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

300 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
Eustathius described Homer's dO-qp-qXotyos, 'consumer of chaff,' as a ptyon which
he said was in shape like a hand.'02 The shovel was used to toss up the grain against
the wind. The wind carries the chaff to a distance and the heavier grain falls short
in a mounting heap. The process is wholly unlike that described in relation to the
winnow-basket, liknon."0
The price of the ptyon in the Edict of Diocletian (Col. XV, 44) is given as 12
denarii.
19. pv/i6os (V, 11). Log.'04 The word has, among others, three meanings which
might be appropriate in our inscription: the shaft of the plow, the pole of a chariot,
and logs of wood for fuel. The rhymos, as the shaft of a plow, was composed of two
parts, the beam, or curved piece (gyes), and the shaft attached to it (histoboeus). A
description is given by E. Saglio in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionatire, s.V. Aratrum, p.
354 b. For illustrations, see Cloche, Classes, etc., p. 12 and plate VIII. Pollux,"05
Hesychius and Suidas 106 define the word as the pole of the chariot or cart, which
went between the horses and by which the cart was pulled. This use is derived from
the etymological meaning of the word. It is attested from Homer and Herodotos and
is illustrated by A. Baudrillart in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictiounaire, s.v. Jugum, p.
665. 107
For the third meaning of rhymos, which is attested only in the inscriptions, the
exact sense is not certain. This use is discussed by Schulhof and Huvelin (B.C.H.,
XXXI, 1907, pp. 53-56); by Larsen (op. cit., p. 354); and by Kirchner (ad I.G., I2,
1672, lines 124 and 307) who refers to Harzbecker's unpublished Leipzig dissertation,
which is not available to me.108 The word seems to be used for firewood and refers
to larger pieces of wood than xyla. Since our word occurs only four lines below the
entry ev'Xc Kav'o-qka (V, 7), the third meaning would seem likeliest in this context.
Numerous prices for rhymos are preserved in the Delian accounts of the hieropoioi.&09
The word usually occurs side by side with xyla, lacmpacs, 'torch' or 'faggot,'
and klemcatides, 'brushwood.' Schulhof and Huvelin have noted that in the accounts
of the archonship of Sosisthenes (250 B.C.)1"0 the price of rhymos in the singular was
one obol; in the plural, two obols.1"' This rule cannot be applied strictly in this or in
102
Ad Od., XI, 128 (p. 1675, 54-57) and ad. II., XIII, 588.
103
See J. E. Harrison, op. cit., p. 302.
104
For the etymology, see Boisacq, Dictionnaire4, s.v. ('that which is drawn'). For the meaning
of rhymos in inventories, see above, p. 224, note 85.
105 I, 146.
106 s.v. Rhymos.
107
Cf. LUibker, Reallexikon8, p. 1126a. In architectural contexts the word has sometimes been
interpreted as meaning ' unsquared log.' See G. P. Stevens, Erechtheum, p. 354.
108 Cf. also Diirrbach ad I.G., XI, 2, 154, line 18.
109 In the Delian inventories, on the other hand, rhymos regularly means 'row' or 'shelf.'
110I.G., XI, 2, 287.
111 Op. cit., p. 56.