What such a standing army looked like, when it was well taken care of, is illustrated by another famous event: a military parade held just outside Antioch, in the suburb of Daphne, by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV. After the Romans had defeated and deposed the Macedonian king Perseus, and forced Antiochus himself to retreat from Egypt when he seemed on the verge of conquering it and adding it to his realm to replace his father’s loss of Asia Minor, Antiochus decided to make a grand show of military strength, to let the world know he was still a force to be reckoned with. In 166 a great festival was held at Daphne, with envoys attending from all around the Greek world, and the parade of the Seleucid army was at the heart of the festival. Polybius sets the scene (30.25):
The public ceremonies began with a procession composed as follows: first came some men armed in the Roman fashion, equipped with corslets of chainmail, five thousand in the prime of life. Next came five thousand Mysians, followed by three thousand Cilicians armed as light infantry, and wearing gold crowns. Next came three thousand Thracians and five thousand Galatians. They were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians, five thousand armed with bronze shields, and the rest with silver shields, who were followed by two hundred and forty pairs of gladiators. Behind these were a thousand Nisaean cavalry and three thousand native horsemen, most of whom had gold plumes and gold crowns, the rest having them of silver. Next to them came the Companion Cavalry, a thousand in number, all with gold ornaments, closely followed by the corps of king’s “friends” who were the same in number and equipment; after these came a thousand picked men, next to whom came the Agema or guard, which was considered the strongest of the cavalry, and numbered about a thousand. Next came the cataphract cavalry, both men and horses acquiring that name from the nature of their armor; they numbered fifteen hundred. All the above men had purple surcoats, in many cases embroidered with gold and heraldic designs. And behind them came a hundred six-horsed, and forty four-horsed chariots; a chariot drawn by four elephants and another by two; and then thirty-six elephants in single file with all their furniture on.
Assuming, as we surely must, that the five thousand men armed in the Roman fashion were “Macedonians” being retrained in the newest style of warfare exemplified by the successful Romans, we can see that even after the massive setback of Antiochus III’s defeat at Magnesia, the Seleucid army still mustered some twenty-five thousand Macedonian infantry and four thousand cavalry as its core, supplemented by a variety of forces drawn from other settlers (the Thracians and Galatians) and native peoples, both infantry and cavalry. The military colonies in Syria and Mesopotamia evidently remained strong and continued to produce a steady supply of recruits, and the army headquarters at Apamea-on-the-Orontes was still doing its job of training and equipping a Hellenistic army in the best traditions. That this was no mere parade army is illustrated well by Antiochus’ successful invasion of Egypt in 168/7, mentioned above, which failed to conquer Egypt only because of Roman intervention. Strong leadership by Antiochus and his older brother and predecessor Seleucus IV had enabled the Seleucid kingdom to recover well from its loss of Asia Minor. The army still thrived, and but for the civil wars between descendants of Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV, the Seleucid kingdom might have remained a significant power for much longer than it did. But it was not kings and armies that were the heart and soul of Hellenistic civilization: it was Greek cities.
3. THE CITIES
While many political, military, and cultural leaders from ancient Greece are still famed in western civilization, there are others whose fame has undeservedly faded. One of these is Hippodamus of Miletus. His influence is still strongly felt in western and indeed world civilization, though few outside a narrow specialty are likely to have heard of him. Hippodamus was a town planner, the first we know of, and he made his name in the late 490s when he was commissioned by the Athenians to design the new port city they were building at the Piraeus, which is still today the greatest harbor in Greece. The design Hippodamus established for the Piraeus, and which he popularized in a great book he wrote on urban design, was to influence all subsequent Greek city-building, and still influences modern urban planning. Though he did not invent it per se, Hippodamus adopted and popularized the rectangular grid design for cities, which is sometimes known as the Hippodamian plan as a result. Modern people are very familiar with this Hippodamian design from many modern examples, the most famous being perhaps New York City. Establishing a rectangular grid based on broad parallel avenues with narrower cross-streets intersecting them at a ninety degree angle, and siting public spaces, most importantly a main town square, at suitable locations within this grid, made for a city that was easy to live in and readily navigable, as inhabitants of New York and many other modern cities know well. The relevance of Hippodamus and his urban design in the present context is that during the Hellenistic era a vast number of new cities were founded in western Asia and north Africa which almost all, to some degree at least, used the Hippodamian design.
23. Stoa of Attalus in the agora at Athens
(Wikimedia Commons photo by Ken Russell Salvador, CC BY 2.0)
Between about 330 and the middle of the second century BCE many dozens, in fact ultimately probably several hundred Greek towns and cities were founded or re-founded and developed in western Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Hindu Kush, and—to a more limited degree—in north Africa, that is in Egypt and Libya. And with very few exceptions, these towns and cities were built up according to the rectangular grid, Hippodamian plan of urban design. The historian Peter Green criticized these cities as showing a “dreary sameness,” but I think he misses the point. The Hellenistic towns and cities were designed to give a sense of comforting familiarity, to make the Greek settler, citizen, or traveler feel at home.
