ECDĬCUS (ἔκδικος), the name of an officer in many of the towns of
Asia Minor during the Roman dominion, whose principal duty was the
care of the public money, and the prosecution of all parties who owed
money to the state.
ECMARTȲRĬA (ἐκμαρτυρία), signifies the deposition of a witness at
Athens, who, by reason of absence abroad, or illness, was unable
to attend in court. His statement was taken down in writing, in
the presence of persons expressly appointed to receive it, and
afterwards, upon their swearing to its identity, was read as evidence
in the cause.
ĒDICTUM. The _Jus Edicendi_, or power of making edicts, belonged
to the higher _magistratus populi Romani_, but it was principally
exercised by the two praetors, the praetor urbanus, and the praetor
peregrinus, whose jurisdiction was exercised in the provinces by the
praeses. The curule aediles likewise made many edicts; and tribunes,
censors, and pontifices also promulgated edicts relating to the
matters of their respective jurisdictions. The edicta were among
the sources of Roman law. The edictum may be described generally
as a rule promulgated by a magistratus on entering on his office,
which was done by writing it on an album and exhibiting it in a
conspicuous place. As the office of a magistratus was annual, the
rules promulgated by a predecessor were not binding on a successor,
but he might confirm or adopt the rules of his predecessor, and
introduce them into his own edict, and hence such adopted rules were
called _edictum ralatitium_, or _vetus_, as opposed to _edictum
novum_. A _repentinum edictum_ was that rule which was made (_prout
res incidit_) for the occasion. A _perpetuum edictum_ was that rule
which was made by the magistratus on entering upon office, and which
was intended to apply to all cases to which it was applicable during
the year of his office: hence it was sometimes called also _annua
lex_. Until it became the practice for magistratus to adopt the
edicta of their predecessors, the edicta could not form a body of
permanent binding rules; but when this practice became common, the
edicta (_edictum tralatitium_) soon constituted a large body of law,
which was practically of as much importance as any other part of the
law.
EICOSTĒ (εἰκοστή), a tax or duty of one-twentieth (five per cent.)
upon all commodities exported or imported by sea in the states of the
allies subject to Athens. This tax was first imposed B.C. 413, in the
place of the direct tribute which had up to this time been paid by
the subject allies; and the change was made with the hope of raising
a greater revenue. This tax, like all others, was farmed, and the
farmers of it were called εἰκοστολόγοι.
EIRĒN or ĪRĒN (εἴρην or ἴρην), the name given to the Spartan youth
when he attained the age of twenty. At the age of eighteen he emerged
from childhood, and was called μελλείρην. When he had attained his
twentieth year, he began to exercise a direct influence over his
juniors, and was entrusted with the command of troops in battle. The
word appears to have originally signified a commander. The ἰρένες
mentioned in Herodotus, in connection with the battle of Plataeae,
were certainly not youths, but commanders.
EISANGĔLĬA (εἰσαγγελία), signifies, in its primary and most general
sense, a denunciation of any kind, but, much more usually, an
information laid before the council or the assembly of the people,
and the consequent impeachment and trial of state criminals at
Athens under novel or extraordinary circumstances. Among these were
the occasions upon which manifest crimes were alleged to have been
committed, and yet of such a nature as the existing laws had failed
to anticipate, or at least describe specifically (ἄγραφα ἀδικήματα),
the result of which omission would have been, but for the enactment
by which the accusations in question might be preferred (νόμος
εἰσαγγελτικός), that a prosecutor would not have known to what
magistrate to apply; that a magistrate, if applied to, could not with
safety have accepted the indictment or brought it into court; and
that, in short, there would have been a total failure of justice.
EISITĒRĬA (εἰσιτήρια, _scil._ ἱερά), sacrifices offered at Athens by
the senate before the session began, in honour of the Θεοὶ Βουλαῖοι,
_i.e._ Zeus and Athena.
