the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

THE ATTIC STELAI 261
Columella, who devotes chapter 6 of Book IX of the De Re Rustica to the hive,
states that the best were made of cork or reeds, and quotes Celsus as disapproving of
hives made of cow-dung.50
For bibliography on the subject of beehives, see Olck in R.E., s.v. Bienenzucht,
and Klek in Suppl. 4 of R.E. under the same word.5'
At the beginning of the fourth century B.C., the price of a kotyle of honey was
several times iII2 given as three obols. The prices occur in I.G., 1356, a sacred law
which set the tariff relating to sacrifices. For other prices, see, e. g., A. B6ckh, Staatshaushaltung
der Athener3, I, p. 132. The various indexes in the Economic Survey
contain no references to the prices of beehives or to honey, although bees must have
been kept wherever possible to produce the honey needed in an otherwise almost sugarless
world, and their wax was a valuable by-product. The maximum price of honey
is given in the Edict of Diocletian as 24 to 40 denarii an Italian pint (sexte; 0.547
liter); 5 for Phoenician (i. e., date) honey, 9 denarii.53
V. REAL PROPERTY
TYPES OF PROPERTY
In our lists, there are eleven distinct types of ' real property' which were sold by
the poletai: E Xypo%, Y?) qILXY, 'y-?TE8oV, 8pVLVW'v, KMiTo%, OLKUa, OLKorE8OV, opya6, mnrvdv,
cTvVOLKLa, and Xoptov. Only five of these terms (kepos, oikia, oikopedon, synoikia, and
chorion) occur in the Greek horoi most recently re-edited by Fine and Finley in virtually
simultaneous publications. This may seem surprising in view of the fact that
more than two hundred of these horoi have now been published.2 On the other hand,
five terms which appear on the preserved horoi (E'8a5b, EpyacrTnp', Kcvos, Kaf7-XE'LOV,
and O1'iKca) do not occur in our fragmentary lists. One of our terms (kepos) is
largely restoration; 3 another (pityinon) rests on the early transcription of the text by
Pittakys.4 Finley has promised a study of the vocabulary of property terms in Greek
50
Fraser, op. cit., p. 54, refers to hives of wicker cloomed with cow-dung found in Spain today.
51 The series of articles by J. Klek and L. Armbruster, " Die Bienenkunde des Altertums"
in the Archiv fiir Bienenkunde (1919-26) was not available to me.
52 Col. III, lines 10-11. A list of those places in Asia Minor which were known for beekeeping
is given by T. R. S. Broughton in Economic Survey, IV, p. 620.
53 Line 12.
'M. I. Finley (Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens, 500-200 B.C., New Brunswick,
1951, p. 54) has shown that there was no word in the Greek language meaning 'real property.'
Note also the remarks of Buck on ' landed property ' in Dictionary, p. 769. The term 'real property'
is here used in its modern content.
2 John V. A. Fine, Horoi, Studies in Mortgage, Real Security and Land Tenure in Ancient
Athens (Hesperia, Supplement IX), Baltimore, 1951, p. 43, states the number is about 214.
3X, 17.
4X, 1.