The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Index Database

Results for
Please note: the results are produced through a computerized process which may frequently lead to errors, both in incorrect tagging and in other issues. Please use with caution.
Due to load times, full text fetching is currently attempted for validated results only.
Full texts for Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts is kindly supplied by Sefaria; for Greek and Latin texts, by Perseus Scaife, for the Quran, by Tanzil.net

For a list of book indices included, see here.

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All subjects (including unvalidated):

subject	book bibliographic info
homicide	Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 179 Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 53, 54, 55, 56, 132, 197, 198, 199, 217, 458, 545, 553, 562, 574, 641, 642, 650, 679 Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 20, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 99, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 174, 175, 207, 262, 278, 279, 280 Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 24, 25, 33, 53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 72
homicide, and curses	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 54, 105
homicide, and divination	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 136, 177
homicide, and proper respect	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 140
homicide, and religious correctness	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 65, 140, 149, 150, 151, 200, 201, 202, 203
homicide, and tort converts/proselytes, treatment under law, mekhilta on exodus	Cohen (2010), The Significance of Yavneh and other Essays in Jewish Hellenism, 364, 365
homicide, and tort law, converts/proselytes, treatment under	Cohen (2010), The Significance of Yavneh and other Essays in Jewish Hellenism, 362, 371
homicide, and, priests, purification of a	Lupu (2005), Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) 281, 282, 387
homicide, asebia, impiety, and	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 39, 123, 127, 174, 175
homicide, barred from sanctuaries	Lupu (2005), Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) 210, 211, 386
homicide, burial, after	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 39, 278
homicide, court of the areopagus in athens	Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 57, 58, 68, 107, 242
homicide, court, areopagus	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 133, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 222
homicide, court, in phreatto	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 159, 160
homicide, court, prytaneum	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 159, 160
homicide, courts	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43
homicide, courts, myth, on	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 125, 126, 127, 207
homicide, in demosthenes, exile of	Meinel (2015), Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy, 69
homicide, intention	Schick (2021), Intention in Talmudic Law: Between Thought and Deed, 48, 53, 56, 76, 138, 141, 142
homicide, intentional	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 61, 144, 158, 159, 160, 283
homicide, investigations, homicide., cont., oaths in	Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 115
homicide, involuntary	Faraone (1999), Ancient Greek Love Magic, 112, 114, 115, 116
homicide, justifiable	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 144, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162
homicide, katharos, purity, derivation, and	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 124, 126, 127, 167, 211
homicide, killer, murder, cf. homicide, murderer, cf.	Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 36, 37, 41, 48, 53, 63, 87, 143, 202
homicide, language, on	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 121, 279
homicide, law	Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 45, 55 Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 134, 135, 136, 144, 146, 147
homicide, law, athenian	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 61, 133, 140, 141, 144, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 283
homicide, law, intention, in	Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 136, 140
homicide, laws, athens	Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 134, 135, 136, 146, 147
homicide, miaros, pollution, impurity, and	Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 123, 124
homicide, murderer, killer, cf.	Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 48, 53, 62, 63, 94, 135, 214, 233
homicide, of kin	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 54, 149, 166, 200, 202, 203
homicide, phratry, and	Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 14, 15, 16, 17
homicide, pollution from	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 65, 66, 100, 102, 105, 108, 136
homicide, punished in afterlife	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 200, 201, 202, 245
homicide, purification of	Lupu (2005), Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) 79, 279, 282, 283, 284, 380, 387
homicide, statute/law, cf. draco	Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 36, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 54, 90, 134
homicide, statute/law, draco, cf.	Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 36, 90, 143
homicide, suicide, and	Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 185, 186, 187
homicide, supplication, and purification of	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 147, 148, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228
homicide, trials	Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 377
homicide, trials and tribunals, justified	Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 135, 147
homicide, trials for	Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 54, 130, 177
homicide, trials, homicide., cont., oaths in	Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 61, 68
homicide, trials, oaths in	Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 3, 14, 18, 21, 37, 43, 91, 138, 140, 154, 165, 287, 381
homicide, unintentional	Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 158, 159, 160
homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer	Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 19, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 62, 65, 69, 71, 83, 84, 86, 88, 90, 94, 96, 97, 98, 104, 118, 119, 132, 134, 147, 150, 152, 177, 220, 233, 234, 307
homicides, food, in purification of	Lupu (2005), Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) 383, 384

