IGI3 84 Decree on the administration of the property of Kodros, Neleus and Basile

Decree on the administration of the property of Kodros, Neleus and Basile

IG I³ 84 Date: 418/7 BC

Gods. Decree 1^[1] The Council and the People decided. Pandionis was in prytany, Aristoxenos was secretary, Antiochides was chairman, Antiphon was archon (418/7); Adosios proposed:^[2] to fence in the sanctuary (hieron) of Kodros and Neleus and Basile^[3] and (5) to lease (misthōsai) the sacred precinct (temenos) according to the specifications (suggraphas).^[4] Let the official sellers (pōlētai) make the contract (apomisthōsantōn) for the fencing in. Let the king (basileus) lease (apomisthōsatō) the sacred precinct according to the specifications, and let him despatch the boundary-commissioners (horistas) to demarcate these sanctuaries (hiera) so that they may be in the best and most pious condition. The money for the fencing in shall come from the sacred precinct. They shall carry out these provisions before the end of this Council's term of office, (10) otherwise each shall be liable to a fine of one thousand drachmas according to what has been proposed (eiremena).

Decree 2 Adosios proposed: in other respects in accordance with the Council’s proposal, but let the king (basileus) and the official sellers (pōlētai) lease (misthōsatō) the sacred precinct of Neleus and Basile for twenty years according to the specifications.^[5] The lessee (misthōsamenos) shall fence in the sanctuary (hieron) of Kodros and Neleus and Basile at his own expense. Whatever (15) rent the sacred precinct may produce in each year, let him deposit the money in the ninth prytany (prutaneias) with the receivers (apodektai),^[6] and let the receivers (apodektais) hand it over to the treasurers of the Other Gods according to the law. If the king (basileus) or anyone else of those instructed about these matters does not carry out what has been decreed in the prytany (prutaneias) of Aigeis, (20) let him be liable to a fine of 10,000 drachmas. The purchaser of the mud (ilun)^[7] shall remove it from the ditch (taphro) during this very Council after paying to Neleus the price at which he made the purchase. Let the king (basileus) erase the name of the purchaser of the mud (ilun) once he has paid the fee (misthōsin). Let the king (basileus) write up instead (anteggraphsato) on the wall^[8] the name of the lessee (misthōsamenos) of the sacred precinct and for how much he has rented (misthōsētai) it (25) and the names of the guarantors in accordance with the law that concerns the sacred precincts (temenōn). So that anyone who wishes may be able to know,^[9] let the secretary (grammateus) of the Council inscribe this decree on a stone stele and place it in the Neleion next to the railings (ikria).^[10] Let the payment officers (kolakretai) give the money to this end. The king (basileus) shall lease (misthoun) the sacred precinct of Neleus and of Basile on the following terms: (30) that the lessee (misthōsamenos) fence in the sanctuary (hieron) of Kodros and Neleus and Basile according to the specifications (suggraphas) during the term of the Council that is about to enter office, and that he work the sacred precinct of Neleus and Basile on the following terms: that he plant young sprouts of olive trees, no fewer than 200, and more if he wishes; that the lessee (misthōsamenos) have control of the ditch (taphro) and the water from Zeus,^[11] (35) as much as flows in between the Dionysion and the gates whence the initiates march out to the sea, and as much as flows in between the public building (oikias tes demosias)^[12] and the gates leading out to the bath of Isthmonikos; lease (misthoun) it for twenty years.

Previous - SEG 67.86

References:

IG I³ 84 (Translated text) (IG Online) (PHI)

SEG 68.33

Syll.³ 93

Sokolowski, LSCG 14

Lawton 4

Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land, 72-3, 84-5

Pernin, Baux ruraux 2

OR 167

Translation by: Stephen Lambert, Nikolaos Papazarkadas, Robin Osborne

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree 1 (Council and People), Decree 2 (People)

Original location: Athens (Sanctuary of Neleus)

