IGII2 2670 Marker of property used as security (Phlya)

Marker of property used as security (Phlya)

IG II² 2670 Date: ca. 370-360 BC

Boundary marker (horos) of land (put up as security for) the dowry (proikos) of Hippokleia daughter of Demochares of Leukonoion for 1 talent; to the extent that its value is in excess of that (5)it is mortgaged (hupokeitai) to the Kekropidai and the Lykomidai and the Phlyans.^[1]

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References:

IG II² 2670 (Translated text) (PHI)

Syll.³ 1188

Finley, Horos Inscriptions, 146

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Horos

Inscription type: Boundary Marker

Findspot: Sochoria, between Marousi and Chalandri (EM 10122)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This horos marked land which was subject to two distinct liens. Ll. 1-3 record its use as security by a husband to guarantee the substantial dowry (1 talent) of his wife, Hippokleia (on this type of transaction, which would secure the repayment of the dowry to the bride's father or his family, in case of divorce, and was normally designated by the term apotimema see E. M. Harris, CQ 43, 1993, 73-95). Ll. 4-8 show that the land is also security for a loan, to the extent of its value in excess of 1 talent, from three bodies to which Hippokleia's husband most likely belonged: the tribe Kekropis (to which the deme Phlya belonged); the genos Lykomidai (which was traditionally associated with Themistokles and was based in the area of Phlya, see Plut. Them. 1.3 and 15.2; R. Parker, Athenian Religion, 1996, 305, who points out that, apart from this horos, the evidence for this genos dates to the Roman period); and the deme Phlya itself. On horoi marking land used as security for loans by groups, see Agora XIX H84, with notes. Demochares of Leukonoion was a member of a well-attested propertied family (uncle by marriage of Demosthenes the orator, Dem. 27.14, 28.3); two brothers of Hippokleia are known, Laches and Thymochares, cf. Davies, APF p. 347, cf. 141-2; Athenian Onomasticon, s.v. Demochares of Leukonoion. Hippokleia's funerary monument is IG II² 6737 a (Add. p. 891). A date of ca. 360s (Davies) can be inferred for this inscription from the prosopography of this family.

This is one of only two pieces of epigraphical evidence for actions by Phlya, a medium-sized deme (bouleutic quota 5 or 7) of the inland trittys of Kekropis, located north-east of the city, about half way to Mt Pentelikon, immediately south of Athmonon (on the inscriptions of which see IG II² 1203). Isaios 8.15-16, of ca. 375 BC, shows that the quintessential deme festival, the Rural Dionysia, was celebrated at Phlya (Csapo and Wilson II, 207, who note that Paus. 1.31.4 attests to cult of Dionysos Anthios there, as well as at Myrrhinous; cf. IG II³ 4, 498). For a possible reference to the Rural Dionysia of Phlya in a decree of the tribe Kekropis, see IG II² 1145 (cf. Csapo and Wilson II, 190, with notes to IG II² 1204). Phlya may also be identifiable with the group which sold at least two properties in the Lykourgan public land sale programme, Rationes F10A, ll. 5 or 6-12, cf. Lambert, Rationes Centesimarum (1997), 188 no. 18. Properties in Phlya were also sold in that context by the non-territorial groups, the Dipoliastai and the orgeones of Zeus Epakrios (?), Rationes F11A, ll. 1-9, cf. Lambert, Rationes Centesimarum (1997), 197, no. 36 and no. 37.

For a recent discussion of the deme and its members see Humphreys, Kinship, 1067-9, who notes that the control excercised by the Lykomidai on a number of local cults may have inhibited deme activities. Phlya was the deme of the poet Euripides and the prosecutor of the murderers of the Cylonian conspirators in the late seventh century was said to be "Myron of Phlya" (Plut. Solon 12.3), an example of the use of the "demotic" for someone who lived long before Cleisthenes (Whitehead, Demes, 11). On demes in general cf. RO 46.

Added: 27 Apr 2023
Updated: 8 Jan 2024
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ID: AIO_2615