the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

296 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
12. (vXa KaVo01L(a (V, 7). Firewood. Xylon is used for cut wood in the sense of
'firewood,' 'timber,' and is possibly derived from , ' scrape.' 65 The word occurs
in numerous places in the Delian accounts of the hieropoioi.66 It is usually side by side
with klematides, 'brushwood,' and rhymos, ' log.' 67 Such firewood was commonly
used in sacrifices.68
Many prices of xyla are preserved from the records of Delos, where of course
the wood had to be imported. Indeed, the scarcity of wood on Delos is attested by a
Delian law from the last part of the third century which regulated the sale of wood
and charcoal.6 The weight of the wood in talents is frequently given as well as the
price. A talent represented a man's load and weighed over 80 pounds avoirdupois."
The Delian evidence for a period of 80 years is presented in the following table, based
in part on that of G. Glotz in Journal des Savants, XI, 1913, p. 23.
PRICE OF FIREWOOD AT DELOS
Date Price per Taleint Maximum Minimum Inscription
ca. 310 1 dr. 2 ob. 1 dr. 1X2 ob. I.G., XI, 2, 142, lines 60-61
ca. 305 1 dr. lk2 ob. XI, 2 144 A, line 29
300 1 dr. 1 2 ob. 147 A, line 12
279 1 dr. 2 ob. 161 A, line 108
274 1 dr. 2 ob. 199 A, line 49
269 1 dr. 1 ob. 203 A, lines 58,7159
268 1 dr. '/8 ob. 1 dr. 204, lines 46, 49, 63
267 1 dr. 2 ob. 205 Bd, line 14
ca. 265 1 dr. 1 ob. 1 dr. 219 A, lines 15, 49, 55
258 1 dr. '4 ob. 4 ob. 224A, lines 30, 31
250 1 dr. 1 ob. 4 ob. 287 A, lines 45, 50, 52,
61, 65, 67, 73, 80, 81, 82
ca. 245 1 dr. 2'4 ob. 1 dr. 134 ob. Insc. De'los, 290, lines 48, 73, 82, 85, 94, 99
After 248 1 dr. 1 ob. 291, line 29
231 1 dr. 1 ob. 1 dr. 316, lines 100, 104, 110
66 See Boisacq, Dictionnaire,4 s.v. Xylon for this and other possibilities. Cf. Buck, Dictionary,
pp. 49-50. In the Erechtheion building inscriptions, the word sometimes means 'beam,' and it is
so translated in G. P. Stevens, Erechtheum, p. 329. Elsewhere in the same inscription (VII, line 7:
p. 320), it is applied to the moulding. In Jahreshefte, VIII, 1905, p. 11, Wilhelm has defined xyla
(" das frische Holz der Stamme ") in distinction to various other words referring to wood.
66 of equal frequency is the use of the word xyla in the sense of ' timber ' or ' lumber.' The
type of lumber (oak, pine, etc.) is usually specified. It should be noted that under the general
heading of wood, Pollux (VII, 109) makes the subdivisions of kausima and ergasima, ' wood that
can be worked.'
67
See, in particular, E. Schulhof and P. Huvelin, B.C.H., XXXI, 1907, pp. 53 ff.
68
See Kirchner ad I.G., 12, 1672, line 124.
6 Insc. De'los, 509. See J. A. 0. Larsen, " Roman Greece," Economic Survey, IV, pp. 352-354.
70 In the Attic-Euboic standard, a talent was 36.86 kg. A kilogram is equal to 2.2046+
pounds. It is more probable, however, that a market talent of 39.25 kilograms was used; see Larsen,
op. cit., p. 295. This equals a little over 86'2 pounds.
71 The rate is given as 1 drachma 1 obol per talent. The actual price paid for 50 talents was 60
drachmas 4 obols which would be at the rate of 1 drachma 1Y4+ obols per talent.