An Athenian naval reform by Periandros in the middle of the fourth century B.C. changed drastically the former system of the trierarchy, when expenses were paid for a warship by one or two persons(trierarchs). The law of Periandros charged 1200 people who were members of 20 symmories, each consisting of 60 people with the payments for the trierarchy, and so divided the financial burden for a warship between many people. Recently, at least, this system itself has been studied by some scholars, especially with regard to possible identification with the system of the eisphora, but the historical background of this reform seems to have been scarcely studied as a main theme and in detail. Accordingly, the significance of it is here fully examined. The date of the reform has been regarded as 358/7 B.C. or 357/6 B.C. by common consent since this was argued by Boeckh. The evidence to prove the existence of Periandros' symmories in 357/6 B.C. is [Dem.]XLVII, but there is no evidence to prove its existence before then. For example, as we find no references to the trierarchic symmories in [Dem.]L which relates to an Athenian naval expedition in the late 360s B.C., it seems that the start of the law must be placed after that date. In that period, there were two important events in foreign relations which might have had such a direct impact that Athens was forced to carry out the drastic reform of the naval system. One was the Athenian expedition to Euboea in the summer of 357 B. C. and the other was the Social War which broke out soon after that. There is no evidence to elucidate directly the relative dates of the reform and the expedition to Euboea. Cawkwell does not entirely exclude the possibility that the fleet mentioned in [Dem.]XLVII may be identical with that in the expedition to Euboea, and he infers that in that case the expedition to Euboea might have been provided for by the law of Periandros. But while the fleet in that expedition was quickly dispatched and voluntary trierarchs participated in it in response to an appeal of the State, the fleet mentioned in [Dem.]XLVII could not set sail so quickly and such an appeal was not made at that time. Therefore these two fleets were different from each other. Seeing that the Athenians were forced to depend upon the trierarchic epidosis, firstly organized in Athens at that time, for the expedition to Euboea, it is more probable that the date of Periandros' reform is later than that of the expedition to Euboea as Boeckh thought. The next important matter is the relative dates of the reform and the Social War. There is a clue about it in the description of [Dem.]XLVII, 20 ff.. The above-mentioned fleet in [Dem.]XLVII can be thought to have been dispatched to cope with the revolt of the allies which led to the Social War. This is a possibility that Cawkwell regards as more probable and his arguments are convincing. Consequently, we can infer the chronology for the three events, that is, the expedition to Euboea → the reform of Periandros → the Social War. And we can suppose from [Dem.]XLVII, 21, etc. that his law was initiated before the outbreak of the Social War but the revolt of the allies broke out before it was completely carried out. This suggests that Periandros carried out the reform being conscious of the unquiet tendency of the allies and as a measure against them. Tod. No. 151 (=IG II^2 126) which records an alliance between Athens and three Thracian kings in 357/6 B.C seems to suggest this, though it does so indirectly. Lastly, it can be confirmed by IG I^I2 1611, etc. that Periandros and the other man performed their syntrierarchy using the state-owned ship's equipment and Periandros proposed the reform presumably sometime during their syntrierarchy. Taking notice of a regulation about recovering the unreturned state-owned ship's equipment in his law, we can infer that he himself, too, keenly realized a
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