Antigrăpheis
(
ἀντιγραφεῖς). Checking-clerks,
contrarotulatores. Efficient checks on the handling of public funds, whether municipal
or national, were even more necessary among the Greeks than in modern civilized countries; and
the Athenians, with their distrust of official honesty, sought refuge in
multiplying such checks. Hence it was the rule in Athenian finance that wherever there was a
public officer intrusted with the payment of money, there was by his side an
ἀντιγραφεύς, who watched over him and kept duplicate accounts. Thus,
it is proved by inscriptions that there was an
ἀντιγραφεύς
to each deme (
C. I. G. 100); and a general in the field disposed of his
military chest subject to a like control (
De Chers. p. 101.47). The
administrators of sacred funds, such as the treasurers of Delos, were similarly controlled
(
Inscr. 139, 141, 150, 158).