List of Abbreviations AJPh = American Journal of Philology CAH = The Cambridge Ancient History, ed. S.A. Cook, F.E. Adcock, and M.P. Charlesworth CIG = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum CJ = Classical Journal CQ = Classical Quarterly ILS = Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. Dessau, H., ed. 1954-55. Berlin. JRS = Journal of Roman Studies LSJ = A… Read more
1: Meaning and Purpose of Hostageship in the Greco-Roman World {1–20} The circumstances in which persons acted as sureties in the Greco-Roman world may be classified under four basic categories: exchange, unilateral exaction by formal national agreement, private contract, and extralegal seizure. The words which describe such persons are ῥύσια, ὅμηρος, ἀνάδοχοι, ἐνέχυρα, and obses in all these categories, although obses seems to have had a technical application to just… Read more
2: The System of Hostage Regulations in Rome and the Greco-Roman World {27–79} The formal regulations concerning hostages reveal considerable variety in detail. Nonetheless, it is worthwhile to examine the several categories into which the regulations may be classified in order to determine the underlying principles by which hostages were chosen and to attempt the reconstruction of a typical case. I have used material from Greek and other Mediterranean cultures… Read more
3: Roman Conduct toward Foreign Hostages {94–132} A meticulous examination of the evidence concerning Roman conduct toward and treatment of foreign hostages is crucial to an understanding of Roman policy on hostages and its probable intended results. The difficulties involved in such an examination are threefold. First, material relating to the period of detention, when Roman authorities actually held the hostages, is scanty, and in many cases this material is… Read more
4: The Termination of Hostageship {144–191} In the previous chapters we have examined some of the purposes for which hostages were exacted in antiquity, the specific regulations by which they were chosen, and their treatment during detention. Finally, we must consider the ways in which the contract according to which the hostages served could be terminated and thus their detention permanently ended. [1] There were… Read more
5: Conclusion {205–209} We have seen that hostageship was an integral part of Roman foreign policy, an institution rooted deeply in both the legendary past (Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1.43.1; 1.59.2) and the contemporary accounts of Rome’s incredibly swift expansion during the second and first centuries B.C. (e.g., Polybius and Caesar). Only one hypothesis could explain the long duration of hostageship over so many centuries and involving such diverse peoples: it… Read more
Appendix 1A: Historical and Legendary Hostages {214-244} The following lists comprise all the references to hostages and hostageship found in the ancient authors who are cited in the bibliography. In the first (Appendix 1.A.) are all historical and legendary/historical cases; they have been arranged in chronological order and assigned a reference number. Besides the basic data of donor and recipient, each incident is classified into one of the four categories:… Read more
Chapter 9. Phaethon, Sappho’s Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas: “Reading” the Symbols of Greek Lyric In the arcane Greek myths of Phaethon and Pinion there are latent themes that help resolve three problems of interpretation in Greek poetry. The first of these problems is to be found in the Parthaneion of Alcman (PMG 1). It concerns a wondrous horse conjured up in a… Read more
Chapter 10. On the Death of Actaeon The myth of Actaeon the hunter is famous from the version in Ovid Metamorphoses 3.13 and following, where Artemis literally turns Actaeon into a stag. The hapless victim is then torn to shreds by his own hounds. One critic has claimed that the same theme recurs in Stesichorus PMG 236. [1] This fragment… Read more
Chapter 11. Poetry and the Ideology of the Polis: The Symbolism of Apportioning Meat Φιλόχορος δέ φησιν κρατήσαντας Λακεδαιμονίους Μεσσηνίων διὰ τὴν Τυρταίου στρατηγίαν ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις ἔθος ποιήσασθαι, ἂν δειπνοποιήσονται καὶ παιωνίσωσιν, ᾄδειν καθ’ ἕνα <τὰ> Τυρταίου· κρίνειν δὲ τὸν πολέμαρχον καὶ ἆθλον διδόναι τῷ νικῶντι κρέας Philochorus FGH 328 F 216 from Athenaeus 630 f Philochorus says that the Spartans,… Read more