List of validated texts:

24 validated results for "homicide"

1. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Areopagus, homicide court • homicide law, Athenian • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide, court of the Areopagus in Athens • homicide, justifiable • priests, purification of a homicide and • supplication, and purification of homicide

Found in books: Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 58; Lupu (2005), Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) 281; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 148, 161, 162; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 14, 18

2. Euripides, Electra, 1355 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide • miaros (pollution, impurity), and homicide • supplication, and purification of homicide

Found in books: Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 43; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 228

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1355 μηδ' ἐπιόρκων μέτα συμπλείτω:"" None

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1355 or set sail with perjurers; as a god, I give this address to mortals. Choru'' None

3. Plato, Apology of Socrates, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53

^19b ἡ ἐμὴ διαβολὴ γέγονεν, ᾗ δὴ καὶ πιστεύων Μέλητός με ἐγράψατο τὴν γραφὴν ταύτην. εἶεν· τί δὴ λέγοντες διέβαλλον οἱ διαβάλλοντες; ὥσπερ οὖν κατηγόρων τὴν ἀντωμοσίαν δεῖ ἀναγνῶναι αὐτῶν· Σωκράτης ἀδικεῖ καὶ περιεργάζεται ζητῶν τά τε ὑπὸ γῆς καὶ οὐράνια καὶ τὸν ἥττω λόγον κρείττω'^24b ταῦτά ἐστιν. καὶ ἐάντε νῦν ἐάντε αὖθις ζητήσητε ταῦτα, οὕτως εὑρήσετε. ' None

^19b Meletus trusted when he brought this suit against me. What did those who aroused the prejudice say to arouse it? I must, as it were, read their sworn statement as if they were plaintiffs: Socrates is a criminal and a busybody, investigating the things beneath the earth and in the heavens and making the weaker argument stronger and'^24b this now or hereafter, you will find that it is so.Now so far as the accusations are concerned which my first accusers made against me, this is a sufficient defence before you; but against Meletus, the good and patriotic, as he says, and the later ones, I will try to defend myself next. So once more, as if these were another set of accusers, let us take up in turn their sworn statement. It is about as follows: it states that Socrates is a wrongdoer because he corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods the state believes in, but in other ' None

4. Plato, Critias, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide, and curses • homicide, and divination • homicide, of kin • homicide, pollution from • homicide, trials for

Found in books: Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 54, 136; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21, 138

^119d ὀρειχαλκίνῃ, ἣ κατὰ μέσην τὴν νῆσον ἔκειτʼ ἐν ἱερῷ Ποσειδῶνος, οἷ δὴ διʼ ἐνιαυτοῦ πέμπτου, τοτὲ δὲ ἐναλλὰξ ἕκτου, συνελέγοντο, τῷ τε ἀρτίῳ καὶ τῷ περιττῷ μέρος ἴσον ἀπονέμοντες, συλλεγόμενοι δὲ περί τε τῶν κοινῶν ἐβουλεύοντο καὶ ἐξήταζον εἴ τίς τι παραβαίνοι, καὶ ἐδίκαζον. ὅτε δὲ δικάζειν μέλλοιεν, πίστεις ἀλλήλοις τοιάσδε ἐδίδοσαν πρότερον. ἀφέτων ὄντων ταύρων ἐν τῷ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερῷ, μόνοι γιγνόμενοι δέκα ὄντες, ἐπευξάμενοι τῷ θεῷ τὸ κεχαρισμένον'^119e αὐτῷ θῦμα ἑλεῖν, ἄνευ σιδήρου ξύλοις καὶ βρόχοις ἐθήρευον, ὃν δὲ ἕλοιεν τῶν ταύρων, πρὸς τὴν στήλην προσαγαγόντες κατὰ κορυφὴν αὐτῆς ἔσφαττον κατὰ τῶν γραμμάτων. ἐν δὲ τῇ στήλῃ πρὸς τοῖς νόμοις ὅρκος ἦν μεγάλας ἀρὰς ἐπευχόμενος τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσιν. ΚΡΙ. ὅτʼ οὖν κατὰ τοὺς ' None

