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  93 Alexandrian sacred law concerning sacrifices to Arsinoe Philadelphos. Oxyrhynchos, Egypt, law dated about 267.

[---] let no one walk [ --- ] the kanephoros (1) [ ---of A]r[si]noe Philadelph[os --- together with the] prytaneis and the priests and [the magistrates] and the ephebes (2) and the rodbearers. [As for those] who wish to sacrifice to Arsin[oe Philaldelphos, (3) let them sacrifice before their own doors or on their houses or by [the] road along which the kanephoros walks. Let all sacrifice either a bird [or whatever] each wishes except a male goat and a female goat.(4) Further, let the altars be made by everyone of sand; (5) but if some have altars made of bricks, let them strew sand on them and [on] this let them place the fire wood on [which] they will burn [the] pulses

I. 'Basket-bearer', the title of the priestess of Arsinoe Philadelphos, first attested in 267. Lines 7 through 11 of the law deal with organizing the procession in honor of Arsinoe Philadelphos.
2 See Glossary.
3 Probably deified posthumously, although Turner has again restated the case for a date during her lifetime.
4 Robert has shown that the law presupposes the identification of Arsinoe with Aphrodite. The prohibition on the sacrifice of goats would differentiate her from Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite of the Whole People, the patroness of prostitutes, to whom they were sacred.
5 The sand altars are to be connected with Arsinoe's identification with Aphrodite Euploia, Aphrodite of the Fair Voyage, the patroness of sailors, in which form she was worshipped in the temple dedicated to her at Cape Zephyrium near Alexandria by the admiral, Kallikrates of Samos. Probably also to be connected with these sand or brick altars are the small plaques inscribed'Of Arsinoe Philadelphos' (OGIS 39) which have been found in various places in the Aegean basin.

94 Allocation of the apomoira to the cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos.

--- in order that] it happen in accordance with the written (instructions). (1) Farewell. (year) 23 (263/2), Daisios 5. The royal secretaries of the nomes in the countryside, each for the nome of which he is secretary, shall record both the number of aroura of vines [and] of orchards, and the yields from these, farmer by farmer, since (year) 22 (264/3), separating out the sacred land and the yields from it, in order that [the] remainder [ ---] from which the sixth (2) is to be collected for the [Phi]la[delphos] (3) and they shall turn in a list of these to the agents of [Satyro]s. Likewise, the k1eruchs (4) also, who have vineyards or orchards on the military allotments which they received from the king and all the rest who possess vineyards or orchards, either having them on gift (land) (5) or cultivating them in any fashion, shall each record his own both as to the extent of the land and the yields and shall give the sixth of the yields to [Ars]inoe Philad[el]phos for the sacrifices and the drink offerings.

1 The reference is to the general law concerning the apomoira (cf. n. 2), one of whose provisions this text implements.
2 The apomoira, a tax of one sixth on vineyards, which was collected by the temples prior to the promulgation of the regulation contained in this document which
assigned it to the cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos.
3 The deified sister-wife of Ptolemaios II whose cult in all Egyptian temples the apomoira was to support.
4 Greek and Macedonian soldiers paid with land allotments intended to provide their economic support (see Glossary).
5 Estates conditionally granted to royal officials for the purpose of bringing them under cultivation or improving their management.

