NAUCRA´RIA
NAUCRA´RIA (
ναυκραρία),
a subdivision of the inhabitants of Attica in early times, for purposes of
taxation as applied to military equipment.
The institution of
ναυκραρίαι and
ναύκραροι has been for a long time a
much-debated point: see Schol. in
Aristoph. Cl.
37,
οἱ πρότερον ναύκραροι εἴτε ὑπὸ
Σόλωνος κατασταθέντες εἴτε καὶ πρότερον. That their
establishment was due to Solon is the view of Gilbert (
Jahrb. Class.
Phil. 111.1875, p. 9 ff.) and of Stein (on
Hdt. 5.71). We have the testimony of a fragment of Aristotle to
this effect; see Photius, s. v.
ναυκραρία:
τὸ πρότερον οὕτως ἐκάλουν ναυκραρία καὶ
ναύκραρος: ναυκραρία μὲν ὁποῖόν τι ἡ συμμορία καὶ ὁ δῆμος,
ναύκραρος δὲ ὁποῖόν τι ὁ δήμαρχος, Σόλωνος οὕτως
ὀνομάσαντος, ὡς καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης φησί: καὶ ἐν τοῖς νόμοις
λέγει, ἐάν τις ναυκραρίας ἀμφισβητῇ καὶ τοὺς ναυκράρους τοὺς
κατὰ ναυκραρίαν: ὕστερον δὲ ἀπὸ Κλεισθένους δῆμοί εἰσιν καὶ
δήμαρχοι ἐκλήθησαν: ἐκ τῆς Ἀριστοτέλους πολιτείας ὃν τρόπον
διέταξε τὴν πόλιν ὁ Σόλων: φυλαὶ δὲ ἦσαν τέσσαρες κάθαπερ
πρότερον καὶ φυλοβασιλεῖς τέσσαρες: ἐκ δὲ τῆς φυλῆς ἑκάστης
ἦσαν νενεμημέναι τριττύες μὲν τρεῖς, ναυκραρίαι δὲ δώδεκα καθ᾽
ἑκάστην. From this passage it has been held that Solon
constituted, out of the members of each of the four old Ionic tribes, three
large divisions, called
τριττύες,
subdividing each
τριττὺς into four
ναυκραρίαι. Thus there were in all (4
[multi] 3 =) 12
τριττύες and (12
[multi] 4 =) 48
ναυκραρίαι. So also
Pollux, 8.108:
ναυκραρία δ᾽ἠ-ν τέως φυλῆς
δωδέκατον μέρος καὶ ναύκραροι ἦσαν δώδεκα, τέτταρες κατὰ
τριττὸν ἑκάστην:--and Hesychius, s. v.
ναύκλαροι:
τινὲς δὲ ἀφ᾽
ἑκάστης φυλῆς δώδεκα. In the formation of the
ναυκραρίαι, neighbouring members of the same
tribe would seem to have been grouped together in such a way that a
ναυκραρία was practically a local district or
parish, and came to be so regarded: this follows from its comparison above
to the Cleisthenean demos, and from the fact that the single surviving name
of a
ναυκραρία (Phot. s. v.
Κωλιάς, Bekker,
Anecd. 275, 20)
is clearly a local designation.
Schömann, however (
Jahrb. Class. Phil. 111.1875, p.