^119d and thither they assembled every fifth year, and then alternately every sixth year—giving equal honor to both the even and the odd—and when thus assembled they took counsel about public affairs and inquired if any had in any way transgressed and gave judgement. And when they were about to give judgement they first gave pledges one to another of the following description. In the sacred precincts of Poseidon there were bulls at large ; and the ten princes, being alone by themselves, after praying to the God that they might capture a victim well-pleasing unto him,'^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 ' None

5. Plato, Laws, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer • phratry, and homicide

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 15; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 202

^871b —ὁ δὲ μὴ ἐπεξιὼν δέον, ἢ μὴ προαγορεύων εἴργεσθαι, τῶν ἐντὸς ἀνεψιότητος, πρὸς ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν προσήκων τῷ τελευτήσαντι, πρῶτον μὲν τὸ μίασμα εἰς αὑτὸν καὶ τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἔχθραν δέχοιτο, ὡς ἡ τοῦ νόμου ἀρὰ τὴν φήμην προτρέπεται, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ὑπόδικος τῷ ἐθέλοντι τιμωρεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τελευτήσαντος γιγνέσθω. ὁ δὲ ἐθέλων τιμωρεῖν, τῶν τε ἐπὶ τούτοις λουτρῶν φυλακῆς πέρι καὶ ὅσων ἂν ἑτέρων'' None

^871b or fails to warn him of the fact that he is thus debarred, if he be of kin to the dead man on either the male or female side, and not further removed than a cousin, shall, first, receive upon himself the defilement and the wrath of the gods, since the curse of the law brings also upon him that of the divine voice, and, secondly, he shall be liable to the action of whosoever pleases to punish him on behalf of the dead man. And he that wishes to punish him shall duly perform all that concerns the observance of the purifications proper therefore, and whatsoever else the god prescribes as lawful in these cases,'' None

6. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 96-101 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 25; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 25

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96 I will tell you what I heard from the god. Phoebus our lord clearly commands us to drive out the defilement which he said was harbored in this land, and not to nourish it so that it cannot be healed. Oedipu ⁹⁹ With what sort of purification? What is the manner of the misfortune? Creon ¹⁰⁰ By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our city. Oedipu'¹⁰¹ By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our city. Oedipu ' None

7. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53

8. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide • asebia (impiety), and homicide • homicide • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide, and religious correctness • miaros (pollution, impurity), and homicide

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 198; Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 38, 43, 46, 123; Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 150; Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 72; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53, 61, 62, 63, 64, 72; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21

9. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 198; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 46

10. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • killer, cf. homicide, murderer

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 197, 198, 199, 217, 553; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 45, 47, 51, 86, 88, 94, 97, 147; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21, 138

11. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 24; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 24

12. Aeschines, Letters, 2.87 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide trials • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide. (cont.), oaths in homicide trials

Found in books: Fletcher (2012), Performing Oaths in Classical Greek Drama, 61; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21, 154, 377

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2.87 Is it not, therefore, an outrage, gentlemen, if one dares utter such lies about a man who is his own—no, I hasten to correct myself, not his own, but your—fellow citizen, when he is in peril of his life? Wisely, indeed, did our fathers prescribe that, in the trials for bloodshed which are held at the Palladion, the one who wins his case must cut in pieces the sacrificial flesh, and take a solemn oath (and the custom of your fathers is in force to this day), affirming that those jurors who have voted on his side have voted what is true and right, and that he himself has spoken no falsehood; and he calls down destruction upon himself and his household, if this be not true, and prays for many blessings for the jurors. A right provision, fellow citizens, and worthy of a democracy.'' None

13. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • killer, cf. homicide, murderer

Found in books: Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 37; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 40

14. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • Homicide • homicide courts • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer

Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43; Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 27, 36, 84, 177

15. None, None, nan (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 25; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 25

16. Plutarch, Solon, 19.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • law,, homicide

Found in books: Raaflaub Ober and Wallace (2007), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, 55; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 234

