A king Antiochus to Euphemus: the grant of Baetocaece to Zeus (Welles RC 70 = OGIS 262) magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub reading text and apparatus afterC. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 70 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub Beijing 2026 magalia.wiki welles-antiochus-baetocaece Welles RC 70 (= OGIS 262 = IGLS VII 4028) 262 70 VII 4028 CC-BY 4.0 — EpiDoc TEI edition for study and reuse. see provenanceWelles RC 70 (= OGIS 262 = IGLS VII 4028) 262 70 VII 4028 Marble tablet built into the peribolos wall of the temple of Zeus at Baetocaece (Husn Suleiman), NW Syria; the dossier re-cut A.D. 253-259 below a Latin imperial rescript. The Antiochus letter + memorandum (Welles RC 70) is one item of the larger temple-record. Marble tablet, one of several temple-records; re-cut A.D. 253-259 below a Latin imperial rescript late 2nd c. BCE (?); stone re-cut A.D. 253-259 Baetocaece Baetocaece / Husn Suleiman (the peribolos wall of the temple of Zeus) — Worn; the Hellenistic act legible, with engraver's slips at ll.10, 13 and a crux at l.7 C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 70 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae I (Leipzig 1903), no. 262 (the standard prior edition; collated here). R. Chandler, Inscriptiones Antiquae … in Asia Minore et Graecia (Oxford 1774), Appendix no. 1 (the first copy, by G. Lucas); J. Franz, CIG III 4474. P. Le Bas & W. H. Waddington, Voyage archéologique … Asie Mineure III (Paris 1870), no. 2720a; R. Cagnat, IGRR III 1020; F. Schroeter, De Regum Hellenisticorum Epistulis (1932), no. 61. = IGLS VII 4028 (the Baetocaece dossier; cf. H. Wilcken, Philologus LIII (1894) 103; M. Rostovtzeff, Röm. Kolonat 250 f, 274 f). Linked data and external resources Pleiades 668205 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 Antiochus (a king Antiochus)The Seleucid kingWelles leaves which Antiochus open; a late-Seleucid king, the act conventionally dated to the late 2nd c. BCE. He forwards the memorandum and orders its execution. EuphemusThe royal official addressedThe official to whom the covering letter is sent; he is to see that the memorandum's provisions are carried out (διὰ σοῦ συντελεσθῆναι) and to write on to the relevant officers. Zeus of BaetocaeceThe god endowedThe local Ba'al of Baetocaece worshipped as Zeus; the village and its revenues are granted to him in perpetuity, on report of his 'power' (ἐνέργεια). Demetrius son of DemetriusFormer holder of the villageGrandson of Mnasias; held the village of Baetocaece in the satrapy of Apamea before it was granted to the god.
A king Antiochus to Euphemus: the grant of Baetocaece to Zeus (Welles RC 70 = OGIS 262) — edition Ἐπιστολὴ Ἀντιόχου βασιλέως· Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίοχος Εὐφήμωι χαίρειν Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίοχος Εὐφήμωι χαίρειν· ἐδόθη ὁ κατακεχωρισ- μένος ὑπομνηματισμός. γενέσθω οὖν καθότι δεδήλωται περὶ ὧν δεῖ διὰ σοῦ συντελεσθῆναι. Προσενεχθέντος μοι περὶ τῆς ἐνεργείας θεοῦ Διὸς Βαιτοκαικης, ἐκρίθη συγχωρηθῆναι αὐτῶι εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον, ὅθεν καὶ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ κατάρχεται, κώμην τὴν Βαιτοκαικηνήν, ἣν πρότερον ἔσχεν Δημήτριος Δημητρίου τοῦ Μνασαίου ἐντουργωνα τῆς περὶ Ἀπάμιαν σατραπείας, σὺν τοῖς συνκύρουσι καὶ καθήκουσι πᾶσι κατὰ τοὺς προϋπάρχοντας περιορισμοὺς καὶ σὺν τοῖς τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος ἔτους γενήμασιν, ὅπως ἡ ἀπὸ ταύτης πρόσοδος ἀναλίσκηται εἰς τὰς κατὰ μῆνας συντελουμένας θυσίας καὶ τἆλλα τὰ πρὸς αὔξη- σιν τοῦ ἱεροῦ συντείνοντα ὑπὸ τοῦ καθεσταμένου ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἱερέως ὡς εἴ- θισται, ἄγωνται δὲ καὶ κατὰ μῆνα πανηγύρεις ἀτελεῖς τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ καὶ τριακάδι, καὶ εἶναι τὸ μὲν ἱερὸν ἄσυλον τὴν δὲ κώμην ἀνεπίσταθμον, μηδεμιᾶς ἀπορρήσεως προσενεχθείσης· τὸν δὲ ἐναντιωθησόμενόν τισι τῶν προγε- γραμμένων ἔνοχον εἶναι ἀσεβείαι· ἀναγραφῆναι τε καὶ τὰ ἀντίγραφα ἐν στήλῃ λιθίνῃ καὶ τεθῆναι ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἱερῷ. δεήσει οὖν γραφῆναι οἷς εἴ- θισται, ἵνα γένηται ἀκολούθως τοῖς δηλουμένοις.
A king Antiochus to Euphemus: the grant of Baetocaece to Zeus (Welles RC 70 = OGIS 262) — translation
The king transmits the enclosed memorandum to Euphemus for execution (ll. 1–3)

Letter of King Antiochus. King Antiochus to Euphemus, greeting. The enclosed memorandum has been issued. See, then, that its provisions are carried out, so far as concerns you.

