AIO 2776 List of names, Council

List of names, Council

AIO 2776 Date: ca. 410 BC (?)

col. 1

[Aigeis^II]^[1] . . . (1) -st- son of Dionysios [Garget]tos -enes son of -andros - son of -stratos (5) - son of Xenios - son of -eles [Deme? -]tos son of Hestiaios - son of -antes (?) - son of -on (?) (10) - son of -machos - son of - . . .

col. 2

. . . (11a) [Phrearrhioi] (12) -o- son of - Leochares son of - Epichares son of [I]ambos (15) Aristomachos son of Aristodemos Sosistratos son of Sotion Tharrias son of Knoithon Menoites son of Kallistratos Antiphanes son of Antiphon (20) Kallaischros son of Phaidimos 1 line uninscribed Akamantis^V [Po]r[os] - son of -andros - son of -nos . . .

Columns 3 and 4 not preserved

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Greek text

References:

AIO 2776 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG I³ 1040 (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 29.51 (PHI)

SEG 3.49 (PHI)

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Stele (?)

Inscription type: List of names (Council)

Findspot: Acropolis (EM 6687)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual Note. AIO's text follows IG I³, with a few additions reflecting points made in the notes to that edition. 14 [1-2]άμβο IG. [Ἰ]άμβο (Hondius, SEG 3.49), already noted in IG as preferable on grounds of spacing to [Ἀθ]άμβο (Wilhelm), can now be seen from the Athenian Onomasticon to be the only name attested in Attica that fits. The other attested Iambos, at IG I³ 1193, 140 (Leontis), may also belong to Phrearrhioi, and is perhaps the same man or a relation.

That this is a list of names arranged by tribe and deme is clear from ll. 2 (deme) and 21 (tribe); that it is most likely a list of the Council of 500 was established by J. K. Davies, Liverpool Classical Monthly 4, 1979, 151-56, building on the publication of a new fragment by M. T. Mitsos, AAA 3, 1970, 391-93 (SEG 29.51). Davies showed from the remains of the two surviving columns, and especially the deme heading in l. 2, that they are best interpreted as the first two columns of a tall stele inscribed in four columns with a list of the whole Council, the surviving portion of col. 1 containing names from the tribe Aigeis (II), including members of the deme Gargettos (l. 2) and col. 2 containing the end of Leontis (IV) and the beginning of Akamantis (V). This is confirmed by the fact that the patronymic, Hestiaios, in l. 7, is displaced to the right, consistent with the beginning of that line having been occupied by a deme name, and implying therefore that there were 4 men listed from Gargettos. This corresponds to that deme's bouleutic quota in the 4th century BC (cf. IG II³ 4, 76, 75, Agora XV 42). The only deme of Leontis large enough to account for the list of names in ll. 12-20 is Phrearrhioi (4th cent. bouleutic quota 9, IG II³ 4, 53, 25, Agora XV 23, IG II³ 1, 417, Agora XV 42) and there is some confirmation that they belong to that deme in that the names Leochares, Iambos (?), Sotion, Kallistratos, Antiphanes, and Kallaischros are all attested in it, cf. Athenian Onomasticon.

This inscription, alongside the much more equivocal evidence of the earliest inscribed dedication by a Council prytany, IG I³ 515 (Erechtheis, 408/7 BC), suggests that the bouleutic quotas of the Attic demes were the same at the end of the 5th century BC as they were in the 4th (Davies). Various dates have been suggested (IG I³: 440-405 BC). The use of the Attic alphabet indicates a date before its official abandonment in 403 BC, but the lettering and orthography would not otherwise be inconsistent with an early-4th century date, and the inscription does not perhaps long pre-date 403 BC. Like IG I³ 515 (see note thereto), it is perhaps most plausibly located in the aftermath of the constitutional upheavals of 411 BC, in which the Council was implicated (cf. Hondius, SEG 3.49: ca. 410 BC).

This is the earliest of a series of extant inscriptions listing the full membership of the Council. The others that pre-date the tribal reform of 307/6 BC are:
Agora XV 20 (360-340 BC). Block found on Acropolis inscribed with councillors listed by tribe and deme. Tribes VI-VIII partially preserved.
Agora XV 42 (336/5 BC?). Base found in reuse in Byzantine house in lower city, inscribed with councillors from tribes I-V. Tribes VI-X assumed to be on another block.
Agora XV 43 (335/4 BC). Stele of undocumented findspot inscribed with councillors from tribes I-X.
Agora XV 46 (ca. 330 BC). Two adjacent blocks inscribed with councillors from tribes I-X. Two fragments found on Acropolis, one in Agora (perhaps having come down from the Acropolis?)

To these may be added the following uncertain examples:
Agora XV 492 (ca. 380-360 BC). Stele with list of councillors and alternates or Samian cleruchy?
Agora XV 21 (ca. 350 BC). Block. Extremely fragmentary.
Agora XV 37 (ca. 340 BC). Block. Preserves only names of secretary of Council and People and hyperetes.
SEG 63.137 is probably not a list of this type (see notes thereto).

For a chart tabulating all extant inscriptions which are dedications and/or catalogues of the whole Council and Council prytanies, ca. 410-308/7 BC, see Draft AIO Paper.

It will be seen that, apart from this early outlier from the late 5th century BC, the certain examples cluster in the period ca. 360-330 BC. It is possible that inscribing such catalogues became regular practice from 357/6 BC, when the formula was introduced stating that official dedications commemorated the crowning of the councillors or other officials by the [Council] and People (on this see AIO Papers 9). Frustratingly, however, the context of none of these catalogues is apparent from their texts. It is clear from Dem. 22, of 356/5 BC, that by that time it was normal for the Council to be crowned by the People at the end of its term of office. On this see P. Liddel, Decrees of Fourth-Century Athens (403/2-322/1 BC) (2020), vol. 1, D89; cf. Lambert, in W. Riess ed., Colloquia Attica III (2021), 121 n. 23. There are extant examples of dedications commemorating such crownings on this or other occasions before 307/6 BC (IG II³ 4, 2, 3 and 4, IG II³ 1, 306 decrees 1 and 2); and, though unfortunately the relevant passage lacks full context, there is an indication at l. 20 of the last of these that this might entail inscription of an associated catalogue of the whole Council. However, it is also clear from IG II³ 1, 360, of 328/7 BC, that the Council might make a dedication (in this case to Amphiaraos at Oropos) not linked to any crowning of it by the Assembly, and that this might also entail a listing of names, albeit that in this case only a selection of councillors was involved. While it is possible, therefore, that some or all of the lists of the whole Council at this period were associated with a dedication commemorating the crowning of the Council by the Assembly, that is not demonstrable with certainty in any individual case. It is also unclear that we must posit a uniform place of erection of these whole-Council lists, though the findspots of all the extant certain cases would be consistent with original location on the Acropolis.

Added: 24 Sep 2023
Updated: 21 Aug 2024
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ID: AIO_2776