Brogitaros and the Pessinus-Affair Some Considerations on the Galatian Background of Cicero’s Lampoon against Clodius in 56 BC (Harusp. Resp. 27–29)
All of our extant literary sources on the history of Pessinus in the Hellenistic age involve Roman agency. For the most part, they are strongly shaped by a specifically Roman perspective that focuses on Roman political or economic interests, and in a way that significantly limits, if not distorts, t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Akdeniz University
2018-05-01
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| Series: | Gephyra |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/gephyra/issue/31130/420760?publisher=nalan-eda-akyurek-sahin |
| Summary: | All of our extant
literary sources on the history of Pessinus in the Hellenistic age involve
Roman agency. For the most part, they are strongly shaped by a specifically
Roman perspective that focuses on Roman political or economic interests, and in
a way that significantly limits, if not distorts, the information on the
sanctuary itself. A telling example is a section from Cicero’s fervent lampoon
against Publius Clodius, De haruspicum responsis 27–29. This
is our main source for the law that granted the control of Pessinus to the
Trokmian Brogitaros at the cost of the Tolistobogian Deiotaros. Cicero’s
rhetoric has encouraged modern scholars to contextualize this incident within
Roman Republican strives – which is indeed pertinent –, but, at the same time,
discouraged attempts to better understand specifically Galatian agency behind
the conflict. However, a subtle analysis of Ciceronian polemics, especially a
reflection on what Cicero does not say, will allow us to put
forward some plausible hypotheses about the otherwise poorly attested history
of Pessinus after the end of the Attalid Kingdom in 133/129 BC. By doing so, we
shall gain further arguments for the view that Tolistobogian interest in
Pessinus was very late, and that the development of this emporion to the urban
center of the Tolistobogians may well have started as late as around 60 BC. |
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| ISSN: | 1309-3924 2651-5059 |