HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class Thomas Heine Nielsen, Lars Bjertrup, Mogens Herman Hansen, Lene Rubinstein, Torben Vestergaard T HE LARGE CORPUS of Attic tombstones commemorating citizens is an extremely valuable source for the study of Athenian demography. The sepulchral inscriptions, which span the period ca 400 B.C. to ca A.D. 250, record the names of 4,519 Athenians: 2,905 men, 1,472 women, 142 of unknown sex.! For males we learn the name, the demotic, and often the patronymic of the individual commemorated on the stone; and a comparison of the recorded demotic with the provenance of the grave monument may give valuable information about population movements within Attica. In a study of population in town and country A. W. Gomme adduced as his principal evidence a count of Attic tomb­ stones of the fourth and third centuries B.C.2 In a recent re-examina­ tion and updating of Gomme's material, A. Damsgaard-Madsen has corroborated his conclusion that the tombstones testify to a 1 At the Copenhagen University Institute of Classics a group consisting of the five authors has built up a data base of Athenians recorded on private funerary monuments in this period. The inventory comprises all the sepulchral inscriptions published in IC IP (1940) 5228-7861 (plus 110 of those recorded in the subsequent sections, 7862-13085) with later addenda in AM 67 (1942) 77-229 (Peek and Stamiris); W. Peek, Attische Crabinschriften II (Berlin 1957); D. W. Bradeen, The Athenian Agora XVII. Inscriptions. The Funerary Monuments (Princeton 1974); SEC XII-XXXV (1955-85); M. J. Osborne, "Attic Epitaphs. A Supplement," Anc Soc 19 (1988) 5-60. On the basis of this inventory the Copenhagen group intends to publish a number of studies in Athenian demography. The present study is composed by Thomas Heine Nielsen in collaboration with the other members of the group. 2 A. W. Gomme, The Population of Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. (Oxford 1933) 44f. 411 HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 412 GRAVE MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL CLASS considerable migration from the countryside into Athens. 3 Now, both Gomme and Damsgaard-Madsen presuppose without discuss­ ing the problem that during this period tombstones with sepulchral inscriptions were erected by Athenian citizens irrespective of their wealth and social status. The prevailing orthodoxy, however, seems to be that the corpus of sepulchral inscriptions is biased towards wealth: only affluent citizens had grave monuments, and conse­ quently the sepulchral inscriptions reflect the demography of the upper class only. Most recently the orthodoxy has been restated by John Davies, Robin Osborne, David Whitehead, and Robert Gar­ land. 4 The purpose of this study is to question this orthodoxy and to suggest that even poor citizens could easily afford a grave monu­ ment inscribed with their name, that many of the preserved sepul­ chral inscriptions must in fact commemorate ordinary citizens of little distinction and slender means, and that wealthy citizens­ though perhaps represented in more than their due proportion­ probably count for a fairly small fraction of the funeral monuments we have. We must not forget that the grave cult was an important aspect of Greek religion. In PI. Euthyd. 302c it is taken for granted that every Athenian citizen had ancestral tombs, and Socrates' statement in conversation with Euthydemus is corroborated by what we know about the dokimasia of incoming officials: at the examination all candidates for the nine archonships (and probably for other offices as well) were asked whether they had family tombs and where they were (Arist. Ath.Pol. 55.3). Since any Athenian citizen was eligible for office, the inference is that all could point out their ancestral tombs. Now, the tombs were clustered in nekropoleis or lined along the roads outside the urban settlements. Many of the simpler undecorated monuments, e.g. the columellae and small insignificant stone slabs, are so much alike that the only way of distinguishing one from the other is to have the name(s) inscribed, and the presumption is that most of the simple 3 • Attic Funeral Inscriptions. Their Use as Historical Sources and Some Prelim­ inary Results," in Studies in Ancient History and Numismatics Presented to Rudi Thomsen (A rhus 1988) 55-68. 