An Attalid king to an official: the regulation of a priesthood of Zeus magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub reading text and apparatus afterW. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ III (Leipzig 1920), no. 1018 (the base text, located by render). magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub Beijing 2026 magalia.wiki welles-attalid-priesthood SIG³ 1018 = IvP 40 (Welles, RC 24) 1018 40 24 CC-BY 4.0 — EpiDoc TEI edition for study and reuse. see provenanceSIG³ 1018 = IvP 40 (Welles, RC 24) 1018 40 24 A white marble door-post (doorjamb), the lower part in two pieces; 21 surviving lines. White marble door-post; 21 surviving lines (the body + close) 3rd century BCE Pergamon Pergamon (Humann 1883; the lower part, in two pieces) — The upper part with the prescript lost; the body well preserved; now Berlin W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ III (Leipzig 1920), no. 1018 (the base text, located by render). M. Fränkel, Die Inschriften von Pergamon I (Berlin 1890), no. 40 (the editio princeps; the same text). C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 24 (text, translation, commentary; the witness). C. Michel, Recueil 729; B. Laum, Stiftungen in der griechischen und römischen Antike II (1914), no. 69 (on the endowment). Linked data and external resources Pleiades 550812 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 An Attalid king (Attalus I?)The writer (king of Pergamon)The dynast who founded and endowed the priesthood; his name is lost with the prescript, but Fränkel and Hiller conjecture Attalus I, endowing the cult of Zeus from his victory-dedications. Saec. III BCE. The officialThe addresseeA magistrate or officer charged by the king to establish and administer the priesthood; lost with the prescript. The annual priestThe subject of the ordinanceὁ ἀεὶ λαχών, whoever holds the office by lot each year: he wears the crown, takes the perquisites and the workshops' income, is exempt from liturgies, and accounts for the god's silver. ZeusThe god of the cultIdentified by the olive crown (Dittenberger): the priesthood, its regalia and its endowment all belong to a cult of Zeus at Pergamon.
An Attalid king to an official: the regulation of a priesthood of Zeus — edition … ὁ ἀεὶ λαχὼν φορείτω χλαμύδα λευκὴν καὶ στέφανον ἐλᾶς … ὁ δ’ ἀεὶ λαχὼν φορείτω χλαμύδα λευκὴν καὶ στέ φανον ἐλᾶς μετὰ ταινι δίου φοινικοῦ· καὶ λαμβα νέτω τῶν θυομένων γέ ρα τὸ δέρμα καὶ κωλέαν καὶ τῶν ἐργαστηρίων ὧν ἀνατέθηκα τὴν πρόσοδον· μισθούτω δ’ ἀεὶ ὁ λα χών, ἐπεσκευασμένα δὲ παραδιδότω ὁ ἐξι ὼν ἢ ἀποτινέτω τὸ γε νόμενον εἰς τὴν ἐπι σκευὴν δαπάνημα. ἀφείσθω δὲ καὶ τῶν λη ιτουργιῶν πασῶν, ὃν ἂν χρόνον ἔχηι τὸν στέ φανον· τὰ δὲ ἀργυρώμα τα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὰ ἄ λλα ἀναθήματα τηρή σας τῶι εἰσιόντι παρα διδότω. ἔρρωσο.
An Attalid king to an official: the regulation of a priesthood of Zeus — translation
White chlamys, olive crown, the hide and a haunch, and the income of the king's dedicated workshops (ll. 1–8)

(… The man chosen for the office,) whoever holds it in turn, shall wear a white chlamys and a wreath of olive bound with a purple fillet; and let him receive as perquisites, of the victims sacrificed, the hide and a haunch, and the income of the workshops which I have dedicated (to the god).

'He shall guard the god's silver and hand it to his successor' — upkeep, exemption, stewardship (ll. 9–21)

Let the incumbent always lease them out, and let the one going out of office hand them over repaired, or else pay the cost incurred for their repair. He shall be exempt also from all liturgies for whatever time he holds the crown (the priesthood). And the silver plate of the god and the other dedications he shall keep safe and hand over to his successor. Farewell.

An Attalid king to an official: the regulation of a priesthood of Zeus — commentary

The surviving text opens in mid-ordinance, the prescript lost. Whoever holds the annual priesthood by lot — ὁ ἀεὶ λαχών — is to wear a white chlamys and an olive wreath bound with a purple fillet; the olive identifies the god as Zeus (Dittenberger, comparing the olive-crowned Zeus of Olympia). His material rewards follow: of every victim, the hide and a haunch (κωλέα), and — the heart of the endowment — the rental income of the workshops 'which I have dedicated' (ὧν ἀνατέθηκα), the king's own benefaction funding the cult (SIG³ 1018; IvP 40; Welles 1934, 115–119).

The rest is administration turned sacral. The incumbent must lease the workshops and keep them in repair, handing them on in good order or paying the cost of repair himself. While he 'holds the crown' — the metonymy makes the priesthood a thing worn — he is exempt from all civic liturgies. And he must keep safe the god's silver plate (ἀργυρώματα) and the other dedications and hand them, by inventory, to his successor. Regalia, revenues, immunities, and an accountable hand-over of treasure: a Hellenistic king's complete charter for a cult, with only his own name missing from the stone (SIG³ 1018, ll. 9–21).

Critical apparatus [ὁ δ’ ἀεὶ] λαχών — 'whoever in turn is allotted (the office)' — an annual priesthood by lot; restored at the broken left edge. [χ]λαμύδα λευκὴν καὶ σ[τέ]φανον ἐλᾶς — a white chlamys and an olive wreath — the olive identifies the god as Zeus (Dittenberger). τὸ δέρμα καὶ κωλέαν — the hide and a haunch — the priest's sacrificial perquisites of each victim. τῶν ἐργαστηρίων ὧν ἀνατέθηκα τὴν πρόσοδον — the rental income of the workshops the KING dedicated — the royal endowment funding the cult. ἀφείσθω … τῶν ληιτουργιῶν (adscript, as the stone cuts it) πασῶν — exemption from all civic liturgies while he holds the priesthood. τὰ δὲ ἀργυρώματα τοῦ θεοῦ … τῶι εἰσιόντι παραδιδότω — he keeps the god's silver plate and dedications safe and hands them, by inventory, to his successor.
Editions and commentary W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ III (Leipzig 1920), no. 1018 (the base text, located by render). M. Fränkel, Die Inschriften von Pergamon I (Berlin 1890), no. 40 (the editio princeps; the same text). C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 24 (text, translation, commentary; the witness). C. Michel, Recueil 729; B. Laum, Stiftungen in der griechischen und römischen Antike II (1914), no. 69 (on the endowment).