- Text, Layout, and Medium
- Edited by Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
On the Format and Layout of Athenian Building Accounts (Again)
- Cristina Carusi
- © 2024 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.04
Athenian building accounts inscribed on stone underwent a gradual evolution in classical Athens. The first preserved specimens, dating to the third quarter of the fifth century BCE, adopted a “list-like format,” with receipt and expenditure entries with their relevant monetary figures organized in multiple columns. In the last quarter of the same century, by contrast, they began to accommodate many more details, attaining a decidedly “narrative format” at the expense of the user-friendly layout chosen previously. This evolution, rather than being interpreted in light of the dichotomy between the symbolic and functional purpose of inscribed documents, should be attributed to a change in the ways in which the city chose to celebrate its building achievements. Whereas “list-like” accounts emphasized the financial means the city had deployed to realize its building projects, “narrative” accounts focused on describing how a building project was carried out, pointing less to the financial aspects and more to the deployment of the human and technical resources necessary to realize it. As regards the columnar format that features prominently in building accounts, at first glance it seems to recall the uses of writing on non-stone media. However, one should not assume a direct derivation of inscribed accounts from contemporary accounting documents written on perishable materials. In fact, the two-sub-column format with numerals on the left that characterizes earlier building accounts was originally and expressly designed for inscribing financial documents in which monetary figures were to occupy a prominent position. Notably, even later “narrative” accounts, in which entries proceed in a continuous-line format with numerals embedded in the text, did not abandon the columnar format, which remained a layout feature inextricably linked to this type of epigraphic document.
- Keywords:
- Athenian building accounts; functionalism vs. symbolism; accounting documents; columnar format; numerals.,
University of Parma, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-8694-3469
- Boffo, L. 1995. “Ancora una volta sugli «archivi» nel mondo greco: conservazione e «pubblicazione» epigrafica”, Athenaeum 83, 91-130.
- Boffo, L. and M. Faraguna. 2021. Le poleis e i loro archivi. Studi su pratiche documentarie, istituzioni e società nell’antichità greca. Trieste.
- Burford, A. 1971. “The Purpose of Inscribed Building Accounts”, in Acta of the Fifth International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy. Oxford, 71-76.
- Carusi, C. 2006. “Alcune considerazioni sulle syngraphai ateniesi del V e IV secolo a.C.”, ASAA 84, 11-36.
- Carusi, C. 2010. “La legge di Agirrio e le syngraphai ateniesi di IV secolo”, in A. Magnetto, D. Erdas, and C. Carusi (eds.), Nuovi studi sulla legge granaria ateniese del 474/3. Pisa, 213-233.
- Carusi, C. 2020. “The Evolving Format of Building Accounts in Classical Athens”, in A. Jördens and U. Yiftach (eds.), Accounts and Bookkeeping in the Ancient World. Wiesbaden, 74-91.
- Caskey, L.D. 1927. “The Inscriptions”, in J.M. Paton (ed.), The Erechtheum, Measured, Drawn, and Restored. Cambridge, 277-421.
- Chaniotis, A. 2014. “Mnemopoetik. Die epigraphische Konstruktion von Erinnerung in den griechischen Poleis”, in O. Dahly, T. Hölscher, S. Muth, and R. Schneider (eds.), Medien der Geschichte. Antikes Griechenland und Rom. Berlin, 132-169.
- Chankowski, V. 2008. Athènes et Délos à l’époque classique. Recherches sur l’administration du sanctuaire d’Apollon délien. Athens.
- Chankowski, V. 2020. “Greek Sanctuaries as Administrative Laboratories: Bookkeeping Experience on Delos, from Wood Tablets to Marble Steles”, in A. Jördens and U. Yiftach (eds.), Accounts and Bookkeeping in the Ancient World. Wiesbaden, 64-73.
- Clarysse, W. “Headers for Lists and Accounts in Ancient Documents and in Modern Editions”, in A. Jördens and U. Yiftach (eds.), Accounts and Bookkeeping in the Ancient World. Wiesbaden, 109-121.
- Clinton, K. 2008. Eleusis. The Inscriptions on Stone. Documents of the Sanctuary of the Two Goddesses and Public Documents of the Deme, 2: Commentary. Athens.
