A tyrant called Hieron seized control of the city of Priene in 300 B.C., but three years later he was forced out by a group of citizens who had taken refuge in the nearby fort of Karion. For another inscription referring to this tyrant, see Syll_599, part F.
. . . he strove against . . . understanding that the struggle affected him differently from the soldiers ranged against him; they fought for the benefits they would obtain if they were victorious, but he fought on behalf of the security of all, for which it was essential to preserve . . . since all the citizens acted as good men and showed themselves worthy of the glory of their ancestors and of the people's former accomplishments in war, and they faced the danger bravely and keenly, with the favour of the gods, it happened that the tyrant and his soldiers were forced to leave the city, and there was an end of the dangers and . . . both privately for the citizens and publicly for the people, and they regained their autonomy and all their ancestral constitution; therefore with good fortune it is resolved by the people, in order that there will always be an annual commemoration, both for the resident citizens and for visiting foreigners, of our struggle for autonomy and freedom and of the fight . . . and of the day on which it happened, and we may be seen to retain piety towards the gods who saved us; that the citizens . . . and all free men shall wear wreaths each year [on the ... day] of the month of Metageitnion, on which day occurred the people's struggle for autonomy; sacrifices shall be offered on this day both privately by each of the citizens and publicly by the people . . . in the month of Metageitnion to Zeus Soter and Athena Nikē; and they shall hold a festival called Soteria; and they shall celebrate the festival in tribes for two days; and the priests and priestesses shall offer sacrifices to all the gods and the heroes who occupy the city and territory of Priene . . .
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