Public Records and Archives in Classical Athens (Studies in the History of Greece and Rome)

In this book, James Sickinger explores the use and preservation of public records in the ancient Athenian democracy of the archaic and classical periods. Athenian public records are most familiar from the survival of inscribed stelai, slabs of marble on which were published decrees, treaties, financial accounts, and other state documents. Working largely from evidence supplied by such inscriptions, Sickinger demonstrates that their texts actually represented only a small part of Athenian record keeping. More numerous and more widely used, he says, were archival texts written on wooden tablets or papyri that were made, and often kept for extended periods of time, by Athenian officials. Beginning with the legislation of Drakon in the seventh century B.C., Sickinger traces the growing use of written records by the Athenian state over the next three centuries, concluding with an examination of the Metroon, the state archive of Athens, during the fourth century. Challenging assumptions about ancient Athenian literacy, democracy, and society, Sickinger argues that the practical use and preservation of laws, decrees, and other state documents were hallmarks of Athenian public life from the earliest times. Sickinger (classics, Florida State University) explores the use and preservation of public records, especially laws and decrees, in the ancient Athenian democracy of the archaic and classical periods. He demonstrates that inscriptions on marble represented only a small part of Athenian record keeping, and traces the development of more numerous and more widely used archival texts written on wooden tablets or papyri, from their first use to record laws in Drakon and Solon in the late seventh and early sixth century BC, through the proliferation of public record keeping of all sorts that occurred over the course of the sixth and fifth centuries. "In this book, James Sickinger explores the use and preservation of public records especially laws and decrees, in the ancient Athenian democracy of the archaic and classical periods." "This book challenges the growing orthodoxy in classical scholarship that characterizes Athenian literacy and record keeping as crude and primitive before the fourth century B.C. It argues instead that the practical use and preservation of laws, decrees, and other state documents were hallmarks of Athenian society from the earliest times."--Jacket Preface Introduction 1: Thesmothetai, Drakon, and Solon 2: Documents and Records in the Sixth Century 3: Records and Archives in the Fifth Century 4: The Athenian Law Code and the Foundation of the Metroon 5: The Archives in the Metroon 6: Personnel and Organization 7: Consultation Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index James P. Sickinger. Notes: P. [197]-256. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [257]-266) And Index.