Magistrates’ Accountability and Epigraphic Documents: The Case of Accounts and Inventories

Magistrates’ euthynai were one of the legal procedures in the Greek city designed to ensure political stability by enforcing accountability and the rule of law. This paper focuses on a class of inscriptions, namely accounts and inventories, which were clearly produced in connection with the end-of-year accounts but whose nature and purpose, whether functional or symbolic, are controversial. In the first part, the evidence for euthynai during the fifth century and the way it interlocked with paradosis are explored. The second part deals with the relationship between inscriptions and documents written on perishable materials by looking at two specific case studies, the accounts of the Delian amphiktyons and naopoioi from Delos, and the Athenian navy records. Their interest lies in the fact that they include many records of trials. It is argued that the inscribed accounts were complex and accurate documents constructed by assembling information drawn from various registers and, far from having a merely symbolic significance, were designed to prove that the officials had performed their duties in a correct manner and be used as evidence in legal proceedings.