Crew composition in the 5th century BCE Athenian fleet

An analysis of the Athenian Naval Catalogue inscription

Abstract

The inscription IG³ 1032, known as the Athenian Naval Catalogue (hereafter, ANC), provides us with unique epigraphical evidence regarding the composition of crews aboard Athenian triremes of the 5^th century BCE. Found dispersed atop and near the Acropolis over time, this inscription consists of eleven fragments of Pentelic marble, which have been painstakingly assembled to reconstruct a monument once inscribed with the complete lists of the crew members of eight Athenian triremes appearing in ten columns. One of the most striking facts to emerge from the ANC's demographic information is that slaves（therapontes） comprised significant proportions of four of the ships' crews appearing in the fragments, giving rise to lively discussion as to whether ANC reflects a common Athenian practice in this regard・ The author comments as follows.
The research to date often associates ANC with the critical situation at the time of Arginusai (or Aigospotamoi). However, this position is not supported by any solid evidence, for it is practically impossible to date precisely when ANC was erected and thus to place it in any specific historical context, although the inscription most probably dates to pre-412 times. The presence of a large number of slaves among the crews of the four triremes is not exceptional for the latter half of the 5^th century. There is solid, albeit scant, evidence indicating the regular use of slaves in the Athenian navy during the late 5^th century. Moreover, on the basis of a far more substantial body of evidence, it must be concluded that slaves were routinely used in the crews of the non-Athenian navies which engaged in the Peloponnesian War. Therefore, strong evidence would be needed in order to conclude that slaves did not serve in the contemporary Athenian navy.
Other indices also indicate that the crew composition of the triremes appearing on ANC was nothing other than normal. Most of the marines（epibatai） on board were attended by one slave; that is, they were affluent enough to afford one. Several of their names also reflect substantial backgrounds. It has generally been believed that marines were normally thetes; but the evidence on which this notion is based on is flimsy. Most of the evidence indicates not only that the arming of thetes as marines was the exception rather than the rule in Athenian practices, but also that ma-rines usually consisted of volunteers from among citizens of higher social standing.
The variety of the crew composition of each of the four triremes on ANC strongly suggests their random recruitment by each trierarch. Evidence shows that for most of the 5^th and all of the 4^th century, conscription was the exception rather than the rule. Therefore, since conscription seems to have been ineffective, the state often had to lay the responsibility of enlisting crew to the trierarchs, suggesting that recruitment on the part of the trierarchs was the established custom at the time of ANC.