Public Registers of Land Sales in Ancient Greece

This paper examines inscriptions that record land sales, aiming to find out whether and how they can teach us the extent to which the polis intervened in private transactions or even instigated them, and under what circumstances. Studying inscribed records of real estate transactions and the evidence they provide of state intervention may contribute to our knowledge of the developing practices of recording and publishing contracts as well as to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ definition of ‘public’ and ‘private’

Kabeiroi, manumitted slaves and xenoi: the manumission inscriptions from Lemnos

Questo articolo discute il gruppo di trentotto documenti epigrafici di manomissione ritrovati nel Kabeirion situato nella parte nord-orientale di Lemno. Questo corpus riveste grande importanza per lo studio dell’isola, della sua popolazione ateniese e non, del ruolo del santuario e del culto ivi celebrato, così come per lo studio della manomissione. Benché il lavoro degli studiosi che si sono occupati delle iscrizioni abbia fatto luce su questo luogo poco conosciuto adibito a manomissioni, accrescendo così le nostre conoscenze riguardo alle pratiche di manomissione nel mondo greco e alla relativa documentazione, restano aperti alcuni importanti interrogativi sollevati da questo corpus. In questo articolo intendo brevemente passare in rassegna le principali caratteristiche di questi documenti di manomissione già emerse grazie ai precedenti studi, ed esaminare più da vicino le questioni ancora aperte, suggerendo, dove possibile, qualche risposta.This article discusses the group of thirty-eight inscribed manumission documents, emanating from the Kabeirion in north-east Lemnos. This corpus is of a great importance for the study of the island, its Athenian and other population, and the role of the sanctuary and the cult celebrated there, as well as to the study of manumission. While the work done by scholars who studied the inscriptions has shed light on this lesser-known site of manumission, thus adding valuable information to what is known on manumission practices and manumission documents in the Greek world, there are some important questions related to this corpus that still remain to be elucidated. In this article I will briefly review the main features of these manumission documents that emerge from previous studies and consider in greater detail the questions that remain unsolved, suggesting some answers where such can be given

Social Class

Discussion of class structure in fifth-century Athens, historical constitution of theater audiences, and the changes in the comic representation of class antagonism from Aristophanes to Menander

Did Patronage Exist in Classical Athens?

Rachel ZELNICK- ABRAMOVITZ, Did Patronage Exist in Classical Athens ? - L'article examine l'opinion selon laquelle les relations entre patron et client, qui la Rome ancienne, n'existaient pas dans l'Athènes classique. Effectivement, une terminologie claire définissant de telles relations est absente des textes grecs, et ce que nous savons des relations interpersonnelles à Athènes ne concorde pas avec les modèles de patronage, tels qu'ils sont formulés par les historiens de la Rome ancienne et par les sociologues. Mais un examen des textes grecs montre que les Athéniens utilisaient une terminologie unique pour décrire de telles relations, et que des relations similaires à celles de patron-client existaient dans l'Athènes classique, dans la sphère personnelle et dans la sphère publique.Zelnick-Abramovitz Rachel. Did Patronage Exist in Classical Athens?. In: L'antiquité classique, Tome 69, 2000. pp. 65-80

Whose Grave is this? The Status of Grave Plots in Ancient Greece

It is commonly accepted that funerary practices and legislation reflect social and politi- cal structures as well as attitudes to death. But some basic questions have only recently started to attract scholarly attention: Who owned the grave plot? What was its legal status? Were cemeteries administered by any person or group? Was the legal status of a grave situated on private land different from that of a grave in a necropolis? How can we explain burials of non-citizens and slaves in the polis’s territory, if they were de- barred from owning land? Who was responsible for protecting the grave? These ques- tions are of great importance in the study of ancient social and political norms. More- over, they relate to the broader issue of the distinction between ‘public’ and ‘private’ in the Greek polis. This paper re-examines the evidence pertaining to the subject of grave plots’ legal status, so as to offer some tentative answers.