This text is mutilated at the beginning, yet the surviving portion on the stone allows us to grasp the general tenor of the law. Thasos—renowned for its substantial wine production (Hermipp. fr. 82 K–A; Philyll. fr. 23; Aristoph. Lys. 195–198; Eccl. 1118–1119; Plut. 1018–1021; frr. 334, 364)—was in all likelihood regulating in this measure the sale of wine (and vinegar), imposing upon offenders a penalty consisting of the deprivation (seizure? confiscation?) of the wine and vinegar in question, together with the payment of one hekte (a sixth of a stater? a liquid measure?) per amphora to be offered to Athena Poliouchos and Apollo Pythios, and another hekte to be given to the person who had denounced the offender.
Of particular interest is that, in its closing lines, the law stipulates that no one—neither citizen nor foreigner—could escape the penalty by recourse to the horkos neidies, a solemn oath of ignorance by which the accused might exonerate himself, presumably on the grounds of being unaware of the law itself (cf. Gofas 1971). In this respect, it is worth noting that the prohibition of such an oath applied to both citizens and xenoi (there is a lacuna in line 9, but the most probable restoration is astos, the term most commonly opposed to xenos: cf. e.g. Pi. Ol. 7.89–91; Thuc. 2.36.4; Soph. Trach. 187). The present text thus offers a vivid example of the close nexus between citizenship and civic institutions, already in evidence in the late Archaic or early Classical period. We see the citizen here as the addressee of a law, placed within a judicial framework and clearly distinguished in legal terms from xenoi. The fact that foreigners too were subject to the law and to the prohibition on invoking an oath of ignorance does not, of course, imply full legal parity between citizens and non-citizens, since the judicial systems of many poleis provided for such an oath also in the case of foreigners, though typically within procedures distinct and separate from those applicable to citizens. Moreover, the very opposition between astoi and xenoi presupposes a sharp legal demarcation between citizens and non-citizens in the eyes of the law and of the institutions.
[------------------------------]Λ[--------------------------]
[----------------------]Τ̣ΟΜ[ c. 10 ] ΜΗ [- - - ]
]----------]ον ποιέτω· ὅ τι ἄν τις τούτω[ν ποιῆι παρὰ τὰ]
[γεγραμμέν]α τõ οἴνο καὶ τõ ὀχσέος στερέσ̣[θω ὑπὸ τõ]
5 [κατειπ]όντος· καὶ ἕκτην κατ᾿ ἀμφορέα ἕκα[στον ὀφελ]-
[έτω τῆι Ἀθ]ηναίηι τῆι Πολιόχωι καὶ τῶι Ἀπόλλω̣[νι τῶι Πυθί]-
[ωι κ]αὶ τῶι κατειπόντι ἑτέρην· ἀπενγυάτω ὁ [κατειπὼν]
[ἀπενγύην] παρὰ Τριηκοσιοίσιν κατάπερ τῶμ βιαίωμ· [π]-
[ε]ρὶ τõ οἴνο νηϊδίης οὐκ ἔστιν ὅρκος οὔτ[ε ἀστῶι οὔ]-
10 τε χσένωι.
9-10. οὔτ[ε πολίτηι οὔ]|τε Pouilloux : οὔτ[ε Θασίωι οὔ]|τε Bingen.
[— — —] Let him do so. Should anyone act in contravention of these provisions, let him be deprived of the wine and the vinegar by the person who lays the charge. He shall also pay one hekte per amphora as an offering to Athena Poliouchos and to Apollo Pythios, and another hekte to the person who laid the charge. The accuser shall deposit a surety with the Council of the Three Hundred, as in cases of violence. With regard to wine, recourse to the oath of ignorance (horkos neidies) shall not be permitted, either for a citizen (astos) or for a foreigner (xenos).
- H. Duchêne, La stéle du port. Fouilles du port 1: Recherches sur une nouvelle inscription thasienne. Études thasiennes XIV, Athènes 1992
- D. Gofas, L’Ὅρκος νηϊδίης à Thasos, BCH 95, 1971, 245-257
- R. Koerner, Inschriftliche Gesetzestexte der frühen griechiscen Polis, Köln 1993
- R. Osborne, P. J. Rhodes, Greek Historical Inscriptions 478-404 BC, Oxford 2017
- J. Pouilloux, Recherches sur l’histoire et les cultes de Thasos, vol. 1, Paris 1954
- M. Valente, La legge di Taso sul vino e l’aceto, AXON 2.2, 2018, <https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/axon/2018/2/la-legge-di-taso-sul-vino-e-laceto/> (18/05/2023)
- H. van Effenterre, F. Ruzé, Nomima. Recueil d’inscriptions politiques et juridiques de l’archaïsme grec, vol. 2, Rome 1995