Kolakretai was the name of very ancient magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

s at Athens

Classical Athens

The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...

, who had the management of all financial matters in the time of the kings, at least as early as the 7th century BC

7th century BC

The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last two decades of the century, however, the empire began to...

. They are said to have derived their name from collecting certain parts of the victims at sacrifices , from kola, a Greek noun meaning "limbs". The legislature of Solon

Solon

Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens...

 left the Kolakretai untouched, but Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes was a noble Athenian of the Alcmaeonid family. He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BC...

 deprived them of the charge of the finances, which he transferred to the Apodektai

Apodektai

Apodektai , or "Receivers", were public officers at Athens, who were introduced by Cleisthenes in the place of the ancient kolakretai . They were ten in number, one for each tribe or phyle, and their duty was to receive all the ordinary taxes and distribute them to the separate branches of the...

, who were established in their stead. From this time, the Kolakretai had only to provide for the meals in the Prytaneium, and subsequently had likewise to pay the fees to the Dikastes

Dikastes

Dikastes was a legal office in ancient Greece that signified, in the broadest sense, a judge or juror, but more particularly denotes the Attic functionary of the democratic period, who, with his colleagues, was constitutionally empowered to try to pass judgment upon all causes and questions that...

, when the practice of paying the Dikastes was introduced by Pericles

Pericles

Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...

. They are not mentioned in any literature or inscription after 411 BC

411 BC

Year 411 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mugillanus and Rutilus...

, and it is likely the office was abolished at that time, and some or all of their remaining functions were assumed by the Apodektai

Apodektai

Apodektai , or "Receivers", were public officers at Athens, who were introduced by Cleisthenes in the place of the ancient kolakretai . They were ten in number, one for each tribe or phyle, and their duty was to receive all the ordinary taxes and distribute them to the separate branches of the...

.