CONTENT

GUO, ZILONG: Republished Texts in the Attic Orators (139–172)

BERTI, IRENE: Delian Accountability and the Cost of Writing Materials (173–200)

GÜNTHER, ELISABETH: Pictorial Elements vs. Composition? “Reading” Gestures in Comedy-related Vase-paintings (4th Century BC) (201–233)

KATÓ, PÉTER: Wealthy Koans around 200 BC in the Context of Hellenistic Social History (235–267)

SCHMIDT, STEFANIE: Early Roman Syene (1st to 2nd Century) – A Gate to the Red Sea? (269–297)

Abstracts (299–301)

Zilong GUO (IHAC, NENU, Changchun)
REPUBLISHED TEXTS IN THE ATTIC ORATORS (pp. 139–172)
doi: 10.16785/j.cnki.1004-9371.2021.04.014

In the present article, I explore the passages that are reused in the Attic orators, particularly those as transmitted in the judicial speeches by Antiphon and Demosthenes. I argue that the favorable reactions from their audiences or clients in the past legal cases are what encourage the orators to reuse, or republish, the passages, and that there is a tendency among them to make modifications to suit changing socio-political circumstances and specific performative contexts. The conclusion is that the republished texts highlight the common practice of the logographers in Classical Athens, and thus contribute to our understanding of their habitual way of writing and method of self-promotion.

Irene BERTI (PH Heidelberg)
DELIAN ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE COST
OF WRITING MATERIALS (pp. 173–200)
doi: 10.16785/j.cnki.1004-9371.2021.04.015

The article explores some practical aspects of record-keeping in the Delian accounts, focusing on the different materials used as writing media, particularly on the relation between records on perishable materials and accounts written on stone. The financial administration of the Delian sanctuary was particularly productive in respect of official writings. While the accounts inscribed on stone were meant to present a summative balance-sheet of all financial transactions carried out by the sanctuary during the year, papyrus and wooden tablets were used for monthly records and for the different parts of the financial administration. Analyzing the information offered by the inscriptions with regard to writing materials and their costs, the article seeks to reconstruct what the different kinds of records looked like, comparing them with the realia known from contemporary archeological contexts, and asks how they were acquired and produced, and whether there was a development over the course of time. Contrary to the scholarly tendency to downplay the importance of wooden tablets, the article argues that they were frequently used by the public administration since they were cheap, easily available, and could be used to record accounts and contracts to be kept in the archive, as well as for documents to be temporary exposed to the public. Conversely, the role of papyrus in the administrative writing was initially relatively limited.

Elisabeth GÜNTHER (Classical Archaeology, University of Trier)
PICTORIAL ELEMENTS VS. COMPOSITION? “READING” GESTURES IN COMEDY-RELATED VASE-PAINTINGS (4TH CENTURY BC)
(pp. 201–233)
doi: 10.16785/j.cnki.1004-9371.2021.04.016

This paper examines the meanings and functions of gestures in comedy-related vase-paintings produced in southern Italy and Sicily during the 4th century BC. It discusses to what extent the gestures depicted in these images convey a specific meaning, and to what extent their “reading” depends on the composition as a whole, i.e., the choice, positioning, and cognitive framework of the pictorial elements such as figures and objects. A first group of gestures indicates communication processes in “conversational” scenes usually with two figures. In these scenes, the meaning of gestures is of low importance, but their relative position within the composition displays which conversation partner dominates the other, often by inverting social hierarchies. The second group consists of more specific gestures that express strong and often negative emotions. They originate from tragedy-related vase-paintings, and this incongruence between tragic gesture and comic context causes a comic effect. In general, gestures are just one part of the cognitive framework of comedy-related vase-paintings which refer to comedy; however, they create a complex network of cognitive frames and thus evoke independent comic narratives.

Péter KATÓ (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
WEALTHY KOANS AROUND 200 BC IN THE CONTEXT
OF HELLENISTIC SOCIAL HISTORY (pp. 235–267)
doi: 10.16785/j.cnki.1004-9371.2021.04.017

This paper aims to evaluate the data relating to the Koan elite around 200 BC, in the light of general trends of the post-Classical polis’s social history. The article first presents prosopographical information regarding the top contributors of the famous wartime subscription list (IG XII 4, 1, 75–77), their relatives, as well as other contributors with more modest amounts of money who can nevertheless be identified as rich, influential, and prominent members of the local community. The paper demonstrates the existence of an influential elite which exercised its power mostly outside the framework of political offices (archai), through religious activities and priesthoods, patronage in associations, and interstate connections. Furthermore, the paper identifies those factors that limited the influence of the elite: the instability of these families, the sustainment of democratic political institutions, and the tendency to emphasize communal efforts over individual benefactions – what is attested primarily by the specific Koan epigraphic habit.

Stefanie SCHMIDT (FU Berlin)
EARLY ROMAN SYENE (1ST TO 2ND CENTURY) – A GATE
TO THE RED SEA? (pp. 269–297)
doi: 10.16785/j.cnki.1004-9371.2021.04.018

Due to its strategic position at the First Cataract, Syene (modern Aswān) obtained a central position in transregional trade at Egypt’s border to the Meroitic kingdom. Archeological finds of Aswān pottery throughout Egypt and the Arabian Sea demonstrate, moreover, that Syene’s economic outreach went far beyond a mere cross-border trade. Based on a new discussion of a well-known inscription by a paralēmptēs of the Red Sea and an ostracon from Pselkis, this paper aims at exploring to what extent early Roman Syene was also involved in trade carried out in the Red Sea and beyond.