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CHAP. LX.: The directors of games; the sacred oil. - Aristotle, Constitution of Athens [320 BC]

Edition used:

Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, trans. Thomas J. Dymes (London: Seeley and Co., 1891).

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CHAP. LX.

The directors of games; the sacred oil.

They appoint also by lot ten directors of games, one for each tribe. They, after approval, hold office for four years, and manage the procession of the Panathenæa, the musical and gymnastic contests and the horse-races, and, in conjunction with the Council, have Athena’s state-robe and the vases made, and apportion to the successful competitors the oil which is made from the sacred olives. And the archon levies the tax from the owners of the grounds in which the sacred olives grow, a kotyle and a half (i.e., about three-quarters of a pint) for each stem, whereas in former times the state used to sell the produce, and if anyone dug up or broke a sacred olive-tree, the council of Areopagus used to try, and if it found him guilty, punish him with death. Since the owner of the land has contributed the oil, the law indeed has continued in force, but the trial has become a dead-letter, while the oil from the cuttings, but not from the stems, still belongs to the state. The archon then, having collected what accrues during his tenure of office, hands it over to the treasurers in the Acropolis, and is not allowed to go up to the Acropolis before he has handed over the whole of it to the treasurers. The treasurers then keep it in the Acropolis till the celebration of the Panathenæa, when they measure it out to the directors of games, and they again to the victorious competitors. Now for the victors in the musical contests the prizes are of silver and gold, in those for manliness spears, and for the gymnastic games and horse-races olive-oil.