The Plutonium of Nysa: two royal confirmations (Welles RC 9 & 64 = SIG³ 781) magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub reading text and apparatus afterC. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), nos. 9 and 64 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub magalia.wiki — Epigraphy Matrix Hub Beijing 2026 magalia.wiki welles-nysa-plutonium Welles RC 9 & 64 (= SIG³ 781) 781 9 64 9·64 CC-BY 4.0 — EpiDoc TEI edition for study and reuse. see provenanceWelles RC 9 & 64 (= SIG³ 781) 781 9 64 9·64 White-limestone blocks at Nysa ad Maeandrum bearing the Plutonium's sacred-writings (ἱερὰ γράμματα), re-inscribed 1 BCE; RC 9 and RC 64 are two royal letters within the dossier (SIG³ 781). White-limestone blocks; RC 9 in one column (continued elsewhere), RC 64 across two columns (A+B); re-inscribed 1 BCE RC 9: 281 BCE; RC 64: 2nd c. BCE Nysa Nysa ad Maeandrum / Salavatlı / Sultan Hissar (the Plutonium's sacred-writings) — Worn / heavily restored; surviving copies a late re-inscription C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), nos. 9 and 64 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). W. Dittenberger / F. Hiller von Gaertringen, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ 781 (Leipzig 1917) — the Nysa temple-records dossier; the prior edition, collated here. F. Hiller von Gaertringen, in W. von Diest, Nysa ad Maeandrum (1913) — the restorations Welles follows; M. Clerc, BCH XI (1887) 347 (RC 9); G. Radet, BCH XIV (1890) 224-231 (RC 64). cf. Strabo 14.1.44 on the Charonion/Plutonium at Acharaca near Nysa. Linked data and external resources Pleiades 599832 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 Seleucus I NicatorFounder of the Seleucid dynastyWith his son Antiochus I, writes RC 9 (281 BCE) on the Plutonium's privileges — among the latest acts of his reign. Antiochus ICo-regent son of Seleucus INamed jointly with his father in RC 9. SopatrusRoyal official (RC 9)The official to whom Seleucus I and Antiochus I write, instructed to give the Nysaean envoys a fuller reply. A later king (Antiochus?)Issuer of RC 64An unnamed 2nd-c. king (Hiller conjectures an Antiochus) who confirms the Plutonium's privileges to the council and people of Nysa. Pluto and CoreThe Plutonium's godsPluto and Core (Persephone), worshipped at the Charonion cave-sanctuary near Nysa, whose suppliant-right, inviolability and tax-exemption the letters confirm. the council and people (boulē kai dēmos)issuing / addressee body
The Plutonium of Nysa: two royal confirmations (Welles RC 9 & 64 = SIG³ 781) — edition Βασιλεὺς Σέλευκος καὶ Ἀντίοχος Σωπάτρωι χαίρειν — — — Βασιλεὺς Σέλευκος καὶ Ἀντίοχος Σωπάτρωι χαίρειν· ἀποσταλέντων πρὸς ἡμᾶς Ἀθυμβριανῶν περὶ τῆς ἱκεσίας καὶ ἀσυ- λίας καὶ ἀτελείας — — — Ἰατροκλέα Ἀρτεμίδωρον Τειμόθεον πρέσβεις, — — — — — —αμεν τὰ καθ' αὑτοὺς οἷς σοὶ γεγράφαμεν ἵνα διὰ πλειόνων αὐτοῖς χρηματίσῃς. προαιρούμεθα γὰρ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων ἀεὶ τοῖς πολίταις μὲν εὐεργετοῦντες χαρίζεσθαι, οὐχ ἥκισ- τα δὲ καὶ σὺν εὐσεβείαι συναυξειν τὰς τῶν θεῶν τιμᾶς, ὥστ' εὐμέ- νειαν τοῖς μεθ' ἡμᾶς παραδόσιμον ἕξιν τὸν αἰῶνα πο— — — ἡμῖν γενήσεσθαι. πεπείσμεθα μὲν καὶ διὰ τῶν προτέρων χρόνων πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἀποδείξεις δεδωκέναι τῆς ἰδίας ἡμῶν εὐσεβείας· βουλόμενοι δὲ καὶ νῦν σύμφωνοι γενέσθαι τοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεπραγ- μένοις ἐπιτρέπομεν πᾶσιν μὲν τοῖς ἱεροῖς τοῖς ἀσυλίαν κεκτημένοις ? Βασιλεὺς — — — Νυσαέων τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ χαίρειν· συμμείξαντές μοι ἐν — — — Ἀρτεμίδωρος Βασιλείδης Μι- — — οἱ πρεσβευταὶ πεμφθέντες ὑφ' ὑμῶν ἀπέδωκάν μοι τὸ ψήφισ- μα παρ' ὑμῶν καὶ αὐτοὶ διελέχθησαν μὲν μετὰ φιλοτιμίας ἀκολούθως τοῖς γεγραμμένοις περὶ τῆς ἱκεσίας καὶ ἀσυλίας καὶ ἀτελείας, παρακαλοῦντες καὶ ἐμὲ τὸ συνχωρῆσαι καθότι συνεχώρησαν καὶ πρότερον ὑπὸ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν βασιλέων τῷ ἱερῷι τῷ παρ' ὑμῖν Πλούτωνός τε καὶ Κόρης βουλόμενος οὖν ἐπαύ- ξειν τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς φιλίαν, καὶ ἐκ τῶν — — — ἀποδειχθέντων μοι ὑπὸ τῶν πρεσβευτῶν θεωρῶν ἀπὸ παλαιῶν χρόνων ὑπάρχουσαν τὴν ἱκεσίαν καὶ ἀσυλίαν καὶ ἀτέλειαν, συνεχώρησα ὡς οἱ περιεστη- λωμένοι ὅροι ὑπὸ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν βασιλέων συνεχώρησαν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ πάντα φιλάνθρωπα τοῦ τεμένους ὅσα οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν βασιλεῖς συν- εχώρησαν ἐπιτρέπω καὶ εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν πειράσομαι ἀεὶ τινος ἀγαθοῦ παραί- τιος γείνεσθαι ἐπὶ τῷ συμφέροντι ὑμῶν.
The Plutonium of Nysa: two royal confirmations (Welles RC 9 & 64 = SIG³ 781) — translation
Seleucus I & Antiochus I tell their official Sopatrus to reply to the Nysaean envoys on the Plutonium's privileges, citing their policy of honouring the gods (ll. 1–12)

