University of Heidelberg

Peer Polity Interaction and the Spread of Greek Polis Institutions in Hellenistic Cappadocia

Christoph Michels
(RWTH Aachen University)

From Cappadocian Hanisa comes a bronze inscription which attests that this otherwise almost unknown indigenous community possessed full-fledged polis institutions in the late 2nd century BCE. Combined with the gymnasion we know from the city of Tyana at roughly the same time, a process of ‘poliadisation’ (M. Sartre) in this inner-Anatolian region becomes tangible which is all the more surprising, as there existed no Greek settlements in this area from which cultural elements could have ‘emanated’. In order to evaluate cultural change the search for its mediators is essential. For Cappadocia, different scenarios seem possible. Because Tyana was re-founded under the Hellenistic name of Eusebeia by Ariarathes V, hellenization in Cappadocia has often been seen as product of a policy of its kings. But since we cannot grasp any monarchical initiative in Hanisa, this also raises doubts if we can presuppose it as the raison d’être of the gymnasion in Tyana. Since the involvement of the indigenous elite becomes clear through, i.a., a gymnasiarch named Atezoas, it may be preferable to see the adoption of Greek cultural elements as a phenomenon which originated from within the Capadocian elite. The incentive for adopting polis institutions can be seen in the integration of the local elite into a wider communication network of Greek poleis which led to the participation of non-Greek communities in a ‘quasi’ peer polity interaction (J. Ma). From inscriptions we know of some Cappadocians abroad and probably their experiences in the ‘Greek world’ also had repercussions on their social imaginaries in regard to sources of social prestige and advantageous political institutions. My paper aims to elaborate on this point and discusses potentially comparable cases like Phrygian Toriaion, a former Seleucid ‘military settlement’ consisting of different ethnic groups, which attained polis status under Eumenes II.