Findspot: Athens, junction of Makrigianni and Chatzichristou streets (EM 10616)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] These decrees make arrangements for the lease of the precinct (temenos) of Neleus and Basile, a tract of land distinct from, but apparently adjacent to, the sanctuary (hieron) of Kodros, Neleus and Basile, which is to be fenced off. The sanctuary was between the Phaleron gate (“whence the initiates march out to the sea”, l. 35, i.e. starting point of a procession in context of Eleusinian Mysteries) and the Itonian gate, l. 37 (leading to the Isthmonic baths). There has been debate about whether it was located inside (thus e.g. OR) or outside (thus Pernin) the walls. The size of the temenos, large enough for more than 200 olive trees and therefore likely to be at least 5 acres = 2 ha. (cf. Foxhall, Olive Cultivation in Ancient Greece [2007], 116), might suggest a location outside the walls, as might Plato’s comment (Charm. 153a) that the palaistra of Taureas was opposite the sanctuary of Basile. Those who support a location inside the walls lay emphasis on: (a) the findspot of this stele, which seems to have been just inside the walls, at the north-east corner of the junction of Makrigianni and Chatzichristou streets (but Pernin emphasises that it was not discovered in situ); (b) a fifth-century stone inscribed ‘boundary of the sanctuary’ (IG I³ 1076), found in situ at the junction of Chatzichristou and Syngrou streets (but Pernin emphasises that it is uncertain whether it relates to this sanctuary). This lease was issued against the background of the Peloponnesian War, in which food supply was a perennial concern, and specifically of the Archidamian War, during which Athenians had crowded behind the city walls for safety. The Archidamian War had been concluded three years previously, however, and there is nothing in the text that suggests that the lease was in the nature of an emergency measure in war time. This is one of 19 Attic agricultural lease inscriptions (from a total of 259 across the Greek world) edited by Pernin (with French translations). The others are listed at the end of these notes. [2] Adosios, who is not otherwise known, carried this measure through the Council and the Assembly, amending in the Assembly (l. 11) the proposal which he had himself formulated in the Council. This is unusual, but not unexampled (see e.g. IG II² 1, IG II³ 1, 294) and could arise from a number of circumstances, including reluctance, on the part of the Council, to overdetermine the Assembly’s options. [3] Basile, whose name connotes queenliness, is a somewhat obscure figure whose cult is attested in several places in Attica (see e.g. Lambert, ZPE 139 [2002], 80-81, associating her with the festival of the dead, Genesia). Kodros was the last Athenian king, who gave his life to save Athens from the Dorians, and Neleus was his father (alternatively king of Pylos, cf. Hdt. 5.65). [4] The precise meaning of syngraphai here is uncertain. Pernin, p. 37, takes them to be a collection of texts stipulating general conditions for the lease of sacred estates. See now also D. Erdas, ASNP 10, 2018, 334-35 (= SEG 68.33). [5] Except that sacred land was normally leased for 10 years, the procedure here broadly corresponds with that specified for leases of sacred land at Ath. Pol. 47.4. The 20-year term in this case would be to allow time for a return on the investment entailed in planting olives. Though this is one of the earliest surviving of all land leases and it is uncertain whether significance should be ascribed to the fact, this is the earliest extant Attic lease which specifies a particular planting regime (a so-called emphyteutic clause). [6] This is the earliest appearance of these officials, who were responsible for receiving and distributing public revenues, the latter function becoming more developed in the fourth-century democracy, Ath. Pol. 48.1-2 with Papazarkadas, 84-85. [7] The mud (from the bottom of drainage channels?) is sold (presumably for use as topsoil or for making mud bricks), as part of an agreement already in place before the lessee of the temenos takes the land over. [8] Perhaps the wall of the Royal Stoa, which was the base of the archon basileus and which held the lease records (Aelian, Var. Hist. 6.1; cf. Papazarkadas, 72–3). [9] This type of “formula of disclosure” is unusual (for a slightly different formula see IG I³ 1453 with n. 3) and, where it occurs, seems to be motivated more by a concern to make detailed information available to those with a specific interest than by an abstract concern for freedom of information (see J. Sickinger, in L. Mitchell et al. eds., Greek History and Epigraphy. Essays ... P.J. Rhodes [2009], 87-102; and now also, for discussion of the clause in the light of other aspects of this decree and its specific context, C. Lasagni, RFIC 146, 2018, 348-55 = SEG 68.33). Here the concern seems to be to inform those with a potential interest in the property, including sanctuary users, neighbours and perhaps potential tenants. Cf. IG II³ 1, 337, by which Kitian merchants advertise their duly acquired right to build a temple of Aphrodite in the Piraeus. As if in response to this invitation to "know" the terms of the decree, someone has scratched under the bottom of the text: [[Ε̣Υ̣Λ̣ . . . . .]] ΚΛΕΠΤΗΣ, "Eua- (a name) (is a) thief", and someone else in turn, perhaps Eua-, has erased the name. This graffito is dated in IG to the 4th cent. or later, but more likely belongs to a period shortly after the decree was erected and represents a reaction, perhaps to an alleged breach of the terms of the decree e.g. by the eventual lessee [SDL]. [10] This term might alternatively refer to wooden seating. [11] The use to which the lessee is to put these water rights is unclear. [12] Public property is implied, but the purpose of the building is unspecified.

