Athenian Decree About the Granting of the sitesis

Abstract

The Athenian decree under discussion is a highly controversial inscription for several reasons, including its dating, which varies between 440 and 424 BCE, and the content of the document itself. The inscription, which is very fragmentary, refers to people who were granted a meal at public expense (sitesis), including the descendants of the tyrannicides, Harmodios and Aristogeiton; perhaps the pythochrestoi or, better, the manteis selected by Apollo; the winners of one of the four agonies of the periodos; and probably the strategoi. The paper also argues the hypothesis that the decree concerned not only the sitesis but also the proedria.