100 Telemessos Honors Ptolemaios, son of Lysimachos

With good fortune. In the reign of King Ptolemaios (III), the son of Ptole[ma]ios and of Arsinoe, the gods Adelphoi, seventh year, in the 5 month Dystros, (1) in the year in which the priest is Theodo[to]s, son of Herakleides, on the second day, main assembly, it was resolved by the Telmessian city. Since Ptolemaios, the son of Lysima[cho]s, (3) having received the city from King [Ptolemaios, the son of Ptolemaios, in a poor state because of the wars (4) both in [other matters] continues caring publicly for the [citizens] and for each privately, and, seeing that they were in every way distressed, he has granted that they be exempt from (the levies on) woodfruits and pasturage; and he caused the tax on grain, on pulses of all kinds and on kegchros and elymos and sesame and lupines, which formerly was levied unfairly, to be levied according [ ... ] (7) to the law, calculating the tithe both [to the] farmer and the tithe farmer; and as for the remaining items connected to the grain tax, (8) he granted that they be exempt from all of them; it has been resolved by the Tel[mes]sians that they praise Ptolemaios Epig[---]s (9) for the good will he continues to have for the city of the Telmessians and that there be set up on his behalf an altar to Zeus the Savior in the market place in the most prominent place, and that they sacrifice yearly in the month of Dystros on the eleventh day a three-year-old bull and that there shall be an assembly of all the citizens together with the paroikoi (resident aliens) for the sacrifice. [But] if the archon and the citizens do not perform the sacrifice every year, they shall be (considered) sinners (against) all the gods and the archon shall pay a sacred fine to Zeus the Savior of one thousand drachmas, unless because of war he is prevented from performing the sacrifice. This decree shall be inscribed by the archon on a stone stele and he shall set it up in the sanctuary of Artemis in the most prominent place, and, as for the expenses incurred, they shall be borne by the city.

1 About February or March 240/39.
2 Bérard suggested the priest of Alexander and the Ptolemies.
3 The son of Lysimachos and Arsinoe, he had escaped being murdered by Ptolemaios Keraunos by fleeing first to the Illyrians (Trogus, Prolog 24) and thence to Egypt. Attested as a Friend of Ptolemaios II with connections to Telmessos sometime between 265/4 and 257/6, he received the city as a gift estate from Ptolemaios III shortly before the date of this inscription.
4 Presumably the Third Syrian War (246-241) is meant.
5 Restored by Dittenberger on the basis of line 20.
6 Two kinds of millet.
7 A corrupt word follows.
8 These taxes probably ante-date Ptolemaic rule of Telmessos instead of being the result of the introduction of the Ptolemaic fiscal system from Egypt. The remaining items are probably illegal surcharges demanded by the tithe?farmers.
9 Holleaux restored 'Epi[gono]s' ('After-born') and interpreted it as an epithet.

103 Rosetta Stone: Decree passed by priests of Egypt at Memphis on the coronation of Ptolemaios V (204-180)

In the reign (1) of the young (god) who received the kingship from his father, Lord of crowns, great of fame, who established Egypt, and toward the gods is reverent, victorious over his enemies; who improved the life of men, lord of the thirty?year cycle (2) just as Hephaistos the Great, (3) (and) king just as Helios; great king of the upper and lower lands, son of the gods Philopatores, whom Hephaistos approved, to whom Helios gave victory, living image of Zeus; son of Helios, Ptolemaios, living forever, beloved of Ptah. (6) Ninth year, (7) in which Aetos, son of Aetos, is priest of Alexander and of the gods Soteres and of the Gods Adelphoi and of the gods Euergetes and of the gods Philopatores and of the god Epiphanes Eucharistos, and in which the athlophoros of Berenike Euergetes is Pyrrha, the daughter of Philon, the kanephoros of Arsinoe Philadelphos is Areia, (8) the daughter of Diogenes, the priestess of Arsinoe Philopator is Eirene, the daughter of Ptolemaios. Fourth day of the month Xandikos 9 and the eighteenth day of the Egyptian month Mecheir. (10)

