Reconstructing the epigraphic corpus of an Attic deme: problems, methods and possible new attributions for the dossier of Halai Aixonides

Abstract

The task of reconstructing the epigraphic corpus of an Attic deme can have many difficulties, which are different depending on the specific context. The case-study of Halai Aixonides is illustrative. Many documents, in fact, were taken for private and museum collections, and the attempt to trace them back to the original context of the deme is made all the more difficult by the homonymy with Halai Araphenides. In some cases, only by paying attention to the history of the finds and to the movements of the epigraphs, combined with other data, such as prosopographical links, it is possible to ascribe the inscriptions to the deme, in order to reconstruct a complete dossier.