Each city would, as a matter of course, have a surrounding wall defining the urban space and marking it off from the chora, the countryside. When one entered the city through its main gate, one would find oneself on a broad avenue that would lead one directly to the main town square, or agora. Around the agora would be several long colonnaded buildings of the type called a stoa (see ill. 23). In the colonnades of these buildings, citizens and visitors could meet and/or take their ease, in the open air but protected from the sun or rain. At the back of these buildings were enclosed rooms that functioned as shops or offices of public officials. Looking out from the agora, the city skyline would be dominated by other public buildings: temples of the gods, a theater, a gymnasium. The travel writer Pausanias made it clear that any place that wished to be considered a city must have such buildings, with their associated amenities and services, and archaeological exploration of Hellenistic cities bears him out.
24. Street plan of Priene showing Hippodamian grid design
(Wikimedia Commons, Wellcome Images, CC BY 4.0)
Other than the spaces set aside for public buildings and uses, the city would be divided, by the avenues and cross-streets, into housing blocks where the citizens lived in private houses or, at times in the larger cities, in apartment buildings. In every region of the city there would be a public fountain house, with clean drinking water piped in from a nearby spring or other source, to meet the water needs of the families living in that region. In this way, the Hellenistic cities corresponded to a clear and generally understood and accepted conception of what a Greek city should be, how it should look, what sort of physical infrastructure and amenities should be present, and therefore what sort of lifestyle was to be pursued there.
Wherever one traveled throughout the Hellenistic world, one would find Greek towns fulfilling this conception of urban life and offering this lifestyle, and in every major region of the Hellenistic world one would find, in addition to the smaller towns and cities where most Greeks lived, also one or more larger cities—regional metropolises—where a wider array of services could be found and a higher level of culture could be sampled. The “sameness” that Peter Green critiqued was planned and desired. It made for a clear sense of be
longing and common identity among the Hellenistic cities and their inhabitants.
This sense of common identity is well illustrated by a highly informative inscription surviving from the Macedonian town of Beroea (see map 2), recording a public decree of the people of that town:
When Hippocrates son of Nicocrates was strategos (chief magistrate), on the nineteenth of Apellaeos, at a meeting of the assembly, Zopyros son of Amyntas, the gymnasiarch … proposed: whereas all the other magistracies are carried out in accordance with the law, and in the other cities in which there are gymnasia and anointing is practiced the laws on gymnasiarchs are deposited in the public archives, it is appropriate that the same should be done among us and that the law which we handed in to the exetastai (public auditors) should be inscribed on a stone block and placed on view in the gymnasium, and also deposited in the public archive; for when this is done, the young men will feel a greater sense of shame and be more obedient to their leader, and the revenues will not be wasted away as the gymnasiarchs who are appointed will discharge their office in accordance with the law and will be liable to render accounts. Therefore, the city resolved: that the law on the gymnasiarchy which Zopyros son of Amyntas, the gymnasiarch … introduced, should be valid and be deposited in the public archive, that the gymnasiarchs should use it, and that the law should be inscribed on stone and set up in the gymnasium. The law was ratified on the first of Peritius (Austin The Hellenistic World doc. 118).
The inscription continues with the law proper, regulating the use and oversight of the gymnasium in great detail. What we learn is that, like any self-respecting Hellenistic city, Beroea had a gymnasium, and the citizens of Beroea attended that gymnasium to exercise and bathe. But at the time of this decree, it was brought to the attention of the Beroeans that they had as yet no law regulating the use of the gymnasium, though having such a law was the norm in the Greek cities. This was clearly felt to be a lack: in order for Beroea to “hold its head up” in the community of Greek cities, that lack must be filled. And so a detailed law regulating the use of the gymnasium, and the precise duties and responsibilities of the gymnasiarchs, was offered, adopted, and officially published by being inscribed on stone and publicly displayed. We see here, that is, a clear desire to conform to a recognized standard of what a Greek city should be.
The life lived by the citizens of these cities was on the whole a comfortable and pleasant one. Citizens and visitors were guaranteed an array of amenities and services that made for this pleasant lifestyle. I have already mentioned the public fountain houses around the city that guaranteed a clean and plentiful supply of drinking water. Fouling the public fountains was a serious crime that was harshly punished. There were public granaries where citizens could purchase grain—to be baked into bread—at an affordable price. The religious life of the citizens was taken care of in well maintained temples and sanctuaries with regular festivals that offered enjoyable holidays throughout the year. Social life centered around the agora with its stoas where people could meet and shop or take care of public business, and the gymnasium where citizens could exercise and play together, bathe, and enjoy other amenities. Gymnasia often had concert spaces where musical performances, literary readings, or lectures could be attended. And it was common for gymnasia to have dining rooms that could be rented for private parties. Other public entertainments—plays and concerts—were put on throughout the year at the theater, which was free for citizens to attend.