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19.4 ταῦτα δὴ πάλιν ὡς πρὸ τῆς Σόλωνος ἀρχῆς καὶ νομοθεσίας τὴν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλὴν οὖσαν ἐνδείκνυται. τίνες γὰρ ἦσαν οἱ πρὸ Σόλωνος ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ καταδικασθέντες, εἰ πρῶτος Σόλων ἔδωκε τῇ ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλῇ τὸ κρίνειν; εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία γέγονέ τις ἀσάφεια τοῦ γράμματος ἢ ἔκλειψις, ὥστε τοὺς ἡλωκότας ἐπʼ αἰτίαις αἷς κρίνουσι νῦν οἱ Ἀρεοπαγῖται καὶ ἐφέται καὶ πρυτάνεις, ὅτε ὁ θεσμὸς ἐφάνη ὅδε, μένειν ἀτίμους, τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτίμων γενομένων. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπισκόπει.'' None

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19.4 This surely proves to the contrary that the council of the Areiopagus was in existence before the archonship and legislation of Solon. For how could men have been condemned in the Areiopagus before the time of Solon, if Solon was the first to give the council of the Areiopagus its jurisdiction? Perhaps, indeed, there is some obscurity in the document, or some omission, and the meaning is that those who had been convicted on charges within the cognizance of those who were Areiopagites and ephetai and prytanes when the law was published, should remain disfranchised while those convicted on all other charges should recover their rights and franchises. This question, however, my reader must decide for himself.'' None

17. Aeschines, Or., 2.148
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • homicide • katharos (purity) derivation, and homicide

Found in books: Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 37, 167; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25

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2.148 It is my good fortune, too, that all the members of my mother's family are free-born citizens; and to-day I see her here before my eyes in anxiety and fear for my safety. And yet, Demosthenes, this mother of mine went out to Corinth an exile, with her husband, and shared the disasters of the democracy; but you, who claim to be a man—that you really are a man I should not venture to say—you were once indicted for desertion, and you saved yourself by buying off the man who indicted you, Nicodemus of Aphidna, whom afterward you helped Aristarchus to destroy; wherefore you are polluted, and have no right to be invading the market-place."" None

18. Demosthenes, Orations, 19.71, 19.156, 19.196-19.198, 19.219-19.220, 21.104-21.122, 21.147, 22.2, 23.28, 23.53-23.55, 23.66-23.68, 23.70-23.74, 23.76, 23.78-23.79, 23.81, 24.149-24.151, 43.66, 47.69-47.70, 47.72-47.73, 58.28-58.29
Tagged with subjects: • Athens, homicide laws • Demosthenes, exile of homicide in • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • Homicide • asebia (impiety), and homicide • burial, after homicide • homicide • homicide courts • homicide law • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide trials • homicide trials, oaths in • homicide, and proper respect • homicide, and religious correctness • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • katharos (purity) derivation, and homicide • killer, cf. homicide, murderer • language, on homicide • miaros (pollution, impurity), and homicide • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer • myth, on homicide courts • trials and tribunals, justified homicide

Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 43; Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 18, 197, 198, 650; Martin (2009), Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes, 20, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 167, 211, 262, 278, 279, 280; Meinel (2015), Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy, 69; Mikalson (2010), Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, 140, 151; Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 24, 63; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 24, 63; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 19, 25, 27, 36, 40, 45, 48, 56, 62, 87, 90, 97, 143, 202; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21, 138, 140, 165, 377; Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 135

