Hellenic Homonoia and the New Decree from Plataea West, William C Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1977; 18, 4; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 307

Hellenic Homonoia and 
the New Decree from Plataea 

William C. West 

THE CLASSICAL ORIGINS of homonoia, 'oneness of mind, unanimity. 
concord' (LSJ). called by W. W. Tarn "one of the great con­
ceptions of the Hellenistic age," have been illuminated by 

discoveries and scholarship of recent years. Mme de Romilly has 
drawn attention to what could be the earliest use of a form of the 
abstraction in Thucydides VIII and has also considered some possible, 
but far from certain, antecedents. One of these is lines 44-45 of the 
Themistocles decree: 07TWC 8' <Xv Kat &P.OVOOVV'T£C a7TaV'T£C • A81Jvatot I 
&p.VVWV'Tat 'TOp. f1apf1apov. More recently, an inscription has come to 
light at Plataea which attests the existence of a dual cult of Zeus 
Eleutherius and Homonoia of the Hellenes in at least the third 
century B.C. Dated by its French editors between 261 and 246, it is a 
decree of an Hellenic League honoring an Athenian, Glaucon son of 
Eteocles, for dedications and gifts to Zeus Eleutherius and Homonoia 
of the Hellenes and prescribing that it be set up by the common altar 
of the divinities. Previously this cult of Homonoia had been known 
only in the third century of our era at Plataea (IG VII 2510) and a priest 
of the Homonoia of the Hellenes and Zeus Eleutherius attested at 
Athens by inscriptions of the second and third centuries.1 Thus the 
new inscription extends the antiquity of the dual cult some five or six 

1 A general view of the-social significance of homonoia in the Hellenistic period is given by 
W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilisation, 3rd ed. rev. by the author and G. T. Griffith (London 
1952) 90-91. The editio princeps of the Themistocles decree is M. H. Jameson, Hesperia 30 
(1960) 198-223, but a convenient edition, taking account of intervening scholarship, is A 
Selection ,,-(Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth Century B.C., ed. by R. Meiggs and 
D. Lewis (Oxford 1969) no.23. The discovery in 1971 at Plataea of the new decree was 
announced, with text and modern Greek translation, by Th. G. Spyropoulos, AAA 6 (1973) 
375ff; it is fully published, with commentary and an interpretative discussion, by R. 
Etienne and M. Pierart, "Un decret du Koinon des Hellenes a Plau:es en I'honneur de 
Glaucon, fils d'Eteocles, d'Athenes," BCH 99 (1975) 51-75. The early history of the term 
homonoia is explored by J. de Romilly, "Vocabulaire et propagande, ou les premiers 
emplois du mot Op.ovo{a," Melanges de linguistique et de phi/elogie grecques efferrs Ii Pierre 
Chantraine (Paris 1972) 199-209. For the Athenian priest of the Homonoia of the Hellenes 
and Zeus Eleutherius in Roman imperial times, see D. Geagan, TAPA 103 (1972) 152-53 
and 156-58. 



308 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLAT AEA 

centuries and makes one wonder whether homonoia might have had 
the same status as other political abstractions (eirene, demokratia, demos, 
etc.) which were worshipped at Athens as early as the fourth century.2 

A goddess Homonoia had been known from dedications and an 
altar at Thera in the third century B.C. (IG XII.3 1336, 1341, 1342) but 
not Homonoia of the Hellenes.3 The Theran dedications are private, 

I The evidence is diverse. but the worship of abstractions with political significance is 
amply attested for the fourth century and. in one or perhaps two instances. may go back 
to the fifth. An altar to Eirene is known from Philochorus (FGrHist 328 F 151). It is generally 
dated 37S/4. since Isocrates speaks of the institution of a sacrifice to Peace (Antid. 109-11). 
Pausanias saw a statue of Eirene carrying ploutos in the Agora. after he had mentioned the 
group of the eponymous heroes (1.8.2); cf H. A. Thompson and R. E. Wycherley. The 
Agora of Athens (Princeton 1972) 168. 

IG lit 1496. accounts of the treasurers of Athena and overseers in the time of Alexander. 
records public sacrifices to Demokratia. which may have been instituted in the early fourth 
century. and also to Eirene and to Agathe Tyche. Cf Plu£. De glor.Ath. 7. and J. H. Oliver. 
Demokratia. the Gods. and the Free World (Baltimore 1960) IOsff. A painting of Demokratia 
and Demos. with Theseus. by Euphranor was displayed in the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherius 
(Paus. 1.3.3.). A relief depicting the two abstractions crowned the stele of the Athenian law 
of 337/6 against tyranny (B. D. Meritt. Hesperia 21 [1952] 355-S9). A bench in the Theater of 
Dionysus is inscribed as reserved for the priest of Demokratia (IG 112 S029a). who sat beside 
the priest of Demos and the Charites (see infra). 

