Abstract
It was necessary for every citizen, in Athens, to have his name entered in at least two registers-"komon grammateion" in his phratrie and "lexiarchikon grammateion" in his deme, of which the latter was politically important The State had no list which included all the citizens , therefore, there were possibilities that (A) a legitimate citizen might lose his citizenship if his demesmen rejected him or removed his name from their register, on the other hand, (B) rich foreigners could acquire civic rights through bribery As the counter-measures the State prescribed two legal procedures-"εφεσιζ" [against (A)] and "γραφη ξενιαζ [against (B)], and they were both brought before the thesmothetai who introduced them before the law courts But this was the system contemporary with Aristotle, i e, about 325 B C (cf A P XLII 1, LIX 3 4) When Kleisthenes created the demes, it was confirmed that the Athenians revised the citizen roll according to the statements of Aristotle in A P XIII 5 and in Politika 1275 b (as for the latter, I follow the interpretation newly suggested by Oliver in Histona IX 1960 pp 503-4) But, it seems that, at that time, the state left the revision completely to the demes, and there remain no materials which bear testimony to the existence of the procedures of the εφεσιζ and the γραφη ξενιαζ When and how was the above-mentioned system framed ? Diller and Gomme have disputed on this subject, and recently, Jacoby treated of it This paper is concerned with this problem with a view to a reconsideration of the character of the demes in the history of the athenian constitution The materials relating to the γραφη ξενιαζ (indictment for usurpation of civic right by an alien) are preserved only from 440 B C, but in the 5th century This indictment was brought before the nautodikai, and in the 4th century before the thesmothetai We must not overlook the fact that the nautodikai and the thesmothetai were not procuratonal officials, and the necessary arrangements for indictment were all charged upon a complainant The existence of the εφεσιζ (appeal of anyone whose claim to citizenship has been rejected by his deme) is first attested by Isaios XII which belongs to between 395/4 B C and 346/5 B C, but here the διαιτα (arbitrations) stood before the εφεσιζ After 346/5 B C the appeal was directly before the thesmothetai Demosthenes LVII describes vividly how the διαψηφισμοζ (general revision) of 346/5 B C was performed Gernet regards Eubulides in this oration as one of the buleutai elected by the deme of Halimus According to this interpretation, he revised the register of his own deme in the capacity of a buleutes As we have seen, the athenian registration system was defective in many respects Nevertheless, the glorious name of 'Athenian Democracy' will remain eternally in history The high and firmly-rooted consciousness of autonomy in the demes was really the basis of the athenian constitution, and its gradual retrogression undermined others' glorious name
