Table Of ContentAthenian Law and Society
Athenian Law and Society focuses upon the intersection of law and society in
classical Athens, in relation to topics like politics, class, ability, masculinity,
femininity, gender studies, economics, citizenship, slavery, crime, and violence.
The book explores the circumstances and broader context which led to the
establishment of the laws of Athens, and how these laws influenced the lives and
action of Athenian citizens, by examining a wide range of sources from classical
and late antique history and literature. Kapparis also explores later literature on
Athenian law from the Renaissance up to the 20th and 21st centuries, examining
the long-lasting impact of the world’s first democracy.
Athenian Law and Society is a study of the intersection between law and society
in classical Athens that has a wide range of applications the study of the Athenian
polis, as well as law, democracy, and politics in both classical and more modern
settings.
Konstantinos A. Kapparis is UF Research Foundation Professor and Director of
the Center for Greek Studies at the University of Florida, USA. He studied with
D.M. MacDowell at the University of Glasgow. His research interests include the
Attic Orators, Athenian Law, Greek and Roman Medical Authors, Women’s History
and Gender Studies, and the Social History of the Graeco-Roman World. He has
published a commentary on Apollodoros A gainst Neaira (and also an expanded
Modern Greek commentary of the same speech), a monograph on A bortion in
the Ancient World , a large volume on P rostitution in the Ancient Greek World , a
co-authored volume entitled L egal Speeches of Democratic Athens , and he has
co-edited a collection of the articles of D.M. MacDowell. He has also published
a number of articles on topics such as prostitution, citizenship and immigration,
gender studies, history of medicine and science, and textual criticism.
Athenian Law and Society
Konstantinos A. Kapparis
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Konstantinos A. Kapparis
The right of Konstantinos A. Kapparis to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
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without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kapparis, K. A., author.
Title: Athenian law and society / Konstantinos A. Kapparis.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018023497 (print) | LCCN 2018025945 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781315568270 (ebook) | ISBN 9781317177524 (web pdf) |
ISBN 9781317177517 (epub) | ISBN 9781317177500 (mobi/kindle) |
ISBN 9781472449184 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Law—Greece—Athens. | Athens (Greece)—Social life
and customs. | Athens (Greece)—History.
Classification: LCC KL4115.A75 (ebook) | LCC KL4115.A75 K37 2018 (print) |
DDC 340.5/385—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023497
ISBN: 978-1-472-44918-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-56827-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Foreword viii
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
The development of Athenian law 1
Sources of Athenian law 4
Scholarship on Athenian law and society 9
1 The administration of justice in the polis 18
1.1 Sources 18
1.2 The division of powers in the Athenian Democracy 20
1.3 The question on the rule of law in the Athenian
Democracy 22
1.4 Accountability of officials and individuals before
the law 24
1.5 Protections of core human rights in Athenian law 30
1.6 Open government in the Athenian Democracy 36
1.7 Dispute resolution: processes and types of lawsuits 40
1.8 Blocking an improperly introduced lawsuit 46
1.9 The “amateurism” of Athenian law? 46
1.10 Rules of evidence and the rule of law 49
1.11 Executive officers of the Athenian state 54
2 Citizens, metics and slaves in Athenian law and life 70
2.1 Sources 70
2.2 Citizenship in the Greek polis 75
2.3 Introduction into the citizen body 80
2.4 The rights, privileges and duties of Athenian
citizen men 86
vi Contents
2.5 Metics 88
2.6 Slaves 96
2.7 Legal procedures for status disputes 101
3 The Athenian o ikos 116
3.1 Sources 116
3.2 The oikos and the polis 117
3.3 The oikos and its members 119
4 The formation and purposes of marriage: wives and concubines 138
4.1 Sources 138
4.2 The ever-shifting definition of marriage 140
4.3 Lawful marriage: types and purpose 147
4.4 Alternative unions and concubines 152
4.5 Conclusions 155
5 The continuation of the o ikos : inheritance and succession 163
5.1 Sources 163
5.2 Succession by natural legitimate sons 166
5.3 Legitimate daughters and dowry 167
5.4 Epikleros 169
5.5 Illegitimate children 171
5.6 Wills and succession by adopted children 172
6 The oikos in peril: divorce, adultery, prostitution 182
6.1 Sources 182
6.2 Divorce 185
6.3 Adultery 190
6.4 Prostitution 193
7 Criminal justice: violence and property crimes 207
7.1 Sources 207
7.2 Assault and slander: violence in Athenian law and life 214