Eukleia and Eunomia may have had an independent cult even earlier. Pausanias speaks 
of a vaoe for Eukleia. an &V&9ql'a for the battle of Marathon. after mentioning the Eleusinion 
near the north slope of the Acropolis (1.145). Several red-figure vases of the late fifth and 
early fourth century. by the Meidias painter and in the style of the Meidias painter. show 
Eukleia and Eunomia in the company of Aphrodite and other attendants. including some 
Graces. See R. Hampe. Rom.'Vfitt 62 (1955) 107-23. Inscriptions of Roman imperial date attest 
a priest of Eukleia and Eunomia (IG III 3738. 4193. 4874). and a seat in the Theater of 
Dionysus is reserved for a priest of the two divinities (IG 112 SOS9). A sanctuary of Eukleia 
and Eunomia was restored. along with several old sanctuaries. in Roman times (lG 112 
103S.53). See G. R. Culley. Hesperia 44 (197S) 207-23. 

A cult of Demos and the Charites. who included Eukleia and Eunomia among others. 
was probably in existence in at least the last third of the third century B.C. (cf IG lit 834. 
4676). A seat in the Theater of Dionysus was reserved for the priest of the dual cult (IG lIt 
5029a) and another for the priest of Demos. the Charites and Roma (IG III S047). For the 
political Significance of this cult. possibly extending back into the classical period. see 
Oliver (supra). 107fT. 

3 A series of dedications. including an altar. were made to Homonoia on Thera. among 
other dedications and gifts to several divinities. by a certain Artemidorus son of Apollonius. 
of Perge: IG XII.3 1333-13S0. The same individual also dedicated ... aoue to Ptolemy Euer­
getes. indicating in the dedicatory inscription (IG XII.3 464) that he had lived prosperously 
under three Ptolemies. At some time he became a citizen of Thera (lG XII.3 1344). The 
dedications to Homonoia are certainly private and. as most of Artemidorus' dedications 
were set up in a separate precinct. may hint that an association between Thera and Arte­
midorus' native Perge is realized in the dedicator himself. One of the dedications of the 
Theran precinct is made to Artemis Soter of Perge (IG XII.3 1350). For Artemidorus see 
Prosop.Pwl. VI nO.lSI88. 



WILLIAM C. WEST 309 

whereas Homonoia of the Hellenes, with her companion Zeus of 
Freedom, recalls the public propaganda of Athenian oratory and 
monuments. The French editors of the decree cautiously trace the 
idea of the abstraction in Isocrates and documentary propaganda of 
the Persian wars in the fourth century B.C. but do not consider how it 
could have developed from the traditional notion of homonoia which 
signified domestic concord. When one makes a broad investigation of 
homonoia in its primary sense of the reconciliation of factions in a 
single city, it emerges that the divinity Homonoia of the Hellenes 
could well have appeared in the late fourth century. Philip II of 
Macedon or Alexander then become attractive candidates for the 
authority which founded the dual cult. 

The fundamental meaning of homonoia, as it figured in political 
propaganda of the late fifth and fourth centuries, is concord, or 
harmony among factions. It signifies unanimity among interest 
groups, often simply the well-to-do and the poor, and is recognized 
as a positive good to the polis, associated with various political virtues 
(e.g.,cw¢pocvlI7J: PI. Resp. 432A; ¢,Ata: Clit. 409E; S'KawcVlI7J: ibid. 41OA; 
TO aya8oll: Xen. Mem. 4.4.16). A work On Concord is attributed to the 
sophist Antiphon, of which several fragments are known.· Classical 
authors often speak of homonoia and stasis as opposites (Lys. lS.17; 
Arist. Eth.Nic. S.1.1155a24-26; Rhet. ad Alex. 1.1422b30ff), and we are 
perhaps justified in speculating that interest in homonoia as a literary 
subject may first have been stimulated by sophists who contrasted it 
with stasis, as they dealt with other pairs of opposites, such as logos/ 
ergon, nomos!physis, etc. The study of concord is not confined to the 
philosophical schools, however. Demosthenes forcefully reminds us 
that knowledge of how to promote homonoia is part of the stock-in­
trade of the political orator (De Cor. 246), and its use in oratory and by 
orators can be fully documented.5 

Although the best known instances of the propaganda of homonoia 
4 See The Older Sophists, ed. by R. K. Sprague (Columbia [S.C.] 1972): Antiphon, transl. by 

J. S. Morrison. frs. 117-145 (=Diels·Kranz B 45-71, differently arranged). 
5 Xenophon states that in all cities the best men promote concord and that all citizens 

must swear an oath concerning it (Mem. 4.4.16). Aristotle's definition of homonoia in Eth.Nic. 