EISPHŎRA (εἰσφορά), an extraordinary tax on property, raised at
Athens, whenever the means of the state were not sufficient to
carry on a war. It is not quite certain when this property-tax was
introduced; but it seems to have come first into general use about
B.C. 428. It could never be raised without a decree of the people,
who also assigned the amount required; and the _strategi_, or
generals, superintended its collection, and presided in the courts
where disputes connected with, or arising from, the levying of the
tax were settled. The usual expressions for paying this property-tax
are: εἰσφέρειν χρήματα, εἰσφέρειν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, εἰς τὴν σωτηρίαν
τῆς πόλεως, εἰσφορὰς εἰσφέρειν, and those who paid it were called οἱ
εἰσφέροντες. The census of Solon was at first the standard according
to which the _eisphora_ was raised, until in B.C. 377 a new census
was instituted, in which the people, for the purpose of fixing the
rates of the property-tax, were divided into a number of symmoriae
(συμμορίαι) or classes, similar to those which were afterwards made
for the trierarchy. Each of the ten tribes or phylae, appointed
120 of its wealthier citizens; and the whole number of persons
included in the symmoriae was thus 1200, who were considered as the
representatives of the whole republic. This body of 1200 was divided
into four classes, each consisting of 300. The first class, or the
richest, were the leaders of the symmoriae (ἡγεμόνες συμμοριῶν),
and are often called the three hundred. They probably conducted the
proceedings of the symmoriae, and they, or, which is more likely,
the demarchs, had to value the taxable property. Other officers
were appointed to make out the lists of the rates, and were called
ἐπιγραφεῖς, διαγραφεῖς or ἐκλογεῖς. When the wants of the state were
pressing, the 300 leaders advanced the money to the others, who paid
it back to the 300 at the regular time. The first class probably
consisted of persons who possessed property from 12 talents upwards;
the second class, of persons who possessed property from 6 talents
and upwards, but under 12; the third class, of persons who possessed
property from 2 talents upwards, but under 6; the fourth class, of
persons who possessed property from 25 minae upwards, but under 2
talents. The rate of taxation was higher or lower according to the
wants of the republic at the time; we have accounts of rates of a
12th, a 50th, a 100th, and a 500th part of the taxable property.
If any one thought that his property was taxed higher than that of
another man on whom juster claims could be made, he had the right to
call upon this person to take the office in his stead, or to submit
to a complete exchange of property. [ANTIDOSIS.] No Athenian, on
the other hand, if belonging to the tax-paying classes, could be
exempt from the _eisphora_, not even the descendants of Harmodius and
Aristogeiton.
ĒLECTRUM (ἤλεκτρος and ἤλεκτρον), is used by the ancient writers
in two different senses, either for _amber_ or for a mixture of
metals composed of gold and silver. In Homer and Hesiod, it has, in
all probability, the former meaning. The earliest passage of any
Greek writer, in which the word is _certainly_ used for the metal,
is in the _Antigone_ of Sophocles (1038). This alludes to _native
electrum_; but the compound was also made artificially. Pliny
states that when gold contains a fifth part of silver, it is called
_electrum_; that it is found in veins of gold; and that it is also
made by art: if, he adds, it contains more than a fifth of silver, it
becomes too brittle to be malleable. But Isidorus mentions electrum
composed of _three_ parts gold, and _one_ of silver. Electrum was
used for plate, and the other similar purposes for which gold and
silver were employed. It was also used as a material for money.
Lampridius tells us, that Alexander Severus struck coins of it;
and coins are in existence, of this metal, struck by the kings of
Bosporus, by Syracuse, and by other Greek states.
ĔLEUSĪNĬA (ἐλευσίνια), a festival and mysteries, originally
celebrated only at Eleusis in Attica, in honour of Demeter and
Persephone. The Eleusinian mysteries, or _the_ mysteries, as they
were sometimes called, were the holiest and most venerable of all
that were celebrated in Greece. Various traditions were current among
the Greeks respecting the author of these mysteries: for, while some
considered Eumolpus or Musaeus to be their founder, others stated
that they had been introduced from Egypt by Erechtheus, who at a time
of scarcity provided his country with corn from Egypt, and imported
from the same quarter the sacred rites and mysteries of Eleusis.
