Sikel Kings and Athenian Friends: A Case Study in Inter-Mediterranean Relations

In the late 1880s two fragments of a stone inscription were found in Athens, which together made up a proxenia decree honouring two kings from Sicily, Archonides and Dēmon. Decrees of proxenia were granted to formalize a relationship between a Greek city-state and a foreign individual who performed some service to the city, and facilitated the creation of a complex network of interactions between communities in the Mediterranean. Using the proxenia decree of Archonides and Dēmon as a case study, this talk will consider what inscriptions can tell us about inter-state relationships in the ancient Mediterranean.

Jayden is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies at UBC. Her research focuses on connectivity and inter-state relationships in the Archaic and Classical Mediterranean. Jayden received her B.A. from UBC in 2016, and went on to do her Master’s degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Her Master’s thesis examined the archaeological, historical, and epigraphic evidence for the social and political organization of the Sikel people in central Sicily to the end of the fifth century.