Journal | Axon
Journal issue | 2 | 2 | 2018
Research Article | Honorary Athenian Decree for Some Akarnanian Exiles
Abstract
The decree, dating to the summer of 337 B.C., establishes on the one hand the granting of gold crowns and citizenship to two Akarnanians brothers, Phormion and Karphinas, commanders of an Akarnanian military contingent that apparently supported Athens in the battle of Chaironeia, on the other the recognition of a series of honours to the Akarnanians who followed them and constituted evidently the nerve of this contingent. The honorary decree is extremely interesting for the reconstruction of the Athenian situation immediately after the battle of Chaironeia, when Athens – apparently pro-Macedonian – seemed to carry on its resistance against Philip II by granting asylum to those who had supported the city in the military clash against Macedonia and were persecuted for this reason. The decree, then, explicitly remembers that the grandfather of the two honorands, Phormion, had in turn been beneficiary in 400 BC ca. of the granting of Athenian citizenship: the mention of this previous action creates a strong link, with evident propagandistic implications, between the moments following the battle of Chaironeia and those following the end of the Peloponnesian war. Finally, the decree may also be considered as a valid source for the study of the concession of the isoteleia, in this specific case granted in its widest form (exemption from the metoikion, right of enktesis, guarantee of legal protections, right to pay eisphorai with citizens) and not to individuals, but to a group of political exiles.
Submitted: June 29, 2018 | Accepted: Sept. 27, 2018 | Published Dec. 20, 2018 | Language: it
Keywords Isoteleia • Formione • Concessione di cittadinanza • Decreto onorifico • Acarnania • Karphinas
Copyright © 2018 Livia De Martinis. 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.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Axon/2532-6848/2018/04/008