Decree: The high priest and prophets and those who enter the sanctuary for the robing of the gods, and the feather bearers and the sacred scribes and all the other priests, who, having come from the temples in the country to Memphis to be with the king for the celebration of the coronation of Ptolemaios, living forever, beloved of Ptah, Epiphanes Eucharistos, successor of his father, and having met in the temple at Memphis on this day, introduced the following motion. King Ptolemaios, living forever, beloved of Ptah, Epiphanes Eucharistos, son of King Ptolemaios and Queen Arsinoe, Gods Philopatores, has conferred benefits in many ways on the temples and their staffs and on all those subject to his rule, as he is a god from a god and goddess just as Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, the defender of his father Osiris; (and) being in matters concerning the gods benevolently inclined, he has assigned to the temples revenues in money and grain; and he has undertaken many expenses for the purpose of making Egypt prosperous and establishing the temples. With his own resources he has assisted everyone; and of the imposts and taxes in Egypt, some he has remitted entirely and others he has lightened in order that the people and everyone else may live in prosperity during his reign; and debts owed the crown by those in Egypt and the rest of his kingdom he has cancelled; and those being held in jails and those who had been detained because of accusations for a long time he has freed of charges." Likewise also he distributed justice to all just as Hermes the Great; and he gave orders that those of the machimoi (12) who had returned together with the others who had been disaffected during the period of disturbances should remain in their own homes. He also provided that cavalry and infantry forces and ships be sent against those attacking I Egypt by sea and land, undertaking great expenditures of money and provisions so that the temples and all in Egypt might be secure. (13) And having arrived at Lykopolis in the Bousirite (nome), which had been seized and had been readied for a siege with an abundant store of weapons and all other provisions sin (the conspiracy had been prepared over a long period of time by impious men who had gathered together in it and who had committed many evil (acts) against the temples and the inhabitants of Egypt, he encamped opposite it and surrounded the city with mounds and ditches and wondrous walls. As the Nile flood in the eighth year was great and normally covered the plains, he restrained it by blocking in many places the mouths of the canals, having spent not a little money on these things; and, having stationed cavalry and infantry to guard them, in a short time he took the city by force and destroyed all the impious men in it, (14) just as [Herm]es (16) and Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, dealt with the rebels (16) in these same I places (17) formerly. Those who had led the rebels in the time of his own father and caused [disorder] in the land and desecrated the temples, when he arrived at Memphis to avenge his father and his realm, he punished all of them fittingly (18) at the time he arrived to perform the rites connected with his coronation. (19)

(Since these things are so), with good fortune, it has been resolved by the priests of all the temples in the land that [all] honors belonging to King Ptolemaios, the eternal, beloved of Ptah, god Epiphanes Eucharistos, and likewise also those of his parents, the gods Philopatores, and those of his grandparents, the gods Euergetes, [and those] of the gods Philadelphoi and those of the gods Soteres, shall be increased greatly; and they shall set up a statue of King Ptolemaios, the eternal, L7od Epiphanes Eucharistos, in each temple in the most prominent [place], [ which shall be called (the image of) 'Ptolemaios the Avenger of Egypt', and beside which shall stand the chief god of the temple, and there shall be given to it a weapon of victory prepared [in Egyptian] style, and the priests shall perform cult service to these images three times a day and dress them in sacred apparel and perform all the other ritual acts just as (is done) for the other gods in [the native] festivals. (20)

1 Ptolemaios V had actually become king in 205/4 (cf. Polybius 15.25?33 and just in 30.2).
2 The Sed festival which was normally celebrated after thirty years of rule to rejuvenate a king.
3 Ptah, chief god of Memphis.
4 Re.
5 Amon.
6 The five names and epithets that constituted Ptolemaios V's Egyptian titulary.
7 186.
8 Athlophorus, 'prize?bearer', is the title of the priestess of the deified Berenike II. For the kanephoros see no. 93 n. 1.
9 Sixth month of the Macedonian calendar, equivalent to 27 March 196.
10 Sixth month of the Egyptian calendar.
11. Omitted are lines 14 to 18 which provide for the cancellation of unsettled debts and the guarantee of the fiscal privileges of the Egyptian priesthood and temples.
12 The Egyptian military caste (cf. Diodorus 1.73.7?8). Ptolemaios IV's inclusion of them in the army that defeated Antiochos III at Raphia in 217 was followed by revolts (Polybius 5.107.1?3).
13 The reference must be to the Fifth Syrian War (about 202?200) despite the fact that it ended with Antiochos III's occupation of Koile Syria.
14 Fall 197. Compare Polybius' (22.17.1?2) characterization of the treatment of the captured rebels as cruel with the congratulatory tone of the decree.
15 Thoth.
16 Seth, the brother of Osiris, and his supporters who, according to Egyptian myth, killed his brother and seized the throne of Egypt.
17 Osiris was originally the god of Bousiris where his tomb was supposed to be located (Diodorus 1.88.5).
18 An exaggeration since from 207 to 186 a large part of the Thebaid was controlled by two native kings, Harmakis and Ankhmakis.
19 Omitted are lines 29 to 37 which provide for the remission of taxes paid by the temples and the granting of gifts to them by the king.
20 Omitted are lines 41 to the end which provide for the offering of cult to images of Ptolemaios V in Egyptian temples and the annual celebration of his birthday and accession days.