The individual in a religious networkThere’s
nothing worse than a festival without guests. Nowadays we can just send an invite
to anybody in the world with Facebook. Maybe a bit too easy if you look at the
numerous nonsense events like banana-throwing at the local snack bar. This was
totally different in the antiquity of course, where information moved at a snail’s
pace compared to our highly connected world. The Greeks came up with something
to make it a little bit easier: theoroi.
One way city-states tried to make themselves stand out was by organizing a festival. Theoroi, the name for members of these delegation, were sent out to represent their community by attending festivals of other cities and invite them to their own festival. A couple of historians have already written about this network as a whole, but there isn’t that much known about the individuals in this complicated system. The question I tried to answer was: how does being a theoroi influence someones social position?
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Inscriptions like the one above are our most valuable source of information about theoroi and were found on buildings like tempels. The oldest epigraphic evidence we have dates back to the sixth century BC and we know this system continued until roman times. They usually contained a list of theoroi who had attended a certain sanctuary or a decree honoring an individual who had done a particularly good job as religious delegate.
To see if there is a change in someone's social position after becoming a theoroi, we first need to see who became theoroi.
Social position beforeSo who became theoroi? A reason to think it would be mostly the elite is
because an important part of the trip to another city was to give a good
impression. Members of the top part of society were usually trained in speaking
eloquent and behaving properly. The privileged upbringing also made sure they had
good connections which could help them into positions of importance. Another
reason is the enormous cost which was involved in organizing a delegation. Sometimes
the city compensated for these costs, but many times these were paid by the leader
of this delegation as a charitable act towards his community. Kallias of
Sphettos, member of an prominent Athenian family is a good example for this.
The demos [the people] voted to send a theoria and requrested Kallias as to agree to be its arkhetheoros and to lead the theoria on behalf of the demos, Kallias agreed eagerly and, declining the [fifty?] minas which had been voted for him by the demos for the conduct of his office, and giving them to the demos, he himself both led the delegation well and in a manner worthy of the demos at his private expense and also, together with the other sacred delegates, took charge of the sacrifice on behalf of the city and of all other things that were appropriate. (source and translation: I. Rutherford, State Pilgrims and Sacred Observers in Ancient Greece: A Study of Theoria and Theoroi, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) 399.)
There is a possibility that in Athens the non-elite could participate in the delegations, because it had a greater degree of political participation. This could go wrong as Aristotle tells us. The delegation led by Themistokles was considered as inappropriate. He didn’t belong to any aristocratic family and someone of ‘low’ birth wasn’t able enough for such an important role. This doesn’t prove that ‘normal’ citizens could participate, because Themistokles wasn’t just any ordinary man, but a prominent general and politician.
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Social position theorosSo what was the position of theoroi? The many inscription which honours them show us the appreciation by their city. The decree on the left about Kallias of Spetthos clearly shows us this. Another example is the decree for Herodas from Priene, which dates to about 100 bc.
‘Offering a bull and performing successful sacrifices on the area of the
temples, he also arranged contest in a manner worthy of all in Greeks raised in
common family and friendship, as the answers from the cities maintain.’ (source:
Rutherford, State Pilgrims, 369)
Another clue to the social importance of theoroi is the execution of thirty men for attacking a religious
delegation from Efeze and being impious towards the offerings they made. The
judges of the goddess Artemis condemned them to death in accordance with
ancestral law. If they are willing to kill so many men for only attacking, not
killing, it shows us the high social rank they held.
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Social position, before and after
We have seen that theoroi usually belonged to the upper class and that
they themselves were held in high regard in their position. Is there any clue to some a rise in social status, the possibility for social mobility and an increase in opportunities, before and after?
If we look at letter written to Apollonios, a high ranking of official for Ptolomeius II Philadelphos, by Theopropos from the city Kalynda in Asia-Minor we see that it indeed opens doors which would otherwise stay closed. He writes that he didn’t get enough compensation for his delivery of wine for a festival. He says he first tried to get it by asking officials of Kalynda, but they didn’t lift a finger, because they only wanted to take responsibility if it was written down first in a decree. He’s asking Apollonois to write a letter to the city and request that Theopropos gets his money back. He didn’t just write a letter, but also came all the way to Alexandria, probably because he thought he expected an audience with the king.
If we look at letter written to Apollonios, a high ranking of official for Ptolomeius II Philadelphos, by Theopropos from the city Kalynda in Asia-Minor we see that it indeed opens doors which would otherwise stay closed. He writes that he didn’t get enough compensation for his delivery of wine for a festival. He says he first tried to get it by asking officials of Kalynda, but they didn’t lift a finger, because they only wanted to take responsibility if it was written down first in a decree. He’s asking Apollonois to write a letter to the city and request that Theopropos gets his money back. He didn’t just write a letter, but also came all the way to Alexandria, probably because he thought he expected an audience with the king.
Conclusions
Unfortunately, beside the case of Theopropos, there aren’t many examples
of before and after. We know theoroi already belonged to the privileged class
before they went along with a religious delegation and that their social
position was pretty high up the ladder and that they were regarded as very
important persons. It’s likely there are more cases like Theopropos, but
lacking more examples means that the answer remains inconclusive.
S.K.
S.K.