hellenistic karia - Associazione Iasos di Caria

MAGISTRATES AND PhylaI IN IASOS 479
four, five, seven, eight 93 , or even nine (in one case, though this is probably misleading) 94 .
Even admitting the existence of occasional variations or changes in the procedure adopted
for selecting prytaneis, these cases, especially those where the number of magistrates is seven
or eight, show a variability which is unlikely to be consistent with the hypothesis according
to which they were chosen on the basis of the subdivision of the civic body into six phylai. It
is therefore clear that in order to obtain reliable information on the number of the phylai, we
must look at the other boards of magistrates, whose structure appears to have been more fixed.
We have seen in particular how strong the link was between the phylai and the boards
of neopoiai and prostatai. For the present, no information is available about the number of the
former, but the number of the latter is known. Thanks to two inscriptions, one long known, the
other newly published, we know that the prostatai were five in number 95 . The two inscriptions
can be dated approximately, on paleographic grounds, between the end of the third and the
beginning of the second century BC. At the height of the Hellenistic period, the Iasian tribes,
therefore, must have been five in number. This conclusion is corroborated further by the fact
that there were still five strategoi 96 ; by the appointment of five epimeletai for the restoration
of the boule and the archeion at the beginning of the second century BC 97 ; and, particularly,
by the fact that the number five is attested with certainty, at the beginning of the Hellenistic
period, also for the archontes 98 . In I.Iasos 1, of the Hekatomnid period, however, the archontes
are still four in number 99 . We observed earlier that the number four features prominently
in this inscription (the tamiai and the synegoroi also numbered four) as does its submultiple
two (astynomoi). It seems to me that such numerical comparisons, together with the fact that
after the Hekatomnid period boards of magistrates with four members are no longer attested,
suggest that, in the transition from the Hekatomnid to the Hellenistic period, the number of
the city phylai changed from four to five 100 . The number four may go back to an Ionian model
93. One prytanis is attested in Pugliese Carratelli 1985c, II b = SEG 36, 982B, l. 2-3; II c = SEG 36, 982C, l.
3. Two prytaneis in Pugliese Carratelli 1985c, 155 = SEG 36, 983, l. 3-5 (compare also Pugliese Carratelli 1987 = SEG
38, 1059, l. 1-2, p. 290). Three prytaneis in Maddoli 2007, no. 9, l. 4-5, but four in Maddoli 2007, no. 6, l. 3-5; 8, l.
3-5; 11.A, l. 4-7. Five prytaneis are found in I.Iasos 39, l. 4-6 (a possible explanation of this number was given by Cousin
& Diehl 1889, 30 n. 6), Maddoli 2007, 7, l. 4-6; 10, l. 3-5; seven in I.Iasos 4, l. 37-41; Pugliese Carratelli 1989, no. 2 =
SEG 41, 930, l. 7-13 and no. 3 = SEG 41, 931, l. 21-27; Maddoli 2007, no. 11.B, l. 5-8; no. 25.A2, l. 3-5. Finally eight are
attested in I.Iasos, 76, l. 4-8 (with the correction suggested by Ph. Gauthier, BE, 1987, no. 18, 274).
94. In I.Iasos 82, l. 2-7 the prytaneis become nine if we consider, as was usually the case, the epistates, Eumolpos
Molpou, as a member of the board. However, it is quite likely that he is the same prytanis as Molpos Molpou, whose
name may have been incorrectly written by the stonecutter.
95. Pugliese Carratelli 1989, no. 3 = SEG 41, 931, l. 27-30 and Maddoli 2007, no. 25.B, l. 4-5.
96. I.Iasos 264, l. 1-5.
97. I.Iasos 252; the dedication, put up to commemorate the conclusion of works, also includes the architect
who cooperated in the work, but, as a professional, he represents a distinct unit.
98. I.Iasos 59, l. 4-7 and Maddoli 2007, no. 5, l. 2-5. Their number is not certain in I.Iasos 24 (see now
Bosnakis & Hallof 2003, no. 10A, 219-21), where 4 archontes are listed, but the stone is broken, therefore it is uncertain
whether the list is complete or not.
99. I.Iasos 1, l. 6-8.
100. The number four for the phylai in the Classical period can be corroborated from other evidence. In
I.Iasos 1, l. 8-9 the tamiai number four. If Gauthier is right (Gauthier 1990, 435, l. 5-6; but see also above n. 24 and 34)