, Godlike Men: a discussion of the Murlo Procession Frieze in
Murlo and the Etruscans: art and society in Ancient Etruria (eds. R.D. de Puma, J.P. Small,
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994) 102, fig. 11.3. Connections between religious and political iconographies of power at Poggio Civitate have been proposed by
A. Tuck, The Social and Poitical Context of the 7th Century Architectural Terracottas at
Poggio Civitate (Murlo) in Deliciae Fictiles III. Architectural Terracottas in Ancient Italy:
New Discoveries and Interpretations (eds. I. Edlund-Berry, G. Greco, J. Kenfield, Oxford:
Oxbow, 2006) 13035.
11 A. Pfiffig, Religio Etrusca (Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1975) 99.
12 Livy 1.18. It was purported to have been brought to Rome, as a religious or regal symbol by
the early kings, cf. Cic. De Div. 2.80; Verg. Aen. 7.187.
13 Livy 5.22.
14 J.-R. Jannot, Religion in Ancient Etruria (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005)
812.
15 Ibidem, 81. For a full analysis of the Capua Tablet, see M. Cristofani, Tabula Capuana: un
calendario festive di et arcaica (Florence: L.S. Olschki, 1995).
294
Hall
Unlike in the Greek world, there was not a strong tradition of dedicating
captured arms or spoils in Etruscan temples.16 There is evidence, though, that
Etruscan cites or individual elites did dedicate offerings of some kind after
a military victory, although this does not seem to be common.17 Rather than
practicing this ritualized dedication, it is more likely that Etruscan elites dedicated entire temples after military victories.18 This behavior was common in the
neighboring Roman Republic, with Becker counting 37 instances of new temple dedication during the Republican period.19 The only certain instance of an
Etruscan temple being dedicated by an individual is that of Pyrgi, dedicated by
Thefarie Velianas.20 If, indeed, temples were commonly dedicated by victorious generals, or other private citizens after a military victory, their importance
should not be underestimated. These structures add a religious element to the
dialogue of monumentality already at play with elite constructions, such as
those at Poggio Civitate and Acquarossa.21 Temples dedicated after a military
victory would keep that success in the forefront of socio-political discussions
16 The closest parallel to these Hellenic dedications in Central Italy is perhaps the Roman
practice of dedicating the spolia opima. This practice itself is controversial in the modern
literature, and has recently been reviewed by M. McDonnell, Aristocratic Competition,
Horses, and the Spolia Opima Once Again in A Tall Order: writing the social history of the
Ancient World. Essays in honor of William V. Harris (eds. J.-J. Aubert, Z. Vrhelyi, Munich:
K.G. Saur, 2005) 14560.
17 There is some evidence of Etruscan dedications at Delphi after a military victory. Though
the source of the dedications in question is unknown, Strabo (5.2.3) does record that
Caere kept a sanctuary at Delphi and it is possible the dedications originated from that
city. The Etruscan dedications may have been part of a play for spatial dominance at
the sanctuary, possibly competing with Lipara; see M. Scott, Delphi and Olympia: the spatial politics of panhellenism in the archaic and classical periods (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2010) 913; G. Colonna, Apollon, les trusques et Lipara, MFRA 96
(1984) 55778. Evidence of individuals dedicating offerings after a victory is provided
by the Elogia from Tarquinia, which may claim that Velthur Spurinna dedicated a number of metal items to a deity following a successful military campaign: M. Torelli, Elogia
Tarquiniensia (Florence: Sansoni, 1975) 3038. Interpretation of these inscriptions, however, is difficult and should be made with caution, see the review of T.J. Cornell, Principes
of Tarquinia, JRS 68 (1978) 16773.
18 H. Becker, The Economic Agency of the Etruscan Temple: elites, dedications and display
in Votives, Places and Rituals in Etruscan Religion (eds. M. Gleba, H. Becker, Leiden: Brill,
2009) 8799.
19 Ibidem, 92 n. 20.
20 G. Colonna, La donazione pyrgense di Thefarie Velianas, ArchCl 17 (1965) 28692.
21 G.E. Meyers, Introduction: the experience of monumentality in Etruscan and Early
Roman architecture in Monumentality in Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture: ideology and innovation (eds. M.L. Thomas, G.E. Meyers, Austin: University of Texas Press,
2012) 120.
295
in those communities. Keeping these memories in the minds of contemporary

peers enhanced the status and power of those who dedicated the temples.22
This would have been extremely important in a socio-political environment
which saw elite families competing for power within their communities.
Temples and other monumental structures also provided ample space for
elites to display, advertise, and encourage their way of life, including warfare.23
This is best shown by the terracotta plaques which were used to decorate many
of these structures.24 These frieze plaques showed a number of military scenes,
such as the departure of warriors, victory,25 and cavalry charges/maneuvers.26
Beyond the basic association of some of these plaques with temples, there is
a possible linkage of religion and warfare in the images themselves. The best
example of this is from Tuscania currently in Munich;27 the plaque shows the
departure of two warriors on foot, and a third mounting a chariot, but the lead
figure, who is not armed, is holding what is most probably a lituus.28 Whether
this is an image of warriors being escorted to the next life or departing for
actual war, the presence of a priest confirms a connection between warfare
and religion.29
Although brief, this survey has shown how elite Etruscan families used
religion in conjunction with warfare to enhance or maintain their position in
22 J. Marcus, Monumentality in Archaic States: lessons learned from large-scale excavations of the past, in Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and
New World perspectives (eds. J.K. Papadopoulos, R.M. Leventhal, Los Angeles: The Cotsen
Institute of Archaeology, 2003) 11534.
23 This display would have been important within the immediate community, as well as
on a regional level if it is true that foreigners would have frequented these temples:
F. Glinister, Gifts of the Gods: sanctuary and society in Archaic Tyrrhenian Italy in
Inhabiting Symbols: symbol & image in the ancient Mediterranean (eds. J.B. Wilkins,
E. Herring, London: Accordia Research Institute, University of London, 2003) 13747.
24 C. Roth-Murray, Elite Interaction in Archaic Etruria: exploring the exchange networks of
terracotta figured frieze plaques, JMS 17.1 (2007) 135160.
25 C. Chateigner, Cortges en armes en trurie, RBPhil 67.1 (1989) 12238.
26 For instance, the cavalry frieze of the so-called Veii-Velletri-Rome system shows a number of charging horsemen. See: N. Winter, Symbols of Wealth and Power: Architectural
Terracotta Decoration in Etruria and Central Italy, 640510 B.C. Supplement to the Memoirs
of the American Academy in Rome 9 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009)
31194.
27 Museum antiker Kleinkunst 5033.
28 Chateigner, Cortges..., 12425, fig. 1.
29 Note the analysis of the iconography of power at Chiusi, J.-R. Jannot, Insignia Potestatis:
les signes du pouvoir dans liconographie de Chiusi in La Civilt di Chiusi e del suo
Territorio. Atti del XVII convegno di studi Etruschi ed Italici Chianciano Terme. 28 maggio
1 giugno 1989 (ed. G. Maetzke; Florence: L.S. Olschki, 1993) 21737.
296
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society. This was done through a ritualized burial beginning in the Iron Age,
which displayed the deceased as both warrior and executor of ritual. As funeral
rights were becoming less ornate and complicated, new means of display were
developed, such as the dedication of temples and the development of a complicated iconography of power, which exploit both religious and militaristic
themes.

The Gods and War
The gods of Etruria were portrayed, in some instances, as warriors. This is not
uncommon in the Ancient Mediterranean. In the Hellenic world, a number of
gods were associated with war or were thought to actively participate in mortal warfare.30 Ares was the god of war par excellence. He is portrayed in some
sources as representing the mindless carnage of combat and all of the awful
things that that entailed.31 Alternatively, Ares, the embodiment of war, could
also be seen in a more positive light, even being described as (protector of cities),32 which is more often associated with Athena. Sharing primacy
in war along with Ares was Athena, who is often represented as the cool and
cunning side of warfare: tactical and orderly. The personalities of these two
deities of war, however, are considerably more complicated than we have time
to explore.33 Within the Greek pantheon, as well, we find a number of other
deities associated with war, which may have varied from polis to polis.34
The Etruscan pantheon is no less diverse and interesting than that of the
Greeks, in some ways it is even more interesting. What sets it apart, however,
is our comparative lack of knowledge, thanks to the usual combination of lack
of Etruscan literature and questionably useful Greco-Roman sources. We do
know, however, that this pantheon was complex and seemed to have been
influenced, in some ways, by contact with Hellenic and Latin culture although,
we cannot underestimate the differences between the Etruscan deities and
30 L. Rawlings, The Ancient Greeks at War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007)
17779.
31 Ibidem, 177. See W. Burkert, Greek Religion (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985) 16970.
32 HH 8.
33 See S. Deacy, Athena and Ares: war, violence and warlike deities in War and Violence in
Ancient Greece (ed. H. van Wees, Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2000) 28598.
34 Cf. A.C. Villing, Aspects of Athena in the Greek Polis: Sparta and Corinth in What is a
God? Studies in the nature of Greek divinity (ed. A.B. Lloyd, Swansea: The Classical Press of
Wales, 1997).
297
their supposed Greek and Roman counterparts.35 This being said, the pantheon of the Etruscans had parallels for both Ares and Athena.
Laran has come to be identified with Ares/Mars within the Etruscan
pantheon.36 It has been suggested that this deity was added into the Etruscan
pantheon relatively late in their cultural history.37 We do not hear of him until
the fourth century BC, and he is not found among the gods of the Piacenza
liver. His equivalency with Ares/Mars is confirmed by a number of depictions along canonical lines, such as his participation in a gigantomachy on a
mirror from Populonia38 or his placement with Turan, Aphrodite.39 Athena/
Minerva is represented in the Etruscan pantheon by Menerva. Many images
exist of Menerva as an armed deity, often using similar iconography to that of
the Hellenic variety of the deity.40 The origin of Menerva is controversial, with
some scholars believing her to be an indigenous Etruscan deity, while others
believe that she was an externally influenced creation.41
Other deities appear as armed figures in Etruscan iconography. Mari,
once thought to be the Etruscan equivalent of Mars, appears armed in many
depictions.42 The nature of this deity, though, is controversial, and his place
within Etruscan religious workings is not well understood. De Grummond has
proposed that Mari is best understood as an equivalent to the Latin Genius,
although a consensus has yet to be reached.43 Sethlans, the Etruscan interpretation of Hephaistos/Vulcan, is depicted on a fourth century mirror
from Arezzo wielding a two headed axe.44 Although there is no strong connection between Sethlans and warfare, as a god of crafts he may have been
35 N.T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006) 1215.
36 de Grummond, Etruscan..., 13840; Jannot, Religion..., 16465; E. Simon, Ares/Laran,
LIMC 2.498505.
37 Jannot, Religion..., 164.
38 Simon, Ares/Laran..., 501, with bibliography.
39 Ibidem, 502503.
40 de Grummond, Etruscan..., 718.
41 Cf. M. Torelli, Religione e rituali dal mondo latino a quello etrusco: un capitol della protostoria, AnnFaina 16 (2009) 12021; E. Simon, Gods in Harmony: the Etruscan Pantheon
in The Religion of the Etruscans (eds. N.T. de Grummond, E. Simon, Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2006) 59; Jannot, Religion..., 14749.
42 For example CSE 2.16a, which shows Mari, armed with a spear, seated in the presence of
Tinia and Lasa.
43 de Grummond, Etruscan..., 14044.
44 CSE 1.1.13a.
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associated with the production of arms and armour,45 although his cult is
almost unknown from the archaeology of Etruria.
A number of heroic figures, whose story is as much mythology as history,
are also characterized by their military character. Important for our discussion are the figures of Caele and Avle Vipinas. The exploit most closely associated with the Vipinas is the etymological association of Caele and the Caelian
Hill in Rome. The often cited speech of the emperor Claudius also describes
Caele as the companion of Macstarna, who was to become the Roman king,
Servius Tullius.46 Importantly for Etruscan religion, however, the brothers
Vipinas famously ambush and most likely captured the prophet Cacu. In various images, the brothers are depicted as armed and threatening towards the
prophet and his assistant, Artile.47 This story may be representative of the
importance of the revealed divine knowledge of Etruscan religious belief, it
was important enough to be taken by the sword.
The gods of Etruria were not just figures to be etched on mirrors or sculpted
in bronze, they played an active part in the lives of the Etruscans. The gods
communicated through a variety of signs which could be interpreted by those
with sacred knowledge, the elites of which we have spoken above. Knowledge
of divination was passed down through families, and was most likely a guarded
secret.48 Of these practices, the divinatory examination of livers and entrails
(haruspicy) is possibly the most well known. This examination could tell the
haruspex the will of the gods through observation of the blood, anatomical
defects, or disease.49 Undoubtedly the gods were consulted in this manner
when war was on the horizon. Although typically associated with Roman practices, divination by watching the flight of birds, taking the auspices, was practiced in Etruria. We likely have an example of this practice being used to seek
the gods will regarding warfare in a painting from the Franois Tomb, Vulci. An
Etruscan augur named Vel Saties is watching the flight of what is likely a woodpecker, a bird sacred to Laran. If this interpretation of the painting is correct, it
shows the importance of avian divination to warfare.50
45 Cf. Burkert, Greek Religion..., 16768.

46 ILS 212.1.8-27. See, T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze
Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000264 BC) (London: Routledge, 1995) 13338.
47 de Grummond, Etruscan..., 28 (fig. II.5), 17475 (figs. VIII.12).
48 Cic. Fam. 6.6; Tac. Ann. 11.14. Cf. N.T. de Grummond, Prophets and Priests in The Religion
of the Etruscans (eds. N.T. de Grummond, E. Simon, Austin: University of Texas Press,
2006) 3435; Jannot, Religion..., 58, 23.
49 Jannot, Religion..., 214.
50 Ibidem, 278.
299
The form of divination for which we have the most knowledge of, however,
is the art of the fulgurator, brontoscopia, the examination of thunder and lightning. Understanding the will of the gods through lightening was extremely
important for the Etruscans. The exact nature of how this worked is not quite
clear, however. Some sources believed that only nine gods of the Etruscan pantheon could wield the lightning-bolts which communicated with mortal men.51
To further elaborate the tradition, Seneca describes three different types
of lightning which have different meanings.52 This tradition is controversial
among modern historians, however, and influences ranging from the Near East
to the Greek world have been proposed as the source of this Roman tradition
about the Etruscans.53 What is important for the current survey, though, is a
divinatory calendar based on brontoscopy preserved in an early Byzantine text.
John the Lydian (fl. 6th century AD) compiled a work on omens (de ostentis)
which included a section (2738) on brontoscopia. For some time, this text has
been neglected because it drew strong opinions on its antiquity.54 Recently,
though, a strong argument has been made by Turfa as to its usefulness in
analyzing Etruscan society.55 In brief, although the calendar owes some of its
structure and contents to a Near Eastern or Mesopotamian origin, the bulk of
the information it contains can be included in the discussion of Etruscan history. The contents of the calendar reveal the importance of divining war to the
Etruscans. While thunder being heard on four days throughout the year may
indicate the coming of peace, approximately thirty-one days of the year signal
war if thunder is heard.56 The details of these predicted wars are diverse. For
example, if thunder is heard on 25 November the coming war will be very
dangerous, while thunder on the next day, 26 November, will signal civil war
and much death.57 The varying degrees of severity and threat could indicate
a mechanism by which the diviner could manipulate those listening to his
advice. The abundant appearances of warfare in the Brontoscopic Calendar are
51 Pliny NH 2.13840. Tinia is also credited with possessing three types of lightning.
52 Sen. Q Nat. 2.39, 49; see however 2.47.
53 For the most up-to-date discussion with full bibliography, see J.M. Turfa, Divining the
Etruscan World: the Brontoscopic Calendar and religious practice (Cambridge: Cambridge
54 G. Dumzil, Archaic Roman Religion: with an appendix on the religion of the Etruscans
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970) 2.63749.
55 Turfa, Divining..., 318.
56 We could, possibly, include two more instances. For 27 June thunder would indicate
danger from the army for the men in power, while thunder on 3 January indicates loss
after victory for those in war. Although these do not directly predict war, they do pertain
to war. Translations adapted from Turfa, Divining..., 88, 96.
57 Ibidem, 95.
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a further link between religion and warfare in Etruria. Because the interpretation of these omens was restricted to certain elite families, this ritual helped to
further the dominance of the elite classes.
This section has surveyed the role of the gods in warfare. Certain deities
were closely associated with warfare, and show close parallels to Greek and
Roman gods. Martial pressure in the form of an ambush or raid allowed certain Etruscan heroes to seize and exploit the religious knowledge of prophets.
Between the actual deities of the Etruscan pantheon, and the revealed knowledge of the prophets, enlightened Etruscans were able to see the will of the
gods through certain portents, the best known to us being through thunder.
Conclusions
The preceding survey is meant as an introduction to the association between
war and religion in the Etruscan world. Although it is brief and leaves much
analysis to be done, it has shown that religion and warfare had a complex
relationship in Etruria. From contributing to the identity of Iron Age elites, to
being two parts of the Etruscan iconography of power, war and religion combined to elevate certain individuals and families above their peers. We have
also seen how the gods were both equipped for war and were willing to share
their knowledge of wars to come through divinatory rituals. Above all, I hope
that this paper has given the reader an overview of how an intertwining of religious and military rituals and symbolism contributed to the network of power
which helped to support the despotic heterarchy of the Etruscan elites.
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in A Tall Order: writing the social history of the Ancient World. Essays in honor of
William V. Harris (eds. J.-J. Aubert, Z. Vrhelyi, Munich: K.G. Saur, 2005) 14560.
G.E. Meyers, Introduction: the experience of monumentality in Etruscan and Early
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ideology and innovation (eds. M.L. Thomas, G. E. Meyers, Austin: University of Texas
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A. Pfiffig, Religio Etrusca (Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1975).
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C. Roth-Murray, Elite Interaction in Archaic Etruria: exploring the exchange networks
of terracotta figured frieze plaques, JMS 17.1 (2007) 135160.
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the Social Theory of Michael Mann (eds. J.A. Hall, R. Schroeder, Cambridge:
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M. Scott, Delphi and Olympia: the spatial politics of panhellenism in the archaic and
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, Gods in Harmony: the Etruscan Pantheon in The Religion of the Etruscans
(eds. N.T. de Grummond, E. Simon, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006) 4565.
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The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Campus Martius:

Peace and War, Antinomic or Complementary
Realities in the Roman World1
Dan-Tudor Ionescu
The main aim of my study is to try to decipher and understand the symbols
and the myths encrypted in the friezes of the facades of the famous Altar
of the Augustan Peace (the Ara Pacis Augustae) situated in the Campus Martius
(the Field of Mars, nowadays the Campo Marzio) in Rome.
The Ara Pacis Augustae was erected (according to the Roman ritual of constitutio/religious beginning of the construction process) on the fourth of July 13
BC and it was consecrated (according to the Roman rite of dedicatio/definitive
consecration of a religious building or space to the gods) on the thirtieth of
January 9 BC. Augustus himself had written in his Res Gestae 12 (his Deeds or
political autobiography and testament) that on the occasion of his safe return
from Gaul and Spain the Senate of Rome had decided to build in his honour
an Ara (Altar) of the Augustan Peace, during the consulates of Tiberius Nero
and Publius Quinctilius. The thirtieth of January was the birthday of Livia,
Augustus wife; however, one cannot affirm in all certainty that the dedication
of the Ara Pacis Augustae (The Altar of the Augustan Peace) was done on purpose on Livia Augustas birthday. According to the Res Gestae 1113 (mainly
12.2), a yearly sacrifice should have commemorated this event (the erection
of the Ara Pacis (the Altar of Peace) in honour of Augustus return from the
provinces of Gaul and Spain). The authorities in charge with the cult sacrifices
within the Ara Pacis Augustae were the Roman pagan priests, the Senate of
Rome, and the Vestal Virgins. The annual sacrifice was probably meant to commemorate both this event and the peace brought by Augustus new regime.2
1 The content of this article is a continuation of my research written and previously published in Italian and entitled: D.-T. Ionescu, Ara Pacis Augustae: un simbolo delet augustea.
Considerazioni storico-religiose tra Pax Augusta e Pax Augusti, Civilt Romana I (2014)
75107.
2 E. La Rocca, Ara Pacis Augustae In Occasione del Restauro della Fronte Orientale (Roma:
LErma di Bretschneider, 1983) 1011; in fact, the emphasis Augustus had put in his Res Gestae
34.13 on his role as the Pacator Urbis and on the honors bestowed upon him by the grateful
Roman Senate (the clupeus i.e. the shield put into the Curia Iulia for his qualities of virtus,
pietas, iustitia, and clementia) is proof enough (at least in my humble opinion) for the image
he intended to leave to posterity. According to Suetonius Vita Divi Augusti (28.2), Augustus
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This Ara Pacis Augustae was not the only one monument of this kind built
during the reign of Augustus: to the south of Rome, before the Porta Capena
(the Capena Gate) and the temple of Honos et Virtus (the deities of Honour and
Courage), there had been constructed another altar, the Ara Fortunae Reducis
(the Altar of the goddess Fortuna Redux, the Good Fate that presided over
Augustus happy return from Syria to Rome in the year 19 BC). This Ara Fortunae
Reducis was constituta (erected) on the twelfth of October 19 BC and it was dedicata (consecrated) on the fifteenth of December the same year. In the same
area of the Porta Capena, at least according to Livy (Ab Urbe Cond.1.26.25),
the victor Horatius over the three Curiatii had stabbed his sister to death,
because she dared to weep for her dead betrothed, one of the vanquished
Curiatii brothers. One should also remember that two of the Horatii had fallen
in this combat between champions (Livy Ab Urbe Cond.1.25.14). This mythical
fight has united the Latin cities of Alba Longa and Rome, under the leadership
of Rome. Both Augustus and the Roman Senate were well aware of the connection between different historical regions of Rome (such as the Palatine hill,
the Capitolium hill, the Porta Capena area, and the Campus Martius) and the
founding myths of Rome.
According to the myth and legend narrated by Livy (Ab Urbe Cond.1.16.12),
on the Campus Martius (the field dedicated to the war god Mars) Romulus
himself was mustering his army, near the swamp of Capra (Palus Caprae or the
swamp of the Goat), and there he was taken to Heaven by the gods, according to the vision narrated by Julius Proculus to the bewildered first Romans
(Livy Ab Urbe Cond.1.16.38). There in the time of Romulus was built an altar to
Mars (Ara Martis) and this field was destined to abide the military exercises of
the first Roman armies, the dilectus (recruitment) of the future young soldiers,
himself in one of his edicts proclaimed that he Quam voluntatem, cum prae se identidem
ferret, quodam etiam edicto his verbis testatus est: Ita mihi salvam ac sospitem rem p.sistere in
sua sede liceat atque eius rei fructum percipere, quem peto, ut optimi status auctor dicar et
moriens ut feram mecum spem, mansura in vestigio suo fundamenta rei p.quae iecero /His
good intentions he not only expressed from time to time, but put them on record as well in an
edict in the following words: May it be my privilege to establish the State in a firm and secure
position, and reap from that act the fruit that I desire: but only if I may be called the author
of the best possible government, and bear with me the hope when I die that the foundations
which I have laid for the State will remain unshaken; and Suetonius concluded this passage:
Fecitque ipse se compotem voti nisus omni modo, ne quem novi status paeniteret/And he realized his hope by making every effort to prevent any dissatisfaction with the new regime: for the
Latin original text and the English translation vide Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars vol. I (with
an English translation by J.C. Rolfe; London, New York: William Heinemann, The Macmillan
Co., The Loeb Classical Library, 1914; T.E. Page, W.H.D. Rouse eds.) 1645.
The Ara Pacis Augustae And The Campus Martius
305
the military and athletic contests of the Roman youth, and finally the assemblies of the Comitia Centuriata (it was initially the military assembly of the
Roman people in arms, grouped into classes/social-economic groups and
divided into centuriae/hundreds that elected future magistrates endowed with
the power of military commanders). In this field dedicated to Mars and to the
Roman Iuventus (therefore to Youth as the future of the Eternal City) by the will
of the Senate of Rome it was consecrated an altar to the Augustan Peace.3
The Ara Pacis was integrated in a system of monuments in the northern
part of the Campus Martius: the Mausoleum Augusti (the Mausoleum of
Augustus), the Meridianum/Horologium Solarium Augusti (the Solar Meridian/
Clock of Augustus), the Ustrinum Augusti (the funeral pyre of Augustus), and
the Pantheon (the temple dedicated to all gods). In the Res Gestae Divi Augusti
(The Deeds of the Divine Augustus 1113), one can hear over a span of time of
two millennia Augustus very words: he basically wrote that the Roman Senate
had ordered to be built in his honour the Ara Fortunae Reducis (the Altar of the
Fortuna Redux, the goddess Fortune that presided over happy returns home
from voyages and expeditions) and the Ara Pacis Augustae, and that sacrifices
were to be performed there in his honor by the magistrates, the priests, and
the Vestal virgins. There is an obvious correlation between the architectural
3 E. Ponti, Ara Pacis Augustae Origine-Storia-Significato (Roma: Vittorio Ferri-Editore, 1938) 11;
La Rocca, Ara..., 11; S. Settis, Die Ara Pacis, in Kaiser Augustus und die Verlorene Republik
(Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philip Von Zabern, 1988) 401; in fact these two phases in the building and consecration of the Ara Pacis Augustae are mentioned by Ovid (Fasti.1.709). The date
of Fourth of July as the Constitutio (Building, Construction) of the Ara Pacis is given also
by the Fasti Amiternini (the Fasti from Amiternum) and by the Fasti Antiates (the Fasti of
Antium). According to both the Fasti Amiternini and with the Res Gestae 12.2, the Constitutio
Arae (the Construction of the Altar) had taken place in the year 13 BC, under the consulship
of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quinctilius Varus (the future Roman army commander responsible later in the AD 9 for the disaster of three Roman legions and nine auxiliary units in the
Teutoburg Forest) vide A. Murdoch, Romes Greatest Defeat in the Teutoburg Forest (Thrupp
Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2006) 556; both Tiberius and Varus
appearing as consuls on the southern frieze of the Ara (Altar), between Augustus and the
Flamines (the special collegium/association of Roman priests) and the Consecratio/Dedicatio
Arae Pacis Augustae (the Consecration of the Altar of the Augustan Peace) had taken place on
the Thirtieth of Januray (Livias birthday), according to the Acta Fratrum Arvalium (the Acts
of the Arvalian Brothers), to the Fasti Caeretani (the Fasti from Caeres), to the Fasti Verulani
(the Fasti from Verulum), and also according to the Fasti Praenestini (the Fasti from the city
of Praeneste; Fasti was a type of Roman-Italic religious-astronomical calendar). Moreover,
the Fasti Praenestini contain the valuable information that the Dedicatio Arae Pacis has taken
place during the consulship of Drusus and Crispinus that was in the year 9 BC vide Settis,
Die Ara Pacis..., 4001.
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Ionescu
and sculptural monuments that were mentioned in the Res Gestae and the very
text of the Res Gestae; one can find here the ingenious device of the political
ideology promoted by Augustus. That was in fact the official initiative of the
Senate and thus the continuity between the new regime of personal power and
the old republican forms of government were apparently ensured. Although
it could appear a bit far-fetched and anachronistic, this is in fact true political
propaganda. Nevertheless, it was a shrewder move than the mere proclaiming
of the virtues of the Princeps (the Princeps Senatus, the first of the Senators
that was no other than the Emperor Augustus himself) by himself: it was in fact
the old representative institution of the Res Publica (the Public Thing i.e. the
Roman state), the Roman Senate that empowered the magistrates, the pagan
priests, and the Vestals to sacrifice on this altar in honour of the Augustan
Peace or Pax Augusta.4
One should underline that we have started with the assumption that the
altar or Ara that has been found in the area of San Lorenzo in Lucina, underneath the foundations of the Ottoboni-Peretti-Fiano-Almagi palace, was the
true above mentioned Ara Pacis Augustae. In fact, although the majority of
the scholars admit that identification, there are also other scholars who doubt
or even deny that allegation.5 Nevertheless, for the start of this study we shall
begin with the assumption that the Ara found underneath the foundations of
the Palazzo Ottoboni-Peretti-Fiano-Almagi is the true Ara Pacis Augustae.
Returning to the period previous to the foundation of the Ara Pacis Augustae,
one should return to the Ara Fortunae Reducis. The erection of the Ara Fortunae
Reducis was preceded by the ceremony named ire obviam, going to encounter
the main character of this ritual, in that case Augustus himself. The consul
L. Lucretius, part of the praetors, of the plebeian tribunes (tribuni plebis), and
of the senators went in Campania in order to meet Augustus returning from
Syria. This event happened, as we have mentioned above, in the year 19 BC.
It was so to say a kind of precedent to the building of the more important Ara
Pacis Augustae during the years 139 BC. (therefore from six to ten years later),
honouring Augustus return from Gaul and Spain.6
4 P. Zanker, Augustus und die Macht der Bilder (Mnchen: C.H. Beck Verlag, 1987) 1267.
5 S. Weinstock, Pax and the Ara Pacis, JRS 50 (1960) 58 apud M. Schtz, The Horologium on
the Campus Martius reconsidered, JRA 24.1 (2011) 86.
6 La Rocca, Ara..., 911: as a matter of fact, the Augustan ideology of power has vacillated
between the image of the young and new Caesar Octavian (at the very beginning of Caius
Octavians spectacular political career at the young age of nineteen years old struggling to
be seen as the rightful and legitimate heir of the Divine Julius/Divus Iulius), the image of
the young all conquering hero of the oijkoumevnh/ko (oikoumene was the known
307
The General Description of the Monument. The Outer Upper

