Keeping to the Point in Athenian Forensic Oratory: Law, Character and Rhetoric

by Edward M Harris (Editor), Alberto Esu (Editor)

Overview

When a litigant initiated a lawsuit in Classical Athens, he submitted a written plaint to the relevant magistrate. This document contained his name, the name of the defendant, the legal procedure employed, and the specific violations of part of the law. If the magistrate accepted the plaint, the legal charges were read to the court before and after the litigants spoke, and the judges swore in their oath to vote only about the charges in the plaint, that is, whether the defendant had violated a specific law or not. In private suits, litigants took an oath to ‘keep to the point’, that is, discuss only the legal charges. In public cases litigants were under the same obligation. This volume examines several Athenian court speeches and show that litigants paid close attention to legal relevance in court. Consequently, the essays in this volume make the case for integrated approach to rhetoric and law emphasizing an institutional understanding of Athenian forensic oratory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399523875
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	01/31/2025
Series:	New Approaches to Ancient Greek Institutional History
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Edward M. Harris is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at Durham University. He has published Aeschines and Athenian Politics (OUP, 1995), Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens (CUP, 2006), and The Rule of Law in Action in Democratic Athens (OUP, 2013). He has translated Demosthenes, Speeches 20-22 (UT Press, 2008) and Demosthenes Speeches 23-26 (UT Press, 2018) and co-edited with L. Rubinstein, The Law and the Courts in Ancient Greece (Duckworth, 2004) and with D. Leão and P. J. Rhodes, Law and Drama in Ancient Greece (Duckworth, 2010).

Alberto Esu is Lecturer in Classical Greek History at the University of Manchester. He has published on ancient Greek law and institutions, political thought, and Athenian oratory. He has published Divided Power in Ancient Greek: Decision-Making and Institutions in the Classical and Hellenistic Polis (OUP, 2024).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors

Introduction
Alberto Esu and Edward M. Harris

Part I. Keeping to the Point in Major Public Procedures
1. The Rhetoric of the Graphē Paranomōn in the Trial on the Crown
Guy Westwood
2. Law, Office and Honour: Legal Relevance and Forensic Arguments in Demosthenes’ Against Androtion
Alberto Esu
3. Gossip, Morals and Poetry: Legal Relevance in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus
Matteo Barbato
4. How Does Lycurgus Keep to His Point? Legal and Rhetorical Relevance in Against Leocrates
Jakub Filonik
5. Institutions, Character and Relevance: Keeping to the Point in Dokimasiai
Peter A. O’Connell

Part II. Keeping to the Point on Hybris, Violence and Disenfranchisement
6. The Legal Charge in Demosthenes’ Against Meidias
Edward M. Harris
7. Did Ariston Keep to the Point? Dikē Aikeias and Graphē Hybreōs in Demosthenes’ Against Conon
Linda Rocchi
8. Trial and Error: Impiety and Legal Relevance in Andocides’ On the Mysteries
Rebecca Van Hove

Part III. Keeping to the Point on Inheritance and Damages
9. Character Evidence in Isaeus’ Speeches from Inheritance Disputes
Brenda Griffith-Williams
10. Against Timotheus: Keeping to the Point in a Suit for Damage
Giacinto Falco

Conclusions: Some Rules of Thumb in the Study of Athenian Forensic Oratory
Mirko Canevaro

Bibliography
General Index
Index Locorum

Editorial Reviews

A well-documented, clear and comprehensive analysis of the institutional aspect of Athenian forensic oratory, highlighting the relevance of legal arguments in Classical Athens. An essential reading for the study of Athenian forensic oratory, emphasising its inherently legal character and advocating for a balanced historical perspective, without the pitfall of comparing ancient Athenian practices to modern legal ideals.

Athina A. Dimopoulou