The State Archive of Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.

This dissertation focuses on a series of questions related to the Metroon in its use as the Athenian state archive. From the middle of the fourth century B.C., literary and epigraphical sources indicate that the Metroon, the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods, served ancient Athens as its official state archive. In this building were deposited a wide variety of official documents relevant to the administration of classical Athenian democracy. Working from a close and systematic analysis of ancient sources, separate chapters examine such issues as the types of documents regularly deposited in the Metroon, the systems of arrangement employed for organization of these documents, and the personnel responsible for their administration. Other chapters consider the relationship between archival documents and their copies on stone, and the rationale that lay behind the choice of the Metroon as an archive. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the role that the Metroon played in fourth century Athenian society, and how its documents were used by Athenian citizens, litigants, and ancient scholars.