7.3 Hybris 223
7.4 Non-violent conflict resolution: arbitration 225
7.5 Sexual violence 227
7.6 Property crimes and disputes 229
8 Religion, the state and the law 241
8.1 Sources 241
8.2 The intersection of religion and the law 248
Contents vii
8.3 State religion, festivals and the law 252
8.4 Prosecutions on religious grounds 257
8.5 Homicide 268
9 The safety net: protecting those in need 280
9.1 Sources 280
9.2 Protecting legal minors and the elderly from abuse 283
9.3 Providing for disabled citizens 291
9.4 Caring for the elderly 292
9.5 Income support for the poor and the needy 294
9.6 The Athenian healthcare system: medical care and
the law 298
9.7 Conclusions 302
Epilogue: Athenian law as the voice of the democratic polis 309
Bibliography 315
Index 352
Foreword
This volume began in 1998 with a series of lectures on Athenian law and society
at the Queen’s University of Belfast. In later years several versions of this course
were taught as undergraduate, graduate and distance learning options at the Uni-
versity of Florida. While teaching these courses I came to the realization that
there was no study adequately covering the intersection between law and society.
We have a rich collection of good books and articles on Athenian law, and in
more recent years an increasingly higher number of superb studies on Athenian
society. However, there was no study exploring the intersection between the two,
namely how and to what extent was Athenian law the product of peaceful or vio-
lent changes in 6th, 5th and 4th century Athens, and how and to what extent Athe-
nian society as we understand it was influenced by the laws of the city. There were
useful discussions on specific topics of law in historical studies, and sometimes
there were useful discussions of the historical context in studies on Athenian law,
but never a more thorough exploration of their interaction in public and private
life from the time of Solon to the end of the Greek polis. This is the gap which this
volume was meant to bridge. It was never meant to be another book on Athenian
law or another book on Athenian society, but on the interaction between the two
in the course of the classical period.
I was never under any illusion that I would be able to produce a fully compre-
hensive study in such a busy field. Only the titles in the bibliography of Athe-
nian law maintained by Ilias Arnaoutoglou, David Mirhady and Mark Sundahl
extend to almost 1000 pages, and the bibliographical references on Athenian
society could just as easily be another 1000 pages. To this if one added a large
number of original sources the task would appear daunting. The best one can
hope for is to read enough to be well informed. With a project like this there was
always an inherent danger of turning it into a review of the previous literature, and
this decidedly was not my purpose here. My plan was to produce a synthesized
account which could be useful to specialists, but which would not deter students
and laypersons with limited understanding of the Athenian democracy and its
institutions, or the fundamentals of Athenian society. The ultimate goal was to
make sense out of Athenian law, to present it in context and explain how and
why it was formed and formatted in the manner that it did, and how it affected
the course of Athenian history. I am hoping that, in the end, what many a time
Foreword ix
appears to be strange and alien about Athenian law to the modern reader will seem
less strange and awkward after reading this study. My overall conclusion, that the
law of classical Athens was the voice of the Democratic Constitution, the avenue
through which the abstract principles and ideals of the first democracy in history
were translated into everyday rules regulating the life of the polis, the oikoi, and
the people within them, might serve as a helpful guide for a better understanding
of the principles and direction of Athenian law.
A Humanities Enchancement research grant from the University of Florida in
the summer of 2015 allowed me to jump-start the final phase of this project, and
a sabbatical in 2017–2018 allowed me to complete this volume. I’m grateful to
the home institution for these opportunities, and especially to Victoria Pagan and
Mary Ann Eaverly, our two successive Chairs in the Department of Classics for
making sure that I had the necessary time to complete this project. I am also
deeply grateful to Mrs Violet Wilson, who painstakingly typed all the record-
ings from the online lectures on Athenian law and society. And last but not least,
I owe a big debt of gratitude to Michael Greenwood, the editor of Routledge
who supported this project at its inception. Many more people would need to be
thanked, especially my former students, who contributed with ideas, questions
and insightful comments that have helped me to form cleared ideas, and reach
better researched conclusions on many aspects of this vast topic.
