Trilingue from Letoon

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The temple complex of Letôon

The so-called Trilingue vom Letoon (also Trilingue von Xanthos ) is a stele inscribed in Aramaic , Greek and Lycian languages ​​(Lycian A), which was discovered in 1973 in the Leto shrine near Xanthos , the ancient capital of Lycia (Asia Minor). It is now in the Museum of Fethiye (Turkey).

Letoon stele with Lycian, ...
... Aramaic ...
... and Greek inscription

The stele is approx. 135 cm high. Its long sides (57.5 cm) are inscribed in Lycian and Greek, one of the narrow sides (30 cm) in Aramaic. The Greek and Lycian versions largely correspond to one another, but the Aramaic version is more of a short text.

The inscription deals with a decree of the Carian satrap Pixodaros (Greek; Lyc . Pigesere ). This was the youngest son of 392/391 BC. Hekatomnos (Lyk. Hekatamla ) was employed as satrap in Caria by the Persian great king Artaxerxes II . The dynasty of the Hecatomnids had acquired a semi-autonomous position in Caria in the late period of the Achaemenid Empire , but remained connected to the Persian king. The Aramaic version accordingly begins with a dating to the month of Siwan (around June / July) in the first year of King Artaxerxes. The first editors related this to Artaxerxes III. and therefore dated the inscription to the year 358 BC. At that time, however, Mausolus II was the satrap of Caria, and there are no indications of an interruption of his rule. In more recent research, therefore, early dating is largely abandoned in favor of late dating. With Artaxerxes would be Arses , the youngest son Artaxerxes III. meant, who assumed the rule under the throne name Artaxerxes (IV.) . The inscription would therefore be from June / July 337 BC. To date.

After an introductory remark about the appointment of "officials" by Pixodaros, a resolution by the residents of Xanthos to establish a cult for the Basileus Kaunios and Arkesimas as well as their maintenance forms the main content of the inscription. Finally, violators of the regulation will be cursed with the gods mentioned as well as Letos and the nymphs .

It is unclear to what extent the establishment of the cult is related to political changes in Asia Minor. While Pierre Briant, among others, denies a connection, according to other researchers, the introduction of a Carian cult in Lycia in the first year of the reign of the new Persian great king is to be understood in temporal or even causal connection with the takeover of the satrap rule of Pixodaros over Lycia. In the course of the change of rule in the Achaemenid Empire there was - whether wanted or not - a factual recognition of the increase in power of the Hecatomnids after the (formerly so called) "Great Satrap Revolt". Equally controversial in this context is the question of the extent to which the cult was introduced solely on the initiative of the Xanthians, whether it was a matter of mutual agreement, or whether it was even a demonstration of power by the Pixodaros.

After all, the trilingue played a major role as a prime example of the so-called “Persian empire authorization”, i. H. the recognition of local norms by authorities of the Persian Empire. This thesis was put forward by the Zurich ancient historian Peter Frei and has undergone extensive discussion in the field of Old Testament science. Background is a possible precedent for the establishment of the Torah by Ezra as a local law for the Persian province of Yehud .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Metzger, E. Laroche, A. Dupont-Sommer: Le texte trilingue récemment découvert au Létôon de Xanthos. In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. 1974, pp. 82-93, 115-125, 132-149; and again A. Dupont-Sommer: L'inscription araméenne. In: H. Metzger and others: La stèle trilingue du Letôon. (= Fouilles de Xanthos. VI ). Paris 1979, pp. 129-177; and recently again Gianfranco Maddoli: Pixodaros di Hekatòmnos e la datazione della Trilingue del Letôon. In: Athenaeum. 94, 2006, pp. 601-608.
  2. ^ E. Badian: A Document of Artaxerxes IV? In: KH Kinzl (Ed.): Greece and the eastern Mediterranean in ancient history and prehistory: studies presented to Fritz Schachermeyr on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Berlin / New York 1977, pp. 40-50.
  3. ↑ This Carian deity is known from other inscriptions from Kaunos and the island of Kos , cf. on the latter, William Roger Paton , EL Hicks: The Inscriptions of Cos. Oxford 1891, no 53.
  4. ↑ This deity, referred to in the Aramaic version as the companion of Basileus Kaunios , is not yet known.
  5. ^ P. Briant: From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake 2002.
  6. ^ So I. Kottsieper: On the Aramaic part of the "Trilingue" of Xanthos and its historical background. In: O. Loretz et al. (Ed.): Ex Mesopotamia et Syria lux. (= Old Orient and Old Testament. 281). Münster 2001, ISBN 3-927120-99-5 , pp. 209-243; and affirming P. Funke: Integration and domination. Considerations on the “Trilingue of Xanthos”. In: I. Kottsieper, R. Schmitt, J. Wöhrle (eds.): Points of contact: studies on the social and religious history of Israel and its environment; Festschrift for Rainer Albertz on his 65th birthday. (= Old Orient and Old Testament. 350). Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-86835-008-1 , pp. 603-612.
  7. ↑ For the first position cf. P. Briant: Cités et satrapes dans l'Empire achéménide: Pixôdaros et Xanthos. In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. 1998, pp. 305-340 .; P. Funke takes the middle position: Integration und Herrschaft. (see above). In the latter sense, v. a. G. Bockisch: Notes on: The Carians and their dynasts (Klio 51 [1969], 117–175). In: Klio . 60, 1978, pp. 125-129.
  8. ↑ See P. Frei: Central power and local autonomy in the Achaemenid Empire. In: P. Frei, K. Koch: Reich idea and Reich organization in the Persian Empire. (= Orbis biblicus et orientalis. 55). 2nd Edition. Friborg / Göttingen 1996, pp. 5-131; and on the inner Old Testament discussion v. a. S. Grätz: The Edict of Artaxerxes. An investigation into the religious-political and historical context of Ezra 7: 12-26. (= Supplements to the journal for Old Testament science . 337). Berlin / New York 2004.

literature

  • Herbert Donner ; Wolfgang Röllig : Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions 1st 5th edition. Wiesbaden 2002, pp. 78-79 (No. 319).
  • Heiner Eichner: Etymological contributions to the Lycian of the Trilingue from Letoon at Xanthos. In: Orientalia. 52, 1983, pp. 48-66.
  • Ingo Kottsieper: The »Trilingue« from the Leto Shrine of Xanthos. In: Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament . Supplementary delivery. Gütersloh 2001, pp. 194–199.
  • Henri Metzger , Emanuel Laroche, André Dupont-Sommer, Manfred Mayrhofer: La stèle trilingue du Letôon. (= Fouilles de Xanthos. VI). Paris 1979.
  • Stephen Ruzicka: Politics of a Persian Dynasty. The Hecatomnids in the Fourth Century BC ( Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture. 14). Norman, London 1992.

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