AIUK43A no. 2 Decree making arrangements for lease of public land by the deme Piraeus, 321/0 or 318/7 BC

Decree making arrangements for lease of public land by the deme Piraeus, 321/0 or 318/7 BC

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 2 Date: 321/0 or 318/7 BC

In the archonship of Archippos (321/0 or 318/7), the demarchy of Phrynion.^[1] On these terms the Piraeans lease out the Paralia^[2] and Halmyris^[3] and the Theseion^[4] and all the other precincts: those leasing for over 10 drachmas shall take out security (apotimēma) (5) to the value of their lease, those (leasing) for under 10 drachmas shall furnish a guarantor who will put up his own property as security for the lease.^[5] On these terms they lease, exempt from assessments and tax-free; and if any property-based tax (eisphora) is levied on the value of the estates, the demesmen shall pay it;^[6] and it shall not be permitted to the lessees to remove the mud and the earth (10) either from the Theseion^[4] or from the other precincts, nor to take the brushwood elsewhere than on the estate;^[7] the lessees of the Thesmophorion^[8] and the (estate) of Schoinous^[9] and the other pastures shall pay the rent, half in Hekatombaion, half in Posideon;^[10] (15) the lessees of Paralia^[2] and Halmyris^[3] and the Theseion^[4] and of other places, whatever they may be, as far as is possible and normal practice for them to be worked, they will work them as follows: for nine years as they wish, and in the tenth year they shall cultivate half and no more, so that it may be possible (20) for the subsequent lessee to work it over (hupergazesthai) from the sixteenth of Anthesterion; and if he cultivates more than half the excess harvest will belong to the demesmen;^[11] (the lessee) will take over the house in Halmyris roofed and in good repair [and will return it in the same condition]^[3] . . . good repair . . .

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 2 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG II² 2498 (PHI)

GIBM I 13

Syll.³ 965

Pernin, Baux ruraux 11

Humphreys, Kinship, 1101-2

Russo, Ripartizioni, D73

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Lease (deme Piraeus)

