RATIONES RERUM 21: Articolo Lavinio Del Monaco

Descrizione

Rationes Rerum 21

LAVINIO DEL MONACO
Prestiti tra privati in età arcaica: il caso di Corcira

Eight inscribed leaden plates, found in Corcyra in the Palaiopolis district and datable between the 6th and 5th centuries BC, represent an important dossier for the study of the economic and social history of the archaic age; these are loans between private citizens, but their purpose remains obscure. The certified sums, expressed in extenso or through the acrophonic system, are almost always between 100 and 200 units; the attestation of IG IX, I2 4, 866, ll. 3-4 (ϝεξέϙον|τα καὶ ϝεξακατίας), which is outside the norm, suggests that the unit of account was not the stater, but the drachma, since it evidently implies a feminine plural term. In this way, it is possible to reconstruct the quantities of loans disbursed, which find precise confirmation in the contemporary numismatic documentation. Finally, the units 101 and 201 probably also include the interest (τόκος) due to the repayment of the debt (καταβολαί).