BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Four
Second Athenian League only demonstrated how infeasible empire was in the mid-fourth
century. No longer, then, could the Athenians even hope to gain public revenues from
external League monies; instead, they once again had to look to within their community
to raise public monies. 28
On two different fronts the city’s internal financial reorganization likely
problematized the bonds of trust between citizens. First, anxieties over elite defection
only increased as the public treasury relied still more on their involvement in raising
public revenues, in terms of both providing and managing the city’s revenues. We saw in
the last chapter how concerns over gaining a specific amount of revenue prompted the
creation of the symmories, or groups of citizens responsible for paying the cost of the
eisphora tax during war. Likewise, in the 360’s these same symmory groups probably
became the basis for paying the costs and upkeep of naval warships (triērarchia), as
well. 29 By the 350’s, both liturgies, crucial for the defense of the city, acquired new
prominence as the most critical—and hence the most honorable—financial contributions
to the city. 30
overthrow the democracy. In this sense, the fears surrounding their dealings were wholly analogous to
those leveled against the purported dōrodokoi of Lysias 27-9 analyzed in the previous chapter: cf. Moreno
(2007: 222).
With the emergence of Philip, however, there was a tangible threat that an enemy might affect the
provision of grain—and it was here, in the combination with Philip, that fears of stasis emerged. At this
time, wheat became synonymous with bribery from Athens’ enemies—e.g. Dem. 19.114, 19.145; Din.
1.43—as the reliance on only a handful of individuals thus became a major security issue for the Athenians.
Cf. [Dem.] 34.47, 42.20; Oliver (2007: 41-4).
28 See especially Cawkwell (1981: 40-55), Hakkarainen (1997: 4-8) on this conceptual shift; this idea
features prominently in Isocrates’ On the Peace (esp. Isoc. 8. 19-21) and Xenophon’s Ways and Means, cf.
Rh. Al. 1446b19-21.
29 Whether or not the eisphora and triērarchia were collected through the same symmory groups is still a
matter of debate: see, for example, Ruschenbusch (1978: 275-84) for, MacDowell (1990: 372-3) against.
30 Demosthenes’ speech against Leptines in defense of rewarding military liturgists with exemption from
festival liturgies (ateleia), is a locus classicus for emphasizing the importance of military liturgies over and
above festival liturgies: Dem. 20, 21.160, cf. Lyc. 1.139 with Hakkarainen (1997: 14-19).
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