Teos was a centre of the Dionysiac Artists in Asia Minor; see for instance SEG_2.580. As this inscription shows, the prominent presence of the Dionysiac Artists could lead to disputes, which needed to be escalated to the king for a decision. The financial background to the dispute has been discussed by P.Thonemann, "The Maeander Valley", pp.119-120 ( Google Books ).
Some sections of the inscription are too fragmentary to be translated.
[1A] . . . [you realise that there will come ill fame] especially from such [envy and] malignity, if some do not themselves take pains [to observe what is right] but [continue to raise those] terrible disputes among themselves from which come confusion and mutual loss very [damaging] to the god, and you wish particularly that they would [settle] this by themselves; otherwise, that I should apply myself thus so as to restore you to [harmony] and secure [for you for all] time [peace and good order] . . .
[1C] . . . you ask [me to write so that if . . . in] the country . . . a festival . . . [or] anything else you contract . . . [the] panegyriarchs [chosen by you may preside over it] according to your proclamation of the festival and [the edicts] of the kings, and that no one else may lay claim to [this] office. You considered similarly the other matters which were mentioned in [the decree] as instances of your arrogance, and you would correct the points [in which] the guild was at fault according to our policy towards the Teians.
For their part, the Teians through their decree [accepted] what I had pointed out to them in [the first] letter, in which after your envoys had shown me that there were elected . . .
[2A] . . . they were taking thought for [the preservation] of these things for ever. They were managing the joint court as they had agreed with you, the judges being sworn in the same manner as formerly. If the law relating to this needed correction, they were ready even before this to join in correcting it and now in doing this [with] us they would be found [irreproachable] . . .
[2B] . . . to manage, partly on the part of the Teians themselves who have not made the conduct of the festival a joint matter but have regarded this as your affair, but if there was any question concerning the city's revenues they considered that the decision in such matters belonged to them, as was in fact just. This then it seems to me is the meaning of the general issues which have led to the dispute and the cause from which each arose . . .
[2C] . . . [before] the festival within ten days, [collecting] in any way [possible], so that [none] of the strangers coming to the festival may bring a charge against any of those officials and go away without securing [justice], and the festival may be brought into discredit [in this respect]. I think it right, however, for the panegyriarchs to rule during the Dionysia itself (?) . . . [in the] neighbouring harbours [where the visitors] to the festival put in . . . [but] the city officials to have authority [in the] surrounding country [just as formerly] . . . I consider that the "generals" . . . [while the affairs of the] festival are being arranged . . .
[3A] . . . and when both are accustomed [to live with people of another] stock and nevertheless . . . there is in many other respects also [a ready gain] for both, these things also [seeming] fair to men who are not uninstructed. The same thing I have practically [always] seen happen according to [our] purpose, and for this reason [I decided] that an agreement should be put in writing by both looking towards the synoecism . . .
[3B] . . . that objection is raised to the panegyriarchs conducting the festival [according to your] laws and customs [alone] without being accountable [to the existing laws of the] city into which they come does not seem to me unreasonable. [Concerning the] oath which it was formerly customary for [the judges] to swear, which provided that they should judge [according to the] laws and the letters [of the kings and] the decrees, [I consider that, as for] many years in the past . . .
[3C] . . . drawn up by Aristomachos of Pergamon our agent and by representatives chosen by you and by the Teians, three men from each, and ratified by you, which I think should be inscribed on the temple of Dionysos so that it may be secure and equal with the laws for all time, while the other document attached below should be invalid. I think there should be inscribed also anything else which afterwards, in common deliberation with the commissioner who will always be sent out in charge of the administration . . .
[4C] . . . [it should be inscribed in Pergamon in the temple of] Athena [and in] the [precinct] . . . of Artemis. [For] thus [in the future] I think [there would remain] more secure [the . . . of] future [generations] . . .
Attalus' home page | 04.01.17 | Any comments?