9.6.1167a22-bI6 emphasizes its close association with what is expedient for the city ... Tac 
11'0.\£" Of'OVO£'I' ,adl'_ aTal' 1I'fpi TWI' CVp..pEpOJITWI' op.CYY"w,."wc, (1167a26-27). The author of the 
Rltet. ad Alex. lists it with ideals which are CUp..pEPOV Tfj 1I'0.\EL and prescribes instructions 
whereby an orator may by analogy demonstrate its expedience (1422b30ff). Elsewhere 
homonoia is seen as a good for the city, the aim of the good citizen, etc. (Oem. Lepr. 108, 110; 
Ps.-Dem. [25].89; Hyperides, Euxenippus 37; Dinarchus, Philodes 19). 



310 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLATAEA 

are to be found in the speeches of Isocrates, especially his ceremonial 
works, the abstraction is clearly appropriate to deliberative and 
judicial oratory. Occasions for speeches urging homonoia in public 
deliberation would arise when there is danger of revolution, immi­
nence of warfare, or need to deal with the question of exiles (as, for 
instance, at Athens before 480 or in 403 and later). No such delibera­
tive speeches are extant, but reference is made to a decree moved by 
Hyperides, in Ps.-Demosthenes [26].11, after the battle ofChaeronea: 
ff \, '\I": ,~ ., .1. l ", " • 1 r 
OTE yap I. 7TEpEWTJC Eypa'f'E ••• EVa, TOVC aT£JLOVC E7TLT£JLOVC, ,)I OJLOVO-

- .. • \ _.\ 8' 8' • 'Y OVVTEC a7TaVTEC V7TEP TTJC EI\EV Ep,ac 7TpO VJLWC aYWVL."WVTaL. 

Evidence that deliberative speeches on homonoia were actually 
made, however, is not lacking in references of historians and con­
temporary orators. Thucydides states that during the oligarchic 
revolution of 411 the Athenian generals on Samos compelled the 
soldiers to take oaths to maintain the democracy and oJLOVO~CE£V 
(8.75.2). During the rule of the Four Hundred in Athens itself the 
various factions agree to hold an assembly 7TEP~ oJLovolac (8.93.3). 
Lysias speaks of oaths for homonoia in connection with the events of 
404/3 (25.27), Andocides of deliberations on homonoia in 404 after loss 
of the fleet at Aegospotami (Myst. 73) and of a pledge (7T{CT£V) for 
homonoia (ibid. 76). Later in the same speech he calls these measures 
cVJLtPEpovTa UJLLV aVToLc (106) and says that the Athenians are admired 
by the Hellenes for turning to homonoia and cWTTJpla TfjC 7TOAEWC (140). 
The repayment in 403 by the democracy of monies borrowed from 
Sparta by the Thirty is repeatedly cited as an example of homonoia 
(Oem. Lept. 12; Isoc. Areop. 68-69; Arist. Ath.Pol. 40.3). 

For the form which such a deliberative speech might have had, we 
are perhaps justified in using Demosthenes' first epistle, which has 
been regarded as genuine.6 It is sent to the Athenian assembly. for 
reading in the course of debate, at some time after the death of 
Alexander. After preliminary remarks which link his own return to 
the city with the security and liberty of all the Greeks and the diffi­
culty of presenting his advice in the form of a letter, the author urges 
the establishment of concord in the city (§5) as the first substantive 
item of the body of the letter. He goes on to show that this proposal 
will strengthen the city and best prepare it for leadership in war 

• The spuriousness of epistolary literature is practically an article of faith, but the 
authenticity of several epistles in the Demosthenic corpus, including the epistle on concord, 
is argued by J. A. Goldstein, The LeuersofDemosthen£s (New York 1968), esp. 176-81,252-57. 



WILLIAM C. WEST 311 

(against the Macedonians) for liberation of the Greeks. This goal is 
voiced specifically in the letter's conclusion (§16). Eleutheria in external 
relations is claimed in both the beginning and end of the letter as the 
result of the reconciliation proposed. 

The suitability of the homonoia of the Athenians in 403 as an exemplum 
is readily adaptable also to judicial oratory. One may cite the words 
of the sons of Eucrates, brother of Nicias, who defend themselves 
against the attempt to confiscate their property because of alleged 
collaboration with the Thirty in 404/3 (18.17-18): "If it has been 
expedient to your majority that some keep what they have while 
others are deprived unjustly, then you properly have no concern for 
things you have said. You would agree that homonoia is the greatest 
good, stasis the cause of all evils ... These are the things you decreed 
(EyvWTE) when you returned ... For you remembered our mis-
fortunes and prayed that the gods would establish homonoia ... " In 
another speech the speaker defends himself against the charge of 
collaborating with the Thirty made on the grounds that he had re­
mained in the city in 404/3. By citing his willingness to undertake 
liturgies and perform services whenever called upon, in addition to 
his blameless conduct, he attempts to prove his good will (EvvoLa) to 

the democracy and emphasizes the need for homonoia (25.20,21,23). 
Judicial speeches dealing with confiscation of property, citizenship, 
restoration of exiles, etc., were appropriate for appeals to homonoia 
(cf Andoc. Myst. 109), especially when such appeals could be related to 
the exemplum par excellence, the reestablishment of democracy in 403. 