Friezes
We shall dwell here more on the external upper friezes of this monument. It
is in fact a monument built out of marble and on the original north and south
sides of the monument one can find two long relief scenes with deep religious
significance. About two thirds of the persons represented there are members
of the four religious and priestly collegia from Rome and also of the greatest
sacerdotia (priesthoods) of the pagan roman religion: the pontifs (pontifices),
the augurs (augures), the XV (quindecemdecem) viri sacris faciundis (the
and civilized world to the ancient Greeks and Romans) immediately after the victorious
battle of Actium (the second day of September 31 BC) and the conquest of Egypt (30 BC)Caesar Octavian as the victor terra marique (conqueror over land and sea), the pacator orbis
(peacemaker over the world), and eventually the dominus mundi (the world master: in
fact this image is going back to the icon of the ideal Hellenistic King, the new Alexander the
Great as a kind of world master or kosmokravtwr/ko); and finally the Augustan
iconography has arrived to the image of the mature Imperator Caesar Augustus (Emperor
Caesar Augustus: Imperator was the victorious Roman military commander of an army that
proclaimed him as such), the benevolent patron and protector of the Restored State or Res
Publica Restituta. It is enough to mention here the statue of Augustus discovered at (Livias?)
villa (manor country house) at Prima Porta as the eternally youthful and invincible Imperator,
making the gesture of adlocutio/allocutio (allocution was his speech addressed to the Roman
soldiers) and the statue of the mature Augustus on the Via Labicana as vir togatus, the man
wearing the toga and perhaps in the gesture of offering sacrifice. This last and final image
that Augustus has chosen to leave of himself to posterity is paradoxically more tributary to
the ideals of the Optimates leaders (the Best men of the Roman aristocracy that were also a
political faction of a kind of Roman Tories), such as Cato the Younger, as the great Pompey
in his mature age, and as M. Tullius Cicero, men hostile to the political or social innovations
or revolutions, the res novae, than to the ideas of the populares leaders (the Roman Whigs
so to say, the reformers and populist leaders of the Roman nobility/nobilitas), such as Julius
Caesar (C. Iulius Caesar). To be fair and square, the young Octavian at the very beginning
of his political career bore more resemblances with a Catilina type of leader than to the
image of the first man of the Senate (Princeps Senatus) the stern guardian of the way of
the ancestors (mos maiorum) who, according to his very words in the Res Gestae 34.3: Post
id tem[pus] auctoritate [omnibus praestiti, potes] tatis au[tem] nihilo amplius [habu]i quam
cet[eri qui] mihi quoque in ma[gis]tra[t]u conlegae [ fuerunt]/After that time I had outdone
all in prestige/influence (auctoritas), nevertheless I had no more legal power (potestas) than
the others who were my colleague officials (magistratus) (here the English translation from
Latin is mine) vide I. Lana, L. De Biasi, A.M. Ferrero (eds.), Gli Atti Compiuti e i frammenti delle
opere di Cesare Augusto Imperatore (a cura di Luciano de Biasi e Anna Maria Ferrero) (Torino:
Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese/UTET, vol. III; Classici Latini Collezione Fondata da
Augusto Rostagni Diretta da Italo Lana, 2003).
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Ionescu
fifteen men in charge with performing holy things/sacred affairs), the VII (septem)viri epulonum (the seven men in charge with the public banquets), and
the four flamines (Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, Flamen Quirinalis, i.e. the
flamines or priests in charge with the cult of Jupiter/Jove, Mars, and Quirinus,
and also the newly appointed Flamen Iulialis in honor of the Divus Iulius, the
deified Julius Caesar). On the original south side of the Altar of Augustan Peace,
there appeared Augustus himself and his right hand man, Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa. They both appear here in the posture of a man wearing the toga and
with the head covered or veiled by his toga/(vir togatus) capite velato, or men
dressed in togae with their heads veiled by their togae (viri togati capitibus
velatis); this is an attitude with a profound spiritual and religious meaning
to the ancient Romans, marking on the Ara Pacis Augustae the importance
of these two men. Apart from them both hewn in stone in this ritual posture on
the original south side of this monument, only two other male figures on the
original north side of the Ara Pacis Augustae are wearing their togae over their
heads. This posture emphasizes their utmost importance as priests. Because
most of the other members (at least the men) taking part in this procession or
gathering are only crowned (but not with the head covered or velato capite),
these four individuals are also marked out in this manner as the main priestly
figures of this crowd. One can also notice that around Augustus are standing
most of the lictores (the men wearing the fasces, the bundle of twigs wrapped
around the axe as the symbol of power of the Roman magistrate); he is represented as the tallest person of them all (except of Agrippa, who is represented
of equal stature with Augustus). In reality, Augustus was quite a short man and
because of that he wore high heeled shoes.7 This was done in order to hide
his small physical stature, but on the monument he towered the other figures
around him, except his son in law Marcus Agrippa.
Reading the Res Gestae 12, one can realize that it was offered an yearly sacrifice to the Pax Augusta (there is an implicit words play here: the Augustan
Peace or the August Peace) at her particular altar (Ara), not only by a single
association (collegium) of Roman priests, but by all the important magistrates,
the highest priests, and the Vestal Virgins. This was in itself a renewal and a
transformation of the traditional Roman state religion into something new,
according to the lines of the Augustan moral, juridical, and religious reforms.
The Roman priests had exerted earlier only their religious function in their
capacity as religious magistrates of the Roman state, sometimes parallel or
in close succession/connection with political, administrative, or even military duties. Only through the consulting of the Sibylline books (libri sibyllini)
7 Zanker, Augustus..., 127.
309
could they have had, as priests exerting a purely religious function, a true
influence in the political and civic decisions taken in the Roman state, by the
Senate and the People of Rome, according to the traditional Roman formula
(Senatus Populusque Romanus/The Roman Senate and People). Nowadays
under Augustus brave new regime, although the different Roman priesthoods
worked closer together than ever before, they could in fact only pray the gods
and goddesses for the welfare of Rome and of the Roman people.8
Only the most important figures as Augustus and Agrippa can be safely
identified. Augustus himself is identifiable not because of its preserved portrait
(because his face on the southern frieze of the Ara Pacis) was destroyed, but
because of his high stature, his privileged position in the procession (between
the Flamines and the Augures), and because of the fact he is surrounded
by the lictores. The rest, be they possibly Livia, Iulia, Tiberius, Drusus, Antonia
Minor, the children Lucius and Caius Caesar or Germanicus etc., because of
their idealized features, are not easily recognizable. One can only agree with
Zankers words that: Im Dienst der erneuerten pietas lst sich das Problem
der Macht und Rangordnung von sich selbst. Der Historische Augenblick wird
zum Leitbild fr eine ewige Ordnung.9
8 According to Ibidem, 1278 the bad portents or bad omina for the future of Rome were erased
from the Sibylline books during Augustus reign and the books themselves were taken (probably from the Capitolium or Capitoline hill) to the Palatine hill, where they were placed
under the custody of the god Apollo Palatinus (Apollo on the Palatine hill, near the house of
Augustus). Before starting the military expeditions, the Princeps always needed good omina;
the Roman emperor was always looking for good portents and prophetic signs, before going
to war. Augustus himself was represented with the curved stick or staff of the augures, the
lituus in his right hand, on an altar of the Lares (the gods of the Roman household and sometimes of the crossroads); to his right stands one of his grandsons (Caius or Lucius Caesar),
and to his left their mother and his daughter Julia, like a kind of goddess Venus, according
also to Ibidem, 1289. The veiled heads of the priests on the Ara Pacis showed that the ceremony is about to begin vide Ibidem, 128. In fact, because the figures are looking in different
directions, they could as well to be at the beginning or at the end of the ritual procession
leading to the Ara Pacis; or they could as well be the gathering just before or immediately
after the sacrifice has taken place.
9 Ibidem, 128: In the service of the renewed religious piety/pietas, the problem of power and
ranking/hierarchy is solved by itself. The historical view will become a leading image/icon for
an eternal order of things; according to E. Bartman, Portraits of Livia Imaging the Imperial
Woman in Augustan Rome (Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press,
1999) 889, the woman character on the monument that was identified as Livia is of foremost importance; she did not wear here the traditional garment of the Roman matrons,
the stola, but a wrapped palla, a traditional dress on the funerary republican portraiture;
she looks a bit downwards, her gaze and her smile are serene. Although she is separated by
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Ionescu
The Roman priests are surrounding in fact the family of the Princeps
(Augustus), the most important members of the Julian-Claudian House. One
can see here an ideal image of the ruling and interconnected gens Iulia (the
Julia extended family or clan) and gens Claudia (the Claudia extended family),
reduced only to the size of the family of Augustus as a warrant for Romes inner
peace, tranquility, prosperity, and external military victories in the future.10 It
is in line also with the verses of Ovids Fasti (1.721) that wished eternal life for
the peace bringing house of Augustus; the women of the Augustan family
some distance from Augustus, they both alone among the almost a hundred figures represented here are wearing a kind of diadem and their heads are veiled. Some other characters are veiled (like Agrippa), some wear a diadem (like Tiberius or Drusus), but none
except Augustus and Livia wears both symbols. Both her dress and her look (including the
hairstyle), as well the fact that she is closely followed by Tiberius and at some distance
by Drusus (her sons by her first husband), it nears Livia to the nursing Mother Goddess
of the eastern faade vide Bartman, Portraits..., 90. In conclusion, one can see that the
designer of this monument strove to identify Augustus family with the Roman State (Res
Publica), although because of the physical distance between Augustus and Livia they
cannot be perceived as a Hellenistic Royal Couple; the western and respectively eastern
facades of the monument are divided according to gender, the West being reserved for the
gods and heroes and the East for the goddesses, according also to Bartman, Portraits...,
88. One can argue about that, because of the probable representation of male deities on
the so called Dea Roma panel on the eastern faade; for all the discussion vide Bartman,
Portraits..., 8692.
10 Zanker, Augustus..., 130: Diese Opferprozession der Ara Pacis war eine beraus reflektierte Idealprojektion des erneuerten Staates-entworfen wohlgemerkt nicht im Auftrag
des Augustus, sondern des Senates zu dessen und des neues Staates Ehren...Denn
die Bevlkerung Roms erlebte ja immer wieder die entsprechenden rituellen Aufzge
und hatte in all den Jahren gelernt, da Macht, Staatsamt, Senatsgeschft und selbst
militrischer Erfolg nicht das wichtigste waren, sondern die Verehrung der Gtterund damit verbunden das Wohl des Herrscherhauses. (This sacrificial procession of
the Ara Pacis/the Altar of Peace was a well reflected ideal projection of the renewed
state-a projection of course drawn not in the name of Augustus, but of the Senate and
to the honour of the new state...then the people of Rome lived again and again the
characteristic ritual features and had learned all these years that not power, state function, affair of the senate, not even military success were the most important things,
but the worship of the gods and bound to it, the well-being of the ruling family). It is
difficult to find better words to express the policy of Augustus: apparent return to the
old forms of the Roman Res Publica where the Senate had at least in theory (but more
often in practice) the ultimate says; but in fact in Augustus new world the Auctoritas
Principis (the authority/prestige/influence of the prince/emperor) always prevailed.
The extended family of Augustus and Livia is seen here on the Ara Pacis as a kind of symbol of the Roman People, along with the main priestly dignitaries of Rome.
311
are dressed like the goddesses represented by the statues of Classical Greece.
Drusus, represented on the southern panel of this procession or gathering, is
dressed in half military garments (he wears the paludamentum, the military
mantle of a high ranking Roman commander), because he is about to head
north in 13 BC to command the Roman armies in Germany, after the conquest of the Alps.11 One can see here either these two friezes on the north and
respectively on the south side of the Ara Pacis as two complementary halves
of the same procession (because the persons involved are looking into different directions, they could well be at the beginning as well as at the end of the
procession) or as two different parallel processions that corresponds to each
other.12
On the southern faade one can see the following order of the characters: the
Pontifices (fragmentary preserved), then the Augures (among them as the character nr. 15, with a heavily damaged face Augustus himself that appears with the
head veiled by his own toga, in the ritual posture known as capite velato/with
the head veiled by a fold of his toga) and the Flamines (among them as the tallest man, equal in stature with Augustus, there is Agrippa, represented also as
velato capite, with the head veiled by his toga; a child, identified as the character nr. 30/perhaps Caius Caesar, is closely following Agrippa; from here begins
Augustus own family). The nr. 31 character, a woman in a dignified posture,
with the head veiled and crowned, wearing a kind of diadem, was identified
mostly as Livia Augusta, Augustus wife. The male character nr. 33, a togatus
(a man dressed with a toga), was identified as Tiberius; the female character
nr. 35 and the child (nr. 36) were identified respectively as Antonia Minor (the
daughter of Octavia, Augustus sister and the wife of Marc Anthony) and her
son Germanicus, and behind them, dressed in a half military garment (a sort
of paludamentum) there is Drusus (the character nr. 38). In the year 13 BC
he was about to ride off to the Germanic lands beyond the Rhine, after the
campaigns of conquest of the Alps from 1915 BC (vide supra). On the northern faade the family of Augustus continues the procession; there is another
child that holds the garment (toga) of an adult figure (this is the child who
turns his head and looks back, following after the character nr. 35; he could
possibly have been Lucius Caesar that thus corresponds to his brother Caius
Caesar on the opposite faade; nevertheless, one should bear in mind that the
identification of all the characters on the southern and northern friezes and
11
Ibidem, 130.
12 This is in fact the idea of the correspondence between the characters of the northern and
respectively of the southern frieze vide La Rocca, Ara..., 378; Settis, Die Ara Pacis...,
402 and 416.
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especially that of the children is highly hypothetical and fiercely disputed and
contested). After these figures then follow the Quindecemviri sacris faciundis,
another group of Augures, and the Septemviri Epulonum; therefore almost all
of the great religious dignitaries and collegia were represented on the southern
and respectively on the northern side of the Ara. In Augustus time there were
four Flamines: Dialis (the Flamen of Iuppiter), Martialis (the Flamen of Mars),
Quirinalis (the Flamen of Quirinus), and finally Iulialis (the Flamen of the Divus
Iulius, the deified Caesar). There is an essential idea of symmetry here: Tiberius
(the thirty third character on the southern side) corresponds symmetrically
to the thirty fifth character on the northern side (identified as Iulia or Julia,
Augustus daughter). Augustus (the character nr. 15 on the southern frieze)
appears in the posture of Augur and of Pontifex Maximus.13
The original western and respectively eastern facades of the Ara Pacis
Augustae represent, on their upper level, panels with friezes describing mythological subjects; thus the reconstructed upper north-western panel of the Ara
Pacis represent the Lupa Capitolina (the she-wolf of the Capitolium hill) and
the twin brothers Romulus and Remus (that are seen here as the suckling
whelps of the female wolf, on the Palatine hill). The bearded war god Mars
fully armed and in full armor is behind the wolf and behind her are the two
human cubs and in front of her there is a herdsman (perhaps Faustulus; we
should return later on the identity of this character) leaning on his long staff.
In the background there is a tree and a bird on a trees twig. One should later
come back to the full mythological significance of these images. This upper
panel was badly damaged during the course of time and it was heavily reconstructed by the modern restorers. The south-western (i.e. to the southern corner of the western faade) upper panel of the western faade of the Ara Pacis,
one of the best preserved friezes of this monument, represents the scene of a
sacrifice: a mature, bearded man with veiled head (velato capite), is probably in
the act of pouring a libation from a (now lost) vessel to an altar (the palm of his
outstretched right hand is missing); two young boys (perhaps young teenagers
consecrated to the gods, camilli pueri) are bringing an animal (a sow) for sacrifice. The Camillus (a young boy consecrated to the gods) in front of the bearded
and head veiled man is bearing in his upheld and elbow bent left hand a ritual
saucer (lanx) with fruits on it; in his right hand, that hangs along his body, he
holds a kind of jar used for pouring drinks or libations. The other Camillus
(or rather a priestly servant in charge with bringing the sacrificial animal
13 In the year 29 BC Augustus has refuted any triumphal honours bestowed upon him. From
his refusal it was born the initiative of the Senate that gave birth to the Ara Pacis. Vide La
Rocca, Ara..., 10, 245, 269, 307, and especially 389.
313
to the altar, servant known as victimarius)14 that comes close behind is driving
the sow to the altar. Behind the bearded man there is a partially recognizable
young male figure with long hair that holds up straight with his right hand
(the arm being also elbow bent) a kind of long spear or long staff (maybe a
scepter?). In the uppermost corner of the panel, right behind and up from the
heads of the camilli, there is the representation of a rectangular temple with a
triangular upper front.
14 P. Rehak, Imperium and Cosmos Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius (Wisconsin:
Uiversity of Wisconsin Press, 2006) 11315 and respectively 11617; for the identification
of the herdsman in the scene representing Mars, the twins, and the lupa (the she-wolf),
most scholars have opted for Faustulus. However, D. Castriota, The Ara Pacis Augustae
and the Imagery of Abundance in Later Greek and Early Roman Imperial Art, (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1995) 1545, because of the garment worn by the supposed
shepherd and also because of the sheer length and type of his staff, believes that the so
called Faustulus shepherd is in fact the maternal grandfather of the twins, King Numitor
of Alba Longa (vide Castriota, The Ara Pacis Augustae..., 1567 and 1601). Nevertheless,
during that mythical time when Romulus and Remus were nourished by the she-wolf
under the guardianship and protection of their divine father (the war god Mars), King
Numitor of the city of Alba Longa who was the father of the Vestal Rhea Silvia (the human
mother of Romulus and Remus) was imprisoned by the orders of his own brother, the
usurper Amulius. It is hard to conceive here that the artist who actually carved the scene
or the designer of this scene (or even more so their supervisor) to have so blatantly violated the logic of the Roman founding myth as to represent Numitor in a scene where
Faustulus was a far more appropriate character (Livy, Ab Urbe Cond.1.3.1011: 1.4.19).
The reconstructed tree and the bird sitting on a branch of this tree could either be a
recall of Jupiters protection upon the future founders of Rome (Joves eagle being the
bird) or rather a reference to Mars the divine father of the twins, the bird being actually
a woodpecker, an animal consecrated to Mars, like the wolf herself; the tree could well
be the Ruminalis fig tree/Ficus Ruminalis of the Lupercal cavern of the Palatine hill, vide
O. Rossini, Ara Pacis (Roma, Milano, Verona: Mondadori Electa, 2006) 345. However, this
reconstruction of the western faade (the panel with Mars) is contested by A. Dardenay,
Les Mythes Fondateurs de Rome Image et Politique dans LOccident Romain (Paris: ditions
Picard A. et J. Picard, 2010) 978 and 1036 that sees in it the love scene of the encounter
between the war god Mars and the Vestal virgin Rhea Silvia (Ilia, the mother of Romulus
and Remus). Nevertheless, in that case what would have been the role of Faustulus as by
stander? Dardenay, Les Mythes..., 978 wrote that this character, leaning on what resembles a long staff, is not in fact Faustulus, but the god Somnus. Dardenay, Les Mythes...,
1036 based her demonstration on different examples chosen from the Roman art of the
period (first century BCfirst century after Christ/AD); if her demonstration is correct,
then the entire reconstructed scene with the she wolf (the Lupa) and the Twins (Romulus
and Remus) should be revised (because it would have been an anticipation of what was
to come, a fact not so common in the ancient Greek and Roman art).
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The main entrance to the interior of the Ara Pacis Augustae was and still
is on the centre of the western side of this most famous monument; another
symmetrical open gate is also located in the middle of the original eastern side
of the Ara Pacis. In this study, as it is generally agreed, we use the original geographical orientation of the facades of the Ara Pacis, as it was originally found
in the area of the church and Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, buried underneath
the foundations of the Palazzo Ottoboni-Peretti-Fiano-Almagi (this palace
built during the Italian Renaissance is known from the family names of its successive owners from the early sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries).
The eastern faade of the Ara Pacis has two most important upper friezes on
the external face of this side of the monument. There is also another entrance
into the inner altar on this eastern faade, but because of the higher ground
near the prolongation of the Via Flaminia/the Flaminia Highway (the ancient
Via Lata/the Roman Broadway, nowadays Via del Corso), this second entrance
has no steps, as its western counterpart indeed has. On the south-eastern corner panel of this faade one can see in its full glory the upper outer frieze representing a seated woman, in all probability a goddess; she wears a long garment
that goes up to her ankles, but leaves her upper chest naked, barely covering
her breast. Her arms and her neck are almost uncovered, with the exception of
parts of her long dress that goes around her arms. She wears earrings, her feet
are bare, and her head with curly hair is covered by a long veil that falls over
her neck, shoulders, and back. She keeps with her right hand a young child that
almost embraces her right breast. In her lap she holds another baby that grabs
her left arm. Behind her and in front of her are two seated young women, with
naked breast, both having a mantle floating over their head; one of them is
sitting on a swan, the other on a kind of dragon. Under these figures are a cow
and a sheep, vegetation, and near in the background is represented an overthrown jar in the grass, under the swan. One can see waves under the dragon,
probably symbolizing the powers of the sea. The entire picture seems to represent the ideas of abundance, richness, and fertility.15 On the north-eastern
corner of the eastern faade, one encounters a heavily reconstructed upper
frieze panel on the exterior. It represents a seated female deity, wearing a helmet, a sheathed sword at her belt, and a kind of tunic; she is seating on a pile of
weapons. Behind her is a young male figure; only his head was relatively well
preserved.16
15 Settis, Die Ara Pacis..., 413 and 423.
16 There is a great problem in exactly identifying the characters on the western and respectively on the eastern facades of this monument. The mature bearded man with the head
veiled, capite velato, who was probably holding a long spear (a hasta that is now almost
315
The northern and respectively the southern facades are representing either
a ceremonial procession or the assembly of the most important persons, religious figures, and prestigious families of Augustan Rome. They are a kind of
political statement or rather they could be seen as such by the modern viewer.
The dominant artistic idea here seems to be that of symmetry.
Returning to the eastern faade of the Ara Pacis (the Altar of Peace),
we encounter first the problem of identifying the goddess represented on
the south-eastern upper frieze. She was successively identified with many a
deity: Dea Tellus (Terra Mater, the goddess Mother Earth, or even Italia, the
personified Italy as the land of choice of the Roman Empire), Pax Augusta
(the Augustan Peace seen as a female deity), Venus Genitrix (the love goddess Venus that gives birth to all living creatures), and even with Ceres (the
goddess Demeter to the ancient Greeks), the Italic goddess of crops, agriculture, and rustic wealth.17 On the north-eastern frieze panel of the same eastern
entirely lost, one can see only its trace on the marble) in his left hand (his right hand,
now missing from his wrist, was probably opened in the act of offering or was holding a
libation jar), was identified mostly as Aeneas. This was from the time of J. Sieveking, Zur
Ara Pacis Augustae, JAI 10 (1907) 1756 and it was generally accepted as an identification by the scholars. Nevertheless, P. Rehak, Aeneas or Numa? Rethinking the meaning
of the Ara Pacis Augustae, ABull 83.2 (2001) 1901, because the mature man that is the
main character of the sacrifice scene appears much more advanced in years than Aeneas
at the time of his arrival on the coast of Latium, identifies him with King Numa Pompilius
(contra La Rocca, Ara..., 403; Rossini, Ara..., 303). The attendant behind this man
(of whom we have only a head and a trace of a kind of long staff, either sceptre or shepherds staff like that of his grandfathers Anchises) was identified either as Aeneas son
Iullus Ascanius or as Aeneas faithful travel companion Achates (La Rocca, Ara..., 40).
Nevertheless, his attributed face seems more to be like that of the type represented by the
presumed head of the deity Honos, therefore being more pertinent to the north-eastern
corner frieze probably representing the Dea Roma vide G. Moretti, LAra Pacis Augustae
(Roma: Libreria dello Stato, 1948) 1579; in fact Moretti, LAra 1535 attributes this head
to the figure behind the Aeneas panel, identifying this elusive attendant of Aeneas either
with Achates or with Eubuleus, but it is more likely that this head belonged originally to
the Dea Roma panel (vide La Rocca, Ara..., 501). R. Paribeni, Ara Pacis Augustae (Roma,
Bergamo: Istituto Nazionale L.U.C.E., 1932) table 13 identifies this head of a young male
god/hero (demigod) possibly with Bonus Eventus.The same problem of multiple possible
identities is with the goddesses that appear on the eastern faade and their attendants
and we shall dwell upon this problem later on in this article.
17 G. Sauron, LHistoire Vgtalis Ornement et politique Rome (Paris: dition A. et J. Picard,
2000) 34 for Tellus; P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (tr. by Alan
Shapiro; Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988) 1726 tends to believe that
this goddess to have been Pax (the personified Peace), but he did not reject the possibility of her being Tellus (the goddess Earth), Italia, Venus, or even Ceres. La Rocca, Ara...,
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faade, the goddess sitting on a pile of weapons and wearing a helmet and
a sword was most frequently identified as Dea Roma (the warlike goddess
Rome); this frieze was badly damaged during the course of time and it was
consequently heavily reconstructed or restored.

