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

THE ATTIC STELAI 307
XLII, 1947, pp. 76-138, is basic,' although weapons have been ardently collected and
reported from numerous excavations. Lammert has sketched the history of the bow
in R.E., s.v. Pfeil; H. Weber's chapter " Angriffswaffen" in Olympische Forschungen,
I, Berlin, 1944, pp. 146-165, seems to be the most detailed study of the
archaeological evidence. There is a useful illustrated study of arms and armour in
the British Museum, Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life',
London, 1920, pp. 74-109. Robinson has published a chapter on arrowheads, spearheads,
slingbullets, and shields in Olynthus, X, pp. 378-446.
I know of no study on the cost of ancient weapons. Stele II contains the price of
the short hurling spear and a spear without butt-spike as 2 drachmas and 1 drachma
4 obols, respectively.
In a scene near the close of the Pax of Aristophanes, various traders come upon
the scene and interview Trygaios. The prices for their wares include 1000 drachmas
for a breastplate (thorax), 60 for a trumpet (salpinx) and 50 for a helmet (kranos).2
These are regarded as high, if not fictitious, prices.3 In I.G., 112, 1126, lines 29-30, a
law of the Delphic Amphictyonic League dated in 380/79 B.C., the shield is priced at
200 Aeginetan staters and the crest (lophos) at 15 staters. This amounts to 600
drachmas for the former, 45 for the latter. But these were apparently adornments for
a colossal statue and hardly typical prices. The price of the 8$pv, which would complete
the panoplia and provide a basis for comparison, is unfortunately lost.
One other inscription is known to me which contains prices for some weapons.
This is from Koresia on the island of Keos and is dated at the beginning of the third
century B.c. The weapons mentioned were given as prizes of victory, so were presumably
of good quality. The following prices are girven:
VALUE OF WEAPONS IN I.G., XII, 5, 6474
Weapon Price Line No.
Bow (toxon) 7 dr. 28
Bow and quiver (pharetra) 15 dr. 28
Spearhead (loche)5 3'/3 ob. 30
Staff pole (kontos) 2 dr. 31
Shield 20 dr. 31
Our evidence is scattered, but we can safely conclude that weapons were not cheap.
1
D. H. F. Gray's recent article " Metal-Working in Homer " (J.H.S., LXXIV, 1954, pp. 1-15)
includes references to early weapons discovered in excavations.
2Lines 1224, 1240, 1251.
3A. Bdckh, Staatshaushaltung der Athener3, I, p. 138; Ehrenberg, People of Aristophanes2,
p. 224.
4 Syll.3, 958.
5 Or, possibly, spear.