Based on Jacques Le Goff's definitions of the medieval king, I have shown the structural and symbolic analogies with the Hellenistic basileus . In his role as "administrator" king, the Hellenistic king is weighed down by the practices of audiences and correspondence, which feed the topos of the king's grievances for the burdensome nature of his duties. The weight of correspondence is well represented by Plutarch's well-known passage(Mor. 790.a-b) recounting the complaints attributed to Seleucus I: "It is said that Seleucus repeated in every circumstance that if people knew how tiresome it is only to write and read so many letters, they would not pick up for themselves a diadem thrown on the ground." On the other hand, literary tradition and epigraphy make Antiochos III a king particularly prone to epistolary activity.
If the decree is the city's instrument of self-representation and communication, the letter is the king's instrument of self-representation and communication. Judging by the formulas in official letters, relying on the king with devotion and trust(eunoia et pistis) and persevering in such behavior are the conditions demanded by the king to ensure his protection and to continue extending his grace(charis), his benefits.
The flow of information from the center to the periphery and vice versa involves a system of communications that we can only imagine. L. Robert(Hellenica VII, p. 5-29; OMS V, p. 469-484) has established that the dates that have survived differently in the three copies (from Eriza in Phrygia, from Nahavand/Laodicea in Media and from Kermanshah in Iran) of Antiochos III's edict for the institution of the dynastic cult of Laodice indicate that the prostagma was promulgated in the 119th year of the Seleucid era, on the 3rd or 10th of Xandikos ( = February 21 or 28, 193) ; in Phrygia, Anaximbrotos transmitted a copy of the edict on Artemisios 19 ( = May 6); in Media, Menedemos transmitted two copies of the edict on Panemos 3 and 10 ( = June 19 and 26). Whether these times of transmission of the edict are indicative of efficient bureaucratic organization and rapid communication throughout the Seleucid empire is a matter of considerable debate.
