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Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 47 (2010) 131-139
Two Texts of the dioiketes Apollonius
Kent J. Rigsby Duke University
Abstract
Apollonius' dedication I.Portes 47 gives first place to Apollo Hylates;
this cult is known only on Cyprus, which suggests that Apollonius was
Cypriot. RHal. 1.260-265 grants a tax exemption to victors in certain
festivals; the third festival listed is likely to be that at Hiera Nesos, and
all three were royal, not civic festivals of Alexandria.
Apollonius the dioiketes of Ptolemy II has been known for more than
a century, in growing detail with the progressive publication of the Zenon
archive discovered in 1915. Two documents of his, one a dedication and the
other a letter, had been published even earlier, preserved independently of the
archive; though well known, each repays further study.
The Dedication I.Portes 47
From the beginning, scholars have wanted to know where Apollonius
came from; no text tells us explicitly, in contrast to his subordinate Zenon of
Caunus.1 But after Edgar's discussion in 19312 there was substantial agreement
that Apollonius too came from Caria. The grounds have been the number of
Carians in Apollonius' service,3 and two religious gestures: Apollonius made a
dedication to Zeus Labraundeus and one to Apollo Hylates, both Carian gods.
Thus he and Zenon were both Carians, in effect members of a Carian clique.
The first gesture is in a list of assignments of land by Apollonius (PMich.
Zen. 31), most to individuals (including one native divine, an ibis-keeper);
but one plot goes to Sarapis-Asclepius, another to Zeus Labraundeus. Zeus of
M.I. Rostovtzeff, A Large Estate in Ptolemaic Egypt (Madison 1922) 24.
2 PMich.Zen., p. 15; cf. p. 96.
3 Most notably Zenon himself and his predecessor as administrator of Apollonius'
estate in Philadelphia, Panakestor of Calynda (Guide to the Zenon Archive 1:386). See
C. Orrieux, Zinon de Caunos (Paris 1985) 116-120, and especially W. Clarysse in G.
Bastianini and A. Casanova (eds.), 100 anni di istituzionifiorentine per la papirologia
(Florence 2009) 31-43.
