Ancient Literacies

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

For instance, the developing Athenian empire seems to have generated


administration and some documents, possibly rather simple, to achieve


better tribute collection. When a decree mentions the special making of


records, this may either be because these special records are a new type of


record now being introduced for this purpose, or because the decree simply


mentions every stage of a normal and everyday procedure. The former


seems more plausible. An interesting case study, the Cleinias decree (IG i^3



  1. of 448/7B.C. tried toreduce corruption in the tributecollection:^55 asthe


decree describes,symbolaor identification seals are agreed with each city to


prevent fraud; the amount each ally pays is written down on a tablet


(grammateion) in the city itself and sealed with thesymbolon. The document


is readout inthe Athenian Boule whenthe money isactually delivered—the


pile of money supposedly tallying with thegrammateion. Then the Helle-


notamiai (officials responsible for the Athenian tribute) are to read out to


the Assembly those cities that paid the full tribute (lines 18–22). Receipts


for tribute go to the cities (IíôتæÆçóïìÝíïò), and the same officials try to


obtain the missing payments. Certain officials, probably the Hellenotamiai,


record the tribute on a whitenedpinakion, listing city by city (lines 43–45).
There are also lists of tribute defaulters on thepinakionin theboule,andin


the last fragmentary section theboulemay be to ‘‘publish’’ these (KðØäå~ØåóÆØ)


to the people (lines 58–60).


What, then, does this mean in practice for the literate habits of the


boule?A lot of people are making lists. The 500bouleutaias a body are


responsible for receiving and keeping various lists of tribute payers and


defaulters, and along with Hellenotamiai they supervise the new system


ofsymbola. Can we deduce more? The decree devotes much detail to


spelling out the system ofsymbola, and how thegrammateioncontaining


the full sum owed is brought into thebouleand read out with the money:


it sounds as if this is new and relatively unfamiliar. Members of theboule


are essential in this attempt to tighten up by creating more documenta-


tion. Much could be read out by clerks and slaves,^56 butbouleutaimay


have needed enough working ‘‘list literacy’’ to deal with these documents,


which sound as if they consisted mainly of lists of names with numbers


alongside. Some officials (clerks) have to make and write out the lists.


This sounds primarily like list literacy for both clerks andbouleutai.


It is instructive to try to imagine what other literate practices are


involved in other similar decrees. We hear elsewhere of records being


made of debts of tribute, and we can get a snapshot of energetic list making


in connection with the tribute.
57
The Kleonymos decree of 426/5 (IG i
3
68)



  1. Cf. also important article by Pe ́barthe 1999 (which seems, however, to underplay
    the possible novelty here); developed in Pe ́barthe 2006.

  2. Rhodes 1972, 136 42 discusses secretaries, clerks, and public slaves connected
    with theboule.

  3. See Thomas 1994, 47: including Methone’s owed tribute, IG i^3 61, lines 9,
    14 15; Neapolis is to give the generals the money owed and the generals are to record


38 Situating Literacies

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