454 ff.), and Duncker (
Gesch. Alt. v. p. 120, ed. 5) contest
the correctness of this view, so far as the institution of
ναυκραρίαι by
Solon
is concerned. They hold that the words of Aristotle quoted by Photius (see
above) by no means amount to an assertion that Solon established the
ναυκραρίαι, and they hold that what he
did was perhaps to re-organise a previously existing method of subdivision,
and modify it to suit his new constitution. The well-known passage in
Hdt. 5.71 is of cardinal importance in this
question. In relating the abortive attempt of Cylon to make himself tyrant
of Athens, Herodotus, referring to the defeated revolutionists who had taken
refuge at the shrine of Athena, uses the words
τούτους ἀνιστᾶσι μὲν οἱ πρυτάνεις τῶν ναυκράρων, οἵπερ
ἔνεμον τότε τὰς Ἀθήνας. (Stein,
in
loc., very reasonably suggests the emendation
ναυκραριέων, “representatives of the
ναυκραρίαι,” i. e. the
ναύκραροι.) Unless Herodotus is mistaken in his
use of the words, this passage is proof positive that the
ναυκραρίαι existed some time before Solon, and
probably some time before Cylon also. It is not, however, easy to see in
what sense the
ναύκραροι could be said, at
that period of time,
νέμειν, i. e. to
govern,
τ̀ας Ἀθήνας. Stein and others
therefore maintain that Herodotus, perhaps following an account which sought
to lessen the responsibility of the Alcmaeonidae for the murder, has
erroneously attributed to the
ναύκραροι
what was really done by the nine
ἄρχοντες,
and that the account given by Thucydides of the Cylonian revolution is
specially intended to correct Herodotus on this point. See
Thuc. 1.126:
χρόνου δὲ
ἐπιγιγνομένου οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τρυχόμενοι τῇ προσεδρείᾳ ἀπῆλθον
οἱ πολλοί, ἐπιτρέψαντες τοῖς ἐννέα ἄρχουσι τὴν φυλακὴν καὶ
τὸ πᾶν αὐτοκράπορσι διαθεῖναι ᾗ ἂν ἄριστα διαγιγνώσκωσι:
τότε δὲ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν πολιτικῶν οἱ ἐννέα ἄρχοντες
ἔπρασσον.
The derivation of the word (
ϝαῦς and the
root
καρ, by metathesis
κρα,, as seen in
κραίνω; see G. Meyer,
Curtius' Stud. vii. p. 175
f., in opposition to Wecklein,
Bayr. Ak. 1873, p. 42 f., who
connects
ναυ- with
ναίω,
“to dwell” ) suggests the object of the institution, which was
to provide Athens with a fleet. The
ναυκραρίαι were thus the predecessors of the
συμμορίαι (Bekk.
Anecd. 283, 20:
ναύκραροι: οἱ τὰς ναῦς παρασκευάζοντες καὶ
τριηραρχοῦντες--Aristot. in Phot. s. v.
ναυκραρία: ναυκραρία μὲν ὁποῖόν τι ἡ συμμορία).
Besides superintending the building of the ships and acting as captains when
built, the
ναύκραροι assessed the amount of
taxation annually due from each
ναυκραρία,
and dealt with the money thus collected (Poll. 8.108,
τὰς δὲ εἰσφορὰς τὰς κατὰ δήμους διεχειροτόνουν οὗτοι καὶ τὰ
ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναλώματα).
Each
ναυκραρία provided two horsemen and one
ship (Pollux,
l.c.:
ναυκραρία δὲ ἑκάστη δύο ἱππέας παρεῖχε καὶ
ναῦν μίαν, ἐφ᾽ ἧς ἴσως ὠνόμαστο). The whole
organisation, as part of the military force of Attica, was subject to the
πολέμαρχος (Bekk.
Anecd.
l.c.:
ναύκραροι . . . τῷ πολεμάρχῳ
ὑποτεταγμένοι).
With the institution of
δῆμοι by Cleisthenes
the
ναυκραρίαι probably ceased to exist, at
all events as a working part of the state organisation. One authority indeed
(Cleidemus in Phot. s. v.
ναυκραρία) tells
us that they continued, being raised from 48 to 50, five from each of the
new tribes, furnishing in all 100
ἱππεῖς
and 50 ships. Boeckh (
Staatshaush. Ath. ed. 3, i. pp. 323,
636, note c) sees a confirmation of this in the fact that, according to
Herodotus
6.89, the Athenians in the war against
Aegina before the Persian invasion could only muster 50 ships of their own.
[
A.H.C]
(Appendix). The passage in
100.8 clearly makes the
ναυκραρίαι date
from a period before Solon: not only the context, but the tense
ἦσαν νενεμημέναι admits of no other
explanation. The transference of the duties to the demarchi is stated in
100.21.
