Transcript Prytaneion
Prytaneion The Prytaneion. Its Function and Architectural Form, by Stephen G. Miller (1978). Plutarch, Life of Aristides 27 Moreover, his tomb is pointed out at Phalerum, and they say the city constructed it for him, since he did not leave even enough to pay for his funeral. And they tell how his daughters were married from the prytaneium at the public cost, the city bestowing the dowry for the marriage and voting outright three thousand drachmas to each daughter, Plutarch, Life of Solon 25 [1] All his laws were to have force for a hundred years, and they were written on “axones,” or wooden tablets, which revolved with the oblong frames containing them. Slight remnants of these were still preserved in the Prytaneium when I was at Athens, and they were called, according to Aristotle,* “kurbeis.” Plutarch, Life of Theseus 18 When the lot was cast, Theseus took those upon whom it fell from the prytaneium and went to the Delphinium, where he dedicated to Apollo in their behalf his suppliant's badge. This was a bough from the sacred olive-tree, wreathed with white wool. Having made his vows and prayers, he went down to the sea on the sixth day of the month Munychion, on which day even now the Athenians still send their maidens to the Delphinium to propitiate the god. Ath. pol. 3.5 And the Nine Archons were not all together, but the King had what is now called the Bucolium, near the town hall (as is indicated by the fact that even at the present day the union and marriage of the King's Wife with Dionysus takes place there), while the Archon had the President's Hall, and the War-lord the Epilyceum (which formerly used to be called the War-lord's House, but because Epilycus on becoming War-lord rebuilt and furnished it, it received the name of Epilyceum); and the Legislators had the Legislators' Court. Suda “At the prytaneion” A lawcourt. [It decides homicide cases] when the lethal missile is clearly a stone or suchlike, and there is no human perpetrator. For judging even inanimate objects [is] an ancient custom, [to determine] whether they should be cast beyond the borders. “pretrial” Those [sc. in Athens] with homicide suits being brought against them live at the prytaneion[1] for three months before the trial; during that time speeches are delivered on either side. This is what they call a pre-trial. “prytaneion” Suda, “prytaneion” Among the Athenians a small public building, where those who attain the appropriate honor among them were given a dinner at public expense; Attaining such a reward was sought-after; for on the occasion of great successes they used to bestow such a privilege. Geoffrey Schmalz, The Athenian Prytaneion Discovered? Hesperia 75 (2006) Pages 33-81 The author proposes that the Athenian Prytaneion, one of the city’s most important civic buildings, was located in the peristyle complex beneath the Plateia Agia Aikaterini, near the ancient Street of the Tripods and the Monument of Lysikrates in the modern Plaka. This thesis, which is consistent with Pausa- nias’s topographical account of ancient Athens, is supported by archaeological and epigraphical evidence. The identification of the Prytaneion at the eastern foot of the Acropolis helps to reconstruct the map of Archaic and Classical Athens and illuminates the testimony of Herodotos and Thucydides. QuickTime™ and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture. QuickTime™ and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture. QuickTime™ and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.