Salaminian Gods in Athens

In the past decade, the political status of Salamis and its incorporation within the Athenian polis has been the object of renewed scholarly attention. Martha Taylor has recently reformulated what is essentially an old view, that the island was an unofficial Attic deme. She has also restated Ferguson’s original position that the Athenian takeover of Salamis had not been fully resolved when the deme system was reformed by Kleisthenes in 507/6 BC. Salamis’ rather uneasy position within the Athenian polis is well illustrated by the fact that its inhabitants, who in the classical period were Athenian citizens, were enlisted as members of one of the many mainland demes. Thus, a person from Salamis might be called Kleagoras Acharneus, not Kleagoras Salaminios.

From our textual sources we learn that Salamis did not become part of the Athenian polis until the very end of the archaic period, and even then it retained something of a special status. In the Iliad Ajax is the autonomous king of Salamis, which suggests that the island was perceived as an independent entity from an early age. More importantly, a combination of literary and epigraphic sources show that the Athenians and Megarians fought bitterly over the island through what seems to have been the better part of the sixth century BC. Although little about the war with Megara can be said with certainty, it is a fact that by the last decade, the Athenians had gained full control over the island. In a decree belonging to the early years of the democracy the Athenian demos asserted its right to appoint a special archon for its administration, and to regulate taxes payable by its inhabitants. It is received opinion that this decree provides the terminus ante quem for the final settlement of the Megarian war, which some believe started as early as the days of Solon, or even earlier still. In the end, it appears that the political and strategic reality of the late sixth century made Athenian dominance over the island inevitable.

The question I want to address here does not concern the Megarian war or the historical conditions behind the Athenian takeover of Salamis. Instead, I propose to investigate how Salamis was incorporated within the Athenian polis. This question seems particularly pertinent in light of its “unofficial” status within the Athenian constitution as it forces us to rethink the kind of non-political mechanisms that were at play when a peripheral territory became part of a pre-existing political structure such as Athens. As de Polignac and many other scholars in his wake have stated, the main socially cohesive force of the archaic period appears to have been religion. This means that we will have to ask the following questions:

• How were the Salaminian gods dealt with after the Athenian take-over, or more precisely, what position were they granted within the Athenian pantheon? And
• How was the Salaminian religious sphere embedded in the ideology of the Athenians’ own mythical past?

Given the short amount of time available, I will limit myself to a discussion of the role played by the members of the Athenian genos Salaminioi in forging religious ties between Salamis and Athens. As implied by their name, the Salaminioi were closely related to the island and as genos members they were primarily responsible for the maintenance of a number of different cults, some of which were closely connected to Salamis. In speaking about the Salaminioi, I mean, therefore, the members of the genos Salaminioi, not the inhabitants of Salamis, which is an important distinction to bear in mind.

As early as the late nineteenth century, scholars have sought to connect the Salaminioi with the Megarian war, as they are thought to have played an important role in the Athenian acquisition of Salamis. Fortunately, we are rather well informed about the Salaminioi, thanks to a fourth century BC settlement decree, which regulates a dispute over property within the genos. What is of interest to us here is not so much the dispute itself, as what the decree tells us about the nature of the Salaminioi and their connection to the island of Salamis. Like most gene, the Salaminioi were responsible for carrying out certain religious duties, which included the organization of the religious rites and the apportioning of the sacrificial meat as well as the selection of cult officials. The decree mentions that they supplied one priestess for the cult of Athena Skiras and one for the cults of Pandrosos and Aglauros and of Ge Kourotrophos, as well as a priest for Heracles and one for the hero Eurysakes.

In the interest of time, it will have to suffice to say that I dismiss the view put forward by a range of scholars from Nilsson to Guarducci, who state that the Salaminioi were Salaminian refugees at the time of the Megarian war, that they were received by the Athenians because of their shared enmity of the Megarians, and that, as a result, they were allowed to set up their own genos and administer a number of cults in Attica. This view seems to be based largely on assumptions about the name Salaminioi and is not supported by independent evidence.