Theorika was created or reinstated[3] around 350 BCE, after the Social War (357–355 BC),[4] by the Athenian statesman Eubulus, an administrator to the theorikon treasury sometime after 354/3 until Cephisophon of Aphidna replaced him in 343/2, and Diophantus.
It was established to provide enough money for poorer Athenian citizens to be able to purchase tickets for yearly festivals of public worship and theatrical productions, such as the Dionysia, Panathenaea, Eleusinia and Thargelia.
The religious embassies to Delos and other places, and especially those to the Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Pythian Games, drew largely upon public funds, though a part of the cost fell upon the wealthier citizens who conducted them.
5) of Demosthenes’ First Olynthiac, a scholar named Libanius[7] explains that in Athens there were no stone seats (only wooden benches) at the Theatre of Dionysus, and also originally no charge for admissions into the festival.
Due to the lack of seating available, fights would break out as everyone rushed to find a bench; the leaders of the community decided to charge an admissions fee of two obols to prevent further violence.
[8] The fee was paid to the lessee of the theater (called Θεατρώνης, Θεατροπώλης, or ἀρχιτέκτων) who undertook to keep it in good repair, and constantly ready for use, on condition of being allowed to receive the profits.
Pericles, to relieve the poorer classes, passed a law that enabled them to receive the price of admission from the state; after which all those citizens who were too poor to pay for their places applied for the money in the public assembly, which was then frequently held in the theater.
In the time of Eubulus many other branches of the administration were placed under the control of this board, such as the management of the civil expenditure, the office of the Apodektai, and the building of docks, arsenals, and streets.
[19] Men seeking popularity in Athens recognized this growth of power and influence as a source of great opportunity, and eventually the Theoric Board eclipsed and absorbed all other financial offices.
[20] Utilizing this power, the Theoric Board proceeded to oversee the leasing of mines, the financing of expensive public works, such as roads and buildings, and money for the Athenian navy.
Aeschines scornfully describes this new monopoly of power in his speech Against Ctesiphon: ...they [the Theoric Board] also controlled the dockyards, had charge of the naval arsenal that was building, and were Superintendents of Streets; almost the whole administration of the state was in their hands.
[21] Demosthenes was a strong proponent in the fight against the rising power of Philip II of Macedon and believed that all surplus monies should be used for military campaigns rather than for domestic public works; Eubulus, on the other hand, was very much against expensive foreign expeditions.
It was also a “crucial factor in the process of shaping and distorting perceptions”,[23] which might explain the denial of Philip as an immediate threat, and also why the Athenians were more thorough in their organizations of festivals than with their own military (Dem.
Also during this time, in the face of either resisting Philip to retrieve their possessions or betraying their allies and losing them, their cleruchies and the Thracian Chersonese, Apollodorus of Acharnae proposed in the boule (in which he was a member in 348 BCE) that the Athenian people should decide whether the surplus should be used for the theorika or the stratiotika (Dem.
The vote was unanimous that the money should be used for the stratiotika against Philip, but, because this type of proposition was still illegal, Apollodorus found himself being indicted by Stephanos of Eroiadai, who drew up a graphe paranomon (γραφή παρανόμων) against him; he was ultimately fined one talent and his decree was made null and void.
After Apollodorus’ indictment and Eubulus’ new law, Demosthenes openly suggested in his Third Olynthiac, a speech delivered in 349 BCE in lieu of Philip's hostilities against Olynthus, that the state get rid of the theorika because of its hampering effect upon their current crisis.
He also asked to eliminate military exemptions for those who ran the Dionysian festivals in Athens, as it was demoralizing for the men who wished to serve their country: In plain language I mean the laws for administering the Theoric Fund, and also some of the service regulations.
Instead of being paid wages[25] for serving in the army and enduring the dangers of warfare, Athenian citizens preferred to stay home and attend the religious festivals.
[26] Demosthenes’ goal, by criticizing the theorika, was to snap the Athenians out of their denial and mistaken beliefs so that they could recognize the “absurd contradiction between domestic priorities and external exigencies, between the comfortable illusion of peace and the growing crisis in the north.”[27] By the Fourth Philippic[28] Demosthenes’ attitude towards the theorika was changing: Now there is also another matter, the misrepresentation of which by unfair obloquy and in intemperate language is injuring the State, and furthermore is affording a pretext for those who are unwilling to perform any of their duties as citizens; indeed, you will find that in every case where a man has failed to do his duty, this has been given as the excuse.
In the Fourth Philippic he speaks on behalf of the poor in Athens, reminding the wealthy, who criticized the theorika at its inception, that when the public revenue did not exceed 130 talents a year they remained dutiful and paid their property taxes.
With the growth of revenue reaching 400 talents a year, the wealthy no longer felt the weight of financial responsibility upon their shoulders and it was of his opinion that the poor should be able to profit from the increase as well (Phil.
Upon the reinstitution of the theorika he attempted, through private gifts and a large festival, to make up for the privileges the Athenians had lost after adopting his financial policy.
Lycurgus was using most of the state's income to pay for its defense, building projects, and religious festivals, which maintained some sense of the theorika's continuation in Athens.