LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Academy · Antiquities

Apodectae

ἀποδέκται

Apodectae (ἀποδέκται), the Receivers, were public officers at Athens, who were introduced by Cleisthenes in the place of the ancient Colacretae (κωλακρέται). They were ten in number, one for each tribe, appointed by lot; and they exercised a general control over the other officers of the revenue. Their duty was to receive all the ordinary taxes and distribute them to the separate branches of the administration, which were entitled to them. They accordingly kept lists of persons indebted to the state, made entries of all moneys that were paid in, and erased in the register the items which had been paid. They had the power to decide causes connected with the subjects under their management; though, if the matters in dispute were of importance, they were obliged to bring them for decision into the ordinary courts. (Pollux, 8.97; Etym. M., Harpocrat., Suid., Hesych. sub voce Demosth. c. Timocr. p. 750.162, p. 762.197; Aeschin. c. Ctes. § 25; Aristot. Pol. 6.8.6; Böckh, P. E. p. 159; Schömann, Antiq. p. 417, Grote, ch. 31 (iii. p. 117).) [W.S] [W.W]

(Appendix). They had summary jurisdiction to the value of ten drachmas only: beyond that, εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον εἰσάγοντες ἔμμηνα (Ath. Pol. 52).

From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.