- Costabile, F. 2001. “La triplice defixio: nuova lettura. Processo e norma libraria attica nel V-IV sec. a.C. Defixiones dal Kerameikos di Atene – III”, MEP 4, 143-208.
- Davies, J.K. 1994. “Accounts and Accountability in Classical Athens”, in R. Osborne and S. Hornblower (eds.), Ritual, Finance, Politics: Athenian Democratic Accounts Presented to D.M. Lewis. Oxford, 201-212.
- Davies, J.K. 2003. “Greek Archives: From Record to Monument”, in M. Brosius (ed.), Ancient Archives and Archival Traditions. Concepts of Record-Keeping in the Ancient World. Oxford, 323-343.
- Davis, P.H. 1948. “In the Workshop of the Erechtheion”, AJA 52, 485-489.
- Del Corso, L. 2002. “I documenti nella Grecia classica tra produzione e conservazione”, QS 56, 155-189.
- Dinsmoor, W.B. 1913. “Attic Building Accounts. III. The Propylaea”, AJA 17, 371-398.
- Dinsmoor, W.B. 1921. “Attic Building Accounts. V. Supplementary Notes”, AJA 25, 233-247.
- Epstein, S. 2013. “Attic Building Accounts from Euthynae to Stelae”, in M. Faraguna (ed.), Archives and Archival Documents in Ancient Societies. Trieste, 127-141.
- Faraguna, M. 2020. “Interplay between Documents on Different Writing Materials in Classical Greece: Paragraphoi and Columnar Formatting”, ZPE 214, 115-128.
- Faraguna, M. 2021a. “Parte prima – Dall’età arcaica al IV secolo”, in L. Boffo and M. Faraguna (eds.), Le poleis e i loro archivi. Studi su pratiche documentarie, istituzioni e società nell’antichità greca. Trieste, 59-367.
- Faraguna, M. 2021b. “Magistrates’ Accountability and Epigraphic Documents: The Case of Accounts and Inventories”, in K.Harter-Uibopuu and W. Riess (eds.), Symposion 2019. Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte. Wien, 229-253.
- Feyel, Chr. 2006. Les artisans dans les sanctuaires grecs aux époques classique et hellénistique. Athens.
- Foley, E., and R. Stroud. 2019. “A Reappraisal of the Athena Promachos Accounts from the Acropolis (IG I³ 435)”, Hesperia 88, 87-153.
- Hedrick, C.W. 1994. “Writing, Reading, and Democracy”, in R. Osborne and S. Hornblower (eds.), Ritual, Finance, Politics. Athenian Democratic Accounts Presented to David Lewis. Oxford, 157-174.
- Jordan, D. 2004. “Towards the Text of a Curse Tablet from the Athenian Kerameikos”, in A.P. Matthaiou (ed.), Ἀττικαὶ Ἐπιγραφαί. Πρακτικὰ Συμποσίου εἰς μνήμην Adolf Wilhelm (1864-1950). Athens, 291-312.
- Kantor, G. 2021. “Inventories and Official Responsibility: Response to Michele Faraguna”, in K.Harter-Uibopuu and W. Riess (eds.), Symposion 2019. Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte. Wien, 255-261.
- Kirk, A. 2021. Ancient Greek Lists. Catalogue and Inventory across Genres. Cambridge.
- Klaffenbach, G. 1960. “Bemerkungen zum Griechischen Urkundenwesen”, Sitzungsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst 6, 5-42.
- Lambert, S.D. 2016. “The Last Erechtheion Building Accounts”, AIO Papers 7, 1-10.
- Lasagni, C. 2018. “«For Anyone Who Wishes to Read up Close…» A Few Thoughts Revolving around the Formula ΣΚΟΠΕΙΝ ΤΩΙ ΒΟΥΛΟΜΕΝΩΙ in Attic Inscriptions”, RFIC 146, 334-380.
- Lewis, D.M. 2020. “Misthos, Apophora, or Something Else? A Fresh Look at SEG XXXV 134”, in A. Jördens and U. Yiftach (eds.), Accounts and Bookkeeping in the Ancient World. Wiesbaden, 92-105.
- Linders, T. 1992. “Inscriptions and Orality”, SO 57, 27-40.
