Dedica dei Siracusani a Zeus Hellanios

An inscription engraved on a statue-basis offered by the Syracusan damos to Zeus Hellanios was found in unknown circumstances in Ortigia. This document remembers Gelo, son of Hiero II, as a Syracusan basileus, although he never became king because he died before his father. Regarding the chronology of this document, the dating of the gift offered by Hiero and Gelo to the Rodian people is the most indicative: in 227 BC it seems that Gelo is mentioned alongside his father. This chronology is also confirmed by paleographic analysis. The mention of the damos in the Syracusan inscription and its personification in the well-known sculptural group donated by Gelo to the Rodians representing the Siracusan damos that crowns the Rodian people confirm the active role of the Syracusan damos during the reign of Hiero II. At this time the boule and the damos still played an important role that would be permanently lost shortly after the tyranny of Hieronymos.