The history of the town of Amos, in the Rhodian Peraia, is known mainly from a few inscriptions, which show that it was situated in fertile farmland. The inscriptions were published with a French translation by A. Bresson, " Recueil des inscriptions de la Pérée rhodienne", pp.74-84 ( Persée ).
These inscriptions, which were discovered in 1948, have recently attracted new interest on the internet.
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[683A] [During the priesthood] of Aristeidas, in the month of Panamos, Sokrates, [son of Sokratidas, son of . . .], of the deme of Amos, Herakleidas, son of Eu..kles, of the deme of Amos, . . . . . . and the community of Amos, leased a field [to] . . . . . ., . . . fifty years . . . two hundred and forty drachmas [per year] . . . Charidamos, son of Thymochares, . . . (?) surety; [the month] of Karneios shall be the start of the lease, [under the priest who] will come [after] Aristeidas; he shall pay the rent [each year] 10 in (?) front of the magistrates to the hieromnamones in office [and to the community of Amos, in] the month of Panamos; [if not], he shall pay in addition [thirty drachmas per] month; if a prohibition of the city occurs, [he shall pay a penalty] in the assembly to the hieromnamones in office [and to the community of Amos within] the prescribed time; if he does not [pay, he shall be permitted] to pay [in the following six] months, adding [one-tenth; if he does not pay, he shall] pay one and a half times the rent [to the hieromnamones and] to the community [of Amos] and he shall depart from the field; the hieromnamones [in office] shall lease the field [in the] assembly during the [following month], with the same terms of the contract 20 [as the (?) previous one] to the highest bidder from among the community of Amos; [if] anyone [does not (?) pay the rent], it shall not be permitted to lease the [field] to him [under (?) any pretext whatsoever] and the hieromnamones shall not lease it [to him]; [if] there is [a deficit], [the person who took the lease previously] shall reimburse the deficit to the hieromnamones and to the community of Amos; [he shall (?) rebuild the buildings, not] less than three in number; [each of them shall be not less than twenty]-five [feet] in length and [twenty feet] in width; . . . he shall provide the roofing . . . [for what] is lacking in the houses . . . [the hieromnamones] in office 30 . . .
. . . [he shall plant, for each mina of rent], vines [and fig trees: forty fig trees, not less] than forty [feet] apart, [digging to a depth of not less than four] feet, [and one thousand vines, digging to a depth of three feet, and leaving] for [sowing an interval of not less than ... feet] . . .
[683B] . . . he shall pay the hieromnamones and [the community of] Amos [three] thousand [silver] drachmas; and the timber [shall (?) remain] in place, [wherever he cuts any] in contravention of what is specified in the contract; he shall not take from [the field] the hay, ..., [straw], chaff, and manure, [and if he does], he shall pay to the hieromnamones and [the community] of Amos two hundred [silver drachmas] for each year in which [he takes] anything; it shall [not be permitted] to bury a dead person [in the leased] field; [if anyone does], he shall pay one hundred silver drachmas to the hieromnamones [and the community of Amos] and remove the dead person from the field; [the lessee shall be permitted] to transfer the field to that citizen of Amos whom he indicates, with the same 10 terms of the contract; if he transfers the field, the [hieromnamones] in office shall draw up a [contract] with the same terms for the remaining period and the transferee shall appoint trustworthy sureties, whose [suitability shall be examined] by the hieromnamones; if the sureties are released, a contract shall be made with the transferee [alone]; a report of the [transfer] shall be added to the stele which is in the [temple(?), adding] the name of the transferee [and those of all his] sureties, if they have not [been released, and the] date 20 of transfer, and the transferee shall pay [for the expense of doing this]; as for the [previous contract] with the [initiator of the transfer], which is in the public record office, if everything is [in order] for the previous period, the hieromnamones [and the initiator of the transfer] shall [revise it in terms which] are agreeable [to both parties, (?) changing what it is necessary to change]; when the [prescribed] limit of the contract is reached, he shall display to the hieromnamones [in office], in the [following] month, the buildings, [not less than three in number, and the additional ones [if there] are more [than three, all in good condition and with their roof intact; if not, he shall pay for each defective] building seven hundred [drachmas 30 to the] hieromnamones [and to the community of Amos; he shall also display] the vines [and fig trees planted as] specified and [still alive, being not less than ten years old; if not, he shall pay for each] defective [plant one (?) hundred drachmas to the] hieromnamones [and to the community of Amos] . . .
[684A] . . . [he shall plant], for each mina [of rent, vines], not less than a thousand in number, in [level ground digging to a depth] of four and a half feet [and leaving for sowing an interval of not] less than six feet, and in rocky ground [digging to a depth] of four feet and leaving an interval for sowing of not less than four [feet], in both level [and] rocky ground digging a ditch of not less than five and a half feet in depth; [he shall also] plant 10 fig trees, not less than forty plants for [each] mina of rent, spaced not less than forty feet apart, digging to a [depth] of not less than three feet; when [he displays] the buildings constructed and roofed as specified, and the vines and fig trees planted [as specified], with the plants [still] alive, to the hieromnamones in office, [the hieromnamones] in office shall erase the names of the sureties from the stele [located in the temple(?)], and shall renew the contract [for the remaining] period, if [everything is] in order for the previous period; [and] when the plants have been planted 20 the remaining period of the contract [shall be not] less than ten [years]; if not, they shall not erase the names of the sureties [and they shall not] renew the contract; the lessee shall not encroach on the roads leading down to Daphnai, Methasai and Pisthmoi; if he does encroach, he shall pay to the hieromnamones and to the community of Amos three thousand drachmas of silver and it shall be permitted for the deme to make the ground level again; if the lessee(?) is a neighbour of other land, he shall not encroach . . . he shall [not] (?) extend his land . . .
[684B] . . . sureties [on the same terms, if they have not been released, and the date] of transfer; the initiator of the transfer [shall pay for the expense of this]; as for the [previous contract] with the initiator of the transfer, which is in the public record office, [if everything is in order] for the previous period, the hieromnamones and the initiator of the transfer shall [revise] the contract [on terms agreeable to both parties, (?) changing] what needs to be changed; when the [prescribed] limit of the contract is reached, he shall [display] to the hieromnamones in charge in [the following] month, the buildings, not less than three in number, [and if there are more], 10 the additional ones, all in good condition and with their roofs intact; [if not, he shall pay] seven hundred silver [drachmas] for each defective building to the hieromnamones and the community of Amos; [he shall also] display the vines [and] fig trees planted [as] specified and still alive, being not less than ten years old; [if not, he shall pay] for each defective plant [one hundred?] silver [drachmas] to the hieromnamones and to the community of Amos; he shall also display [all the stakes] on which the vines have been trained . . . . . . [if not], he shall pay five hundred silver drachmas [to the hieromnamones and] to the community of Amos; when he has displayed everything as 20 [specified], he shall depart from the field, leaving all that he has displayed in the field; [if] he does not pay [any] of the specified fines that he owes [within the following] six months, he shall pay twenty thousand silver drachmas to the hieromnamones and [to the community] of Amos, and he shall depart from the field; [exaction] of the rents [and] of all the penalties shall be made both from him and from his sureties; if the people of Amos reduce [the fines or fail to exact] everything as specified, [they shall pay] twenty thousand [silver] drachmas [to the city].
...leitos son of Thymochares.
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