.
HORI (ὅροι) were stone tablets or pillars which were set up on the boundaries of land, or on some conspicuous part of a house, with an inscription stating that the land or house was mortgaged to such and such a person for so much money (Harpocr. ὅρος and ἄστικτον, and Pollux, 3.85, 9.9; [Dem.] c. Timoth. p. 1202.61, ἡ οὐσία ἀφωρισμένη). J. Martha (Bull. de Corr. Hellén. i. pp. 235-9; cf. Bursian's Jahresber. 1878, vol. xv. p. 37) distinguishes four classes of hori:--
1. Hori of creditors on the property of debtors, as: ἐπὶ Θεοφράστου ἄρχοντος ὅρος χωρίου τιμῆς ἐνοφειλομένης Φανοστράτῳ Παιανιεῖ ΧΧ, i. e. δισχιλίων δραχμῶν (C. I. G. No. 530 = C. I. A. ii. No. 1134). Here the archon's name is mentioned to show the year the mortgage had been made: thus priority of a debt could be established. See also C. I. A. ii. No. 1098: ὅρος χωρίου κοινοῦ Εἰκαδέων: μὴ συμβάλλειν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον υηθένα μηθέν. (Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 692, n. 585.)
2. Hori of the wife on the property which her husband was obliged to give as security for the dowry which he received with his wife (προικὸς ἀποτίμημα, Pollux, 8.142; Dem. c. Onet. i. p. 871.28 ff. etc.); thus ὅρος οἰκίας ἐν προικὶ ἀποτετιμημένης ΗΗΗ Ἁγνοκλείᾳ, C. I. A. ii. No. 1124;, cf. Boeckh, Sthh.3 i. p. 162 d; Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 518, n. 110; Koehler, Mitth. d. Arch. Inst. ii. pp. 277-281. In one of the instances given by Koehler the father-in-law had paid only half the dowry of his daughter, whereupon. the son-in-law had sent her back; an agreement was finally come to, the father paying the remaining half of the dowry, but deducting the interest on that already paid, for the time during which his daughter had been separated from her husband.
Ὅροι were also placed upon houses and lands on account of money due to a husband for the dowry of his wife: from Dem. c. Spud. we learn that the plaintiff was to receive a portion of 40 minas with his wife; 30 were given him in ready money, the remaining 10 were to be paid after the death of Polyeuctus, his father-in-law, who directed by his will that tablets should be placed on the house, χιλίων δραχμῶν τῆς προικός (p. 1029.6). In these hori the archon is not named; Caillemer (Études, No. 5) supposes because the time might be ascertained in other ways, or perhaps because such debts took precedence over all others (Etym. M., s. v. σύνδικοι).
3. Hori on the property of those persons to whom the estate of an orphan was let by the archon [EPITROPUS]; for such a person was obliged to hypothecate a sufficient piece of ground or other real property (also called ἀποτίμημα). Thus ὅρος χωρίου καὶ οἰκίας ἀποτίμημα παιδὶ ὀρφανῷ Διογείτονος Ρροβα（λισίου), C. I. G. No. 531 = C. I. A. ii. No. 1135, etc.: cf. Isae. Philoct. § 36. (Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 363, n. 459, and p. 693, n. 587.)
4. Hori on property sold ἐπὶ λύσει: e. g. ὅρος χωρίου καὶ οἰκίας πεπραμένων ἐπὶ λύσει ἐρανισταῖς τοῖς μετὰ Ἀριστοφῶτος Εἰρεσίδου Τ, i. e. one talent (Koehler, l.c. and Boeckh, Sthh.3 l.c.). Such a transaction was ostensibly a purchase, but really a loan of money secured by the conveyance of property; the debtor continues to occupy it, paying interest on the purchase-money, and possessing the power of redemption within a certain time. Thus Evergus and Nicobulus lent to Pantaenetus 105 minas on a mine-pit and 30 slaves; on the property being transferred to them, they granted a lease of the [p. 1.972]mine and slaves to him at a rate equalling the interest of the money, 105 drachmas a month (i. e. 12 per cent.), and in the agreement Pantaenetus secured the power of redemption from them within a given period (λύσις τούτῳ παῤ ἡμῶν ἔν τινι ῥητῷ χρόνῳ, Dem. c. Pantaen. p. 967.5).
To conceal the amount of their property persons threatened with ἀντίδοσις set up fictitious notices of mortgage on the land ([Dem.] c. Phaen. p. 1040.5; p. 1041.9). The practice of placing these ὅροι upon property was of great antiquity at Athens: it existed before the time of Solon, who removed all stones standing upon estates, when he released or relieved the debtors. (Plut. Sol. 15; cf. Solon fr. 36 Bergk, and Blass, Hermes, xv. p. 386 ff.) Theophrastus (Thphr. Char. 10 = 24 ed. Jebb) mentions it as a characteristic of the μικρολόγος that he inspects the ὅροι day by day. Cf. C. I. A. ii. No. 564, a decree of the tribe of Erechtheis: οἱ ἐπιμεληταὶ . . . βαδίζοντες ἐπὶ τὰ κτήματα δὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐπισκοπῶνται . . . τοὺς ὅρους εἰ ἐφεστήκασιν κατὰ τὰ αὐτά, i.e. κατὰ τὰς συνθήκας.
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