SEG 21.644 Lease of an estate by the deme Prasiai

Lease of an estate by the deme Prasiai

SEG 21.644 Date: ca. 334/3-314/3 BC

. . . ^[1] . . . the estate (chōrion); the rent of amount shall be paid to the Prasieis each year; and if they do not (5)pay at the specified times it shall be possible for the Prasieis to lease the estate to whomever they wish and if ⟦Polysthenes⟧ or his descendants do not act in accordance with the written provisions they shall (10)pay a penalty of 1000 drachmas to the deme of the Prasieis; and if the enemy make an encampment in Attica and destroy the crops, half of what remains (15)shall belong to ⟦Polysthenes⟧, half to the Prasieis; and the equipment that is in the house belonging to the deme shall be handed over to ⟦Polysthenes⟧, casks with a capacity of 80 amphoras or sunk into the ground equivalent to 80 amphoras, (20)4000 poles (charakas), the building or storeroom (oikēma) . . . ruined ([kath]ēreimenon), at least 6 beams . . . . . . of the building or storeroom (oikēmatos) hav- . . . ruined and the . . . . . . has this . . . (25) . . . 4 and . . . . . . and . . . line preserving a few letters . . .

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References:

SEG 21.644 (Translated text) (PHI)

Tracy, ADT 125

Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land, 120, 123, 147, 149, 150

Pernin, Baux ruraux 16

Bultrighini, Demi della Paralia, 315-21

Russo, Ripartizioni, D79

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Lease (deme Prasiai)

Findspot: Prasiai, said by tenant to have been found in valley field on Koroni peninsula where Ptolemaic camp was excavated in 1962 (Brauron Museum PR 12)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Together with AIO 2880 and SEG 51.153 this is one of three inscribed leases of the deme Prasiai, all of about the same period. As a work of Tracy's "Cutter of EM 12807" it is datable to ca. 334/3-314/3 BC. As Tracy notes, the provision envisaging enemy incursions suggests a date after the battle of Chaironeia (338-335 BC), during the Lamian War (323-320 BC) or perhaps in 318, when Polyperchon and Kassandros were contesting the control of Athens. The top and bottom sections of the text are missing, resulting in several obscurities. The property was clearly an agricultural estate (chorion, 1-2) and included a "(farm)house" (oikia, 17) and a (delapidated) oikema (apparently a farm building or storeroom attached to the "house", 20, 22) and the surviving text begins with part of the clause specifying the rent (the amount of which is not preserved, 2-11) and the (rather high) 1000 dr. penalty for non-compliance (Pernin notes that this might have taken the place of the usual provision for guarantors). 11-16 envisage the possibility of destruction of the crops on the property from an enemy encampment in the area. Attic coastal locations were vulnerable to such encampments and it is notable that the inscription was found in the course of the excavations of a Ptolemaic encampment in the same area, albeit that the latter dates to the following century. For provisions of this kind cf. SEG 51.153 with notes. The preserved text ends with a lengthy (but very fragmentary) description of property that was to be included in the lease: storage jars (which might have contained liquid, such as oil or wine, or vegetables or fruit), no less than 4000 "poles" (e.g. vine-props?), apparently a delapidated storeroom or farm building (containing?) beams (perhaps for roofing, which was often removeable).

A notable feature of the lease is that the name of the lessee has been (crudely) erased, suggesting perhaps breach of contract by Polysthenes (who, referred to familiarly without demotic, was probably a member of the deme). This is also a feature of SEG 51.153; and one might compare the hostile graffito on IG I³ 84, and the tampering with inscriptions and registers documented in the deme Halimous by Demosthenes 57 (SEG 2.7 with notes).

Textual Note. The inscription was first edited by E. Vanderpool, J. R. McCredie and A. Steinberg, Hesperia 31, 1962, 26-61 at 54-56, no. 138. AIO follows their text as reproduced at SEG 21.644 (note also their tentative restoration of 21-22, [ἱμά]|ντες, "straps" ("other timbers" edd. pr.), where a participle seems an alternative possibility). The lessee's name (spelled here "Polyssthenes") has been rather crudely erased in all three places where it occurs. Of the two possible meanings of χόνδην (19), used in relation to casks, that have been proposed, we prefer "with the capacity of" (from χανδάνω, thus also LSJ Suppl.) to "buried or sunk in the ground" (χόω, χόννυμι). Pernin, however, argues for the latter. In 20-1 and 22-3 we follow other eds. in restoring (καθ?)ηρειμμένον from (κατ)ερείπω, "thrown (down)", "ruined", "delapidated" (cf. edd. pr.).

Added: 1 Nov 2024
Updated: 1 Nov 2024
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ID: AIO_3069