In about 280 B.C., Phintias the tyrant of Akragas resettled the inhabitants of Gela in a new city, which he named after himself ( Diod_22.2 ). The old city of Gela was destroyed either by Phintias or by the Mamertines. But as this inscription shows, even in their new home the Geloans still retained their traditional name. Two hundred years later, Cicero referred twice to a people called 'Gelenses' and once to a city called 'Phintias' ( Verr. 2.3.103, 2.4.73, 2.3.192 ); so it seems that the distinction still existed then.
The text of this decree is very similar to the decree of Kamarina; it seems that the old city of Gela had received settlers from Kos at around the same time as Kamarina. At the end of their decree the Geloans have added some unusually generous arrangements for receiving the theoroi.
. . . [it is resolved with good fortune, and for the harmony and safety of the people of the Geloans and of the Koans, that the temple of Asklepios shall be inviolable, and the asylia and the sacrifice and the] games [shall be] put [into the laws.]
[As recommended by the council, it was resolved by the assembly] : since the Koans, [who joined in settling] our [city] of Gela [and who have] the greatest [and closest links with us - kinship] and familiarity 10 [and isopoliteia] - have sent the chief theoros [Epidaurios son of Nikarchos] and the theoros Sosistratos [son of Kaphisios to announce] the sacrifice that they are offering [to Asklepios and the musical and gymnastic] games that they are holding every four years, and [they think it fitting that] our city should [participate in them, affirming the] familiarity and goodwill [between the cities], and it is right to accept [their announcement ]and to make it clear [to them] that we continue to remember 20 the kinship that we have with them, both in the ancestral sacrifices that we have inherited from them and in our festivals, to which we invite them along with our other colonisers; therefore, with good fortune and for the health and safety and harmony of the people of the Geloans and of the Koans, it is resolved to accept their invitation to the sacrifice that they are offering to Asklepios and the games; and to invite both these theoroi and any other theoroi who visit here to receive hospitality on every day 30 that they are residing here; and the pōlētēres shall give them, towards the sacrifice and procession for Asklepios, the same sum as is given to those who announce the Olympic Games, that is ten minas of verified silver; and the theoroi shall sacrifice, together with the (?) hieromnamones and the hierapoloi, at the public hearth . . . lambs and in the temple of Asklepios a [full-grown] victim, [on behalf] of the people of the [Geloans and of the Koans; and the] pōlētēres [shall give them] . . .
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