Die Eumenesrede (Polybios XXI 19-21) und die Neuordnung Kleinasiens 189/88 V. Chr.

Unter den byzantinischen Exzerpten De legationibus sind aus dem einundzwanzigsten Buch der Historien des Polybios die Reden uberliefert, die vom pergamenischen Konig Eumenes II. und den Abgesandten der Republik Rhodos vor dem romischen Senat im Sommer des Jahres 189 v. Chr. gehalten worden sind. Anlass fur das Rededuell war der zu diesem Zeitpunkt soeben siegreich beendete Krieg der Romer gegen das Seleukidenreich, an dem Eumenes und die Rhodier auf Seiten der Romer teilgenommen hatten.

The paper discusses the actual arguments of king Eumenes II of Pergamum put forward against the Rhodians in the discussion at Rome about the status the Greek cities of Asia Minor should gain after the Romans defeated the Seleucid kingdom in 189 BCE. In contrast to the traditional understanding of this speech in modern scholarship, the paper argues that the king is not claiming all cities, but the ones which were previously part of the Attalid realm and were subsequently lost to the Seleucids. At the negotiations preceding the conclusion of the peace of Apamea, the Romans followed his arguments to the extent that though they freed the cities as requested by the Rhodians made nevertheless tributary to Eumenes those which were once under the control of the Attalid kings.