Συνωνή

buying-up, coemptio, compulsory purchase, requisition

Translated by Oliver Phillips ✝27 Nov 2002Vetting: high9 revisions

3 notes · 140 words

Under Justinian¹ the production of grain was scanty and the import of grain arrived insufficient to meet the need. He², at a loss what to do in the present circumstances, was minded to attempt to raise a great quantity of grain from farms in Bithynia and Phrygia and Thrace. It was necessary for those living there to bring the cargoes to the sea with great labor and to transport them into Byzantium with risk and to bring away payments from him [sc. Petros], to be sure short in their reckoning, and for the loss to them to rise to such an amount that they rejoiced if someone allowed them to make a present of the grain to the public at home, and to pay an additional price for it. This is the burden which they were accustomed to call 'buying-up.'³

Greek original · Adler’s text

Συνωνή. ὅτι ἐπὶ Ἰουστινιανοῦ ἡ τοῦ σίτου φορὰ ἐσπάνιζε, καὶ ἐνδεεστέρως ἢ κατὰ τὴν χρείαν ὁ σιταγωγὸς στόλος ἀφίκετο. ἀπορούμενος δὲ τοῖς παροῦσιν, ἔν τε Βιθυνίᾳ καὶ Φρυγίᾳ καὶ Θρᾴκῃ χωρίων πειρᾶσθαι μέγα τι χρῆμα σίτου ἠξίου. ἦν τε ἀναγκαῖον τοῖς ταύτῃ οἰκοῦσι μέχρι μὲν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν πόνῳ πολλῷ τὰ φορτία φέρειν, ἐς Βυζάντιον δὲ ξὺν κινδύνῳ ταῦτα ἐσκομίζεσθαι καὶ βραχέα μὲν τιμήματα δῆθεν τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς αὐτοῦ φέρεσθαι, τὴν ζημίαν δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐς τοσόνδε μεγέθους καθίστασθαι, ὥστε ἀγαπᾶν, ἤν τις αὐτοὺς ἐῴη τόν τε σῖτον οἴκῳ δημοσίῳ χαρίζεσθαι, καὶ τίμημα ἕτερον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ κατατιθέναι. τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἄχθος, ὅπερ συνωνὴν καλεῖν νενομίκασι.

Betacode

*sunwnh/. o(/ti e)pi\ *)ioustinianou= h( tou= si/tou fora\ e)spa/nize, kai\ e)ndeeste/rws h)\ kata\ th\n xrei/an o( sitagwgo\s sto/los a)fi/keto. a)porou/menos de\ toi=s parou=sin, e)/n te *biquni/a| kai\ *frugi/a| kai\ *qra/|kh| xwri/wn peira=sqai me/ga ti xrh=ma si/tou h)ci/ou. h)=n te a)nagkai=on toi=s tau/th| oi)kou=si me/xri me\n ei)s th\n qa/lassan po/nw| pollw=| ta\ forti/a fe/rein, e)s *buza/ntion de\ cu\n kindu/nw| tau=ta e)skomi/zesqai kai\ braxe/a me\n timh/mata dh=qen tw=| lo/gw| pro\s au)tou= fe/resqai, th\n zhmi/an de\ au)toi=s e)s toso/nde mege/qous kaqi/stasqai, w(/ste a)gapa=n, h)/n tis au)tou\s e)w/|h to/n te si=ton oi)/kw| dhmosi/w| xari/zesqai, kai\ ti/mhma e(/teron u(pe\r au)tou= katatiqe/nai. tou=to/ e)sti to\ a)/xqos, o(/per sunwnh\n kalei=n nenomi/kasi.

Notes (3)

The entry is taken almost verbatim from Procopius’ Anecdota (a.k.a. Secret History) 22.17-19. See also 23.11-14 (and Agathias, Histories 4.22). The end of the present passage, expanded at 23.13-14, supplies a gloss for the initially unglossed headword.
1Eastern Roman Emperor, reigned 527-565 CE. See iota 446, OCD4 s.v., and web address 1 below. ↩
2Not Justinian, but a minister named Petros Barsymes (pi 1409). ↩
3Dewing (see bibliography below) in his note on this passage defined the term as 'purchase by the government at a price which made the process practically confiscation.' For the headword and its cognates in general see LSJ s.v. ↩

References

Procopius, Anecdota, ed. and tr., H.B. Dewing, London and Cambridge, MA, 1935.

External resources

Web address 1 roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu

Linked from1 entry

σ502ΣῖτοςgrainAny cereal produce, not only wheat; and even provisions. Thucydides in [book] 4 [says]: "since the ships had no mooring, some took their food by turns on the land, the others anchored on the high sea." Look in [the…

Neighbouring entries

σ1612Συνωμοσίαconspiracy, oath-league σ1613Συνωμότηςco-conspirator, fellow-conspirator σ1614Συνωνήbuying-up, coemptio, compulsory purchase, requisition σ1615Συνώνυμοςsynonymous σ1616Συνωριγνώμενοιjoining in grasping at

Revision history9 revisions · last 25 May 2022

25 May 2022cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
11 Jul 2015coding — Catharine Roth
9 Aug 2014Revised — David Whitehead
5 Jan 2014Revised — David Whitehead
6 Dec 2013tweaked note — Catharine Roth
23 Aug 2011more headwords; expanded primary note; more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
21 Nov 2005more keywords — David Whitehead
29 Jun 2004x-ref — David Whitehead
28 Nov 2002added keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
27 Nov 2002Translated — Oliver Phillips ✝

Translation