Olympichus of Alinda and the Carian Expedition of Antigonus Doson
An inscription found at Demirdjidéré in Caria, and published by A. Laumonier in 1934, deals with the granting of the citizenship of some unnamed city (probably Alinda) to Dionytas and Apollas, officials in the chancery (ἐπιοτωλαγραφῖον (sic)) of Olympichus, the στρατηγὀς of a Hellenistic king, whom Laumonier very reasonably identifies with Philip V of Macedon: Olympichus he assumes to be the Carian dynast of that name, whose machinations against the town of Iasus in about 202 B.C. are recorded in three well-known inscriptions, which Holleaux published in 1899. Unfortunately, in dating his inscription to the year 202, Laumonier paved the way for certain unjustifiable conclusions about the relations of Macedonia and Caria during the last quarter of the third century B.C.; and as these conclusions have since been drawn by Lenschau, it is important, I think, to point out their tenuous basis before there is any risk of their becoming widely accepted.