Findspot: Athens (?) (BM 1785,0527.9)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription was acquired in Athens by Richard Chandler in 1765-6 for the Society of Dilettanti, which in turn presented it to the British Museum in 1785, along with other inscriptions acquired by Chandler. It is from an enactment of the deme Piraeus, making provisions for the lease of its agricultural estates. Two other inscriptions of the deme Piraeus, acquired by Chandler on the same visit to Athens, are also in the BM's collection, fr. d of AIUK 4.3A, no. 1, and AIUK 4.3A, no. 3; and in addition two other inscribed enactments of the deme Piraeus are known, Agora XVI 160, IG II² 1177. On public leases see IG I³ 84. On the deme Piraeus and its inscriptions see AIUK 4.3A, no. 1. On demes and their inscriptions in general see RO 46. For more detailed discussion of this inscription see AIUK vol. 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies), no. 2. The decree is notable as evidence for the existence in the Piraeus of spaces devoted to both agricultural cultivation (Paralia, Halmyris and the Theseion) and pasturage (Thesmophorion and Schoinous). On this see also IG II² 2496. [2] The name Paralia connotes a coastal location. The relationship of the property to the hero Paralos, his sanctuary, the Paralion, the swift ship, the Paralos, and the association of the Paraloi, is obscure. Cf. IG II² 1254. [3] "Halmyris" means anything salty, including land (cf. LSJ). Its use in this context is consistent with the vicinity of salt-water. Note that there was a house (possibly, but not certainly, a domestic dwelling) on it, which the lessee is to take over, and probably return at the end of the lease, roofed and in good repair (23-24). It is clear from the provisions of several Attic leases that "roofs" were "mobile" structures to a greater extent than we are used to with modern buildings (cf. AIUK 4.3A, no. 1, l. 7). [4] One of the four Attic Theseia mentioned by Philochoros (FGrH 328 F18), this is conventionally identified as the Theseion where those living inside the Long Walls were ordered to muster at night during the crisis provoked by the mutilation of the Herms in 415 BC (Andok. 1.45, cf. Thuc. 6.62.1). It was not uncommon for sanctuaries to have productive land attached to them, cf. IG I³ 84. [5] The distinction made here between properties leased for under and over 10 dr. is unique in an Attic lease. Less than 10 drachmas a year is a notably low rent. For further discussion see AIUK vol. 4.3A, no. 2. On the term apotimema ("security", 4) cf. IG II² 2767, with note; E. M. Harris, CQ 43, 1993, 73-95. Though commonly used to designate real property, there is no reason to suppose it was limited to that form of security. [6] As commonly in deme leases a distinction is made here between liability of the property to taxes payable to the deme (we know from AIUK 4.3A, no. 3 that in the Piraeus there was a tax on properties in the deme owned by non-demesmen, the enktetikon, and other deme taxes, occasional or long term, are quite possible). Property was also liable to the eisphora, an occasional tax payable to the city. The last recorded reference to the levying of such a tax is in 324 BC (Dein. 1.69). However, provisions for it in leases (which naturally had to specify whether the lessor or the lesseee was liable) are attested until the end of the 4th cent. BC. [7] The lease prohibits the removal from the properties of mud, earth or "brushwood". Mud had a value (it seems as fertiliser/topsoil) and is subject to special arrangements for its sale in the fifth-century lease by the city of the property of Kodros, Neleus and Basile, IG I³ 84. "Brushwood" (hylē, which can also mean simply "wood") perhaps signifies in this context specifically brushwood or undergrowth, used for making fertilizer, cf. Xen. Oik. 20.11 (Pernin). In other contexts such prohibitions perhaps relate mainly to firewood. For provisions of this kind cf., in the Piraeus, IG II² 1177, elsewhere in Attica, IG II² 1362. [8] This Thesmophorion (location not known) is also the subject of the deme decree, IG II² 1177. We learn from that inscription that it contained an altar and a pit (for ritual use), that it was the sort of place where irregular gatherings of cult-groups (thiasoi) had to be prohibited, and where traditional restrictions on the gathering of wood (cf. previous note) were to be applied. It is implied by this inscription that it was also leased out for pasturage. It is not clear whether this was already the case at the time of IG II² 1177. [9] Like Halmyris and Paralia the name "Schoinous" is descriptive, deriving from schoinos = "reed" or "rush". The coastal zone in the area of Phaleron bay and the mouth of the Kephisos would have been a suitable location for pasturage of this description (Pernin, 62). There is a fragmentary 5th cent. BC horos from the Piraeus which relates to this toponym, IG I³ 1078. [10] From this provision it is clear that in the case of properties leased for pasturage, the lessee was obliged to pay half the rent in Hekatombaion (the first month of a year which began at the first full moon after the summer solstice) and half in Posideon (the sixth month). Whether the logic of this was agricultural, or e.g. linked to dates of deme Assemblies, is uncertain. The payment date for rent of cultivable land is not specified, at least in the surviving text. Pernin, 63, makes the attractive guess that (like the 10-year term, 18-19) it was aligned with the city (Ath. Pol. 47.4) and payable in the ninth prytany. [11] This provision is unique in Attic leases. It appears to impose on the lessees an obligation to leave half the land fallow in the final (tenth) year of a lease, so that the subsequent lessee can get access to the fallow half in Anthesterion (the eighth month, so ca. March, scil. of the tenth year) to "work it over" (literally "work it under", hypergazesthai, i.e. ploughing, clearing the land of stubble and weeds, applying fertilizer etc.) preparatory to sowing and obtaining a harvest from it in the first year of his lease. Cf. Xen. Oik. 16.9.15. The point of the date at the beginning of spring was perhaps that in the winter before that the earth would be waterlogged, while in the summer it would be too dry for the necessary works. The qualification in ll. 16-17 is perhaps intended not only to cover differences in practices on different plots of land, but also differences in the requirements of different crops. On the agricultural regime implied by this provision see M.-C. Amouretti, Le pain et l'huile (1986), 58; Pernin, 63-64.

Added: 15 Dec 2020
Updated: 14 Jan 2024
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