The Tale of the Ancient Greek Accounting Debacle

And you thought your clients had a temper. Let the NYSSCPA take you to ancient Greece, where records from the famed orator Antiphon relates the tale of 10 individuals who were held responsible for overseeing the finances of the Delian League, a coalition of Greek city-states, led by Athens, who joined together to fight the Persian Empire.

Antiphon, in the book On the Murder of Herodes, talks about how, one day, when money went missing, the 10 treasurers were accused of embezzling funds from the Delian League’s coffers.

The 10 faced ancient Athenian justice, which involved an audience before members of the assembly who would determine whether the accused would live or die. Because the treasurers didn’t know how to account for the missing money, the assembly decided it would be best to execute them one by one. The 10 soon became the 9, who in turn soon became the 8, and so on, until there was but one left: a man named Sosias, who had yet to be executed. Before he could be killed, however, it was revealed that an accounting error had taken place (“it was shown how the money had disappeared”) and Sosias was rescued from a gruesome fate at the last minute, though “the rest had died entirely innocent," according to Antiphon.

“Answer swept reason aside and they were all put to death save one," wrote Antiphon, recalling the event. "Later, the true facts became known."