We may now turn to epideictic speeches, where one can see the 
clearest application of the potential of the abstraction for political 
propaganda. It will be best to postpone consideration of Isocrates for 
the moment, since Lysias' epideictic speeches provide excellent 
examples of the uses of homonoia which are also, doubtless later, to be 
found more fully developed in Isocrates. In the Epitaphius, composed 
for the ceremony of burial in the Ceramicus of Athenians who fell at 
a battle, possibly at the Nemea river during the Corinthian war. 
traditional encomia of the progonoi include praise of them for estab­
lishing homonoia and eleutheria (18).7 The two abstractions are juxta-

7 Oem. Timoc. 24.18~86 and Andr. 22.72-78 are lengthy 'epideictic' sections of judicial 
speeches. in which the progonoi are praised for their homonoia. The two passages are vir­
tually identical. The latter is used as the peroration of its speech. the former as an epideictic 
expansion in the course of a section dealing with the duties of public officials. 



312 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLATAEA 

posed in the context in which they appear, and one is led to think of 
homonoia and eleutheria as the slogan of a political program of Athens 
which aimed at concord of factions at home and freedom in foreign 
affairs.8 In a later section of the speech (54-65) homonoia is dwelt upon 
again in a context which praises the Athenians who reestablished the 
democracy in 403 and sharply criticizes Sparta for her management 
of the hegemony after 404. The speaker focuses upon the loss of 
eleutheria under Spartan rule, contrasting it to the defense of freedom 
by the Athenians of the fifth century. The next step in the rhetorical 
logic of the speech will be to link the homonoia of the returned demo­
crats and the preceding glories of the fifth century with the actions of 
the men buried on the occasion in question. 

The Epitaphius was written for an Athenian audience, during the 
Corinthian war, and the homonoia praised in it was that of Athens. 
The Olympic speech was composed for an Olympic festival and 
possibly delivered in the 380's. In it the speaker urges war against 
Persia under Spartan leadership and the liberation of Sicily from 
tyranny as well. He praises the other kind of unanimity, homonoia 
among cities with a common purpose. He does not use the actual word 
in this sense but does use a periphrasis for it when he says: "We 
should abandon our mutual wars and with a single aim in our minds 
provide for the common safety, feeling shame for past events, fear for the 

8 Eleutheria and autonomia for the Greek cities is an announced aim of the second Athenian 
confederacy: cf. IG III 43.9ff. and must have been the standard formulation of this political 
ideal in public documents in the fourth century (cf. Artaxerxes' letter announcing the 
common peace of 387/6 in Xen. Hell. 5.1.31 and Alexander's treaty with the League of 
Corinth in Ps.-Dem. [17).8). It was once maintained that the former referred to external 
and the latter to internal affairs. but it is perhaps better to consider the terms identical in 
significance. See W. W. Tarn, Alexander the Great II (Cambridge 1948, repro Boston 1956) 
203-05. 

Additional propaganda of freedom in Athens in connection with the second confederacy 
is suggested by the fact that the charter of the league is set up beside the statue of Zeus 
Eleutherius (IG III 43.65-66) in front of the god's stoa in the agora. Conon. Evagoras and 
Timotheus. all heroes of the revival of Athenian naval power in the fourth century. also 
have honorary statues before this stoa (cf. Isoc. Evag. 57; Paus. 1.3.2.). Conon and Timotheus 
had honorary statues on the Acropolis (Paus. 1.24.3; IG III 3774 [Tod, GHI no.128]). Conon 
was awarded a crown for his victory at Cnidus. which was kept on the Acropolis (Oem. 
Andr. 72=TilflDC. 180; cf. IG III 1425.284-85). and an honorary decree for him proclaimed 
that he had freed the allies from the Spartans (Dem. Lept. 69). Homonoia. on the other hand. 
is regularly praised in epideictic oratory, in contexts where the speaker contrasts Spartan 
leadership unfavorably with that of Athens (Lys. Epit. 54-65; Isoc. Paneg. 104. 106; Areop. 
68-69) and is predicated of the progonci (cf. n.7 supra). Specific criticism of Sparta for her 
treatment of the Greek cities is voiced in IG III 43.9ff. 



