HORI
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.
[
H.H]