Financial accounts for the construction of the Erechtheion

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΕΜ 6667

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Inscription

Period

Classical Period

Date

408/7 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.75 m
Length: 0.35 m
Width: 0.1 m

Material

Marble

Location

First Floor, West

Description
Bibliography

Part of an inscription that includes the Erechtheion 408/7 BC accounts. It was found in 1836 during the Propylaia excavations. The whole inscription is divided into many fragments on different steles with two of these housed today in the Acropolis Museum.

Fragment XIII has been inscribed on a thin marble stele that fitted into a wall. It preserves two columns that correspond to the accounts of the second half of 408/7 BC. The fragment in particular refers to the last part of the sixth prytaneia accounts and the beginning of the seventh that belongs to the Leontis tribe. The text, 105 lines long, is cut into the stone stoichedon in the Attic alphabet and constitutes a valuable source of information regarding different technical professions such as contractors, builders, wax modellers and encaustic painters, the way that work was coordinated, the makeup of the labourers as well as the financial handling, the payment methods and amounts.

The accounts that refer to the Erechtheion construction, particularly those which date between 409/8 and 405/4 BC, are of exceptional interest as they form a precious source of evidence about ancient technology. The construction of the Erechtheion, the elegant and unique Ionic building that housed the age-old xoanon of Athena as well as some of the most venerated cults on the sacred rock, began in 421 BC after the Peace of Nicias. The work was interrupted due to Athenians’ shattering defeat during the Sicilian Expedition (413 BC) and were resumed in 409/8 BC after the Citizens Assembly assigned with a decree to a five-member council the inspection of the state in which the half-finished building was. The financial accounts were supervised by the epistates who were officials elected by vote instead of lot and oversaw public works. They were supported by an architect and their own secretary.

Attic Inscriptions Online, https://www.atticinscriptions.com, αρ.κατ. IG I3 476
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