WILLIAM C. WEST 313 

future, and emulating the deeds of our ancestors ... (33.6)." Homo­
noia and eleutheria, together, transferred to an international sphere, 
are clearly echoed in the phrase Tfj athfj YJlwfL?1 XpwfLtJlovC O:JlTtxEc8aL 

I 
CWTTJpLac. 

Given this sentiment of Lysias' speech and similar exhortations in 
the Panegyric us of Isocrates, it is easy to believe that the urging of a 
war against Persia (or other tyranny) was traditional in a festival 
speech and offered as a panacea to the usual divisiveness among the 
Greek cities. Isocrates speaks of a type of speech which urges war 
against the barbarian and homonoia of the Hellenes (Antid. 77; Panath. 
13), and Gorgias is customarily seen as inventor of the genre, perhaps 
in one of the Olympic festivals of the late fifth century. Plutarch 
states that Gorgias delivered a speech on homonoia at Olympia (Conj. 
Praecep. 144B-C) concerning the harmony of city, agora and friends. 
This sounds as though its subject was the harmony of factions rather 
than homonoia among the Greeks in general, but Philostratus (VS 
1.493) says that Gorgias urged the Greeks, in his Olympic oration, to 
pursue homonoia among themselves and attack Persia. At any rate, 
Lysias and Isocrates should perhaps be interpreted as making a 
traditional appeal in a speech of recognized genre. Harmony among 
cities acting in accord is not an idea natural to the Greek mind, and, 
for rhetorical effectiveness, it had to be associated with what could be 
perceived as a common goal, war against the barbarian, or opposition 
to tyranny. Homonoia, then, traditionally referred to the harmony of 
factions in a city but could be extended, in a special occasion, to mean 
the harmony of cities themselves. In this secondary sense it is always 
qualified in a phrase such as 0fLOJlOLa TWJI • EAA-rlJlWJI. ofL6J10La ~fLWJI 

athwJI. etc. 
Both types of usage may be found in Isocrates, neither being 

peculiar to him. He does not refer casually to homonoia, however. It is 
a recurrent theme in major speeches (Paneg. 3, 138, 173; Phil. 16, 83, 
141; Panath. 13, 42, 77) and is capable of expansion (Panath. 225-28). 
Reference to internal homonoia, reconciliation of factions or interest 
groups within a single city, is also a favorite subject of Isocrates. It is, 
as we have noted, a goal of fourth-century politics and is generally 
predicated by Isocrates of the progonoi or of the Athenians who ruled 
an empire in the fifth century (Paneg. 78; Areop. 31-35; De Pace 19). 
Mention of such homonoia provides a point of departure for criticizing 
Sparta, in terms of her management of an empire as well as her 



314 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLATAEA 

internal politics, perceived as aiming at suppression of neighbors or 
local dissidents rather than reconciliation (Paneg. 104, 106; Areop. 
68-69). 

Internal homonoia is best accommodated by Isocrates to an epi­
deictic speech or epideictic portion of a speech, but homonoia of the 
Hellenes is found in both an epideictic statement and a hortatory 
formulation. In this regard, one should note Aristotle's recognition 
of the close connection between the statement of praise and the 
deliberative statement: "Praise and advice have a common form, for 
what you would suggest in deliberation becomes an encomium when 
the manner of expression is changed ... " (Rhet. 1.9 1367b37ff). In 
terms of both usages, the Panegyricus combines both the hortatory 
and epideictic features (hortatory: 3, 173, 174; epideictic: 85, 138) and, 
to a lesser extent, so does the Philip (hortatory: 16,83, 141; epideictic: 
40). Combination of the propaganda of homonoia and eleutheria, in the 
sense that we observed in Lysias, is fully implied in all cases where 
homonoia is urged in connection with war against the barbarian or 
tyranny, since such war is promoted in defense of eleutheria. Juxta­
position of the two ideals is explicit in various expressions: Paneg. 85 
(WEpt p.ev TfjC KOtVfjC CWTTJptac &p.OVOOVVTEC), 104 (T~V TWV cvp.p.&xwv 

&p.6votav KOt~V w1>'~EtaV VOP.t'OVTEC ... TaC 1T6~Etc StcPKOVP.EV), and 106 
( ',\'8 ~ \ \ \ Q Q ' , , ~ \ \ -I.. - • ') EI\EV EPOt OE 1TPOC TOVC ,.,ap,.,apovc, aCTaCtaCTOt oE 1TPOC c'f'ac aVTOVC . 