The Inner Altar and its Iconography
The person that enters into the Ara from the original western gate must ascend
a marble stairway of nine or ten steps until he or she arrives on the inner platform; in order to climb to the inner altar for performing the sacrifice, the pagan
Roman priest had to climb another eight or nine steps of marble. In all, the
stairway has eighteen steps. The inner altar has as external decorations griffins
on its own upper precinct walls and it probably had three levels of outer decorations and two inner friezes (these are still clearly recognizable, especially the
inner one on the original northern wall of the inner altar). On the inner side
of the facade walls, therefore in an opposite position to the external decorations of the inner altar, there is a different decorative pattern of boukravnia/
bouvkrana// (ox skulls), ritual saucers (paterae), and
garlands. This is a clear hint to animal sacrifices; moreover, there is a series of
narrow openings on the platform level of the external facades; in fact these are
narrow channels that go through the external facades of the Ara, meant probably as a draining system of rain water (it is difficult to think of these channels
as being intended for the flowing of the blood of sacrificial victims, because,
438 writes about the goddess Tellus (the Mother Earth), the Roman counterpart of the
Greek Earth goddess Gaia/Gaia or Gh/ or ; vide Rossini, Ara..., 359 is undecided
between Tellus, Ceres (the Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Demeter), and Venus
Genitrix sung by Lucretius in his poem De natura rerum (1.18): the Roman goddess
of love and beauty (Venus the giver of birth/Genitrix to the Romans, Aphrodite to the
ancient Greeks) was seen in this poem by Lucretius as the mother of all living beings and
even as the ultimate source of eternal youth and regeneration for the entire world or universe (the Cosmos/kovsmo/ko or order of things for the Greek philosophers). Horace
in his Carmen Saeculare 2932 had praised both goddesses Ceres and Tellus. Although
the Roman deities were apparently precise in their attributes and functions, under the
Greek-Hellenistic influence and because of the own dynamic of the Roman religious cult,
already during the age of Augustus it was unavoidable to not have been some syncretistic religious cults. The two young female figures flanking the goddess could be identified
either with the Aurae or the Horai (La Rocca, Ara..., 46; because of their veils flowing
over their heads as being blown by a gentle wind or breeze, these possible Horai are
known also as the Aurae Velificantes in the history of Roman art).
317
if there were animal sacrifices performed on this Ara, the blood of the animal victims would have flown on the steps of the inner altar and then, from
the platform it would have dripped on the steps that lead from the western
entrance to the ground level of the Tiber shore).18
The preserved decoration on the outer and upper northern part of the inner
altar represents a sacrificial procession; there are represented here a young
attendant (a boy consecrated to the gods i.e. a Camillus) that leads the sacrificial procession, followed by a male priestly figure dressed in a kind of toga
(a vir togatus), and two fasces (axe in a bundle of twigs) bearers or lictores; the
animals to be sacrificed are a sheep that marches in front and two cows, as victims of a preliminary sacrifice to Janus (a god closely associated with Pax) and
to Pax herself. A few young men dressed in short kilts called limus are guarding,
driving and attending the animals destined for sacrifice.19 On the inner face of
the same part of the inner altar there is cut in stone a procession of female figures, possible of Vestal virgins; on the opposite southern part of the inner altar,
there are also scarce preserved fragments of inner and outer reliefs. From these
friezes very few parts of human bodies were preserved and we could assume,
by judging on the friezes on the northern upper part of the inner altar that here
were also hewn in stone religious rituals.20 However, there were also other two
18 This mental reconstruction of the functionality of the Ara is of course valid only if this
monument is truly the Ara Pacis Augustae mentioned by the Res Gestae 12.2; contra
Weinstock, Pax..., 4458; there are four draining channels on each northern and respectively southern external side of the Ara, and two draining channels (one on the basis of
each half) on the eastern and respectively western outer side of the Ara.
19 E. Simon, Ara Pacis Augustae (Greenwich Connecticut: New York Graphic Society LTD;
Tbingen: Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, 1967) 15; P. Holliday, Time, History, and Ritual on the
Ara Pacis Augustae, ABull 72.4 (1990) 5523 describes more accurately this sacrificial
procession as that of the young Camillus holding an acerra (a casket for incense), the
togate priest, the lictor (attendant and body guard) of the priest, the other sacrifice attendant called the calator; the sacrificial animals are the ram and the steer as preliminary
victims destined to the gods Janus and Jove (Jupiter) and a heifer or goat as the sacrificial
victim for the goddess Pax herself. Ten victimarii are following with the animals, among
them two sacrifice executioners or popae (one with a culter or long sacrificial knife and
one with a kind of hammer/malleus, mace, or axe that is another kind of weapon made
for the animal sacrifice); there are other two attendants that carry different things, one
a kind of sacrificial knife (culter) on a platter and another the ladle (simpulum) and pail
(situla) for the entrails of the slaughtered animals (exta). Another Camillus closes this
section of the procession.
20 Holliday, Time..., 5523: six Vestal Virgins represented on the inner face of the northern inner altar advance in a slow motion; they have different sizes (statures) but the
same clothing. Each of them wears a suffibulum, a white head covering bound under
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lower levels of friezes on the external northern, eastern, and southern sides of
the inner altar; nevertheless the decorations is not at all preserved and there
are only unrecognizable traces of the original patterns that were once cut into
stone. On the western side the inner altar is open, because it was there the
place of entering for sacrifices, offerings, and possibly also other religious acts
(such as libations, prayers etc.). The inner Ara was thus, from the sacrificants
point of view, the most important component of what we name the Ara in this
particular case. In fact the inner altar was the true sacrificial altar and therefore the religious nucleus of the whole construction.
In the case of the outer precinct walls with friezes, it appears that the marble friezes were superimposed on square blocks of volcanic tufa and of travertine and above the basis of the whole structure lies the layer on which all
these are built upon, layer that is pierced by the above mentioned outlets for
draining the rain water (four on each of the northern and southern sides, two
on the eastern and respectively on the western side).21 The corners of the precinct walls are adorned with four pilasters with Corinthian decoration and the
inner decoration of the upper level of the precinct is made up of boukravnia/
, of a kind of ritual saucers (paterae), and of garlands made out of
plants (fruits and leaves). The Corinthian type pilasters appear also as boundary markers of the frieze panels on the eastern and respectively on the western
facades. On the contrary, the inner altar, being the nucleus of the whole open
(roofless) structure, has no pilasters at all. Instead, his four upper corners are
ornate with lion headed griffins that have a double tail (on the inner and on the
outer side of the inner altars corners), a typical motif of the arts of the Near
East and of the Middle East.22 The inner side of the external precinct walls is
divided on three decorative levels (the upper one with boukravnia/
and garlands, the separation band of decoration with upright palmettes and
lotus buds, and the lower level decorated with vertical laths i.e. a masonry
combination of grooves and ridges).23 The sacrificial altar is accessible through
the chin and a mantle closely wrapped around their bodies. The first one carries a spherical incense jar, the second one a simpulum, and the third and fourth tablets with written
ritual prescriptions. The last two Vestals appear to bear no object at all. The six Vestal
priestesses are preceded by two togati characters, a young attendant and, in front of him,
an assistant carrying the double rods. The entire procession is ended by another male
attendant that carries also the same insignia (i.e. the double rods).
21 Simon, Ara..., 9.
22
Idem, 11.
23
Ibidem, 10; thus it is created for the viewer the impression of a (in reality fake) fence,
although the laths i.e. ridges and grooves are only decorative in their role for the precinct
wall vide Rehak, Imperium..., 103.
319
a stair of eight steps, starting from the inner platform. The priests who did the
sacrifice should have ascended the first nine steps starting from the western
entrance and by stepping on the tenth they found themselves on the inner
platform of the monument. From there they have more seven steps to climb,
until they trod on the eight of the steps that is the altar table. The basis of the
sacrificial table of this altar was constituted by the four great marble steps of
the series of eight steps that leads to the sacrificial table proper. They were
originally cut into the tufa foundations that still exist under the Palazzo PerettiFiano-Almagi. The fourth one constituted the platform of the altar pedestal
or the prothysis, the place were stood those who offered sacrifice.24 The last
four steps lead to the sacrificial table or small platform of the inner altar.
The general ideas suggested by the external and internal friezes of the Ara
Pacis Augustae could have been manifold: one should insist only here on the
ideas of the cosmic time cycles and of the renewal of the Golden Age (Aurea
Aetas) during Augustus reign, without the necessity of a cataclysmic or catastrophic change.25
24 Simon, Ara..., 1011 and pls. 12.
25 Holliday, Time..., 54257; Rome during Augustus lifetime was already permeated by
ideas of the cyclical time. These concepts originated both from the Roman (Etruscan and
Italic Indo-European) religious beliefs as well as from Greek-Hellenistic (mainly Stoic
Philosophy), Babylonian, and Iranian conceptions of cyclical time. It is not at all impossible that Indian ideas of cyclical time to have been known to the ancient Romans, of
course most probable through Iranian (Parthian and Persian), Babylonian, and Hellenistic
Near Eastern intermediaries. Anyway, the conception of cyclical time (anacyclosis) was
not confined in Antiquity to India and the Middle East or to Greece; in the European Far
West the Celtic Druids had also the idea of the cosmic cycles, at least judging from the
Celtic myths and epics preserved in later Briton (Welsh/Cymru) and Gaelic (Old Irish and
Middle Irish) written versions. The Germanic (Old Norse) mythology (known to us only
in a late variant already influenced by Christianity at the beginning of the second millennium of the Christian era) also had a conception of cyclical time, clearly expressed by the
Icelandic mythical poem (the Poetical Edda). However, all these religious ideas underlined the end of the world through Fire (the Ekpyrosis/Final Universal Conflagration
mentioned by Heraclitus of Ephesus and later by the Stoic philosophers) or through a
radical and drastic renewal (metacosmesis/diacosmesis) that implies destruction of the
previous order or kovsmo/. The first great Roman and Latin epic poet, Ennius,
was conscious in his Annales (figs. 96100) of the symbolic significance of the eagles seen
by Romulus: the twelve eagles seen by Romulus from the Palatine hill as flying ter quattuorque (in three groups of four birds each) were symbols of the one hundred and twelve
years or (after the passing of that period) of the twelve centuries or saecula (a saeculum
was approximately one hundred or one hundred and ten years) given to Rome for existence. Later the Neo-Pythagorean philosophers and the Stoics brought to Rome the ideas
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The southern, uppermost, and external side of the inner altar as well
as the northern one has two winged lion headed griffins each (oriented towards
the west and respectively towards the east) as the four symbolic guardians
of the altar;26 the decoration that continues from the griffins tails is formed of
of the Magnus Annus or the Great Cosmic Year (a Cosmic Cycle). Gradually, the idea of
cosmic year permeated the Roman religious mentality of at least a part of the educated
aristocratic elite. After the end of the civil wars, Augustus was seen as the Dux Pacificus,
the leader bringer of peace. His political gestures were made to echo the mythical prototypical gestures of Pater Aeneas (Father Aeneas) and of Romulus. Seen in that perspective, the Ara or Altar we are speaking of could be seen as conflating the historical and the
mythical time in the frieze processions of the outer facades and in the frieze processions
of the inner altar vide Holliday, Time..., 5423 and passim. The idea of Roma Aeterna
appeared probably also during Augustus time, possibly under the influence of Ciceros
thinking on the cycles of Roman history vide Ibidem, 5434 and 5567 (an eloquent testimony is the Augustan age poetry of Horace, Ovid, Virgil, and Tibullus). The doctrine of
the eternal return or of the cyclical time was familiar to the Greek world: see the idea
of the recurrence of political constitutions and of political and military events, the cycle of
empires and so on and so forth, in the works of Heraclitus of Ephesus, of Plato, Aristotle,
Polybius, in the works of the philosophers of the Stoa (the philosophers of the Portique
i.e.the Stoics), of Sallustius (Catilina 2.16), and of Cicero (De Re Publica 1.29.45) vide
E. Barker, From Alexander to Constantine Passages and Documents Illustrating the History
of Social and Political Ideas (Oxford: Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1956) 113, n.1.
26 For the symbolic meaning of the griffins vide Rehak, Imperium..., 1023; the apotropaic guardian griffins in Greek mythology were located in the Far North and Far East of
the Ancient World known to Herodotus (Hist.3.116), as the northern guards of the gold
fought for by the Arimasps (Arimaspi, a mythical people located possibly somewhere in
the Ural, Central Asia/Altai mountains, or Siberia). However, it can be a matter of discussion whether or not the symbol of the four (winged and lion-headed) griffins was also a
sign or an allusion to heroism, preciousness, and the return of the Golden Age (Aurea
Aetas), as Rehak, Imperium..., 103 suggests. Nevertheless, after the Secular Games (Ludi
Saeculares) of the year 17 BC the theme of the Aurea Aetas was very much in vogue in
Augustan Rome and the building of the Ara Pacis belongs specifically to this period. The
griffins or sphinxes appear also on the shoulders of Augustus breastplate of the statue
from Prima Porta, serving there probably as symbols of the guardians of this world vide
Zanker, Augustus..., 192. There would be needed a whole other discussion on the cosmic symbolism of the statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, on the themes of dominion
over Space and Time that appear there, on the three cosmic levels represented on the
statues breastplate (the upper level of heavenly and astral deities, the middle level of
the realm of men, the lower level of the chthonian deities), vide Zanker, Augustus...,
189192. However, it is only enough to be remembered here a series of diplomatic and
military victories that created the Augustan idea of the Parta Victoriis Pax, the peace born
out of military victories: the battle of Actium (2 September 31 BC) and the Roman conquest of Egypt (30 BC), the Roman conquest of the North-Western Spanish (Celtiberian)
321
S shaped acanthus volutes; while the northern side of the inner altar has both
a considerable part of the external and of the internal decoration preserved
(speaking about the upper level, located just under the griffins), the decoration
of the southern side of the inner altar is preserved in a very poor shape, very
fragmentarily indeed. Therefore the procession that once stood on the upper
outer level of the southern side is reduced to only a few broken fragments of
human bodies carved in marble. There are also twelve fragments of decorative
frieze that represent draped women; these were ascribed to the podium of the
inner altar, although they were not included in the present reconstruction of
the Ara. It appeared to have been a complex scene, with at least two women
dressed as amazons (in tunics that leave one of their breasts naked) and bearing weapons. The functionality of this scene as well as its precise structure
remains unclear. There are also five other fragments of larger size, pertaining
probably to the lost side friezes of the inner altar.27
The form of the inner altar is that of a rectangular platform with a pulvinar
(a projecting terminal) at each end. The eight or nine steep steps give access
on the western side to the sacrificial platform. On the eastern side of the inner
altar there are only three or four steps within the enclosure that give access to
peoples of the Astures et Cantabri (around 2513 BC), the conquests of the Alpine Celtic
and Rhetic peoples by the Roman armies in the years 1615 BC, the restitution to the
Romans of the Roman military standards captured at Carrhae by the Parthians after
tough diplomatic negotiations in 20 BC (a theme exploited heavily by Augustus in the
Forum Augustum and the temple of Mars Ultor), the starting of the Roman military conquest of Germany in the years 129 BC, and finally the continuation in the same period
of the Roman military expansion into the Illyricum (Dalmatia and Pannonia). Around the
year 13 BC the might of Rome appeared stronger as ever, eternal, and unstoppable. This
aggressive peace making so to speak (or peace in the inside and wars of conquest on
the open outer edges of the Roman Empire) is the other side of the coin representing the
Augustan period when the Ara Pacis was built.
27 Rehak, Imperium..., 101 with all the references; nevertheless, Rehaks idea of the women
being the personification of the pacified provinces of the Roman Empire it remains
still a work hypothesis and not a full theory. Otherwise how can one explain the fragments of Amazon frieze sculptures with weapons and therefore not fully vanquished
(if they would have been disarmed, although dressed in Amazon tunics it would have
made sense; although possibly being still armed they represented regions not fully pacified and only partially conquered by the Roman sword). One should also remember that
the very location of the Ara Pacis was in itself important and symbolic: located within
a Roman mile north of the pomoerium, the sacred boundary that separated in Roman
Antiquity the civilian political power of the Roman magistrates (imperium domi) from
the military power of the war time commanders (imperium militiae/militare) vide Rehak,
Imperium..., 98.
322
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other pulvinar. That is because of the higher ground on the eastern entrance to
the Ara, towards the Via Flaminia/Via Lata, compared to the western side oriented towards the Tiber. There have been searched many parallels to this inner
altar, mainly from the Hellenistic Age altars of Greece and Sicily: the highly
ornamented altars (Prnkaltre or luxury altars) such as the Nymph Altar
at Knidos, the altar of Dionysus at Kos, the altar of Poseidon and Amphitrite at
Tinos, the Altar Court at Samothrace (formed of an enclosure wall and an
inner altar), as well as the most famous of them all, the Pergamon Altar. The
chronological range that included all these monuments is from the last quarter
of the fourth century BC (i.e. during the reign of the Macedonian King Philip III
Arrhidaeus, Alexanders first successor) for the Altar Court at Samothrace to
the mid-second century BC for the Pergamon Altar. The majority of the above
quoted Hellenistic altars are from the late third century BC. It is interestingly
enough for the altars evolution that the Altar Court at Samothrace is without any frieze at all while the Pergamon Altar, a century and a half later, is so
richly ornate. In fact the relief decoration of the Pergamon Altar is both inside
and outside the enclosure wall and has also an inner altar. The artistic style
of the Pergamon Altar, being so baroque ante litteram, makes it an uncanny
prototype for the Augustan Ara. Classical quoted examples like the Altar of
the Twelve Gods in Athens (in the Athenian public square or Agora), because
of its structural features (a low enclosure wall with only one entrance) could
be dismissed as earlier models of the Ara. There remained only the Augustan
parallels, such as the Augustan Age altar at Miletus (an inner altar and an
enclosure wall with only one entrance, decorated with figural panel reliefs and
garland frieze), the late Republican Roman temple at Bantia in Southern Italy,
and the temple of Janus in the Forum Romanum (the Roman Forum), attributed as foundation to the second legendary king of Rome, Numa Pompilius.
This temple was the Index Pacis Bellique (the Pointer to War and Peace) and
marked the symbolic passage from one status to another (when the temple
doors were closed, it was peace; when they were open, there was war); immediately after the conquest of Egypt (30 BC), in 29 BC the temple of Janus was
closed by the order of the Senate, for the first time during Octavians lifetime.
The two other of the three closures of the Janus temple during Augustus reign
(Res Gestae 13; Cassius Dio Rom.Hist. 51.20.4) had occurred probably in 25 BC
and in 13 BC (the year of the Constitutio of the Ara Pacis Augustae); then in
10 BC followed renewed hostilities in Illyria and Dalmatia, while between
129 BC unfolded the first Roman military campaigns deep into the lands of
the Great Germany/Free Germany (Germania Magna/Germania Libera).28
28
Ibidem, 99100; here Rehak thinks that the so called Altar of Piety (Bwmo; th
Deisidaimoniva/ ) in Athens was in fact the Altar of the Twelve
323
In conclusion, the inner altar (which is the Ara proper, the altar stricto
sensu) is ornate with four (winged) lion-griffins that function as apotropaic
guardians. They continue a Greek artistic tradition, but also a much more
ancient Eastern artistic legacy that dates back to the third millennium BC and
had entered Etruscan art in the so called Orientalizing period of the ancient
Greek art (the 7th6th centuries BC). The small frieze near the top of the inner
altar occupies a height of about 32 cm and unfolds over about at least five
of the eight available surfaces. On the outer east side of the inner altar one
encounters only two preserved figures, a shorter and younger togatus character
(a man dressed in the Roman garment called toga) to the far left and a taller one
to the far right. On the southern and respectively on the northern outer sides
we have two parallel processions, the direction of movement being apparently
from the east end to the west end of the altar, from the left to the right of the
observer on the northern side and from the right to the left of the viewer on
the southern side. One can distinguish four victimarii or sacrifice attendants
that carry implements and accompany animals destined to be sacrificed; they
wear a kind of short tunic (limus) that was worn unfastened by fibulae (fibulas,
a kind of ancient safety pins/bucklers to keep the clothes in place on oneself)
on the shoulders and that was rolled around the waist belt, thus freeing both
arms for holding and bearing different things. On the inner east side of the
interior altar we can see fifteen men and three sacrificial animals, two oxen
(bulls or cows) and a sheep. Ovid in his Fasti (1.720) mentions that a white animal was sacrificed at the Ara Pacis each year, specifying neither the kind nor
the gender of the animal to be sacrificed.29
The frieze of the inner altar continues on the projecting arms of the inner
altars walls: the south side of the northern arm of the inner altar (or rather
the inner side of the altars north arm) includes cut into stone a procession of
figures moving from left to right: there are thus depicted five female characters
(Vestal virgins by dress) of different heights (and thus apparently of different
ages), flanked by a pair of male figures. The inner (north) side of the south
arm of the inner altar has preserved only two men moving from right to left:
one of them is a togatus capite velato (dressed in the toga drawn around his
head, with the head veiled) and the other is a flamen that is a pagan Roman
priest that wears his distinctive pointed cap or hat (galerus). Probably the
gods (Bwmo; twn Dwvdeka Qewn/ ); vide La Rocca, Ara...,
1114 and 16 about the link between the garlands and the boukravnia/ with the
imperial cult in the Augustan age. However, Augustus was still alive during the first years
of Aras existence and he would have become a god or rather a divine entity (divus) only
after his death, at least in the Latin West of the Roman Empire.
29 Rehak, Imperium..., 1012 (with all bibliographical references).
324
Ionescu
two p
rocessions of the interior sides of the original northern and respectively
southern arms of the inner altar were meeting each other on the original eastern interior side (i.e. the west oriented inner side of the inner altar or the face
of the eastern side that is oriented towards the west of the inner altar, being
an internal side), possibly at the centre of this eastern inner face. Nevertheless,
from this part of the inner altar no other fragments have survived, in order for
us to be able to draw some firm conclusions. Less than a half of the inner altars
frieze has survived the ravages of time; as a matter of fact it has survived only a
number of thirty-two human figures, from which twenty-seven are males and
five are females. This makes roughly the same ratio men/women on the outer
friezes of the precinct walls and on the inner altars friezes.30
The western side is the entrance gate for both the precinct outer wall of
the Ara Pacis Augustae and for the inner altar. I consider that the choosing for
entrance of the western side of the Ara Pacis Augustae by the unknown master architect who had planned the construction of this monument was not a
random choice; the lay out of the Augustan monuments on the field of Mars
in Rome could be the key to the deciphering of the hidden reasons behind the
original orientation of the Ara Pacis Augustae and also of the symbolic significance at least of the upper outer friezes of the precinct walls of the Ara
Pacis. This is a too long story to be extensively treated here. There is a deep,
although quite obvious symbolism of an Altar of the Augustan Peace located
in the Campus Martius, the field consecrated to the warlike Italic god Mars
from the oldest times of the origins of Rome. Suffice to say that one should see
the Ara Pacis not only as a monument whose iconography reflects the political
mythology (or the mythologized ideology, if you want) of the Augustan regime;
it is also a monument that is a product of the mathematical and astronomical
science of the Hellenistic-Roman world, as well as of the technical and artistic
expertise of its makers. Last, but not least, it is a smaller reflection or a fragment of a larger world vision.31
30
Ibidem, 102.
31 The list of contributions on this topic is very long; however, I shall quote here the following
authors: E. Almeida Rodriguez, Il Campo Marzio Settentrionale. Solarium e Pomoerium,
Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti 511 (9781980) 195212;
E. Buchner, Lorologio solare di Augusto, Atti della Pontificia Accademia di Archeologia
Rendiconti 53 (19801982) 33145; E. Buchner, Die Sonnenuhr des Augustus: Nachdruck
aus RM 1976 und 1980 und Nachtrag ber die Ausgrabung 1980/1981 (Mainz am Rhein:
P. von Zabern, 1982); E. Buchner, Horologium Augusti: Neue Ausgrabungen in Rom,
Gymnasium 90 (1983) 494508; E. Buchner, Sonnenuhr des Augustus und rmischer
Fuss in Bauplanung und Bautheorie der Antike (mit Beitrge von W. Hoepfner et alii aus
dem Kolloquium des Architekturreferates des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts,
325
The Possible Form and Function of the Altar
It has long been a matter of discussions whether or not on the Ara that we
are currently analyzing in this article were performed animal sacrifices. The
Res Gestae 12 mentioned expressly a yearly sacrifice/anniversarium sacrificium
that was to be performed on the Ara Pacis Augustae. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine the slaughtering of an ox or even of a goat, heifer, or sheep
on the small inner altar table. In order to sacrifice there a bull, a cow, a pig, or
whatever kind of animal, first the sacrificial victim had to be brought upstairs
to the sacrificial table; therefore the animal must have been driven to one of
the entrances (presumably to the western entrance facing the Tiber shore,
although the eastern one was even more accessible from the Via Lata and has
fewer steps to climb to the upper platform; in fact there are only three steps to
climb when someone had entered through the eastern open gate, but the inner
altar is walled and closed on its eastern side) and then it had to be dragged
upstairs and slaughtered on a truly small upper platform. There is also the
Berlin (4) 1983 (Berlin: DAI Vertrieb, Wasmuth, 1985) 2158; E. Buchner, Horologium
Solarium Augusti in Kaiser Augustus und die Verlorene Republik (Mainz am Rhein: Verlag
Philip Von Zabern, 1988) 2404; E. Buchner, Neues zur Sonnenuhr des Augustus (Nrnberg:
Bildungszentrum der Stadt Nrnberg, 19931994) 7784; E. Buchner, Ein Kanal fr
Obelisken. Neues vom Mausoleum des Augustus im Rom, AW 273(1996) 16168; vide et
K. Buchner, Imperium nullum nisi unum in LIdologie de lImprialisme Romain. Colloque
de Dijon le 18 et 29 Octobre 1972, 13445; contra M. Schtz, Zur Sonnenuhr des Augustus
auf dem Marsfeld Eine Auseinandersetzung mit E. Buchners Rekonstruktion und
seiner Deutung der Ausgrabungsergebnisse, aus der Sicht eines Physikers, Gymnasium
97 (1990) 43257; M. Schtz, Der Capricorn als Sternzeichen des Augustus, A&A 37
(1991) 5567; M. Schtz, The Horologium on the Campus Martius reconsidered, JRA
24.1(2011) 7886; for the mathematics of the age vide G.V. Bummelen, The Mathematics
of Heaven and Earth. The Early History of Trigonometry (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton
University Press, 2009). There are interesting debates for and against E. Buchners thesis
in P.J. Heslin, Augustus, Domitian, and the so-called Horologium Augusti, JRS 97 (2007)
120 and P.J. Heslin, The Augustus Code: a response to L. Haselberger, JRA 24.1 (2011)
747, which is generally against E. Buchners thesis, while L. Haselberger, A Debate on
the Horologium of Augustus: Controversy and Clarifications, JRA 24.1 (2011) 4773 and
R. Hannah, The Horologium of Augustus as a sundial, JRA 24.1 (2011) 8795 are for
Buchners thesis. A more balanced opinion is represented by G. Alfldy, The Horologium
of Augustus and its model at Alexandria, JRA 24.1 (2011) 968. As for my humble opinion
and ideas in this debate, vide D.-T. Ionescu, Alexanders Monarchy and the Principate of
Augustus. Meditating on Relevant Aspects of an Ideological Interface, EphDR 13 (2011)
775 (esp.604) and D.-T. Ionescu, The Ara Pacis Augustae. Symbolic Iconography and
Mythology of the Friezes, EphDR 15 (2013) 99174.
326
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alternative view that the sacrificial victim was actually brought to the eastern
entrance of the Ara and slaughtered there and then, without entering beyond
the precinct walls; in fact, in this alternative view the sacrifice happened before
the precinct of the Ara and not inside of it. As a conclusion to this theory, the
officiating priests would have entered through the western gate into the Ara,
offering bloodless sacrifices of fruits, cakes, and/or wine on the Aras upper
platform, while the bloody sacrifice of animals would have taken place outside
the eastern gate to the Ara.32
There was also a lot of discussion whether or not the outer southern and
respectively northern frieze (hewn on the precinct walls) and also the sacrifice
row of characters hewn into stone on the wings of the inner altar represented
either the procession that went with the occasion of the constitutio (the building or establishment of the Ara Pacis on the Fourth of July 13 BC; it is highly
probable that the beginning of these works were accompanied by the religious
Roman ritual of inauguratio)33 or it represented the solemn consecration (dedicatio or consecratio) of the altar on Thirtieth of January 9 BC.34
32 J.M.C. Toynbee The Ara Pacis Reconsidered and Historical Art in Roman Italy (London:
Italian Lecture British Academy From the Proceedings of the British Academy 39: Geoffrey
Cumberledge Amen House, 1953) 734; contra Rehak, Imperium..., 103 who considers
that idea broadly implausible, although even he is forced by the reality of such cramped
quarters to acknowledge the even narrow plausibility of Toynbees theory; in truth Rehak
considers that in the most general sense, the Ara Pacis served as a memorial and symbol
of the Augustan Peace (Pax Augusta). Inside the Ara there is too little space for allowing
such ample processions as those rendered in stone on the southern and respectively on
the northern outer friezes of the precinct of the Ara. There is also a too small sacrificial
table, located between both sides: the closed eastern side and the open western side of
the inner altar. Ovid (Fasti 1.719) mentions a small fire for burning incense, which is possible to have taken place on the upper inner platforms of the interior altar, but a large fire
would have irretrievably damaged the marble, a fact that is not proven by reality.
33
Vide Holliday, Time..., 547; in fact, turning again to the Res Gestae 12, one can find
(applied to the year 13 BC) the expression: ...aram Pacis Augustae...consacrandam censuit, therefore Augustus himself uses the verb consacrari (to be consecrated to) instead of
constituere (to constitute with the sense of to build, to construct, to initiate the process of
constructing something) that has a whole different meaning, a thing already realized by
G. Wissova in 1904 vide G.M. Koeppel, Die historischen reliefs der rmischen Kaiserzeit.
V. Ara Pacis Augustae Teil 2, BJ 188 (1988) 97, n.14; vide et G.M. Koeppel, Die historischen reliefs der rmischen Kaiserzeit. V. Ara Pacis Augustae Teil 1, BJ.187(1987) 102, n.4.
34 Toynbee, The Ara..., 74 numbers six Vestal virgins and their attendants (apparitores) with
rods on the inner side of the left wing of the interior altar walking ahead of the sacrificial victims and then followed the animals intended for sacrifice: a heifer, a steer, and
a sheep (or ram); according to the theory of Ryberg, Toynbee continues, the heifer was
327
the animal regularly offered to the goddess Pax, while the steer was destined to Jupiter
and the sheep to Janus. These three deities (Jupiter, Janus, and Pax) were closely associated to each other. These three sacrificial animal victims (the heifer, the steer, and the
sheep/ram) are depicted on the outer side of the left wing of the inner altar, along with
more apparitores and a priest. Moretti, LAra..., 282 considers that this was not the ceremony of the Constitutio Arae (Fourth of July 13 BC), but the Dedicatio Arae (Thirtieth
of January 9 BC); in fact he sees the whole of the processions represented on this Ara
as the synthesis of all the important moments of the Ara and of all the rites, rituals, and
processions that accompanied the most important moments of its history: the Constitutio
Arae (Fourth of July 13 BC) and the Dedicatio Arae (Thirtieth of January 9 BC). R. Billows,
The Religious Procession of the Ara Pacis Augustae: Augustus Supplicatio in 13 BC, JRA
6(1993) 8092 sees the two phases of Constitutio Arae and Dedicatio (Consecratio) Arae
as being one (Constitutio or Dedicatio he uses interchangeably for the event on the Fourth
of July 13 BC), while (probably for the event that took place on the Thirtieth of January 9
BC) he uses the term Inauguratio (Arae). Although this thesis (in my humble opinion) is
untenable, because the inauguratio (the religious rituals that involved the Roman priests
called the augures that took the auspicia, reading the signs of the future by watching the
flight of birds; they also took over the ritually consecrated space from the possession of
its original deity, be it numen or genius loci, be it a god or a goddess that presided over
that particular space; Si deus, Si dea... was the Latin formula repeated by Roman and
modern authors alike in and respectively for this ritual from of consecration of a ritual
space that accompanied the inauguratio) took place before the construction (constitutio)
of a monument and the dedicatio (or consecratio, the religious rite or ritual by which a
building was definitely consecrated to a specific deity, god or goddess) happened (most
probably and logically) after its completion (I am most grateful to Professor J. Pollini for
all these details concerning the Roman polytheistic rituals, thanks to a discussion we
had in Rome in July 2014). He (Billows) nevertheless analyses all the successive theories
about the precise functionality of the friezes of the Ara Pacis: 1. The theories depicting
the sacrifice accompanying the dedicatio or constitutio of the Ara, vide Simon, Ara...,
1617; J. Pollini, Studies in Augustan Historical Reliefs (Berkeley: University of California
Press, PhD thesis 1978) 75112; La Rocca, Ara..., 38. 2. The inauguration (inauguratio)
performed by Augustus of the terrestrial templum, as destined to become the space occupied by the Ara Pacis Augustae vide Pollini 1978, 1617; M. Torelli Typology and Structure
of Roman Historical Reliefs (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Jerome Lectures
fourteenth ser. 1982, 1992); La Rocca, Ara..., 3. The idea that the friezes are depicting
a kind of hidden triumph/eine Art verdeckten Triumphes (Settis, Die Ara Pacis...,
420) is also rejected by Billows on iconographical evidence, as he rejects also the previous two theories. 4. The theory of Bowersock, exposed in K.A. Raaflaub, M. Toher (eds.),
Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate (with contributions by G.W. Bowersock et alii, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California
Press: 1990, 392393) was that the procession on the southern and northern friezes represented an honour bestowed upon Augustus by his family, friends, and also by the heathen
priestly order (ordo sacerdotum) of ancient Rome when he became Supreme Pontif or
Pontifex Maximus in the year 12 BC instead of his former old enemy and fellow triumvir
328

Ionescu
The Ara Pacis and the Meridianum/Horologium Solarium Augusti
When anyone speaks about the systems of measuring time in Antiquity, it is

nevertheless compulsory to discuss the different calendars used in Antiquity.
We have dealt with this issue before in the course of this study; however we
must also draw some applied conclusions to the issue at hand (namely the
correlation between the Ara Pacis Augustae and the Montecitorio obelisk/
gnomon-meridian system). The ancient Romans had used three calendars;
the first one allegedly established by Romulus, a lunar calendar with only ten
months (the names of the months September, October, November, and respectively December in our own language, although they refer to the ninth, tenth,
eleventh, and respectively twelfth month of the solar year, mean actually the
seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth month of the old moon calendar), then one
of twelve months supposedly invented by the second mythical King of Rome,
the wise Numa Pompilius. Julius Caesar bade a mathematician and astronomer from Alexandria in Egypt, Sosigenes (a Greek by name), and asked him to
come up with a more precise calendar and the result was the so called Julian
calendar. This calendar was finally adopted under the Principate of the still
young then Octavian Caesar (the future Augustus) in the year 30 BC, with the
slight modification of adding an intercalary day every four years, as it had been
stated in Ptolemaic Egypt more than two centuries before in the Canopus
Decree, in order to correct the slightly imperfect calculation of the solar year.
To honor him and his illustrious uncle, the deified Julius Caesar (Divus Iulius),
the Romans changed the old Latin names of the months July and August
(namely Quinctilis and Sextilis, respectively the fifth and the sixth month of
their oldest calendar made according with the phases of the moon) into the
names we still use today, starting from the Latin words Iulius (the month of
July: mensis Iulius or mensis Iulii) and Augustus (month of August: mensis
Augustus or mensis Augusti). Opposed to the ancient Greeks and to the modern Europeans (and Europe shaped modern cultures on every continent), the
M. Aemilius Lepidus, exiled at Circei (Billows considers that nothing can support this
theory). 5. The showing of a supplicatio (public prayer to the gods) in honour of Augustus,
followed by an animal sacrifice vide Billows, The Religious..., 809. It is clear that the
real significance of the outer and inner friezes of this Ara would shed light on the true
function of the Ara itself. Billows conclusion nevertheless is that this is probably the
true theory on the function of what we use to call the Ara Pacis Augustae. Before Billows,
Holliday, Time..., 54257 proposed that the friezes of the Ara represent a generalized
or rather a generic supplicatio, a thing that, if proved true, would resolve any issue in this
respect vide Rehak, Imperium..., 133.
329
ancient Romans placed the pivots or cardines of the sun year, the equinoxes
and the solstices, not at the beginning of each season of the astronomical year,
but at the middle of the conventional season (Plin. NH 18.222). A reminiscence
of this practice can be seen in the modern distinction established between the
beginning of the calendar spring, summer, autumn, and winter (respectively
the first of March, June, September, and December) and the astronomical
respective seasons of the year (twenty first of March/the Spring Equinox and
the beginning of the astronomical spring, twenty first of June or the Summer
Solstice and the start of the astronomical summer, twenty first of September
as the Fall Equinox and the beginning of the astronomical autumn, and eventually twenty first of December as the winter solstice and the start of astronomical winter). On the Flavian meridian associated with our obelisk-gnomon,
the central point between the Spring Equinox (the beginning of the Ram or
Aries/KRIOS/) and the Summer Solstice (the first degree in the sign of
the Crab or Cancer/KAGKROS/) falls in the fifteenth degree of the
Bull or Taurus/TAUROS/, right where it appears QEROUS ARCH/
, the Beginning of Summer, on the same meridian. Therefore,
although on this Roman age meridian the mathematical and astronomicalastrological concepts are written in Greek, the whole conception of the calendar that revolves around the cardines placed in the middle of the yearly
seasons is nevertheless Roman.35
The sole or basis (pedestal) of the obelisk, according to the report written by
J. Stuart in 1750, as it was found in 1748 during the excavation, ran not with the
sides parallel to the meridian and the front perpendicular to it, but turned by
fifteen degrees towards the west. Thus the meridian line ran on a South-North
direction, while the pedestal of the obelisk had its north-eastern side facing
the Ara Pacis, precisely because of this 15 rotation with respect to the meridian axis. In the fifteenth century, this pedestal of the obelisk had been already
discovered by the humanist Pomponius Laetus, who wrote that it was surrounded by a seven steps rectangular stone structure (septem gradus circum)
having inscribed on its four angles or corners the Greek names of the winds,
such as (in the North-East) the Greek name of the Northern Wind, BOREAS/
. This was done according to Vitruviuss principles exposed in the De
arch.1.6.67 and 1.6.8; already Timosthenes had ideated the 12 (twelve) divisions of the rose/dial of the winds. Pliny the Elders remark that Augustus
addidit mirabilem suum (NH 36.72: Augustus has added his own miracle/
35 Schtz, The Horologium..., 812 (esp.82, n.17) contra Haselberger, A Debate..., 55,
n. 9, based on E. Buchner, Die Sonnenuhr des Augustus (Mainz: Verlag Philip von Zabern,
1982a) 636 and 79.
330
Ionescu
miraculous instrument) suggests that the system of measuring time (whether

horologium solarium or meridianum), seen as a technological and scientific
wonder of the age, was in fact added after the erection of the obelisk in that
location and possible that it was not part of the original plan.36
The problem of the equinoctial line: was it truly extended until it reached
the Ara Pacis? If this was so, then we would probably have a true solar clock
(horologium solarium), defined by two intersecting and perpendicular on each
other axis of symmetry (the North-South Meridianum/Meridian and the EastWest equinoctial or equatorial line). This is nevertheless only a possibility,
not confirmed by any hard fact or archaeological discovery. We are not even
sure that the ensemble Ara Pacis-Gnomon (the obelisk as a shadow maker)-
Meridian/Horologium was even conceived from the start as an integrated whole
with a precise aim. The meridian could well have been part of an ulterior adding to the obelisk and not thought of ab initio as the dial for the gnomon (that
means here the obelisk). It would have been a necessity only for a Horologium
Solarium, the very existence of it being not at all sure.37 Moreover, due to the
imprecision of celebrating Augustus precise birthday according to the two
Roman calendars already in use under his reign (the old Roman one and the
newly reformed Julian calendar, even further improved under Augustus by
the application of the Egyptian reform mentioned by the Canopus Decree),
the symbolic significance of the Ara Pacis as a commemorative monument
of Augustus birthday becomes a little blurred.38 However, it remains the
36 Schtz, The Horologium..., 83: the Latin verb addere indeed suggests that something
not yet existent is created and added to something that is already in existence.
37 For this theory of the necessity of a Horologium Solarium vide Haselberger, A Debate...,
689; contra Schtz, The Horologium..., 83. Nevertheless, even Haselberger points out
that, except the obelisk itself, the physical appearance of Augustus Horologium Solarium
was unclear; however it considers the precise alignment of the equinoctial line on
the Ara Paciss axis of symmetry that leads to the western entrance to the monument.
This argument is thoroughly and I think soundly combated and refuted by Schtz, The
Horologium..., 845. The obelisk could have been erected initially without any meridian; a Meridianum or a Horologium Solarium would have been inconceivable without a
gnomon-obelisk.
38 Schtz, The Horologium..., 84; moreover, in the Augustan astronomical treatise of
Manilius (Astronomica) the term aequinoctium does not appear directly, but it is indirectly
marked as the moment when either the day conquers the night or vice versa and the Fall
Equinox is for him an intersection between the ecliptic and the celestial equator (Spring
or Fall Equinox vide Manil. Astronom.2.242; 3.254 etc. apud Schtz, The Horologium...,
84, n.27); likewise for Ovid in the Fasti (3.878) the equinox is only the moment when the
day and the night have both equal length; therefore there are no deeper symbolic and
mythological meanings associated with the equinox (Schtz, The Horologium..., 84).
331
ndeniable fact that the obelisk was erected sometime between the years 10
u
and 9 BC, just before the Dedicatio or Consecratio Arae Pacis Augustae on the
thirtieth of January 9 BC, Livias birthday.39 However, it appears much more
plausible that the equinoctial lines of the Augustan and Flavian meridians
to have fallen both slantwise, in an oblique direction in respect with the axis
of symmetry of the western entrance to the Ara Pacis; these equinoctial lines
(the Augustan and the Flavian one) would have formed an angle with the line
of steps leading to the western entrance, just under the north-western half of
the western faade of the Ara.40 It appears to me more plausible that Michael
Schtzs theory of associating the sculptural, iconographical, and architectural
program of the Ara with the feast of the Parilia (Twenty First of April that was
also the Founding Day of Rome in the year 754/753 BC) to be correct, although
his support of Weinstocks denying of the identity of the Ara was, in my opinion, soundly refuted by Toynbee with logical and iconographical arguments; it
is most interesting his (Schtzs) idea that on the Parilia the sunrise could have
been seen by looking from the eastern portal of the Ara.41
There was also a counterattack against the theory of Michael Schtz: Robert
Hannah defended the thesis of Buchner, basing his argumentation also on
Pliny the Elders Naturalis Historia (36.72) and the use by the ancients of a
daylight triangle noted as ABC; A represents the noon on the winter solstice while G on the diagram is the gnomon of the sundial.42 Pliny the Elder
(NH 6.212) mentions the aequinoctio die medio (the moment of midday or
noon in the day of the equinox) that is extremely important in the discussion
of the existence of a possible Horologium Solarium and its relationship with
the Ara.43 Moreover, Hannah considers that the affirmations of Pliny the Elder
(NH 36.72) are not appropriate in describing a solar meridian, but they are
more adequate to describe a solar clock (Horologium Solarium).44 However,
39 Haselberger, A Debate..., 69, n.46.
40 Schtz, The Horologium..., 85, fig. 2.
41
Ibidem, 856, n.2930; vide Ovid.Fast.4.721862 for the description of the Parilia; for
the opposing theories on the true identity of the Ara vide Weinstock, Pax..., 4458
contra J.M.C. Toynbee, The Ara Pacis Augustae, JRS 51 (1961) 153156. Simon, Ara..., 9
thinks that the existence of the two portals was not satisfactorily explained. Schtz, The
Horologium..., 86 admits that in this issue of the gnomon-obelisk, the meridian/sundial,
and respectively the Ara the current state of affairs is admittedly dissatisfying.
42 Hannah, The Horologium..., 88, n.4, fig. 52.
43
Ibidem, 87, n.2.
44
Ibidem, 878; moreover, Hannah mentions that exist at least two mentioned cases of solar
meridian and a third case of a vertical instead of a horizontal meridian (Hannah, The
Horologium..., 87, n.4).
332
Ionescu
we do not know for sure that it had ever been a daylight triangle and also a
longer equinoctial line that are the markers of a true Horologium Solarium.
The only things we do know is that the different instruments used in Antiquity
for measuring time were in form spherical, hemispherical, and flat/planar;
the Horologium Solarium (Solar Clock) and the Meridianum (Solar Meridian)
both enter in the category of flat instruments (included in a flat surface such
as a platea made out of travertine with a marked South-North bronze line in
the case of the meridianum and a net of lines in the case of the horologium).
According to Buchners reconstructions, the types of horologium solarium
are basically of two main forms: like the spread wings of a bat and respectively circular.45 The main argument brought by Hannah against the thesis
of Schtz is that he takes into account only the elliptical shadow left by the
globe on the top of the obelisk and not the whole length of the shadow left by
the entire obelisk.46 Bringing in modern day examples such as the Cenotaphs
obelisk from Dunedin (New Zealand), Hannah tries to show empirically that
the length of the shadow of Augustus obelisk (and not only the length of the
shadow from its bronze globe located on the top of the gnomon-obelisk) plus
the actual penumbra of the obelisk would have pointed towards the centre
of the Ara at Augustus birthday (he means here the total length of the shadow
including the penumbra and the shadow left by the tip of the obelisk i.e. the
bronze globe).47 The sole problem is that, although the height of the cenotaphs obelisk of Dunedin would be reasonably close to the total height of
Augustus gnomon-obelisk, part of the computations made by Hannah are
totally approximate and not precise (as those of Schtzs) and his observations
are only empirical and based on a single example.48 Moreover, because Schtz
calculates starting from the elliptical shadow left by the bronze globe located
on the top of the obelisk that would mean he took in fact into account the
whole length of the shadow left by the entire obelisk and therefore Hannahs
counterargument becomes untenable.49 However, as it was previously stated,
the exact height of the Augustan gnomon-obelisk is not precisely known,
because of the problems involving the number of levels of its pedestal, as it
45
Ibidem, 89.
46 Hannah, The Horologium..., 901.
47
Ibidem, 923, figs. 935.
48
Ibidem, 91 and 94.
49 Mainly that Schtz had not taken into account the whole length of the gnomon-obelisks
shadow; even Hannah admits that the elliptical shadow of the bronze globe obelisk represents the tip of the whole shadow left by the entire obelisk (Hannah, The Horologium...,
91, n.1316 for his own precise calculations).
333
was already shown by the Bandini-Stuart-De Marchis archaeological report of

