THĔŌRĬCA (θεωρικά). Under this name at Athens were comprised the
monies expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments
of various kinds; and also monies distributed among the people in
the shape of largesses from the state. There were, according to
Xenophon, more festivals at Athens than in all the rest of Greece.
At the most important of the public festivals, such as the Dionysia,
Panathenaea, Eleusinia, Thargelia, and some others, there were not
only sacrifices, but processions, theatrical exhibitions, gymnastic
contests, and games, celebrated with great splendour and at a great
expense. A portion of the expense was defrayed by the individuals
upon whom the burden of the liturgies devolved; but a considerable,
and perhaps the larger, part was defrayed by the public treasury.
Demosthenes complains, that more money was spent on a single
Panathenaic or Dionysiac festival than on any military expedition.
The religious embassies to Delos and other places, and especially
those to the Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Pythian games, drew
largely upon the public exchequer, though a part of the cost fell
upon the wealthier citizens who conducted them. The largesses
distributed among the people had their origin at an early period,
and in a measure apparently harmless, though from a small beginning
they afterwards rose to a height most injurious to the commonwealth.
The Attic drama used to be performed in a wooden theatre, and the
entrance was free to all citizens who chose to go. It was found,
however, that the crushing to get in led to much confusion and even
danger. On one occasion, about B.C. 500, the wooden scaffolding of
the theatre fell down, and caused great alarm. It was then determined
that the entrance should no longer be gratuitous. The fee for a place
was fixed at two obols, which was paid to the lessee of the theatre,
(called θεατρώνης, θεατροπώλης, or ἀρχιτέκτων), who undertook to
keep it in repair, and constantly ready for use, on condition of
being allowed to receive the profits. This payment continued to be
exacted after the stone theatre was built. Pericles, to relieve the
poorer classes, passed a law which enabled them to receive the price
of admission from the state; after which all those citizens who were
too poor to pay for their places applied for the money in the public
assembly, which was then frequently held in the theatre. In process
of time this donation was extended to other entertainments besides
theatrical ones; the sum of two oboli being given to each citizen who
attended; if the festival lasted two days, four oboli; and if three,
six oboli; but not beyond. Hence all theoric largesses received the
name of _diobelia_ (διωβελία). It is calculated that from 25 to 30
talents were spent upon them annually. So large an expenditure of the
public funds upon shows and amusements absorbed the resources, which
were demanded for services of a more important nature. By the ancient
law, the whole surplus of the annual revenue which remained after
the expense of the civil administration (τὰ περίοντα χρήματα τῆς
διοικήσεως) was to be carried to the military fund, and applied to
the defence of the commonwealth. Since the time of Pericles various
demagogues had sprung up, who induced the people to divert all that
could be spared from the other branches of civil expenditure into the
theoric fund, which at length swallowed up the whole surplus, and the
supplies needed for the purpose of war or defence were left to depend
upon the extraordinary contributions, or property-tax (εἰσφοραί). An
attempt was made by the demagogue Eubulus to perpetuate this system.
He passed a law, which made it a capital offence to propose that
the theoric fund should be applied to military service. The law of
Eubulus was a source of great embarrassment to Demosthenes, in the
prosecution of his schemes for the national defence; and he seems at
last, but not before B.C. 339, to have succeeded in repealing it. In
the earlier times there was no person, or board of persons, expressly
appointed to manage the theoric fund. The money thus appropriated
was disbursed by the Hellenotamiae. After the anarchy, the largess
system having been restored by Agyrrhius, a board of managers was
appointed. They were elected by show of hands at the period of the
great Dionysia, one from each tribe.
THĔŌRI (θεωροί), persons sent on special missions (θεωρίαι) to
perform some religious duty, as to consult an oracle, or to offer
a sacrifice, on behalf of the state. There were among some of the
Dorian states, as the Aeginetans, Troezenians, Messenians, and
Mantineans, official priests called _Theori_, whose duty it was to
consult oracles, interpret the responses, &c., as among the Spartans
there were men called _Pythii_, chosen by the kings to consult
the oracle at Delphi. At Athens there were no official persons
called _Theori_, but the name was given to those citizens who were
appointed from time to time to conduct religious embassies to various
places; of which the most important were those that were sent to the
Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games, those that went to
consult the God at Delphi, and those that led the solemn procession
to Delos, where the Athenians established a quadriennial festival, in
revival of the ancient Ionian one, of which Homer speaks. The expense
of these embassies was defrayed partly by the state, and partly by
wealthy citizens, to whom the management of them was entrusted,
called _Architheori_ (ἀρχιθέωροι), chiefs of the embassy. This was
a sort of liturgy, and frequently a very costly one; as the chief
conductor represented the state, and was expected to appear with a
suitable degree of splendour; for instance, to wear a golden crown,
to drive into the city with a handsome chariot, retinue, &c. The
Salaminian, or Delian, ship was also called θεωρὶς ναῦς, and was
principally used for conveying embassies to Delos, though, like the
Paralus, it was employed on other expeditions besides.