In reconstructing the transition of Homonoia of the Hellenes from 
abstract ideal to divinity, Etienne and Pierart cite general propaganda 
of the middle of the fourth century, showing that the abstraction had 
been linked by Isocrates with war against Persia and that the creation 
of a Plataean legend is reflected in the fabrication of documents such 
as the Covenant of Plataea and the Oath of Plataea. They believe that 
the Eleutheria festival was founded after 338, but prefer to think that 
the divinization of Homonoia came later. Worship of Homonoia at 
this festival is not attested in our sources for it, which are late but may 
preserve a genuine tradition of the fourth century.s 

• Plutarch describes the ritual of a celebration in Ari$tides ZI and twice remarks that it is 
still practiced in his time. He does not mention Homonoia, but details of the ceremony 
may have been modified in Roman imperial times. The foundation of the festival is 
mentioned in connection with the victory of 479 by him and Diod. I1.Z9.1-Z, Strab. 9.Z.31 

and Paus. 9.Z.6. References to it by classical authors do not exist, but it is mentioned in the 
Hellenistic and Roman imperial period: Posidippus, fr.Z9 Kock; L. Robert, Opera Minora 

Se/ecla II (Paris 1969) 758-67. It is generally believed that the Eleutheria were at least re­
founded with special prestige after 338, with the restoration ofPlataea, although the games 



WILLIAM C. WEST 315 

Homonoia is thought to be divine when invoked in Alexis' Hypo­
bolimaios (fr.244 Kock), which is roughly contemporary with the treaty 
of alliance between Athens, Sparta and Ptolemy II against Antigonus 
Gonatas moved by Chremonides (IG II2 687). The decree promotes the 
alliance in terms of eleutheria and homonoia (esp. lines 31ft). In Alexis' 
playa reveller drinks successive toasts to Ptolemy, his sister Arsinoe 
and Homonoia, who is understood to be a goddess. There are prob­
lems with this interpretation of the scene, however, if one wishes to 
insist that it proves Homonoia's divinity. The drink is a toast, not a 
sacrificial libation, and can as easily be taken to be a comic gesture of 
casual nature. Only this fragment of the play is known, furthermore, 
and it is dated by this apparent reference to the alliance at the time 
of the Chremonidean war. 

This view, assigning the divinization of freedom and concord to the 
time of Chremonides, seems to me an overly restrictive formulation 
of the evidence. Worship of abstractions with political significance is, 
at Athens, a development of at least the fourth century (see n.2 
supra). Diodorus refers to homonoia as a characteristic of the Oath of 
Plataea, immediately after he mentions the sacrifice to freedom at the 
Eleurheria festival (11.29.2). The association of homonoia and eleutheria, 
moreover, is not confined to propaganda of the Persian wars. It is 
adapted to the rhetorical demands of analogous situations presented 
to different audiences. This association may have originated in Athens, 
bur it was used on occasions of international gatherings as well. 

It is highly likely that the worship of Zeus Eleurherius and Homo­
noia of the Hellenes at the same altar is the culmination of this 
development of propaganda.10 Both represent political aspirations 

may have existed in some form earlier (cf B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery and M. F. Mc­
Gregor, The Athenian Tribute Lists III [Prince(On 1950] 104 n.40; Etienne and Pierart, op.cit. 
[supra n.I] 67-68). 

10 That Zeus Eleutherius was the patron of free cities and their institutions, as Zeus had 
been the sponsor of monarchical regimes, is discussed by Oliver, op.cit. (supra n.2) 11-12, 
16-17. Examples of the establishment of a cult (0 this divinity after the overthrow of 
tyranny and the institution of a civic regime are: Samos after the fall of Polycrates (Hdt. 
3.142) and Syracuse after that of Thrasybulus in 466/5 (Diod. 11.72.2). Coins with the head 
of Zeus Eleutherius were issued by Metapontum (c. Seltman, Greek Coins, A History of 
Metallic Currency and Coinage down to the Fall of the Hellenistic Kingdoms! [London 1955] 120) 
and by Syracuse after the overthrow of tyranny by Timoleon (Seitman, ibid. 193 and pI. 
xlv, 4; G. K. Jenkins, Ancient Greek Coins [New York 1972] 182 and figs. 352, 354). 

After the battle ofPlataea in 479 Pausanias sacrificed (0 Zeus Eleutherius in the agora of 
Plataea (Thuc. 2.71.2, 358.5). While this is not mentioned as a new foundation, it is signifi-



316 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLATAEA 

easily conceptualized and promoted in public oratory, eleutheria and 
homonoia. The fact that we now have evidence of a dual cult of these 
divinities at Plataea, a site associated with the Persian wars of the 
fifth century,H attested at a far earlier period than previously known, 
strengthens this view considerably. 

The case for the establishment of the dual cult in the latter part of 
the fourth century by Philip II or Alexander is much more attractive 
than the French editors of the decree will allow. They note this 
possibility but dismiss it in favor of the third century context. Quite 
apart from the fact that Isocrates urged Philip to establish homonia 
among the Greeks by leading a war against Persia, a war which 
Alexander actually conducted, it is antecedently possible.I2 Pausanias 
states that Philip restored the Plataeans to their land after the battle 
of Chaeronea (4.27.10; 9.1.8). Names of Plataeans appear in the 
Delphian naopoioi lists in the 330's. Respect for local divinities would 
be a first priority in the refounding of a city, although full rebuilding 
of the city walls may have extended over several years. 