A third tradition attributed the institution to Demeter herself,
who, when wandering about in search of her daughter, Persephone,
was believed to have come to Attica, in the reign of Erechtheus,
to have supplied its inhabitants with corn, and to have instituted
the mysteries at Eleusis. This last opinion seems to have been the
most common among the ancients, and in subsequent times a stone was
shown near the well Callichoros at Eleusis, on which the goddess,
overwhelmed with grief and fatigue, was believed to have rested on
her arrival in Attica. All the accounts and allusions in ancient
writers seem to warrant the conclusion, that the legends concerning
the introduction of the Eleusinia are descriptions of a period when
the inhabitants of Attica were becoming acquainted with the benefits
of agriculture, and of a regularly constituted form of society.--In
the reign of Erechtheus a war is said to have broken out between
the Athenians and Eleusinians; and when the latter were defeated,
they acknowledged the supremacy of Athens in everything except the
mysteries, which they wished to conduct and regulate for themselves.
Thus the superintendence remained with the descendants of Eumolpus
[EUMOLPIDAE], the daughters of the Eleusinian king Celeus, and a
third class of priests, the Ceryces, who seem likewise to have been
connected with the family of Eumolpus, though they themselves traced
their origin to Hermes and Aglauros.--At the time when the local
governments of the several townships of Attica were concentrated at
Athens, the capital became also the centre of religion, and several
deities who had hitherto only enjoyed a local worship, were now
raised to the rank of national gods. This seems also to have been
the case with the Eleusinian goddess, for in the reign of Theseus we
find mention of a temple at Athens, called Eleusinion, probably the
new and national sanctuary of Demeter. Her priests and priestesses
now became naturally attached to the national temple of the capital,
though her original place of worship at Eleusis, with which so many
sacred associations were connected, still retained its importance and
its special share in the celebration of the national solemnities.--We
must distinguish between the greater Eleusinia, which were celebrated
at Athens and Eleusis, and the lesser, which were held at Agrae
on the Ilissus. The lesser Eleusinia were only a preparation
(προκάθαρσις or προάγνευσις) for the real mysteries. They were held
every year in the month of Anthesterion, and, according to some
accounts, in honour of Persephone alone. Those who were initiated in
them bore the name of _Mystae_ (μύσται), and had to wait at least
another year before they could be admitted to the great mysteries.
The principal rites of this first stage of initiation consisted in
the sacrifice of a sow, which the mystae seem to have first washed
in the Cantharus, and in the purification by a priest, who bore
the name of _Hydranos_ (Ὑδρανός). The mystae had also to take an
oath of secrecy, which was administered to them by the _Mystagogus_
(μυσταγωγός, also called ἱεροφάντης or προφήτης), and they received
some kind of preparatory instruction, which enabled them afterwards
to understand the mysteries which were revealed to them in the
great Eleusinia.--The great mysteries were celebrated every year in
the month of Boedromion, during nine days, from the 15th to the
23rd, both at Athens and Eleusis. The initiated were called ἐπόπται
or ἔφυροι. On the first day, those who had been initiated in the
lesser Eleusinia, assembled at Athens. On the second day the mystae
went in solemn procession to the sea-coast, where they underwent
a purification. Of the third day scarcely anything is known with
certainty; we are only told that it was a day of fasting, and that in
the evening a frugal meal was taken, which consisted of cakes made
of sesame and honey. On the fourth day the καλάθος κάθοδος seems to
have taken place. This was a procession with a basket containing
pomegranates and poppy-seeds; it was carried on a waggon drawn by
oxen, and women followed with small mystic cases in their hands.