King Seleucus and Antiochus to Sopatrus. The Athymbrians, having sent to us as their envoys Iatrocles, Artemidorus and Timotheus in the matter of [the suppliant-right, the inviolability and the tax-exemption of the temple], we have [examined] the matters concerning them, and have written to you, so that you may give them a fuller formal reply. For it is always our policy, from the beginning, to do kindness to the citizens of the Greek cities and, with reverence, to join in increasing the honours of the gods, so that goodwill toward us may be transmissible for all time to those who come after us. We are convinced that in former times too we have given many great proofs of our own reverence; and now also, wishing to be consistent with our policy from the beginning, we grant to all the temples that possess the right of inviolability (?) …

A later king confirms to Nysa the Plutonium's suppliant-right, inviolability and tax-exemption 'from of old', and all the precinct's privileges earlier kings had granted (ll. 1–15)

[King … to] the council and the people [of Nysa], greeting. Artemidorus, Basilides and Mi[…], your envoys, met me in […] and delivered to me your decree. [They spoke] with zeal, [in accordance with its contents,] concerning the suppliant-right, the inviolability and the tax-exemption, and urged that I too grant what [had previously been granted by] earlier kings to your temple [of Pluto and Core]. Since I wish to increase the friendship felt toward us, and since I see from the declarations of your envoys that the suppliant-right, the inviolability and the tax-exemption have been yours from of old, I have granted you these — as the boundaries set up by the earlier kings allowed — and all the other privileges of the precinct which the kings before us granted I confirm; and for the future I will try always to be the cause of some good for your benefit.

The Plutonium of Nysa: two royal confirmations (Welles RC 9 & 64 = SIG³ 781) — commentary

The earliest of the dossier's royal letters. Seleucus I and his son and co-regent Antiochus I write to their official Sopatrus: the Athymbrians (the community of Nysa) have sent three envoys about the Plutonium's suppliant-right (hikesia), inviolability and tax-exemption, and the kings, after stating their settled policy of benefacting the Greek cities and reverencing the gods 'so that goodwill toward us may be transmissible for all time to those who come after us,' instruct Sopatrus to give the envoys a fuller reply. The left margin and several whole lines are lost; the text is largely Hiller's restoration on a 54-letter line.

Generations later, a Hellenistic king — Hiller conjectures an Antiochus — answers the council and people of Nysa directly. Their envoys (Artemidorus, Basilides and another) have shown that the suppliant-right, inviolability and tax-exemption belonged to the Plutonium 'from of old'; so the king confirms them within the boundaries the earlier kings had set, ratifies 'all the other privileges of the precinct' his predecessors had granted, and promises to be 'the cause of some good' for Nysa in future. Inscribed across two worn columns (A and B); restored by Hiller on 29-letter columns, with the lapidary's slip συνεχώρησα for συνεχώρησα(ν) at l.12.

Critical apparatus [Βασιλε]ὺς Σέλευκος καὶ Ἀντίοχος Σωπάτ[ρωι] — the prescript is preserved (the joint kings + the official Sopatrus); the rest of RC 9 is heavily restored by Hiller on a 54-letter line. Ἰατροκλέα Ἀρτεμίδωρον Τειμόθεον πρέσβεις — the three Nysaean (Athymbrian) envoys — preserved. [Βασιλεὺς — — —] Νυσαέων — the king's name is lost in RC 64; Hiller conjectures [Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίοχος]. συνεχώρησα(ν) — the lapidary omitted the final ν; the verb is the 3 pl. συνεχώρησαν, 'the earlier kings granted' (Wilamowitz; cf. Welles, Introd. p.lxi).
Editions and commentary C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), nos. 9 and 64 (text, translation, commentary; the reading text here). W. Dittenberger / F. Hiller von Gaertringen, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ 781 (Leipzig 1917) — the Nysa temple-records dossier; the prior edition, collated here. F. Hiller von Gaertringen, in W. von Diest, Nysa ad Maeandrum (1913) — the restorations Welles follows; M. Clerc, BCH XI (1887) 347 (RC 9); G. Radet, BCH XIV (1890) 224-231 (RC 64). cf. Strabo 14.1.44 on the Charonion/Plutonium at Acharaca near Nysa.