Page 40 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

divinely sanctified by Zeus Xenios, extended to other guests, but these
were generally proffered by private individuals, not the state. No accom-
modation, transport, or provisions were provided at the public expense
of the receiving state. Except in Sparta, foreign envoys appear to have en-
joyed the complete freedom of movement available to all other visitors.
Many customary acts of hospitality, in particular the giving of gifts, were
not observed by the public authorities because of the potential implica-
tion of bribery. Only at the conclusion of his business could an envoy
expect to attend a formal meal as guest of the state to which he had
been sent. Otherwise, the envoy had either to provide for himself, sup-
plementing with his own resources the minimal amounts paid to him by
his own state for expenses, or to look to the hospitality of a local citizen.
Hospitality could be extended by an individual with whom the envoy
had prior personal contact, through either business or familial connec-
tions, and with whom he shared the obligations of guest-friendship. A
more formal institution which could provide for the wants of envoys was
proxenia.A proxenos was a citizen of one state, recognised by a second
as a representative of its interests; for example, a Theban citizen who
was granted proxenia by Athens would extend hospitality to Athenians
visiting Thebes on private or official business, and would be expected
to advocate policies friendly to Athens in the Theban assembly. Proxenia
remained an essentially private institution, for although, in this example,
the grant of proxenia was an official action on the part of Athens, it did
not formally involve the council or assembly of Thebes. In regard to
diplomatic communication, proxenoi provided assistance to envoys from
the state to which they were connected, and might be chosen to act as
envoys to that state because of the prestige they already enjoyed there.
They might also wield a special authority influencing policies towards
the other state. 35
A second institution which affected the conduct of diplomacy was the
tradition of heralds. Originating before historic times, the herald’s office
was essentially religious; though heralds performed functions on behalf
of their communities, they were not officers of state. Their functions
were hereditary, in Athens passing through the family of the Kerykes,
in Sparta through the Talthybioi. In the fifth and fourth centuries bc,
heralds were most associated with the formalites of warfare, delivering
declarations of war and petitioning for the recovery of the dead and
wounded. Religious sanctions protecting heralds in times of war did
not extend to regular envoys; nevertheless, envoys were often conveyed

35
F. Gschnitzer, ‘Proxenoi’, RE Suppl. xiii, 629–730; Kienast, ‘Presbeia’, 581–7; Adcock and Mosley,
Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 160–3.
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