Michael Gagarin

The democratic legal system created by the Athenians was completely controlled by ordinary citizens, with no judges, lawyers, or jurists involved. It placed great importance on the litigants’ rhetorical performances. Did this make it nothing more than a rhetorical contest judged by largely uneducated citizens that had nothing to do with law, a criticism that some, including Plato, have made? Michael Gagarin argues to the contrary, contending that the Athenians both controlled litigants’ performances and incorporated many other unusual features into their legal system, including rules for interrogating slaves and swearing an oath. The Athenians, Gagarin shows, adhered to the law as they understood it, which was a set of principles more flexible than our current understanding allows. The Athenians also insisted that their legal system serve the ends of justice and benefit the city and its people. In this way, the law ultimately satisfied most Athenians and probably produced just results as often as modern legal systems do. Comprehensive and wide-ranging, Democratic Law in Classical Athens offers a new perspective for viewing a legal system that was democratic in a way only the Athenians could achieve.

Democratic Law in Classical Athens

Professor Emeritus of Classics Michael Gagarin

Drawing on the evidence of anthropology as well as ancient literature and inscriptions, Gagarin examines the emergence of law in Greece from the 8th through the 6th centuries B.C., that is, from the oral culture of Homer and Hesiod to the written enactment of codes of law in most major cities.

Early Greek Law

Antiphon was a fifth-century Athenian intellectual (ca. 480-411 BCE) who created the profession of speechwriting while serving as an influential and highly sought-out adviser to litigants in the Athenian courts. Three of his speeches are preserved, together with three sets of Tetralogies (four hypothetical paired speeches), whose authenticity is sometimes doubted. Fragments also survive of intellectual treatises on subjects including justice, law, and nature (physis), which are often attributed to a separate Antiphon the Sophist. Were these two Antiphons really one and the same individual, endowed with a wide-ranging mind ready to tackle most of the diverse intellectual interests of his day? Through an analysis of all these writings, this book convincingly argues that they were composed by a single individual, Antiphon the Athenian. Michael Gagarin sets close readings of individual works within a wider discussion of the fifth-century Athenian intellectual climate and the philosophical ferment known as the sophistic movement. This enables him to demonstrate the overall coherence of Antiphon's interests and writings and to show how he was a pivotal figure between the sophists and the Attic orators of the fourth century. In addition, Gagarin's argument allows us to reassess the work of the sophists as a whole, so that they can now be seen as primarily interested in logos (speech, argument) and as precursors of fourth-century rhetoric, rather than in their usual role as foils for Plato.

Oratory, Law, and Justice in the Age of the Sophists

Antiphon the Athenian

A detailed examination of the arguments presented in the fifth oration of the Athenian orator Antiphon, written ca. 420 B.C. for the defendant Euxitheos, accused of murdering Herodes. Attention is paid to the legal, political and social background of the case, and to the development of rhetorical theory of the time. The study concludes that the preponderance of evidence suggests that Euxitheos was guilty.

A Study of Antiphon 5

The Murder of Herodes

David Cohen

This Companion volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major themes and topics pertinent to ancient Greek law. A substantial introduction establishes the recent historiography on this topic and its development over the last 30 years. Many of the 22 essays, written by an international team of experts, deal with procedural and substantive law in classical Athens, but significant attention is also paid to legal practice in the archaic and Hellenistic eras; areas that offer substantial evidence for legal practice, such as Crete and Egypt; the intersection of law with religion, philosophy, political theory, rhetoric, and drama, as well as the unity of Greek law and the role of writing in law. The volume is intended to introduce non-specialists to the field as well as to stimulate new thinking among specialists.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law

Paula Perlman

This volume presents the Greek text of approximately 200 stone inscriptions, which detail the laws of ancient Crete in the archaic and classical periods, c.650-400 BCE. The texts of the inscriptions, many of which are fragmentary and relatively unknown, are accompanied by an English translation and also two commentaries; one focused on epigraphical and linguistic issues, and the other, requiring no knowledge of Greek, focused on legal and historical issues. The texts are preceded by a substantial introduction, which surveys the geography, history, writing habits, social and political structure, economy, religion, and law of Crete in this period.

The Laws of Ancient Crete, C.650-400 Bce

This Companion provides a comprehensive overview of the major themes and topics pertinent to ancient Greek law. Many of the 22 essays, written by an international team of experts, cover procedural and substantive law in classical Athens, but significant attention is also paid to legal practice in the archaic and Hellenistic eras. The essays offer substantial evidence of legal practice in Crete and Egypt, as well as the intersection of law with religion, philosophy, political theory, rhetoric, and drama.

Cambridge University Press

Raymond Geuss

Paul Woodruff

Quentin Skinner

Including the works of more than thirty authors, this edition of early Greek writings on social and political issues includes the origin of human society and law; the nature of justice and good government; the distribution of power among genders and social classes.

Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome is the clearest and most accessible guide to the world of classical antiquity ever produced. This multivolume reference work is a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world--Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman--from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE. It also covers the legacy of the classical world and its interpretation and influence in subsequent centuries. The Encyclopedia brings the work of the best classical scholars, archaeologists, and historians together in an easy-to-use format. The articles, written by leading scholars in the field, seek to convey the significance of the people, places, and historical events of classical antiquity, together with its intellectual and material culture. Broad overviews of literature, history, archaeology, art, philosophy, science, and religion are complimented by articles on authors and their works, literary genres and periods, historical figures and events, archaeologists and archaeological sites, artists and artistic themes and materials, philosophers and philosophical schools, scientists and scientific areas, gods, heroes, and myths. Areas covered include: · Greek and Latin Literature · Authors and Their Works · Historical Figures and Events · Religion and Mythology · Art, Artists, Artistic Themes, and Materials · Archaeology, Philosophers, and Philosophical Schools · Science and Technology · Politics, Economics, and Society · Material Culture and Everyday Life

Michael Gagarin

Books

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