Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.
From household gossip to public beatings, this social history explores the many channels through which Athenian maintained public order. Virginia Hunter draws mostly on Attic court proceedings, which allowed for a wide range of evidence, including common rumors about a defendant's character and testimony, obtained under torture, of slaves against their masters. She describes Athenian "policing" as a form of social control that took place across a range of private and public levels. Not only does policing appear to have a collective enterprise, but its methods were embedded in a variety of social institutions, resulting in the blurring of the line between state and society.
Hunter's inquiry into topics such as household authority, disputes among kin, the presence of slaves in the house, gossip in the home and neighborhood, and forms of public punishment reveals a continuum extending from self-regulation among kn and punititve actions enforced by the state. Recognizing the bias of legal documents toward the wealthy, Hunter concentrates on exposing the voices of the less powerful and less privileged members of society, including women and slaves. In so doing she is among the first to address systematically such important issues as the authority of women, self-help, and corporal punishment.
Virginia J. Hunter is Professor of History at York University. She is author of Past and Process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton) and Thucydides, the Artful Reporter (Toronto).

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

1120641633
Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.
From household gossip to public beatings, this social history explores the many channels through which Athenian maintained public order. Virginia Hunter draws mostly on Attic court proceedings, which allowed for a wide range of evidence, including common rumors about a defendant's character and testimony, obtained under torture, of slaves against their masters. She describes Athenian "policing" as a form of social control that took place across a range of private and public levels. Not only does policing appear to have a collective enterprise, but its methods were embedded in a variety of social institutions, resulting in the blurring of the line between state and society.
Hunter's inquiry into topics such as household authority, disputes among kin, the presence of slaves in the house, gossip in the home and neighborhood, and forms of public punishment reveals a continuum extending from self-regulation among kn and punititve actions enforced by the state. Recognizing the bias of legal documents toward the wealthy, Hunter concentrates on exposing the voices of the less powerful and less privileged members of society, including women and slaves. In so doing she is among the first to address systematically such important issues as the authority of women, self-help, and corporal punishment.
Virginia J. Hunter is Professor of History at York University. She is author of Past and Process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton) and Thucydides, the Artful Reporter (Toronto).

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

by Virginia J. Hunter
Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

by Virginia J. Hunter

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Overview

From household gossip to public beatings, this social history explores the many channels through which Athenian maintained public order. Virginia Hunter draws mostly on Attic court proceedings, which allowed for a wide range of evidence, including common rumors about a defendant's character and testimony, obtained under torture, of slaves against their masters. She describes Athenian "policing" as a form of social control that took place across a range of private and public levels. Not only does policing appear to have a collective enterprise, but its methods were embedded in a variety of social institutions, resulting in the blurring of the line between state and society.
Hunter's inquiry into topics such as household authority, disputes among kin, the presence of slaves in the house, gossip in the home and neighborhood, and forms of public punishment reveals a continuum extending from self-regulation among kn and punititve actions enforced by the state. Recognizing the bias of legal documents toward the wealthy, Hunter concentrates on exposing the voices of the less powerful and less privileged members of society, including women and slaves. In so doing she is among the first to address systematically such important issues as the authority of women, self-help, and corporal punishment.
Virginia J. Hunter is Professor of History at York University. She is author of Past and Process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton) and Thucydides, the Artful Reporter (Toronto).

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691655475
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 01/15/2019
Series: Princeton Legacy Library , #5269
Pages: 328
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Virginia J. Hunter is Professor of History at York University. She is author of Past and Process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton) and Thucydides, the Artful Reporter (Toronto).

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction: Policing and Social Control3
Ch. 1Kyrios: Authority and Ambiguity in the Athenian Household9
Ch. 2Trouble in the House: Disputes among Kin and Their Resolution Out of Court43
Appendix: Kin Disputes68
Ch. 3Slaves in the Household: Was Privacy Possible?70
Appendix 1: Torture91
Appendix 2: Instances of Torture93
Appendix 3: What Slaves Knew94
Ch. 4The Politics of Reputation: Gossip as a Social Construct96
Appendix: Gossip in the Lawsuits118
Ch. 5Policing Athens: Private Initiative and Its Limits120
Appendix: Did Ephebes Have a Role as Police?151
Ch. 6The Body of the Slave: Corporal Punishment in Athens154
Conclusion: Athenian Society and State Reconsidered185
Notes191
Glossary247

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From the Publisher

"This book represents a fundamental and extremely important contribution to Athenian social and political history. Virginia Hunter . . . greatly advances our knowledge on a whole series of issues, such as the role and treatment of slaves, social practices related to litigation and prosecution, and maintenance of public order."—David Cohen, University of California, Berkeley

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