.
EPIMELE´TAE (ἐπιμεληταί), curators, the name of various officials at Athens, charged with the care of different public objects. Besides those previously known from the orators and grammarians, several new titles of ἐπιμεληταὶ have been recovered from inscriptions; some, however, are only vaguely mentioned. The most important appear to be the following:--
1. Ἐπιμελητὴς τῆς κοινῆς προσόδου, more usually called ταμίας, or ὁ ἐπὶ τῇ διοικήσει, the chief finance minister or “Chancellor of the Exchequer” [TAMIAS].
2. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν μοριῶν ἐλαιῶν, persons chosen from among the Areiopagites to take care of the sacred olive-trees (Boeckh, P. E. p. 305 = Sthh.3 1.374). The name ἐπιμεληταὶ does not occur in the speech of Lysias περὶ τοῦ σηκοῦ: in § 25 they are called γνώμονες or ἐπιγνώμονες (cf. L. and S. s. v.); in § § 7, 29 the entire Areiopagus seems charged with this function. Cf. Gilbert, Staatsalterth. 1.266.
3. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τοῦ ἐμπορίου were the over-seers of the EMPORIUM and a sort of harbour-masters in the Peiraeus. They were ten in number, and were elected yearly by lot (Harpocrat. s.v. Dinarch. c. Aristog. § 10). They had jurisdiction in all breaches of the commercial laws, among which the singular Athenian corn-laws are specially mentioned. It was part of their duty to compel the merchants to bring into the city two-thirds of all corn which had come by sea into the Attic emporium (Aristot. ap. Harpocr. s. v.); and to enforce the rule which forbade shipment of corn to any other port than Athens (Lex ap. Dem. c. Lacr. p. 941.15; c. Theocr. p. 1324, § § 8, 9). In late inscriptions we find an ἐπιμελητὴς ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα (C. I. A. 2.475) and an ἐπιμελητὴς ἐπὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ (ib. 2.476, 3.458); probably identical with one another, but different from the ἐπιμεληταὶ τοῦ ἐμπορίου. (Boeckh, P. E. pp. 48, 81 = Sthh.3 1.62, 104; Schömann, Antiq. 1.416, E. T.; Gilbert, p. 158; Lipsius, Att. Process, p. 98.)
4. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν μυστηρίων were, in conjunction with the king archon, the managers of the Eleusinian mysteries. They were elected by open vote, and were four in number; two chosen from the general body of citizens, one from the Eumolpidae, and one from the Kerykes. (Harpocrat., Suid., s.v. Pollux, 8.90; Bekk. Anecd. 219, 15; 279, 20; Dem. c. Mid. p. 570.171.) Decrees in honour of ἐπιμ. τῶν μυστ., C. I. A. 2.315, 376; the Κήρυκες at the mysteries, C. I. A. 2.597 (Gilbert; p. 241).
5. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῆς πομπῆς τῷ Διονύσῳ assisted the first archon (eponymus) in the management of the Greater Dionysia. They were chosen by χειροτονία (Dem. c. Mid. p. 519.15), and were ten in number, one apparently from each tribe (Inscr. in Ἀθήναιον, 7.480); twenty-four in a late inscription, dating from the time when the number of tribes had been raised to twelve (Ephem. Archaeol. No. 180; Gilbert, p. 240, n. 6; Schömann, Antiq. 1.413, E. T.).
6. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν νεωρίων, the inspectors of the dockyards, formed a regular ἀρχή, and were not an extraordinary commission, as appears from the speech c. Euerg. et Mnes. (p. 1145.22), Aeschines (c. Ctes. § 25), and the inscriptions published by Boeckh (Urkunden über das Seewesen), in which they are sometimes called οἱ ἄρχοντες ἐν τοῖς νεωρίοις, and their office designated an ἀρχή. (No. xvi. b. 104, &c.; No. 10.100.125; No. 14.100.122, 138.) We learn from the same inscriptions that their office was yearly, and that they were ten in number. It also appears that they were elected by lot from those persons who possessed a knowledge of shipping.
The principal duty of the inspectors of the dockyards was to take care of the ships, and all the rigging, tools, &c. (σκεύη belonging to them. They also had to see that the ships were seaworthy; and for this purpose they employed a surveyor (δοκιμαστής), who was well skilled in such matters. (Boeckh, ibid. No. 2.56.) They had at one time the charge of various kinds of military σκεύη, which did not necessarily belong to ships, such as engines of war (No. xi. m), which were afterwards, however, entrusted to the generals by a decree of the senate and people. (No. xvi. a. 195.) They had to make out a list of all those persons who owed anything to the docks ([Dem.] c. Every. et Mnes. p. 1145, § § 20-22), and also to get in what was due. (Id. c. Androt. p. 612.63.) We also find that they sold the rigging, &c., of the ships and purchased new, under the direction of the senate, but not on their own responsibility. (No. xiv. b. 190, &c., compared with Nos. xiv. xvi. u.) They had ἡγεμονία δικαστηρίου in conjunction with the ἀποστολεῖς in all matters connected with their own department. ([Dem.] c. Euerg. et Mnes. p. 1147.26.) To assist them in discharging their duties they had a secretary (γραμματεὺς, No. xvi. b. 165), and a public servant (δημόσιος ἐν τοῖς νεωρίοις, No. xvi. b. 135). For a further account of these inspectors, see Boeckh, Urkunden, &c., pp. 48-64.
7. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν φυλῶν, the inspectors of the φυλαὶ or tribes, managed the financial affairs of the tribes, and were themselves responsible to the tribesmen: there were at least two for each φυλή ([Dem.] c. Theocrin. p. 1326.15; Inscrr. in Ἀθήναιον, 5.339-40; in C. I. A. 2.554, 557-9, 564-5; Gilbert, p. 191 f.).
8. Ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν συμμοριῶν, or οἱ ἐν ταῖς συμμορίαις, assisted the ἡγεμόνες of the trierarchic symmoriae, and were probably twenty in [p. 1.750]number ([Dem.] c. Euerg. et Mnes. p. 1145, § § 21, 22; 1146.24; Gilbert, p. 352, n. 4).
The ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν κακούργων of Antiphon (de Caed. Her. § 17) are usually explained as a loose phrase for the Eleven [HENDECA, HOI]; Gilbert thinks, however (p. 404), that special ἐπιμεληταὶ presided over the trials of subject allies, to which this case belonged. Four annual ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων are mentioned in quite late inscriptions of Roman times (C. I. A. 3.1017, 1018; Gilbert, p. 162); an ἐπιμ. τῆς πόλεως (C. I. A. 3.68, 556, 721); an ἐπιμ. Λυκείου (ib. 89) ; an ἐπιμ. πρυτανείου (ib. 90; Gilbert, p. 158; cf. pp. 27, 244). [W.S] [W.W]
(Appendix). Three kinds of ἐπιμεληταὶ are mentioned in the Αθ. πολ., Nos. 3, 4, and 5 in our article. The received account of the ἐπιμεληταὶ τοῦ ἐμποφίου (No. 3) is taken mainly from Harpocration, who copied Aristotle. The only point worth noticing is the reading σιτικὸν (Ἀθ. πολ. 100.51) for the Ἀττικὸν of Harpocrat. and ἀστικὸν of Lex. Seguer. p. 255. It appears to us that Ἀττικὸν ἐμπόριον, a common phrase for “the port of Athens,” is the best reading of the three: cf. Dinarch. c. Dem. § 96, τί κατεσκεύακεν οἰκοδόμημα Δημοσθένης ἐν τῷ ἐμπορίῳ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἢ ἐν τῷ ἄστει ἢ ἄλλοθί που τῆς χώρας; where ἐμπόριον is simply the Peiraeus. The ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν μυστηρίων (No. 4) are mentioned in 100.57 as associated with the king archon: here also we find nothing that has not been already extracted by Harpocrat. On the ἐπιμεληταὶ τῆς πομπῆς τῷ Διονύσῳ (No. 5) there is a difference of some importance. “They were formerly chosen by χειροτονία, and paid the expenses [of the greater Dionysia] themselves: but now （Ἀθ. πολ. 100.56) by lot, and the state allows them 100 minae for expenses.” This change must have been very recent when the tract was written, as χειροτονία was still the rule in B.C. 349-8, the date of the Midias (p. 519.15). Whether the 100 minae were allotted to each of the ten, or to the whole body, is not clear from the words of the Ἀθ. πολ.: but £400, rather than £4000, is the more likely sum for the Athenians to have voted for the festival.
Another ἐπιμελητὴς is mentioned in Ἀθ. πολ. 100.43, and not, it would seem, elsewhere; the ἐπ. τῶν ὑδάτων. The office was an important one, as he was elected by χειροτονία: and he is apparently to be identified with the ἐπιστάτης τῶν ὑδάτων (Plut. Themist. 31; EPISTATES). The κρημοφύλακες (Hesych., Phot.) were probably his subordinates, and the κρηνοφυλάκιον their place of business.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
| Ancient Greece
Science, Technology , Medicine , Warfare, , Biographies , Life , Cities/Places/Maps , Arts , Literature , Philosophy ,Olympics, Mythology , History , Images Medieval Greece / Byzantine Empire Science, Technology, Arts, , Warfare , Literature, Biographies, Icons, History Modern Greece Cities, Islands, Regions, Fauna/Flora ,Biographies , History , Warfare, Science/Technology, Literature, Music , Arts , Film/Actors , Sport , Fashion --- |
