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Abstract :
[en] One of the major changes identified as characteristic of Hellenistic religion is the introduction of new cults, and notably cultic honours for mortal rulers. Hellenistic poleis displayed various expedients to integrate these newcomers within their civic and religious landscape, operating a balanced dialectic between innovation and tradition. This integration happened at several levels, whether from a topographic point of view - e.g. consecration of a temenos, installation of altars, statues in sanctuaries of other gods (Schmidt-Dounas 1995) - or through ritual practice - e.g. the foundation of sacrifices and festivals, that were sometimes “appended” to a pre-existing festival (Buraselis 2012). The decree from Teos founding the cult of Antiochos III and Laodike exemplifies with great detail how a ruler cult could be integrated within a civic pantheon and how it echoed other cults (Chaniotis 2007).
Based on a few selected inscriptions, this paper will explore some interactions between rulers and local gods as noted in ritual practice. A newly-published inscription from Aigai in Aiolis (EA 42 [2009], 32-60), regulating the foundation of honours for Seleukos I and Antiochos I after their victory over Lysimachos in 281 BC, exemplifies some of these interactions. The decree refers explicitly to Apollo, one of the main god of Aigai, regarding both the localization of the temenos of the kings next to the sanctuary of the god, and also sacrificial regulations, which were modelled after the sacrifices to Apollo. Other cultic associations with a goddess named Sôteira and Zeus Sôter echoed the epithet given to the kings and emphasised the circumstances that led to the introduction of their cult.
Further lines of enquiry include the associations with traditional gods of the civic pantheon in prayers and sacrifices that are performed in honour of the king, thus placing the latter in an intermediary position between the polis and the gods. This is the case of an inscription from Ilion (I.Ilion 32), associating a king Antiochos with Athena Ilias on the one hand, Apollo, Zeus and Nike on the other hand, in a dialectic similar to the one observed at Aigai.
Although the nature of ritual performance is not very informative as regards the specificity of ruler cult – in so far as it little differed from traditional rituals (Wikander 2005) – the interactions with the gods of the civic pantheon within ritual practice is nonetheless interesting to explore from the point of view of the integration of these new cults. Indeed, although the “practicalities of ruler cult” are not per se very specific, the mechanisms put in place by the poleis may differ in so far as they correspond to a local, specific, context.