1750.50 In conclusion, all our reconstructions (including the most scientifically
grounded that is the theory of Schtz) stand on weak ground.
The conclusions of Hannahs article deserve attention: they are moderate
and, without suggesting that on a particular important hour the shadow of the
obelisk pointed towards the Ara (probably meaning the centre of the Ara and
therefore its axis of symmetry), he insists that the shadow pointed towards the
Ara during Augustus birthday.51 Nevertheless, his support for the existence of
a Horologium Solarium and not of a simple solar meridian (as it is proven both
by the archaeological evidence so far available to us as well as by the more plausible theory of M. Schtz) is disputable, to say the least. According to Hannahs
calculations the shadow of the gnomon-obelisk would have not touched the
Ara between roughly the seventh of November and the fifth of February, leaving therefore out of question the moment of Augustus conception under the
sign of the Capricorn, around the winter solstice. Varro (RR 1.28.12) wrote
that, according to the old Roman calendar of King Numa Pompilius, the first
day of spring occurred on the day of twenty third of the zodiacal sign Aquarius,
the first day of summer on the twenty third day of Taurus (the sign of the Bull
in the zodiac), the first day of autumn on the twenty third of Leo (the sign
of the Lion), and the first day of winter on the twenty third day of Scorpio
(the sign of the Scorpion). In the new Julian calendar these dates would
have been approximately our days named seventh of February, ninth of May,
eleventh of August (Sextilis mens according to the oldest Roman calendar
of Romulus, with the year beginning on the first of March), and the winter
would have begun around the tenth day of November.52 In conclusion, Hannah
suggests, very interestingly that the virtual or imaginary line left by the gnomon-obelisks shadow towards the Ara could have marked a temporary boundary between the seasons of the year, by its very presence or absence (in the
interval between the seventh of November and the fifth of February).53
The conclusive remark on this issue is that of the great scholar Gza Alfldy:
although he is more inclined to the traditional thesis of Buchner about the
Horologium Solarium, like Haselberg he acknowledges that the actual form
and dimensions (spatial expanse) of this kind of putative Augustan sundial
remains unknown. Moreover, he tries to see it in connection with a possible
model of a gnomon-obelisk and Horologium Solarium in Alexandria in Egypt,
50 Haselberger, A Debate..., 612 (61, fig.10; 63, fig.11).
51 Hannah, The Horologium..., 94.
52
Ibidem, 94, n.19; vide et Plin. NH 18.221222.
53
Ibidem, 945.
334
Ionescu
probably constructed by the initiative of Marc Anthony, Octavians sworn

enemy in the final struggle for the domination of the Roman Empire. He correlates the obelisk of Montecitorio, dedicated originally by the ancient Egyptians
to the sun god (Sol for the ancient Romans) and brought there by the order
of Augustus with the obelisk in the present day Vatican St. Peters Square,
brought, erected, and consecrated there by Caligula in his Circus of the area
consecrated to the god Vaticanus or Circus Vaticani (both obelisks share similarities in shape, including the bronze globe with a spine on top, a HellenisticRoman innovation by no means similar to the ancient Egyptian tradition). He
quotes, as examples of this Egyptian fashion of the obelisks, the two smaller
obelisks that were originally placed in the front of the Mausoleum of Augustus
(Mausoleum Augusti); the triangular composition of the three Augustan obelisks, two smaller in the front of his Mausoleum and one in the vicinity of the
Ara would have found parallels in Alexandria of Egypt, ruled first by Cleopatra
VII and Marc Anthony, and then by Augustus trusted men, Caius Cornelius
Gallus his praefectus fabrum (his commander of the military craftsmen) and
the first praefectus Aegypti (governor of Egypt that was personally selected by
Augustus from the equestrian order) and then by the second prefect of Egypt,
Publius Rubrius Barbarus. This last character had actually erected two obelisks
at Alexandria in the front of Augustus temple there, while Augustus was still
alive, in the years 1312 BC. Moreover, the Vatican obelisk brought by Caligula
from Egypt to Rome was already inscribed and inaugurated by Cornelius Gallus
in late 31 BC, while he was still only Octavians praefectus fabrum; this obelisk
could have been originally a monument ordered by Marc Anthony as gnomon
of a gigantic sundial at Alexandria of Egypt, in the same area of the city with
the obelisks later associated with P.Rubrius Barbarus. Interestingly enough,
it is the same period of time (139 BC, 1312 BC, and respectively 109 BC)
correlated with the construction of both the Ara Pacis and the erection of the
gnomon-obelisk in the northern Campus Martius. The inscription in Greek
(the Etesians winds are stopping) that we find on
the Flavian meridian was probably a truthful reproduction of the Augustan
original inspired by a Greek-Egyptian model from Alexandria.54 Alfldy concludes on a similar tune with Haselberger: there existed a Horologium Solarium
Augusti in the northern Campus Martius and it was important for e stablishing
54 Alfldy, The Horologium..., 967; Haselberger, A Debate..., 689; C.H. Lange, Res
Publica Constituta Actium, Apollo and the Accomplishment of the Triumviral Assignment
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2009) 67 is nevertheless more inclined to accept M. Schtzs theory: Sadly, this theory (i.e. E. Buchners) did not stand the test of time and a physicist from
Tbingen (i.e. Schtz).
335
the calendar as well as showing to the ordinary Romans who was really in
charge in Rome and beyond, not only in solving problems pertaining to the
sphere of mortal humans, but also with regulating time that was the province
of the gods.55
The problem of the true identity of the Ara now housed by the Museo del
Ara Pacis in Lungotevere was seriously taken into account starting from 1960;
while in the Renaissance (the sixteenth century) the fragments discovered
from the Ara were considered parts of Roman triumphal monuments, only in
1879 the archaeological genius of Friedrich von Duhn had the intuition that
all the fragments discovered under the Ottoboni-Peretti-Fiano Palazzo in the
region of Via and Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina in the Campo Marzio (Rome)
were in fact parts of the famous Ara Pacis Augustae, mentioned in the Deeds of
the Divine Augutus or Res Gestae Divi Augusti 12.2.56 However, in the year 1960
55 Alfldy, The Horologium..., 98 for the importance of the existence of a Horologium
Solarium in the self-representation of Augustus before the Senate and the People of
Rome; Haselberger, A Debate..., 6970 about the symbolic importance of the ensemble
Horologium Solarium Augusti-Ara Pacis Augustae in the Augustan urban transformation
of Rome and in regulating chronology and civic life in Rome and in the Roman Empire
according to the cosmic cycles of heavens.
56 La Rocca, Ara..., 1113 for the Res Gestae (1113) and the monuments directly connected
by symbolical and ideological links with the Ara Pacis, namely the Ara Fortunae Reducis
and the Aedes Iani Quirini in Argileto. An interesting fact is that, according to Cass. Dio
(Hist. Rom. 54.25.3), the Roman Senate had initially decided to erect the Ara Pacis inside
the Curia Senatus; Augustus had in fact refuted this idea and preferred the Northern
Campus Martius vide Rossini, Ara..., 5. The first recuperated fragments of the Ara Pacis
appear in fact from an incised drawing or engraving made by Agostino Veneziano before
1536; it was about the lower outer frieze, with a swan with spread wings and the floral
and vegetal decoration. In 1566 the cardinal Giovanni Ricci da Montepulciano acquired
nine marble blocks for a price of 125 scudi, including the so called Tellus-Pax panel (the
panel with the representation of the nourishing goddess, either Pax/Peace or Tellus/
Earth). The cardinals secretary had in fact even written a letter to the secretary of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I of Medici in 1569, telling him by means of this letter
that these sculptural friezes are Roman reliefs with triumphal figures (con figure di trionfi). After a troubled history that brought recovered fragments of the Ara to Florence,
to the future Villa Medici at Trinit dei Monti, to the Villa Aldobrandini on the Quirinale
in Rome, and even to Paris (Louvre), only in the year 1879 Fr. von Duhn recognized the
ensemble of the recovered fragments from that area as component elements of the Ara
Pacis. There followed in the period of 18941903 the archaeological diggings under the
Palace Ottoboni-Peretti-Fiano-Almagi, directed by Eugen Petersen and Angelo Pasqui,
stopped by technical reasons. In 1913 Pasqui had tried again in a letter to convince the
Italian government to financially and legally support the excavations. Only in 193738
the archaeological team led by Giuseppe Moretti and (for the restoration) by Guglielmo
336
Ionescu
Dr. Weinstock in an article published in the famous Journal of Roman Studies

(JRS) questioned and even denied this identification, mainly on the ground of
iconographical evidence. His objections were met and countered with equally
serious iconographical, architectonical, and logical arguments by another
important researcher in this field, Toynbee, in another article published in
the same Journal of Roman Studies the following year.57 Without entering in the
details of their discussions and arguments (revolving mainly on the identity
of the deity worshipped in the Ara), one should mention here that for Stefan
Weinstock this Ara could not be securely identified (but for him it was surely
not the Ara Pacis Augustae), perhaps being the Ara Gentis Iuliae (the Altar of
the Gens Iulia, the Julian clan) that nevertheless, at least under Vespasian, was
located on the Capitol and not in the Field of Mars (Campus Martius), where
there were other monuments: Monumentum Iuliorum (the Monument of the
Iulii), Ustrinum Domus Augustae (the funeral pyre of the family of Augustus),
and the Mausoleum Augusti or the Mausoleum of Augustus.58 The counter arguments brought in by Toynbee against the thesis of Weinstock were summed up
in his memorable conclusion: Dr. Weinstock has most forcibly reminded us
that we have no ineluctable, explicit proof that the Campus Martius Augustan
altar is the Ara Pacis Augustae. But he has not, to my mind, succeeded in proving us that it is certainly not the Ara Pacis Augustae.59
The most important fact is that we do not possess until now any dedicatory
inscription of this most important monument of Roman Augustan Art and
therefore we cannot attribute it for sure to the goddess Pax (Peace) or Tellus
(Earth) etc. One cannot epigraphically relate directly the altar to the Res Gestae
Divi Augusti 12.2 in absence of a monuments own inscription that defines its
function and meaning. However, its location, much of its iconography and
symbols hint at the cult of Pax and of the goddesses related with agricultural
plenty and richness, with wealth, happiness, and fruitful love (fertility of the
plants, sexual reproduction of cattle, and by implication, fecundity of women
and men; the reform of the marital and sexual mores of the Roman citizens,
the stability of marriage, family, and the conception, birth, and upbringing of
legitimate free Roman children was one of the concerns involving the inner
policy of Augustus, a fact that is known by all scholars specialized in the field
Gatti, using innovative techniques, had achieved the excavations and restoration of the
whole monument vide Rossini, Ara..., 1417.
57 Weinstock, Pax..., 4458 contra J.M.C. Toynbee, The Ara Pacis Augustae, JRS 51 (1961)
15356.
58 Weinstock, Pax..., 58.
59 Toynbee, The Ara..., 156 contra Weinstock, Pax..., 58.
337
of Ancient Roman History). It is also related with Roman religion (rituals, ceremonial processions or gatherings for sacrifices), with the mythology of the
Primordia Romae (the beginnings of Rome) and with the Origines (the mythical and myth-historical or legendary origins) of the people from Latium (nowadays Lazio in Central Italy). One cannot help of not thinking at the Ara Pacis
Augustae mentioned by the Res Gestae Divi Augusti 12.
Accepting the theory that the monument exposed now in the Museo Del
Ara Pacis (the Museum of the Ara Pacis near the River Tiber/Tevere in Rome)
is the true Ara Pacis Augustae, we can think the final conclusions of the true
meaning rendered by the friezes of the monument. We can see the meaning (especially that of the outer upper friezes) as an embodiment in stone
of the Augustan idea of the Parta Victoriis Pax, the Roman Augustan Peace
(Pax Romana Augusta) born out of military victories, the victory being a real
one or an imagined one (like Augustus diplomatic triumph in the negotiations with the Parthians, in the year 20 BC, over the legionary eagles and standards lost by the Roman legionaries commanded by Crassus in the battle of
Carrhae in 53 BC and captured by the Parthians). In essence, one can see the
Ara Pacis Augustae as the embodiment in carved Luna/Carrara marble of an
idea: it is an epic poem that renders in sculptural form the mythology of the
origins of Rome, Latium, and Italy and that binds inextricably the divine origin
of the Gens Iulia (and therefore of both Caesar the Divus Iulius and Augustus
the Divus to be), descending from the goddess Venus (via Aeneas and his son
Iullus Ascanius), with the origins of the Roman people, descending from Mars;
the Romans, being under the protection of Jupiter the King of the gods, like
once Romulus the son of Mars and founder of Rome, they are destined to
rule over the peoples of the earth and to impose peace (Verg. Aen. 6.851853:
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane memento: Hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque
imponere mores, parcere subiectis et debellare superbos/You will rule the peoples with power, o Roman, remember: these will be your crafts, to enforce
the ways of peace, to spare the vanquished, and to destroy the proud through
war). The panels with the nourishing goddess and with the triumphant Dea
Roma (the eastern upper friezes of the external precinct of the Ara) hint at
another idea, dear to both Augustus and Virgil: Sit Romana Potens Itala Virtute
Propago/May the Roman Offspring be strong by means of Italic Valour (virtus)
(Verg. Aen. 12.827).60
60 J. Pollini, Frieden-durch-Sieg-Ideologie und die Ara Pacis Augustae, in Krieg und
Sieg Narrative Wanderdarstellungen von Altgypten bis ins Mittelalter (eds. M. Bietak,
M. Schwarz, Wien: Verlag der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2002)
137157. Vide et L. Polacco, Ara Pacis Augustae Una Forma, Un Idea, Atti Classe di Scienze
338
Ionescu
To sum up, one should not forget the original orientation of the facades of
the Ara Pacis Augustae: if the hypothesis of Schtz (2011) 86 is correct and the
viewer that stood in the front of the eastern faade of the Ara Pacis Augustae
at the Parilia (Twenty First of April, the Birthday of Rome) could have seen,
in Augustus lifetime, the rays of the sun entering the eastern entrance of the
altar, then the message transmitted by Augustus and by the anonymous sculpture master entrusted with the iconographical and architectural design of the
whole monument to posterity is subtler than E.Buchner, in all his undeniable
wisdom and experience, had ever imagined: instead of the shadow of the
obelisk entering the western entrance on Augustus birthday (Twenty Third
of September), as if the Heaven itself testified that Augustus was natus ad
pacem/born to bring peace, we stumble upon the assertion of Rome as bringer
of peace and prosperity: the armed Dea Roma (the warlike goddess Rome) and
the weaponless but beautiful Pax (Peace) are the two faces of the same coin.61
Morali, Lettere ed Arti (Venezia: Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 1992) 101
(199192) 931.
61 Because of the archaeological evidence discussed so far, as well as because of the mathematical experience and professionalism of Schtz, I am personally inclined to adopt his
theory of the solar meridian, although I do not agree with him in embracing Weinstocks
denial of the identity of this altar as being the true Ara Pacis Augustae. We also must be
aware of the fact that the controversy on the total height of the gnomon-obelisk (because
of its two, three, or five steps basis, according to the controversial Stuart-Bandini-De
Marchis archaeological report of 17481750) means that different computations are still
possible. The overall height of the original obelisk and its precise original location can
change all the trigonometric calculations. Moreover, I personally think that Schtzs theory confirm what I have personally written in a previous study about Alexander the Great
and Augustus. I hereby reproduce my own hypothesis. I see the symbolic of the Ara Pacis
reliefs as follows:
The west is the realm of origins, of muqo/mythos/ (the Roman and Latin
founding myth), the land of the heroes of old and the space of the gods founders of
Rome: Jupiter, Mars, and (indirectly) Venus (through her son Aeneas). Aeneas and the
legendary twins Romulus and Remus are also hewn in stone here. It is a cardinal point
used with the same symbolic in other mythic traditions: in Greek myth Heracles went
west to find the golden apples of the Hesperidae (the goddesses of the West), symbols
of eternal youth and immortality. In the Roman foundation myth, Aeneas and his son
Iullus Ascanius and the surviving Trojans (preceded by the Arcadians of king Evander
that had settled on the Tiber, in the future territory of Rome), after the fall of Ilium
went also west via Africa, Sicily, arriving eventually on the western coast of central Italy,
in order to merge with the Aborigines (the native inhabitants of Central Italy) of king
Latinus. After mythical and epic heroic events narrated by Vergil and Livy, Aeneas married princess Lavinia, the daughter of king Latinus of Lanuvium. Thus was founded
the Latin people and so appeared the birth of the Latium land and of the cities of
339
Concluding Remarks
It is an inherent probability that the new theory (or rather hypothesis) regarding this Ara to be the right one.62 In favor of this idea that sees the original
eastern faade and entrance to the monument as the one marked by the rays
of the sun on the Twenty First of April (the Roman Feast of the Parilia) speaks
the superior mathematical and astronomical expertise of the German physicist
Michael Schtz; however even he makes that claim to be still a hypothesis and
not a proven fact. What remains for sure is that during the autumn equinox
(Twenty First-Twenty Third of September), therefore during Augustus birthday feast (the Twenty Third of September/Dies Natalis Augusti or the Birthday
of Augustus) the shadow of the gnomon-obelisk did not fall on the precise
axis of symmetry of the western entrance to the Ara, but it fell rather slantwise,
Lavinium and Alba Longa, Latin settlements or towns predecessors of Rome. In the
Greek Romance of Alexander (Pseudo-Callisthenes), Alexander the Great, like a new
Gilgamesh seeking the Immortality grass/herbs, search for the Immortality fount in
the west. In Irish (Celtic Gaelic) mythical epics, stories, and poems, the heroes travel west
in search of the blessed islands of the Immortals, in the mythical Tir nanOg (the land of
the eternal youth). Finally, in the old Egyptian tales, the sun god Amun-Ra travels the
lands of the west every night with his boat, in order to be reborn the next day in the east;
vide J. Markale, Lpope celtique dIrlande (Paris: Payot, 1971), J. Markale, Le Roi Arthur et la
socit celtique (Paris: Payot, 1977), AA.VV., Dictionary of the Celts (New Lanark Scotland:
Geddes&Grosset, 1997, 1999) and P. Bachmann, Der mit den zwei hrnern. Alexander der
Groe in werken der Arabischen literatur (Mainz am Rhein: P.von Zabern, 2005).
The east is the realm of Eternal Peace seen as Eternal Present, the realm of the gods
protectors of Augustus: the swans and the acanthus flower decorations carved in stone
are all symbols of Apollo, Augustus personal protector god. Dea Roma and Tellus/Venus/
Pax are also present.
The north is home to the children of the Imperial family, to the offspring of Rome,
and there are also sculpted a part of the state officials and priesthood of Rome (the
augures, who told the future divining the flight of the birds and the septemviri epulonum,
the organizers of the public feasts are represented here). It is the space of the future
of the Eternal City.
The south, oriented forever towards the Urbs, it is the processional space of Augustus
himself, of Agrippa his best and truest friend and collaborator, and of the most sacred
priests of Rome, the priestly associations of the flamines priesthood (collegia flaminum).
It is the space of the civic and sacral (or political and religious) eternal present of Rome.
This is of course a personal interpretation and it should be taken as such. Vide Ionescu,
Alexanders Monarchy..., 624 and Ionescu, The Ara..., 1502, n.113115. This whole
article is a completion and a reelaboration of a previous study of mine (vide Ionescu, The
Ara..., 99174).
62 Schtz, The Horologium..., 86.
340
Ionescu
in an oblique direction to the axis of symmetry (this axis of symmetry is the perpendicular line to the entrance and therefore to the geometrical middle/centre
of the western faade). Even so, although the shadow did not fall perpendicular into the Ara through the western gate, it nevertheless fell obliquely towards
the western faade of the Ara. In the eventuality that Schtzs hypothesis is
correct the design created by the anonymous master or masters that brought
the Ara into existence reflects in a wonderful way the Augustan ideas about
the majesty of Rome: the sun lit the eastern entrance of the Ara on Romes
Founding Day, during the Feast of the Parilia (that was a Roman religious festival of the herdsmen in its origins; the companions of Romulus and Remus
were all young warriors, hunters, and herdsmen from all of Latium, but many
of them were fugitives and exiles from their native cities, criminals and runaway slaves that sought salvation in the consecrated place of refuge or asylum
founded by Romulus, as Livy writes in the first book of his Roman history that
starts with the founding of the Latin people and of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita).
The Eternal City founded by the warlike son of Mars, Romulus, was now, during
Augustus benevolent Principate (Principatus, the rule of the First Senator or
Princeps Senatus that happened to be also the first Roman Emperor, Imperator
Caesar Augustus) under the sway of the Pax Augusta (the Augustan Peace, see
the symbolism of the eastern faade of this monument). During Augustus
birthday, the shadow of the gnomon-obelisk falls obliquely towards the Ara,
pointing in an indirect way to the Primordia Romae (the myth-historical beginnings of Rome) and to the Origo Gentis Iuliae (the origin of the gens Iulia, the
Roman clan that eventually had eventually produced Julius Caesar, the adoptive father of Augustus). The light comes from the East, wherefrom Aeneas
Trojans and before them Heracles/Hercules and King Evanders Greeks once
came and settled in Latium (first in Lanuvium/nowadays Lanuvio and then
founding in the process the new towns of Lavinium and Alba Longa) and on
the Seven Hills of Rome; the West is on the Twenty Third of September under
the shadow of the gnomon-obelisk, conserving the memory of Aeneas (or that
of Numa Pompilius) and of the heroic Twins founders of Rome, the sons of
Mars and Rhea Silvia, Romulus and Remus. In the person of Augustus, the
original fratricide that stood at the very foundation of Rome is thus at least
symbolically mitigated. It becomes not a simple brother killing brother in the
struggle for power, but a non-represented human sacrifice, as necessary to
the founding of the Urbs (the Eternal City of Rome) and to the future of the
ancient known world as it was the coming of Aeneas and his Trojans to Italys
sea shore or the divine lovemaking between the Italic war god Mars and the
Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia. In the seduced Vestals veins flew the blood of Aeneas
son of Anchises and thus of Venus-Aphrodite, Aeneas mother and the goddess
341
of love and beauty. Thus, indirectly, in the Roman myth like in the original
Greek one, the act of lovemaking between the war god Ares and the love goddess Aphrodite produced the daughter Harmonia, the prerequisite to the reign
of Peace.
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mit E. Buchners Rekonstruktion und seiner Deutung der Ausgrabungsergebnisse,
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M. Siebler, Studien zum Augusteischen Mars Ultor (Mnchen: Editio Maris, 1988).
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175190.
E. Simon, Ara Pacis Augustae (Greenwich Connecticut: New York Graphic Society LTD,
Verlag Ernst Wasmuth Tbingen, 1967).
, Augustus. Kunst und Leben in Rom um die Zeitenwende (Mnchen: Hirmer
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C.J. Simpson, Unexpected references in the Horologium Augusti at Ovid, Ars Amatoria
1.68 and 3.388, Athenaeum 80 (1992) 478484.
S. Sorek, The Emperors Needles Egyptian Obelisks and Rome (Exeter: Bristol Phoenix
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Teilband Religion (ed. W. Haase, Berlin New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1986).
P. Stampini (ed.), Ara Pacis Augustae (Roma: Rotary Club Dibatti Rotariani, 1970).
E. Strong, La legislazione sociale di Augusto ed i fregi del recinto dellAra Pacis (Roma:
Istituto di Studi Romani, 1939; Quaderni di studi romani 2/1939).
M. Torelli, Un Templum augurale di et repubblicana a Bantia, RAL 8.21 (1966).
, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1992).
, Topografia e iconologia. Arco di Portogallo. Ara Pacis. Ara Providentiae.
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, Il rango, il rito, e limmagine Alle origini della rappresentazione storica romana

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353
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Ionescu
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pp. 99174.
The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of

Antoninus Pius*
Andr Heller
Introduction
Antoninus Pius (138161) reigned twenty-three years, which makes him the longest ruling emperor between Augustus and Constantine the Great. Nowadays,
he is almost entirely perceived as a lacklustre figure compared to his predecessors and successors, though generally credited as faithful administrator of the
Empire, which rejoiced in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity
under his reign. While modern scholarship recognises stagnation or regression in Antoninus government, the ancient sources extol his foreign policy
via diplomacy which guaranteed the compliance of Romes enemies. However,
territorial gains in Britain and Germany contradict the opinion of an inactive
emperor; even more puzzling are the many war-related themes on Antoninus
coins. A close examination of the written sources, the reverses of the coins and
the distance slabs of the Antonine Wall unveils a complex, though unparalleled system how the emperor combined his need for military glory with the
emphasis on the concept of just war and the invocation of the protective function of the gods for Romes prosperity and security.

Historical Setting
When Trajan died in 117, the Roman Empire had reached its largest territorial extent after the conquest of Dacia (1016), Armenia (114), Northern
Mesopotamia (115), and the annexation of the Nabatean Kingdom (106).
However, his expansionist policy overstressed the Empires resources due to
the huge casualties in the Dacian and Parthian wars. Trajans successor Hadrian
immediately concluded peace with the Parthians, relinquishing the Eastern
conquests, as he faced the outbreak of revolts in several regions.1 Hadrians
non-expansionist attitude, manifest through the building of walls in Britain,
Germany, and Africa proconsularis, did not find favour with the senators
* I wish to thank Krzysztof Ulanowski for inviting me to the conference.
1 S HA Hadr. 5.14.
The Religious Legitimation Of War
359
majority, vividly displayed by Hadrians negative stance in the historiography

which was influenced by his difficult relationship to the senate. Except for the
troubled early years and the undoubtedly severe Bar Kokhba revolt (1325), his
reign was peaceful.
On 25 February 138, Hadrian adopted the patrician T. Aurelius Antoninus,
who succeeded him a few months later on 10 July. Antoninus cursus honorum only comprised civic functionsthe proconsulship over Asia being the
only post he had held outside Italyand conformed to the typical career of
a man of noble descent. It is likely that Hadrian chose him as he seemed a
compliant continuator of his own defensive policies. Despite Antoninus long
reign, there are only a handful of monographs on him, and accounts on the
Roman imperial era dedicate just a few pages to him.2 This is certainly due
to a remarkable lack of written testimonies3 which conveys the impression
of an uneventful reign. As Cassius Dios Roman history is entirely lost for this
period,4 the terse but reliable biography in the Historia Augusta is the main
source.5 In his Roman Oration, delivered at Rome in 143,6 Aelius Aristides drew
the most impressive picture of Antoninus reign and the peaceful state of the
world, although the orator had to admit that wars did not entirely disappear,
as is only natural in the immensity of a great empire.7 Likewise, the Historia
Augusta or the emperors contemporaries Pausanias, author of a Description of
Greece, and Polyaenus in his Stratagems, attest conflicts in remote regions of
2 Still valuable is the magisterial work of W. Httl, Antoninus Pius. 2 vols. (Prague: Calve,
19336); more recently, B. Rmy, Antonin le Pieux 138161. Le sicle dor de Rome (Paris: Fayard,
2005).
3 A.M. Kemezis, Lucian, Fronto, and the Absence of Contemporary Historiography under the
Antonines, AJPh 131 (2010) 285325.
4 K. Juntunen, The Lost Books of Cassius Dio, Chiron 43 (2013) 4601; M.G. Schmidt, Cassius
Dio, Buch LXX. Bemerkungen zur Technik des Epitomators Ioannes Xiphilinos, Chiron 19
(1989) 579.
5 Beside the Historia Augusta, there are the correspondence of Cornelius Fronto, Marcus
Aurelius tutor, and the late-antique abbreviators Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Festus, and
the anonymous author of the Liber de Caesaribus. For a survey of the available sources, cf.
S. Walentowski, Kommentar zur Vita Antoninus Pius der Historia Augusta (=Antiquitas IV/3,3;
Bonn: Habelt, 1998) 6188, and Rmy, Antonin le Pieux..., 393416.
6 R. Klein, Zur Datierung der Romrede des Aelius Aristides, Historia 30 (1981) 33750, following J.H. Oliver, The Ruling Power. A Study of the Roman Empire in the Second Century after
Christ through the Roman Oration of Aelius Aristides, TAPhS 43 (1953) 887, argued for 143
while C.A. Behr, Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1968) 8890, and
id. (trans.), Aelius Aristides. The Complete Works. Vol. II: Orations XVIILIII (Leiden: Brill, 1981)
3767 n. 77, pledged for 155.
7 Aristid. Or. 26.70 (trans. Oliver, The Ruling Power...).
360
Heller
the Empire.8 The Historia Augusta even praised Antoninus vigorous foreign
policy9 and emphasised his high esteem among the foreign kings, making war
unnecessary.10 In the first volume of his famous work Decline and fall of the
Roman Empire, originally published in 1776, the English savant Edward Gibbon
lauded the Antonine Age a golden era.11 Albeit Httl, in the wake of Gibbon,
styled him Friedensfrst,12 the researchers majority accuses him of serious failures, thereby causing the wars which immediately broke out after his
death.13 Especially, building the Antonine Wall and moving the limes in BadenWuerttemberg further east are regarded as measures of little value. Apparently,
this is confirmed by the abandonment of the Antonine Wall around 158 or
early in Marcus Aurelius reign; moreover, the 80 km long, near straight line
of the Upper Germanic Limes offered no strategic advantage. In contrast,
Antoninus finds approval as an able and commendable, though conservative,
administrator. An unbiased view, however, shows that claims of military failures and his inability are exaggerated,14 especially because one has to consider
8 SHA Ant. Pius 5.45; Paus. 8.43.34; Polyaenus, Strat. prol. 6.
9 SHA Ant. Pius 9.610. K.F. Stroheker, Die Auenpolitik des Antoninus Pius nach der
Historia Augusta in Bonner Historia-Augusta-Colloquium 1964/1965 (=Antiquitas IV/3,
ed. A. Alfldi, Bonn: Habelt, 1966) 24156; G. Kerler, Die Auenpolitik in der Historia
Augusta (=Habelts Diss.drucke/Reihe Alte Geschichte 19; Bonn: Habelt, 1970) 3848.
10
Sestertii of the provincial series from 139 (RIC 3.586) depict a personification of Parthia,
holding crown, bow and quiver with arrows. Thereby, the beholder received the impression of Parthia being a Roman client state. Two incidents early in Antoninus reign conveyed exactly this: Firstly, Antoninus prevented simply with letters a Parthian invasion in
Armenia and, secondly, refused to return the throne to the Parthians once captured by
Trajan (SHA Ant. Pius 9.67).
11 E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1: Volume The First
(1776) and Volume The Second (1781) (ed. D. Womersley, London: Allen Lane, 1994) 3638;
1013, esp. 103: the condition of human race was happy and prosperous.
12 Httl, Antoninus Pius..., 1.352.
13 The negative view is confined to the German literature, e.g., E. Kornemann, Rmische
Geschichte. Vol. 2: Die Kaiserzeit (7th edn. Stuttgart: Krner, 1977, originally published in
1939) 277.
14 Modern scholarship regards the Praetorian prefect M. Gavius Maximus as mastermind of
Antoninus foreign policy, cf. A.R. Birley, Hadrian to the Antonines, in CAH 11 (2nd edn.
2000) 151; Rmy, Antonin le Pieux..., 227. For Britain, Q. Pompeius Falco, the governor
when work on Hadrians Wall began, might have played a crucial role, as Antoninus visited him in October 141 (Fronto, Ep. 2.9 van den Hout), although A.R. Birley, The Roman
Government of Britain (Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005) 99, considers Falcos
influence on building the Antonine Wall pure speculation. As already Cn. Iulius Agricola
had occupied this line, the choice appears more than logical.
361
that historians of the second and third centuries vividly discussed the justification of constructing walls to defend the frontiers15 and the eschewal of further
territorial gains.16 Although the sources praise Antoninus love for peace and
his efforts rather to defend the provinces than to enlarge them,17 one should
not call him pacifist. The conquest of the Lowlands with the building of the
Antonine Wall18 and the extension of Germania superior to the east prove that
he followed his own ambitions. In addition, he successfully concentrated on
deterrence by diplomatic means.19

