Phratry decrees of the Dekeleans
RO 5 Date: 396/5 BC and laterFace A
Preamble Sacred to Zeus Phratrios.[1] The priest, ⟦ ⟦Theodoros⟧ son of Eupha⟦ntid⟧es⟧,[2] inscribed
and set up the stele.
The following shall be given to the priest as priestly dues (hiereōsuna).
(5) From the meion[3] a thigh, a rib, an ear,
3 obols of money; from the koureion[3] a thigh,
a rib, an ear, a cake (elatēra) weighing one choinix,
half a jug (hēmichon) of wine, 1 drachma of money.
Decree 1 The phrateres decided the following when
(10) Phormio was archon for the Athenians (396/5) and when the phratriarch was Pantakles
of Oion.
Hierokles proposed: those who have not yet been adjudicated (diedikasthēsan)[4] in accordance with the law of the Demotionidai,
(15) the phrateres shall adjudicate about them
immediately, after swearing by
Zeus Phratrios, taking the ballot (psēphon) from
the altar. Whoever is decided to have been introduced, not being a phrater,
the priest and the phratriarch shall erase
(20) his name from the register (grammateio) in or in the keeping of the Demotionidai and from the copy.
Whoever introduced the rejected person
shall owe a hundred drachmas sacred to Zeus
Phratrios; the priest and the phratriarch shall
(25) exact this money,
or owe it themselves. The adjudication
shall take place in future in the year after that in which
the koureion[3] is sacrificed, on Koureotis[5] of
Apatouria, taking the ballot from the altar.
(30) If any of those who are voted out wishes to appeal
to the Demotionidai, he shall be permitted to do so.
The House of the Dekeleans shall choose as
advocates (sunēgoros) in these cases five men over
thirty years old, and the phratriarch and
(35) the priest shall bind them by oath
to advocate what is most just and not
to allow anyone who is not a phrater to be a member of the phratry.
Anyone whom the Demotionidai vote out after he has appealed
shall owe a thousand drachmas
(40) sacred to Zeus Phratrios;
the priest of the House of the Dekeleans shall exact this money, or owe it himself.
It shall also be permitted to any other of the phrateres
who wishes to exact it for the common treasury (koinōi).
(45) This shall apply from the archonship of Phormio (396/5).
The phratriarch shall put to the vote each year
concerning those who have to undergo adjudication.
If he does not put the vote, he shall owe
five hundred drachmas sacred to Zeus
(50) Phratrios; the priest and any other who wishes
shall exact this money
for the common treasury. In future the
meia and the koureia[3] shall be taken to Dekeleia to
the altar. If he (i.e. the phratriarch) does not sacrifice at the altar,
(55) he shall owe fifty drachmas sacred to
Zeus Phratrios; the priest shall exact this money,
or shall owe it himself.
several lines missing
Face B
. . . but if any of these things prevents it, wherever the
(60) priest gives notice, the meia and the koureia[3] shall be taken there. The priest shall give notice on the fifth day
before Dorpia[5] on a whitened board (pinakiōi) of not less than a span, at whatever place the
Dekeleans frequent in the city. The priest
(65) shall inscribe this decree and the
priestly dues (hiereōsuna) on a stone stele
in front of the altar at Dekeleia at his own
expense.
Decree 2[6] Nikodemos proposed: in other respects in accordance with
the previous decrees in effect concerning the
(70) introduction of the children and the adjudication,
but the three witnesses who are specified
for the preliminary hearing (anakrisei) shall be provided from
the members of his own thiasos[7] to give evidence on the matters under enquiry
and to swear by Zeus Phratrios.
(75) The witnesses shall give evidence and swear
while holding the altar. If there are
not so many in this thiasos,
they shall be provided from the other phratry members. When
the adjudication takes place, the phratriarch shall not
(80) administer the vote about the children
to the whole phratry before the members
of the thiasos of the one being introduced have voted secretly,
taking the ballot from the altar.
The phratriarch shall count their ballots in the
(85) presence of the whole phratry
present at the meeting (agorai),
and he shall announce which way
they vote. If the members of the thiasos
vote that the candidate is a phrater of theirs, but the other
(90) phrateres vote him out, the members of the thiasos shall owe
a hundred drachmas sacred to Zeus
Phratrios, except for any members of the
thiasos who accuse him or are seen to be opposed to him
in the adjudication. If the
(95) members of the thiasos vote him out, but the introducer
appeals to all and all
decide that he is a phrater, he shall be inscribed in the
common (koina) registers (grammateia). But if all vote him out,
he shall owe a hundred drachmas
(100) sacred to Zeus Phratrios. If the
members of the thiasos vote him out and he does not appeal
to all, the adverse vote of the thiasos
shall be valid (kuria). The members of the thiasos
shall not cast a ballot with the other phrateres
(105) about children from their
own thiasos. The priest shall inscribe this decree
in addition on the stone stele.
The oath of the witnesses at the introduction
of the children: 'I witness that the one whom he is introducing
(110) is his own legitimate son by a wedded wife.
This is true, by Zeus Phratrios.
If my oath is good, may there be many benefits for me,
but if my oath is false, the opposite.'
Decree 3[8] Menexenos proposed: the phrateres shall decide concerning
(115) the introduction of the children, in other respects in accordance with
the previous decrees, but in order that the phrateres may know those
who are going to be introduced, a record shall be given
to the phratriarch in the first year after the koureion[3] is brought of his name, patronymic and deme, and
(120) of his mother’s name, patronymic and deme;
and when they have been recorded, the phratriarch
shall display the record at whatever place the Dekeleans frequent, and the priest shall write it up
on a white tablet (sanidiōi) and display it in the [sanctuary (hierōi)] (125) of Leto; [and the priest shall inscribe the phratry's decree] [on the stone] stele . . .