Philochoros, gifts of grain and the scrutiny of citizens in classical Athens

Abstract

According to an account that Felix Jacoby published as Philochoros (FGrH 328) F119, a gift of 30,000 medimnoi of grain was sent by Psammetichos from Egypt to Athens in the archonship of Lysimachides (445/4). When for its distribution a scrutiny (diapsēphisis) was held to check the citizen status of the claimants, 4,760 individuals appeared to be illegally listed as citizens, while 14,240 Athenians received a portion of grain. Brought together in this fragment, the events feature as a significant historical fact in studies of Pericles' Citizenship Law, Athenian demography and the Athenian grain supply. However, in this article I argue that the account in F119 is not correct as it stands, but a conflation of historically disparate events into one episode. This confusing amalgam is not Philochoros' mistake, but, with several possible causes, it must originate in the tradition between him and Plutarch, who incorporated it into his Life of Pericles (37). The most likely source of this conflated report for Plutarch's version is the Alexandrian scholar Didymos. A major element in the confusion is the diapsēphisis of 346/5, when all male citizens scrutinized each other on their civic status, a one-off event that deeply affected Athenian society and its historical traditions.