Ackermann 216-234 no. 8 Decree of Aixone regulating payments for pasturage, 326/5 BC (?)

Decree of Aixone regulating payments for pasturage, 326/5 BC (?)

Ackermann, Aixone, 216-234 no. 8 Date: ca. 337-324 (326/5?) BC

Face A (Front)^[1] . . . . . . jury-court (dikastēriōi), and others (legal proceedings?) before (e.g. the demesmen?) . . . . . . while . . . the legal proceedings (dikas) . . . . . . the demarch Dor[otheos?] shall give . . . (5) . . . to the demesmen; and whatever - spends . . . . . . and the demarch shall take legal proceedings (dikazesthai) . . . . . . [against] those who have [not?] paid (apodedōkosin) . . . and [against] him who has not paid the price (ennomiou) of the pasturage rights (ennomiou); and if any of the debtors wish to refer (epitrepein) the matter of their debts to the demesmen, when they have sworn, before the matter is brought before the jury-court, (10) that the referral that they are going to make will be as just as possible, [the legal proceedings shall be deferred?] against them until the demesmen adjudicate; and they shall also swear before the referral that they will abide by whatever the demesmen vote for and will pay . . . of their own - or will provide sureties (bebaia) for the demesmen; and those of them that do not abide (by the deme's vote) and do not pay what they owe or (15) [having taken back their previous securities (enechura)?] do not pledge securities (enechura) on which there are no liens (anepapha) in their place and do not . . . or do not wish to make a referral about these things, the demarch and the legal representatives (sundikoi) and any of the demesmen who wish shall bring them before a jury-court; and the demarch shall take care with the legal representatives . . . to the demesmen for how much (?) (20) . . . ; but if one of these things . . . they shall bring them before a jury-court . . . to the demarch . . . . . .

Face B (Right side) . . . . . . . . . . . . ; (5) and I will undo none of these things, not I nor any of mine with my knowledge, unless the demesmen vote (10)to sell the pasturage (ennomia) (?); and in the future I shall declare to the demesmen if I know of anyone doing (15)any of these things in the fields (agrois) or sanctuaries (hierois) (?); (I swear) these things truly, by Zeus, by Poseidon, by Demeter; if I keep the oath (20)may many good things happen to me; if I break the oath the opposite; the . . . . . .

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Greek text

References:

Ackermann, Aixone, 216-234 no. 8 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1196 (PHI)

SEG 32.142a (PHI)

SEG 30.91

SEG 54.206

SEG 57.120

Syll.³ 914

Tracy, ADT 106

Russo, Ripartizioni, D10

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Aixone)

Findspot: Pirnari (= Aixone) (EM 12678+12678a)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. Except at the following points, AIO follows the Greek text of Ackermann, which is based largely on IG, as modified by A. Scafuro, ZRG 121, 2004, 94-106 (SEG 54.206) and N. Papazarkadas, ZPE 159, 2007, 160-66 no. D2 (SEG 57.120): A4 δήμαρχον Δωρ[όθεον] H. G. Lolling, Ath. Mitt. 4, 1879, 199-206 (editio princeps), supported by D. Whitehead, ZPE 47, 1982, 38-39 (SEG 32.142), identifying him with the Dorotheos, demarch in 326/5 BC in Ackermann no. 2, l. 19; e.g. δωρ[εὰς τοῖς συνδίκοις] Papaz. Ackermann leaves the matter open. The demarch making awards suits the context of this decree less well and, as Tracy notes, given that both inscriptions are cut by the same mason (see below), it seems probable "that the deme officials of Aixone commissioned this man to inscribe these two texts on the same occasion". B16 ἱ̣ε̣ροῖς Ackermann, [ἀ]γ̣ροῖς earlier eds.

