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i.	Full name (original language)	τὸ πολίτευμα (IG XII 4.2 983 l. 5)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	to politeuma

i.

Date(s)

80 - 51 BC

iii.	Descriptive terms	πολίτευμα
	Note	politeuma

i.	Source(s)	IG XII 4.2 983 (80-51 BC)
	Note	PH 74 OGI I 192
	Online Resources	Paton-Hicks 74
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Honorary inscription in Greek for Ptolemy XII on behalf of the politeuma.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Base of dark marble.
ii.	Source(s) provenance	Found in a private house in Kos.

ii.

Leadership

ἄρξαντες, arxantes l. 4
Apollophanes and Iliades were officials.

ii.	Gender	Men
	Note	Three male names are recorded in the inscription. The honorary inscription for Ptolemy XII was set up by the two officials, Apollophanes and Iliades, and by Zenodoros (ll. 2-4).

iv.

Honours/Other activities

Two officials of the politeuma and presumably one member (Zenodoros) honoured Ptolemy XII on behalf of the politeuma.

ii.

Interaction abroad

It is unclear under which circumstances representatives of the politeuma honoured Ptolemy XII on Kos.

i.	Comments	The bulk of evidence for politeumata comes from Ptolemaic Egypt, where politeumata are first attested in the second century BC. In Egypt the politeuma is usually and most often designated by an ethnikon, whereas its members may have had a military background (Hongman 2003; Sänger 2014). In the inscription from Kos an ethnic designation is missing and nothing is revealed about the background of the dedicators. Although the Koan inscription is elusive as to the precise precise nature of the politeuma, it nonetheless makes explicit the close connection between the politeuma and the Ptolemaic kingdom, as the politeuma set up an honorific inscription for Ptolemy XII on Kos, an island with close ties with Egypt (see Bagnall 1976: 103-5).
iii.	Bibliography	Bagnall, R. (1976), The administration of the Ptolemaic possessions outside Egypt. Leiden. Honigman, S. (2003), 'Politeumata and Ethnicity in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt', AncSoc 33: 61-102. Sänger, P. (2014), 'The Politeuma in the Hellenistic World (Third to First Century B.C.): A Form of Organisation to Integrate Minorities', in: J. Dahlvik/Chr. Reinprecht/W. Sievers (eds.), Migration und Integration – wissenschaftliche Perspektiven aus Österreich. Jahrbuch 2/2013, Göttingen: 51-68.

i.	Private association	Probable
	Note	The presence of officials (arxantes) and the formal name politeuma underlines the existence of a formally organized group with an internal structure and hierarchy, evidence that can point to a private association. However, caution is needed as the debate over the the precise nature of the politeuma in Ptolemaic Egypt, public vs private, is still open (Sänger 2014).

CAPInv. 1872: to politeuma