CsapWil 148-52 Financial accounts of the deme Ikarion

Financial accounts of the deme Ikarion

Csapo and Wilson II, 148-52 Date: ca. 450-425 BC

IV name as demarch handed over total of money of Dionysos at least 2,000 dr. total of Ikarios 2,107 dr. 1/2 obol total of hosios (money) 26,933 dr. 4 obols. V (5)name as demarch handed over total of money of Dionysos [4?],600 dr., total of Ikarios at least 2,100 dr. 1 obol total of hosios (money) [24?],002 dr. 4 obols. VI name as demarch handed over total of money of Dionysos [at least 4,000 dr.?], total of money of Ikarios over 2,120 dr. (10)total of hosios money 25,122 dr. I name as demarch handed over total of money of Dionysos sum over 4,000? and ending in 16 dr. 3 obols, of hosios money total 26,288 dr. 3 obols. II (15)name as demarch handed over total of money of Dionysos sum over 4,000? and ending in 66 dr. 4 obols, of hosios money total 26,697 dr. of money [for Ikarios?] total (20) sum ending in 2 obols. III name as demarch handed over of the hosios money total at least 26,000 dr. of money of Dionysos total at least 3,500 dr. of money of Ikarios total (25) -^[1]

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Greek text

References:

Csapo and Wilson II, 148-52 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG I³ 253 (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 54.57

SEG 60.95

Russo, Ripartizioni, D55 face A

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Account

Findspot: Ikarion, under front wall of Byzantine church (NM 4833A)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the deme Ikarion and its inscriptions see IG I³ 1015, with notes.

Textual Note. Following rediscovery of the stone in the storerooms of the National Museum, the text of this inscription was thoroughly revised from autopsy by A. Makres, in A. P. Matthaiou and G. Malouchou eds., Attikai Epigraphai. Praktika Symposiou ... Adolf Wilhelm (2004), 123-40 (= SEG 54.57) and this, with further minor adjustments from autopsy and somewhat fuller restorations, is the basis for Csapo and Wilson's text, which we follow here. As Csapo and Wilson note, the iota at the start of l. 19 is probably from the end of the name Ikarios, perhaps here, on his first mention in the accounts, in the dative rather than the usual genitive.

This set of accounts is inscribed on the back of a stele, on the front of which is the deme decree regulating the financing of the Ikarian Rural Dionysia, IG I³ 254. They detail total sums handed over by one demarch to his successor in six years, which, to judge by the lettering, most likely fell somewhere between ca. 450 and 425 BC. The lettering, including use of the Attic alphabet, in the lower three annual entries (I-III) show that they are earlier than the upper three (IV-VI). Apparently after year III it was decided to continue the accounts in space originally left blank (or painted?) at the top of the stele. While possible, it is uncertain whether the six years were consecutive; it may be, e.g. that there was a gap in time between III and IV. III is also inscribed in a different hand from I and II.

The money is divided into three separate funds: of Dionysos, of Ikarios (probably first in year II, missing from year I), and hosios. "Hosios" is an untranslatable term often found in contrasting conjunction with "hieros", "sacred", as in the phrase "hiera and hosia". J. H. Blok, Mnemosyne 63, 2010, 61-93 (SEG 60.36), on this inscription 64-69 (SEG 60.95), followed by Csapo and Wilson, argues that in this context it signifies public (in this case deme) money to be spent in a manner pleasing to the gods, in contrast to money which actually belongs to the gods, i.e. in this case Dionysos and Ikarios. Blok suggests that the hosios fund was created specifically to cover the costs of the Ikarian Dionysia not met by the choregoi mentioned on the other side of the stone, e.g. wooden benches for spectators, prizes, sacrifices etc. The sums of money in these accounts are rarely completely preserved, but it is clear enough that the hosios fund has the most money, fluctuating between 24,000 and 30,000 drachmas, while Dionysos has ca. 4,000 dr. and Ikarios 2,000 dr. or so. To judge by practice in other demes, the deme will have made these capital sums productive by lending them mainly to members. Cf. e.g. in Rhamnous, OR 134, and for the somewhat different financial arrangements in neighbouring Plotheia, OR 159. At a conservative estimated rate of interest of 2.5%, Blok calculates that the total annual income generated by these funds will therefore have been at least ca. 800 dr. It is unclear whether the funds also received revenues from other sources, e.g. land rentals, local taxes (such as the enktetikon tax payable by landowners in the deme who were not deme members, if that tax existed in this deme, cf. IG II² 1214, l. 27). Blok argues that the hosios fund related exclusively to expenditure connected with Dionysos and Ikarios, and that other arrangements must have been made for other aspects of the deme's finances (e.g. perhaps the cult of Apollo Pythios). Alternatively, the three funds named in these accounts may have accounted for the entire budget of the deme and Apollo Pythios may have been managed not by the deme, but by another group with a base there, e.g. the Epakreis; on the possibility that there was such a group see the note to IG I³ 1015.

Added: 30 Sep 2022
Updated: 7 Mar 2024
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