It is not surprising that traditions of rebuilding at Plataea are also 
associated with Alexander. After describing the destruction of Thebes 
in 335 by Alexander and Greek confederates, including Plataeans, 
Arrian notes that the alliance promised to rebuild the walls of Plataea 

cant that it occurred after viclOry over Persia, that he reslOred the Plataeans lO their land, 
lOgether with autonomia, and that the Plataeans set great SlOre by it and their annual 
maintenance of the sacrifice when on trial for their lives in 427 (ibid. 3.58.4). An altar to 
Zeus Eleutherius was erected on the battlefield, near the graves of the Greeks (Paus. 
9.2.5; Plut. Arist. 19.6-7, 20.4). Since Zeus Eleutherius at Plataea was seen as sponsor ofthe 
freedom of the Greeks, the area of the graves of the warriors soon became an area of 
propaganda (Hdt. 9.85), similar to the public dedications made at Delphi and Olympia 
where the dedicatory inscription of the offering listed the cities which had fought against 
Persia (Meiggs-Lewis, op.cit. (supra n.1J no.27; Hdt. 9.81; Paus. 5.23.1-2). 

11 The decree specifies that it be set up by the common altar of the divinities, and a 
structure which could be interpreted as this altar was uncovered in 1971 near the find-spot 
of the decree, in an area later used for Christian graves of the fourth and fifth centuries 
(Spyropoulos, loe.cit. (supra n.1J). The 'altar' is situated approximately 200 meters due east 
of the northern remains of the walls of ancient Plataea, and this site is obviously com­
patible with Pausanias' brief remarks as to its location. Three bases of dedications by o[ 
BOtWTO{ (0 Zeus Eleutherius (IG VII 1672-74) had been found in the nineteenth century in 
the nearby ruins of Byzantine churches, probably those which lay within the area called 
the northwest ~taT£{XtCf'a by A. N. Skias, an excavator of the site (Praktika (1899J 42-43 
55-56). 

11 S. Perlman (Historia 25 (1976] 28) thinks that Isocrates, aware of the potential for 
imperialism by a hegemonial power, wanted Philip (0 establish homonoia among the Greeks 
before the expedition against Persia. 



WILLIAM C. WEST 317 

(Anab. 1.9.10). A similar promise was made by Alexander himself, 
after his conquests in Asia, in Plutarch's Alexander (34), and in the 
Aristides (11) Alexander is represented as both rebuilding Plataea and 
causing it to be proclaimed at the Olympic games in honor ofplataea's 
service to Greece in the Persian wars. Because of the acceptability of 
the combination of homonoia and eleutheria in propaganda of the fourth 
century, it is possible that the Macedonian kings first created the dual 
cult of Zeus Eleutherius and Homonoia of the Hellenes at plataea as 
embodying the ideals which they sought to continue among the 
Greek cities. 

Macedonian awareness of the potential of buildings, especially 
temples, and dedications for eunoia and propaganda in the cities is 
well known, and an impressive number of instances may be collected. 
The construction of the South Stoa at Corinth is dated in the last 
third of the fourth century and referred to the influence of Philip and 
Alexander.13 The League of Corinth, founded in 338, would need an 
extensive place of meeting, and civic improvement in Corinth would 
also perhaps conciliate Greeks who were still estranged. Strabo says 
that Alexander promised to rebuild the temple of Artemis at Ephesus 
on the condition, refused by the Ephesians, that the dedicatory 
inscription should bear his name (14.1.22). He did, however, build the 
temple of Athena Polias at Priene, and the dedicatory inscription is 
preserved: {JaCLAEvc 'AAE~avopoc I av/8TJKE 'TOV vaov I 'A8TJva{TJ' lloAuloL 
(l.Priene no.156). In the same vein is the dedication sent to Athena at 
Athens after the battle at the Granicus in 334 of three hundred 
Persian panoplies, with the inscription in the name of Alexander and 
the Hellenes except the Lacedaemonians. For the same victory, 
dedication of a group of bronze statues, of Alexander and his fallen 
'companions', was made at Dium (Arr. Anab. 1.16.4-7; Pluto Alex. 
16.8).14 

As for homonoia itself, the Macedonian kings persistently urge 
keeping the common peace, receiving back exiles and forsaking 
revolution. Such principles can be understood as prominent features 

13 Debris beneath the South Stoa dates from the second half of the fourth century. and 
it is thought that the building of the stoa signals a building program undertaken by Philip 
and Alexander: see O. Broneer. The South Stoa and its Roman Successors: Corinth 1.4 (Princeton 
1954) 156-57. 

