Thick stele or post inscribed on three sides (A-C). Face C (see below) was so designated before being recognised as the front side, with which the whole document opens. Variously referred to as sacrificial calendar, lex, or deme decree, the inscription defines the ways in which the deme Skambonidai contributed to a series of Athenian sacrifices and religious festivals, and includes specifics regarding the distribution of the portions of meat resulting from the sacrifices. Lines 7–9 mention metics as recipients of sacrificial apportionments ([καὶ] [τ]ὸς μετοίκ̣[ος λαχε̑ν]). The regulation would appear to be aimed at creating equity through the practice of allocation by drawing lots; nevertheless, one can discern a hierarchy in the distribution system. While it is explicitly stated that each member of the deme Skambonidai was entitled to a portion of meat drawn by lot (l. 5–7: λε͂χ[σιν τν?][ὀ]βολο͂ν: hε[κάστοι][Σ]καμβονι[δο͂ν), it is not clear whether metics had the right to an allocation each or if they received a collective share.
This inscription provides the earliest epigraphic attestation of the existence at Athens of the status of metic. The term metoikos usually identifies the resident foreigner; however, it cannot be completely ruled out that at this chronological level this meaning of the term had not yet been established and that at the time these regulations were inscribed Athenian citizens who were members of other demes but resident in Skambonidai were referred to as metics.
A particularly high proportion of metics resided in central Athens and Piraeus. Thus, metics may have constituted a significant part of the population of the city deme Skambonidai. For instance, the Erechtheion building accounts for 408/7 BCE list as many as four metics resident in Skambonidai among those employed in the construction works (IG I3 476). Other metics mentioned here include residents of Agryle, Alopeke, Kollytos, and Melite, which are all demes situated within or in the immediate vicinity of the city centre.
Lato C
[θ]έ̣[σ]μια⋮ Σ̣[καμβονι]-
[δ]ο͂ν: τὸν δέ[μαρχον]
[κ]αὶ τὸς⋮ hι[εροποι]-
[ὸ]ς⋮ το͂ι Λεο͂[ι δρᾶν τ]-
5 [έ]λεον⋮ λε͂χ[σιν το͂ ν ?]
[ὀ]βολο͂ν: hε[κάστοι]
[Σ]καμβονι[δο͂ν καὶ]
[τ]ὸς μετοίκ̣[ος λαχ]-
ε̣͂ν: ἐν ἀγορᾶ[ι τε͂ι Σ]-
10 [κ]αμβονιδο͂[ν: . . . .]
[.]οισι̣: δρᾶν [τέλεο]-
[ν]: νέμεν δὲ: ε[. . . 5 . .]
[.]α̣[.]τα: το͂ι: σ[. . . 5 . .]
[.]ο[. .]ειον: κα[. . . .]
15 [. . .]οντα: ἐπι[. . . .]
[. .]εν: Χσυνοι[κίοι]-
[ς]: ἐ[μ] πόλει: τέ[λεον]
[τ]ὰ [δ]ὲ κρ̣έα: ἀπο̣[δόσ]-
θαι: ὀμά: Ἐπιζε[φύρ]-
20 [ο]ισι: ἐμ Πυθίο [τέλ]-
[ε?]ον: τὰ ⟨δ⟩ὲ κρέα [ἀπο]-
[δ]όσθαι: ὀμά: | [. . . .]
[.]οι[ς] κ̣ατὰ τ[αὐτά?]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ordinances / established rites / ritual norms of Skambonidai. The demarch and the religious officials shall sacrifice a full-grown victim to Leos; allocation by lot of the (meat from the) spits to each of the members of the deme Skambonidai, and the metics shall also receive a share by lot, in the agora of Skambonidai; […] they shall sacrifice [a full-grown victim ?] and distribute […]; at the Synoikia on the Acropolis a full-grown victim; they shall sell the meat raw; at the Epizephyria in the Pythion a [full-grown victim ?]; they shall sell the meat raw; at the […] in the same way […]
- J.-M. Carbon, S. Peels, V. Pirenne-Delforge, A Collection of Greek Ritual Norms (CGRN), Liège 2016-, no. 19
- S.D. Lambert (ed.), Attic Inscriptions in UK Collections. Vol. 4.1. British Museum. Cult Provisions, 2019, no. 3
- F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrées des cités grecques, Paris 1969, no. 10
- S.M. Wijma, Embracing the Immigrant: The Participation of Metics in Athenian Polis Religion (5th-4th c. B.C.), Stuttgart 2014, 104–109