Rejecting the Naval Interpretation of the Naukraroi in Archaic Athens: the Case for Local Sacred Administrators

Abstract One of the oldest attested institutions in archaic Athens was the naukraria —a unit of some sort that was led by the so-called naukraroi . These leaders, according to Herodotos, played a crucial role in ending Kylon’s coup around 630 BC . However, their exact competencies remain hotly contested. In this longstanding debate, one side argues, primarily based on etymological arguments and cherry-picked sources, that the naukraroi were responsible for the provision of ships to the polis , and may have even provided horses and served as military officers. According to this side, the naukrariai themselves were the regions where taxes were raised to pay for these military activities. As such, the naukraroi had naval, military and regional administrative responsibilities at once. The other side of this debate argues that the naukraroi were just local administrators, as the nearest contemporary evidence suggests, and that the naukrariai were regional subdivisions of some sort. As local administrators, the naukraroi collected taxes and maintained local public property, possibly including religious sanctuaries. This debate is crucial for our understanding of the development of archaic Athenian public institutions and institutionalization of the armed forces. My paper aims to adjudicate it by systematically reviewing the ancient testimonia for the Athenian naukraroi and naukrariai .