Matthaiou2008 91-93 Decrees of Athenian Assembly and Kollytos, 327/6 BC

Decrees of Athenian Assembly and Kollytos, 327/6 BC

Matthaiou, Nέο θραῦσμα, 91-93 Date: 327/6 BC

Assembly decree^[1] Fragment b 10 fragmentary lines including the month name "Mounichion (?)" (Mou[nichiōni?]) in l. 2, "of them" (autōn) in l. 7 and "People" or "deme" (dēmon) in l. 8

Fragments cdeg . . . . . . on a stone stele . . . the prytany secretary and stand it on the acropolis; and the treasurer of the People shall give for the inscribing - drachmas from the People's fund for expenditure (15) on decrees.

Decree of Kollytos Eukadmides proposed: . . . for all the gods and heroes . . . what has been decided . . . to make a sacrifice and an approach if things turn out well^[2] . . . for good fortune (20)the men of Kollytos shall decide that - and the demarch shall offer to all the gods and heroes cakes (popana) and liquid meal (pelanon) . . . after the archonship of Hegemon (327/6); and all the revenues of the demesmen shall be made available (huparchein) for good fortune for the preservation of the Athenian (25)People, 2000 drachmas; and if any of the demesmen wish to lend on the security of the common funds (chrēmasin) and the revenues . . . any . . . the . . . of those who have lent . . . the revenues . . . the (30)year after the archonship of Hegemon (327/6); and the demarch in office shall . . . to those who have lent from the revenues . . . of them and . . . . . . . . .

Greek text

References:

Matthaiou, Nέο θραῦσμα, 91-93 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1195 (fr. c) (PHI)

IG II² 620 (fr. b) (PHI)

SEG 25.145 (PHI)

SEG 44.42 (PHI)

SEG 61.10

SEG 58.108

Sokolowski, LSCG 38

Tracy, ADT 134

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2)
Krateros - (1, 2)
Ohio - (1, 2)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Council/People), Decree (Deme Kollytos)

Original location: Acropolis

fr. b - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 7659)
fr. c - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 7732)
fr. d - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 6630)
fr. e - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 5825)
fr. g - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 13522)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. AIO follows the 2008 edition of Matthaiou, who in publishing a new fragment (g) also revised the text as a whole (cf. SEG 58.108). With him we omit the very small fragments a = Ag. I 5572 and f = Ag. I 2799, associated with fr. c together with fr. b, fr. d and fr. e, by M. B. Walbank, Hesperia 63, 1994, 233-39 (SEG 44.42). Doubts about fr. a and f were also voiced by Tracy, who identified the inscription as a work of the "Cutter of IG II² 1187" (see also Tracy, Hesperia 63, 1994, 241-44). 14 There is space for a single digit, perhaps 𐅄 (50) (Walbank); less likely Δ (10).

Kollytos was a city deme of the tribe Aigeis, located within the city-walls, neighbouring Melite (Strabo C65, 1.4.7), of modest size both in physical extent (which included the area between the Pnyx and the Hill of the Nymphs, south and east towards Diomeia, and bordering the south slope of the Acropolis) and citizen population (bouleutic quota 3), but famously "smart". There was a saying, "Not all Athenians live in Kollytos", i.e. not all were wealthy (Plut. Mor. 601b; for grand houses within the deme cf. R. S. Stroud, The Athenian Grain-Tax Law, Hesp. Suppl. 29, 1998, 89). The affluent impression conveyed by this aphorism is confirmed by this inscription, with its provision encouraging members to lend funds for a common purpose (in which the city appears to have had an interest), and in its readiness to pledge the revenues of the deme as security for these loans. These revenues apparently amounted to some 2,000 dr. a year (l. 25). Precise comparanda are difficult to pin down, but in the 5th century BC the income in the rather larger but less affluent rural deme Ikarion (bouleutic quota 5) was perhaps ca. 800 dr. a year, IG I³ 253, and that of the very small but active deme Plotheia (bouleutic quota 1) ca. 500 dr., IG I³ 258, while the major sanctuary of Nemesis at Rhamnous lent out capital of ca. 50,000 dr., IG I³ 248. The affluence of Kollytos is reflected in its wealth index of 2.33, which is a product of the ratio of members of the liturgical class (cf. the average of 1.39, R. Osborne, Demos, p. 198), and is the highest index for an intramural deme. This contrasts with the relative poverty of the apparently rather dysfunctional deme Halimous, which had the same bouleutic quota and a wealth index of 0.67, SEG 2.7. On the relative wealth of the intramural demes see also Agora XVI 68 (Kydathenaion), with notes.

This inscription contains the only extant decree of Kollytos, which apart from its affluence, was also the location of a Rural Dionysia featuring both (new) comedies and (old) tragedies, referred to more than once in the dispute between Demosthenes and Aischines (Aischin. 1.157; Dem. 18.180, cf. 242, 261-2; Life of Aischines 1.7; cf. Csapo and Wilson II, 184-8, who also discuss a reference to the deme's agora by the late 4th cent. AD author Himerios, Or. 31.63-65 = Phot. Bibl. 375 Bekker, vol. 6, 121 Henry). On demes in general cf. RO 46; on the Rural Dionysia, IG II³ 4, 498. For a recent discussion of Kollytos and its members, which included the philosopher Plato and the orator Hypereides, see also Humphreys, Kinship, 847-9.

The inscription contains the end of an Assembly decree, of the substance of which nothing survives, and a slightly better preserved, but still frustratingly fragmentary, deme decree. (Inscriptions containing decrees of a deme and of the Council or Assembly are unusual, but not wholly unparalleled, cf. I Eleusis 229; RO 89; perhaps Kourouniotes 1927 no. 3; and on the tendency for intramural demes to be more integrated with polis structures than their rural counterparts see Agora XVI 68 (Kydathenaion), with notes). The key surviving provision is at ll. 23-27, where the entire revenue of the deme, estimated at 2000 dr., is pledged "for the preservation of the Athenian People". What this actually means is clarified by the next clause (25-7), in which the demesmen are invited to make loans secured on the deme's chremata (cash holdings?) and revenues. The purpose of the loans is unclear. Matthaiou has clarified that there is no implication, as earlier scholars supposed, that the beneficiary was the cult of Agathe Tyche ("Good Fortune"; thus still Humphreys). His own suggestion that the funding was connected with the grain shortages of this period is possible (cf. IG II³ 1, 367), but is not supported by explicit wording in the text. This was also a period of extensive public expenditure on schemes of religious regeneration and construction projects, and a purpose of this kind is also possible. Cf. IG II³ 1, 447; IG II³ 1, 352; SEG 21.519. [Plut.] Life of Lykourgos 852b records that, among the city's financial initiatives instigated at this period by Lykourgos was the raising of loans from private individuals (translation at IG II² 457+3207); it is also possible that this inscription was connected with an initiative of this kind to improve the public finances. [2] The preamble to the deme decree contained formulaic wording for making a vow: the deme has vowed (euxasthai) to all the gods and heroes that if what has been decided turns out well, they will make a sacrifice (or, since it appears from l. 22 that no animals were involved, offering, thysia) and an "approach" (prosodos, i.e. a processional "approach" to the image or altar preparatory to making the offering). What follows (20-23) makes provision for implementing the vow. For similar wording see IG II² 112, ll. 9-12.

Added: 12 Dec 2022
Updated: 8 Jan 2024
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ID: AIO_2593