Ziaelas of Bithynia to Cos: the inviolability of the Asclepieion

Ziaelas of Bithynia to Cos: the inviolability of the Asclepieion — edition Βασιλεὺς Βιθυνῶν Ζιαήλας Κώιων τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χαίρειν Βασιλεὺς Βιθυνῶν Ζιαήλας Κώιων τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χαίρειν· Διόγειτος Ἀριστό- λοχος Θεύδοτος οἱ παρ’ ὑμῶν παραγενόμενοι ἠξίουν τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ τὸ ἱδρυμένον πα- ρ’ ὑμῖν ἀποδέξασθαι ἄσυλον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ φιλανθρωπεῖν τῆι πό- λει, καθάπερ καὶ Νικομήδης ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν εὔνους διέκειτο τῶι δήμωι· ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντων μὲν τῶν ἀφικνουμένων πρὸς ἡμᾶς Ἑλλήνων τυγχάνομεν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιούμενοι, πεπεισμένοι πρὸς δόξαν οὐ μικρὸν συμβάλλεσθαι τὸ μέρος τοῦτο· πολὺ δὴ μάλιστα τῶν πατρικῶν φίλων διατελοῦμεν πολυωροῦντες, καὶ ὑμῶν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν ὑπάρχουσαν πρὸς τὸν ὑμέτερον δῆμον γνῶσιν, καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸμ βασιλέα Πτολεμαῖον οἰκείως διακεῖσθαι τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὄντα ἡμέτερον φίλον καὶ σύμμαχον· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς παρ’ ὑμῶν ἀπεσταλμένους φιλοτιμότερον ἀπολογίσασθαι τὴν εὔνοιαν ἣν ἔχετε εἰς ἡμᾶς, ἔν τε τοῖς λοιποῖς καθ’ ὃ ἂν ἡμᾶς ἀξιῶτε, πειρασόμεθα καὶ ἰδίαι ἑκάστωι καὶ κοινῆι πᾶσι φιλανθρωπεῖν καθ’ ὅσον ἡμεῖς δυνατοί ἐσμεν, καὶ τῶν πλειόντων τὴν θάλασσαν ὅσοι ἂν τυγχάνωσιν τῶν ὑμετέρων προσβάλλοντες τοῖς τόποις ὧν ἡμεῖς κρατοῦμεν, φροντίζειν ὅπως ἡ ἀσφάλεια αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχηι· κατὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ οἷς ἂν συμβῇ, πταίματός τινος γενομένου κατὰ πλοῦν, προσπεσεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν, πᾶσαν σπουδὴν ποιεῖσθαι, ἵνα μηδ’ ὑφ’ ἑνὸς ἀδικῶνται. ἀποδεχόμεθα δὲ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἄσυλον καθάπερ ὤιεσθε δεῖν, καὶ Διογείτωι καὶ Ἀριστολόχωι καὶ Θεοδότωι περὶ τῶν τούτων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἠβουλόμεθα ἐντέταλμαι ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν. ἔρρωσθε.

Ziaelas of Bithynia to Cos: the inviolability of the Asclepieion — translation

Prescript: the Coan envoys ask asylia for the Asclepieion (ll. 1–9)

Ziaelas king of Bithynia to the council and the people of Cos, greeting. Diogeitos, Aristolochos, and Theudotos, your envoys, came and asked us to acknowledge as inviolable the temple of Asclepius established in your city and to befriend the city in all other ways, just as our father Nicomedes was well disposed toward your people.

The grant: goodwill via Nicomedes and Ptolemy; protection of seafarers; asylia confirmed (ll. 10–35)

We do in fact exercise care for all the Greeks who come to us, as we are convinced that this contributes in no small way to one's reputation; especially do we continue to make much of our father's friends, and of you — because of the acquaintance which existed with your people through our father, and because king Ptolemy, being our friend and ally, is favorably disposed toward you; and further, since your envoys have argued very zealously the goodwill which you have toward us —

in all other matters in which you may ask us we shall try, both privately to each and publicly to all, to do kindness so far as we are able, and to take care that security is provided for those of your people who sail the sea and put in at the places which we control; and likewise, for any to whom it may happen, some mishap having occurred at sea, to come to our territory, I shall make every effort that they be wronged by no one. And we acknowledge the temple as inviolable, just as you thought right; and concerning these matters and the rest that we wished, I have instructed Diogeitos, Aristolochos, and Theodotos to report to you. Farewell.

Ziaelas of Bithynia to Cos: the inviolability of the Asclepieion — commentary

Ziaelas, king of the Bithynians, answers a Coan embassy (Diogeitos, Aristolochos, Theudotos) seeking recognition of the asylia of the Asklepieion. He frames his reply in the diplomatic idiom of Hellenistic benefaction: the goodwill of his father Nicomedes I, the city's standing acquaintance with Bithynia, and his alliance with Ptolemy III. The grant is coupled with a concrete promise — security for Coan and Greek seafarers in Bithynian waters — that locates the Asklepieion's asylia within the wider economy of safe-conduct and maritime protection (Welles 1934, 118–123).

Critical apparatus Βασιλεὺς Βιθυνῶν Ζιαήλας — SIG³ 456; the ethnic Βιθυνῶν, dropped in a by-eye read of the Welles scan, restored to the line from the base. Διόγειτος Ἀριστόλοχος Θεύδοτος — the three Coan envoys, nominative (subjects of οἱ παρ’ ὑμῶν παραγενόμενοι ἠξίουν); re-collated from the genitive of the earlier draft. ἀποδέξασθαι ἄσυλον — SIG³ 456 ('to acknowledge [the temple as] inviolable'; the same verb recurs at the close, ἀποδεχόμεθα); the asylia formula is often ἀποδειχθῆναι ('be declared inviolable'), under which the earlier draft transcribed this line. ἀφικνουμένων … τυγχάνομεν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιούμενοι — SIG³ 456; corrects the erroneous by-eye Welles reading (ἀρχινουμένω, πυργαίνομεν). ⟨ἡμῶν⟩ — the stone reads ὑμῶν here (sic, 'your father'); the editors correct to ⟨ἡμῶν⟩ ('our father'), since Nicomedes is Ziaelas' father. (The stone does not assimilate τὸν before πατέρα, though it does at τὸμ βασιλέα l.18 — a real inconsistency.) ὑμετέρων — SIG³ 456 ('your people', the Coan seafarers Ziaelas protects); Welles read/translated ἡμετέρων ('our'). The participle is πλειόντων ('sailing'), not πλειόνων. ἀποδεχόμεθα δὲ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἄσυλον καθάπερ ὤιεσθε δεῖν — the close re-collated against the base: the king acknowledges the temple inviolable 'just as you thought right', and has instructed the three envoys (Διογείτωι, Ἀριστολόχωι, Θεοδότωι — datives) to report. The earlier draft's 'οἱ περὶ τὸν Διόγειτον … ἀξιοῦσιν ἀφίεται' was a mis-transcription.

Editions and commentary W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum³ (ed. F. Hiller von Gaertringen), no. 456 (the base text followed here). R. Herzog, Athenische Mitteilungen 30 (1905), 173–182 and pl. VII (editio princeps). C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (New Haven 1934), no. 25 (text, translation, commentary; the facing-translation witness). F. Schroeter, De Regum Hellenisticarum Epistulis (Leipzig 1932), no. 25.