Sortition in Hellenistic Sicily
New Archaeological Evidence from Morgantina
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4541879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D Alex Walthall (The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Randall Souza (0000-0002-2725-7725, Seattle University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 125 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 361-390 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3764/aja.125.3.0361 |
| OpenAlex | W3167733500 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 2 |
Although literary and epigraphic texts attest to the widespread use of random selection in the ancient Mediterranean, archaeological evidence beyond the Athenian-style kleroterion is rare. A recent discovery at Morgantina may improve this situation: a terracotta ball inscribed with a personal name was recovered in 2018 during excavations inside a house dated to the middle of the third century BCE. A nearly identical ball inscribed with a different name had been excavated in the 1960s in a nearby house of similar date. Here we consider them together, offering a first publication of the two objects and their inscriptions, including their onomastic and social significance. We argue that these objects most likely functioned as lots (κλῆροι) for sortition, based on a review of relevant evidence for the theory and practice of sortition from across the Mediterranean. We then discuss the historical context in which the lots were created, used, and discarded: decades of prosperity in eastern Sicily under the hegemony of the Syracusan monarch Hieron II (r. 269-215 BCE). We propose that the inhabitants of Hellenistic Morgantina may have employed random selection for distributing land during a period of demographic and urban growth generated by that prosperity
Ancient history · Archaeology · Geography · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History
| Citations per year | 1.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |