Serving the Democracy in Ancient Athens

Drawing on 80 years of excavation and scholarship, this volume is the first comprehensive study of the abundant pottery unearthed alongside the Athenian Tholos, the remarkable round building that served as dining hall and hostel for the fifty prytaneis of the Council of 500. Moving from architecture and furnishings to the broader social and religious world of Athenian public dining, the book culminates in a detailed catalogue of over 300 finds—the majority published here for the first time. Supported by hundreds of original photographs, drawings, and plans, the author’s analysis reveals how the Tholos dining vessels were intimately tied to the Athenian system of standard measures, transforming an institution that officially divided citizens by wealth into a space that instead enacted isonomia, the principle of equality among citizens central to Athenian democracy. The study also traces the erosion of this system in the 4th century BCE through changes in the commensal repertory in conjunction with the demise of the democracy. Specialist contributions comprise a study on ancient perceptions of vessel capacity (R. Bidgood), a revised interpretation of the nearby “broiling pits” based on rediscovered faunal remains (F. Dibble), and the first extensive fabric analysis of Attic black-glaze, household, and cooking wares from a securely dated public context (E. Kiriatzi et al.). Through these wide-ranging modes of inquiry, the volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of Greek dining culture, ceramic production, and the foundations of Athenian civic life.

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Prolegomena

Glossary

Timeline

1. Introduction and Overview

2. The Prytaneis and the Commensal Context of 5th-Century Athens

3. Measure and Measures in Athenian Democracy

4. The Tholos as Setting for the Prytaneis

5. The Tholos and Fifth-Century Agora Commensality, Part I (470–450)

6. The Tholos and Fifth-Century Agora Commensality, Part II (450–400)

7. From the Ground Up (Again): Tholos Dining in the 4th Century

8. Capacity Methodology and Perception, by Richard Bidgood

9. Technological and Provenance Studies from Deposit H 12:6: A Snapshot of the Attic Potting Industry, by Evangelia Kiriatzi, Gudrun Klebinder-Gauss, Noémi S. Müller, Edyta Marzec, Ann Steiner

10. The “Broiling Pits” of Building F Revisited: Zooarchaeology and Context, by Flint Dibble

11. Conclusions

Catalogue

Epigraphical Appendix, edited by M. B. Richardson

References

Indexes

• By (author) Ann Steiner