Yesterday I promised that I would contextualize Aristotle’s will with some inscriptions from Delphi. Unfortunately I’m gonna have to postpone that discussion. Instead I’m going to write about an inscription that’s been at the forefront of my mind tonight: Philip V’s letter to the people of Larisa.
Philip V was a Macedonian king towards the end of the 3rd century. We know a bit about him because of the description provided by the Greek historian Polybius, who lived during much of Philip V’s life. Anyways, at this point in time Macedon had control over much of mainland Greece, including the town of Larisa which is in the rural region of Thessaly. There survives in this town an inscription from Philip V to these Larisaeans encouraging them to be more liberal with grants of citizenship, as there were a number of Thessalians from outside of Larisa who had moved there but were incapable of becoming citizens. Philip saw small citizenries as a problem apparently. The reason that this inscription interests us is because Philip describes Roman manumission as part of his rationale:
That it is much the best state of affairs for as many as possible to enjoy citizen rights, the city to be strong and the land not to lie shamefully deserted, as at present, I believe none of you would deny, and one may observe others who grant citizenship in the same way. Among these are the Romans, who when they manumit their slaves admit them to the citizen body and grant them a share in the magistracies, and in this way have not only enlarged their country but have sent out colonies to nearly 70 places.
(From Austin, MM. 2006. The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Conquest of Rome, Second Edition. Cambridge. Item 76)
The great part about this is that the Romans didn’t do either of these things: let them become magistrates or send them out as colonists. I’ll talk more about the implications of this misreading tomorrow.
Philip V was a Macedonian king towards the end of the 3rd century. We know a bit about him because of the description provided by the Greek historian Polybius, who lived during much of Philip V’s life. Anyways, at this point in time Macedon had control over much of mainland Greece, including the town of Larisa which is in the rural region of Thessaly. There survives in this town an inscription from Philip V to these Larisaeans encouraging them to be more liberal with grants of citizenship, as there were a number of Thessalians from outside of Larisa who had moved there but were incapable of becoming citizens. Philip saw small citizenries as a problem apparently. The reason that this inscription interests us is because Philip describes Roman manumission as part of his rationale:
That it is much the best state of affairs for as many as possible to enjoy citizen rights, the city to be strong and the land not to lie shamefully deserted, as at present, I believe none of you would deny, and one may observe others who grant citizenship in the same way. Among these are the Romans, who when they manumit their slaves admit them to the citizen body and grant them a share in the magistracies, and in this way have not only enlarged their country but have sent out colonies to nearly 70 places.
(From Austin, MM. 2006. The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Conquest of Rome, Second Edition. Cambridge. Item 76)
The great part about this is that the Romans didn’t do either of these things: let them become magistrates or send them out as colonists. I’ll talk more about the implications of this misreading tomorrow.