• Teos to Cos, 250-200 BC

IG XII 4, 1 264 preserves a Coan arbitration between two Ionian cities, Clazomenae and probably Teos (Ager 1991). Even if the involvement of Teos is not completely sure, there are several reasons to consider it involved. First of all, two Teian men are surely involved: one is this [—]ikos son of Thrasikles, probably an envoy, and one is Anaxippos son of Simon, the owner of a property marking the new boundary. This boundary is consistent with the possible border between Teos and Clazomenae, going from east (the chora of Colophon) to west (the chora of Erythrae). One of the places mentioned along the border is Airai, which was surely a dependent territory of Teos in the days of Strabo (Strabo 14 1, 32). It should be added that Megathymos, a man whose origin is unclear but who should be a Teian (see the contrast between …μέν and Κλα]ζομενίων δέ… in lines 7-8), has a very rare and ‘Teian’ name: Megathymos, indeed, is largely attested only in Teos (a single occurrence comes from Erythrae).

[—]ikos son of Thasikles is mentioned at the very beginning of the verdict, together with another man (Dem[—]) Since the ethnic Teian is only attributed to [—]ikos son of Thasykles, we can imagine that the subsequent Dem[—] was not from Teeos and therefore from Clazomenae.

[—]ikos son of Thasikles was probably the the head of the delegation of defenders of Teos’ case. However, his efforts, along with those of the other lawyers, were unsuccessful.

The chronology of the activity of these envoys is uncertain. Ager 1996, 68-9, considered the arbitration to take place in 302 BC, shortly after the synoecism between Teos and Lebedos. The increased population of Teos would have prompted the city to expand its territory and come into conflict with Clazomenae. Antigonus would have indicated Cos as the arbitration seat to settle the issue (l. 5 “κατὰ τὸ διά[γραμμα]”).

In his edition of the Coan inscriptions, K. Hallof is instead inclined towards a lower date. Although not clearly justified, this dating to 250-200 BC should be based on palaeographic comparisons, so it is certainly more reliable

• Ager, S.L. (1991), ‘A Royal Arbitration between Klazomenai and Teos?’, ZPE 85, 87-97.
• Ager, S.L. (1996), Interstate Arbitration in the Greek World, 337–90 B.C., Berkeley.