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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



4413
Demosthenes, Orations, 59.1-59.3


nan(Theomnestus, who brings the indictment, speaks.) Many indeed are the reasons, men of Athens, which urged me to prefer this indictment against Neaera, and to come before you. We have suffered grievous wrongs at the hands of Stephanus and have been brought by him into the most extreme peril, I mean my father-in-law, myself, my sister, and my wife; so that I shall enter upon this trial, not as an aggressor, but as one seeking vengeance. For Stephanus was the one who began our quarrel without ever having been wronged by us in word or deed. I wish at the outset to state before you the wrongs which we have suffered at this hands, in order that you may feel more indulgence for me as I seek to defend myself and to show you into what extreme danger we were brought by him of losing our country and our civic rights.


nanWhen the people of Athens passed a decree granting the right of citizenship to Pasion Pasion, the well-known banker; see the Introduction to Dem. 36 and his descendants on account of services to the state, my father favored the granting of the people’s gift, and himself gave in marriage to Apollodorus, son of Pasion, his own daughter, my sister, and she is the mother of the children of Apollodorus. Inasmuch as Apollodorus acted honorably toward my sister and toward all of us, and considered us in truth his relatives and entitled to share in all that he had, I took to wife his daughter, my own niece.


nanAfter some time had elapsed Apollodorus was chosen by lot as a member of the senate; and when he had passed the scrutiny and had sworn the customary oath, there came upon the city a war Due to Philip’s aggressive actions in the Chersonese in 343 -340 B.C. and a crisis so grave that, if victors, you would be supreme among the Greek peoples, and would beyond possibility of dispute have recovered your own possessions and have crushed Philip in war; but, if your help arrived too late and you abandoned your allies, That is, especially Byzantium and the states in the Chersonese and in Thrace . allowing your army to be disbanded for want of money, you would lose these allies, forfeit the confidence of the rest of the Greeks, and risk the loss of your other possessions, Lemnos and Imbros, and Scyros and the Chersonese . Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, all islands in the Aegean . The Chersonese was the peninsula of Gallipoli .


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

12 results
1. Antiphon, Orations, 1.3-1.4, 5.11-5.12, 6.33, 6.48, 6.51 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)

2. Herodotus, Histories, 6.136-6.140 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)

6.136. Such was the priestess' reply to the Parians. The Athenians had much to say about Miltiades on his return from Paros, especially Xanthippus son of Ariphron, who prosecuted Miltiades before the people for deceiving the Athenians and called for the death penalty. ,Miltiades was present but could not speak in his own defense, since his thigh was festering; he was laid before the court on a couch, and his friends spoke for him, often mentioning the fight at Marathon and the conquest of Lemnos: how Miltiades had punished the Pelasgians and taken Lemnos, delivering it to the Athenians. ,The people took his side as far as not condemning him to death, but they fined him fifty talents for his wrongdoing. Miltiades later died of gangrene and rot in his thigh, and the fifty talents were paid by his son Cimon. 6.137. Miltiades son of Cimon took possession of Lemnos in this way: When the Pelasgians were driven out of Attica by the Athenians, whether justly or unjustly I cannot say, beyond what is told; namely, that Hecataeus the son of Hegesandrus declares in his history that the act was unjust; ,for when the Athenians saw the land under Hymettus, formerly theirs, which they had given to the Pelasgians as a dwelling-place in reward for the wall that had once been built around the acropolis—when the Athenians saw how well this place was tilled which previously had been bad and worthless, they were envious and coveted the land, and so drove the Pelasgians out on this and no other pretext. But the Athenians themselves say that their reason for expelling the Pelasgians was just. ,The Pelasgians set out from their settlement at the foot of Hymettus and wronged the Athenians in this way: Neither the Athenians nor any other Hellenes had servants yet at that time, and their sons and daughters used to go to the Nine Wells for water; and whenever they came, the Pelasgians maltreated them out of mere arrogance and pride. And this was not enough for them; finally they were caught in the act of planning to attack Athens. ,The Athenians were much better men than the Pelasgians, since when they could have killed them, caught plotting as they were, they would not so do, but ordered them out of the country. The Pelasgians departed and took possession of Lemnos, besides other places. This is the Athenian story; the other is told by Hecataeus. 6.138. These Pelasgians dwelt at that time in Lemnos and desired vengeance on the Athenians. Since they well knew the time of the Athenian festivals, they acquired fifty-oared ships and set an ambush for the Athenian women celebrating the festival of Artemis at Brauron. They seized many of the women, then sailed away with them and brought them to Lemnos to be their concubines. ,These women bore more and more children, and they taught their sons the speech of Attica and Athenian manners. These boys would not mix with the sons of the Pelasgian women; if one of them was beaten by one of the others, they would all run to his aid and help each other; these boys even claimed to rule the others, and were much stronger. ,When the Pelasgians perceived this, they took counsel together; it troubled them much in their deliberations to think what the boys would do when they grew to manhood, if they were resolved to help each other against the sons of the lawful wives and attempted to rule them already. ,Thereupon the Pelasgians resolved to kill the sons of the Attic women; they did this, and then killed the boys' mothers also. From this deed and the earlier one which was done by the women when they killed their own husbands who were Thoas' companions, a “Lemnian crime” has been a proverb in Hellas for any deed of cruelty. 6.139. But when the Pelasgians had murdered their own sons and women, their land brought forth no fruit, nor did their wives and their flocks and herds bear offspring as before. Crushed by hunger and childlessness, they sent to Delphi to ask for some release from their present ills. ,The Pythian priestess ordered them to pay the Athenians whatever penalty the Athenians themselves judged. The Pelasgians went to Athens and offered to pay the penalty for all their wrongdoing. ,The Athenians set in their town-hall a couch adorned as finely as possible, and placed beside it a table covered with all manner of good things, then ordered the Pelasgians to deliver their land to them in the same condition. ,The Pelasgians answered, “We will deliver it when a ship with a north wind accomplishes the voyage from your country to ours in one day”; they supposed that this was impossible, since Attica is far to the south of Lemnos. 6.140. At the time that was all. But a great many years later, when the Chersonese on the Hellespont was made subject to Athens, Miltiades son of Cimon accomplished the voyage from Elaeus on the Chersonese to Lemnos with the Etesian winds then constantly blowing; he proclaimed that the Pelasgians must leave their island, reminding them of the oracle which the Pelasgians thought would never be fulfilled. ,The Hephaestians obeyed, but the Myrinaeans would not agree that the Chersonese was Attica and were besieged, until they too submitted. Thus did Miltiades and the Athenians take possession of Lemnos.
3. Isaeus, Orations, 3.70, 7.28 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

