Theoricon

Theoricon


(τὸ θεωρικόν, sc. χρῆμα, “theatremoney”). Money devoted by the State to the public shows and festivals, or given to the people as legacies. A distribution of two obols a head, granted from the time of Pericles to the poorer Athenian citizens, from the common war-chest (see Hellenotamiae), enabled them to attend the representations at the theatre, two obols being the entrance fee levied by the lessees of the theatre. By degrees this grant was distributed to citizens who laid claim to it in the case of other entertainments, such as festivals and sacrifices. For the contests and games at the Panathenaea, Dionysia, Eleusinia, Thargelia, money was set apart by the State, while some of the expense was borne by individuals. (See Liturgia.) The public treasury also defrayed a portion of the cost of the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games. It was abolished towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, but again introduced after the restoration of the democracy; and a special fund, to which, by a decree of the people, the whole surplus of the revenue was to be devoted, was set apart for this purpose, with a special treasurer, who had even for a time the management of the finances of the State. Demosthenes first succeeded, shortly before the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), in putting an end to this system, which so severely taxed the resources of the State in time of war.

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