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19.71 Would you not have acted absurdly and preposterously if today, when the power is in your own hands, you should preclude yourselves from doing what you enjoin, or rather require, the gods to do on your behalf; if you should yourselves release a man whom you have implored them to extirpate along with his household and his kindred? Never! Leave the undetected sinner to the justice of the gods; but about the sinner whom you have caught yourselves, lay no further injunctions on them. ^19.156 Throughout that period Philip was occupying and disposing of Doriscus, Thrace, the Thracian fortresses, the Sacred Mount, and so forth, in spite of the peace and armistice. See Introd. p. 240. All this time I did not spare words; I talked to them first as one communicating his opinion, then as instructing the ignorant, and finally in uncompromising language, as dealing with corrupt and profligate persons. ^19.196 Now let us compare the banquet of Satyrus with another entertainment which these men attended in Macedonia ; and you shall see whether there is any sort of resemblance. These men had been invited to the house of Xenophron, a son of Phaedimus, who was one of the Thirty Tyrants, and off they went; but I declined to go. When the drinking began, Xenophron introduced an Olynthian woman,—a handsome, but a freeborn and, as the event proved, a modest girl. ^19.197 At first, I believe, they only tried to make her drink quietly and eat dessert; so Iatrocles told me the following day. But as the carouse went on, and they became heated, they ordered her to sit down and give them a song. The poor girl was bewildered, for she did not wish, and she did not know how, to sing. Then Aeschines and Phryno declared that it was intolerable impertinence for a captive,—and one of those ungodly, pernicious Olynthians too,—to give herself such airs. Call a servant, they cried; bring a whip, somebody. In came a flunkey with a horsewhip, and—I suppose they were tipsy, and it did not take much to irritate them,when she said something and began to cry, he tore off her dress and gave her a number of lashes on the back. ^19.198 Maddened by these indignities, she jumped to her feet, upset the table, and fell at the knees of Iatrocles. If he had not rescued her, she would have perished, the victim of a drunken orgy, for the drunkenness of this blackguard is something terrible. The story of this girl was told even in Arcadia, at a meeting of the Ten Thousand The Assembly of the Arcadian Confederacy, meeting at Megalopolis . ; it was related by Diophantus at Athens in a report which I will compel him to repeat in evidence; and it was common talk in Thessaly and everywhere. ^19.219 and with foreknowledge on the assurance of your ambassadors that your allies would be ruined, that the Thebans would gain strength, that Philip would occupy the northern positions, that a basis of attack would be established against you in Euboea, and that everything that has in fact resulted would befall you, you thereupon cheerfully made the peace, by all means acquit Aeschines, and do not crown your other dishonors with the sin of perjury. He has done you no wrong, and I am a madman and a fool to accuse him. ^19.220 But if the truth is otherwise, if they spoke handsomely of Philip and told you that he was the friend of Athens, that he would deliver the Phocians, that he would curb the arrogance of the Thebans, that he would bestow on you many boons of more value than Amphipolis, and would restore Euboea and Oropus, if only he got his peace,—if, I say, by such assertions and such promises they have deceived and deluded you, and wellnigh stripped you of all Attica, find him guilty, and do not reinforce the outrages, for I can find no better word,—that you have endured, by returning to your homes laden with the curse and the guilt of perjury, for the sake of the bribes that they have pocketed. ^21.104 But I will now relate a serious act of cruelty committed by him, men of Athens, which I at least regard as not merely a personal wrong but a public sacrilege. For when a grave criminal charge was hanging over that unlucky wretch, Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, at first, Athenians, Meidias went round the Market-place and ventured to spread impious and atrocious statements about me to the effect that I was the author of the deed; next, when this device failed, he went to the relations of the dead man, who were bringing the charge of murder against Aristarchus, and offered them money if they would accuse me of the crime. He let neither religion nor piety nor any other consideration stand in the way of this wild proposal: he shrank from nothing. ^21.105 Nay, he was not ashamed to look even that audience in the face and bring such a terrible calamity upon an innocent man; but having set one goal before him, to ruin me by every means in his power, he thought himself bound to leave no stone unturned, as if it were only right that when any man, having been insulted by him, claimed redress and refused to keep silence, he should be removed by banishment without a chance of escape, should even find himself convicted of desertion, should defend himself on a capital charge, and should be in imminent danger of crucifixion. Yet when Meidias is proved guilty of all this, as well as of his insults when I was chorus-master, what leniency, what compassion shall he deserve at your hands? ^21.106 My own opinion, men of Athens, is that these acts constitute him my murderer; that while at the Dionysia his outrages were confined to my equipment, my person, and my