14 E. Badian (Ancient Society and Institutions. Studies Presented to Victor Ehrenberg [Oxford 
1966) 48) notes how the dedication to Athena at Athens actually manipulates the truth 
of the fighting. 



318 HELLENIC HOMONOIA AND THE DECREE FROM PLATAEA 

of the oath Philip compelled the Greeks to take in joining the League 
of Corinth, although the text of the surviving document must be 
heavily restored. It is generally held that this treaty was renewed in 
the subsequent one with Alexander. Alexander's continuing interest 
in the maintenance of internal harmony in the cities is attested by two 
documents of the late 330's: a letter to the Chians insisting on the 
return of all exiles and the establishment of a democratic constitution. 
and a letter to Priene which grants special privileges to the Prieneans 
who reside in the port city Naulochum and insists on the preservation 
of existing boundaries between the cities. 

More significant is the so-called exiles decree of 324.15 Diodorus says 
that Alexander announced to his army in Asia that exiles in all Greek 
cities were to be restored and sent Nicanor to make a proclamation 
to this effect at the Olympic games (18.8). The exiles decree has not 
been connected with Alexander's desire to promote homonoia but it 
certainly may be, especially since the new decree from Plataea has 
appeared. Enforcement of the exiles decree would be the enforce­
ment of homonoia, and one would expect that some cities would 
publish their own regulation in response. Two such documents 
exist, from Mytilene and Tegea. In that of Mytilene, at lines 29-30, 
reference is made to land settlements by the king (sc. Alexander), and 
all men are urged to live in the city Op,OJlO£JlT£C ••• 16 

It is perhaps not fashionable to see Alexander as a catalyst in the 
divinization of Homonoia, as a reaction to Tarn's idealized picture of 
him. In several studies, the most extensive of which appeared in 1948, 
he emphasized the importance of Stoicism for the spread of the 
worship of Homonoia during the Hellenistic period but argued that 
the authority of a king was necessary for its establishment as a 
divinityP Prior to the discovery of the decree from Plataea, a deity 

16 The exiles decree was welcomed by some cities but vigorously opposed by others, 
notably Athens and Aetolia, and it is usually discussed in terms of whether it violated the 
terms of the League of Corinth. See V. Ehrenberg, Alexander and the Greeks (Oxford 1938) 
40-41; Tam, op.cit. (supra n.8) 1.111-14; Badian, op.cit. (supra n.14) SO-53; C. B. Welles, 
Alexander and the Hellenistic World (Toronto 1970) 46; and J. R. Hamilton, Alexander the 
Great (Pittsburgh 1973) 136fT. 

II The documents cited are collected by M. N. Tod, A Selection of Greek Historical In­
scriptions II (Oxford 1948): treaty of Philip with the Greeks, no.177; treaty of Alexander 
with the Greeks, no.183; dedication of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene, no.184; 
letter of Alexander to the Chians, no.192; letter of Alexander to Priene, no.18S; decree of 
Mytilene, no.201; decree of Tegea, nO.202. 

17 Tam, op.cit. (supra n.8) 1.146-48 and II, App. 25. Tam's views have been criticized by 



WILLIAM C. WEST 319 

Homonoia was known at Iasus and Priene, where she was worshipped 
(c. Michel, Recueil d'inscriptions grecques no.I203; I.Priene no.Ill), and 
in Ptolemaic Thera, where she had an altar (see n.3 supra). None of 
these inscriptions can be dated earlier than the third century B.C., and 
the earliest, the Theran altar, is a private dedication. In no case does 
the association of public propaganda and location combine so well as 
at plataea. When one draws several threads together, the juxta­
position of homonoia and eleutheria in rhetorical contexts, the repeated 
association of Homonoia of the Hellenes with war against Persia, the 
traditions which make Philip or Alexander responsible for rebuilding 
Plataea, the concern of these monarchs for judicious use of propa­
ganda in building and for the promotion of internal concord in the 
cities, the Macedonian kings become serious candidates for the 
authority which established Homonoia of the Hellenes as a divinity at 
Plataea at the threshold of the Hellenistic age. IS 

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL 

August, 1977 

Badian in Historia 7 (1958) 425-44. Badian emphasizes that Alexander's prayer for homonoia 
in the banquet of Opis, discussed in Arr. Anab. 7.11.8-9, refers to concord between the 
Macedonians and Persians, not to the unity of mankind. 

18 Part of the research for this paper was carried out in 1974, when the author held a 
fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. A version was presented [0 

the American Philological Association at its 108th annual meeting 29 December 1976. 

Some additional verification of topography (cf supra n.l1) was conducted in June 1977. I 
am grateful to Professors George Kennedy and Philip Stadter for several suggestions which 
improved the paper, but, naturally, I am alone responsible for its content.