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NAUCRARY
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NAUCRARY , a subdivision of the See also:people of See also:Attica, which was certainly among the most See also:primitive in the Athenian See also:state. The word is derived either (I) from vans (a See also:ship) and describes the See also:duty imposed upon each naucrary, of providing one ship and two (or, more probably, ten) horsemen; or (2) from valets (to dwell), in which See also:case it has to do with a householder See also:census. The former is generally accepted in view of the fact that the naucraries were certainly the See also:units on which the Athenian See also:fleet was based. The view once held (on the strength of a fragment of See also:Aristotle, quoted carelessly by See also:Photius) that the naucrary was invented by See also:Solon may now be regarded as obsolete (see the Aristotelian Constitution, viii. 3). Each of the four Ionian tribes was divided into three trittyes (" thirds "), each of which was subdivided into four naucraries; there were thus 48 naucraries. The earliest mention of them is in See also:Herodotus (v. 7r), where it is stated that the Cylonian See also:conspiracy was put down by the " Prytaneis (See also:chief men) of the Naucraries." Although it is generally recognized that in this passage we can trace an See also:attempt to shift the responsibility for the See also:murder of the suppliants from the See also:archon Megacles, it is highly improbable that the Prytaneis of the Naucraries did not See also:play a See also:part in the tragedy. See also:Thucydides is probably right, as against Herodotus, in asserting that the nine archons formed the Athenian executive at this See also:period. It may be conjectured, however, that the military forces of See also:Athens were organized on the basis of the naucraries, and that it was the duty of the presidents of these districts to raise the See also:local levies. It is certainly remarkable that the Aristotelian Constitution of Athens does not connect the naucrary with the fleet or the See also:army; from See also:chapter viii. it would appear that its importance was chiefly in connexion with See also:finance (&pxi) rera',',AV7i 7rpnS re Tp5 EIOYaopaS Kai r&S 8a7r&vas). The naucrary consisted of a number of villages, and was, therefore, a local unit very much in the See also:power of the naucraros, who was selected by See also:reason of See also:wealth. The naucraros superintended the construction of, and afterwards captained, the ship, and also assessed and administered the taxes in his own See also:area. In the reforms of See also:Cleisthenes, the naucraries gave See also:place to the demes as the See also:political unit. In accordance with the new decimal See also:system, their number was- increased to fifty. Whether they continued (and if so, how See also:long) to See also:supply one ship and two 1 (or ten) horsemen each is not certainly known. Cheidemus in Photius asserts that they did, and his statement is to a certain extent corroborated by Herodotus (vi. 89) who records that, in the Aeginetan See also:War before the See also:Persian Invasion, the Athenian fleet numbered only fifty See also:sail. See Photius (s.v.), who is clearly using the Atli. Pol. (he quotes from it the last part of his See also:article totidem verbis) ; See also:Schumann, Antiq. (p. 326, Eng. trans.)—quoted by J. E. See also:Sandys (See also:Ath. Pol.. viii., 13)—refutes See also: 175), where Wecklein is refuted. (J. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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