- Marchiandi, D. 2018. “La costruzione del valore degli stranieri nell’Atene classica: tra competenze professionali e prestazioni militari”, in M. Vallerani (ed.), Valore delle cose e valore delle persone. Dall’antichità all’età moderna. Rome, 103-127.
- Marginesu, G. 2009. “Note sui rendiconti ateniesi di statue del V secolo a.C.”, PP 64, 460-474.
- Marginesu, G. 2010. Gli epistati dell’Acropoli: edilizia sacra nella città di Pericle, 447/6-433/2 a.C. Paestum.
- Marginesu, G. 2017. “Il sistema acrofonico e la notazione delle somme di denaro nei rendiconti ateniesi del V sec. a.C.”, in A. Inglese (ed.), Epigrammata 4. L’uso dei numeri greci nelle iscrizioni. Roma, 117-130.
- Marginesu, G. 2022. “Rationes dei magistrati e monumenti epigrafici ateniesi d’età classica. Alcune osservazioni”, Aristonothos 18, 93-114.
- Meyer, E.A. 2013. “Inscriptions as Honors and the Athenian Epigraphic Habit”, Historia 62, 453-505.
- Meyer, E.A. 2017. “Inscribing in Columns in Fifth Century Athens”, in I. Berti, K. Bolle, F. Opdenhoff, and F. Stroth (eds.), Writing Matters. Presenting and Perceiving Monumental Inscriptions in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Berlin - Boston, 205-261.
- Missiou, A. 2011. Literacy and Democracy in Fifth-Century Athens. Cambridge.
- Oranges, A. 2021. Euthyna. Il rendiconto dei magistrati nella democrazia ateniese (V-IV secolo a.C.), Milan.
- Osborne, R. 2022. “The Appearance of Numbers”, in R. Sing, T.A. van Berkel, and R. Osborne (eds.), Numbers and Numeracy in the Greek Polis. Leiden - Boston, 58-77.
- Pébarthe, C. 2006. Cité, démocratie et écriture. Histoire de l’alphabétisation d’Athènes à l’époque classique. Paris.
- Pitt, R. 2015. “Some Mid-Fifth Century Athenian Building Accounts”, in A.P. Matthaiou and N. Papazarkadas (eds.), ΑΞΟΝ. Studies in Honor of Ronald S. Stroud. Athens, 693-707.
- Rhodes, P.J. 1981. A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia. Oxford.
- Rhodes, P.J. 2001. “Public Documents in the Greek States: Archives and Inscriptions. Part I. Part II”, G&R 48, 33-44, 136-153.
- Scott, M. 2011. “Displaying Lists of What Is (not) on Display. The Use of Inventories in Greek Sanctuaries”, in M. Haysom and J. Wallensten (eds.), Current Approaches to Religion in Ancient Greece. Stockholm, 239-252.
- Shear, T.L. jr. 2016. Trophies of Victory. Public Building in Periklean Athens. Princeton.
- Sickinger, J.P. 1999. Public Records and Archives in Classical Athens. Chapel Hill - London.
- Sickinger, J.P. 2009, “Nothing to Do with Democracy: ‘Formulae of Disclosure’ and the Athenian Epigraphic Habit”, in L. Mitchell and L. Rubinstein (eds.), Greek History and Epigraphy. Essays in Honour of P.J. Rhodes. Swansea, 87-102.
- Tracy, S.V. 2016. Athenian Lettering of the Fifth century B.C. The Rise of the Professional Letter Cutter. Berlin - Boston.
- Wilhelm, A. 1909. “Über die öffentliche Aufzeichnung von Urkunden”, in Beiträge zur griechischen Inschriftenkunde. Wien, 229-299.
- Wittenburg, A. 1978. Grieschische Baukommisionen des 5. und 4. Jahrhunderts. München.
Chapter Information
Chapter Title
On the Format and Layout of Athenian Building Accounts (Again)
Authors
Cristina Carusi
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.04
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Text, Layout, and Medium
Book Subtitle
Documents from the Greco-Roman World between Epigraphy and Papyrology
Editors
Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
426
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0455-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0456-9
Series Title
Edizioni dell’Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli»
Series ISSN
2533-2414
Series E-ISSN
2612-7997