War and Religion in the Roman World
More than other people of the Ancient World, the Romans espoused the
idea of bellum iustum (just war), whose principles Cicero exposed.20 They
saw themselves superior to all other nations regarding piety and religion and
firmly believed that everything was governed by the gods.21 In Republican
times, responsibility for diplomatic relations rested with the fetiales.22 Livy
and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who cited the historian Cn. Gellius, described
in detail the acts they performed in case of infringement of peace or treaties.23
According to Livy,24 the pater patratus, head of their collegium, declared war
(indictio belli) by throwing a spear into the opponents territory. However,
except for Livys passage, there is not a single testimony for the performance
15 Aristid. Or. 26.8084; Hdn. 2.11.5.
16 App. prol. 7; Flor. 1.47.46.
17 Eutr. 8.8.2 (trans. J.S. Watson).
18 For a balanced view on Antoninus decision to campaign in Britain, cf. G. Adams,
An Analysis of Antoninus Pius Frontier Policy in Northern Britain and Its Representation
of His Principate, JAC 23 (2008) 11937.
19 Cf. SHA Ant. Pius 9.610.
20 Cic. Off. 1.11.3313.41; Rep. 3.23.345; cf. S. Albert, Bellum iustum. Die Theorie des gerechten
Krieges und ihre praktische Bedeutung fr die auswrtigen Auseinandersetzungen Roms in
republikanischer Zeit (=Frankfurter althistorische Studien 10; Kallmnz: Lassleben, 1980).
21 Cic. Har. resp. 19; cf. Polyb. 6.56.68.
22 Cf. T. Wiedemann, The Fetiales: A Reconsideration, CQ 36 (1986) 47890; J. Rpke, Domi
militiae. Die religise Konstruktion des Krieges in Rom (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1990) 97124;
A. Watson, International Law in Archaic Rome. War and Religion (=Ancient Society and
History; Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1993).
23 Livy 1.24. 32; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2.72. The authors differ on the king who introduced the
fetiales: Numa Pompilius (Dion. Hal.; Plut. Num. 12.35), Ancus Marcius (Livy) or Tullus
Hostilius (Cic. Rep. 2.17.31).
24 Livy 1.32.1214.
362
Heller
of this act in Republican times. Although Dionysius, who wrote his Roman
Antiquities early under Augustus, attached great importance to this institution because it was wholly unknown to his Greek audience, he is silent on this
specific point. Even in Livy, the fetiales role is limited to give an opinion on
the justification of a war or to conclude peace. This is also reflected by the
Greek renderings of fetialis which emphasise the peaceful aspect.25 Be that as
it may, there are only two examples for this ritual, both from Cassius Dio. In
32 BC, Octavianus declared war as fetialis26 on Antonius and Cleopatra performing all the rites preliminary to war in the customary fashion,27 and in
AD 178, when Marcus Aurelius opened his expedition against the Iazyges by
hurling the bloody spear, that was kept in the temple of Bellona, into what
was supposed to be the enemys territory,28 for which Dio even invoked eyewitnesses. This illustrates that the performance was highly unusual and thus
worthy of being recorded for posterity. A testimony of Origenes proves that
Marcus Aurelius construed this campaign as just war.29 Many scholars refute
Livys testimony of the fetialis hurling the spear as anachronism and, instead,
consider Octavianus the creator to give the war against Egypt an old-fashioned
and patriotic veneer.30 There is even a faint piece of evidence that Augustus
availed the fetial rite a second time when he declared war upon the Germanic
tribe of the Hermunduri.31
25 They are designated as (arbiters of peace), (guardian of peace)
or (peace-maker). Cassius Dio uses the Latin word in the Greek rendering
(cf. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 10.23.1; RG 7.7).
26 Cf. F. Fontana, Fetialis fui. Note sullindictio belli di Ottaviano contro Cleopatra (32 a. C.),
AIIS 11 (198990) 6982, who argues for the revival of the ancient ritual by Octavianus.
27 Cass. Dio 50.4.4 (trans. E. Cary, Loeb ed.).
28
Ibidem, 72.33.3. The Roman tradition (Serv. ad Aen. 9.52) that a soldier of king Pyrrhus
had been forced to buy a piece of land on campus Martius during the war with Tarentum
(282275 BC), which was then declared hostile soil, is an erudite but pure fictional explanation, cf. Wiedemann, The fetiales..., 481 n. 13.
29 Origen, C. Cels. 8.68.1; M. Mantovani, Bellum iustum. Die Idee des gerechten Krieges in der
rmischen Kaiserzeit (=Geist und Werk der Zeiten 77; Berne, Frankfurt: Lang, 1990) 401.
30 C. Saulnier, Le rle des prtres fetiaux et lapplication du ius fetiale Rome, RD 4. sr. 58
(1980) 17199; Rpke, Domi militiae..., 1078.
31 Aulus Gellius (NA 16.4.1), citing the third book of Cincius de re militari, mentions the
formula from a declaration of war upon thehitherto unknownHermunduli.
Some scholars see this as corruption of Hermunduri (cf. Wiedemann, The fetiales...,
479 n. 5), while Rpke, Domi militiae..., 105, interprets it as word play mocking the
Egyptians as worshippers/servants of Hermes, thus relating to the scenery of 32 BC.
Anyway, Cincius must be identical with the late-republican antiquarian and not with
the historian L. Cincius Alimentus, who lived during the Second Punic War. W.H. Keulen,
363
The collegium of fetiales only constituted a minor priesthood and existed

until the High Empire, although it had no real importance anymore. Members
can occasionally be identified when the priesthood is mentioned in senatorial inscriptions. Most of the known fetiales were of plebeian descent or even
homines novi,32 which meant that their careers included more military posts
than was typical for patricians. Apart from Augustus, there is no other emperor
known to have been fetialis with certainty. Since it is not expectable that the
sources noticed the emperors fellowship, one cannot preclude that more
emperors were fetiales, though.33

War and Religion under Antoninus Pius. The War in Britain
Antoninus start as emperor was difficult due to the senators hatred towards
Hadrian which found its expression in the demand to impose the damnatio
memoriae on him; this Antoninus could prevent with an emotional speech,
which earned him the surname Pius. He soon won over the senate by threatening to resign,34 but acceptance from the armycrucial for an emperorwas
more difficult to gain, especially due to his lack of a military background. Apart
from giving the soldiers the usual donativum, a successful military campaign
could prove himself a worthy imperator and provide himself with the semblance of victoriousness. A brief look into Roman history prior to 138 reveals
that almost every ruler had gained military experience or glory either before
or shortly after becoming emperor. For several reasons, Antoninus choice to
pick Britain as his field of glory seems reasonable. Firstly, shifting the frontier more northerly offered the Romans a better strategic position due to the
Gellius the Satirist. Roman Cultural Authority in Attic Nights (=Mnemos. Suppl. 297;
Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill, 2009) 67, sees Gellius citation of Cincius instigated by Marcus
Aurelius archaic way of declaring war. Maybe it is more than mere coincidence that the
Hermunduri under Marcus Aurelius were again in conflict with Rome.
32 Their lower status attests Tacitus (Ann. 3.64.34); for prosopography of the known fetiales, J. Rpke, Fasti Sacerdotum. A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious
Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499 (Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
2008) 973c4a.
33 Suetonius (Claud. 25.5) possibly attests that Claudius concluded treaties with foreign
kings as pater patratus.
34 It is the merit of P.V. Hill, The Dating and Arrangement of the Undated Coins of Rome.
A.D. 98148 (London: Spink, 1970) 7884, to have shown from the varieties of Antoninus
name and titles on his early coinage the course of the struggle between emperor and senate; for the beginning of the reign, cf. Rmy, Antonin le Pieux..., 11525.
364
Heller
shorter distance of the Forth-Clyde-isthmus in comparison to Hadrians Wall.

Secondly, as unrest in Britain at the beginning of his reign had demonstrated,
Hadrians Wall failed to ascertain security for the province. Thirdly, the area
north of Hadrians Wall was well known to the Romans since Flavian times, the
conquest of the fertile Lowlands seemed an accessible goal.
The majority of the sources conceal the reasons for the war. As Roman ideology of just war needed an enemys provocation, even the expansionist Trajan
had to plead a pretext before he set out against Armenia and the Parthians,
although Cassius Dio figured out that his real reason was a desire to win
renown.35 In his praise of Antoninus, Pausanias stated that the emperor never
willingly involved the Romans in war, however, the Brigantes had begun an
unprovoked war on the province of Genunia, a Roman dependency.36 The
name Genunia, though, is a vexed problem as such a toponym is unknown
in Britain.37 Although some scholars relate Pausanias statement to a war in a
later period of Antoninus reign,38 it is more conclusive that it refers to the conquest of the Lowlands. Both the Historia Augusta and inscriptions from Britain
attest Q. Lollius Urbicus then governor. He was native of the Numidian town
Tiddis and enjoyed the typical career of a homo novus. He was decorated during the Bar Kokhba revolt (1325) and immediately after that appointed consul suffectus before he became governor of Lower Germany and then Britain,
probably already late in 138.39
Pausanias testimony perfectly fits the concept of just war, which enabled
Antoninus to win military glory by answering an attack by enemies. Certainly,
one might assume that the Romans provoked the aggression, however, the
Brigantes were those kind of barbarians unable to enjoy the blessings they
have.40 Scrutinising the sources illuminates how the war was declared upon
the insurgents. Although promotion from Lower Germany to Britain was not
unusual, choosing Urbicus may have had a deeper sense, since he had, when
appointed consul suffectus, become fetialis,41 so that he could have declared
war there in that specific function. There is yet another possible scenario: At
35 Cass. Dio 68.17.1 (trans. E. Cary, Loeb ed.).
36 Paus. 8.43.34 (trans. W.H.S. Jones, H.A. Ormerod, Loeb ed.).
37 J.G.F. Hind, The Genounian Part of Britain, Britannia 8 (1977) 22934.
38 F. Haverfield, On Julius Verus, a Governor of Roman Britain, PSAS 38 (1904) 4549;
W.S. Hanson, G.S. Maxwell, Romes North-west Frontier. The Antonine Wall (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1983) 1467.
39 Birley, The Roman Government..., 13640.
40 Aristid. Or. 26.70.
41 M.W.C. Hassall, Footnotes to the Fasti in A Roman Miscellany. Essays in Honour of A.R.
Birley on His Seventieth Birthday (=Monograph Series Akanthina 3, eds. H.M. Schellenberg,
365
the beginning of 139, Antoninus appointed Marcus Aurelius Caesar whereby he

was co-opted in all priesthoods. Despite Dios silence whether Marcus Aurelius
hurled the spear in 178 as fetialis, we can firmly assume this as the emperor had
a reputation for painstakingly observing the rites. One might conjecture that
in 139 the then Caesar, on behalf of his father, hurled the spear into that soil
near the temple of Bellona, which was considered hostile territory, to formally
declare war upon the Brigantes; Urbicus, then, opened the campaign by throwing the spear into the enemys land. If Marcus Aurelius had acted as fetialis in
139, it becomes fully intelligible why in 178 he declared war this way.42 Already
Fronto and the authors of the fourth century compared Antoninus with Numa
Pompilius,43 whom a tradition credits with the invention of the fetiales. In this
respect, Antoninus was different from the venerable ancient king as he had to
exert the fetial rite.
By July 142 at the latest,44 coinciding with the emperors quinquennalia, Lollius Urbicus had achieved victory over the Britons. The visible result
of the campaign was a shift of the frontier to the north and the building of
the Antonine Wall, made of timber and turf,45 which led to abandonment of
Hadrians Wall. When the news had reached Rome, Antoninus accepted his
second imperial acclamation but did not celebrate a triumph or add the name
V.E. Hirschmann, A. Krieckhaus, Gdask: Foundation for the Development of Gdask

42 Cf. A.R. Birley, Marcus Aurelius. A Biography (rev. edn. London, New York: Routledge,
2000) 206.
43 Fronto, Principia historiae 2.10.2 (van den Hout); Eutr. 8.8.1; SHA Ant. Pius 2.2. 13.4; cf.
H. Brandt, Knig Numa in der Sptantike. Zur Bedeutung eines frhrmischen exemplum in der sptrmischen Literatur, MH 45 (1988) 98110.
44 On 13 August 142, Fronto (Ep. 2.4.1 van den Hout) mentioned the victory in his actio gratiarum for the consulship, as is known from the panegyric of 297 for Constantius Chlorus
(Pan. Lat. 8.14.2). A military diploma (AE 1995.1824) from 1 August styled the emperor
imperator II; an inscription from Salerno (CIL 10.515 = ILS 340), dated by trib(unicia)
pot(estate) V to 142, has imp(erator) II. The emendation of V to VI in ILS 340 by Hill,
The dating..., 8, must be refuted due to the arguments of W. Eck, M. Cornelius Fronto,
Lehrer Marc Aurels, consul suffectus im J. 142, RhM 141 (1998) 1936, who definitely placed
Frontos consulship to 142. Hence, the coinage celebrating the victory in Britain must have
started in the second half of 142 (contra Hill, The dating..., 98100).
45
S HA Ant. Pius 5.4. For the wall and its planning, D.J. Breeze, The Antonine Wall (Edinburgh:
Donald, 2006); A. Strang, The distance slabs of the Antonine Wall. The deduction of their
most likely disposition (Nottingham: A. Strang, 2007), and J. Poulter, Roman Roads and
Walls in Northern Britain (Stroud: Amberley, 2010) 13354.
366
Heller
Britannicus to his imperial nomenclature.46 Thereby, he followed Hadrians

example who refused to take Trajans triumphal names and only late in his
reign acquired his second imperial acclamation after the suppression of the
Jewish revolt.

War and Religion under Antoninus Pius. Antoninus Coinage47
Victory in Britain was announced empire-wide by a series of coins48 which

were, in the second part of the series, inscribed IMPERATOR II on reverse,
depicting a variety of gods, with Victory clearly in the majority,49 or a seated
Britannia. The iconographic programme emphasised the rightfulness of the
campaign in a very special way. The series started off with aurei and sestertii,50
which depict a naked Jupiter, standing front holding sceptre and thunderbolt,
with the legend IOVI STATORI to Jupiter the Stayer, featuring on coins for
the first time. In a legendary version, Romulus had devoted a temple to Jupiter,
who stays the fleeing soldiers, when he fought the Sabines; later, in 294 BC,
M. Atilius Regulus made the same vow during a battle against the Samnites
and later dedicated the temple.51 Probably the remembrance of Romulus, who
prominently appeared on Antoninus coinage,52 inspired the emperor to introduce Iuppiter Stator as protective god. Be that as it may, the message was clear:
With Jupiters help, the enemies of the Empire will be halted and driven back.
Beside Iuppiter Stator, the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, who had only appeared
46 An inscription from Carthage (CIL 8.12513 = ILS 345), erected after 157, attaches the
titles Britannicus, Germanicus, and Dacicus. Another inscription from Mauretania (CIL
8.20424) also dubs him Germanicus and Dacicus. However, those titles were never official and should be explained as adulatory, cf. P. Kneil, Die Siegestitulatur der rmischen
Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den Siegerbeinamen des ersten und zweiten Jahrhunderts
(=Hypomnemata 23; Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969) 967.
47 For the types displayed on the reverses of the imperial coins, cf. the volumes of TAR
which collect and classify all female, geographical and male representations. Cf. P.L.
Strack, Untersuchungen zur rmischen Reichsprgung des zweiten Jahrhunderts. Vol. 3: Die
Reichsprgung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1937) esp. 5066; for
the chronology of the undated coins, the important work of Hill, The dating..., 78107;
17699.
48 Hill, The dating..., 1902.
49 Cf. for the different types of Victoriae in the imperial coinage TAR 1.12133.
50
R IC 3.72; 607 = TAR 2.136 (no. I.3.01.).
51 Livy 10.36.11. 37.156.
52
R IC 3.90; 624; 645; 665; 698 = TAR 2.17980 (no. I.02.).
367
in Republican coinage, feature on a medallion.53 In this specific context, sestertii praising the DISCIPLINA AVG(VSTI), a motif which was only used under
Hadrian,54 and asses, dupondii, and sestertii with CONCORDIA EXERCITVVM
minted from the outset of Antoninus reign,55 would underline the emperors
closeness to the army. The series continued, again with aurei and sestertii,
showing Mars standing right, holding inverted spear in right hand and resting
left on grounded shield, inscribed as MART(I) VLTORI to Mars the Revenger.56
The gods connotation as Ultor had been Octavianus creation in remembrance
of his victory at Philippi in 42 BC over the murderers of his adoptive father
Julius Caesar; his temple was finally dedicated as part of the Forum Augustum
in 2 BC. Apart from early Vespasianic coins from Tarraco,57 Mars Ultor appears
for the first-time since Augustus.58 On those coins just mentioned, Antoninus
did not bear the designation imperator II, thereby indicating that fighting
was still ongoing, although several coins reading VICTORIA AVG(VSTI),
represented by Victory driving in a chariot or flying with wreath and palm,59
already announced the outcome. When he later assumed the acclamation, the
coins depicting Britannia show her sitting on a rock or, in one instance, on a
globe swimming on waves, holding in her right hand a legionary standard and
in the left hand a lance while her elbow rests on a Britannic shield.60 Therefore,
the coins celebrate the protection of the province, not her subjugation.
Victoriae in different poses on all coin-types spread the emperors newly
won glory throughout the Empire.61 Consequently, the title imperator II now
appeared on all coins minted in 143.62
To the second part of the series commemorating the victory belong asses
with two ancilia on reverse,63 a motif which had not been displayed on coins
53 Strack, Untersuchungen..., no. 555.

54
R IC 3.604; Strack, Untersuchungen..., no. 828 = TAR 2.330 (no. M.VI.2.03). For Hadrian,
RIC 2.232; 7467 = TAR 2.330 (nos. M.VI.2.01. and 02.).
55
R IC 3.600. 657. 678 = TAR 1.356 (type f1 A/13).
56
R IC 3.113a; 609 = TAR 2.160 (no. II.2.01.). Mars was commonly displayed on coins during
the imperial period (cf. TAR 2.14668). However, Mars in this pose probably resembles the
cult-statue in the temple of Mars Ultor.
57
R IC 2.12979; 1358 = TAR 2.153 (no. II.2.06.).
58
R IC 1.6874 = TAR 2.1501 (nos. II.1.02. and 03.).
60
R IC 3.7425 = TAR 2.76 (nos. V.2.04. and 05.).
61
R IC 3.878 (quinarii); 101 (aureus); 6535 (sestertii); 7312 (asses).
63
R IC 3.736.
368
Heller
since denarii of Augustus.64 According to Roman tradition, those archaic

shields, kept in Numas palace (Regia) with the spear of Mars, fell from heaven
and were one of the seven pledges of empire (pignora imperii),65 as a divine
voice declared Rome mistress of the world whilst the shields were preserved.
Although many coins focus on Romes legendary history, which is interpreted
as anticipation of Romes 900th anniversary in 147, these pieces most probably refer to Antoninus own times. The ancilia were on display during the procession of the Salii, the priests of Mars, in March and October, which marked
opening and end of the season of warfare.66 Here the message of the coins
should be taken at face-value, alluding to the end of hostilities in Britain.
Asses with Iuppiter Victor underline divine help,67 which is also symbolised
by Hercules68 and a medallion showing Vulcan forging weapons, which he
hands over to Minerva.69 One is reminded of Aristides saying that wars are
interpreted more as myths by the many who hear them.70 Janus appearance
on coins rather belongs to the series celebrating Romes imminent anniversary than to the victory coinage71 as there are no testimonies for the closing
or opening of the temples doors. Simultaneously, Antoninus diplomatic successes were celebrated by coins displaying the installation of kings to the Quadi
and Armenians.72 Remarkably, this spectacular ostentation of the military and
diplomatic vigour of the emperor, who acted under special divine protection,
is confined to the year 143; later events,73 like the bellum Mauricum (144150)
or hostilities in Dacia and Britain (158), are only occasionally reflected in later
issues, with, among others, a short recurrence of Iuppiter Stator.74 This illustrates how much the emperor needed to show off his military successes to
the public and army at the outset of his reign. Appropriate to his unmilitary
64
R IC 1.343.
65 Ov. Fast. 3.36592; Plut. Num. 13.23.
66 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2.71.1; Plut. Num. 13.7.
68
R IC 3.726 = TAR 2.118 (no. I.01.). This portrayal is unique and probably depicts an archaic
cult-statue of Hercules.
70 Aristid. Or. 26.70.
71 Hill, The dating..., 91; 184. RIC 3.644; 693 = TAR 2.128 (no. I.01.). Cf. Strack,
Untersuchungen..., 77.
72
R IC 3.61920; 1059 = TAR 2.36 (nos. III.1.07. and 08.); 2.266 (nos. D.VII.1.01. and VII.2.01.);
R. Gbl, REX...DATUS. Ein Kapitel zur Interpretation numismatischer Zeugnisse und
ihrer Grundlagen, RhM 104 (1961) 7080.
73 Cf. Rmy, Antonin le Pieux..., 23156.
74
R IC 3.773; 927.
369
nature and the fact that he never left Italy during his reign, he established a
concept which emphasised the eminent role of the gods for Romes salvage
with the emperor as guarantor that all rites were duly conducted. The success
of divine help visualise several issues of the minor coins, minted for the decennalia (1467) with Peace (Pax) holding cornucopiae and setting fire to a heap
of arms.75

War and Religion under Antoninus Pius. The Distance Slabs
A remarkable feature of the Antonine Wall are the originally thirty-three distance slabs,76 made of local sandstone, of which about twenty are still extant.
Dedicated to the emperor, they record the length of construction work by
the detachments of the three legions. Nine of the extant slabs include ornate
scenes, unique throughout the Empire, which were probably coloured in
antiquity, thus making them an impressive testimony of Antoninus victorious
campaign.
The one from Bridgeness on the eastern end of Antonine Wall,77 set up by
legio II Augusta, marked the beginning of construction work. It is a most telling
depiction showing a sacrifice on the right and a fighting scene on the left. In a
gabled archway stand four men in tunics and military cloaks while a toga-clad
figure, probably also capite velato (with veiled head), holds a patera offering
a libation. Above the group is a standard (vexillum), inscribed legio II Augusta,
symbolising the presence of the army. The Second Legion probably fought
in full strength while the two other legions only sent detachments.78 To the
right of the altar is a flute player (tibicen), with the double-pipes to his lips,
below him stand three animals, a boar (sus), a ram (ovis), and a bull (taurus),
advancing towards the altar. The sacrificial servant (victimarius), half-kneeling,
half-sitting, appears to beckon to them. The depiction shows the suovetaurilia
whereby the army was purified (lustratio) before the start of the campaign.79
Suovetaurilia are well documented in Roman literary sources80 and art, e.g.,
75
R IC 3.777; 804; 822 = TAR 1.823 (type f1 A/08).
76 Strang, The Distance Slabs..., 423.
77
C SIR-GB 1.4.68 = RIB 2139.
78 D.J. Breeze, The Second Augustan Legion in North Britain in Birthday of the Eagle.
The Second Augustan Legion and the Roman Military Machine (ed. R.J. Brewer, Cardiff:
National Museums and Galleries of Wales, 2002) 72b.
79 Cf. Tac. Ann. 6.37.2.
80 Cato, Agr. 141.
370
Heller
on Trajans and Marcus Aurelius column.81 While on them the emperor sacrifices, the Bridgeness distance slab differs, since Antoninus stayed at Rome. Two
identifications for the toga-clad person seem possible: Either the depicted is
Q. Lollius Urbicus, governor of Britain and commander-in-chief, or A. Claudius
Charax, legate of legio II Augusta. As Roman officers also performed the sacrifices in the camp, Charax seems more likely, as Birley suggested.82 Charax was
a native of Pergamum and could have met the future emperor while Antoninus
served as proconsul Asiae in 1356.83 Connections to the imperial family might
be inferred from Marcus Aurelius mentioning him in the Meditations as philosopher.84 This philosophical background and his previous career did not predestine him to take up a command of a legion, which was to partake in fighting.85
However, he is known to have authored a World History in forty volumes,86 so
Antoninus might have expected him to exalt his exploits in Britain; unfortunately, none of the extant fragments helps to strengthen this conjecture. After
his legionary command, Charax was promoted to the governorship of Cilicia
and in 147 became consul suffectus.
Situated under a low archway, a cavalryman from the legio II Augusta, with
leather cuirass, crested helmet, and a billowing cloak, seems to gallop over four
naked warriors. His spear is poised to strike and in his left hand he holds an
oval shield while a sword suspends from a baldric. The detailed portrayal of his
horse, rearing up, lends liveliness to the scene. One of the natives has dropped
his sword and tries to protect himself with his shield, while the second falls forward, obviously protruded by a spear-shaft. The third, decapitated warrior sits
backwards, with his severed head lying to the right while to the left there are a
81 I.S. Ryberg, Rites of the State Religion in Roman Art (=MAAR 22; Rome: American Acad.,
1955) 10419.
82 A.R. Birley, Officers of the Second Augustan Legion in Britain in Birthday of the Eagle.
The Second Augustan Legion and the Roman Military Machine (ed. R.J. Brewer, Cardiff:
National Museums and Galleries of Wales, 2002) 109b10a.
83 Cf. H. Halfmann, Die Senatoren aus dem stlichen Teil des Imperium Romanum bis zum Ende
des 2. Jh. n. Chr. (=Hypomnemata 58; Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979) 1612
no. 73; D.J. Breeze, Q Lollius Urbicus and A Claudius Charax, Antonine Commanders in
Britain, PSAS 121 (1991) 22730; Birley, The Roman Government..., 2534.
84 M. Aur. Med. 8.25.2.
85 To a certain degree of probability, C. Curtius Iustus (Birley, The Roman Government...,
2545) and P. Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus (ibid. 2512) were then commanders of legio
XX Valeria victrix and VI victrix respectively. While the former enjoyed a normal career,
the latter was son of the Hadrianic governor of Britain P. Mummius Sisenna.
86
FGrH 103; O. Andrei, A. Claudius Charax di Pergamo. Interessi antiquari e antichit cittadine nellet degli Antonini (=Opuscula Philologica 5; Bologna: Ptron, 1984).
371
shield and a dagger. The fourth native sits and cups down the chin in his hand,
obviously in resignation. The whole picture might be designed as an ongoing
storyline, comparable to modern comic strips. A captive is on display at the
distance slab from Hag Knowe, from which only the left bottom has survived,87
and a standard-bearer on the fragmented one from the north gate of Balmuildy
fort88 while two other depict dancing Cupids which Strang interprets as indicating the seasons end.89 The slab of the Second Legion from Summerston
Farm90 shows on the left Victory crowning a fully equipped cavalryman who
rides down two naked, bearded barbarians with their hands bound and their
weapons on the ground. On the right, an eagle looking left seems to perch on
a swimming capricorn, the legions symbol; below, another naked and bound
barbarian is shown with his shield lying close to him.
The distance slab of the Twentieth Legion from Hutcheson Hill91 shows two
figures in a central arch, probably a triumphal archway. To the right stands a
tall female, her hair neatly piled up and with a cloak falling over her left shoulder and looped over her left arm. In her left hand she holds a patera, in her
right a small laurel wreath which she places in the beak of the eagle atop the
standard presented by its bearer. She probably represents Britannia, resembling the hair-style of deified Faustina the Elder.92 The bowed figure of the
bearer occupies the left side of the archway; he is bareheaded, clean-shaven,
and faces towards the right, his eyes lowered. He grasps with both hands the
pole of the standard which rests against his left shoulder. He is clad in a tunic
and short cloak, his shins protected by greaves, wearing military sandals. At
his right side he wears a short dagger. From that it becomes clear that victory over the Britons is won which affirms the next slab from Braidfield93 of
the Sixth Legion. It contains no more fighting scenes but instead two winged
Victories hold up an inscribed panel, flanked by Mars and Valour (Virtus). The
Victories, hair piled up and their draperies billowing, each rest on a globe. Mars
is equipped with a triple-plumed helmet, moulded cuirass, and cloak falling
from his right shoulder. He rests his left hand on a shield and holds a spear
in his right. Valour, with a plumed helmet and wearing a short tunic, which
87
C SIR-GB 1.4.84.
88
C SIR-GB 1.4.135 = RIB 2192.
90
C SIR-GB 1.4.137 = RIB 2193.
91
C SIR-GB 1.4.149 = RIB 3507.
92 K.E. Steer, E.A. Cormack, A New Roman Distance-slab from the Antonine Wall, PSAS 101
(19689) 123.
93
C SIR-GB 1.4.150 = RIB 2200.
372
Heller
leaves her breast bare in Amazon fashion, holds in her right hand a vexillum
inscribed Virtus Augusti (Virtue of the Emperor) and in her left a sheathed
sword reversed, the scabbard rests in the crook of her arm. On the western end
of the wall, at Ferrydyke near Old Kilpatrick, the distance slab of the Twentieth
Legion,94 represented as temple-faade, celebrates the final victory with a
reclining Victoria. Her hair is piled up, her left elbow rests on a globe holding
in her left hand a palm branch and in her right hand a laurel wreath, inscribed
with the legions name. It is a matter of debate whether the fighting scenes and
captives on the slabs allude to ongoing warfare during the two-and-a-half season which took the construction of the wall95 or represent the achievements of
the legions during the campaign, which seems more plausible to me although
it is remarkable that Antoninus is never styled imperator II.
Conclusion
Antoninus orchestrated the war in Britain as bellum iustum par excellence. He
created a coherent religious concept by ingeniously combining the fetial rite of
declaring of war, probably performed at Rome by the Caesar Marcus Aurelius as
fetialis, with the invocation of Iuppiter Stator, which points to severe fighting,
and Mars Ultor as supporters of the rightful Roman cause. On a more prosaic
level, the emperor also exposed the loyalty and discipline of the soldiers and
his own virtue. The detailed, though artisanally rather mediocre depictions96
on the distance slabs of the Antonine Wall exhibit the process of fighting,
starting with the lustratio and culminating in a depiction of Victoria, holding
palm branch and laurel wreath. Hence, the picture cycle of the distance slabs
serves as a kind of triumphal monument commemorating the extension of the
Empire,97 similar to Trajans column, though, in a much diminutive way.
Even if immediately after his death the Empire came under heavy pressure
from the Parthians and Germanic tribes, resulting in seventeen years of continuing warfare, this was not Antoninus fault.98 His rule brought the Roman
94
C SIR-GB 1.4.156 = RIB 2208.
96 M. Henig, The Art of Roman Britain (London: Batsfield, 1995) 50b.
97 Breeze, The Second Augustan..., 71a.
98 Cf. the relocation of troops ob bellum Parthicum (CIL 9.2457 = ILS 1076) just before his
death, as P. Weiss, Militrdiplome und Reichsgeschichte. Der Konsulat des L.Neratius
Proculus und die Vorgeschichte des Partherkriegs unter Marc Aurel und Lucius Verus in
Herrschen und Verwalten. Der Alltag der rmischen Administration in der Hohen Kaiserzeit
373
World an age of unprecedented peace, which was established by the gods

whose guidance protected the Empire from enemies attacks. The emphasis of
the gods and legends of Rome at first sight confirms the emperors unmilitary
attitude but this firmly matched Roman beliefs. Therefore, modern appraisals
of Antoninus Pius are negatively governed by hindsight-bias and the lack of
sources, ignoring contemporary views, and neglect that he bequeathed a powerful Empire which successfully resisted the heavy pressure.
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Roman Soldiers in Official Cult Ceremonies:

Performance, Participation and Religious
Experience
Tomasz Dziurdzik
The religious ceremonies of the Roman Imperial army present a very complex
issue, the consideration of which is of the highest importance for reconstructing both the official military religion and its impact upon the soldiers. The rites
and holidays are believed to be major factors in the Romanization and promotion of loyalty to the state and ruler. The aim of the present paper is to reconstruct the soldiers position and experience in official cult ceremonies. It is of
crucial importance to determine two things: who attended the ceremonies,
and what role was played by those present at the rites. Further factors, such
as piety or indifference, and also readiness to accept what was encouraged
or enforced by military authorities, made the scope of any influence strongly
variable between individuals. For masses of soldiers, however, it is mostly the
extent of presence and performance that amounted to the basic, average
experience of participants. This, in turn, should provide better understanding
of the overall importance of official ceremonies in shaping the identity and
attitudes of the military.
The literary sources concerning the official religion of the Roman Imperial
army are surprisingly limited, making the evidence of inscriptions, papyri
and archaeological sources especially valuable. The single most important source of our knowledge about the cult ceremonies held by the Roman
army is feriale Duranum, a religious calendar preserved on a papyri found in
Dura Europos.1 Internal evidence allows us to date it to the reign of Severus
Alexander, most likely between AD 225 and 227.2 It was probably used by
cohors XX Palmyrenorum miliaria equitata, but is nonetheless assumed to be a
standard calendar used in all Roman units,3 as none of the festivals mentioned
1 R.O. Fink, A.S. Hoey, W.F. Snyder, The Feriale Duranum, YClS 7 (1940) 1222; C.B. Welles,
R.O. Fink, J.F. Gilliam, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report V, Part I: the Parchments
and Papyri (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959) no. 54; R.O. Fink, Roman Military Records
on Papyrus (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University, 1971) no. 117.
2 H.W. Benario, The Date of the Feriale Duranum, Historia 11/2 (1962) 1926.
3 A.D. Nock, The Roman Army and the Roman Religious Year, HThR 40/4 (1952) 202;
J. Helgeland, Roman Army Religion in Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen Welt II, 16, 2
Roman Soldiers In Official Cult Ceremonies
377
in the feriale Duranum could be specific only to a unit of Palmyrenians or to

Dura Europos.4 Although only entries pertaining to three quarters of the year
are preserved, several observations can be made as to the nature of festivals
and anniversaries celebrated. To this one can add several official ceremonies
that were not celebrated on a regular basis, but only when specific conditions
applied.5 Together with information drawn from inscriptions on altars and
statue bases dedicated by units and officers as part of their obligations, a list
of deities worshipped by the Roman military has been reconstructed.6 Among
the official army cults the Capitoline Triad, Mars and several gods and lesser
deities connected with the military sphere received the greatest veneration,
with a high number of ceremonies mentioned in the feriale Duranum being
also devoted to the memory of deified emperors and empresses of the past.
One of the most important issues in the study of Roman military religion
is reconstructing the attitude of soldiers towards official rites. Some scholars
view them as imposed by the authorities,7 with an admitted purpose of maintaining the pax deorum, proper relations with the gods, and an implicit purpose of promoting loyalty and Romanizing the soldiers.8 Such understanding
suggests also that a certain dichotomy existed between official cults and private activities.9 The first had social importance, while the second provided for
the spiritual needs that could not be satisfied by the uninspired observance of
ceremonies imposed by the military hierarchy. This division between state and
private religion has been suggested in the polis religion theory.10 However,
regardless of whether the idea proposed in relation to the Greek polis could
(eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin-New York: de Gruyter 1978) 1481; D. Kossmann,

