IGII2 1180 Decree of deme Sounion providing for creation of a new agora, donated by Leukios

Decree of deme Sounion providing for creation of a new agora, donated by Leukios

IG II² 1180 Date: Mid-4th cent. BC

Gods. Theodelos proposed: that the Sounians shall resolve, for good fortune, since Leukios (5) makes a donation for the creation of an agora for the demesmen, to choose immediately three men, who will mark the boundaries of the agora with (10) Leukios, not less than two plethra by one plethron, so that there may be a broad space (euruchōria) for the Sounians to gather in (agorazēn), and anyone (15) else that wishes, since the present agora is congested with buildings (sunoikodomētai); and it shall not be permitted for the demarch or anyone else (20) to build within the boundary markers; and the demarch together with Leukios shall inscribe this decree on a stone stele and stand (25) it in the agora.^[1]

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References:

IG II² 1180 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 34.108 (l. 1) (PHI)

SEG 46.151 (l. 10) (PHI)

Russo, Ripartizioni, D96

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Images: Krateros - (1)
Ohio - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Deme Sounion)

Original location: Sounion (agora of Leukios)

Findspot: Upper Agrileza Valley (ca. 4 km from cape Sounion) (EM 1)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] On the Attic demes see RO 46, with notes. This is the only extant inscribed decree of Sounion, a deme of the tribe Leontis which sent four men to sit on the Council of 500 in the 4th century BC (IG II³ 4, 53, 11-15, IG II³ 4, 25, 60-66, Agora XV 42, 196-200, IG II³ 1, 417, 66-70, cf. Agora XV 52, 23-27, increasing to six after 307/6 BC, J. S. Traill, Political Organization of Attica, 1975, table IV). Apart from its harbour (one of the ten main Attic regional harbours at the coastal end of a wagon road: M. C. McHugh, ABSA 114, 2019, 207-40 (map), and D. M. Lewis, Pnyx 1, 2022, 81-101, at 90-94 (map)), temples of Poseidon and Athena, settlement and fortress located at the southern tip of Attica, it apparently covered territory extending ca. 8-9 km to the north of the cape and 7.5 km from east to west, supporting a mix of agricultural and silver mining-related activities. See R. Osborne, Demos. The Discovery of Classical Attika, 1985, 29-36, with map; G. Stanton, ABSA 91, 1996, 342-53; H. R. Goette, Ὁ ἀξιόλογος δῆμος Σούνιον, 2000; M. Salliora-Oikonomakou, Ο αρχαίος δήμος του Σουνίου, 2004; Humphreys, Kinship, 950-59. IG I³ 1024, of the (mid-?)6th cent. BC is unusually early evidence for a community later to become a deme, "the Sounians", acting collectively, most likely before Cleisthenes' reforms. IG I³ 8 is a 5th-century Assembly decree set up at Sounion. In the Hellenistic period soldiers based at Sounion inscribed decrees there, see IG II² 1260, with notes.

This decree records the deme's decision to provide a new deme agora, not less than 2 plethra (ca. 60 m.) long, 1 plethron wide, donated by the deme-member, Leukios (he had apparently given the land itself rather than its purchase price), since the present agora (the spatial relationship of which to the new agora is not made clear) was crowded with buildings. The inscription, which among other things records a prohibition on construction on the new agora, was originally set up on it (24-25). It was not uncommon for public leases and other inscriptions regulating the use of land to be set up on the land in question, cf. IG I³ 84, with notes; and deme agoras were also one of the places where their decrees on other subjects were sometimes set up (e.g. IG II² 1174, ll. 13-17, Halai Aixonides; cf. D. Whitehead, The Demes of Attica, 1986, 96-97). This inscription was found beneath a later slag-heap, ca. 4 km north up the Agrileza valley from cape Sounion (see Osborne's map, p. 30), but it is uncertain how far this was from its original location. Some scholars have taken the findspot as evidence for the approximate location of the agora, and supposed that (part of) the settlement of Sounion was located in this vicinity (see Traill, p. 45; Osborne; Stanton, 345-47 [SEG 46.151], pointing to tracks, remains of houses, with cisterns, a funerary monument and other remains (352) in the area; and note that Leukios is known to have owned property in the mining district, see below; cf. Salliora-Oikonomakou [SEG 54.15] and Humphreys; others that the new (and the old?) agora and the main deme settlement were located at the cape (H. Lauter, Marburger Winckelmann-Programm, 1988, 25-29 [SEG 40.127]; Goette, 56-57, 60-61, 112-13 [SEG 50.17]).

Physical remains of two possible agoras have been identified at Sounion, on the west coast at the neck of the promontory a few hundred metres north of the cape, and at Passalimani bay, ca. 4 km up the east coast from the cape (see Osborne's map, p. 30), but whether one of these is the "old" agora referred to in our inscription is uncertain. If the Sounians adhered to their stipulation that the new agora should not be built on, one might not expect it to be readily identifiable from physical remains. The genos Salaminioi, one of whose branches consisted of members "from Sounion", possessed an agora "in Koile" (RO 37, l. 17, AIO 948, l. 37) and some scholars have located this at Sounion and/or identified it with one of the two possible agoras whose remains have been identified (perhaps the one at Passalimani). "Koile" may, however, refer to the city deme of that name.

Leukios [son of Theokles] of Sounion is known from other sources as a member of the liturgical class (contributor to the eutaxia liturgy in ca. 333/2 or 332/1 BC, IG II³ 1, 550, l. 17) and property owner at Sounion in the mining district, first in 367/6 BC, RO 36, ll. 46, 80 (also at Agora XIX P13, 5; later as mine lessee, P26, [172?], P29, 5). He is referred to, as members commonly were in inscriptions of their demes, familiarly without patronymic or demotic (cf. Whitehead, 73). His father, Theokles, has been attractively identified with the "- son of -kios of Sounion" listed in 401/0 BC among the leaders of Athenian resistance to the Thirty, AIO 1190, l. 33. These prosopographical data indicate a date for this inscription of ca. 370-330 BC, perhaps, to judge by the style of lettering and "early" orthographical features, earlier rather than later within that span. The proposer of the decree, Theodelos, is not otherwise known (this is the only Attic attestation of this name).

What exactly the new agora, on which no construction was to be permitted, and which seems to have supplemented (or superseded?) an existing agora, was intended to be used for, is an intriguing question. The verb, agorazein, used in the inscription to describe its purpose (14), connotes gathering for social, religious (e.g. for distribution or sale of sacrificial meat in Skambonidai, see AIUK 4.1 no. 3, for a sacrifice in Erchia, AIO 593, E ll. 50-51) and commercial purposes (non-permanent market stalls would seem a possibility in this case). The formal deme assembly was also referred to as the "agora" of the deme (e.g. I Eleusis 85, l. 23, Eleusis; IG II² 1202, l. 1, Aixone) though in some cases at least, as e.g. Halimous in Demosthenes 57, this was held in the city (cf. Whitehead, 87). The fact that Leukios' agora is explicitly intended for use by "anyone who wishes", as well as demesmen (14-15), perhaps implies that this sense is not predominant in this inscription.

Much the commonest type of extant inscribed deme decree in the 4th cent. BC was that honouring benefactors of the deme and it is notable that Leukios is not, in this inscription, explicitly honoured. It may be relevant in this context, however, that no honorific decree of a deme certainly dates earlier than the 350s (cf. RO 46 for one of the earliest cases); and it is possible that Leukios' benefaction pre-dates, or was on the cusp of, that development.

Added: 15 Mar 2022
Updated: 26 Oct 2024
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