Of course, all Hellenistic rulers did die at some point, starting with Alexander, so claims of godhood could only go so far. In truth, the Hellenistic monarchs did have to manage their power carefully, keeping as much as possible on the good side of the Greeks (who were more likely to chafe under the new regimes than, say, the Egyptians, for whom there was little change in government). A large part of this management was maintaining the traditional Greek rhetoric about liberty, claiming that the kings stood for the independence of the poleis. Diodoros records that in 319 b. c.e., when Polyperchon tried to rally support against the faction of Cassander, Antigonos, and Ptolemy (see chapter 4), he claimed that he intended "... to free the cities throughout Greece and to overthrow the oligarchies established in them by Antipater: for in this way they would best decrease the influence of Cassander and also win for themselves great glory and many considerable allies" (Diodoros 18.55). Years later, Antigonos made a similar cry for the freedom of the Greek poleis, once again recorded in Diodorus (19.61-62):
And it stated that all the Greeks were free, without foreign garrisons and autonomous. When the soldiers voted on the matters stated, Antigonos sent off men in all directions to announce the decree. For he undertook on the one hand to have the Greeks as eager allies in the war through their hope for freedom, while on the other hand to have the generals and satraps of the upper satrapies, who suspected that Antigonos would overthrow the kings succeeding Alexander, change their minds and be willing to follow his orders if they saw him blatantly taking up the war on their behalf. . . . At the same time that these things were happening, Ptolemy, hearing the intentions of the Macedonians along with Antigonos to free the Greeks, issued a similar proclamation himself, wanting the Greeks to see that he was concerned about their autonomy no less than Antigonos. For each seeing it to be no small matter to acquire the good will of the Greeks, they strove with each other in bestowing benefits on them.
The Greeks never did regain their autonomy. They did, however, have a reasonably beneficial rapport with the various monarchs. Although much of the land was destroyed by the wars between Alexander's successors, the kings and queens were generous in their attempts to ward off financial and cultural destitution among the poleis. In a pinch, a king could take on the role of public magistrate or priest, funding the city's affairs until the economy improved. Thus, Alexander served as magistrate in Miletos in 334, as did Demetrios in 295 and Antiochus in 280. At other times, the monarchs could simply send ei-
Ther money or goods to sustain the poleis in times of crisis, as in 195 when the Seleucid queen Laodike sent grain to the population of lasos in southwestern Turkey, from which the poorer citizens could derive dowries for their daughters. Likewise, in 159, King Attalos II of Pergamon sent 18,000 drachmai to Delphi to pour into their school system, to pay teacher salaries and to educate the children (Shipley 2000, 85-86).
World History