Rmische Soldaten als Teilnehmer von Festen in Festrituale in der rmischen Kaiserzeit
(ed. J. Rpke, Tbingen: Siebeck, 2008) 1345.
4 Nock, The Roman..., 192202.
5 Kossmann, Rmische..., 1412.
6 E. Birley, The Religion of the Roman Army: 18951977 in Aufstieg und Niedergang der
rmischen Welt II, 16, 2 (eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1978)
150641; building upon the classical A. von Domaszewski, Die Religion des rmischen
Heeres (Trier: Arno Press, 1975).
7 Birley, The Religion..., 1515.
8 Nock, The Roman..., 20329.
9 D. Fishwick, Dated Inscriptions and the Feriale Duranum, Syria 65 Fasc. 3/4 (1988) 351.
10 C. Sourvinou-Inwood, Further Aspects of Polis Religion, AION(archeol) 10 (1988)
25974; C. Sourvinou-Inwood, What is Polis Religion? in The Greek City from Homer to
Alexander (eds. O. Murray, S. Price, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) 295322.
378
Dziurdzik
be a useful tool in the study of Roman religion,11 such interpretations seem to

be an oversimplification of a far more complex matter. Firstly, private dedications were made by soldiers of all ranks to an extremely wide range of divinities, including the gods prevalent in the official pantheon. The cults of Mithras12
and Iuppiter Dolichenus,13 which expressed values of the highest importance
for the army, were in fact so popular among soldiers that they can be viewed
as a semi-official religion of the army. The division between official and private
cults seems therefore to be quite unclear. Secondly, the view that the alleged
ideological manipulation was the main motivation behind Roman army religion also presupposes the existence of an authority able to impose close control over the military. Most often, only a vague group of emperors advisors
is mentioned in this capacity.14 Of course, some ideological influence can be
easily detected in the sacral calendar of the army. But bearing in mind the conservatism typical of armed forces and an apparently high level of development
of social structures within the Roman army, the success of any strong outside
religious or ideological influence seems to be rather improbable.15 Moreover,
such understanding of the attitude of soldiers towards army religion ignores
their own involvement and participation in the rites. Therefore, one should
emphasize the role of religious rites as an expression of group identity16 also
in the case of the official cults in the army,17 over and above their alleged topdown imposition. A closer analysis of the various roles of soldiers in the official
cult ceremonies and their religious experience is therefore crucial to solving
the focal issue within the study of military cult ceremonies.
Beginning with the problem of the performance of rites in the official army
religion, it has to be noted that the most important part, the sacrifice, was
11 J. Rpke, Kult jenseits der Polisreligion. Polemiken und Perspektiven, JAC 47 (2004)
515.
12 M.P. Speidel, Mithras-Orion: Greek Hero and Roman Army God (Leiden: Brill, 1980);
A. Hensen, Mithras: der Mysterienkult an Limes, Rhein und Donau (Stuttgart: Theiss, 2013).
13 M.P. Speidel, The Religion of Iuppiter Dolichenus in the Roman Army (Leiden: Brill, 1978);
A. Collar, Military Networks and the Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus in Von Kummu nach
Telouch. Historische und archologische Untersuchungen in Kommagene (ed. E. Winter
Bonn: Habelt, 2011) 21745.
14 Fink, Hooey, Snyder, The Feriale..., 378.
15 I.P. Haynes, The Romanisation of Religion in the Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army
from Augustus to Septimus Severus, Britannia 24 (1993) 157.
16 C. Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System in Anthropological Approaches to the Study of
Religion (ed. M. Banton, London: Tavistock Publications, 1966) 146.
17 J. Rpke, Domi militiae: die religiose Konstruktion des Krieges in Rom (Stuttgart: Steiner,
1990) 17896.
379
always carried out by the most senior officer. It was him who made the libatio,
an offering of liquid, and then supervised the killing of the sacrificial animals;
this is illustrated by the scenes from Trajans column, where the Emperor acts
in this capacity, and the Bridgeness slab,18 which depicts a sacrifice performed
by the commander of a legionary detachment (vexillatio). This double role
of an officer as not only a commander, but also a priest was very accurately
described as a gentlemans duty.19 This reminds us of a situation typical for
many Roman religious ceremonies performed on behalf of a social group by the
head of the group in question. In this capacity one can even compare the officer to a householder.20 It is important to note, however, that there is evidence
for priestly grades among the rank-and-file soldiers at least from the early 3rd
century.21 The importance of the existence of such professional priests in the
military is limited by the fact that the performance of the most significant acts
of cult probably still remained within the responsibilities of the commanders, as evidenced by a wall painting from Dura Europos. In this scene, both
the tribune of an auxiliary unit, Iulius Terentius, and the priest Themes, son of
Mokimos are depicted, with their roles also identified in papyri documents.22
It is the commander who sacrifices incense upon the altar, while the priest
only makes a cult gesture towards the units standard.
Some of the less important aspects of the cult activities were without any
doubt executed by lower ranking soldiers. We have evidence for several types
of cult functionaries, including those who assisted the sacrifices, temple wardens and soothsayers.23 Their roles, although vital for the proper maintenance
18 R.G. Collingwood, R.P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1965) no. 2139; D.J. Breeze, The Flag of Legion II Augusta on the Bridgeness Distance
Slab, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 119 (1989) 13342.
19 O. Stoll, Offizier und Gentleman. Der rmische Offizier als Kultfunktionr, Klio 80/1
(1998) 13462.
20 Nock, The Roman Army..., 192.
21 von Domaszewski, Die Religion..., 111; R. Haensch, Pagane Priester des rmischen Heeres
im 3. Jahrhundert nach Christus in The Impact of Imperial Rome on Religions, Ritual and
Religious Life in the Roman Empire (eds. L. de Blois, P. Funke, J. Hahn, Leiden: Brill, 2006)
2168.
22 Nock, The Roman..., 24252; O. Stoll, Die Fahnenwache in der rmischen Armee,
ZPE 108 (1995) 11213; Haensch, Pagane..., 21213; E.L. Wheeler, Pullarii, Marsi,
Haruspices, and Sacerdotes in the Roman Imperial Army in A Roman Miscellany.
Essays in Honour of Anthony R. Birley on his Seventieth Birthday (eds. V.E. Hirschmann,
A. Krieckhaus, H.M. Schellenberg, Gdask: Foundation for the Development of Gdansk
23 Haensch, Pagane..., 209.
380
Dziurdzik
of the ceremony venues, as well as the smooth execution of the sacrifices and
their proper results, earned them little honour in comparison to the religious
role of the officers. This is reflected by the military grades of some of those cult
functionaries; they were ranked relatively low, among principales, that is soldiers receiving one-and-a-half or two times the standard pay.24 Such positions
were standard for all soldiers performing special duties (immunes) who, in turn,
were exempt from manual labour. The low status and pay could be the reason
why only few inscriptions mentioning the cult personnel have been found, but
on the other hand, it is more probable that the scarcity of inscriptions reflects
the fact that the posts were non-standard. As noticed by Wheeler,25 an exceptionally high number of inscriptions pertaining to some categories of military
priests comes from Lambaesis, which suggests that at least some of them were
members of the governors entourage, and quite possibly, civilians. The grades
could also have been officially introduced only in some units, remaining as
temporary-held posts elsewhere, thus resulting in the relatively low amount of
evidence and its geographic and temporal concentration.
We have already discussed the performance of the sacrifices and the roles of
those directly involved in the cult: commanding officers, and the select group
of NCOs acting as cult functionaries. It is the question of what amounted to
the experience of the bulk of rank-and-file soldiers during the official ceremonies that has been so far unconvincingly answered. In this case, the problem of
performance is intertwined with that of the participation in the cult activities
of the Roman army. Therefore, we arrive at the question of whether the participation of the rank-and-file soldiers was active or passive in nature; that is,
whether it had the elements that could increase the importance of the official
religion for the common soldier. The sacrifices, as already discussed, probably
involved little (if any) active participation on the part of the audience, as suggested not only by the mere logic of the course of the Roman rites, but also
by the few representations available. On the other hand, the sacramentum,
the sacred oath taken by all soldiers and renewed at the beginning of each
year during a special ceremony (nuncupatio votorum, in feriale Duranum on
3rd January), was an activity which involved all the members of a unit. We
know little about the form of the popular official ceremony, suplicatio, a public
prayer. The course of such ceremonies and a possible parallel with the prayer
which, according to Eusebius, was introduced by Constantine,26 suggest that it
24 A. von Domaszewski, Die Rangordnung des rmischen Heeres (Kln, Wien: Bhlau, 1981)
620.
25 Wheeler, Pullarii..., 1901.
26 Eus. VC 4.1820.
381
is very likely that the soldiers recited formulas, sang hymns, or responded to a
prayer led by a priest. In terms of performance, the rank-and-file soldiers were
therefore personally involved in at least some of the rites.
The soldiers experience is strongly related to the issue of the spatial and
architectural context of the ceremonies. When a unit was not on campaign,
its official ceremonies were performed in two places: on the parade-ground
and, probably much more often, in the principia, the headquarters of the unit.
The first of the settings did not limit the participation of the troops, nor would
it have any noticeable effect on their experience, as it was mostly a flat area
surrounded by a rampart, sometimes also with a tribunal.27 The headquarters,
on the other hand, present a very complex architectural setting for religious
ceremonies. The similarities of plans, combined with the fact that the scale
of the building closely matched the size of the unit, allow for some generalisation. The headquarters in Novae, a legionary base near modern Svishtov in
Bulgaria,28 are used here as a case study. Although the exact numbers would
differ if other such installations were considered, the final conclusions of
the following calculations should remain similar. The principia in this camp
(Figure 1) measured 60 by over 100 meters, and consisted of a monumental
gate (groma), a large courtyard surrounded by porticoes (forum militare), a hall
(basilica) and the single most important place in the whole campthe chapel
of the standards (aedes), surrounded on both sides by offices. The grandness
and splendour of the complex was magnified by the fact that the basilica and
the chapel of the standards were immense structures in their own right. The
visual effect of the ceremonies, taking into account also the various statues,
altars, parade equipment and adornments, must have been striking, on par
with or even exceeding those in civilian sanctuaries.
The first issue to consider is that of the possible limitations of space. The
total surface of the principia at Novae exceeded 6,000 square meters. If we
assume that only parts of the basilica and the open courtyard were used,
and moreover deducting about one fifth of the area that is left to account
27 R.W. Davies, The Training Grounds of the Roman Cavalry, AJ 125 (1968) 73100.
28 T. Sarnowski, L. Kovalevskaja, A. Tomas, Novaecastra legionis, 20062009. Preliminary
Report on the Excavations of the University of Warsaw Archaeological Expedition,
Archeologia 59 (2008) 15372; T. Sarnowski, L. Kovalevskaja, A. Tomas, Novae 2011.
Principia et munitiones Castrorum. Headquarters Building and Legionary Defences,
wiatowit 9 (50) A (2011) 18994; T. Sarnowski, Novae: an Archaeological Guide to a
Roman Legionary Fortress and Early Byzantine Town on the Lower Danube (Bulgaria). With
Contributions by Andrzej Bolesaw Biernacki, Martin Lemke, Agnieszka Tomas, Pavlina
Vladkova (Warszawa: Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, 2012) 5059.
382
Figure 1
Dziurdzik
A reconstructed plan of the 2nd/3rd century headquarters building

(principia) in the legionary camp Novae, near modern Svishtov in northern
Bulgaria, showing the architectural divisions of the complex and the location
of various small monuments found during the archeological research. Based
on the plan of archaeological remains by T. Sarnowski, L. Kovalevskaya and
P. Zakrzewski; drawn by T. Dziurdzik and M. Karolak.
383
for various small monuments, such as statues and altars, we are still left with
2,000 square meters. The accommodation of more or less 5,000 legionaries
on 2,000 square meters results in a crowd density of 2.5 men per square meter.
While not necessarily comfortable, it is entirely plausible. For example, the
upper guidance for standing density for audiences at modern events is close
to 5 people per square meter. Moreover, the ratio of 2.5 men per square meter
is the highest possible number. In reality, it would have been much lower, as
more space was certainly available, especially in the porticoes. Besides, no
ceremony would ever involve a gathering of the whole manpower of a unit,
since the ill, wounded or those on leave would be absent,29 not to mention
the numerous guards in and around the camp.30 Therefore, the capacity of the
principia was more than enough to accommodate the whole legion. At such
crowd densities the legionaries would also have no problems marching in step,
for example to exit the complex in a parade. Using only the main passageway
of the monumental gate, about 3.5 meters wide, a legion would need more
than 20 minutes to parade in formation out of the complex.31 By using all five
exits, the minimum time needed for the whole legion to enter or leave the
complex is just over 4 minutes. These calculations clearly show that the layout
of the Roman military headquarters was designed with some consideration for
its role as a setting for mass cult ceremonies. However, the extent of the experience of soldiers present at the ceremonies must have been reduced by limited
visibility. The view was obstructed by ranks of soldiers, but also by numerous
altars and statues.32 As a countermeasure, the floor of the basilica, where the
most important activities probably took place, was raised slightly higher than
the level of the courtyard, and the chapel of the standards was elevated even
more. Still, taking into account the distances and the pillars of the basilica, not
to mention the effects of deployment in ranks, many soldiers must have had
limited visibility; this, however, was probably not deemed essential.
The socially and ideologically most important aspect of religious ceremonies in the Roman army seems to be the possibility of mass participation in
29 Kossmann, Rmische..., 147.
30 J.F. Gilliam, The Roman Military Feriale, HThR 47/3 (1954) 1878.
31 According to crowd management guidances, 1.0 m of door width allows a maximum of
80 people to exit in 1 minute. Using those numbers as reference, 20 minutes is an absolute minimum for the more or less 5,000 legionaries to exit through the main entrance.
Movement in formation must have required considerably more time.
32
On their positioning compare T. Sarnowski, Zur Statuenausstattung rmischer
Stabsgebude, BJ 189 (1989) 97120; O. Stoll, Die Skulpturenausstattung rmischer
Militranlagen an Rhein und Donau. Der Obergermanisch-Rtische Limes (St. Katharinen:
Scripta Mercaturae Verlag, 1992).
384
Dziurdzik
common rites, regardless of the region or of the composition of a unit. This had
strong implications, helping to develop unification, fraternization and other
elements of esprit de corps. In this capacity, the rites greatly contributed to
the social experience of soldiers, helping join individuals into an integrated,
coherent body. Thanks to the uniform sacral calendar and rites,33 this was true
both on the level of an individual unit and for the Roman Imperial army as
a whole. Indeed, the cult activities were an expression of a group identity34
among the military. One must also remember that such ceremonies served to
break the routine of military life, as most soldiers were exempt from labour.
The preserved part of the calendar contained within the feriale Duranum has
a very reasonable average of one holiday per 7 days, though it must be noted
that the intervals are not regular. The fact that this aspect was common to all
Roman soldiers further underlines the social importance of the shared rites.
To sum up, the participation of rank-and-file soldiers in the official cult
activities probably involved mostly limited activity, such as making standard
responses and parade-marching when ordered. Key to the role of religious
ceremonies in the Roman army and to soldiers experience was the possibility of universal presence and passive participation. The final conclusion is
that regardless of the whole plethora of various possible attitudes displayed
by individual soldiers towards the official cult and the equally wide-ranging
extent of their religious belief, it was the commonness of religious ceremonies
that was vital for the social life, esprit de corps and coherence of the army. Thus,
the religious rites were one of the defining elements of Roman military identity and a true expression of the army as a social group.
Bibliography
H.W. Benario, The Date of the Feriale Duranum, Historia 11/2 (1962) 1926.
E. Birley, The Religion of the Roman Army: 18951977 in Aufstieg und Niedergang der
rmischen Welt II, 16, 2 (eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter,
1978) 150641.
D.J. Breeze, The Flag of Legion II Augusta on the Bridgeness Distance Slab, Proceedings
of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 119 (1989) 13342.
33 J. Helgeland, Roman Army Religion in Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen Welt II,
16, 2 (eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1978) 1487.
34
Geertz, Religion....
385
A. Collar, Military Networks and the Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus in Von Kummu nach
Telouch. Historische und archologische Untersuchungen in Kommagene (ed.
E. Winter, Bonn: Habelt, 2011) 21745.
R.G. Collingwood, R.P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1965).
R.W. Davies, The Training Grounds of the Roman Cavalry, AJ 125 (1968) 73100.
A. von Domaszewski, Die Religion des rmischen Heeres (Trier: Arno Press, 1975).
, Die Rangordnung des rmischen Heeres (Kln, Wien: Bhlau, 1981).
R.O. Fink, A.S. Hoey, W.F. Snyder, The Feriale Duranum, YClS 7 (1940) 1222.
R.O. Fink, Roman Military Records on Papyrus (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve
University, 1971).
D. Fishwick, Dated Inscriptions and the Feriale Duranum, Syria 65 Fasc. 3/4 (1988)
34961.
C. Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System in Anthropological Approaches to the Study of
Religion (ed. M. Banton, London: Tavistock Publications, 1966) 146.
J.F. Gilliam, The Roman Military Feriale, HThR 47/3 (1954) 18396.
R. Haensch, Pagane Priester des rmischen Heeres im 3. Jahrhundert nach Christus
in The Impact of Imperial Rome on Religions, Ritual and Religious Life in the Roman
Empire (eds. L. de Blois, P. Funke, J. Hahn, Leiden: Brill, 2006) 20818.
I.P. Haynes, The Romanisation of Religion in the Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army
from Augustus to Septimus Severus, Britannia 24 (1993) 14157.
J. Helgeland, Roman Army Religion in Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen Welt II,
16, 2 (eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1978) 1470505.
A. Hensen, Mithras: der Mysterienkult an Limes, Rhein und Donau (Stuttgart: Theiss,
2013).
D. Kossmann, Rmische Soldaten als Teilnehmer von Festen in Festrituale in der
rmischen Kaiserzeit (ed. J. Rpke, Tbingen: Siebeck, 2008) 133152.
A.D. Nock, The Roman Army and the Roman Religious Year, HThR 40/4 (1952)
187252.
J. Rpke, Domi militiae: die religiose Konstruktion des Krieges in Rom (Stuttgart: Steiner,
1990).
, Kult jenseits der Polisreligion. Polemiken und Perspektiven, JAC 47 (2004)
515.
T. Sarnowski, Zur Statuenausstattung rmischer Stabsgebude, BJ 189 (1989)
97120.
, Novae: an Archaeological Guide to a Roman Legionary Fortress and Early
Byzantine Town on the Lower Danube (Bulgaria). With Contributions by Andrzej
Bolesaw Biernacki, Martin Lemke, Agnieszka Tomas, Pavlina Vladkova (Warszawa:
Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, 2012).
386
Dziurdzik
T. Sarnowski, L. Kovalevskaja, A. Tomas, Novaecastra legionis, 20062009.

Preliminary Report on the Excavations of the University of Warsaw Archaeological
Expedition, Archeologia 59 (2008) 15372.
, Novae 2011. Principia et munitiones Castrorum. Headquarters Building and
Legionary Defences, wiatowit 9 (50) A (2011) 18994.
C. Sourvinou-Inwood, Further Aspects of Polis Religion, AION(archeol) 10 (1988)
25974.
, What is Polis Religion? in The Greek City from Homer to Alexander (eds. O.
Murray, S. Price, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) 295322.
M.P. Speidel, The Religion of Iuppiter Dolichenus in the Roman Army (Leiden:
Brill, 1978).
, Mithras-Orion: Greek Hero and Roman Army God (Leiden: Brill, 1980).
O. Stoll, Die Skulpturenausstattung rmischer Militranlagen an Rhein und Donau. Der
Obergermanisch-Rtische Limes (St. Katharinen: Scripta Mercaturae Verlag, 1992).
, Die Fahnenwache in der rmischen Armee, ZPE 108 (1995) 10718.
, Offizier und Gentleman. Der rmische Offizier als Kultfunktionr, Klio 80/1
(1998) 13462.
C.B. Welles, R.O. Fink, J.F. Gilliam, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report V,
Part I: the Parchments and Papyri (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959).
E.L. Wheeler, Pullarii, Marsi, Haruspices, and Sacerdotes in the Roman Imperial
Army in A Roman Miscellany. Essays in Honour of Anthony R. Birley on his Seventieth
Birthday (eds. V.E. Hirschmann, A. Krieckhaus, H.M. Schellenberg, Gdask:
Foundation for the Development of Gdansk University, 2008) 185201.
Religious Aspects of the Bar Kokhba Revolt:

The Founding of Aelia Capitolina on the Ruins
of Jerusalem
Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel
The Jewish War of 6673CE ended with the destruction of the Temple and
the city of Jerusalem, but the Jewish rural areas of Judea survived the disaster.
From 132 to 136 CE the Jews of Judea revolted against the Roman rule under
the leadership of Shimon Ben Kosiba, whom his supporters dubbed Shimon
Bar KokhbaThe Son of a Star. The suppression of the revolt was a difficult task for the Roman army. The revolt did end in defeat for the Jews and
large scale devastation of the Judean countryside. Hundreds of thousands
of Jews were killed or enslaved. The survivors were prohibited from living in
Jerusalem and the surrounding region. Bans were issued on some basic Jewish
religious practices. Finally, to obliterate the connection of the Jewish people
to their land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria
Palaestina.1
While the Jewish War was described in great detail by an eyewitness, Flavius
Josephus, the Bar Kokhba revolt lacks a contemporary, detailed chronicle. The
scholars of this period are compelled to rely on the epitome of Cassius Dio in
Xiphillinus (Historia Romana 69, 1115; trans. E. Cary), and few legends transmitted by the Church Fathers and the rabbinic literature. In other words, any
scholarly attempt to reconstruct a history of the war has to trust biased descriptions written well after the conclusion of the events. As a result, much of the
contemporaneous information about the period available to scholars comes
from archaeological, numismatic, epigraphic and papyrological material.2
In this paper, we will review the available data in order to reexamine the
Hadrianic decree to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, a Roman colonia. Its
1 P. Schfer, Der Bar Kokhba-Aufstand: Studien zum zweiten jdischen Krieg gegen Rom
(Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981); W. Eck, Rom und Judaea: Fnf Vortrge zur rmischen
Herrschaft in Palaestina, Jenaer Vorlesungen zu Judentum, Antike und Christentum 2
(Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007) 6971.
2 H. Eshel, The Bar Kochba Revolt, 132135 in The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 4, The
Late Roman Period (ed. S.T. Katz, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) 105127;
W. Eck, The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View, Journal of Roman Studies 89
(1999) 7689.
388
Zissu and Eshel
name was changed to COLONIA AELIA CAPITOLINA, based on Hadrians

own nomen gentilicium, Aelius (Hadrians tria nomina being Publius Aelius
Hadrianus), and the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.3 There
could be no greater insult to Jewish feelings than to transform the Holy City
into a pagan shrine. This review, based on archaeological findings, will demonstrate that this religious issue was, in fact, the proximate cause of the revolt.

The Founding Date of Aelia Capitolina
Because of a contradiction between the ancient sources, some scholars have

maintained that the founding of Aelia Capitolina was one of the causes of the
Bar Kokhba revolt while others have argued that it was a punishment imposed
by Hadrian on the Jews after the revolt.4 In 129/130CE, Hadrian visited Judaea
and Arabia on his way to Egypt.5 According to Cassius Dio, Hadrian founded
Aelia Capitolina during the course of that journey (Historia Romana 69: 12;
trans. E. Cary), an event consistent with Hadrians policy of founding (or refounding) Hellenistic cities during his extensive tours of the provinces.6
Eusebius, on the other hand, stated that the city was founded only after the
revolt, ca. 136 (Ecclesiastical History 4:6). This latter position receives implicit
3 B.H. Isaac, Roman Colonies in Judaea: The Foundation of Aelia Capitolina, Talanta 12/13
(1980/81) 3154; B.H. Isaac, JerusalemAn Introduction in Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/
Palestinae: Jerusalem, vol. 1: A Multi-lingual Corpus of the Inscriptions from Alexander to
Muhammad (eds. H.M. Cotton, L. di Segni, W. Eck, B. Isaac, A. Kushnir-Stein, H. Misgav,
J. Price, I. Roll, A. Yardeni, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010) 137.
4 H. Eshel, Bethar was Captured and the City was Plowed: Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina and the
Bar Kokhba Revolt, Eretz Israel 28 (2007) 218 (Hebrew) 10* (English summary); M.D. Herr,
Persecutions and Martyrdom in Hadrians Days, Scripta Hierosolymitana 23 (1972) 934.
The remark made by Appian of Alexandria, the second century CE historian, that Jerusalem
was destroyed by Hadrian in our time (Syriacus Liber 50:252) supported the view that the
city had fallen in the hands of the rebels. See original text, translation and discussion by
M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, Vol. II (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of
Sciences and Humanities, 1980) 179180. It seems reasonable to assume that this reference
was not made to the city itself, but to the overall destruction of Judea in the aftermath of the
Bar Kokhba revolt.
5 On this occasion, the mint in Rome issued coins with the legend ADVENTVI AVG(usti)
IVDAEAE on their reverse, accompanied by the personification of Judaea holding cup and
patera and greeting Hadrian from behind an altar; two small boys stand at her feet, each
holding a palm branch. See discussion by E.M. Smallwood, The Jews Under Roman Rule: From
Pompey to Diocletian (Leiden: Brill, 1976) 4634.
6 A.R. Birley, Hadrian, The Restless Emperor (London: Routledge, 1997).
Religious Aspects Of The Bar Kokhba Revolt
389
support from the Mishna (Taanit 4:6), which states that on the Ninth of Ab,
inter alia, Betar was captured and the city was plowed up. Because the other
events in this passage are listed in chronological sequence, we can infer that
first Betar was destroyed (by Hadrian in 135/6CE) and only afterwards was the
founding ceremony of the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina held. This event
involved the ceremonial ploughing of the sulcus primigenius, the primary furrow, by an ox and a cow to mark the pomerium (sacred boundary) of the new
city. Note, however, that according to both schools of thought, the founding of
Aelia Capitolina is related to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The question, of course,
is which event caused the othera question we aim to answer on the basis of
archeological evidence.

Numismatic Discoveries in the Judean Desert
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence supporting an earlier founding of Aelia Capitolina comes from coins minted by the city before or during
the revolt and found in hoards and numismatic assemblages concealed in refuge caves7 in the Judean Desert before the end of the revolt. One of the most
important of these numismatic assemblages was discovered in the el-Jai cave,
a large karstic refuge cave located in the cliffs of Wadi el-Jai, one of the deep
ravines of the northern Judean Desert. The cave was first surveyed by the team
from the Survey of Western Palestine in June 1881.8 It was surveyed again by
7 The refuge caves are found mainly in the Judean Desert, in the steep cliffs overlooking the
Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. These caves are basically large natural caves (with few manmade alterations) located in almost-inaccessible vertical cliffs, remote from any settlements.
The best known refuge caves are the Cave of the Letters in Nahal Hever and the caves in
Wadi Murabbaat, which produced a wealth of written documents from the time of the
revolt. Artifacts found in the refuge caves include documents written in Greek and Aramaic
on papyrus, fragments of Biblical scrolls, bronze and silver coins, some of which were overstruck by the Bar Kokhba administration, assemblages of weapons and other metal artifacts,
pottery, glass, stone objects, textiles and other organic finds, food remains, as well as wood
and bone objects. This wealth of finds make it evident that they served as places of refuge
for people from the Judean mountains and the Jordan Valley when they fled for their lives at
the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt. See H. Eshel, D. Amit (eds.), Refuge Caves of the Bar Kokhba
Revolt (Tel Aviv: Israel Exploration Society, 1998). (Hebrew); H. Eshel, R. Porat, Refuge Caves
of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, vol. 2 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2009). (Hebrew).
8 C.R. Conder, H.H. Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs, vol. 3, Judaea (London:
Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1883) 13840.
390
Zissu and Eshel
Uri Dinur in the mid 1980s, but he did not find any Roman-period artifacts.9
In February 1997, however, pottery and fragments of glass vessels from the
period of the Bar Kokhba revolt were found as a result of intensive looting.10 In
January 1998, the authors surveyed the cave with a metal detector, and found
sixteen coins which, presumably, had been brought there at the end of the Bar
Kokhba revolt.11
Three coins (Nos. 2, 4, 12) were found at a junction of two burrows in the
inner part of the cave.12 In the innermost hall of the cave, which showed many
signs of looting, were the rim of a jug, the rim of a storage jar, and thirteen
additional coins that appear to have been brought to the cave at the end of
the Bar Kokhba Revolt.13 Coin No. 1 is a Nabatean coin of Aretas IV, dated to
1825CE. Coin No. 2 was issued by the procurator Felix in the fourteenth year of
9 U. Dinur, N. Feig, Eastern Part of the Map of Jerusalem in Archaeological Survey of the Hill
Country of Benjamin (eds. I. Finkelstein, Y. Magen, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority,
1993) 418.
10 H. Eshel, Aelia Capitolina, Jerusalem no More, Biblical Archaeology Review [=BAR] 22,
no. 6 (1997) 468, 73; H. Eshel, The Date of the Founding of Aelia Capitolina in The Dead
Sea Scrolls, Fifty Years after their Discovery (ed. L.H. Schiffman, E. Tov, J.C. VanderKam,
Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000) 63743.
11 H. Eshel, B. Zissu, Coins from the el-Jai Cave in Nahal Mikhmash (Wadi Suweinit) in
Studies in Memory of Leo Mildenberg, Israel Numismatic Journal [=INJ] 14 (ed. D. Barag,
2002) 16875.
12 Coin No. 4 and 12 were found together on a boulder while No. 2 was found not far, in the
earth covering the floor of the tunnel. This spot as well as the innermost hall (No. 8 on
the plan) is accessible after a long crawling, we therefore do not believe that this area was
visited in normal conditions.
13 Although Carradice, Coinage in Judaea in the Flavian Period, A.D. 7096, INJ 67
(19823) 1421 showed that the small prutah which was widespread before the first
revolt was no longer produced, the archaeological finds show that coins from the Second
Temple period remained in circulation until the Bar Kokhba revolt. For example, in the
hoard found at Herodium, a Nabataean coin, a prutah of Pontius Pilatus and a prutah
from year two of the First Revolt against the Romans were found together with 822
coins from the Bar Kokhba revolt, see A. Spijkerman, Herodion III, Catalogo delle Monete
(Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1972) 97. Regarding such coins found in a Bar
Kokhba context at Khallet Qeis and Nahal Yatir sites, see Y. Goren, P. Fabian, Coinage in the
Period of the Bar Kochba Revolt in View of Findings in the Tunnel Sites in the Yatir Area,
Nikrot Zurim 7 (1983) 62 (Hebrew); on the coins found in the Cave of Letters, see A. Kindler,
Coins from the Cave of Letters (19992000 Seasons) in New Studies on the Bar Kokhba
Revolt (eds. H. Eshel, B. Zissu, Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Department of Land of Israel
Studies, 2001) 1213(Hebrew). On the floor of Building M at H. Ethri, excavated by Zissu,
A. Ganor, two prutot were found from year two of the First Revolt against the Romans; in
a sealed fill, under the same floor, a coin issued at Ascalon in the days of Trajan was found.
391
Claudius reign, i.e., 54CE. Coin No. 3 is a denarius of Titus, dated to 7980CE.
Coin No. 4 was struck in Sebaste during the reign of Domitian; it bears the date
109 of the era of Sebaste, which began in 27 BC;14 hence this coin is dated to
82/83CE. Coin No. 5 is a denarius issued in 96CE during Nervas reign. Coin
No. 6 is a denarius from Trajans fifth consulship; it is dated to 103111CE.
Coin No. 7 is a denarius minted during Trajans sixth consulship (112117CE).
Coin No. 8, minted in Alexandria, bears the date of the sixth year of Hadrians
reign, i.e., 122/123CE. The denarius of Hadrian, No. 9, is undated, but Hills
research indicates that it should be dated to sometime between late 126CE
and early 128CE.15 Coin No. 10, from the mint in Gaza, has a double date: the
fifth year since the visit (EPIDHMIA)16 and year 194 of the era of Gaza, i.e.,
133/4CE.17 The Aelia Capitolina coins (Nos. 11and 12) are undated types. No. 11
is the foundation type bearing the portrait of Hadrian. The obverse reads:
IMP(eratori) CAES(ari) TRAI(ano) HADRIANO AVG(usto) P(atri) P(atriae).
The reverse shows the emperor plowing the pomerium of the new colonia
with a plow attached to a cow and an ox, with the inscription: COL(olonia)
AEL(ia) KAPIT(olina) COND(itori): (i.e., the colonia Aelia Capitolina to its
founder).18 Coin No. 12 has the portrait of Hadrian on the obverse and the
14 D. Barag, King Herods Royal Castle at Samaria-Sebaste, Palestine Exploration Quarterly
125 (1993) 16 n. 6.
15 P.V. Hill, The Dating and the Arrangement of the Undated Coins of Rome, A.D. 98148
(London: Spink and Son, 1970) 578.
16 Hadrian came to Palestine in 129/130 C.E. via the port of Gaza, thereby boosting the citys
prestige. Consequently, the count from Hadrians visit was added to Gazas coins (this
practice continued until Hadrians death in 138). See W. Eck, Suffektkonsuln der Jahre
132134 und Hadrians Rckkehr nach Rom im Jahr 132, ZPE 143 (2003) 2369; W. Eck,
P. Holder, A. Pangerl, A Diploma for the Army of Britain in 132 and Hadrians Return to
Rome from the East, ZPE 174 (2010) 1934, 198; R. Baker, Epiphanius, On Weights and
Measures14: Hadrians Journey to the East and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, ZPE 182
(2012) 1601.
17 There is a discrepancy of seven or eight months between the beginnings of the two Gaza
eras, see A. Kindler Numismatic Documentation of Hadrians Visit to Gaza, Museum
Haaretz Yearbook 1718 (1975) 617. (Hebrew).
18 Arie Kindler has shown that Hadrians portrait on Aelias founder type and the coin
depicting Aelias Capitolium have a very close similarity to his portrait and especially his
hairstyle on the Roman issues dated to the first half of his reign, see A. Kindler, Was
Aelia Capitolina Founded before or after the Outbreak of the Bar Kokhba War? A Numismatic Evidence in Studies in Memory of Leo Mildenberg, INJ 14 (ed. D. Barag, 2002).
For Aelia coin types, see L. Kadman, The Coins of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem: Israel
Numismatic Society, 1956); Y. Meshorer, The Coinage of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem:
Israel Museum, 1989).
392
Zissu and Eshel
portrait of Sabina on the reverse. Three Bar Kokhba coins (Nos. 1315) are
from the second year of the revolt, i.e., 133/134CE; the fourth (No. 16) is from
the undated series minted in the third and fourth years of the revolt. Until the
discovery of these four coins, only two Bar Kokhba coins were known to have
been found north of Jerusalem: one at Araq en-Naasaneh in Wadi ed-Daliyeh
and the other in the Mackuck cave.19
The fact that this hoard contains both Bar Kokhba and Aelia Capitolina
coins enables us to reconsider the issue of the founding date of Aelia Capitolina
and the dating of its coins. Meshorer concluded, on the basis of the fact that
a hoard of Bar Kokhba coins uncovered in uncontrolled excavations in the
Hebron Hills included one Aelia Capitolina coin, that Cassius Dios statement
that the city was founded in 130 should be accepted.20 However, because the
hoard described by Meshorer was not discovered in a controlled excavation,
some scholars have cast doubt on his assumption that coins were minted in
Aelia Capitolina before the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Herr noted that
the discovery reported by Meshorer does not necessarily mean that Aelia
Capitolina was founded in 130; after all, the hoard was hidden in ca. 135 and so
Aelia Capitolina coins may have been first minted during the revolt, which only
began in 132.21 Meshorer, on the other hand, is inclined to accept Cassius Dios
testimony regarding the foundation date of Aelia Capitolina in 130 because the
archeological record confirms most of the details he reported.22
While the numismatic finds in the el-Jai cave do not definitively corroborate
Cassius Dios account, they do probably indicate that the Aelia Capitolina mint
began operating before 135. As mentioned above, the Gaza coin (No. 10) was
minted in 133/134. In most of the hoards from the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the latest
coins were issued in 132. It is therefore commonly assumed that the Judaean
economy was cut off from the rest of the Roman Empire upon the outbreak of
the Bar Kokhba revolt.23 The discovery of two Aelia Capitolina coins together
with four Bar Kokhba coins reinforces Herrs hypothesis that the minting of
19 On Araq en-Naasaneh, see D. Barag, A Note on the Geographical Distribution of Bar
Kokhba Coins, INJ 4 (1980) 303; B. Zissu, H. Eshel, The Geographical Distribution
of Coins of the Bar Kokhba War in Studies in Memory of Leo Mildenberg, INJ 14 (ed.
D. Barag, 2002), 15767. On Wadi el-Mackuk, see H. Eshel, A Coin of Bar Kokhba from a
Cave in Wadi el-Mackuk, INJ 9 (19867) 5152, Pl. 16:3.
20 Y. Meshorer, Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period (Tel Aviv: Am Hassefer, 1967) 923.
21 M.D. Herr, The Causes of the Bar-Kokhba War, Zion 43 (1978) 810, nn. 42, 44 (Hebrew).
22 Meshorer, Coinage..., 1920.
23 B. Zissu, H. Eshel, Coins and Hoards from the Time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in Hoards
and Genizot as Chapters in History, Hecht Museum Catalogue no. 33 (Haifa: Hecht
Museum, 2013) 31*39*.
393
coins in Aelia Capitolina began during the revolt. Presumably, one of the refugees who fled to the el-Jai cave obtained his hand on Roman coins minted during the revolt, either through trade with people who worked outside the area
controlled by Bar Kokhba or by taking them as booty taken a Roman soldier.
Admittedly, no Bar Kokhba coins overstruck on identifiable Aelia Capitolina
coins have been discovered to date; nor have Aelia Capitolina coins been
found in the destruction layers of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. This fact led Aharon
Oppenheimer and Benjamin Isaac to argue that though we must assume that
the city was founded before the outbreak of the revolt, there is no evidence
that coins commemorating the foundation of the city were minted before
135CE.24 Of course, a find of coins from year one of the Bar Kokhba revolt
struck over coins of Aelia Capitolina would provide clear evidence that Aelia
Capitolina started to mint coins before the revolt, i.e., in the years 130132 CE.
The likelihood of such a find, however, is extremely slim. First, the coins issued
in Aelia in Hadrians time were made only of bronze, and most of the original
bronze coins over which the Bar Kokhba coins were struck are now unidentifiable (as opposed to original silver coins, which can be identified). Second,
the fact that Aelia and Bar Kokhba coins are so rarely found together suggests
a clear economic separation between the areas under rebel control and the
pagan city of Aelia Capitolina.
Nonetheless, we believe the el-Jai findings show that coins were minted in
Aelia Capitolina before 135. We can assume that Hadrian established the colony in 130, as per Cassius Dio, but that the mint started to function only during
the war, because took time to complete the building operations and the organization of the citys institutions and mint. As a result of the economic separation between the rebels and the Romans, the chances of finding a Bar Kokhba
coin minted on a brand new Aelia coin are very small, indeed. We might also
suggest that the change in formulae on the rebels coins from Year One of the
Freedom of Israel and Year Two of the Redemption of Israel to the slogan For
the Freedom of Jerusalem was reaction to the pagan coins that were started to
be minted in Aelia Capitolina.25
24 B. Isaac, A. Oppenheimer, Research History of the Bar Kokhba War in The Hiding
Complexes in the Judaean Shephelah (eds. A. Kloner, Y. Tepper, Tel-Aviv: HaKibbutz
HaMeuchad, 1987) 416 and n. 65. (Hebrew). In this article, the authors revised their opinion, expressed in B. Isaac, A. Oppenheimer, The Revolt of Bar Kokhba: Ideology and
Modern Scholarship, JJS 36, no. 1 (1985) 47 and n. 65.
25 As there are bronze coins that bear both year two and the slogan for the freedom of
Jerusalem inscriptions, we might assume that this happened at the end of year two of the
revolt.
394

