Fish Lists in the Wilderness: The Social and Economic History of a Boiotian Price Decree

by Ephraim Lytle

Hesperia, Volume 79, Issue 2
Page(s): 253-303
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40835487
Year: 2010
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ABSTRACT:

This article presents a new text and detailed examination of an inscribed Hellenistic decree from the Boiotian town of Akraiphia (SEG XXXII 450) that consists chiefly of lists of fresh- and saltwater fish accompanied by prices. The text incorporates improved readings and restores the final eight lines of the document, omitted in previous editions. The discussion covers the arrangement of the text and the sources of the lists, one of which probably originated in a customhouse in the nearby port of Anthedon, as well as the larger social and economic context of the decree, which has been generally misunderstood.