4. Lysias, Orations, 2.8, 2.10, 6.54, 10.11, 12.35, 15.9, 27.7, 30.23 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

5. Plato, Critias, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

119e. hunted after the bulls with staves and nooses but with no weapon of iron; and whatsoever bull they captured they led up to the pillar and cut its throat over the top of the pillar, raining down blood on the inscription. And inscribed upon the pillar, besides the laws, was an oath which invoked mighty curses upon them that disobeyed. Crit. When, then, they had done sacrifice according to their laws and were consecrating
6. Xenophon, Hellenica, 1.4.19, 1.7.16 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

1.4.19. But when he sighted his cousin Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, and his other relatives and with them his friends, then he disembarked and went up to the city, accompanied by a party who were prepared to quell any attack that anyone might make upon him. 1.7.16. After this Euryptolemus mounted the platform and spoke as follows in defence of the generals: I have come to the platform, men of Athens, partly to accuse Pericles, though he is my kinsman and intimate, and Diomedon, who is my friend, partly 406 B.C. to speak in their defence, and partly to advise the measures which seem to me to be best for the state as a whole.
7. Aeschines, Letters, 1.90-1.91, 1.114, 1.176-1.177, 1.192-1.193, 2.87, 2.115, 3.99, 3.109-3.113, 3.119-3.120, 3.125 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

8. Demosthenes, Orations, 18.283, 19.172, 19.219-19.220, 21.98, 21.119, 21.220-21.222, 21.224-21.225, 21.227, 22.2, 23.67-23.68, 24.8, 24.101, 24.148-24.151, 25.2, 25.53, 29.26, 29.33, 29.54, 40.57, 47.73, 49.66-49.67, 53.1, 54.4, 54.38, 54.41, 56.48, 59.2-59.7, 59.10-59.16, 59.52-59.53, 59.72, 59.126 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

9. Lycurgus, Against Leocrates, 79, 20 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)

10. Pollux, Onomasticon, 8.55 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)

11. Andocides, Orations, 1.31, 1.96-1.98, 1.126

12. Andocides, Orations, 1.31, 1.96-1.98, 1.126



Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
adrastus, culpability of Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
aetolian oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
andokides, genos, herms/mysteries Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
anepsios Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
anthesteria (festival) Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
antōmosiai Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
apollodoros son of pasion, lawsuits Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
apollodoros son of pasion, marriage Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 113
apollodorus against neaera, authorship Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
apollodorus against neaera, documents in Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
apollodorus against neaera, outline of the case Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
archons oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
ardettus Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
areopagus council, and sparta Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
areopagus council, ephebic oath Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
areopagus council Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
argument, strategies of Gagarin and Cohen, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (2005) 138
aristophon Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
atimia Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
autochthony, and exclusiveness Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
boars as oath sacrifices Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
bulls as oath sacrifices Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
citizen, citizenship, marriage with non-citizens Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
delphi, oracle at Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
demonicus (cyprian nobleman), demophantus, oath of Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
diōmosiai Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21, 40
epeian oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
ephebic oath Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
epikleros, marriage Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 113
glaucus the spartan (herodotus) Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
graphê, paranomôn Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
helping paradigm (international relations), and justice Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
hippocratic oath Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
history and oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
homicide trials, oaths in Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
humaneness, and altruism Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
humaneness, exclusively athenian Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
justice, king archon Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
justice Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
law, athenian. Gagarin and Cohen, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (2005) 138
law-courts, witnesses oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
miltiades, prosecution Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
neaera Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
oath-challenges Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
official oaths, archons oath of office Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
official oaths, phratry oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
palladium Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
perikles, sons Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
perjury, in law-court speeches Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
perjury, punishments for, trust extinguished Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
phano (daughter of neaera) Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 109
phocaean oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
procedural law Gagarin and Cohen, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (2005) 138
public and private litigation. Gagarin and Cohen, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (2005) 138
rams as oath sacrifices Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 40
rhetoric' Gagarin and Cohen, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (2005) 138
ruin (atē), enact self-curses Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
ruin (atē), sacrificial rituals and oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
scythian oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
self-curses, in law-court speeches Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
sparta, and athens Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
sphagia (slaughtered offerings) Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
synegoros Humphreys, Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis (2018) 464
temnein (to cut) Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
thirty years peace Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
timōria Barbato, The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past (2020) 188
tomia (cut pieces) Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21
trust, extinguished by perjury Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 312
witnesses oaths Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 21