AIO 3687 Decrees of Teithras relating to leases

Decrees of Teithras relating to leases

AIO 3687 Date: ca. 350-325 BC

In the demarchy of Euthippos.^[1] The Teithrasians decided; Eudikos proposed: so that the common property may be secured for the demesmen and the Teithrasians may know what they possess and their revenue, the demarch shall inscribe (5)those common properties which are leased in perpetuity (katapax).^[2] The Teithrasians decided; Pandios proposed:^[3] since Xanthippos is a good man concerning the common property of the Teithrasians, the Teithrasians shall resolve to lease to Xanthippos the estate at Teithras of which the neighbour to the north (10)is the estate of Aigeus^[4] and the heroon of Epigonos (?), and to the south the Herakleion and the estate of the hero . . . (topographical? description of hero) and the precinct of Zeus^[5] for all time (eis ton aiei chronon) both to himself and to the heirs of Xanthippos on both sides (ep' amphotera);^[6] and it shall be permitted for (15)Xanthippos and the heirs of Xanthippos to use the estate in whatever way he may wish, paying «220 drachmas»^[7] to the Teithrasians each year; and if the enemy causes damages to the tenant of the estate, he shall remit half of what he takes from the land to the Teithrasians, (20) . . . he shall be relieved of the lease by the Teithrasians; and to set up a stele in the Koreion^[8] and inscribe on it those who have leased estates in perpetuity (katapax) and the rent that each [pays?];^[9] and anything written previously contrary to this (25)decree shall be erased from the stele by three men with the demarch^[10] . . . that the Teithrasians release the lessees from the leases for all time (eis ton aiei chronon); and the Teithrasians shall lease the estates in perpetuity (katapax); (30)and the lessees shall pay to the Teithrasians [the contributions (telē)^[11] each] year and pay the property taxes (eisphoras eispherein) on these (scil. estates) to the city; and they shall pay the rents to the demarch in office, in the month of Elaphebolion (35) . . . the estates leased . . . these just as . . . illegible text SEG 24.152 follows

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Greek text

References:

AIO 3687 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 24.151 (PHI)

SEG 57.131a

Pernin, Baux ruraux 13.1

Humphreys, Kinship, 887-9

Russo, Ripartizioni, D99a

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Teithras), Decree (Deme Teithras)

Original location: Teithras (Koreion)

Findspot: South-east of the place known in the early 20th century as Pikermi, north-west of the place called Pikermi by the later 20th century, built into chapel of Metamorphosis (EM 12566.1)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. First edited by H. Möbius, Ath. Mitt. 49, 1924, 1-13 (SEG 24.151-3 also reflects contributions by A. Wilhelm, Archiv Pap. 11, 1935, 189-200), this stele is inscribed with three separate blocks of text, all under the heading (on the upper moulding), "in the demarchy of Euthippos": SEG 24.151, two decrees relating to leases by the deme Teithras (this AIO entry); SEG 24.152, list of deme leases in perpetuity; SEG 24.153, decree honouring Euthippos. AIO's text of the first two texts follows SEG 24.151 and 152, as amended from autopsy by N. Papazarkadas, ZPE 159, 2007, 155-160 (SEG 57.131) and by Pernin on the basis of her own autopsy and Papazarkadas' work and of unpublished work, including autopsy, by G. Rougemont. Significant differences between the two texts are: 10-11 Ἐπ̣|ιγόν[ου] Pernin, Ἐπ̣|[ιγ]ό[νου?] Pap. 20 ἐ[ὰ]μ̣ β̣ο̣λ̣ῆται ? ("if he wishes") Pernin, ἐὰν δ’ ἀρν]ῆται ("but if he refuses") Pap. 23 [κα]τ̣άπ̣αξ Pernin, [κατάπαξ] Pap. 23-24 ἕκαστ|[ος μεμ]ί[σθ]ω̣τ̣αι Pernin, ἕκαστ|[οι μ]ε̣[μ]ίσ̣[θ]ω[ν]ται Pap. 27 traces Pernin, [καὶ προσεπιγράψ]α̣[ι], ὅτι [τῶνδε] ("and to inscribe in addition that of these") Pap. 31 med. Ι/̣ΕΙ Pernin, ΕΛ̣ . . Γ̣ . ΕΙ Pap.