4 J. Davies, ·Cultural, Social and Economic Features of the Hellenistic World," CAH VII.1 (1984) 267 (only foreigners are mentioned); R. Osborne, Demos, The Discovery of Classical Attika (Cambridge 1985) 130; D. Whitehead, The Demes of Attica 508/7-ca. 250 B.C. (Princeton 1986) 354; R. Garland, The Piraeus (London 1987) 66 (foreigners only). HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 NIELSEN, BJERTRUP, HANSEN, RUBINSTEIN, VESTERGAARD 413 grave monuments that survive in great numbers were erected by ordinary citizens.s We have restricted this investigation to the fourth century B.C. for the following reasons. (a) Very few sepulchral inscriptions with demotics recorded antedate the archonship of Eukleides in 403/2.6 (b) Demetrius of Phaleron's ban on expensive grave monuments makes it difficult to detect a social stratification of the grave monu­ ments of the period after 317. (c) Further identification of several of the citizens recorded in fourth-century sepulchral inscriptions is made possible by the abundance of literary sources and inscriptions of other kinds. For the third century, on the other hand, the com­ plete lack of literary sources combined with the dearth of epigraphi­ cal evidence in general reduces our chance of further identifying the citizens recorded on the grave monuments. (d) The opinion that grave monuments are biased towards wealth is always stated of fourth-century Athens. First we note that the close connection between wealth and grave monuments is usually asserted a priori without any discussion of the problem. Apart from Davies' list of sources for the costs of burials (cf. infra) the only evidence adduced tends to be a reference to Demetrius of Phaleron's sumptuary law banning grave monuments and sculptured tomb stones (Cic. Leg. 2.2S.63=Dem. Phal. fr.13S Wehrli). Many historians seem to infer that before the law was passed, grave monuments were invariably a demonstration of wealth and social position.? But Demetrius' law was aimed at ex­ pensive funerals, not at burial rites and grave monuments as such. His legislation had the effect of curtailing expensive periboloi and grave monuments decorated with elaborate reliefs. 8 Simple stelae and small columns inscribed with one or more names were set up in great numbers both before and after Demetrius' law, and there is 5 Cf S. Humphreys, -Family Tombs and Tomb Cults in Ancient Athens. Tra­ dition or Traditionalism?" ] HS 100 (1980) 123: "By the fourth century everyone had ancestral tombs just as everyone had an altar of Zeus Herkeios." 6 IG P includes only a dozen private funerary monuments recording Athenians with demotics. 7 J. Sundwall, for example, took a funerary inscription to be sufficient evidence that the man commemorated belonged to the ·wealthy": Epigraphische Beitrage zur sozial-politischen Geschichte Athens im Zeitalter des Demosthenes (=Klio Beih. 4 [Leipzig 1906]) e.g. 3 (Nikeratos, Presbychares). 8 Cf R. Garland, The Greek Way of Death (London 1985) 107 and • A Cata­ logue of the Attic Peribolos Tombs," BSA 77 (1982 [hereafter 'Garland']) 127. HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 414 GRAVE MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL CLASS no reason to believe that these monuments were all erected by wealthy citizens. It is in any case unlikely that the price of a grave stele prevented the commoration of an ordinary citizen. We have no direct information about the price of a grave monu­ ment, but Davies gives a most valuable collection of passages stating the price of a burial: 30 dr. for two burials (Hesperia, 10 (1941), 14, no. 1, lines 25-30: 367/6), though this might be merely the balance outstanding; at least 300 dr. (Lys. xxxi.21: c. 400); 1,000 dr. (Dem. x1.52: c. 358); 1,000 dr. ([Plato], Ep. 13.361e); 2,500 dr. or 5,000 dr. (Lys. xxxii.21: in 409); over 2 tal. (Dem. xlv.79: by 349), suspect in that it was in Apollo­ doros' interest to arouse prejudice against Phormion by exaggerating. All of Komon's bank balance was used to defray his funeral expenses ([Dem.] xlviii.12).9 In the literary sources the purpose of stating the costs is invariably to emphasize how expensive the burial was. The only epigraphical source cited by Davies gives a much lower price: 30 dr. for two burials, i.e. 15 dr. per burial. That the amount listed is "the balance outstanding» is guesswork, and this single piece of evidence is un­ doubtedly a much better source than the literary texts for the costs of an ordinary burial. Furthermore, only a fraction of the expense of a funeral was spent on the grave monument itself. The price of a stone was a few obols,l0 and the cost of having one or two names carved on the stone cannot have amounted to more than a drachma or SO.l1 Even a standard relief of poor artistic quality could be obtained for a reasonable price. 12 The total cost of a simple grave monument with a short sepulchral inscription must have been much less than 20 dr. and probably not much more than ca 10 dr. if decorated with a small standard relief. Now, we know that a dis- 9 J. K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families (Oxford 1971 [hereafter 'APP]) xix n.3. 10 E.g. IG IP 1672.52; 1673.2, Sf. Cf also A. Burford, The Greek Temple Builders at Epidauros (Liverpool 1969) 173f£. 