IGII31 323 Honours for an official (prytany secretary?)

Honours for an official (prytany secretary?)

IG II³ 1 323 Date: Ca. 345-320 (337/6?) BC

In the archonship of [Phrynichos (337/6)?], in the tenth [prytany, of Pandionis^III. Chairestratos of Acharnai?] was secretary. [On the sixteenth of Skirophorion, the twenty-?] second [of the prytany. Of the presiding committee] 5 . . . was putting to the vote. The People decided. . . . proposed: [since Chairestratos the?] [prytany secretary]^[1] . . . is performing his office . . . . was crowned 10 . . . for his . . . the People shall decide: to praise [Chairestratos?] son of Ameinias [of Acharnai] . . . and crown him . . . when he has rendered his accounts and he is deemed [to have performed his office justly and in accordance with the] laws 15 . . . . . . the . . . . . . writ- . . . and . . . . . .

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References:

IG II³ 1 323 (Translated text) (PHI) (IG Online)

SEG 35.64

Schwenk, Athens 9 (PHI)

IALD 9 no. 2, 13-15, 396 n. 32

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (People)

Findspot: Acropolis (North slope) (EM 12893)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This very fragmentary decree probably honoured the “prytany secretary” (sometimes known as “secretary of the Council”) of the year 337/6 BC (for this man see IG II³ 1, 319 - IG II³ 1, 326). For other decrees honouring state secretaries see IG II³ 1, 327 and 469. Until the late 360s the prytany secretary, who was responsible for inscribing decrees, keeping and checking state records, and attended Council meetings (Ath. Pol. 54.3), held office for one prytany only. After that he held office for a year and after 356/5 was normally selected from the tribes in rotation in an official order. Cf. IG II³ 1, 293 with notes; Agora XV 43, l. 227. Thus in 337/6 Chairestratos was from Acharnai, a deme of Oineis, tribe VI in the official order, while in 338/7 the prytany secretary, Philippos, was from Eiresidai, a deme of Akamantis, tribe V in the official order. (This system helps with the dating of decrees. See IALD, 389-400.) At this period the prytany secretary was appointed by lot (which means that he was randomly selected from those who put themselves forward, not from every Athenian citizen), but the conservatively inclined Ath. Pol. 54.3 notes regretfully that it was once "an elected office, and the most distinguished and trusted men were elected to it". It is indicative of the importance attached to inscribed decrees that Ath. Pol. connects this description of the secretary's desirable characteristics with the fact that he is named on stelai inscribed with "alliances, appointments of proxenoi and grants of citizenship".

Added: 10 Dec 2012
Updated: 11 Sep 2023
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