An Unpublished Attic Decree

The following decree is inscribed upon the lower part of a stele of bluish (Hymettus) marble, broken at the top and on the left: the break across the top is too regular to have been accidental, and it is evident that the slab has been cut in order to be built into some wall. The stone was found in 1897 among the ruins of the Byzantine chapel which stands on the left of the road from Athens to Marathon, between the tenth and eleventh kilometre stones, and 300 yards west of the point called Σταυρός where the Laurion road strikes off towards the south: it was presented to the British School at Athens, and is now in the museum of the Macmillan Hostel. A record upon stone was not of the essence of a decree, and it is almost certain that the majority of decrees were never so inscribed at all, but merely painted upon a panel ( λεύκωμα ) which was then exhibited for a certain length of time. Where, however, a more permanent display was desired, a clause was inserted in the decree authorizing its inscription upon a stone (or, rarely, metal) stele, and determining the place where it was to be set up.

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