11 Cf Burford (supra n.10) 19M. 12 Most Attic decrees include a formula that records the price of the stele in ques­ tion. In the fourth century the ordinary price was either 20 or 30 dr. Pace Drerup (NJbb 153 [1896] 230, 251), this price seems to include the costs of the relief (if the stele was decorated), as will be argued by Dr Carol Lawrence in her forthcoming study of Attic documentary reliefs. HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 NIELSEN, BJERTRUP, HANSEN, RUBINSTEIN, VESTERGAARD 415 ablement pension of two obols per day was paid out to (invalid) citizens who owned less than 300 dr. (Ath.Pol. 49.4). The inference is that even a citizen who drew disablement pension could afford a simple stele with a short inscription if he cared about being remem­ bered in this way. How many of the preserved grave monuments are sufficiently plain and inexpensive that ordinary citizens could afford them? A survey of the material shows that the majority of the monuments are of the inexpensive kind. As against 76 aedicula and 356 other monuments decorated with reliefs, there are 588 undecorated stelae and 71 columellae.13 A prosopographical study of the citizens com­ memorated in sepulchral inscriptions, however, indicates that there is no clear connection between the wealth of a citizen and the mag­ nificence of his gravestone. Thirteen monuments commemorate citizens who from other sources are known to have performed liturgies.14 One is a columella (IG II 2 5810), and four are simple stelae without any decoration (5432-33, 7240; Hesperia 15 [1946] 180 no. 28). There is no aediculum and only one of the monuments is decorated with a relief (IG 112 7636). If one's grave monument was an indication of wealth and social status, we should expect the known examples of grave monuments erected by members of the liturgical class to have been much more impressive and expensive than they are. There is, however, a further aspect to take into account. The grave monuments commemorating members of the liturgical class may have been set up in a peribolos, in which case the monument as a whole indicates wealth even if some of the in- 13 The statistics are from the Copenhagen data base (supra n.1). 14 Aristandros Lykinou Oinaios (Ie IF 6969, APF 47); Deixenos Kydikleous Oinaios (Ie 6970, APF 98); Dikaiogenes Menexenou Kydathenaieus (Ie 6569, APF 145); Diopeithes Diophantou Myrrhinousios (Hesperia 15 [1946] 180 no. 28, APF 166); Euthykrates Euthykleous Lamptreus (Ie 6667, APF 193); Hieronymos Hieronos Acharneus (Ie 5810, APF 243); Kallippos Philo nos Aixoneus (Ie 5432+ 5433, APF 275); Kephisodoros Eschationos Phegaieus (Ie 7636, APF 291); Mnesar­ chides Mnesarchou Halaieus (Ie 5501), APF 392); Nikon Timotheou Kephalethen (Ie 6370, APF 413); Poseidippos Kirrhiou Prasieus (Ie 7286, APF 469); Prokles Protokleous Plotheieus (Ie 7240, APF 470); Cheimeus Kikonos Lakiades (Ie 6635, APF 574). Furthermore, the following are recorded by Davies as possible identifications: Exekestides Aristodemou Kothokides (Ie 6474, APF 176); Epikra­ tes Kephisieus (Ie 6444, APF 181); Nikostratos Nikeratou Halaieus (Ie 5509, APF 410); Lysimachides Lysimachou Acharneus (Ie 5813, APF 358); Philokrates Phry­ nichou Acharneus (Ie 5847, APF 542). HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 416 GRAVE MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL CLASS scribed stelae set up within the peribolos were plain and undecor­ ated.1s It is a major problem that the study of reriboloi is fairly recent and that most of the preserved sepulchra inscriptions were recovered and published in IG II and again in IG 112 without any indication of whether or not they may have belonged to a peribo­ los.16 The whole problem is best treated in Garland's impressive catalogue, from which it is apparent that far from all funeral grave monuments came from periboloi. Even in Rhamnous, where recent excavations have revealed more periboloi than in any other place in Attica, there are single graves along the sacred road be­ tween the larger periboloi. 17 We conclude that an ordinary grave monument was so cheap that any Athenian could afford it, and proceed to the next question: whether ordinary citizens availed themselves of the possibility of erecting a grave monument or left it to the rich as a kind of status symbol. We have pursued two questions that shed some light on the problem: (1) What is the proportion of grave monuments set up by citizens who are known from other sources as wealthy? (2) Is there any evidence of grave monuments set up by people who were poor and/or of low status? In AP F Davies lists 13 (perhaps 18) fourth-century leitourgoun­ tes whose names are also recorded on funeral monuments. The number of male Athenian citizens recorded in sepulchral inscrip­ tions during the same period is 1,330. 18 Thus a crude calculation IS A simple columella (IG IP 11817) is connected with Peribolos AI, cf. Garland 136; another columella (5813) and four small cippi are connected with Peribolos A4, cf. Garland 138. 16 Cf. Garland 125. 17 Cf. Osborne (supra n.4) 141. 