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.
… as he had been in honour and trust with our brother and has zealously given many great demonstrations of his attitude toward us and our state, and as he has spared neither his life nor his property in our interest but has adequately performed everything entrusted to him and in general conducts himself consistently with his past services on behalf of our state, we wished to keep him still associated with us in our affairs.
He often, however, called our attention to the bodily infirmity which had come upon him from his incessant hardships, and asked us to allow him to retire, so that he might spend the rest of his life undistracted in good health; and we have yielded, wishing to show in this too the regard we have for him.
Now, that he may in future also obtain all that pertains to honour and glory, it shall be our care; and since the chief-priesthood of Apollo and Artemis of the Daittai and of the other sanctuaries whose precincts are at Daphne requires a man who is a friend and able to preside worthily — in view of the zeal that both our ancestors and we ourselves have had for the place and of our reverence toward the divine — we have appointed him chief-priest of these, convinced that the conduct of the sacred rites will best be carried out through him.
Give orders, then, to register him in the financial records as chief-priest of the said sanctuaries and to honour the man in a manner worthy of our decision; and if he summons anyone to any of the duties pertaining to these matters, that both those engaged about the sanctuaries and all others whom it concerns assist him — instruct them to obey, having given orders that they heed whatever he writes or directs; and that a copy of this letter also be inscribed on stelae and set up in the most conspicuous places. Year 124, Dios 14.
The corpus's longest royal letter, and one of its most administratively revealing. Antiochus III writes to a governor about the chief-priesthood (archierōsynē) of Daphne, the great Apolline sanctuary-suburb of Antioch. The first half is an encomium of a court philos: once honoured by the king's brother, he had 'spared neither his life nor his property' for the crown and discharged everything entrusted to him; worn down by 'incessant hardships', he has asked to retire in good health, and the king consents 'wishing to show in this too the regard we have for him'. The reward is the Daphne chief-priesthood — an office, the king says, that 'requires a man who is a friend and able to preside worthily'. The closing orders are pure chancery: register him as chief-priest in the financial records, honour him, make all temple-staff obey him, and publish the letter on stelae. Dated to 12 October 189 BCE — the year of Magnesia (Welles 1934, 180-185).