KITTOS AND THEPHIALAI EXELEUTHERIKAI

Abstract

In an oracular tablet from Dodona dating to the mid-fourth centurybc, a slave named Kittos inquires whether his master, Dionysios, will set him free. A roughly contemporary entry in the Athenianphialaiinscriptions records Dionysiosisotelēsmanumitting Kittos the metalworker. This paper suggests that the individuals in both documents may be identical. Along the way, it also takes a position on a number of questions surrounding thephialaiinscriptions. These inscriptions are not really inventories, I propose, nor can they be explained in terms of lawsuits unrelated to manumission. (The presence of families and children in the inscriptions is especially important in demonstrating this point.) Instead, they represent acts of manumission effectuated throughdikē apostasiouprosecutions, an Athenian practice which, I believe, dates back to the 350s. It was not until the 330s, under the financial administration of Lycurgus, that the city imposed mandatoryphialaidedications upon all manumissions in court, with thephialēserving as a manumission fee paid to the treasurers of Athena.