expenditure, his subsequent course of action shows that they were aimed at everything else that is mine, my citizenship, my family, my privileges, my hopes. Had a single one of his machinations succeeded, I should have been robbed of all that I had, even of the right to be buried in the homeland. What does this mean, gentlemen of the jury? It means that if treatment such as I have suffered is to be the fate of any man who tries to right himself when outraged by Meidias in defiance of all the laws, then it will be best for us, as is the way among barbarians, to grovel at the oppressor’s feet and make no attempt at self-defence. ^21.107 However, to prove that my statements are true and that these things have actually been perpetrated by this shameless ruffian, please call the witnesses. The Witnesses We, Dionysius of Aphidna and Antiphilus of Paeania, when our kinsman Nicodemus had met with a violent death at the hands of Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, prosecuted Aristarchus for murder. Learning this, Meidias, who is now being brought to trial by Demosthenes, for whom we appear, offered us small sums of money to let Aristarchus go unharmed, and to substitute the name of Demosthenes in the indictment for murder. Now let me have the law concerning bribery. ^21.108 While the clerk is finding the statute, men of Athens, I wish to address a few words to you. I appeal to all of you jurymen, in the name of Zeus and all the gods, that whatever you hear in court, you may listen to it with this in your minds: What would one of you do, if he were the victim of this treatment, and what anger would he feel on his own account against the author of it? Seriously distressed as I was at the insults that I endured in the discharge of my public service, I am far more seriously distressed and indigt at what ensued. ^21.109 For in truth, what bounds can be set to wickedness, and how can shamelessness, brutality and insolence go farther, if a man who has committed grave-yes, grave and repeated wrongs against another, instead of making amends and repenting of the evil, should afterwards add more serious outrages and should employ his riches, not to further his own interests without prejudice to others, but for the opposite purpose of driving his victim into exile unjustly and covering him with ignominy, while he gloats over his own superabundance of wealth? ^21.110 All that, men of Athens, is just what has been done by Meidias. He brought against me a false charge of murder, in which, as the facts proved, I was in no way concerned; he indicted me for desertion, having himself on three occasions deserted his post; and as for the troubles in Euboea—why, I nearly forgot to mention them!-troubles for which his bosom-friend Plutarchus was responsible, he contrived to have the blame laid at my door, before it became plain to everyone that Plutarchus was at the bottom of the whole business. ^21.111 Lastly, when I was made senator by lot, he denounced me at the scrutiny, and the business proved a very real danger for me; for instead of getting compensation for the injuries I had suffered, I was in danger of being punished for acts with which I had no concern. Having such grievances and being persecuted in the way that I have just described to you, but at the same time being neither quite friendless nor exactly a poor man, I am uncertain, men of Athens, what I ought to do. ^21.112 For, if I may add a word on this subject also, where the rich are concerned, Athenians, the rest of us have no share in our just and equal rights. Indeed we have not. The rich can choose their own time for facing a jury, and their crimes are stale and cold when they are dished up before you, but if any of the rest of us is in trouble, he is brought into court while all is fresh. The rich have witnesses and counsel in readiness, all primed against us; but, as you see, my witnesses are some of them unwilling even to bear testimony to the truth. ^21.113 One might harp on these grievances till one was weary, I suppose; but now recite in full the law which I began to quote. Read. The Law If any Athenian accepts a bribe from another, or himself offers it to another, or corrupts anyone by promises, to the detriment of the people in general, or of any individual citizen, by any means or device whatsoever, he shall be disfranchised together with his children, and his property shall be confiscated. ^21.114 This man, then, is so impious, so abandoned, so ready to say or do anything, without stopping for a moment to ask whether it is true or false, whether it touches an enemy or a friend, or any such question, that after accusing me of murder and bringing that grave charge against me, he suffered me to conduct initiatory rites and sacrifices for the Council, and to inaugurate the victims on behalf of you and all the State; ^21.115 he suffered me as head of the Sacred Embassy to lead it in the name of the city to the Nemean shrine of Zeus; he raised no objection when I was chosen with two colleagues to inaugurate the sacrifice to the Dread Goddesses. The Eumenides (Furies), whose sanctuary was a cave under the Areopagus. Would he have allowed all this, if he had had one jot or tittle of proof for the charges that he was trumping up against me? I cannot believe it. So then this is conclusive proof that he was seeking in mere wanton spite to drive me from my native land. ^21.116 Then, when for all his desperate shifts he could bring none of these charges home to me, he turned informer against Aristarchus, aiming evidently at me. To pass over other incidents, when the Council was in session and was