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Timema and timesis in Greek inscriptions[edit]

The word timema applies for the oldest time to the Solonian reforms and is used by Aristotle [1] to describe an "estimate", the basis upon which the Athenians were in divided in four classes (tele) that denoted not only their eligibility for office but their obligations towards the polis.[2] There must have been a public register probably kept by the naukraroi[3], later by the lexiarchikon grammateion. So, demarchoi succeeded the naukraroi in the obligation to keep this register that kepr archives of telos too. What is unclear is whether those who weren't reliable to pay, because their timema was wery small, were registered too.[4]

The term timema indicates in its most general acception the private property. [5]. Timema was calculated in Athens so that the eisphora, the extraordinary taxation on capital, that was introduced probably on the begginings of the Peloponnesian War, in 428 BC [6] and was repeatedly imposed during 4th century BC. So, eishpora was an ad hoc measure, imposed to meet the ends(?) of extraordinary situations.

Statutis Questionis: historiographical debate.

  • progressice or proportional tax?
  • imponibile or total property?

Who was ypefthinos for the assessment(timesis)? The property-owners [7] [8], the outcome was to be recorded in a public register [9] > Ληξιαρχικόν γραμματείον c. 440 and later in the 4th century [10] every one, three or five years [11] So many antidosis proccesses are not expected to have taken place if an external authority was making the assessment. [12]

Tax being a big percentage and it's progressive character would explain the attempts to hide their properties. So the datas that the sources conserve wouldn't include the total amount of Athenian properties.[13]

Polybius recalls that when in 378/7 BCE Athenians decided to cover war expenses by levying a property tax the total timema of Athens mounted to 5,750 talents.[14] Demosthenes in 354 BC estimates the total timema to be as high as c. 6,000 talents.[15]


The timesis process, ie that of the citizens' property assessment, is a function of the ancient Greek polis that spans a period from the 4th BC to the 2nd century AD. Based on the outcome of timesis, which was carried out by elected officials, and the classification of citizens in classes on the property, the necessary contributions to meet the needs of the city, especially in emergency situations, were named. The assets required for each free citizen was named before creating a new city, as happened in case of offering of honorary ?σοτέλεια, when the timema was equal to the maximum possible property of the [?σοτελο?ς] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in the city that granted the [?σοτέλεια] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) rights. The assessment of the property through timesis was used for the calculation of debts on an objective basis. Sometimes, a written confirmation of the timesis stands on the terms of the estate.

The size of individual assets was assessed by a census process ([τίμησις] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The way it was calculated, what it contained and what were it's functions remains a subject of dispute among historians even today.

Gehrke defines two types of oligarchy based on the timema: the first with a low price even for some offices and a "closer" oligarchy with a high timema.[16]


It is logical, therefore, to conclude that in oligarchies a citizen's social status was defined in relation to the services that the polis expected from them.[17]

Solon seems to have divided people into four τέλη to determine the obligation of each of these classes to serve the community. It is estimated that the fact that thetes were taken into consideration[18]

Is timema income?[edit]

German economist Rodbertus argued that timema was the annual income, arousing little support. Finally, a consensus was shaped on the rejection of his theory, after Fraenkel combined Lipsius and Thomsur's arguments along with citing an inscription that proved beyond any doubt that timema couldn't be the annual income.[19]

Boeckh[edit]

Boeckh, however, seems to make the same mistake with an Ulpian when he communes with himself concerning a passage of Isocrates. [20].

However, a controversy was created upon Boeckh's calculations proving that in many cases the numbers he provided were overestimated.[21] This doesn't change the fact that the c. 6,000 talents known to be the whole timema of Athens in two instances of the first half of the 4th entury are too small a number, so his assumption of timema being only a part of the real property shouldn't be rejected.


Revaluation[edit]

The issue of whether the aggregate timema was subject to change and, hence, that of individuals was revaluated through time has caused a significant discussion among scholars.[22] Robert W. Wallace suggests that a periodic revaluation of timemata took place, a process that Suidas identifies as ἀνασύνταξις [23] Wallace is based on the reasonable character of the revaluation, as properties could not remain stable, the sources indicating the change of the aggregate amount of timema, the fact that Demosthenes μαρτyυρά he was hegemon of his symmoria for ten years, so his timema must have changed. Wallace's fourth argument is based on the existence of an officer in every symmoria called διαγραφεύς, as μαρτυρείται in both Suida and Harpocration.[24] So, there must have been a variable factor in the valuation timema that being every citizen timema's fluctuation along with his property. Wallace goes further assuming that another result of changes of timemata was the reallocation of members of symmoriae so that an "equitable balance among them" could be maintained and suggests a triennial or quinquennial revaluation reminding a passage of Aristotle.[25]

Antipater's reform (322 BC)[edit]

In 322 BC having won the Lamian War, Antipater changed the Athenian constitution, imposing a census limit for participation in the constitution of 2000 drachme.[26] It is a widespread among modern scholars that it was a realization of Aristotle's . This opinion is based in two assumptions. Firstly, that Aristotle's thought had exercised a direct influence in the planning and the εφαρμογη of this reform and, secondly, that the census limit of 2,000 drachme represents the capitalizzazione del reddito fondiario che a Solone apparteneva agli zeugiti.

However if we απομαρκυνθούμε of the general view and focus in the details we will notice many differences betwenn what Aristotle imagined as the best politeia and the constitution Antipater imposed. For example, Aristotle ... states that "" [27] On the contrary, Antipater forced almost all Athenians excluded from the politeuma to seek katafygio in exile. [28] Moreover, Aristotle praised the participation in the judiciary and legislative branches of the excluded citizens, who, nevertheless, wouldn't be eligible to offices. Furthermore, Aristotle's constitution woulb be based in a middle class that would be constituted of the majority of the population, neither rich nor poor.[29].

