The Theorica (), also called the Theoric Fund or Festival Fund, was the name for the fund of monies in ancient Athens expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments of various kinds. The fund was, in certain circumstances, also distributed among the people in the shape of largesses from the state.
History There were, according to Xenophon, more festivals at Athens than in all the rest of Greece.Xenophon, De Rep. Ath. iii. 8 Besides those open to the whole body of the people, there were many confined to the members of each tribe, deme, and house. These last were provided for out of the private funds of the community who celebrated them. At the most important of the public festivals, there were not only sacrifices, but processions, theatrical exhibitions, gymnastic contests, and games, celebrated with great splendor and at a great expense.
Theorika was created or reinstatedSome ancient sources cite Pericles as the founder of the theorika (Plutarch’s Pericles 9.1 and Plato’s Gorgias 515E); Agyrrhios, an Athenian demagogue, is also mentioned as the first to have initiated this public largesse by Aristotle in Athenian Constitution 41.3. See also Buchanan, James Theorika. New York 1962 (p. 29-53). around 350 BCE, after the Social War (357–355 BC),Justin (6.9.1) dates the establishment of the theorika sometime at the end or after the battle of Mantinea in 362 BCE. by the Athenian statesman Eubulus, an administrator to the theorikon treasury sometime after 354/3 until Cephisophon of Aphidna replaced him in 343/2, and Diophantus. The Social War had plunged Athens into serious military and financial difficulties, thus creating an incentive to help the Athenian people by means of largesse. It was established to provide enough money for poorer Athenian citizens to be able to purchase tickets for yearly festivals of public worship and theatrical productions, such as the Dionysia, Panathenaea, Eleusinia and Thargelia. A portion of the expense of these festivals was paid by individuals as liturgies. For example, each City Dionysia, the eponymous archon selected a citizen to be a choregos for either one comedy or three tragedies together with a satyr-play. These choregoi were expected to pay for the entire cost of the training and performance of the play(s). In 410, a choregos for tragedy spent 3000 drachmas on the set of plays allocated to them, in a time when 1 drachma was the daily wage of a skilled worker in Athens. The rest of the financial burden was met by the public treasury. The religious embassies to Delos and other places, and especially those to the Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Pythian Games, drew largely upon public funds, though a part of the cost fell upon the wealthier citizens who conducted them.Georg Friedrich Schömann, Antiquitates juris publici Graecorum p. 305
The amount of money contributed to this treasury varied between “15 talents or less and not much under 100 talents”.Rhodes, P. J. The Athenian Boule. Oxford 1972: p. 106. In an epitome (Dem. 1 hyp. 5) of Demosthenes’ First Olynthiac, a scholar named LibaniusLibanius’ explanation is accepted by some, but the information he provides is often questioned. Edward M. Harris raises sound arguments for doubt in his book Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens (New York 2006): “The road to historical error is often paved with good intentions. Certainly no one had better intentions than the scholar Libanius…” (p. 121). explains that in Athens there were no stone seats (only wooden benches) at the Theatre of Dionysus, and also originally no charge for admissions into the festival. Due to the lack of seating available, fights would break out as everyone rushed to find a bench; the leaders of the community decided to charge an admissions fee of two obols to prevent further violence. The fee was paid to the lessee of the theater (called , , or ) who undertook to keep it in good repair, and constantly ready for use, on condition of being allowed to receive the profits.Georg Friedrich Schömann, Id. p. 219 But because poorer citizens could not afford to pay for admittance, Athens established a fund that covered the costs of their tickets. Each citizen was allotted one drachma to cover the ticket cost of two obols (διωβελία) on each day of the three-day Dionysia. The payments would differ depending on the fluctuations of the state treasury and how many days the festivals lasted.
This payment continued to be exacted after the stone theater was built. Pericles, to relieve the poorer classes, passed a law that 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 theater.
In time this donation was extended to other entertainments besides theatrical ones: the sum of two obols being given to each citizen who attended; if the festival lasted two days, four obols; and if three, six obols; but not beyond that. Hence all theoric largesses received the name of diobelia (). The sums thus given varied at different times, and of course depended on the state of the public treasury. These distributions of money, like those of grain and flour, were called dianomai (), or diadoseis (). They were often made at the Dionysia, when the allies were present, and saw the surplus of their tribute distributed from the orchestra. The appetite of the people for largesses grew by encouragement, stimulated from time to time by designing demagogues; and in the time of Demosthenes they seem not to have been confined to the poorer classes.Demosthenes, Philip. iv. 141 The German classical scholar August Böckh calculated that from 25 to 30 talents were spent upon them annually.August Böckh, The Public Economy of Athens p. 224, 2d ed.
The Theoric Board In the earlier times no person or group was expressly appointed to manage the Theoric fund. The money thus appropriated was disbursed by the Hellenotamiai. After the anarchy, the largess system having been restored by Agyrrhius, a board of managers was appointed, possibly consisting of ten men, who were called by many names (including , or , ). They were elected by show of hands at the period of the great Dionysia, one from each tribe, and served four-year terms. In the time of Eubulus many other branches of the administration were placed under the control of this board, such as the management of the civil expenditure, the office of the Apodektai, and the building of docks, arsenals, and streets. This was dictated by an anxiety on the part of the people that no part of the revenue should be improperly diverted from the Theoric fund, which they thought would be prevented by increasing the powers of its managers. But these extraordinary powers appear not to have been of long continuance.Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 57, ed. Steph.August Böckh, p. 170, &c.Georg Friedrich Schömann, Id. 320Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alt. vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 124—127, 1st ed
As public revenue greatly increased in the Athenian state, so too did the Theoric administration; according to Demosthenes there was an increase to as much as 400 talents a year from a previous amount of 130 talents (Phil. iv 37–8). As a result of this growth the Theoric Board began to extend itself into a powerful position over other public works, activities and boards that were supervised by the βουλή (Council of Five Hundred). The boule had previously controlled the state revenue and the expenditures, as well as the appropriations of monies to the magistrates, with the help of the different boards: the poletai (Auctions Board) and the apodektai (Board of Receivers). ; see also Arist. Ath. Const. 47.2-48.1. When the Theoric administration rose in power and worked together with the boule, it put the administration in a position where “it must have had a fair chance of securing for itself the lion’s share of the appropriations and possibly supplementing this share by a surplus”.Hansen, M. H. “The Theoric Fund and the graphe paranomon against Apollodorus” GBS XVII (1976): p. 242. The powerful position also enabled its board members to acquire confidential knowledge, information once only shared among those in the boule, on the activities of other departments.Rhodes, P. J. “Athenian Democracy After 403 BC” CJ 75.4 (April–May,1980): p. 313. This weakened the monopoly of the boule and, as a result, the Theoric officials were able to gain supreme financial insight and replace the boule as the main resource of finances.Rhodes Ath. Boule p. 107. Men seeking popularity in Athens recognized this growth of power and influence as a source of great opportunity, and eventually the Theoric Board eclipsed and absorbed all other financial offices. Utilizing this power, the Theoric Board proceeded to oversee the leasing of mines, the financing of expensive public works, such as roads and buildings, and money for the Athenian navy. Aeschines scornfully describes this new monopoly of power in his speech Against Ctesiphon:
Demosthenes, Philip II, and the Stratiotika Before the theorika was established, the Stratiotika (τὰ στρατιωτικά), or Military (Stratiotic) Fund, received any remaining surplus revenue if Athens was at war; this provided financing for military expenditures. But immediately after the Social War, all surplus revenue was allotted to the theorika until Demosthenes fought to have it redirected back to the stratiotika in 339/8. Demosthenes was a strong proponent in the fight against the rising power of Philip II of Macedon and believed that all surplus monies should be used for military campaigns rather than for domestic public works; Eubulus, on the other hand, was very much against expensive foreign expeditions. After the Social War Eubulus and his followers, the “peace party”, believed that the Athenian αρχή was no more, so they used the theorika to “restrain the demos from rash imperialistic adventures” and to convince the people that peace was beneficial. The theorika had become, in a sense, a psychological tool for this political party to repress the war mentality by exploiting the selfishness of the Athenians. It was also a “crucial factor in the process of shaping and distorting perceptions”, which might explain the denial of Philip as an immediate threat, and also why the Athenians were more thorough in their organizations of festivals than with their own military (Dem. Phil. i 35–6). In the First Olynthiac, delivered in 349 BCE, Demosthenes complains that Athens has the means to fight Philip but would rather use its money for pleasure: