AIUK43A no. 10 Decree of the Areopagos, 195/6 AD

Decree of the Areopagos, 195/6 AD

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 10 Date: 195/6 AD

Face A (front)

Fragments fg

[In the archonship of Gaius Helvidius] Secundus of Pallene (195/6 AD), when the herald of the Council of the Areopagos was Amphias son of Amphias [of Oion], on the twenty-first of -. The Council of the Areopagos decided [to resolve?] on the basis of the decisions ? (5) [of the Council of Five Hundred and the People voted in the archonship?] of –kleides of - . . .

Fragment e

. . . for the men [chosen for the comprehensive review?] . . . the fire-carrier Alkamenes of Lamptrai shall . . . (10) . . . they provided for them the . . . . . . or require for the – in the (?) . . . . . .

Fragment c

. . . . . . [add a?] portion (15) those [citizens or Areopagites?] taking . . . [setting aside?]

Fragment h

. . . and the payments . . . . . . the prices of grain . . . . . . there exists . . . do not know . . . (20) . . . provide . . . to be assailed (?) . . . . . . the herald shall . . . all citizens . . . . . . the dirt . . . the houses . . . everywhere are a nuisance to the [city?] . . . Alkamenes [shall] - the [reproach?] (25) . . . to those chosen

Fragment i

. . . . . . that guarant- (?) . . . . . . [management?] . . . [make provision for?] . . . the fire-carrier Alkamenes . . . (30) . . . with the holder of the office of herald . . . . . . but if they ever . . . to each other . . . . . . this Areopagos Council . . . . . . suitable . . . . . . shall be fined ten thousand drachmas (?) . . . (35) . . . the remaining . . . . . . but if . . . to take over . . . . . . on the defined occasions what . . . . . . as declared, let them reveal . . . . . . to the Areopagites those in default . . . (40) . . . those liable (?) . . . to take over what is owed (?) . . .

Face B (right)

Fragments abcd

receive the money, they shall set for them a fine according to the extent of their default; but if those who have handed over (i.e. delivered securities?) do not wish to make payment within sixty days, they shall be liable first of all to one percent interest (a month) (45) from when they should have made payment but did not do so, until another two months have passed from their last payment, but if they remain in default after these two months, the treasurers with the herald shall sell the securities, provided that they shall have the possibility (50) to redeem them within sixty days, first those that gave the security, then those of the guarantors who may be liable for the deficit, being required to pay what they owe after sixty days.

Fragments of uncertain location in Face A

Fragment j

. . . shall be chosen –ly (?) . . . (55) . . . the money . . . . . . being authoritative (?) . . .

Fragment k

. . . received . . . . . . carry over or differ (?) . . . . . .

Fragment l

(60) . . . undertake . . . the money . . . those brought by . . . . . . the equivalent responsibility . . . . . . deposits or adequate guarantors (?) . . . . . . if they are able for the present and . . . (65) . . . but for a year . . . from them . . . . . . each . . . . . . the (?) . . . . . . the . . . . . . scrutiny (?) . . .

Fragment m

(70) . . . but . . . . . . . . . other . . . . . . the future . . . . . . to the Areopagites or to the citizens and . . . (75) . . . be subjected . . . . . . year . . . . . . of the future . . . . . . secured . . . . . . sell . . . (80) . . . so that . . . not (?) . . . . . . ^[1]

Previous - AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 9
Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 10 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG II² 1104 (PHI)

IG II² 1118 (PHI)

SEG 21.503

SEG 25.136 (PHI)

SEG 59.136

SEG 24.150

SEG 33.138 (PHI)

GIBM I 50

Agora XVI 339 (PHI) (PHI)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1 2 3

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Decree (Areopagos)

