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Axon | Vol. 1 | Issue 2 | June 2017

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Research Article

Dedication to Zeus Hellanios by the Syracusans

Alessia Dimartino    Independent Scholar    

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abstract

An inscription engraved on a statue-basis offered by the Syracusan damos to Zeus Hellanios was found in unknown circumstances in Ortigia. This document remembers Gelo, son of Hiero II, as a Syracusan basileus, although he never became king because he died before his father.  Regarding the chronology of this document, the dating of the gift offered by Hiero and Gelo to the Rodian people is the most indicative: in 227 BC it seems that Gelo is mentioned alongside his father. This chronology is also confirmed by paleographic analysis. The mention of the damos in the Syracusan inscription and its personification in the well-known sculptural group donated by Gelo to the Rodians representing the Siracusan damos that crowns the Rodian people confirm the active role of the Syracusan damos during the reign of Hiero II. At this time the boule and the damos still played an important role that would be permanently lost shortly after the tyranny of Hieronymos. 

Published
Dec. 20, 2017
Accepted
Aug. 31, 2017
Submitted
March 5, 2017
Language
IT

Keywords: Teatro • Siracusa • Basileia • Ieronimo • Ierone II • Ortigia • Statua • Damos • Gelone • Basileus • Rodii • Zeus Hellanios • Siracusani

permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2532-6848/Axon-1-2-17-13

Link AXON 106
Copyright: © 2017 Alessia Dimartino. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.