Le formule di emendamento nei decreti delle poleis dell’Asia Minore ellenistica : tra imitazione e innovazione

The article examines the use of the amendment formula in decrees of the Hellenistic poleis of Asia Minor, a documentary practice originally rooted in Athenian assembly procedure of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. While genuine amendments are rare outside Attica, so-called ‘pseudo-amendments’ are far more documented in Asia Minor, particularly from the 3rd century BC onward. Through case studies from Miletus, Priene, Pergamon, and the Rhodian Peraia, the article argues that in early Hellenistic contexts the formula is employed with apparent awareness of its original Athenian function, often reinforced by material practice, since the ‘pseudo-amendment’ is typically inscribed on the same stele as the decree it modifies. The formula also serves a rhetorical purpose, emphasizing the assembly’s role in decision-making process, especially in cases arising from an ‘open’ probouleuma or from the republication of texts. From the 2nd century BC, however, the formula increasingly introduces free-standing decrees inscribed on separate supports, materially detached from the texts they reference, revealing the loss of awareness of its original function. The persistence and gradual reinterpretation of this Athenian-derived language thus illuminate both the mimetic reception of Athenian democratic institutions in Hellenistic Asia Minor and the shifting balance of power between council and assembly across the period.