WAR IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

THE EFFECTS OF HELLENISTIC WARS ON RELIGION
privileged relationship with the divinity. And, of course, these thanksgiving
dedications are also expressions of superiority. I call to mind the dedication
of a Kilikian warrior, who plundered Xanthos in 42 BC (IGR III 852; SGO
IV 19/07/01; see chapter 7, section 3): “After I had destroyed the city of
Xanthos with dark fire, I, Mongidris, son of Teukros, dedicated to the pure
[virgin] goddess a golden crown. And you, Athena, who sacks the cities,
always arm the man, from whose booty you receive a tithe.”
Various forms of communication overlap in Mongidris’ dedication. With
it he communicates with Athena, perceived here as a goddess of war, but at
the same time the written text establishes a communication with the observers
of his dedication, both during his lifetime and for eternity. The expression
of gratitude is in the same breath a boast of superiority; the personal achievement
(“I destroyed”) is ultimately referred back to divine favor (“Athena,
who sacks the cities, always arm the man . . .”), and the divine favor is based
on the idea of do ut des – dedication in exchange for protection, the underlying
principle of behavior which characterizes communication between mortals
and gods (Grottanelli 1991), kings and cities, citizens and benefactors.
Mongidris’ epigram is only one example of many. A similar combination
of gratitude and boast can be seen, for example, in a dedicatory epigram
composed by the great Hellenistic poet Kallimachos for a Cretan mercenary
who had fought in a campaign of Ptolemy III in Kyrenaika (ca. 246–221):
“Menitas from Lyttos dedicated these arches proudly saying: To you, Sarapis,
I offer this bone arch and the quiver; as for the arrows, the Esperitai have
them” (Kallim., epigr. 37, ed. Pfeiffer).
Given the ideological importance of war for the construction of hierarchical
structures in the cities and for the legitimacy of power in the monarchies,
the religious aspects of warfare gained great significance in the Hellenistic
period. This chapter does not aim at describing the rituals and cults connected
with Hellenistic warfare in their entirety. Indeed, a general discussion
of the relationship between religion and warfare would have to cover such
diverse phenomena as the existence of divinities worshipped as patrons of
war (e.g., Ares or Athena Nike) and of cultic epithets which express precisely
this role (see below); the conflation of Greek and non-Hellenic divinities
in Anatolia, Egypt, and the Near East; the dedication of war booty (see
chapter 11, section 6); divination in the preparation for wars and before
battles; pre-battle sacrifices; the explanation of the divinity of Hellenistic
rulers in view of their victories in wars (see chapter 4, section 5); the
destruction and plunder of sanctuaries during wars (Pritchett 1991: 160–8);
cult transfer as a result of mobility caused by wars and military colonization;
cult associations of soldiers; the heroic cult of the war dead (e.g., IG
IX 1.4 2 , 787); narratives of miracles during battles; the participation of
soldiers and ephebes in religious festivals and processions (see chapter 3,
section 2; see also Launey 1987: 878–97) and so on and so on. Most of
these phenomena go back to earlier periods of Greek history (Pritchett
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