La ‘grande iscrizione’ e la città agli inizi dell’età ellenistica: aspetti e problemi

Excavations conducted by the American School at Colophon in 1922 brought to light twelve inscriptions, including the ‘great inscription’ discovered in the Metroon. This long text is incised on three courses of superimposed marble blocks that originally belonged to a monument. The inscription is composed of 8 columns, for a total of 958 lines of text, only 533 of which are preserved. Lines 1-122 (of which only lines 1-38 remain) contain the text of a decree. Lines 123-958 (only 495 are preserved) contain instead a long list of subscribers. The decree provides for the enclosing of the old city and the present city within a single walled perimeter, after the granting of liberty by Alexander and Antigonus. To this end, a committee of ten citizens is appointed to make all decisions in this regard: selecting an architect and fixing his wages; finding foreign money to buy the materials and pay the architect; building the wall; deciding on the division of streets, and on building lots and their sale; choosing areas for the agora, workshops, and other public spaces. To finance the program, a subscription is called, in which almost all the citizens participate, along with some foreigners. Their names are registered in the inscriptions along with the amounts lent or donated, which add up to a total of ca. 300,000 drachmas. Much of this sum is contributed by 10 foreigners, possibly in the form of loans, the rest by the citizens (ca. 900 in total) and a small group of metics (13), as loans or donations. This was a grand and demanding project, whose execution can be dated between 311 and 306 BC, and which involved the whole community. The initiative came from a group of 10 citizens, who formed the committee and are the first subscribers in the list, but the inspirer of the project was probably Antigonus. The Colophonian initiative may have been undertaken in the framework of the program for the reorganization of the cities of the area, a program promoted or completed by Antigonus, which also involved Teos and Smyrna.