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Short description

These ephebes might only be teenagers, but their skill with spear and javelin and their bravery are impressive. They would give their lives for Smyrna, the ornament of Ionia.

Description

These boys are the future citizens of Smyrna, one of the most important Greek cities in Asia Minor. Smyrna calls itself "the ornament of Ionia" and though it has now fallen under the influence of the Seleucid monarchy, it is still a rich and beautiful city with its own institutions and a strong militia. As is common in many other Greek cities, the sons of the most influential citizens of Smyrna and their friends go through the Ephebeia – they daily train in the gymnasion and learn how to fight with spear, javelin, and bow. These skills prepare them for a life devoted to the defence of the city. While ephebes usually man the fortresses in the Chora (territory) of a polis or serve as watches on the city's walls, they can also join the army in the field. The Smyrnaian Ephebes have won a reputation for their exceptional bravery, and are thus a useful asset for Smyrna's strategoi. Though these young men are not wearing armour over their chiton or exomis, they are equipped with a big Aspis shield, pilos, Thraco-Attic or Askalon helmets, javelins, and a spear. Thus armed, they can defend strategic points or attack the flanks of an enemy army.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Smyrna was founded by Aiolian Greeks in the 11th century BC on a hill north of modern-day Izmir where humans had been living since the 3rd millennium BC (Cadoux, Ancient Smyrna (1938), pp. 66-68). Around 700 BC, Ionians from Kolophon wrestled control over the growing town from the Aiolians (Hdt. 1.150). Smyrna soon became one of the largest Greek cities in Asia, with an impressive temple of Athena forming the centre piece of a well laid out settlement (Akurgal, Alt-Smyrna (1983), pp. 63-98). In 600 BC, however, Smyrna was targeted by Alyattes II of Lydia, the father of the famous Kroisos/Croesus, who had just ascended the throne of the Lydian kingdom and aimed at restoring and extending its position as a great power in Anatolia. Though the Smyrnaians fought bravely, their city fell and was razed to the ground (Hdt. 1.16). Thus ended the history of Smyrna... but why is it present in RIS, then, which is set in 270 BC? As the geographer Strabo of Amaseia (ca. 63 BC-25 AD) relates (Strab. 14.1.37C646):

"After Smyrna had been raised by the Lydians, its inhabitants continued for about four hundred years to live in villages. Then they were reassembled into a city by Antigonos (Monophtalmos, the One-Eyed), and afterwards by Lysimachos, and their city is now the most beautiful of all; a part of it is on a mountain and walled, but the greater part of it is in the plain near the harbour and near the Metroon and near the gymnasion. The division into streets is exceptionally good, in straight lines as far as possible; and the streets are paved with stone; and there are large quadrangular porticoes, with both lower and upper stories. There is also a library; and the Homereion, a quadrangular portico containing a shrine and wooden statue of Homer; for the Smyrnaians also lay especial claim to the poet; and indeed, a bronze coin of theirs is called Homereion. The river Meles flows near the walls; and, in addition to the rest of the city's equipment, there is also a harbour that can be closed. But there is one error, not a small one, in the work of the engineers, that when they paved the streets, they did not give them underground drainage; instead, filth covers the surface, and particularly during rains, when the cast‑off filth is discharged upon the streets."