All of these amenities and services required oversight, and the Greek cities had developed an array of magistrates—drawn usually from the wealthy elite—whose job it was to see to the upkeep of the city and its services. The evidence for these civic magistrates is scattered, but altogether it adds up to a good picture of how such cities were run. Cities elected chief magistrates—often called strategoi (literally, generals)—to oversee the whole system, along with guardians of the law (nomophylakes) to see that the laws and regulations were obeyed. Astynomoi or city-wardens had the task of looking after the city’s infrastructure and services, along with a host of more specialized magistrates. There were gymnasiarchs to oversee the gymnasium; sitophylakes (grain wardens) to take care of the public granaries and ensure they were well stocked; agoranomoi (market wardens) to ensure orderly market squares and see to it that market stalls and shops functioned legitimately, using proper coins, weights, and measures; nuktophylakes (night guards) to see to public order during the dark hours of the night (there was no street lighting); amphodarchai (street wardens) to see to the upkeep and cleanliness of streets and drains. To illustrate the functioning of these magistrates, we are fortunate to have a substantial portion of the municipal administrative code of the city of Pergamon in north-west Asia Minor (see map 5), dating from the late third or early second century BCE.
[Concerning the streets] … the amphodarchai shall compel those who have thrown out rubbish to clean the place up, as the law requires. If they fail to do so, the amphodarchai shall report them to the astynomoi. The astynomoi shall issue a contract together with the amphodarchai and shall exact the resulting expense from the offenders immediately and shall fine them ten drachmas. If any of the amphodarchai fails to carry out his written instructions he shall be fined by the astynomoi twenty drachmas for each offense …
Concerning digging up the streets: if anyone digs up soil or stones on the streets or makes clay or bricks or lays out open drains, the amphodarchai shall prevent them. If they do not comply, the amphodarchai shall report them to the astynomoi. They shall fine the offender five drachmas for each offense and shall compel him to restore everything to its original state, and to build underground drains … similarly they shall compel already existing drains to be built underground …
Concerning the fountains: concerning the fountains in the city and in the suburbs it shall be required of the astynomoi to make sure they are clean and that the pipes which bring and remove the water flow freely. If any need to be repaired, they shall notify the strategoi and the superintendent of the sacred revenues, so that contracts (for repair work) are issued by these officials. No one shall be allowed to water animals at the public fountains nor to wash clothes or implements or anything else. Should anyone do any of these things, if he is a free man his animals, clothes, and implements shall be confiscated and he shall be fined fifty drachmas …
Concerning the public toilets: the astynomoi shall take care of the public toilets and of the sewers which run from them, and any sewers which are not covered (shall be covered?) … (Austin The Hellenistic World doc. 216 = Dittenberger OGIS no. 483).
This sampling from a much longer and more detailed document makes clear the care and attention that Hellenistic cities gave to the upkeep and oversight of their infrastructure and amenities, with careful instructions to the various magistrates regarding their exact duties and how to carry them out, and fines and other punishments for wrong-doers, whether citizens or visitors breaking the law or magistrates failing to carry out their responsibilities. The citizens of these cities cared deeply about the physical fabric of their cities, the services which they provided to themselves through this fabric, and the upkeep of the lifestyle that was thus afforded them. The moneys to pay for all this came from market (i.e. sales) taxes, import and export duties, sacred revenues flowing into the temples and sanctuaries from gifts and from sacred lands, from rents on public lands, and—very importantly—from contributions that the wealthy elite were encouraged (read, pressured) to make in lieu of taxes. The rich who co-operated and donated were celebrated as public benefactors and granted an array of honors and privileges that made it worth their while to be seen to be generous donors to the public good.
Besides all these services, which were a normal and expected part of Hellenistic civic life, most cities also showed concern for two other kinds of public service: health and education. It was common in the Hellenistic cities for funds to be made available, often via donations by the wealthy, to appoint public doctors whose charge it was to loo
k after the health of any citizens needing medical attention. The sums paid to these public doctors as retainers were not always large enough to allow them to do their work free of charge; but it does seem that they normally tailored their fee structures to the citizens’ ability to pay, and there is evidence to indicate that when necessary they provided some medical care free of charge. We have an illustrative example known to us from an honorific decree passed by the people of Samos:
The council passed a motion to put this matter before the assembly held for elections: since Diodoros son of Dioscourides, who took over among us the role of public doctor, has for many years in the past time through his own skill and care looked after and cured many of the citizens and others in the city who had fallen seriously ill and was responsible for their safety, as has been vouched for frequently by many among the people each time when the contracts are renewed; and when the earthquakes happened and many among us suffered painful wounds of every sort because of the unexpectedness of the disaster and were in need of urgent attention, he distributed his services equally to all and assisted them … (Austin The Hellenistic World doc. 125).
This sort of attention to the public health needs of the citizens is attested by records from other cities too. In particular, an inscription from the city of Teos, regarding tax exemptions granted to new citizens in about 300 BCE, reveals how such public doctors might be paid:
Those who wish may raise pigs up to (a specified number?) and sheep and they shall be exempt from tax. And they shall be exempt from the other taxes too, except for the tax for the maintenance of doctors (Austin The Hellenistic World Doc. 99).
In other words, some cities at least raised a special tax from the citizens to pay for the upkeep of a kind of public health service of doctors whose job it was to accept any citizen in need as a patient, and take care of them.
Before and After Alexander Page 31