On the fifth day, which appears to have been called the torch day
(ἡ τῶν λαμπάδων ἡμέρα), the mystae, led by the δᾳδοῦχος, went in
the evening with torches to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, where
they seem to have remained during the following night. This rite was
probably a symbolical representation of Demeter wandering about in
search of Persephone. The sixth day, called _Iacchos_, was the most
solemn of all. The statue of Iacchos, son of Demeter, adorned with a
garland of myrtle and bearing a torch in his hand, was carried along
the sacred road amidst joyous shouts and songs, from the Cerameicus
to Eleusis. This solemn procession was accompanied by great numbers
of followers and spectators. During the night from the sixth to
the seventh day the mystae remained at Eleusis, and were initiated
into the last mysteries (ἐποπτεία). Those who were neither ἐπόπται
nor μύσται were sent away by a herald. The mystae now repeated the
oath of secrecy which had been administered to them at the lesser
Eleusinia, underwent a new purification, and then they were led by
the mystagogus in the darkness of night into the lighted interior
of the sanctuary (φωταγωγία), and were allowed to see (αὐτοψία)
what none except the epoptae ever beheld. The awful and horrible
manner in which the initiation is described by later, especially
Christian writers, seems partly to proceed from their ignorance of
its real character, partly from their horror of and aversion to
these pagan rites. The more ancient writers always abstained from
entering upon any description of the subject. Each individual, after
his initiation, is said to have been dismissed by the words κόγξ,
ὄμπαξ, in order to make room for other mystae. On the seventh day
the initiated returned to Athens amid various kinds of raillery and
jests, especially at the bridge over the Cephisus, where they sat
down to rest, and poured forth their ridicule on those who passed
by. Hence the words γεφυρίζειν and γεφυρισμός. These σκώμματα seem,
like the procession with torches to Eleusis, to have been dramatical
and symbolical representations of the jests by which, according to
the ancient legend, Iambe or Baubo had dispelled the grief of the
goddess and made her smile. We may here observe, that probably the
whole history of Demeter and Persephone was in some way or other
symbolically represented at the Eleusinia. The eighth day, called
_Epidauria_ (Ἐπιδαύρια), was a kind of additional day for those
who by some accident had come too late, or had been prevented from
being initiated on the sixth day. It was said to have been added
to the original number of days, when Asclepius, coming over from
Epidaurus to be initiated, arrived too late, and the Athenians, not
to disappoint the god, added an eighth day. The ninth and last day
bore the name of πλημοχοαί, from a peculiar kind of vessel called
πλημοχοή, which is described as a small kind of κότυλος. Two of these
vessels were on this day filled with water or wine, and the contents
of the one thrown to the east, and those of the other to the west,
while those who performed this rite uttered some mystical words.--The
Eleusinian mysteries long survived the independence of Greece.
Attempts to suppress them were made by the emperor Valentinian, but
he met with strong opposition, and they seem to have continued down
to the time of the elder Theodosius. Respecting the secret doctrines
which were revealed in them to the initiated, nothing certain is
known. The general belief of the ancients was, that they opened to
man a comforting prospect of a future state. But this feature does
not seem to have been originally connected with these mysteries, and
was probably added to them at the period which followed the opening
of a regular intercourse between Greece and Egypt, when some of the
speculative doctrines of the latter country, and of the East, may
have been introduced into the mysteries, and hallowed by the names of
the venerable bards of the mythical age. This supposition would also
account, in some measure, for the legend of their introduction from
Egypt. In modern times many attempts have been made to discover the
nature of the mysteries revealed to the initiated, but the results
have been as various and as fanciful as might be expected. The most
sober and probable view is that, according to which, “they were
the remains of a worship which preceded the rise of the Hellenic
mythology and its attendant rites, grounded on a view of nature,
less fanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken both
philosophical thought and religious feeling.”
ĔLEUTHĔRĬA (ἐλευθέρια), the feast of liberty, a festival which the
Greeks, after the battle of Plataeae (479 B.C.), instituted in honour
of Zeus Eleutherios (the deliverer). It was intended not merely
to be a token of their gratitude to the god to whom they believed
themselves to be indebted for their victory over the barbarians, but
also as a bond of union among themselves; for, in an assembly of all
the Greeks, Aristeides carried a decree that delegates (πρόβουλοι
καὶ θεωροί) from all the Greek states should assemble every year
at Plataeae for the celebration of the Eleutheria. The town itself
was at the same time declared sacred and inviolable, as long as its
citizens offered the annual sacrifices which were then instituted on
behalf of Greece. Every fifth year these solemnities were celebrated
with contests, in which the victors were rewarded with chaplets.
ELLŌTĬA or HELLŌTĬA (ἐλλώτια or ἑλλώτια), a festival with a torch
race celebrated at Corinth in honour of Athena as a goddess of fire.
