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

THE ATTIC STELAI 257
Prices from Delos include two work-bulls for 75 drachmas each 16 and a young
bull for 50 drachmas in 274 B.C.17 Larsen notes that the 50 drachmas is the lowest
price for cattle known from Delos. Other Delian prices of the period 190-169 vary
from 70 to 120 drachmas."8 In a decree of the Amphictions at Delphi in 380/79, the
so-called hero-bull was priced at 100 Aeginetan staters."9 For a similar prize
animal Jason of Pherai offered a golden crown.20 In I.G., Tl2, 2311 (400-350 B.C.),
lines 71-81, cattle are listed among the vtKqr4Tpta and the figure of 100 drachma seems
to give the value of the animal.
Numerous other prices for cattle are preserved, all of which indicate considerable
fluctuation. " The value of cows varies in the sources from 8 to 30 denarii in Babylonia,
from 15 to 100 denarii in Egypt and from 100 to 200 denarii in Palestine." 21
Prices for oxen were higher.
Our Stele VI, lines 68-70, contains the following three entries:
/3.,o
[ypaya 8]vo Ev 'Ap[--]
1E [oE] s TETTapE9 KaU /hO [1xoL ovrovjT
The number of uninscribed spaces in the columns of prices is given according
to Meritt, Hesperia, VIII, 1939, p. 72.22 The price of the two working oxen in the
first entry could presumably be 50 or 100 drachmas; for the two cows or oxen in the
second entry, 70 or 120 drachmas. In 410/09 B.C., we have seen above, the price of a
sacrificial cow was apparently 51 drachmas. Since the temples required only perfect
animals with the duty of selection delegated to a special board of hieropoioi, this price
of 51 drachmas should be regarded as a maximum for our inscription. I would suggest,
accordingly, the restoration of the 100 drachma sign in line 68 and the 50
drachma sign in the missing letter space of line 69. The working oxen would then be
worth 50 drachmas apiece; the cow (or, less likely, ox) of line 69, 35 drachmas.
The price of cattle would not seem to be overly high, considering the size of the
animal. This supposition is in contrast to the general conception that beef was very
expensive. To demonstrate the high cost of beef, Michell, Ec. of Anc. Greece, p. 62,
note 1, cites a passage in Athenaeus (IX, 377 a) which speaks of the roasting of a
whole ox at a feast in a rich household and a passage in Theophrastos (Char., XXI,
7) where the scalp of an ox is nailed above the door for everyone to see. But the
16I.G., XI, 2, no. 142, line 11.
17 I.G., XI, 2, no. 199A, lines 70-71. Cf. Segre, op. cit., pp. 168-169.
18 J. A. 0. Larsen, "Roman Greece," Economic Survey, IV, p. 387.
19I.G., 112, 1126, line 32.
20
Xenophon, H.G., VI, 4, 29.
21
F. M. Heichelheim, "Roman Syria," Economic Survey, IV, p. 155. Cf. A. C. Johnson,
"Roman Egypt," Economic Survey, I, p. 232.
22
This requires a slight correction in line 68 of our Stele VI.