Fr. a - Findspot: Near the post-Herulian Wall (BM 1816,0610.225)
Fr. b - Findspot: Near the post-Herulian Wall (EM 3013)
Fr. c - Findspot: Near the post-Herulian Wall (Ag. I 3155)
Fr. d - Findspot: Near the post-Herulian Wall (Ag. I 5740)
Fr. e - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 5198)
Fr. f - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 6783)
Fr. g - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 7184)
Fr. h - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (EM 9501)
Fr. i - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (EM 9499 + 6087 + 9498 + 13505, formerly Ag. I 5440)
Fr. j - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (Lost)
Fr. k - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (EM 5893)
Fr. l - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (EM 9502)
Fr. m - Findspot: On or close to the Acropolis (EM 9500 + 8585)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Fragment a of this inscription, containing the left side of ll. 44-48, was among the inscriptions acquired in Athens by Lord Elgin (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). It belongs to a rectangular base inscribed on two sides (A and B) with the text of a decree of the Areopagos of 195/6 AD. The BM fragment belongs to the right side (B), which, when it was intact, was copied in Athens by the pioneering epigraphist Cyriacus of Ancona in 1436. In the 19th century the BM's fragment was the only one that had been identified as belonging to Cyriacus' text. In the 20th century, however, numerous further fragments of the inscription were discovered in Athens. It is difficult to make continuous sense of the very fragmentary text, but after the prescript, which dates the decree to 195/6 AD, provision seems to have been made for the appointment of men to carry out a specific mission (fragment e, cf. 25), the scope of which was apparently rather wide, comprehending matters relating to the price of grain (18), domestic waste and other forms of public nuisance (22-23) (fragment h). Most or all of the other fragments of Face A, together with Face B, appear to relate to public contracts, arrangements for guaranteeing them, and penalties to be imposed on contractors in default on their financial obligations.

Throughout the history of ancient Athens the Areopagos was a Council composed of men who had held one of the nine annual archonships. Having enjoyed pre-eminent authority in the archaic city, since the reforms of Ephialtes in the late 460s BC the Areopagos’ functions had become mainly limited to the judicial and religious sphere, though from time to time it took on broader responsibilities for the maintenance of public standards. Already in the fifth century BC it had a reputation as a conservative body, and in the anti-tyranny law of 337/6 BC restrictions were imposed on it motivated by fears that it might be implicated in a threat to Athens’ democratic constitution (IG II³ 1, 320). During the Hellenistic period its activities are sparsely documented, but under Roman influence in post-Sullan Athens it enjoyed a renaissance, driven in part no doubt by points of resonance between it and the Roman senate, also a body composed of former magistrates, and the Councils (curiae) of Roman coloniae and municipia. For important early evidence of the increase in the Areopagos' power, see Agora XVI 333, which documents the Assembly apparently endorsing legislation by the Areopagos in the early 1st cent. BC. Later it appears in the epigraphical record alongside the Council of 600 (or 500 after Hadrian) and the Assembly as one of the city’s three decree-making bodies. Honorific monuments are said to have been erected under its aegis, sometimes (when the honours were for Athenians) separately, sometimes (when the honours were for prominent Romans) in conjunction with the other two decree-issuing bodies of the city. It similarly sometimes appears separately, sometimes with the other two bodies, in the (relatively few) cases where the full texts of decrees were inscribed (IG IV² 1, 82-84, SEG 30.82, and AIUK 4.2 (BM, decrees), no. 17, where, in ca. 220 AD, the Assembly refers its decree on the conveyance of the sacred objects for the Eleusinian Mysteries to the Areopagos and the Council of 500, as well, in this case, as to the hierophant and the genos Eumolpidai). In our inscription we seem to have to do with a comparable process of referral, but from the perspective of the Areopagos, which, if the text of ll. 3-6 is reconstructed and interpreted correctly, based its resolution on a prior decision of the Council of 500 and the People. Though it is not clear that this applied invariably, there are other cases where the Areopagos seems to have received and, at least in detail, amended, decrees referred to it by the other two bodies. It may be that this reflected a responsibility to ensure the legality and constitutionality of measures taken by the city’s other decree-making bodies.

This is the first of a cluster of inscribed decrees from the Severan period (AD 193-235), after roughly sixty-five years during which no public decrees appear to have been inscribed. The others are (1) Agora XVI 340, ca. 197 AD, a decree of the Council and People, (2) Agora XVI 341, ca. 197 AD, an amendment of the latter (3-4) Agora XVI 342, perhaps 203 AD, perhaps decrees of the Areopagos and the Council and People; (5) Agora XV 460, 209 AD, a joint-decree of the Areopagos, Council, and People, "with the officials," (6) AIUK 4.2 (BM, decrees), no. 17, ca. 220 AD, a decree of the People (7-8) SEG 30.82, decrees of the Council and People and of the Areopagos. For the public decrees of the post-Sullan and Augustan periods, see I Rhamnous 423; for the decrees of the first century AD and early second century AD, see SEG 21.499 with notes.

For more detailed discussion of this decree see AIUK vol. 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies), no. 10.

Added: 15 Dec 2020
Updated: 5 Aug 2023
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