ĒMANCĬPĀTĬO, was an act by which the _patria potestas_ was dissolved
in the lifetime of the parent, and it was so called because it was in
the form of a sale (_mancipatio_). By the laws of the Twelve Tables
it was necessary that a son should be sold three times in order to
be released from the paternal power, or to be _sui juris_. In the
case of daughters and grandchildren, one sale was sufficient. The
father transferred the son by the form of a sale to another person,
who manumitted him, upon which he returned into the power of the
father. This was repeated, and with the like result. After a third
sale, the paternal power was extinguished, but the son was re-sold to
the parent, who then manumitted him, and so acquired the rights of a
patron over his emancipated son, which would otherwise have belonged
to the purchaser who gave him his final manumission.
EMBAS (ἐμβάς), a shoe worn by men, and which appears to have been
the most common kind of shoe worn at Athens. Pollux says that it was
invented by the Thracians, and that it was like the low cothurnus.
The _embas_ was also worn by the Boeotians, and probably in other
parts of Greece.
EMBĂTEIA (ἐμβατεία). In Attic law this word (like the corresponding
English one, _entry_), was used to denote a formal taking possession
of real property. Thus, when a son entered upon the land left him
by his father, he was said ἐμβατεύειν or βαδίζειν εἰς τὰ πατρῳα,
and thereupon he became _seised_, or possessed of his inheritance.
If any one disturbed him in the enjoyment of this property, with
an intention to dispute the title, he might maintain an action of
ejectment, ἐξούλης δίκη. Before entry he could not maintain such
action.
EMBLĒMA (ἔμβλημα, ἔμπαισμα), an inlaid ornament. The art of inlaying
was employed in producing beautiful works of two descriptions,
viz.;--1st, those which resembled our marquetry, buhl, and Florentine
mosaics; and 2dly, those in which crusts (_crustae_), exquisitely
wrought in bas-relief and of precious materials, were fastened upon
the surface of vessels or other pieces of furniture. To the latter
class of productions belonged the cups and plates which Verres
obtained by violence from the Sicilians, and from which he removed
the emblems for the purpose of having them set in gold instead of
silver.
ĒMĔRĬTI, the name given to those Roman soldiers who had served out
their time, and had exemption (_vacatio_) from military service. The
usual time of service was twenty years for the legionary soldiers,
and sixteen for the praetorians. At the end of their period of
service they received a bounty or reward (_emeritum_), either in
lands or money, or in both.
ĒMISSĀRĬUM (ὑπόνομος), a channel, natural or artificial, by which
an outlet is formed to carry off any stagnant body of water. Such
channels may be either open or underground; but the most remarkable
works of the kind are of the latter description, as they carry off
the waters of lakes surrounded by hills. In Greece, the most striking
example is presented by the subterraneous channels which carry off
the waters of the lake Copais in Boeotia, which were partly natural
and partly artificial. Some works of this kind are among the most
remarkable efforts of Roman ingenuity. Remains still exist to show
that the lakes Trasimene, Albano, Nemi, and Fucino, were all drained
by means of _emissaria_, the last of which is still nearly perfect,
and open to inspection, having been partially cleared by the present
king of Naples. Julius Caesar is said to have first conceived the
idea of this stupendous undertaking, which was carried into effect by
the Emperor Claudius.
EMMĒNI DĬKAE (ἔμμηνοι δίκαι), suits in the Athenian courts, which
were not allowed to be pending above a month. This regulation was
confined to those subjects which required a speedy decision; and of
these the most important were disputes respecting commerce (ἐμπορικαὶ
δίκαι). All causes relating to mines (μεταλλικαὶ δίκαι) were also
ἔμμηνοι δίκαι, as well as those relating to ἔρανοι. [ERANI.]
EMPŎRĬUM (τὸ ἐμπόριον), a place for wholesale trade in commodities
carried by sea. The name is sometimes applied to a sea-port town,
but it properly signifies only a particular place in such a town.
The word is derived from ἔμπορος, which signifies in Homer a person
who sails as a passenger in a ship belonging to another person; but
in later writers it signifies the merchant or wholesale dealer, and
differs from κάπηλος, the retail dealer. The emporium at Athens was
under the inspection of certain officers, who were elected annually
(ἐπιμεληταὶ τοῦ ἐμπορίου).