Epigraphic geography: the tribute quota fragments assigned to 421/0-415/4 B.C

Hesperia, Fall, 2004 by Lisa Kallet

The final buttress of their interpretation came from a section of the assessment containing the Hellespontine district total. This figure is either fully or only partially preserved: on the line on which the total was inscribed (col. IV.13), the stone breaks off at the beginning of the numerals. If what is preserved on the fragment is the complete figure, then the total was some 96 talents. If, however, numerals originally preceded those preserved, the total would have been 196 talents, if only one numeral was missing, or 296 talents, if two were missing. The editors of ATL preferred the lowest figure, on the grounds that it was more in keeping with the "Aristeidean character of the assessment of 421." (12)

This reconstruction of the historical context may be appealing--among other things it would make the Athenians appear benevolent, now that Kleon was dead--but how secure is it? (13) The inference from the terms of the Peace of Nikias pertaining to the six recalcitrant cities, namely, that all cities would have been extended the same generosity, would not be unreasonable if there were evidence that the Athenians saw it as in their interest to be mild with respect to the allies' obligations. That the Athenians ever had an interest per se in being kind to their allies is a modern assumption, however, unsupported by ancient evidence. (14)

Moreover, it should be remembered that the possibility of a broad extension of the "tribute of Aristeides" depends on manipulating the timing of the assessment, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. Leaving moral judgments aside, it is an equally valid inference that the Athenians in 422/1, needing to replenish their treasury after years of warfare, would have chosen not to offer a large-scale reduction in tribute, especially since their ability to collect (and to enforce collection) would have been enhanced by peacetime conditions. Most important, as Meiggs notes, it was by no means clear in the summer of 422, when the assessment would have occurred, that the Athenians and Spartans would be concluding a peace treaty in the following winter. (15)

Finally, the preference for the smallest figure possible on the fragment containing the Hellespontine total requires that the mason indented the total by two spaces in the column. This is not impossible, but there are no parallels for the practice. A single indentation is, however, precedented. As Meiggs notes, this was the format of the mason who inscribed district totals in the 425 assessment decree, and he regards this as most likely to have been the case in the 422/1 decree, thus making the total 196 talents; extrapolating from that figure, the annual income from tribute would have reached ca. 1,000 talents, thus not far off Andokides' figure of (more than) 1,200 talents. (16) This is certainly as reasonable, if to a slightly lesser degree, as supposing no indentation, which would bring the total to 296 talents (and would mean that the assessment would not constitute a reduction from the 425 assessment). (17)