GOING SOLAR: THE UTOPIANS OF HELIOPOLIS

 

I’ve always been fascinated by Saint Maximus the Greek, especially when one considered that he was a follower of radical Florentine reforming monk Girolamo Savonarola, who swept the Medicis from power in his city and instituted an almost puritanical Utopian regime, where all were treated equally and pomp and privilege were abolished in the hopes of establishing the New Jerusalem, before being pronounced a heretic and burnt at the stake.

Saint Maximus ended up in Russia, where he wrote one of the fullest accounts of Savonarola’s life, in Russian. In his account, Saint Maximus recognised Savonarola as a true religious reformer whose teaching deals with the genuine spirit of Christianity.

It is not known what Saint Maximus thought of earlier attempts to bring about social equality via the foundation of utopian regimes within the Greek world, of which the City of the Sun, is a most prominent example.

In 133BC, Attalus III, king of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pergamum in Asia Minor died. In his will, he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, an unprecedented act that created great turmoil. Although Attalus specified that Pergamum and other Greek cities were excluded from the bequest, it made little difference to the Romans. Social reformer Tiberius Gracchus, in particular, was keen to use this gift to support his ambitious land reforms.

One beneficiary left out of the will, was Aristonicus, a lyre player from Ephesus who asserted he was the illegitimate son of the earlier Pergamene king, Eumenes II seized the opportunity presented by the uncertainty to claim the throne, adopting the dynastic name Eumenes III. The historian Strabo described him as maintaining: “pretence of being descended from the royal family, but with the intention of usurping the kingdom.”

From the outset, Aristonicus gained substantial support, gathering both troops and ships, and launched his campaign to take over the Kingdom of Pergamum. He initially experienced significant victories on land and sea. Commencing his revolt at Leucae, with Phocaea joining his cause, he conquered Colophon, Notium, Samos, and Myndus. His campaign was further strengthened by his success in acquiring enough precious metals to mint coinage, a firm indication of his attempts to augment his legitimacy.

There were a number of reasons why significant numbers of the inhabitants of western Asia Minor initially supported Aristonicus. Firstly, his purported connection to the royal line of the Attalids gave his claim respectability. Further, there was significant resentment toward Roman interference and the impending direct control over Pergamon. Aristonicus’ resistance thus symbolized broader opposition to Rome's expansionist policies and their impact on local autonomy. Most importantly however, the revolt capitalised on widespread discontent among various social groups, including disenfranchised citizens, slaves, and other marginalized populations. Aristonicus attracted these supporters via radical promises for social reform and liberation which appealed to those dissatisfied with the existing social and economic order.

Such promises coalesced into an inchoate ideology after he experienced significant reverses in his fortunes: His forces never managed to capture the city of Pergamon and struggled in an attack against Smyrna. He experienced a naval defeat near Cyme against Ephesus. Consequently, Aristonicus began recruiting slaves into his ranks, some historians believe likely more out of necessity than a commitment to egalitarianism. This action spurred several Anatolian kings to join the conflict, including Nicomedes II of Bithynia, Mithridates V of Pontus, and Ariarathes V of Cappadocia.

Thus, after losing Ephesus, Aristonicus retreated into the interior of Asia Minor,  establishing a capital which he called Heliopolis, the City of the Sun.  He made it known that this would henceforth become the capital of a new type of state, a veritable utopia where not only would citizenship be afforded to all his subjects, but there would also be blanket equality. According to Strabo, “he went up into the interior and quickly assembled a large number of resource-less people, and also of slaves, invited with a promise of freedom, whom he called Heliopolitae.”

Some scholars contend that Aristonicus was not merely seeking to manipulate the masses for manpower but instead speculate that the utopian leader was influenced in his social programme of recruitment, including emancipation and economic relief, by his reputed association with the Stoic philosopher Blossius of Cumae, hailed by the historian Toynbee as Karl Marx’s “Hellenic Prototype” who supposedly was the instigator of Roman tribune Tiberius Gracchus’ land reforms. After Tiberius’ murder, Blossius fled Rome and joined Aristonicus’ movement. It is argued that Blossius’ ideological influence is apparent in the Heliopolitan movement. As an advocate of the Gracchan reforms, Blossius quite possibly was responsible for introducing a philosophical foundation to Aristonicus’ revolt focused on social justice and reducing inequality. His presence in the court of the rebel king suggests a migration of the radical social ideas that had so agitated the Roman polity, to the local context in Asia Minor. Others still believe that the Solar element in Aristonicus’ ideology was an attempt to placate his powerful Thracian mercenaries, who where particularly devoted to the worship of the god Helios.

Conversely, others contend that while there is no doubt that Aristonicus’ existed, his social programme was in fact inspired not by philosophy or ideolog but rather drew upon widely known tales of a legendary traveller named Iambulus, who, according to Diodorus, visited a utopian society on the “islands of the sun.” The inhabitants of that society were said to belong to an archipelago where day and night were of equal length and the climate was mild. They consumed abundant animals and plants and were never hungry, residing in a community that exhibited communal aspects and placed importance on moderation, beauty, and knowledge.

While we cannot know which policies Aristonicus put into practice among his subjects, we do know that the bourgeoisie of Pergamum feared confiscation of their wealth, class warfare, and a redistribution of property.

Aristonicus expanded his campaign into Lydia and Mysia, capturing the strategic city of Cyzicus. In response, the Roman Senate dispatched consul Marcus Perperna to quell the rebellion and secure the Kingdom of Pergamum for Rome. Perperna, who had experience in subduing slave revolts in Sicily, promptly arrived, organized his troops, and marched inland, where he decisively defeated Aristonicus in his first encounter. After his defeat, Aristonicus sought refuge in the city of Stratonicea, named after Aristonicus’ father’s wife, where the Romans besieged him. The siege was prolonged, with the Romans cutting off supplies, leading to the city and its defenders surrendering due to starvation. Eventually, Aristonicus was captured and taken to Rome in chains, where he was paraded around the city. In 129 BC, the Senate ordered his execution by strangulation in the Tullianum prison, ending his challenge to Roman authority.

After the capture and execution of the Sun King, the Romans began to establish their new province of Asia in the old Pergamene kingdom, facing continued resistance from remaining Heliopolitan supporters inspired by Aristonicus's egalitarian ideals. Despite their defiance, the Romans ruthlessly suppressed them, with Consul Marcus Aquilius resorting to poisoning the water sources of their fortified positions, a tactic they themselves found reprehensible. Aquilius was subsequently worshipped as a benefactor god by the Pergamenes. By 127 B.C, the utopian ideal had vanished into obscurity, although it is possible that the king of Pontus was able to tap into lingering local resentment when he attempted decades later, to raise Asia Minor in revolt against the Romans.

Recently archaeologists uncovered a reference at an oracle in Asia Minor to a previously unknown location called the doulon polis, or “City of Slaves,” one of the few possibly concrete pieces of evidence to attest to an early if ultimately unsuccessful social experiment, one of many that would follow and that would ultimately, be brutally suppressed. Today, a statue of the hapless Sun King in Bergama, the modern city of Pergamum, holding a sun shaped harp acts as a symbol of the ideal of social revolution and how easily and harshly, its aspirations can be supressed.

DEAN KALIMNIOU

 kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on 24 August 2024