Another aspect that, if examined, could shade light on the relationship betwenn Aristotle's and Antipater's constitution is the nature of the census. Aristotle refers strictly to land property as the basis of the timema.[30] So, is the timema of 322 BC a land-property-based timema and more specifically one based on the assessment of the land's annual revenue? Diodorus, being our most reliable(?) source does not state something alike, just conserving the memory of the height of the timema. [31] Plutarch, on the other hand, is more unclear, talking about the "apo timematos politeia".

References[edit]

  1. ^ Aristoteles, Ath. Pol. 7.3
  2. ^ Ostwald (1995), 374-6.
  3. ^ Ostwald (1995), 376.
  4. ^ Ostwald (1995), 378.
  5. ^ Ostwald (2000a), 45-52.
  6. ^ Ostwald (1995), p. 368.
  7. ^ Ostwald (2000a), p. 51.
  8. ^ Lysias XIX, 48
    Is. VII. 39
  9. ^ Lysias, XVII, 7-9
  10. ^ Ostwald (1995), 368-78.
  11. ^ Aristotle, Pol. 1308a 36
  12. ^ telos simeiosis 45
  13. ^ Poddighe (2002), 117.
  14. ^ Polybius, II, 62, 6-7.
  15. ^ Demosthenes, XIV, 30.
  16. ^ as
  17. ^ as
  18. ^ as
  19. ^ IG II 2, 2496, ll. 25-28: ἐὰν δέ [τι]ς εἰσφορὰ γίγνηται ἢ ἄλλο τι ἀπ[ότ]εισμα τρόπωι ὁτ<ω>ιοῦν, εἰσφέρειν Εὐκράτην κατὰ τὸ τίμημα καθ’ ἑπτὰ μνᾶς.
    • Fraenkel, (1883).
  20. ^ Isocrates, Antidosis, 145: εἰς δὲ τοὺς διακοσίους καὶ χιλίους τοὺς εἰσφέροντας καὶ λειτουργοῦντας οὐ μόνον αὑτὸν παρέχεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν
    • Boeckh (1976), 528.
  21. ^ For a concise and sourced presentation of Boeck's miscalculations vid. Thomsen (1964), 49-50.
  22. ^ See: Thomsen (1964), 89-93, for a summary of the relevant discussion, favouring the latter opinion.
  23. ^ Suda, s.v. Ἀνασύνταξις: τὰ διαγεγραμμένα τιμήματα ταῖς συμμορίαις, ὅταν δόξῃ τῷ δήμῳ χρῄζειν προσθήκης ἢ ἀφαιρέσεως, καὶ ἕλωνται τοὺς τοῦτο πράξοντας, τοῦτο ἀνασύνταξιν καλοῦσιν.
    • Wallace (1989), pp. 488-490.
  24. ^
    • Suda, s.v. διάγραμμα: Διάγραμμα: τὸ ταττόμενον ἐν ταῖς συμμορίαις, ὁπόσον ἕκαστον εἰσφέρειν δεῖ. ἐτάττετο δὲ οὐ τὸ αὐτὸ πᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν τιμὴν τῆς οὐσίας. διαγραφεὺς μέντοι ἐστὶν ὁ καθιστάμενος ἐν ταῖς συμμορίαις ἐπὶ τῷ διακρῖναι, πόσον ἕκαστος εἰσενεγκεῖν ὀφείλει.
    • Harpocration, s.v. διάγραμμα: διαγραφεὺς μέντοι ἐστὶν ὁ καθιστάμενος ἐν ταῖς συμμορίαις ἐπὶ τῷ διακρῖναι πόσον ἕκαστος ἀνὴρ εἰσενεγκεῖν ὀφείλει, ὡς ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν φανερὸν ποιεῖ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Πολυεύκτου.
  25. ^ Aristotle, Politics 1308 a35-b1
    • Wallace (1989), p. 489.
  26. ^ Poddighe (2002),
  27. ^ Aristotle Politica, 1320b, 20-30
  28. ^ Diodorus
  29. ^ simeiosi 23
  30. ^ simeiosi30k31
  31. ^ Diodorus, XVIII

Sources[edit]

Primary Sources[edit]

Secondary Sources[edit]

  • Fraenkel, Max (1883). "Der Begriff des τίμημα in attischen Steuersystem". Hermes (18): 314–318.
  • Kennedy, Charles Rann (1852). The Orations of Demosthenes. H.G. Bohn.
  • Ostwald, Martin (December 1995). "Public expense: whose obligation?: Athens 600-454 B.C.E." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 139 (4): 368–379. Retrieved 2008-09-19.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Ostwald, Martin (2000). Oligarchia: The Development of a Constitutional Form in Ancient Greece. Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Ostwald, Martin (2000). "Oligarchy and Oligarchs in Ancient Greece". In Mogens Herman Hansen, Pernille Flensted-Jensen, Thomas Heine Nielsen, Lene Rubinstein (ed.). Polis and politics: Studies in Ancient Greek History : Presented to Mogens Herman Hansen on His Sixtieth Birthday, August 20, 2000. Museum Tusculanum Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  • Poddighe, Elisabetta (2002). Nel segno di Antipatro. L' ecclisi della democrazia ateniese dal 323/2 al 319 a.C. Carocci editore.
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