WEST, WILLIAM C., The Public Archives in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.529 The Public Archives In Fourth-Century Athens William C. West E KNOW, from references in Demosthenes and other Wauthors, that the central archives of the Athenian state were kept in the Metroon, the Temple of the Mother, on the west side of the Athenian Agora. It is likely that such an archive was established there in the last decade of the fifth cen­ tury B.C. The extant remains of the foundation of this building represent its Hellenistic phase, dating from the second century B.C. Given these fixed points, scholars continue to be cautious and minimalist in speculating about the form and organization of the archives in classical times.1 Two recent studies illustrate this point. According to E. Pos­ ner, "How the records were kept and arranged in the building [i.e. the archives] we can only guess .... much can be said for the theory that records were kept in annual accumulations under the name of the archon eponymos and thereafter according to the different prytaneis." And R. Thomas writes: "It has been suggested that the documents themselves were stored in yearly batches under the archon year and different prytanies. This is inferred from the fact that many documents do not have dates and therefore the exact dates of each must have been obvious to the keeper of the archive from the place where they were stored. However, this is not only speculative, but optimistic."2 1 Demosthenes cites the Metroon as the repository for archives (19.129); Aes­ chines implies it (3.187), as does Deinarchus (1.86). IG IF 463.28 mentions the Metroon in a context which may indicate the handling of documents, but the text is heavily restored. In an anecdote preserved in Athenaeus (9.407c) Alcibiades is said to have erased from a legal charge in the Metroon the name of a man who consulted him. If true, this is the earliest indication of the use of the Metroon as an archive. Cf. A. L. Boegehold, "The Establishment of a Central Archive at Athens," A]A 76 (1972) 23-30; for discussion of the remains, H. Thompson, "Buildings on the West Side of the Athenian Agora," Hesperia 6 (1937) 215ff. 2 E. Posner, Archives of the Ancient World (Cambridge [Mass.] 1972) 112f; R. Thomas, Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens (Cam­ bridge 1989) 78. See also W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Cambridge [Mass.] 1989) 76ff. 529 WEST, WILLIAM C., The Public Archives in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.529 530 PUBLIC ARCHIVES IN FOURTH-CENTURY ATHENS The documents without dates may have been records of those who owed money to the state, which were kept on the Acropolis by the praktores, with a copy possibly sent to an ar­ chive.) But decrees of the assembly were stored in the archives; and the versions of these texts recorded on stone do have a scheme for dating, which is indicated in the prescript, although it is not standardized at the beginning of the fourth century. The evidence of stone inscriptions has strongly influenced our attitude toward the recording of dates in public documents. It suggests that the Athenians recorded dates in the prescripts of decrees in terms of the conciliar calendar and only after several decades added dates by month and day to the informa­ tion included. Yet the prescripts were added to the texts of decrees by the secretaries of the council. Over the years there have been different views of the final 'authorship' of these decrees, interpreting the significance of the names of the secretary and the orator in the prescript. W. Larfeld emphasized that the orator is a private person who, in proposing a text officially, acts in a quasi-official capacity. He seems to suggest that the secretary is responsible for adding the prescript and ensuring that the text is drafted. W. S. Ferguson was more precise: "the name of the [prytany] secretary in the prescript is to guarantee that the text is word for word equiva­ lent to the resolution passed by the state assemblies." More recently, A. Henry has argued for a more substantial role for the secretary, holding that he was responsible for the final draft and its duplication on stone, when this was specified.4 The secretary has total responsibility for drafting the pre­ script, but, as Henry's detailed study shows, an exact, undeviat­ ing format was never required. A standard format may have existed in general, but variants from it were easily tolerated: "verbal accuracy was neither demanded nor expected .... The ancient attitude to the recording of documents ... was