The inhabitants of one of the villages on Smyrna's territory were aided by the diadoch Antigonos Monophtalmos (382-301 BC) and an oracle from the sanctuary of Apollo at Klaros (on the territory of Kolophon) when they refounded their city in the second half of the 4th century BC (Paus. 7.5.3, inscription Merkelbach/Stauber 1998, no. 05/01/01). As Strabo implies, the new city was a planned city and regarded as outstandingly beautiful – unless it had rained, then it would stink! It called itself "the ornament of Ionia", however, and was admitted into the Ionian League as its 13th member (Cadoux (1938), p. 105). Strabo is right that Smyrna was famous for its worship of Homer, and he appears on their coins, but the Smyrnaians also venerated Mimnermos (ca. 660-590 BC), the possible inventor of elegiac poetry, who hailed from Kolophon or Smyrna and became famous for his grand work "Smyrneis" (Mimnermos fr. 13W., 13aW.). In Roman times, the Smyrnaians named a gymnasion after him (CIG 3376). Not long after the refoundation of Smyrna, the city was further extended by Lysimachos (361-281 BC) and surrounded by strong walls (CIG III 3114). Smyrna was a loyal ally and established ties with other pro-Seleucid cities on its own. In 242 BC, it arranged an isopoliteia treaty with Magnesia at Sipylos, which meant that the citizens of both poleis could enjoy full rights in the other city (CIG III 3114). This specifically included the Persian garrison of Magnesia, who must have been Seleucid soldiers (Fingerson, Perian Katoikoi in Hellenistic Smyrna (2007), p. 107). In fact, another inscription (I. Smyrna 573) explains that they were Katoikoi (military settlers) and fought both as infantry and cavalry. On a sidenote, the name of the Persian commander was Omanes, and as you should expect, he is a starting character for the Seleucids in RIS.

When Seleucid power began to wane in the late 3rd century BC, the Smyrnaians turned their heads elsewhere, however. In 197/196 BC, they actively formed a coalition with Alexandreia in the Troad (near Troy) and Lampsakos against Antiochos III, going on to defeat the Seleucid army sent against them (Liv. 33.38.1-9, 35.42, 37.35.3., Polyb. 21.13.3-4). The three Poleis knew that the Seleucid threat would return, and therefore they appealed to Rome for help – one of the causes of the Roman-Seleucid War (192-188 BC). They thus became some of the very first cities in Asia to become official amici populi Romani, "friends of the Roman people" (Tac. ann. 4.56.1 for Smyrna, ILampsakos 4 for Lampsakos). This also brings us to the ephebes: during this war, some of the Lycian cities supported Antiochos, and the Smyrnaians sent their ephebes to support the Roman troops. Livy (37.16.7-8) describes how they peppered the Lycians with javelins, which gives us some clues about their equipment. A stela for an heros from Smyrna, dated to 330-310 BC (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum Antikensammlung X Inv. 261), depicts three soldiers with Attico-Thracian, Askalon and pilos helmets as well as Aspis shields. The spear is a logical addition, and thus we have our Smyrnaian Ephebes.

Due to its early declaration for Rome, Smyrna profited over the next centuries. The Romans, too, admired its beauty, and donated land and buildings to the polis. Unsurprisingly, many of them chose to live in Smyrna themselves (Cic. Flac. 29). The ephebes were an important institution in this city and often participated in dedications, such as the funerary inscription for Zosime (1st century BC), who was honoured by "the people, the gerousia, the neoi, the council, and the ephebes" (ISmyrna 891). This is also the first mention of the gerousia, probably a council of old men from influential families, which would have been formed under the oligarchic influence of Rome (Dmitriev, City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (2005), p. 245). The Neoi, meanwhile, were the youths slightly older than the ephebes, and seem to have joined them in the gymnasion later known as the Mimnermeion (IvS I (1980) 215.9). While some scholars have argued that ephebes in the Hellenistic period were younger than before – with the neoi taking up the higher rank – the evidence from Smyrna speaks against this. It is hardly conceivable that 14- or 15-year-olds would have defeated Lycian warriors in a skirmish, and a Hellenistic inscription from Smyrna mentions a "joyful" ephebe called Herakleides who had seemingly fallen in battle (or, less likely, died from a disease) at the age of seventeen (Hin, Class and Society in the Cities of the Greek East (2007), p. 145). Xenophon (Ephes. 1.2.2) suggests that most ephebes in Ephesos, one of Smyrna's neighbours in Ionia, were usually 17 or 18 years old, and this seems a more realistic age for a band of boys who actually fought in battles. Though they were not as physically strong as adults, the ephebes of Hellenistic Smyrna must have been well-trained and braver than others to be selected as a contingent the city could send as a reinforcement to its Roman ally.