(ie, 351/0). - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE ATHENIAN AGORA 151
Of line 14 the fracture of the stone has removed all traces of the letters, except
perhaps a triangular top in the 27th space, followed possibly by faint remains of
gamma or epsilon.
With fragment B, a, from the lower left-hand corner of the stele we have the
advantage of the left-hand margin and of a better preserved surface, but even with
this help we cannot approximate to completing a single line. Yet it is clear that the
entry of a payment on the 30 + th day in line 1 must have been followed by another,
or at most two, before the beginning of the summation-formula which continues into
line 2, [KEfa'Xatov apyvpto E7rt Triq] Alavr8og iTapa8o0E'v[,-oq], giving us 43 spaces
between TptaKou---TE[t] and [KEcakXatov]. In this gap it would be possible to restore
[. . rptTE Kac TptaKo-TEL .. EKTEL Kat TptaKOc-rEt . . ] any alternative days leaving even
less space for the required numerals; but this implies the improbable result that three
successive payments averaged only two figures each. At the risk of an equally bold
conjecture, the available space could be filled by reading es rnv 8tEXtcav .....
ITE11ITTEt Kat TptaKOO-TEt .... , which would leave nine spaces in all for the numerals.
In line 2, after the missing total for the prytany of Aiantis, we should expect to
find the preamble to the payments of the last prytany, ET -T -- - i8os 8EKacLrT1
iTpvTaVEV0Or)1q
'EXX-rvoraTctqaJ
q lapEAoo-av, giving 47 letters without the name of the
phyle. And as iTapa8oOE'vl0o ended with the 22nd letter of the line and the line ended
with the first tau of [r]pWqrnt we have accounted for 70 letters, leaving only 14 for the
total of the payment and the name of the phyle. As our choice seems limited to 10
or 12 spaces for the latter ('EpEXOt,'8oq or 'AvrtoXi8oq or 'IiTvo0c6vrti8oq), this would
leave only two or four spaces for the sum of payments under Aiantis. This seems so
improbable, in view of the long groups of figures found elsewhere in the text, that it
is tempting to omit 'EXX-qvorac,tat3 and read ra8E instead, which would give eleven or
thirteen spaces for the total of the payments.
In lines 3-4 we have no clue to the days between the third and eleventh on which
the missing payments were made, nor can we say if they were all in the simple form
of the day of the month followed by a sum; and it is highly improbable that one
payment was made on each of the seven available days, since the ordinal numerals
from TEraprql to 8EKa/TEt require 47 of the (approximately) 60 spaces, leaving quite
insufficient room for six payments of the length indicated by other payments in this
prytany. In fact, it would be more reasonable to assume that three, or at most four,
were recorded in this gap, and that if r'31 aTpvra'Etag was inserted after the second date
as well as the first the total is more likely to have been three only.
In line 4, after the probably incomplete entry for the eleventh day, we have no
it has been generally assumed that their existence was brought to an end by that disaster. There is
no epigraphical record of their activities after the decree incorporating the Samians into the body
politic (I.G., II2, 1, line 39= Tod, G.H.I., I2, 96), where they are to pay for the engraving and
erection of the stele, whereas the same duties in regard to the subsequent decree of 403/2 are
entrusted to the Tamiai (I.G., II2, 1, line 67 Tod, G.H.I., II, 67, line 27).