The grant of the village of Baetocaece, its revenues, fairs, asylia and freedom from billeting, with an impiety-clause (ll. 4–17)

Report having been brought to me concerning the 'power' (energeia) of the god Zeus of Baetocaece, it has been decided to grant to him, for all time — whence also the 'power' of the god proceeds — the village of Baetocaece, which Demetrius son of Demetrius and grandson of Mnasias formerly held … of the satrapy about Apamea, together with all that belongs and pertains to it according to the existing boundaries, and with the produce of the present year,

so that the revenue from it may be spent on the sacrifices performed month by month and on the other things that tend to the increase of the sanctuary, by the priest appointed by the god, as is customary; and that tax-free fairs (panēgyreis) be held also each month on the fifteenth and the thirtieth; and that the sanctuary be inviolable (asylon) and the village free from billeting (anepistathmon), no requisition having been brought against it; and that whoever opposes any of the things written above be liable for impiety; and that copies be inscribed also on a stone stele and set up in the same sanctuary. It will be necessary, then, to write to those whose office it is, so that it may be done in accordance with what is here set forth.

A king Antiochus to Euphemus: the grant of Baetocaece to Zeus (Welles RC 70 = OGIS 262) — commentary

The king's own letter is brief and administrative. He tells his official Euphemus that 'the enclosed memorandum has been issued' (ἐδόθη ὁ κατακεχωρισμένος ὑπομνηματισμός) and orders that its provisions be carried out 'as has been declared, so far as concerns you' (διὰ σοῦ συντελεσθῆναι). The real content is the attached hypomnematismos — a minute drawn from the royal journal — quoted verbatim below. This letter-plus-enclosure form, the chancery passing down a decision made higher up, is itself the document's interest: it shows the Seleucid administrative machine in miniature.

The enclosed memorandum, in the impersonal decree-style (ἐκρίθη, 'it was decided'), is the operative grant. Prompted by a report of the 'power' (ἐνέργεια) of the god — the local Ba'al worshipped as Zeus — the crown gives the god, in perpetuity, the very village of Baetocaece 'whence the power of the god proceeds', formerly held by one Demetrius in the satrapy of Apamea, with its lands and the year's produce. The revenue funds the monthly sacrifices under a priest 'appointed by the god'; tax-free fairs are fixed for the 15th and 30th of each month; the sanctuary is declared inviolable (ἄσυλον) and the village free from billeting (ἀνεπίσταθμον); an impiety-clause guards the whole; and the texts are to be set up on a stele in the sanctuary. It is a sanctuary-endowment charter — the corpus's first Syrian temple-estate document — and the only royal letter here preserved through a much later re-cutting under the Roman emperors (Welles 1934, 280-283).

Critical apparatus ἐντουργωνα — a crux: the worn, uninterpreted sequence — so G. Lucas (Chandler) = Welles's and Dittenberger's text (OGIS 262 ἐντουργῶνα); W. H. Waddington read ἐντουριωνα. The sense is roughly the office/status by which Demetrius held the village. Flagged, not resolved. γενήμασιν — 'with the produce (of the present year)': so Waddington; Lucas read γεν⟨ν⟩ήμασιν. μῆνα{ς} — the engraver cut ΜΗΝΑΣ; κατὰ μῆνα ('month by month', acc. sg.) is meant, so the surplus -ς is bracketed for deletion (Welles, Introd. p.lxii). Of the two μῆνα phrases, this one (l.10) carries the cutting-error; l.12 κατὰ μῆνα is correct. ἀνεπίσ⟨τ⟩α⟨θ⟩μον — the engraver cut ΑΝΕΠΙΣΘΑΜΟΝ; the word is ἀνεπίσταθμος ('free from the billeting of troops'), restored with the editor's corrections (Welles, Introd. p.lxiii; OGIS 262 ἀνεπί⟨στ⟩αθμον).
Editions and commentary C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 70 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae I (Leipzig 1903), no. 262 (the standard prior edition; collated here). R. Chandler, Inscriptiones Antiquae … in Asia Minore et Graecia (Oxford 1774), Appendix no. 1 (the first copy, by G. Lucas); J. Franz, CIG III 4474. P. Le Bas & W. H. Waddington, Voyage archéologique … Asie Mineure III (Paris 1870), no. 2720a; R. Cagnat, IGRR III 1020; F. Schroeter, De Regum Hellenisticorum Epistulis (1932), no. 61. = IGLS VII 4028 (the Baetocaece dossier; cf. H. Wilcken, Philologus LIII (1894) 103; M. Rostovtzeff, Röm. Kolonat 250 f, 274 f).