EPIMELE´TAE
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.