different from ours: provided the essential information was conveyed, complete fidelity of reproduction just did not enter into it" (105). Henry does not discuss who was responsible for the text of the decree, but implies that the orator was. 3 As suggested by Boegehold (supra n.l) 2M. 4 W. Larfeld, Handbuch der griechischen Epigraphik 11.2 (Leipzig 1902) 642ff; W. S. Ferguson, The Athenian Secretaries (Ithaca 1907) 31; A. Henry, The Prescripts of Athenian Decrees (Leiden 1974) 3 and 10 n.36. WEST, WILLIAM C., The Public Archives in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.529 WILLIAM C. WEST 531 As to the preservation of decrees on stone, it should be noted that the publication formula ("inscribe this decree on a stone stele and set it up") simply means, "give this decree wider publici ty." The deposi t of a copy in the archives (on papyrus, etc.) is taken for granted and not specified because it is part of the regular procedure. Reference to this procedure in Hel­ lenistic times simply clarifies the usual procedure, and does not mean that it was a novelty. M. H. Hansen has asserted that there is no supporting evi­ dence for the widely accepted view that the originals were recorded on papyrus and filed. 5 The publication formula itself constitutes some evidence, however, especially in light of the apparently low rate of survival of the total number of decrees originally passed. The formula means that a decree is to be inscribed and thus given wider publicity than it would have if it simply went into the archives. 6 The fact that inscribing has to be prescribed implies that the original is preserved in another form. This understanding of the formula can be better ap­ preciated by considering the ratio of the number of surviving decrees to the estimated total of those actually passed. The decrees that were inscribed were in fact a very small percentage of those passed by the assembly,7 A striking instance of the variety allowed in the composition of the prescript can be seen in the new form of the chairman formula, which is first attested in 378/7 and does not fully re­ place an older form until more than forty years later {see the 5 The Athenian Assembly (Oxford 1987) 183 n.700. 6 Basic elements of the formula (from the fifth century on): (1) action (ava­ ypa'l'at, avaypa'l'ac;); this element always occurs in the formula; (2) object ('to 'l'tl<PtO'p.a, 'tel t'lfTl<PtO'p.iva, au'tov, etc.); often, but not always expressed; (3) medium (Ev 0''ttlA1l1 A18iv1l1, tV O'avlol, etc.); (4) location ( 0''tilO'al/lm'ta8tlv<Xl EP. noAtt, etc.). Motivation is sometimes specified (/G P 103?, 119, 126?, 174), occasionally purpose (84.26, 1453.13 [composite». From the middle of the fourth century, a purpose clause is often added, signifying that, by being displayed, decrees conferring honors and privileges are to give wider publicity to the honorands. The clause occurs in IG 112 183 (restored) and 196 (re­ stored), both of 353/2, 244 and 243, both of 344/3, and is increasingry- com­ mon thereafter. For remarks on the development of this formula, cJ. W. C. West, in Data Bases in the Humanities and Social Sciences III (Osprey [Fla.] 1987) 528. 7 On the relation of the number of decrees preserved on stone or in literary quotation to the total number of decrees passed, cf. M. H. Hansen, GRBS 25 (1984) 128-32, calculations for the period 355-322. Cf. also Hansen (supra n.5) 108-18. WEST, WILLIAM C., The Public Archives in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.529 532 PUBLIC ARCHIVES IN FOURTH-CENTURY ATHENS Appendix infra). The earliest inscription in which this formula is certain is IG II 244 of 378/7 B.C., but it gradually replaces the old form in the course of the fourth century. In the old form of the prescript the official who [resided over the assembly is the epistates of the prytaneis an is regularly cited in the same place in the prescript that is later occupied by the proedros. Un­ doubtedly the two officials (epistates in the fifth century and part of the fourth, then chairman of the proedroi) performed the same function of presiding over the assembly and, con­ sequently, moving passage of the decree when appropriate in the agenda. Aristotle (Ath.Pol. 44.2f) tells us that the president at meetings of the assembly was chosen by the epistates of the prytaneis to preside for one day only. He, and eight others, came from the tribes not in prytany to form an agenda committee, ot 1tp6d5pot, for that meeting. Scholars have interpreted the change as prompted by a desire of the prytaneis to share out the in­ creasing load of public business.