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

238 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
compared to those listed in the Attic Stelai. However, there are a few modestly priced
doors in other inscriptions. I.G., IV2, 110, line 25, lists a payment of 20 drachmas 312
obols for each pair of house doors made for properties at the Asklepieion at Epidauros
(fourth to third century); another group of doors was made by the same workman
for 39 drachmas 2 obols each, whether double or single (lines 31 ff.). In I.G., XI, 2,
147, line 11, a door to the Delian abatos was bought from Hierakos for 18 drachmas.
Another Delian house door was bought for a price which must be restored as 11
drachmas 2 obols, 12 drachmas 1 obol, or 13 drachmas (I.G., XI, 2, 159, line 56).180
Other prices for parts of doors can be found: I.G., XI, 2, 165, line 4, lists two limewood
boards for the kymatia of the pronaos doors at probably 20 drachmas, and 147,
line 1 1, shows that the bosses for one door cost 1 drachma 4 obols.1
We cannot be sure just what the door prices listed above included; in the case
of the double and single doors made for the Asklepieion, the term Ovp4,uara is used,
and it is quite certain that doorposts were included, with perhaps also lintel and
threshold, which would explain the high price. The first Delian door, on the other
hand, was probably nothing but the leaf itself, without even its decorative bosses,
which are listed as the following item.182 Since the doors in the Attic Stelai were
taken from houses, they presumably did not include frames or lintels; this impression
is confirmed by the fact that there is a separate listing of six doorposts (see below,
p. 240). Whether or not these doors still bore their metal fittings we do not know.
Price. The only door in our list for which there is an indicative partial price is
the thyra syrtdromas; the restoration of a price of 23 drachmas 1 obol for the two
lepieion, where iron for two doors cost 708 drachmas (line 61) and ivory for other doors cost 3,150
drachmas (line 65). Temple doors might be decorated with designs in heated colored wax; see Insc.
De'los, 290, lines 144 ff., where 69 drachmas were paid Tas 7rpoyve18a& Ov'paS EyKavoaaJ and the same
for the doors behind the altar.
180 There are also some inconclusive prices from Delos: I.G., XI, 2, 163, lines 2 ff., mentions
that Demetrios was paid 200 drachmas for making 30 minas' weight of doors and a window, but
the line is incomplete; he may have made other things too, and we do not know how much a single
door weighed. The fact that the weight is given suggests that these doors were metal covered.
XI, 2, 154 A, line 4, notes a payment of 20 drachmas for doors and windows of the hestiatorion, but
again the line is broken and we cannot be sure that this was not merely a payment for repairs.
181 Some doors were covered with pitch; see I.G., XI, 2, 158, line 78. We know that one
metretes of pitch cost about 20 drachmas (line 76-20 drachmas 4 obols; cf. I.G., XI, 2, 199, line
36) at Delos, and it is recorded in I.G., XI, 2, 204, line 59, that a workman was paid 12 drachmas
for thus sealing a number of doors.
182 There are some recoverable prices for door hardware: amphidai (the rings into which the
bolt slid in fastening the doors) could cost 1 drachma each (I.G., XI, 2, 147, line 4) or somewhat
less (several for 1 drachma 2 plus obols: I.G., XI, 2, 156, line 53). I.G., XI, 2, 165, line 28, lists a
number of items of hardware which seem to have been bought all at the one price of 1 drachma 3
obols per mina (cf. lines 11 ff.). For the pronaos doors (line 30) 8 pairs of choinikes (sockets for
the posts) were required, at 4 drachmas a pair. See also I.G., XI, 2, 287, lines 115-116.