Il problema dell’autonomia dei confederati nel contesto di un’alleanza egemonica. Tracce di un dibattito nella demegoria Sul trattato con Alessandro ([Dem.] XVII)

Abstract

This article offers a reinterpretation of the pseudo-Demosthenic demegory On the Agreements with Alexander that reassesses the legal basis of the arguments offered by the speaker as regards the legal nature of the pacts and Alexander’s violations on this point. According to this interpretation, the Athenian speaker specifically focuses on the violations committed by Alexander as hegemon with respect to the commitments assumed by the Athenians in the symmachia as participants in the koine eirene. The most recent research acquisitions on the question of the attribution of the demegory and the context of its recitation lead to a reconsideration of the legal arguments offered by the speaker about the relationship between the koine eirene and the symmachia. In line with these acquisitions, the argument here proposed is that at the heart of the oration was the claim of the Athenians’ right not to follow unconditionally (ἀκολουθεῖν) the strategic direction taken by the hegemon, immediately after his passage through Asia, and to exit, if necessary, the koine eirene.