18 If the 1,330 males reflect the age distribution of the Athenian population, more than 40% of the inscriptions most commemorate boys who died before they came of age. Several considerations, however, indicate that almost all the 1,330 male citizens were adults. (1) Of the 2,110 citizens commemorated in the fourth-century sepulchral inscriptions some 625 are recorded on tombstones decorated with reliefs. Children are not infrequently found among the persons represented, especially when the composition is a family group. The child is often a slave boy or girl, but sometimes undoubtedly a member of the family. In only ten cases, how­ ever, is a representation of a child to be matched with a name inscribed on the stone. In three cases the name of the child is recorded without patronymic and demotic. In three more cases we find the name of a girl with her father's name added in the genitive case. There are four attestations only of a boy recorded with HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 NIELSEN, BJERTRUP, HANSEN, RUBINSTEIN, VESTERGAARD 417 suggests that only 1 % of the Athenians commemorated in sepul­ chral inscriptions belonged to the liturgical class. Since at any time the liturgical class numbered some 1,200 out of some 30,000 adult male citizens, 19 ca 4%, the corpus of grave monuments seems to have a bias towards poverty and not towards wealth. That would be an astonishing conclusion, and a refined calculation does in fact give a differen t resul t. In the fourth century the number of adult male citizens living in Attica seems to have been about 30,000. Adopting a life expectancy at birth of ca 25 years and an annual growth rate of ca 0.5% we infer that the number of eighteen-year-old Athenians inscribed annually in the lexiarchikon grammateion of their deme must have totalled ca 1,000 (3.3% of 30,000).20 Thus across the fourth century the num­ ber of names of citizens entered on the lexiarchika grammateia must have amounted to about 100,000. During the period ca 420- 32021 the members of the liturgical class must have totalled about 4,000. 22 What is the proportion of each group actually attested in our sources? Sepulchral inscriptions covering the fourth century provide us with the names of some 1,300 adult male citizens, ca patronymic and demotic, although he must have died before he came of age and could be inscribed in his deme. (2) SEC XXIII 161 commemorates eleven mem­ bers of one family over six generations. If all the deceased members of the family had had their names inscribed on the stone irrespective of age, we should expect five of the eleven to commemorate children. A prosopographical study of the family shows, however, that at least ten and probably all eleven persons were adults when they died and had their names inscribed on the stele. The conclusion is that a man's name in the nominative case with patronymic and demotic added almost invariably commemorates a full citizen. This problem will be pursued fur­ ther in a forthcoming article by T orben Vestergaard and the other members of the group. 19 1,200 leitourgountes: Dem. 14.16; Isoc. 15.145; Harp. s."'. chilioi diakosioi. Cf. APF xxix: 30,000 adult male citizens living in Attica, cf Hansen, Demography and Democracy (Heming 1985) 65-69 and passim. 20 Hansen (supra n.19) I1ff. 21 Of the leitourgountes we have selected those attested between ca 420 and 320, because (most of) the leitourgountes of the period 420-400 must have died in the fourth century, whereas (most of) the leitourgountes of the two decades 320-300 must have died in the third century, i.e., outside the period selected for our study. 22 If we apply the same calculation as in the case of all citizens, the annual re­ placement of leitourgountes must have been ca 3.3% of 1,200 X 100 (years) == 3,960, or in round numbers 4,000. HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 418 GRAVE MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL CLASS 1.3% of the total 100,000. But of the members of the liturgical class some 650 are attested in our sources, ca 1/6 of the total 4,000. 23 Now, for the sake of argument, let us assume that the Athenians known from sepulchral inscriptions represent a cross section of the citizen population and that the corpus of grave monuments has no bias towards wealth. Let us further suppose that we had perfect sources. What are the consequences? Sepulchral inscriptions com­ memorating all 100,000 Athenians would have provided us with the names of all ca 4,000 members of the liturgical class. The preserved names, however, represent only about 1.30/0 of all Athenians. Con­ sequently we should expect-if we knew the names of all the 4,000 leitourgountes-to find the names of ca 53 leitourgountes in the corpus of sepulchral inscriptions. But we know, in fact, the names of only 116 of all leitourgountes, so among the 1,300 citizens known from sepulchral inscriptions we should