Public Auctions in Ancient Athens

Abstract

Abstract In the glossary that accompanies a recent collection of essays on Athenian law the poletai are defined as ‘a board of public officials whose principal duty was to sell state property by auction’.1 This definition does no more than state a commonly held view, one that I accepted in a recent study of the poletai. As the volume of essays containing this glossary was being published a study by Klaus Hallof also appeared, challenging the belief that poletai sales were conducted by auction.3 Hallo£ claims that what evidence there is points to the exact opposite procedure, sales to preselected individuals. He further believes that the same system of preselection was applied by the poletai in their other major realm of activity, the leasing of mining and tax collecting concessions. Since Hallof’s study appeared after my own was in press, I would like to take this opportunity to examine its merits. It is,

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