THE RELIEF AND TEXT OFIGII31 298: LEUKON AND HIS SONS IN ATHENS AND MYTILENE

Abstract

This article examines an important document in the history of Athens’ relations with the rulers of the Bosporus, namely the stele on which we have the decree (IGII31 298) and its relief. The article argues that, in their different ways, both the decree and the relief stress the same theme – continuity. The relief portrays the two sons of Leukon, who have succeeded to the throne, on which they sit, holding a sceptre, while their father (deceased, of course) stands and gazes over them. This figure is not their brother (as scholars usually assert, as if fact). Therefore, in addition to the particular case of this stele, with all its importance for the relationship between Athens and the Bosporans, there is also a more general conclusion on the theme of the interaction of the two main features of the stele, namely the written decree and the relief which stands above it. That kind of interaction has been a matter of considerable discussion in recent years. In this instance, at any rate, we have – on the present argument – what is in essence the same emphasis in both written decree and relief. Their consistent stress on continuity in the relationship between Athens and the rulers of the Bosporus does leave some uncertainty (particularly in our understanding of the treatment of Apollonios, who is omitted from the relief and from the decree itself), but there seems to be nothing here to undermine or disrupt the shared emphasis on continuity in the decree and the relief. Finally, brief attention is paid to a small fragment of an inscription from Mytilene (IGXII 2 3) and its historical value for the study of Athenian relations with the Bosporus.