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The essay examines the role of the poristai, a financial magistracy that functioned in Athens between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, and to which scholars have devoted scarce attention. The importance that Athens ascribed to the poroi was a central factor in its politics from as early as the 5th century. Management of the Athenian economy underwent a series of substantial changes from the end of the Peloponnesian War onwards, and since the state required increasingly specialized financial management skills, these authorities seem to have played a prominent role. The difficult economic situation that ensued from the Sicilian defeat of 413 had necessitated the creation of this unusual board of magistrates known as the poristai, whose unusual task was most likely that of administering public funds and state revenues. This essay focuses on references to the board in ancient sources, and on the often ‘technical’ use of the verb porizo, in order to shed light on the functions and identity of some of these magistrates, and on the possibility that this initially anomalous office gradually gained a permanent status during the 4th century.

Il volume, a cura di Alberto Barzanò, Cinzia Bearzot e Elisa Chiocchetti, raccoglie gli atti della Summer School del 2022 dedicata al tema “Crisi e resilienza” e contiene saggi di Elisa Chiocchetti, Estelle Cronnier, Antonio Cuciniello, Paolo De Giovanni, Roberta Ferro, Elisabetta Filippini, Laura Giovanelli, Alberto Luongo, Romina Marchisio, Tommaso Mauri, Mauro Pavesi, Carlo Perelli, Jeffrey Pufahl, Milena Raimondi, Marta Reichlin, Luca Richeldi, Franco Riva, Marco Rochini, Elena Ruzzier, Renato Sansa, Flavia Usai, Angelica Verduci, Cinzia Vicini, Luigi Weber.

The role of the economy in Athenian politics has been prominent since the second half of the fifth century BC. The consideration of the political and financial crises that affected Athens has made it possible to detect significant changes in the management of financial resources between the fifth and fourth centuries. We will try to demonstrate how, often, a state of emergency has led to change, even in the long term, transforming initially extraordinary institutions into indispensable means for maintaining the management of the economy. The establishment of extraordinary magistracies, the specialization of public offices, the complexity reached by the Athenian financial system are a non-negligible index.

This paper intends to provide new evidence to support the thesis which recognises a primary interest in the topicality of Athens in Aristophanes’ last comic production. It therefore focuses on the case of Ecclesiazusae and on the rhetoric of soteria. Starting from 411 BCE, the slogan of soteria tes poleos became recurrent in Athenian political language: the opposing factions tried to lay claim to the theme of salvation, ascribing the ability to overcome the emergency to their political manifesto. This opposition is evident in Ecclesiazusae, where Aristophanes does not simply recall traumatic events but uses the case of soteria in a continuous dialogue between Athens’ past and the present. The numerous occurrences of the concept do not seem fortuitous in 392/391, during a new war between Athens and Sparta. The aim of this paper is to prove that the references to the Athenian past, to the institutional irregularities and the recovery of the theme of soteria, represented the denunciation of oligarchic manipulation to undermine democratic institutions from within, and also the demagogic action of popular leaders. They even used the slogan of salvation to impose their political vision: in conclusion, this was the real emergency from which the polis had to be saved.