Zissu and Eshel
Two Recent Archaeological Discoveries and their Significance
Two recent archeological discoveries shed light on the founding of Aelia

Capitolina and lend additional support to the view that the city was founded
before the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

Excavations of the Eastern Cardo of Jerusalem
Recent excavations of the fills that accumulated under the Eastern Cardo
of Jerusalem and that predate its construction uncovered a sizable collection of
small artifacts, including coins and fragments of pottery, oil-lamps, and glass.
The latest objects uncovered underneath the pavement of the street were
dated to between the late first century and early second centuryCE. The latest
coin was minted in Antioch during the reign of Hadrian (117138CE), supplying a terminus post quem for the pavement of the Cardo. The Hadrianic date of
the street is further supported by a well-dated assemblage of oil-lamps and pottery, which are typical of the period 70130CE. The fill contained various finds
associated with the Roman legionary presence in Jerusalem: three military
bread stamps, dozens of roof tiles, and faunal remains. Interestingly, pig bones
constitute the most common component (over 60% of the faunal remains),
while they are notably absent from assemblages from Second Templeperiod
Jerusalem (pre-70CE destruction).26
These finds suggest that urban reconstruction of Jerusalem began in the
first quarter of the second century and certainly not after 130CE. Therefore, it
seems that Hadrian started rebuilding Jerusalem as a Roman, pagan city soon
after he was appointed emperor in 117 CE. However, the official founding of
the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina should be dated to the imperial visit to
Judaea in 129/130.27
26 S. Weksler-Bdolah, The Foundation of Aelia Capitolina in Light of New Excavations

along the Eastern Cardo, IEJ 64 (2014) 3862; S. Weksler-Bdolah, A. Onn, B. Ouahnouna,
S. Kisilevitz, Jerusalem, the Western Wall Plaza Excavations, 20052009, Preliminary
Report, 23/09/2009, Hadashot ArkheologiyotExcavations and Surveys in Israel
121 (2009) available at http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1219;
S. Weksler-Bdolah, A. Onn, S. Kisilevitz, B. Ouahnouna, Layers of Ancient Jerusalem,
BAR 38, no. 1 (2012) 3747, 6970.
27 Schfer, Der Bar Kokhba-Aufstand..., 1617; W. Eck, P. Holder, A. Pangerl, A Diploma for
the Army of Britain in 132 and Hadrians Return to Rome from the East, ZPE 174 (2010)
1934, 198; Birley, Hadrian..., 237; Baker, Epiphanius..., 1623 and extensive literature
cited there.
395

A Monumental Inscription from Jerusalem
A large fragment of a monumental Latin inscription commemorating Hadrians
visit in 129/130CE has been recently uncovered in an IAA salvage excavation
just north of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.28
During excavations undertaken in the summer of 2014 by Rina Avner and
Roie Greenvald, a Byzantine-era compoundapparently a monastery
was uncovered. The buildings incorporated construction materials from the
Roman period, including the fragmentary inscription, which was reused as a
cover of a water cistern. Interestingly, this fragment is only the right part of
the monumental inscription; the left part was discovered in the same area in
the late nineteenth century and was published by the French archaeologist
Charles Clermont-Ganneau.29
The inscription, consisting of the remains of six lines of Latin text engraved
on hard, yellowish limestone (measurements: h.1.09 m, w.1.45 m, d.0.3 m, letters: upper rows 12.513cm, lower row 99.5cm), was studied by Avner Ecker
and Hannah M. Cotton of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The reconstructed inscription reads:
(1st hand) To the Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, son
of the deified Traianus Parthicus, grandson of the deified Nerva, high
priest, invested with tribunician power for the 14th time, consul for the
third time, father of the country (dedicated by) the 10th legion Fretensis
(2nd hand) Antoniniana.
The inscription was apparently dedicated by the Legio X Fretensis to the
emperor Hadrian in the year 129/130CE. Beside the name and titles of
the emperor, it specifically mentions the date, which can be deduced from the
emperors titles. This date is consistent with the date of Hadrians visit to
the city as mentioned in other sources.
28 R. Avner, R. Greenwald, A. Ecker, H.M. Cotton, Special Announcement: A New-Old
Monumental Inscription from Jerusalem Honoring Hadrian in New Studies in the
Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region, Collected Papers, vol. 8 (eds. G.D. Stiebel, O. PelegBarkat, D. Ben-Ami, Y. Gadot, Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, 2014) 96101.
29 C. Clermont Ganneau, Inscriptions de Palestine, Comptes rendus de sancesAcadmie
des inscriptions et belles-lettres 47, no. 6 (1903) item no. 10, 48795; H.M. Cotton, L. Di
Segni, W. Eck, B. Isaac, A. Kushnir-Stein, H. Misgav, J. Price, A. Yardeni, Ada (eds.), Corpus
Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, Vol. 1. Jerusalem, Part 2 7051120 (Berlin: De Gruyter,
2012), inscription no. 714, 1315. That stone is currently on display in the courtyard of
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Museum in Jerusalem.
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Zissu and Eshel
Joining the two parts of the text (accounting for a missing central part ca.
0.3 m long) reveals an especially large inscription, ca. 33.5 m long, in Werner
Ecks estimation. This monumental inscription might have been placed in the
upper part of a triumphal arch on the citys northern boundary or in another
Roman monument in the area.30 The monument would have been erected
by the Tenth Legion, which was stationed in Jerusalem and administered the
region following the destruction of 70CE, in advance of the emperors visit of
129/130CE.
Hadrian granted the status of a colonia to the new city. However, the
inscription does not include the word colonia, which may indicate that until
the emperors visit, the city had not yet received this status.
This discovery contributes to the discussion of the causes of the Bar Kokhba
revolt. The fact that this inscription was part of such a large structure attests to
public construction on a monumental scale in Jerusalem prior to the emperors
visit of 129/130CEtwo years before the outbreak of the revolt. The rebellion
would therefore have erupted in reaction to the result of these construction
activitiesa pagan Roman city on the ruins of Jerusalem.

Tsafrirs ApproachA Rejoinder
Yoram Tsafrir was not entirely convinced by the el-Jai evidence mentioned
above, as, in his opinion there is no reason to assume that all the coins found
in the cave were left there by one person or one group of people....One can
imagine many different circumstances in which individuals might have stayed
for a short time in the cave a few years after 135.31
Tsafrir has suggested (ibid.) that Hadrian planned to rebuild Jerusalem
and the Temple as a Jewish city, but, in the wake of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, he
changed his mind and instead built a pagan city he named Aelia Capitolina.
The implication is that by rebelling against Hadrian, the Jews brought upon
themselves the construction of the pagan city on the ruins of Jerusalem.32
30 W. Eck, Ehret den Kaiser: Bgen und Tore als Ehrenmonumente in der Provinz Iudaea
in The Words of a Wise Mans Mouth are Gracious (Qoh 10:12): Festschrift for G. Stemberger
on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday [Series Studia Judaica] (ed. M. Perani, Berlin: De
Gruyter, 2005) 1579; Eck, Rom..., 6971.
31 Y. Tsafrir, Numismatics and the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina: A Critical Review in The
Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered, New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome
(ed. P. Schfer, Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) 36.
32
Ibidem.
397
However, he did not explain what provoked the Jews to rebel against Hadrian
in the first placeespecially if the emperor really did intend to rebuild the
Temple.
In a newer article, Tsafrir addressed this point and explained that Hadrian
had no intention of acting against the Jews when restoring the famous
city from its ashes. As a neo-classicist builder, Hadrian may even have
believed that this enterprise would appease the Jews and earn their praise.
It is also difficult to believe that he intended to abandon the historic
name Hierosolyma, or Jerusalem. The Jews, however, rejected Hadrians
program. They realized that restoration of Jerusalem as a new HellenizedRoman polis would bring an end to their aspirations to rebuild Jerusalem
as a Jewish capital with a new Temple as its crown. The coins minted
during the war by the Jewish administration reflect the intention of Bar
Kokhba and his people to encourage fighting for Jerusalem....Coins, a
tool of propaganda in the Roman world, were employed by the rebels
to represent their struggle as a battle for the liberation of Jerusalem and
building of a new Temple.33
Tsafrirs approach is somewhat similar to the theory advanced by some
nineteenth-century Jewish scholars, who also linked the Bar Kokhba revolt
to Jewish aspirations of rebuilding the Temple.34 These scholars based their
argument on two historical sources. The first is a midrash (Genesis Rabbah
64:29, Soncino trans.) that begins, In the days of Rabbi Joshua ben Hanania,
the [Roman] state decreed that the Temple be rebuilt. The midrash continues
that the Samaritans suggested to Hadrian that he alter the Temples location
or dimensions, which led to a dispute between the emperor and the Jews. It is
clearly difficult to treat this midrash as historically reliable.
The second source, which appears to indicate that Hadrian indeed
intended to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalemor that that, at least, was what
Jews and Christians believedis the Epistle of Barnabas, a Christian work
33 Y. Tsafrir, 70638: The Temple-less Mountain in Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalems
Sacred Esplanade (eds. O. Grabar, B.Z. Kedar, Jerusalem: Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 2009) 76.
34 T. Graetz, History of the Jews, vol 2 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1895) 2335;
J. Derenbourg, Masa Erets Yisrael: divre yeme ha-arets mi-yeme Koresh ve-ad Adrianus
(St. Petersburg: Behrman Rabinowitz, 1896) (Hebrew) 21519.
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Zissu and Eshel
contemporary with the Bar Kokhba revolt.35 According to the text (16:34,
Lightfoot trans.):
Furthermore He saith again; Behold they that pulled down this temple
themselves shall build it. So it cometh to pass; for because they went to
war it was pulled down by their enemies. Now also the very servants of
their enemies shall build it up.36
Several scholars interpreted this passage as a sign that the Jews intended to
collaborate with the Romans to rebuild the Temple, although it can also be
explained in other ways. According to those who believed these sources to
be historically accurate, the Jews launched their revolt when they realized that
Hadrian had no intention of rebuilding the Temple; in other words, the Jews
believed (correctly or not) that the emperor had reneged on an earlier promise. However, these earlier scholars, unlike Tsafrir, believed that Hadrian never
really intended to rebuild the Jewish Temple. In any case, modern scholarship
no longer accepts this explanation for the Bar Kokhba revolt.37
Contemporary scholars have advanced other possible connections between
the founding of Aelia Capitolina and the Bar Kokhba revolt. Michael Erlich,
drawing on the Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis, proposed a distinction
between the founding of the new city, which he believed occurred before the
Bar Kokhba revolt, and the construction of the pagan temple on the Temple
Mount, which he dated after it.38 Epiphanius (Weights and Measures 14) wrote:
35 J.C. Paget, The Epistle of Barnabas, Outlook and Background, Wissenschaftliche Unter
suchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2 ser. 64 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1994) 930.
36 Another interesting issue regarding the causes of the revolt, is the question of the
alleged provocative role played by Hadrians ban on circumcision. Daniel Schwartzs re-
examination of the annulment of the Temple and of circumcision in divinely controlled
historical events described in the Epistle of Barnabas, points to a pre-revolt date for the
decree on circumcision. See D.R. Schwartz, On Barnabas and Bar-Kokhba in Studies in
the Jewish Background of Christianity (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992) 14753.
37 Isaac, Oppenheimer, The Revolt..., 456; Isaac, Oppenheimer, Research History...,
41415 (Hebrew); P. Schfer, Hadrians Policy in Judaea and the Bar Kokhba Revolt:
A Reassessment in A Tribute to Geza Vermes: Essays on Jewish and Christian Literature and
History (eds. P.R. Davies, R.T. White, Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990) 281303.
38 M. Erlich, On the Distinction between the Establishment of Aelia Capitolina and the
Construction of a Roman Shrine on the Temple Mount According to Epiphanius of
Salamis in New Studies on Jerusalem, vol. 8 (eds. E. Baruch, A. Faust, Ramat Gan: Ingeborg
Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, 2002) 11116.
399
[Hadrian] arrived in Palestine, which is also called Judaea, 47 years after

the devastation of Jerusalem...And he went up to Jerusalem, the celebrated and famous city, which Titus son of Vespasian destroyed in the
second year of his reign. And he saw the entire city leveled to the ground,
and the Temple of God ruined, except for a few houses and for the small
church of God...At all events, Hadrian intended to build the city, and
not the temple.39
Erlich believed that, before the revolt, Hadrian planned to build a Roman city
without a templeon the ruins of Jerusalem, but after the revolt he punished
the Jews by building a pagan temple on the Temple Mount.40 It appears, however, that Epiphanius was not referring to a pagan temple, as Erlich assumed,
but was instead trying to emphasize that Hadrian had no intention of rebuilding the Jewish Temple.
David Golan suggested that Hadrians decision to found the pagan city of
Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem was directed not only against the Jews
but also against the Christians (the Judeo-Christians) due to his disappointment with his attempts at reconciliation between these groups and the Roman
establishment. Because the Christians viewed the destruction of Jerusalem as
proof that Jesus was a true prophet (see Matthew 23:3738), Hadrian decided,
as part of his campaign against Christianity, to build a new city on the citys
ruins.41 However, Golan did not believe that Hadrian intended to rebuild the
Jewish Temple; on the contrary, rebuilding Jerusalem as a pagan city was meant
to prove that Jesus promise that the new Jerusalem would be built in the near
future (Revelation 3:12) had no chance of being fulfilled. According to Golan,
these anti-Christian considerations spurred Hadrians decision to establish an
overtly Roman, pagan city on the site of Jewish Jerusalem. This thesis is consistent with early Christian sources, according to which Hadrian built a temple
to Venus on the Hill of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and had statues of
himself placed on the Temple Mount (Itinerarium Burdigalense 593.4; Euseb.
Vit. Const. 3:2627).
39 Translation from Baker, Epiphanius..., 158.

40 Erlich, On the Distinction...; see also Y.Z. Eliav, The Urban Layout of Aelia Capitolina:
A New View from the Perspective of the Temple Mount in The Bar Kokhba War
Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt (ed. P. Schfer, Tbingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2003) 24177.
41 D. Golan, Hadrians Decision to Supplant Jerusalem by Aelia Capitolina, Historia 35,
no. 2 (1986) 22639.
400
Zissu and Eshel
In a recent study, Giovanni B. Bazzana suggests a somewhat different explanation: Hadrian was acting according to a benevolent policy consistent with
his broader attitude to his polytheistic Empire. In Hadrians eyes, the foundation of the Roman colonia and the rebuilding of the Temple were acts of euergetism intended to integrate the Jews into the Empire.42
Indeed, Aelia Capitolina was erected as a Roman city. It is evident from the
religious nature of the founding ceremony, the city coins, and the urban layout
as revealed by the archaeology (see below) and as described in a list of urban
features and buildings constructed during Hadrians reign. This list was preserved in a relatively late work, the Chronicon Paschale, which was completed
in the early seventh centuryCE but describes Jerusalem before the rise of
Christianity.43 According to the Chronicon, Hadrian built the following structures in Aelia Capitolina:
Two public bathhouses (demosia), a theater, the Trikameron (apparently, a temple with three vaulted [or apsidal] chambers dedicated to
the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva), the Tetranymphon
(a nympheon, or sanctuary to the nymphs with large fountains, with four
recesses or perhaps colonnades), the Dodekapylon (a building with twelve
gates) formerly known as the Anabathmoi (Steps) and the Kodra (square
plaza). Hadrian divided the city into seven quarters; he appointed a head
for each and gave these heads a quarter. He named the city after himself
and called it Aelia, for he was called Aelius Hadrianus.44
We emphasize that we do not have a reliable source to back up the theory
that Hadrian intended to rebuild the Jewish Temple; if that was, indeed, his
intention, it is hard to understand why the Jews revolted. It therefore appears
42 G.B. Bazzana, The Bar Kokhba Revolt and Hadrians Religious Policy in Hadrian and
the Christians Millennium-Studien = Millennium studies Bd. 30 (ed. M. Rizzi, Berlin: De
Gruyter, 2010) 85110.
43 Y. Tsafrir, The Topography and Archaeology of Aelia Capitolina in The History of
Jerusalem: The Roman and Byzantine Periods (70638 CE) (Y. Tsafrir, S. Safrai, Jerusalem:
Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1999) 115 (Hebrew); J. Magness, Aelia Capitolina: A Review of
Some Current Debates about Hadrianic Jerusalem in Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years
of Archaeological Research in the Holy City (eds. K. Galor, G. Avni, Winona Lake, IN:
Eisenbrauns, 2011) 31324.
44
L.A. Dindorf (ed.), Chronicon Paschale (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae),
vol. 1 (Bonn: Weber 1832) 474; trans. based on J.M. Lundquist, The Temple of Jerusalem
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008), 155. For the scope and function of these buildings, see
Tsafrir, The Topography..., 147, 157.
401
that the main reason for the revolt was that many of the Jews retained the
historic belief that they are guaranteed divine assistance when they fight
against foreign rulers who seek to place idols on the Temple Mount. This was
the case during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: In 167 BC he placed a
statue of Zeus in the Temple, but within three years, in 164 BC, the sanctuary
was purified by Judah Maccabee. Later, the Seleucids lost control of Judea and
the Hasmonean state was established.45 A similar chain of events took place
during the reign of Caligula who, some time around 3940CE, decided to have
a statue of himself erected in Jerusalem. The Jews of Judea and Alexandria
fought against this decree. Caligula was murdered on January 21, 41CE, before
his plan could be carried out.46 These events seem to have reinforced the Jews
belief that God would not allow Hadrian to carry out his plan to place idols on
the Temple Mount. They decided to revolt, in the hope that just as God had
helped the Jews during the times of Matthias the Hasmonean and Agrippa I,
they would also receive Divine assistance in their opposition to Hadrians plan
to place idols on the site of the Temple.
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Index of Authors
Abdel-Razig M.261, 262, 263, 264, 268
Abusch T.7, 10, 20, 22
Adams G.361, 373
Adeleye G.222, 230
Adkins A.W.H.147, 157
Adriani A.279, 285
Ahrensdorf P.J.145, 157
Albert S.361, 373
Alfano C.341
Alfldi A.360, 375
Alfldy G.325, 334, 335, 341
Allan D.J.213, 230
Allan W.142, 157
Almeida Rodriguez E.324, 341
Alonso Troncoso V.247, 251
Altenmller H.272, 285
Alvar J.235, 252
Amit D.389, 401, 403
Anderson A.R.248, 251
Andreae B.341
Andreau J.23, 46
Andrei O.370, 373
Andrews A.192, 214, 220, 227, 228, 229,
231
Annus A.70, 98
Antela-Bernrdez B.235, 237, 238, 239,
245, 247, 249, 251, 252, 255
Antonaccio C.134, 157
Arendt H.154, 157
Armstrong J.68, 98
Arnaud D.72, 94
Arnold D.260, 268
Assmann J.275, 285
Atkinson J.E.247, 252
Attinger P.7, 12, 20, 22
Aubert J.-J.294, 301
Austin P.206, 225, 232
Avalos H.5, 20
Avery H.C.220, 230
Avner R.395, 401
Avni G.400, 404
Bachmann P.342
Badian E.175, 176, 178, 185, 192, 235, 248,
252, 255
Baglioni I.19, 22
Bahrani Z.24, 29, 38, 43, 45, 69, 70, 71, 74,
75, 76, 77, 94
Bailey D.M.267, 271, 272, 276, 277, 279,
285
Baines J.275, 285
Baker R.391, 394, 399, 402
Bal M.189, 192
Balcer J.M.166, 176
Balsdon J.-P.V.D.235, 252, 342
Banek K.79, 94
Banton M.378, 385
Bar-Kochva B.401
Barag D.390, 391, 392, 402, 403, 405
Barguet P.265, 268
Barjamovic G.32, 37, 45
Barker E.320, 342
Barnett R.D.76, 77, 94
Bartman E.309, 310, 342
Barton T.S.342
Baruch E.398, 403
Barzegar A.24, 48
Bauer J.12, 20, 53, 63
Baynham E.J.176, 177, 247, 253
Bazzana G.B.400, 402
Beck H.260, 271
Becker H.294, 300
Behr C.A.359, 373
Beister H.185, 192
Bekker I.214, 230
Bell L.263, 268
Bellen H.171, 176
Ben-Ami D.395, 402
Benario H.W.376, 384
Berczelly L.342
Bergk T.206, 230
Berlev O.D.256, 257, 268
Bernard W.142, 157
Besques S.279, 285
Bichler R.68, 97, 169, 177, 178
Biga M.G.9, 22
Billows R.327, 342
Bingen J.209, 230
Birley A.R.360, 364, 370, 373, 388, 402
Birley E.377, 384
408
Birte P.343
Blanchand M.H.250
Blasius A.275, 285
Blazquez J.M.235, 252
Bleckmann B.168, 176, 177
Bleibtreu E.77, 94
Blbaum A.I.257, 259, 260, 264, 265, 268
Bloedow E.F.166, 175, 176, 177, 184, 192
Boardman J.134, 162
Boas H.342
Boeckh A.213, 230
Boehmer R.M.66, 94
Bol P.C.260, 271
Bolshakov A.O.256, 268
Bonacasa N.279, 286
Bonatz D.42, 48
Bonechi M.7, 20
Bonheme M.-A.257, 269
Bonnechere P.87, 92, 94
Bonnefoy Y.146, 157
Borger R.45
Bosch-Puche F.258, 259, 260, 261, 262,
264, 265, 268
Boschung D.342
Bosworth A.B.166, 172, 176, 177, 242, 243,
244, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 266,
269, 349
Botta P.E.77, 94
Bottro J.6, 8, 10, 16, 20, 21, 66, 69, 94
Bounoure G.247, 252
Bousquet J.137, 161
Boutantin C.277, 285
Bowden H.200, 205
Bowersock G.W.226, 247, 254, 327, 342,
345, 348
Braccesi L.342
Bradford C.246, 253
Bramble J.197, 205
Brandt H.365, 373
Braun-Holzinger E.A.66, 94
Breccia E.278, 279, 285
Breeze D.J.365, 369, 370, 372, 373, 374,
379, 384
Brlaz C.140, 165
Bremmer J.N.82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 91, 95, 134,
136, 157, 160, 165, 191, 192
Brewer R.J.369, 370, 374
Briant P.173, 177, 262, 269
Index Of Authors
Bricault L.278, 287
Brient P.23, 46
Brock R.247, 253
Brosius M.238, 253
Brouwers J.147, 157
Brown T.S.250, 253
Bruit Zaidman L.134, 140, 165
Brun P.134
Bruno D.343
Brunt P.A.175, 177
Bruzzone R.180
Bchling M.260, 271
Buchner E.324, 325, 342
Buckler J.185, 192, 323
Budde L.343
Budetta T.348
Budge E.A.W.76, 95
Bugh G.R.138, 164, 224, 225, 230
Buitron-Oliver D.151, 157
Bummelen G.V.325, 343
Burford A.223, 230
Burgess J.154, 157
Burkert W.81, 82, 88, 90, 91, 92, 95, 134,
141, 147, 150, 151, 157, 158, 218, 226,
230, 298, 300
Burliga B.135, 161
Burn A.R.91, 95
Burstein S.258, 267, 269, 274, 285
Bsing H.343
Buxton R.124, 134, 140, 158
Cafiero M.L.343
Cagiano de Azevedo M.343
Campbell B.133, 164
Camporeale G.291, 300
Caneva G.343
Canfora L.343
Canizaro M.E.343
Capriotti Vitozzi G.258, 269
Carandini A.343
Carlier P.247, 253
Carlsen J.248, 254, 255, 343, 346
Carney E.236, 247, 251, 253, 255
Carpenter T.H.146, 158
Carradice I.390, 402
Carter J.B.247, 253
Cartledge P.91, 95, 140, 150, 158, 173, 177
Cary E.362, 364
409
Index Of Authors
Cassimatis H.138, 158
Cassin E.7, 21
Castriota D.313, 343
Castritius H.343
Cavanagh W.G.220, 233
Cawkwell G.L.174, 177, 235, 253, 343
Ceauescu Gh.343
Ceauescu P.343
Centanni M.344
Cerfaux L.344
Chaniotis A.158, 344
Charpin D.15, 21, 72, 95
Charvt P.11, 21
Chateigner C.295, 300
Chauveau M.261, 269
Chilton B.D.143, 158
Chilver G.E.F.344
Chinnock E.J.166, 172
Christesen P.236, 253
Chrysostomos P.218, 230, 231
Ciampini E.A.344
Cifola B.31, 32, 45
Claridge A.344
Clark M.151, 158
Clarysse W.274, 276
Classen A.J.182, 190, 192, 248, 253
Clermont Ganneau C.395, 402
Coarelli F.344
Cogan M.40, 47
Cohen A.76, 95, 247, 252, 253
Cohen R.36, 46, 47
Colbow G.27, 45
Collar A.378, 385
Collingwood R.G.379, 385
Collins J.J.7, 20
Collins P.76, 95
Collon D.76, 95
Colonna G.294, 300
Conder C.R.389, 402
Conlin D.A.344
Connor W.R.181, 192
Constantakopoulou C.130, 131
Cook J.M.152, 158
Coomaraswamy A.K.16, 17, 18, 21, 22
Cooper J.S.11, 18, 21
Cormack E.A.371, 375
Cornell T.J.298, 300
Corts Copete J.M.237, 252
Cosmopoulos M.B.142, 162

Cotton H.M.388, 395, 401, 402, 404
Courier P-L.196, 205
Crane G.184, 192
Crawford V.E.25, 45
Crielaard J.P.136, 158
Cristofani M.293, 301
Cuyler Young, Jr. T.168, 177
Czichon R.M.42, 48
DAgostino A.341
Dalley S.79, 95
Dandamaev M.A.6, 20, 168, 169, 177
Dardenay A.313, 344
Daressy G.262, 269
Darmezin L.222, 231
Daumas F.263, 269
Davies J.K.219, 221, 224, 231
Davies P.J.E.344
Davies P.R.398, 404
Davies R.W.381, 385
Davis N.251, 253
Davison C.C.146, 158
Dawson D.134, 142, 158
De Backer F.70, 95
De Baisi L.307, 346
De Blois L.379, 385
De Grummond N.T.137, 159, 164, 297,
298, 301
De Jong Ellis M.19, 21
De Meulenaere H.258, 270
De Sanctis G.349
Deacy S.142, 146, 158, 163, 301
Debnar P.184, 192
Decour J-C.218, 231
Deger-Jalkotzy S.134, 157
Delebecque .194, 196, 197, 205, 227, 231
Dell H.235, 252, 253
Demargne P.H.138, 158
Dercksen J.G.41, 49
Derenbourg J.397, 402
Des Bouvrie S.250, 253
Descat R.23, 46
Detienne M.136, 149, 158, 163
Deubner L.210, 214, 217, 231
Develin R.217, 231
Dewald C.143, 158
Di Segni L.388, 395, 402, 404
410
Di Vita A.341
Diehl E.226, 231
Diels H.152, 158, 223, 231
Digby J.244, 253
Dignas B.72, 81, 95, 98, 138, 158
Dillery J.65, 79, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88,
89, 200, 205
Dindorf L.A.400, 402
Dinur U.389, 402
Dobie M.R.282, 286
Dodds E.R.144, 158
Dover K.J.145, 159, 191, 192, 214, 220,
227, 228, 229, 231
Dreyer B.275, 285
Ducrey P.140, 143, 159, 165
Due B.343
Due O.St.343
Dumezil G.299, 301
Dunand F.276, 279, 285, 286
Durand J.-P.146, 157
Easterling P.E.136, 159
Eck W.344, 365, 374, 387, 388, 391, 394,
395, 396, 402, 403, 404
Ecker A.390, 395, 401
Edelstein L.191, 192
Eder W.344
Edlund-Berry I.293, 302
Edmunds L.184, 188, 189, 192, 235, 253
Edson Ch.F.237, 253
Ehrenberg V.221, 231
Eidinow E.145, 162, 188, 192
Eliav Y.Z.399, 403
Elsner J.(J.)344
Englund R.K.12, 20, 53, 63
Ephal I.70, 72, 95
Erlich M.398, 399, 403
Erskine A.136, 139, 160, 163, 344
Eshel H.387, 388, 389, 390, 392, 401, 403,
404, 405
Espak P.23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 46, 54, 58, 63
Estienne S.344
Euben J.P.140, 162
Evans-Pritchard E.124, 131
Evelyn-White H.G.147
Fabian P.390, 403
Fales F.M.23, 36, 37, 45, 46, 48, 77, 96
Index Of Authors
Falkner M.76, 94
Farber W.29, 45, 69, 96
Farnell L.R.249, 253
Faust A.398, 403
Feig N.389, 402
Feliu L.75, 96
Ferguson W.S.206, 210, 231
Fernandez Nieto F.J.123, 131
Ferrero A.M.307, 346
Fibiger Bang P.32, 45
Fink R.O.376, 378, 385, 386
Finkelberg M.142, 163
Finkelstein I.390, 402
Finkelstein J.J.31, 46
Firpo G.168, 177
Fischer J.279, 286
Fischer-Bovet C.272, 273, 274, 275, 276,
285
Fishbane M.A.7, 20
Fisher N.140, 146, 164, 165
Fishwick D.377, 385
Flandin E.77, 94
Flower M.A.65, 72, 78, 79, 82, 84, 85, 87,
88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 96, 124, 127, 128,
131, 175, 176, 177, 191, 192, 249,
253
Foley J.M.149
Fontana F.362, 374
Fontenrose J.125, 131
Foster B.R.35, 36, 46, 66, 96
Foster E.186, 187, 192
Foucart P.214, 231
Fowler R.L.144, 160
Frahm E.37, 46
Frame G.33, 47
Frnkel H.142, 159
Frankfort H.17, 21
Frankfurter D.284, 286
Fraschetti A.345
Frazer J.G.209, 231
Fredricksmeyer E.235, 242, 248, 250, 253,
266, 269
Freeman K.151
Frood E.256, 270
Frye R.N.168, 177
Fullerton M.D.138, 159
Funke P.168, 177, 379, 385
Furley W.D.150, 159, 226, 231
411
Index Of Authors
Gabelko O.259, 270
Gadot Y.395, 402
Gag J.250, 253
Galinsky K.344, 345, 351
Gallis K.218, 231
Gallou C.220, 233
Galor K.400, 404
Galter H.D.32, 46
Ganor A.390
Gardiner A.H.260, 269
Gardthausen V.E.345
Garelli P.32, 37, 46, 47
Garlan Y.141, 159
Garland R.133, 159, 208, 210, 212, 231
Gat A.143, 159
Gatti G.336, 345
Gauthier H.258
Geertz C.378, 385
Gehler M.42, 49
Gehrke H.-J.171, 177
Gelb I.J.31, 46
Gelzer Th.345
Georges P.169, 173, 177
Georgiadis M.220, 233
Gerardi P.19, 21
Ghalioungui P.279, 286
Ghirshman R.168, 177
Gibbon E.360, 374
Gilliam J.F.376, 383, 385, 386
Gillies D.124, 131
Gladigow B.37, 49
Glinister F.301
Gombiowska Z.154, 159
Gbl R.368, 374
Goceva Z.206, 231
Godley A.D.240, 254
Golan D.399, 403
Gomme A.W.152, 159, 192, 207, 214, 220,
227, 228, 229, 231
Goodman M.D.134, 160
Gordillo R.237, 252
Goren Y.390, 403
Gorman V.B.193
Gorre G.261, 269
Goukowski P.249, 250, 254
Gould J.136, 150, 159
Gowing A.M.345
Gmez Espelosn F.J.235, 254
Grabar O.397, 405

Graetz T.397, 403
Graf F.78, 96
Graham J.212, 213, 231
Granitz N.194
Gray V.200, 205
Graziosi B.146, 147, 148, 159
Greco G.293, 302
Green A.17, 21
Green P.M.197, 205
Greene G.C.209, 226, 323
Greenwald R.395, 401
Gregory A.191, 192
Gregory J.155, 161
Grenier J.-Cl.257, 269
Grieb V.40, 50, 262, 268
Griffin J.134, 154, 159, 162
Griffith G.T.250
Griffith M.218, 231
Gripentrog S.275, 287
Groneberg B.170, 177, 178
Grote G.227, 232
Gruen E.S.138, 159, 345
Gundlach R.258, 270
Gutas D.157, 164
Guthrie W.K.Ch.137, 152, 159
Haase W.377, 384, 385
Habelt R.175, 179
Haensch R.373, 375, 379, 385
Hgg R.82, 95
Hahn J.379, 385
Hainsworth J.B.154, 159
Haldon J.137, 159
Hale J.67, 96
Halfmann H.370, 374
Hall J.M.141, 159
Hall J.R.291
Hamberg P.G.345
Hamblin W.J.24, 46
Hamilton D.H.247, 254
Hamilton J.R.246, 247, 248, 250, 254
Hammond M.345
Hammond N.G.L.250
Hannah R.325, 331, 332, 333, 345
Hannestad N.345
Hanson V.D.78, 96, 134, 135, 160
Hanson W.S.364, 374
412
Hardie P.197, 205, 345
Harrak A.33, 46
Harris E.M.93, 96, 250, 252
Harrison E.L.188, 192
Harrison J.E.146, 159
Hartmann A.V.142, 164
Haselberger L.325, 329, 330, 331, 333, 334,
335, 345
Hassall M.W.C.364, 374
Haubold J.67, 96, 147, 159
Hauptmann H.32, 46
Hausmann U.279, 286
Haverfield F.364, 374
Haynes I.P.378, 385
Heckel W.238, 246, 247, 250, 254, 255
Hecker K.5, 22
Hedrick Jr. Ch.W.134, 150, 159, 160
Heimpel W.15, 21, 70, 71, 72, 74, 93, 96
Heinhold-Krahmer S.33, 47
Heinrichs J.351, 373, 375
Helbig W.341
Helck W.260, 268, 271
Helgeland J.376, 385
Helly B.216, 218, 232
Henig M.372, 374
Henkelman W.F.M.42, 50, 167, 169, 171,
178, 179, 238, 253
Hensen A.378, 385
Herman G.221, 232
Herr M.D.388, 392, 403
Herring E.295, 301
Hesberg H.V.345
Heslin P.J.325, 345
Heubeck A.154, 159
Heuser B.142, 164
Hickson F.V.345
Higbie C.173, 177
Hignett C.220, 227, 232
Hill J.A.72, 95
Hill P.V.364, 365, 366, 367, 374, 390, 403
Hind J.G.F.374
Hirsch H.7, 21
Hirschmann V.E.365, 374, 379, 386
Hodjash S.277, 286
Hodkinson S.247, 253
Hoey A.S.376, 378
Hlbl G.258, 270, 273, 286
Holder P.391, 394, 403
Index Of Authors
Holladay A.J.134, 160
Holliday P.J.317, 319, 320, 326, 328, 346
Holloway S.W.31, 32, 47, 66, 96
Hornblower S.130, 131, 142, 145, 150, 152,
160, 162, 168, 177, 181, 185, 187, 189,
192
Huart P.182, 192
Hubert H.282, 286
Humphreys S.C.151, 160
Hunger H.7, 21
Hutchinson G.204, 205
Hutter M.69, 96
Httl W.359, 360, 374
Iaia C.292, 301
Imparato G.348
Ionescu D.-T.303, 325, 339, 346, 347, 357
Isaac B.388, 393, 395, 398, 402, 404
Isaac B.H.388, 404
Isager J.346
Israelit-Groll S.272, 287
Jackson A.H.134, 160, 175, 177
Jacobsen Th.8, 14, 19, 21
Jacquemin A.123, 126, 127, 129, 131
Jaillard D.344
Jameson M.H.78, 90, 96, 135, 160, 220,
232
Janko R.145, 160
Jannot J.-R.293, 297, 298, 301
Jansen-Winkeln K.261, 262, 263, 264, 270
Jerryson M.141, 158
Jeyes U.71, 72, 76
Jdraszek S.272, 276, 277, 282, 286
Jim T.S.F.126, 131
Joannes F.262, 269
Johnston S.I.65, 82, 95, 96
Jones C.E.42, 50, 167, 178, 179
Jones H.L.244, 254
Jones J.112, 118
Jones N.F.207, 224, 232
Jones P.72, 95
Jones W.H.S.364
Juergensmeyer M.141, 158
Juntunen K.359, 374
Kadman L.391, 404
Kagan D.67, 96
Index Of Authors
Kahl J.258, 264, 270
Khler H.138, 160
Kmmerer T.R.32, 49
Kang S.-M.23, 47, 72, 96
Kangas S.E.76, 95
Kapeu M.66, 97
Kassel R.206, 225, 232
Katz S.T.387, 403
Kaznelson I.S.256, 268
Kearns E.142, 144, 151, 160
Kedar B.Z.397, 405
Keiser H.W.346
Keiss-Dolaska D.133
Kemezis A.M.359, 374
Kenfield J.293, 302
Kenner H.346
Kerler G.360, 374
Kessler H.28, 50
Keulen W.H.362, 374
Kiilerich B.248, 254
Kikawada I.M.6, 21
Kindler A.390, 404
King K.C.248, 254
Kinzl K.H.151, 160, 248, 252, 268
Kisilevitz S.394, 405
Kistler E.282, 286
Kitchener H.H.389, 402
Kitts M.141, 155, 158, 160
Klauber E.G.74
Klein J.7, 21, 43, 44, 47
Klein R.359, 374
Kleiner D.E.E.346
Klincksieck C.182, 192, 194, 205
Klckner A.136, 160
Kloner A.393, 404
Kneil P.366, 374
Knudtzon J. A.74
Koch J.A.164
Koch U.S.75, 96
Kockel V.346
Koeppel G.M.326, 346
Koodziejczyk D.32
Konstan D.152, 162
Kornemann E.346, 360, 375
Kossmann D.377, 383, 385
Kovalevskaja L.381, 386
Kozuh M.42, 50, 167, 177, 178, 179
Kraay C.M.251, 253
413
Krmer G.346
Kranz W.151, 152, 158, 223, 231
Kraus Th.346
Krebernik M.12, 20, 53, 63
Krentz P.96, 130, 131, 136, 139, 160, 173,
178, 216
Kreppner F.J.42, 48
Krieckhaus A.365, 374, 379, 386
Kuhrt A.169, 170, 171, 177, 178, 238, 253
Kullmann W.148, 160
Kushnir-Stein A.388, 395, 402, 404
Kuttner A.L.346
LOrange H.-P.348
La Rocca E.303, 306, 311, 312, 315, 316,
327, 335
Ladynin I.169, 170, 171, 177, 178, 238,
253, 256, 258, 259, 270
Lambert W.G.5, 6, 21, 31, 33, 47, 74, 75, 96
Lana I.307, 346
Landsberger B.77, 98
Lane Fox R.127, 132, 236, 254
Lanfranchi G.B.27, 45, 47, 48
Lange C.H.334, 347
Lantier R.282, 286
Larsen M.T.32, 38, 47
Larson J.134, 160
Lasswell H.D.31, 46
Lateiner D.153, 155, 160
Latte K.219, 232
Laubscher H.P.279, 282, 286
Lauinger J.40, 47
Launderville D.69, 97
Le Bohec-Bouhet S.273, 286
Lee G.238, 252
Lefkowitz M.137, 140, 144, 160
Leichty E.19, 21, 40, 47
Lemos I.S.134, 157
Lendon J.E.68, 97, 183, 192
Leprohon R.256, 270
Lerner D.31, 46
Lethem M.F.133
Levick B.347
Levine I.L.401, 404
Lewis D.M.126, 131
Licht A.L.349
Linder M.143, 165
Lintott A.347
414
Liverani M.9, 22, 27, 38, 47, 52, 64
Livingstone A.76, 97
Llewellyn-Jones L.139, 163
Llinas Ch.137, 161
Llop J.32, 47
Lloyd A.B.147, 150, 157, 164, 268, 270,
272, 284, 286
Lloyd G.E.R.347
Lloyd-Jones H.135, 140, 142, 144, 148,
153, 161
Loewy E.347
Lonis R.97, 123, 131, 135, 144, 161
Louden B.148, 160
Lovn L.L.250, 253
Lubtchansky N.344
Lugowski M.155
Luiselli M.M.275, 286, 287
Lukonin V.G.168, 169, 177
Lundquist J.M.400, 404
Luther A.173, 178, 179
Luttwak E.N.347
Luukko M.40, 47, 78, 97
Lyasse E.347
agodzka A.154, 157
Machinist P.B.34, 48
Macleod C.142, 161
Maeda T.47
Maetzke G.295, 301
Magen Y.390, 402
Magness J.400, 404
Makhlayuk A.259, 270
Malaise M.272, 287
Malkin I.130, 131
Mander P.5, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19, 22
Manetti G.69, 97
Mann M.291, 292, 301
Mansuelli G.347
Mantovani M.362, 375
Marcus J.295, 301
Mari M.236, 254
Mark I.S.174, 178
Markale J.339, 347
Markle M.M.239, 254
Martin A.225, 229, 232
Martin D.B.191, 193
Martin M.191, 192
Index Of Authors
Martin R.24, 48
Marx J.282, 286
Masson O.70, 97
Mastronarde W.155, 161
Matthews E.222, 231
Matthiae P.10, 22
Mattila R.78, 97
Mauss M.282, 286
Maxwell G.S.364, 374
Mayer W.9, 22, 23, 37, 40, 45, 48, 97
Mazzarino S.347
McBride A.276, 287
McCann D.148, 162
McCloskey N.174, 175
McDonnell M.294, 301
Mehl A.259, 270
Meier M.173, 178, 179
Meiggs R.126, 131
Meineck P.152, 162
Mellor R.347
Menu B.258, 270
Merlan P.239, 254, 286
Meshorer Y.392, 404
Meyers G.E.294, 301
Micale M.77, 97
Michaowski P.10, 22
Mikalson J.D.125, 131, 135, 161, 180, 193
Millar F.347
Millard A.R.6, 21
Millett P.C.67, 97
Mineur W.H.282, 287
Misgav H.388, 395, 402, 404
Mittag P.F.275, 285
Mohn J.275, 287
Mojsik T.135, 161
Mommsen A.208, 210, 232
Montanari E.347
Montepaone C.208, 232
Monza F.347
Moors K.212, 232
Morales A.J.72, 95
Moreno A.229, 232
Moreno P.248, 254
Moretti E.347
Moretti G.315, 347
Mrkholm O.249, 254
Morris S.P.247, 252
Morris I.147, 157
415
Index Of Authors
Morrison G.166, 178
Moustaka A.217, 232
Muir J.V.136, 159
Muiz E.237, 252
Munn M.168, 178, 193
Murdoch A.305, 347
Murray A.T.133, 145
Murray G.145, 161
Murray O.134, 163, 377, 386
Murray S.C.236, 253
Musti D.348
Muth S.138, 161
Nadali D.66, 77, 97
Naerebout F.278, 287
Nagy G.249, 254
Nails D.213, 232
Nava M.L.348
Nawotka K.40, 50, 262, 268
Neusner J.143, 158
New D.S.24, 48
Nielsen A.M.248, 254
Nilsson M.P.139, 161, 206, 232
Nissinen M.72, 97
Noam V.401, 404
Nock A.D.135, 142, 161, 376, 377, 379,
385
Nolin G.238, 239, 254
Norwood G.222, 232
Novotny J.37, 48
Nussbaum M.C.154, 161
OBrien J.M.250, 254
Ober J.130, 132, 140, 162
Oded B.37, 42, 48
Ogden D.87, 150, 160, 236, 251, 255, 273,
286
Olaguer Feliu F.248
Oldfather C.H.167, 176
Oliver J.H.359, 375
Olmstead A.T.168, 178
Onn A.394, 405
Oppenheimer A.393, 398
Ormerod H.A.364
Orthmann W.29, 48
Osborne R.136, 137, 142, 161, 162
Ostwald M.220, 222, 226, 232, 233
Oswiecimski S.81, 97
Otto E.260, 268, 271

Otto W.F.146, 162
Ouahnouna B.394, 405
Page T.E.304
Paget J.C.398, 404
Palagia O.191, 192
Pallottino M.291, 302
Panagopoulou K.130, 131
Pangerl A.391, 394, 403
Papaioannou K.137, 161
Paribeni R.315, 348
Parke H.W.207, 210, 212, 214, 233, 244,
254
Parker R.19, 78, 83, 87, 97, 107, 117, 122,
123, 124, 125, 127, 132, 133, 134, 135,
144, 145, 155, 162, 201, 205, 207, 211,
212, 214, 217, 233
Parker V.141, 144
Parpola S.31, 48, 76, 77, 97, 98
Pearson A.218, 233
Pearson L.246, 254
Pecrka J.207, 233
Pdech P.247, 254
Peleg-Barkat O.395, 402
Pelling Ch.155, 162
Perani M.396, 402
Perdrizet P.277, 279, 287
Perepyolkin Y.Y.257, 271
Perlman S.239, 254
Pestman P.W261, 271
Petersen E.A.H.348
Petrocelli C.194, 205
Pfeiffer S.262, 265, 271
Pfiffig A.293, 302
Philippson P.217, 233
Picard G.H.343
Pierce K.F.142, 163
Piganiol A.251, 254
Planeaux C.208, 210, 233
Plantzos D.137, 163
Platt V.J.126, 132
Polacco E.348
Pldsam A.24, 48
Pollini J.327, 337, 348
Pomeroy S.B.222, 232
Pomponio F.13
Ponti E.305, 348
416
Pontynen A.140, 162
Popov D.206, 233
Popp H.78, 97
Porat R.389, 403
Porter B.N.31, 48
Porter J.174, 175
Poulter J.365, 375
Pouzadoux Cl.344
Powell A.142, 160
Powell B.147, 157
Prandi L.247, 250, 254
Prtre C.134, 160
Price A.134, 163
Price J.181, 193, 388, 395, 402, 404
Price S.377, 386
Pritchett W.K.68, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 86, 87,
91, 92, 97, 123, 125, 126, 133, 136,
162, 188, 193
Pulleyn S.153, 162
Putnam M.226
Raaflaub K.A.68, 97, 140, 142, 145, 148,
152, 162, 163, 164, 327, 348
Radet G.248, 254
Radner K.42, 48, 78, 97
Raedler C.258, 270
Rakob Fr.348
Ramage E.S.349
Ramsey J.T.349
Rappaport U.401, 404
Raubitschek A.E.174, 178
Rawlings H.H.R.175, 178, 181, 193
Rawlings L.147, 162, 296, 302
Rawson E. 349
Reade J.43, 48
Redfield J.146, 163
Redfield J.M.143, 162
Rehak P.313, 318, 321, 322, 323, 324, 328,
349
Reinach A.J.278, 287
Reiner E.70, 97
Rmy B.359, 360, 363, 368, 373, 375
Rengakos A.150, 159
Reverdin O.349
Rhodes P.J.227, 233
Richardson S.F.C.70, 98
Richardson N.145, 163
Ridgway B.S.137, 159, 164
Index Of Authors
Rigsby K.J.189, 192
Riva C.292, 293, 302
Rizzi M.400, 402
Robert L.218, 233
Robert C.139, 163
Roberts J.J.M.72, 98
Robertson N.D.175, 178
Robinson E.W.193
Robson J.E.142, 163
Rochberg F.69, 98
Rodriguez P.273, 287
Rogers B.B.214, 233
Roisman J.236, 253
Rllig W.37, 42, 49
Rollinger R.42, 45, 48, 49, 67, 68, 97, 98,
169, 171, 177, 178
Romano J.F.272, 287
Roovers O.N.349
Rossini O.349, 313
Roth M.15, 22
Roth-Murray C.295, 302
Rung E.166
Rpke J.361, 362, 363, 375, 377, 378, 385
Russo S.258, 269
Rutherford R.144, 147, 163
Rutherford R.B.149, 153, 163
Ryberg I.S.370, 375
Ryholt K.41, 49
Sabin P.142, 160, 279, 287
Safrai Sh.400, 405
Sales J.D.C.258, 271
Sallaberger W.7, 22, 50, 58, 64
Sancisi-Weerdenburg H.169, 178, 238, 250,
253, 255
Sarnowski T.381, 383, 385, 386
Sasson J.M.17, 21, 69, 79, 96
Saulnier C.362, 375
Saur K.G.294, 301
Sauron G.315, 349, 350
Sawyer R.D.23, 50
Sazonov V.23, 32, 34, 35, 49
Schfer D.262, 265, 271
Schfer P.387, 396, 398, 399, 403, 404, 405
Schein S.L.154, 163
Schellenberg H.M.379, 386
Schenck H.139
Schick G.350
Index Of Authors
Schiffman L.H.390, 403
Schmidt M.G.359, 375
Schmitt Pantel P.67, 98, 140, 155, 165
Schroeder R.292, 302
Schultz P.138, 163
Schulz P.137, 161
Schurer E.401, 405
Schrer E.401, 405
Schuster M.43, 49
Schtz M.329, 330, 331, 339, 325, 350
Schwartz D.R.398, 401, 405
Schwarzenberg E.248, 255
Scodel R.155, 163
Scott M.130, 132, 294, 302
Scruton R.141, 163
Seager R.174, 175, 178
Sealey R.175, 178
Segal E.347
Seibert J.175, 178, 262, 271
Sekunda N.143, 206, 212, 220, 233, 276,
279, 282, 287
Selengut C.24, 49
Selz G.J.24, 49, 53, 55, 64
Settis S.305, 311, 314, 327, 350
Seux M.-J.33, 49
Seybold I.77, 94
Shafer B.E.263, 268, 275, 285
Shapiro A.315, 351
Shapiro H.A.96, 137, 163
Sapirom H.A.96, 137, 163
Shaw I.273, 286
Sherwin-White S.169, 171, 178
Shipley G.138, 163
Shorey P.210, 233
Siddall L.R.66, 98
Siebler M.317, 350
Sierra C.244, 255
Sieveking J.350
Siewert P.173, 179, 225, 233
Silk M.S.248, 249, 255
Simms R.R.224, 233
Simon E.206, 233, 297, 302, 317, 318, 319,
350
Simpson C.J.350
Simpson M.S.28, 50
Singor H.140, 163
Sinos R.H.293, 302
Sissa G.136, 163
417
Sitlington Sterret J.R.209, 233
Sjberg .13, 22
Slatkin L.M.142, 163
Small A.235, 252
Smallwood E.M.388, 405
Smith R.R.247, 255
Smith R.138, 158
Smith T.J.137, 163
Snape S.R.267, 271
Snell B.151, 163
Snell D.C.44, 47
Snyder W.F.376, 378
Sokolowski F.208, 233
Sollberger E.22
Sommerfeld W.5, 22
Sommerstein A.H.180, 192, 193
Sorek S.350
Sourvinou-Inwood C.134, 163, 377, 386
Spalinger A.49, 68, 98
Spawforth A.145, 162
Speidel M.P.378, 386
Speier H.31, 46
Spence I.G.224, 225, 233, 234
Speyer W.350
Spieckermann H.170, 177, 178
Spijkerman A.390, 405
Spivey N.146, 163
Squillace G.236, 255
Squire M.146, 163
Stahl H.-P.181, 187, 193
Sthlin F.216, 234
Stampini P.350
Stary P.F.292, 302
Steer K.E.371, 375
Steible H.22
Steinkeller P.13, 22, 25, 40, 49, 50
Stenzel J.221, 234
Stern M.388, 405
Steup J.182, 190, 192
Stewart A.135, 137, 140, 144, 160, 161,
249, 255
Stiebel G.D.395, 401
Stock H.260, 271
Stckl J.71
Stoll O.379, 383, 386
Strack P.L.366, 367, 368, 375
Strang A.365, 369, 371, 372, 375
Strassler R.B.91, 95
418
Strauss B.S.147, 148, 162, 164, 214,
234
Strauss Clay J.151, 158
Strickland M.141, 164
Stroheker K.F.360, 375
Strmberg A.250, 253
Strong E.350
Stroumsa G.G.275, 285
Struck P.T.65, 83, 95
Svrd S.78, 97
Szarzynska K.66, 96
Szegedy-Maszak A.189, 193
Szymanski T.135, 164
Tadmor H.77, 98
Taplin O.153, 164
Tarn L.157, 164
Tausend S.143, 165
Tcherikover V.401, 405
Temkin C.L.191, 192
Temporini H.377, 384, 385
Tepper Y.393, 404
Themelis P.G.211, 234
Theune-Grosskopf B.142, 157
Thiers C.261, 269
Thommen L.173, 179
Thompson W.E.226, 234
Toher M.327, 348
Tomas A.381, 386
Tompkins D.P.133, 164
Tondriau J.251, 255
Torelli M.297, 302, 327, 350, 351
Trk L.272, 279, 287
Tov E.390, 403
Toynbee J.M.C.326, 336, 351
Tozzi P.168, 179
Trampedach K.72, 81, 93, 96, 98
Tran Tam Tinh V.279, 287
Treves P.351
Tritle L.A.67, 97, 145, 164, 238, 255
Trundle M.68, 98
Truschnegg B.68, 97, 169, 177, 178
Tsafrir Y.396, 397, 405
Tsamakis A.150, 159
Tsukimoto A.72, 98
Tuck A.293, 302
Tully R.E.143, 158
Tuplin C.J.175, 178, 197, 200, 205
Index Of Authors
Turfa J.M.299, 302
Turkeltaub D.140, 164
Turner G.77
Turner N.114, 115, 118
Tziafalias A.222, 223, 231
Tzu S.23, 50
Ulanowski K.40, 50, 65, 133, 188, 385
Valds M.251, 252
Valeton I.M.J.227, 234
Van Buren A.W.351
Van Buylaere G.40, 47
Van der Spek R.J.42, 50, 167, 168, 179
Van Dijk J.19, 22
Van Eck C.136, 162
Van Gastel J.136, 162
Van Kessel E.136, 162
Van Wees H.78, 97, 127, 132, 133, 135,
140, 142, 143, 146, 147, 154, 158, 160,
162, 163, 164, 165, 173, 179, 201, 205,
279, 287, 296, 301
VanderKam J.C.390, 403
Vanstiphout H.66, 98
Varhelyi Z.Z.294, 301
Verderame L.7, 20
Verity A.148
Vernant J.-P.133, 149, 151, 158, 164
Versluys M.J.278, 287
Veyne P.136, 164
Vickers M.220, 221, 226, 234
Vidal J.66, 97, 245, 252, 255
Vidal-Naquet P.189, 193
Viggiano G.F.67, 96
Villing A.C.146, 164, 296, 302
Vistoli F.351
Vlkov M.11, 21
Vleeming S.263, 271
Vogt J.280
Von Beckerath J.256, 257, 258, 259, 260,
261, 268
Von den Hoff R.137, 161
Von Domaszewski A.377, 379, 380, 385
Von Wilamowitz-Mllendorf U.136, 165,
216, 219, 234
Wade-Gery H.T.222, 223, 234
Waetzoldt H.32, 46
419
Index Of Authors
Wfler M.7, 12, 20, 22
Wagenvoort H.351
Wagner G.279, 286
Walbank M.B.221, 234, 274
Walentowski S.359, 375
Wallace A.113, 119
Wallace Hadrill A.351
Wallace R.W.182, 193, 250, 252
Wallach J.R.140, 162
Walter P.351
Wasserman F.M.184, 193
Waszak D.282, 286
Watanabe K.40, 50, 76, 95
Watson A.361, 375
Watson J.S.361
Watzinger C.206, 234
Weber W.279, 287
Weil S.65, 98, 165
Weinstock S.306, 317, 336, 351
Weiss P.372, 375
Weksler-Bdolah S.394, 405
Welles C.B.246, 253, 376, 386
Wendrich W.256, 270
West M.L.72, 98, 140, 165, 206, 234
West S.154, 159
Westbrook R.36, 46
Westendorf W.260, 268
Westenholz A.7, 22, 50
Westenholz J.G.68, 80, 81, 98
Westlake H.D.217, 234
Wheeler E.L.67, 98, 216, 379, 380, 386
Whitby M.142, 160, 197, 205, 279, 287
White R.T.398, 404
Whiting R.M.76, 97
Whitley J.292, 302
Wiedemann T.361, 362, 375

Wiesehofer J.169, 171, 177
Wiggermann F.A.M.18, 19, 22
Wilding L.33, 47
Wilkins J.B.292, 295
Will W.175, 178, 179, 351
Willcock M.M.145, 165
Winkes R.351
Winnicki J.K.272, 287
Winter E.260, 266, 271, 378, 385
Winter I.J.26, 28, 50
Winter N.295, 302
Wiseman D.J.40, 50
Wojciechowska A.40, 50, 262, 268
Womersley D.360, 374
Woodford S.165
Woodhouse W.J.190, 193
Woods C.168, 178, 179
Woods Chr.42, 50
Woodward A.M.226, 234
Worthington I.197, 205, 235, 236, 238,
253, 255, 256, 351
Wrede H.351
Wright R.P.379, 385
Yamada S.38, 50
Yardeni A.388, 395, 402, 404
Yuhong W.20, 22
Zaidman L.B.67, 98
Zanker P.306, 308, 310, 315, 351
Zeitlin F.I.151, 164
Ziegler C.256, 268
Zimmern H.69, 74, 98
Zissu B.387, 390, 392, 403, 404, 405

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The Religious Aspects of War in the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome

Culture and History of the

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The Religious Aspects of

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Brill Open Access options can be found at brill.com/brill-open-0.

For Niko Gilgamesh Nikephoros, my beloved son,

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The Burning of Greek Temples by the Persians and Greek

Clenar larans etnam svalce: Myth, Religion, and Warfare in Etruria291

Roman Soldiers in Official Cult Ceremonies: Performance, Participation

CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the

MDAI.R Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts

RIME 1 D.R. Frayne, Presargonic Period (27002350 BC)

Veneration, Hikesia, Asylia, Oath, Malediction

List and Affiliations of Contributors

koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi .63/9789004324763_002

War in Mesopotamian Culture

War in Heaven: Nin-urta.k and Marduk

koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi .63/9789004324763_003

Divine Order vs. Chaos: The Role of Humankind

War In Mesopotamian Culture

The Community of Persons: The City

War In Mesopotamian Culture

axis. On a historical level, the creation of wide-ranging territorial states that

War on Earth: Two Historic Wars

The relative documentation is uneven, given that Hammurabis wars

13 P. Mander, Review of Tammy Schneider, An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian

War In Mesopotamian Culture

The War between the Cities of Umma and Laga

As instructed by Nin-irsu.k in a dream (121ff.), Eanatum started the war,

War In Mesopotamian Culture

War In Mesopotamian Culture

31 J. Bottro, Religion..., 38.

War In Mesopotamian Culture

Elsewhere33 I have discussed Coomaraswamys study of the Mesopotamian

33 Mander, The Magic...forthcoming.

War In Mesopotamian Culture

46 Ent. 289 lines 707.

War In Mesopotamian Culture

, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia (Chicago, London: The University of Chicago

Internationale, Mnster, 8.12.7. 1985 (eds. K. Hecker, W. Sommerfeld, Berlin:

Some Remarks Concerning the Development of the

koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi .63/9789004324763_004

Sumer and Akkad

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

a good eye on my battles. The youthUtu, beloved in the mountains, is the

The Old and Middle Assyrian Periods

Moving on to Assyria, in order to show some examples of the development of

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

It is echoed, of course, in the Middle Assyrian coronation ritual where the

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

universe or king of the four corners,45 etc., and tendencies to universalism

in the Tukult-Ninurta Epic.50 This very propagandistic poem celebrated an

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

Precious is he in (Enlils) family, for where there is

The Neo-Assyrian period continued Middle Assyrian traditions but, of course,

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

path as servants of God.66 Or as Mario Liverani states it: A king, while he

66 Parpola, Monotheism..., 192; Garelli, La propaganda..., 24.

remarks in the theology of war in ancient mesopotamia

CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the

MDAI.R Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts

RIME 1 D.R. Frayne, Presargonic Period (27002350 BC)

13 P. Mander, Review of Tammy Schneider, An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian

31 J. Bottro, Religion..., 38.

33 Mander, The Magic...forthcoming.

46 Ent. 289 lines 707.

66 Parpola, Monotheism..., 192; Garelli, La propaganda..., 24.

78 RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 133, 271272, lines 89.

51 Espak, The Emergence...

78 A.0.101.1, iii 20, in: RIMA 2, 213.

92 Flower, The Seer..., 240.

102 See Thuc. 6.69.2; Xen. An. 1.8.15.

143 Flower, The Seer..., 93.

159 Xen. Hell. 2.4.189.

205 Xen. An. 6.4.15, see Burkert, Signs..., 42.

225 Flower, The Seer..., 8.