This inscription contains a somewhat confusing hotch-potch of three texts, the logic of which is rendered more difficult to grasp by the fact that the stone is badly worn and some significant passages are illegible. Confident interpretation is also hindered by our ignorance of the context and background. However, the heading of the stele dating it to the demarchy of Euthippos and the fact that the final text on the stone is a decree honouring him, suggests that the demarch had taken an initiative to address problems that had "presumably [been] set off by some conflict over rights to property and the deme's rent claims" (Humphreys). For initiatives of this kind by demarchs cf. Euxitheos in Halimous in Dem. 57 (discussed in the notes to SEG 2.7) and similar issues relating to payment for pasturage in Aixone in IG II² 1196. The date of the inscription cannot be pinned down with precision, but parallels would not lead one to expect such a set of decrees to be earlier than ca. 350 BC (cf. the general discussion of deme inscriptions at RO 46), and their general tenor (which is suggestive of the context of the Rationes Centesimarum) and what little chronological information is supplied by prosopography (in the honorific decree for Euthippos) suggest they may have been a little later. Cf. Humphreys. On the deme of Teithras, see Agora XV 45 with notes. [2] The motion of Eudikos (who is not otherwise known) seems to have initiated the process, commissioning the demarch to draw up an inscribed list of the deme's properties which had been leased in perpetuity, or literally "once and for all" (kat(h)apax, l. 23). Perpetual leases clearly offered particular scope for disputes about tenure and rentals; Humphreys notes that there was a natural tendency in such cases for the properties to become privatised over time, and for the lessees to become de facto owners. As Pernin observes, however, the term kat(h)apax is not normally used in inscribed leases and it is not clear whether it was equivalent to "for all time" (eis ton aiei chronon), a term that also occurs in this inscription. Papazarkadas suggests that the difference may have been that leases "for all time" were heritable, whereas those that were "once and for all"/"in perpetuity" lasted merely for the lifetime of the lessee. This is not certain, but if correct it would facilitate the understanding of some of the otherwise obscure provisions of these decrees. It is not clear, however, that we should be right to assume that Teithras only used this kind of lease. There is nothing in the inscription which rules out its also having made leases for fixed terms (e.g. for the religious properties on the boundaries of the estate leased to Xanthippos mentioned in ll. 9-12). [3] The proposal of Pandios (probably identifiable with one of the father-son pair, Pandios son of Pandios on the funerary monument SEMA 645) falls into two parts: the first, ll. 6-21, is a lease granted to Xanthippos (also unknown; the absence of a demotic implies that he was a demesman of Teithras) of an estate, which was surrounded by a number of religious sanctuaries and estates (9-12). The lease is "for all time", and is heritable; but its terms are mostly fairly typical of inscribed Attic leases. The second part (21-end) reverts to the general topic of leases in perpetuity, in part repeating but also modifying Eudikos' proposal. [4] Aigeus was the eponymous hero of the tribe to which Teithras belonged, Aigeis. Papazarkadas raises the possibility that the tribal sanctuary was located in the deme, but with the exception of Hippothontis, whose sanctuary was at Eleusis and possibly Oineis at Acharnai, the other tribal sanctuaries, where known, were located in the city, and Russo, pp. 62-64, points out that there are several locations in the city associated with Aigeus, one of which may have been the location of the tribal sanctuary. Moreover the use of the term "chorion" rather than "hieron" suggests that this was a piece of agricultural land, which was perhaps used to fund sacrifices to Aigeus in the deme, rather than the tribal sanctuary. Cf. the sacrifice in the city deme, Skambonidai, to the eponym of its tribe, Leos, whose tribal sanctuary was in or close to the deme, IG I³ 244, C5. [5] Cf. the offerings to Zeus in the deme's sacrificial calendar, SEG 21.542. [6] Property was usually inherited in the male line, but in the absence of sons, it might be inherited by a daughter, an epikleros (heiress), who would normally transmit the property into the household of her husband. As Humphreys notes, the specification "on both sides" may imply that either Xanthippos or his son(s) had only daughters at this date. (The alternative, less natural/more forced, explanations that the expression ep'amphotera pleonastically emphasised that the lease was to be for both Xanthippos and his heirs, [J. Tréheux, BCH 77, 1953, 155-165], or that it should apply both kat(h)apax and eis ton aei chronon [Papazarkadas, 159 n. 24] seem unnecessary). [7] The amount of the rent, 220 drachmas, is not out of the ordinary for properties leased by demes, but it has been inscribed over an erasure, suggesting that there may have been some issue over it. [8] This unusually named Koreion (a sanctuary of Demeter's daughter, Korē, "The Girl", i.e. Persephone), is the only attested location for inscriptions of Teithras. Cf. SEG 24.153, and perhaps also Agora XV 45. [9] The surviving list of perpetual leases, which follows this decree on the stone, does not include the rents, which may confirm suspicions that this was a controversial topic. [10] This type of clause is not uncommon. If there was indeed a distinction between "perpetual" leases and leases "for all time" (cf. above n. 2), and if the effect of the following three incompletely preserved lines is to abolish the use of leases for all time in the deme, and to replace them with perpetual leases, this clause may imply that the lease for Xanthippos was an exception, in effect a privilege justified, it seems, by the fact that Xanthippos is said to have been a "good man" in relation to the common property of the deme (7-8; cf. Whitehead's remark, Demes, 158, that the decree is "tantamount to being honorific"). [11] What exactly these "contributions" or "taxes" (telē) may have been in this deme is obscure. For "contributions", or freedom from them, in other demes cf. e.g. IG I³ 258, IG II² 2496, 13, 2497, 4-6, 2498, 6-7, IG II² 1214, 25-27, I Rhamnous 7, 10, I Eleusis 68, 8, 70, 26, etc.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3687