Public Registers of Land Sales in Ancient Greece

Abstract

This paper examines inscriptions that record land sales, aiming to find out whether and how they can teach us the extent to which the polis intervened in private transactions or even instigated them, and under what circumstances. Studying inscribed records of real estate transactions and the evidence they provide of state intervention may contribute to our knowledge of the developing practices of recording and publishing contracts as well as to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ definition of ‘public’ and ‘private’.