Antigonus to Eresus — letter on the law against tyrants magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub reading text and apparatus afterC. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period: A Study in Greek Epigraphy (New Haven 1934), no. 2 (pp. 11–18). The primary edition followed here. magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub Beijing 2026 magalia.wiki antigonus-to-eresus Welles 1934 no. 2 (OGIS 8 fr. IV; IG XII,2 526) XII,2 526 8 CC-BY 4.0 — EpiDoc TEI edition for study and reuse. see provenanceWelles 1934 no. 2 (OGIS 8 fr. IV; IG XII,2 526) XII,2 526 8 Two squared blocks of grey marble at Eresus on Lesbos — fragment IV of the longer Eresan anti-tyrant dossier OGIS 8. grey marble · Welles 1934, p. 12 records the dimensions; not repeated here c. 306 BCE Eresus Eresus, Lesbos — Block A (Church of Christ) C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period: A Study in Greek Epigraphy (New Haven 1934), no. 2 (pp. 11–18). The primary edition followed here. OGIS 8 (Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. I [Leipzig 1903]) — the full Eresan dossier; the present letter is fragment IV. IG XII,2 526 (Paton, Inscriptiones Graecae XII,2 [Berlin 1899]) — earlier publication, with competing reconstruction of the damaged body. Welles 1934 cites earlier readings by Cichorius, Hicks, Conze, and Paton (IG XII,2) in its apparatus; this edition follows Welles's text and reports its apparatus through that source. Linked data and external resources EDH EDCS Trismegistos (TM) PIR² https://www.trismegistos.org/ (search OGIS 8) https://inscriptions.packhum.org/ (PHI Greek; IG XII,2 526) magalia.wiki edition

Leiden conventions rendered as EpiDoc: restorations as supplied(reason=lost), gaps as gap, abbreviations as expan(abbr+ex), omitted letters as supplied(reason=omitted), surplus as surplus, corrections as corr. Critical apparatus as listApp. The facing translation is div type=translation; the historical commentary is div type=commentary.

 Ancient Greek English Antigonus I Monophthalmus ("the One-Eyed")King; sender of the letterMacedonian general under Alexander, then satrap of Phrygia; after Antipater's death (319 BCE) the dominant Successor in Asia Minor; first to assume the title βασιλεύς in 306 BCE after his son Demetrius' victory at Salamis. Killed at the battle of Ipsus, 301 BCE. AgonippusEresan tyrant (deceased before the letter)Tyrant of Eresus during the Persian counter-invasion of Lesbos. Brother of Eurysilaus; both expelled by Alexander, briefly restored by Memnon, then condemned and executed by the city under its anti-tyrant law. His sons are the subject of the present appeal-and-counter-appeal. Alexander III (the Great)Earlier king of Macedon; issuer of a διαγραφή on Eresus' anti-tyrant lawHis prior διαγραφή authorising the city to decide for itself is the precedent Antigonus' letter ultimately follows. Cross-referenced in line 11. MelidorosEponymous prytanis of Eresus in the year of the letterEresan civic magistrate whose name is used to date the document (line 1). Otherwise unknown. the council and people (boulē kai dēmos)issuing / addressee body
Antigonus to Eresus — letter on the law against tyrants — edition Πρύτανις Μελίδωρος. Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίγονος Ἐρεσίων τῆι <supplied reason="lost">βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι</supplied> χαίρειν· παρεγένοντο πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἱ παρ' ὑμῶν πρέσβεις καὶ διελέγοντο, φάμενοι τὸν δῆμον κομισάμενον Πρύτανις Μελίδωρος. Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίγονος Ἐρεσίων τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χαίρειν· παρεγένοντο πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἱ παρ&#x27; ὑμῶν πρέσβεις καὶ διελέγοντο, φάμενοι τὸν δῆμον κομισάμενον τὴν παρ&#x27; ἡμῶν ἐπιστολήν, ἣν ἐγράψαμεν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἀγωνίππου υἱῶν, ψήφισμά τε ποιήσασθαι, ἀνεγνωσαφι ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπεστάλκεναι τὰς τε κρίσεις τῶν δικαστηρίων ἐμφανιοῦντας … ἐν Ἀλεξάνδρωι ἐντυγχάνοντες … ἔρρωσθε. τὴν παρ' <supplied reason="lost">ἡ</supplied>μῶν ἐπιστολήν, ἣν ἐγρ<supplied reason="lost">ά</supplied>ψαμεν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἀγωνίππου υἱῶν, ψήφισμά τε π<supplied reason="lost">ο</supplied>ι<supplied reason="lost">ή</supplied>σασθαι, ἀνεγνωσα<unclear>φ</unclear>ι ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπεστάλκεναι τ<supplied reason="lost">ὰ</supplied>ς τε <supplied reason="lost">κρί</supplied>σεις τῶν δικαστηρίων ἐμφανιοῦντας … ἐν Ἀλεξάν<supplied reason="lost">δρωι ἐν</supplied>τυγ<supplied reason="lost">χ</supplied>άν<supplied reason="lost">οντες</supplied> … ἔρρωσθε.
Antigonus to Eresus — letter on the law against tyrants — translation
Civic-eponym dating + royal opening (lines 1–4) (ll. 1–4)

When Melidoros was prytanis. King Antigonus to the council and the people of Eresus, greeting. Your envoys came to us and spoke, saying that your people, on receipt...

