WAR IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF HELLENISTIC WARFARE
extraordinary service to Argos. Most cities had great difficulty finding lenders,
and in repaying the resulting debts. When obliged to offer securities against
loans, cities sometimes had no other choice than to mortgage their entire
territory (Hennig 1995). A decree of Krannon in Thessaly (ca. 179–142 BC)
describes the state of the public finances: “the city is in numerous debts
because of the war that it had to endure, and these debts are dragged about
already for many years” (Migeotte 1992: no. 34). Krannon had been conquered
by Antiochos III in 191 BC and was later occupied by the Romans;
during the Third Macedonian War, agricultural production was taken over
by Roman troops (171 BC). With a subscription and private donations,
the city hoped to repay its debts. In some cases the ultimate solution was
to appeal for donations from wealthy citizens or kings (see chapter 4,
section 3).
The lack of sufficient representative material on Hellenistic war budgets
makes quantitative studies in this area meaningless. Nevertheless, the existing
sources give us an impressive picture of the variety of expenses a Hellenistic
community had to cover due to wars. These high costs on the one
hand and fiscal weakness on the other made Hellenistic cities increasingly
dependent either on local benefactors (see chapter 2, sections 4, 6) or on
monarchs (see chapter 4, section 3). Any contribution was welcome, even
that of an anonymous general in Athens who was honored for feeding the
watchdogs in Rhamnous (SEG XLI 76, third century; cf. SEG XXIV 154,
lines 14–15).
7.2. War and Agriculture
One of the longest and more detailed honorary decrees of the Hellenistic
period is the Athenian decree honoring Kallias of Sphettos (see chapter 3,
section 2). One of his services during a war against Demetrios the Besieger
(287 BC) was an initiative to protect the farmers: “leading out into the
countryside the soldiers who were following him, he protected the gathering
of the grain, making every effort to ensure that as much grain as
possible should be brought into the city” (SEG XXVIII 60, lines 23–7;
Austin 1981: no. 44).
Twenty years later, during the Chremonidean War, general Epichares
offered similar services to the coastal population of Attika, and these are
described in detail in an honorary decree:
He gathered in the crops and fruits within a range of thirty stadia [ca. 5 km]
. . . set up covered silos [?] in the land, kept guard himself with the soldiers at
the look-outs to enable the farmers to gather in their crops safely; and he also
protected the vines as far as he was master of the land; and he constructed at
his private expense a portico to provide shelter for all in any emergency, and
to make it possible for help to come quickly . . .
(SEG XXIV 154; trans. Austin 1981: no. 50)
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