Demetrius Poliorcetes, Kairos, and the Sacred and Civil Calendars of Athens

This paper demonstrates that Demetrius Poliorcetes repeatedly scheduled to arrive in Athens during important religious festivals. The commemoration of these instances of kairos enshrined Demetrius in the calendars of the city and furthered his program of divine self-fashioning. The recognition that Demetrius and his Athenian partisans were attentive to timing helps to explain the nature of the divine honors the king received in Athens as well as his desire to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries in irregular fashion. When the relationship between city and king soured, timing was a central component of the effort to remove Demetrius from the cults and calendars of Athens.