Additional verbatim inscription text (formula-dossier case study) (ll. 5–5)

(See the formula-dossier case study for verse-by-verse translation and discussion.)

Embassy + decree-reference + court decisions + Alexander cross-ref (lines 4–11) (ll. 4–11)

...the letter from us, which we wrote on behalf of the sons of Agonippus, that they had passed a decree, that they had read it aloud to us, and had sent them [to make clear] the decisions of the courts ... on appeal to Alexander...

Closing greeting (line 14) (ll. 14–14)

Farewell.

Antigonus to Eresus — letter on the law against tyrants — commentary

The letter opens with the Eresan civic-eponym dating — Πρύτανις Μελίδωρος, "when Melidoros was prytanis" — followed by the standard Hellenistic royal-letter opening formula: SENDER (Βασιλεύς + king's name) + ADDRESSEE (city + its civic institutions) + the salutation χαίρειν. This is the dossier's first royal-letter case-study instance of the genre and establishes the genre's bookend structure: opening χαίρειν paired with closing ἔρρωσθε at the end of the letter (Welles 1934).

The royal title βασιλεύς is significant: Antigonus first assumes it after his son Demetrius' victory at Salamis in 306 BCE, so the letter must postdate that battle (commentary Welles 1934, p. 13).

case study, complementing the polis-decree (cases #6–#13) and Roman SC (cases #1–#5) genres. The royal-letter formula bundle has its own characteristic slots: a civic dating clause (here Πρύτανις Μελίδωρος in Eresan style), then the diagnostic opening formula SENDER + RECIPIENT + χαίρειν ("greeting"), an embassy-acknowledgment clause, the substantive body, and the closing formula ἔρρωσθε ("Farewell"). Per Welles 1934 (verbatim above): the genre was consolidating in this period and Antigonus, having taken the royal title after Demetrius' victory at Salamis in 306 BCE, is here exercising the rhetorical machinery of royal correspondence to a Greek polis.

The substantive content connects directly to case study #11 (RO 101 Tegean exiles decree, 324/3 BCE). Per Welles 1934 (verbatim above): "Some years later, probably after the edict ordering the reinstatement of exiles (324 B.C.), they appealed to Alexander to compel the city to readmit them. His reply was the διαγραφή several times mentioned, permitting the city itself to pass judgement on them." The διαγραφή Welles names is the same Alexander διάγραμμα the Tegean ordinance executes in case #11. The dossier thus documents both halves of the Hellenistic royal-edict / civic-response interaction: at Tegea the polis ordinance executing the king's directive (case #11), at Eresus the king's letter confirming the polis's autonomy in the matter (this case).

The narrative is the standard Hellenistic royal-letter embassy clause: παρεγένοντο πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἱ παρ' ὑμῶν πρέσβεις καὶ διελέγοντο — "your envoys came to us and spoke." The embassy is responding to a PRIOR royal letter Antigonus had himself sent — explicit cross-reference to Antigonus' own earlier intercession on behalf of the sons of Agonippus, the tyrants whose family Eresus had condemned (Welles 1934, p. 13).

The civic decree the embassy carried is explicitly named with ψήφισμα + ἀναγνώσασθαι — the formal verb for "reading aloud" a decree before the king. This is the slot connecting royal correspondence to civic decree-making.

The closing formula ἔρρωσθε ("farewell") is the standard Hellenistic royal-letter closing — the bookend to the opening χαίρειν. The pairing χαίρειν / ἔρρωσθε is constitutive of the royal-letter genre and appears across all surviving Antigonid, Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Attalid royal correspondence (Welles 1934, Introduction §iv).

Critical apparatus Πρύτανις Μελίδωρος — Welles 1934; the form-of-name dating sequence is standard at Eresus and confirmed by other documents of the dossier. βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι — Welles's supplement; Paton supplied δάμωι (Aeolic), Welles defends the koine form on grounds of the royal chancery practice (Welles 1934, p. 13). ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἀγωνίππου υἱῶν — confirmed across all OGIS 8 fragments referring to the sons of Agonippus. ἀνεγνωσαφ[ι ἡμ]ῖν — Welles reads with caution; the φ in ἀνεγνωσαφ is unclear in the stone and may be a stonecutter error for σ (giving ἀνεγνωσασ[θαι ἡμ]ῖν). τὰς τε κρίσεις τῶν δικαστηρίων ἐμφανιοῦντας — the participle's tense (future, expressing intent) is consistent with the standard embassy-clause syntax across Welles 1934's corpus. ἐν Ἀλεξάνδρωι ἐντυγχάνοντες — cross-reference to Alexander's διαγραφή; the heavily restored line. Welles vs Paton differ on the participle's tense and the prepositional construction; both reconstructions equally support the cross-reference. ἔρρωσθε — standard closing; clear on the stone.
Editions and commentary C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period: A Study in Greek Epigraphy (New Haven 1934), no. 2 (pp. 11–18). The primary edition followed here. OGIS 8 (Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. I [Leipzig 1903]) — the full Eresan dossier; the present letter is fragment IV. IG XII,2 526 (Paton, Inscriptiones Graecae XII,2 [Berlin 1899]) — earlier publication, with competing reconstruction of the damaged body. Welles 1934 cites earlier readings by Cichorius, Hicks, Conze, and Paton (IG XII,2) in its apparatus; this edition follows Welles's text and reports its apparatus through that source.