On the deme Aixone and its abundant epigraphical record see Ackermann no. 1, with notes. From its findspot and the reference to the deme's syndikoi ("legal representatives") in ll. A17-19 (mentioned also in Ackermann no. 1), this can be identified as an inscription of that deme. It consists of a decree (Face A) concerned with the collection of arrears of payments relating to pasturage (ennomion, A7) and, inscribed on the side of the stele in the same hand (Face B), and clearly connected with the same process, an oath on the same topic (ennomia, B10-11). The date is determined by Tracy's identification of the mason as his "Cutter of IG II² 354", whose work is datable to 337-324 BC. Quite probably, the demarch in both this decree and Ackermann no. 2 was Dorotheos (see above, Textual Note), in which case this inscription, like that one, is datable to 326/5 BC.

The precise nature of the payments at issue in this decree is debated (discussed by Ackermann, 226-27). Ennomia is attested in Attica meaning "pasturage" (thus in IG II² 2498 the deme Piraeus divides the sacred estates it leases out into pasturage, ennomia, and cultivable land, ergasima) and Ackermann, following Scafuro and Papazarkadas, attractively takes this to be the sense when used in the plural at B10-11. (It is less easy to make sense in context of the alternative that has been suggested, that "selling the pasturage" means selling the right to collect the tax on the pasturage). Following in the wake of earlier scholars, Ackermann understands the singular, ennomion in A7 to have the slightly different meaning, "tax on pasturage", while Scafuro and Papazarkadas understand the meaning here to be "pasturage" also, envisaging that, as in the Piraeus, the pasturage in this deme was let out and what is at issue is lessees defaulting on their rent. On Scafuro and Papazarkadas' interpretation one would have expected the plural of ennomion at A7 and the expression, ennomiou ten timen, the "amount" or "price" of the ennomion, is more suggestive of Ackermann's sense (see also C. Chandezon, L' élevage en Grèce, 2003, 23-4), though it remains obscure exactly who was liable for this charge (e.g. all members or residents of the deme? Merely those who grazed their animals on the pastures in question? A specific group of demesmen who paid for grazing rights?).

Ennomia should not be confused with epinomia, a right which existed in some cities to graze animals on common land (cf. Chandezon, 309-330, 351-389). No such general right appears to have existed in Athens; instead it seems from this decree and the Piraeus lease referred to above that it was left to the demes to regulate local pasturage rights in accordance with whatever system they might devise. If B8-11 has been correctly understood above, the deme could even envisage selling the pasturage altogether, a possibility that resonates with the circumstances of the contemporary programme of land sales by demes and other civic groups to private individuals documented by the Rationes Centesimarum.

The pasturage leased out by the Piraeus consisted of sacred estates administered by the deme. If Ackermann's new restoration at B16, ἱ̣ε̣ροῖς, "sanctuaries", is correct, that would seem also to apply to the pasturage at issue in our decree, in that the implication would be that the pasturage was in the vicinity of sanctuaries; on the older reading, [ἀ]γ̣ροῖς, "fields", whether the pasturage was specifically "sacred" land would be unclear.

The surviving portion of the decree gives those in arrears with their payments the option of referring their case to the demesmen, rather than having it heard by a jury-court (dikasterion). Though this is the only case we know of where the demesmen collectively in effect arbitrate an issue that would otherwise have been referred to a city court, there are plenty of other instances where the deme Assembly is known to have exercised a judicial function (e.g. IG II² 1183 = RO 63, demesmen of Myrrhinous function as court of appeal in euthynai; Dem. 57.56, member of deme Halimous appeals to the city a decision of the deme Assembly to exclude him from the deme).

Who exactly is to swear the oath on Face B is unclear. It does not appear to be the same as the oath(s) referred to on Face A at ll. 9-13. Possibilities that have been suggested include the demarch, the farmer of the ennomion tax, the syndikoi; but Ackermann's suggestion, those who grazed their animals on the pasturage, seems more likely; and it is difficult to rule out that the oath was administered to every deme member.

Added: 19 Jul 2022
Updated: 26 Nov 2023
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