Attic agricultural leases included in Pernin's collection
ATHENS
1. Lease of public lands (very fragmentary). Mid-v BC. IG I³ 44 = Agora XVI 6 = Agora XIX L1
2. This inscription
3. List of leases of sacred estates. Ca. 343/2 BC. Agora XIX L6
4. The orgeones of the hero doctor lease a garden to Thrasyboulos of Alopeke. 333/2 BC. SEG 24.203; Schwenk, Athens 32
5. List of leases. 330-320 BC. Agora XIX L9
6. The orgeones lease the sanctuary of Hypodeketes to Diopeithes. End of 4th cent. BC. IG II² 2501
7. The orgeones lease the sanctuary of the hero Egretes to Diognetos. 306/5 BC. IG II² 2499 = Kloppenborg and Ascough 7
8. Fragment of a lease relating to public lands. ca. 350-300 BC. SEG 42.145
9. List of leases of sacred estates. Late-4th to early-3rd cent. BC. IG II² 1592 = Agora XIX L14
10. (Tribal?) decree relating to lease of estates. 3rd cent. BC? IG II² 1168

ATTIC DEMES
11. The deme Piraeus provides for the lease of sacred estates. 321/0 or 318/7 BC. IG II² 2498 (in the British Museum)
12. The deme Rhamnous leases the temenos in Herm(ous?) and leases a garden and a temenos. 339/8 BC. IG II² 2493 and 2494. I Rhamnous 180
13. Decrees of the deme Teithras on lease of its estates and list of lessees. Mid-4th cent. BC. SEG 24.151 and 152. N. Papazarkadas, ZPE 159, 2007, 155-77
14. The phratry Dyaleis (at Myrrhinous) leases an estate to Diodoros. 300/299 BC. IG II² 1241. Lambert, Phratries T5
15. 16. 17. Three contracts of the deme Prasiai. 15. Prasiai leases an estate (the Theodoreion) in perpetuity to Kirrias (?) and his descendants. ca. 350-300 BC. AIO 2880
16. Prasiai leases an estate to Polysthenes. ca. 350-300 BC. SEG 21.644
17. Fragment of a lease (Prasiai). ca. 350-300 BC. SEG 51.153
18. The deme Aixone leases for forty years the estate of Phelleis to Autokles and his son Auteas. 346/5 BC. IG II² 2492
19. List of leases (Salamis). Ca. 400-350 BC. IG II² 1590a

Non-agricultural leases by Attic demes: I Eleusis 85 (quarries, Eleusis); I Eleusis 176 (tenement houses, Eleusis); AIUK 4.3A no. 1 (theatre, Piraeus); IG II² 2496 (workshop, dwelling and hut by the dung-heap, in Piraeus, lessor deme Kytherros).

Added: 29 Jul 2014
Updated: 19 Oct 2024
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ID: AIO_846