expect to find the names of nine leitourgountes. But we do have at least 13 leitourgountes at­ tested among the Athenians commemorated in sepulchral inscrip­ tions. Thus, there may be a slight bias towards wealth in the material we have but, given the very rough character of the calculation, it is not strong enough to be statistically significant. We conclude that the prosopographical evidence is perfectly compatible with the view that the tombstones commemorated a cross section of the population. Even if we assumed an error of 100% in our calculation (i.e.,leitourgountes are represented not 1.5 but 3 times as often as expected demographically), the vast majority of the preserved tombstones must still have been erected by citizens belonging to the middle class or the common people. Thus, there is no reason to assume a bias toward wealth. To say that «grave stelae, however mean, are indicative of wealth and pretensions" is misleading,24 at least insofar as wealth is concerned, and in what follows we shall argue that it is also misleading in so far as social "'pretension" is con­ cerned. A funeral monument inscribed with one's name was not a prerogative of citizens. In IG II 2 the Tituli sepulcrales civium 23 APF xxvii. The period ca 422-322 corresponds to Davies' generations F (433- 401, the later part only, i.e. some 50 persons from 71), G (400-367, 154 persons), H (367-334, 334 persons) and the first part of I (180 persons from 260). The total is 718 persons, but there is an overlap of 71 between generations F, G, H, and I. Thus the total is 647 individuals, or in round numbers 650. 24 Osborne (supra n.4) 130. HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 NIELSEN, BJERTRUP, HANSEN, RUBINSTEIN, VESTERGAARD 419 Atheniensium (nos. 5228-7861) are followed by a short section of Tituli sepulcrales iaon:lwv, then by two extensive collections of Tituli sepulcrales peregrinorum (nos. 7882-10530) and Tituli sepul­ crales hominum origin is incertae (nos. 10531-13085). If, again, we concentrate on the fourth century, no fewer than 650 metics are recorded of whom 40% are women, all with ethnics instead of demotics as an indication of their status as foreigners. 25 The section Tituli sepulcrales hominum originis incertae comprises all the inscriptions which bring neither a demotic nor an ethnic. Presum­ ably, many of these monuments commemorate children of citizens who died before they came of age and were inscribed in their deme.26 But several hundred of the inscriptions subsumed under the heading originis incertae were undoubtedly slaves. The status of these persons can be ascertained in various ways. Names such as Daos, Getas, Manes, Thrax, etc. reveal that the honoree was either a slave,27 or a former slave who had been manumi tted and registered as a metic. Next, the epithet XPTlO''to<; and the greeting xa'ipE are never used for citizens, very rarely for metics, and the occurrence of either term is a strong indication that the inscription com­ memorates a slave. 28 Inspection of the fourth-century monuments on which the terms XPllO''tOC; or xa'ipE occur seems to corroborate the assump­ tion that they were set up by persons of low status and slender means. There are no aedicula, and only one lekythos. Almost all the inscriptions are cut on simple stelae without any relief or other forms of elaborate decoration. 29 The conclusion is that grave monuments were set up by citizens, metics, and slaves. Wealthy citizens may have been represented in greater proportion to their number, but it would indeed be strange if grave monuments commemorated wealthy citizens, metics, and 25 Cf D. Whitehead, The Ideology of the Athenian Metic (Cambridge 1985) 33f. 26 The number of representatives of children to be matched with inscribed names is much higher in this section of the Corpus than it is in the section Tituli sepulcrales civium Atheniensium. 27 Cf O. Masson, -Les noms des esclaves dans la Grece antique," in Actes du colloque 1971 sur l'esclavage (Paris 1973) 9-23. 28 Cf Peek (supra n.1) 16 no. 29. 29 Pace Garland's note (132): -It was quite acceptable to bury domestic slaves within a family enclosure." Or rather: even if slaves were buried inside the peribo­ los, they did not have their names recorded on the grave monuments. HEINE NIELSEN, THOMAS, Athenian Grave Monuments and Social Class , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:3 (1989) p.411 420 GRAVE MONUMENTS AND SOCIAL CLASS slaves, but normally not ordinary citizens of modest means. Thus, the numerous funeral inscriptions erected by metics and slaves disprove the assumption that grave stelae, however mean, are in­ dicative of wealth and pretension. The sepulchral inscriptions may well represent a cross section of the Athenian citizen population and are valuable sources for the demography of the Athenian population as such, not just for the demography of the upper class. COPENHAGEN July, 1989