investigating the murder, Meidias came in and cried, Don’t you know the facts of the case, Councillors? Are you wasting time and groping blindly for the murderer, when you have him already in your hands? -meaning Aristarchus. Won’t you put him to death? Won’t you go to his house and arrest him? ^21.117 Such was the language of this shameless and abandoned reptile, though only the day before he had stepped out of Aristarchus’s house, though up till then he had been as intimate with him as anyone could be, and though Aristarchus in the day of his prosperity had often importuned me to settle my suit with Meidias out of court. Now if he said this to the Council, believing that Aristarchus had actually committed the crime which has since proved his ruin, and trusting to the tale told by his accusers, yet even so the speech was unpardonable. ^21.118 Upon friends, if they seem to have done something serious, one should impose the moderate penalty of withdrawing from their friendship; vengeance and prosecution should be left to their victims or their enemies. Yet in a man like Meidias this may be condoned. But if it shall appear that he chatted familiarly under the same roof with Aristarchus, as if he were perfectly innocent, and then uttered those damning charges against him in order to involve me in a false accusation, does he not deserve to be put to death ten times—no! ten thousand times over? ^21.119 I am going to call the witnesses now present in court to prove that my version of the facts is correct; that on the day before he told that tale to the Council, he had entered Aristarchus’s house and had a conversation with him; that on the next day-and this, men of Athens, this for vileness is impossible to beat—he went into his house and sat as close to him as this, and put his hand in his, in the presence of many witnesses, after that speech in the Council in which he had called Aristarchus a murderer and said the most terrible things of him; that he invoked utter destruction on himself if he had said a word in his disparagement; that he never thought twice about his perjury, though there were people present who knew the truth, and he actually begged him to use his influence to bring about a reconciliation with me. ^21.120 And yet, Athenians, must we not call it a crime, or rather an impiety, to say that a man is a murderer and then swear that one has never said this to reproach a man with murder and then sit in the same room with him? And if I let him off now and so stultify your vote of condemnation, I am an innocent man apparently; but if I proceed with my case, I am a deserter, I am accessory to a murder, I deserve extermination. I am quite of the contrary opinion, men of Athens . If I had let Meidias off, then I should have been a deserter from the cause of justice, and I might reasonably have charged myself with murder, for life would have been impossible for me, had I acted thus. ^21.121 And now please call the witnesses to attest the truth of these statements also. The Witnesses We, Lysimachus of Alopece, Demeas of Sunium, Chares of Thoricus, Philemon of Sphetta, Moschus of Paeania, know that at the date when the indictment was presented to the Council charging Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, with the murder of Nicodemus, Meidias, who is now being tried at the suit of Demosthenes, for whom we appear, came before the Council and stated that Aristarchus, and no one else, was the murderer of Nicodemus, and he advised the Council to go to the house of Aristarchus and arrest him. This he said to the Council, having dined on the previous day with Aristarchus in our company. We also know that Meidias, when he came from the Council after making this statement, again entered the house of Aristarchus and shook hands with him and, invoking destruction on his own head, swore that he had said nothing in his disparagement before the Council, and he asked Aristarchus to reconcile Demosthenes to him. ^21.122 Can anything go beyond that? Has there ever been, or could there ever be, baseness to compare with this of Meidias? He felt justified in informing against that unfortunate man, who had done him no wrong—I waive the fact that he was his friend—and at the same time he was begging him to bring about a reconciliation between himself and me; and not content with this, he spent money on an iniquitous attempt to procure my banishment as well as that of Aristarchus. ^21.147 Yet what was his insolence compared with what has been proved of Meidias today? He boxed the ears of Taureas, when the latter was chorus-master. Granted; but it was as chorus-master to chorus-master that he did it, and he did not transgress the present law, for it had not yet been made. Another story is that he imprisoned the painter Agatharchus. Yes, but he had caught him in an act of trespass, or so we are told; so that it is unfair to blame him for that. He was one of the mutilators of the Hermae. All acts of sacrilege, I suppose, ought to excite the same indignation, but is not complete destruction of sacred things just as sacrilegious as their mutilation? Well, that is what Meidias has been convicted of. ^22.2 for he accused me of things that anyone would have shrunk from mentioning, unless he were a man of the same stamp as himself, saying that I had killed my own father. He also concocted a public indictment for impiety, not against me directly, but against my uncle, whom he brought to trial, charging him with impiety for associating with me, as though I had committed the alleged acts, and if it had ended in my uncle’s conviction, who would have suffered more grievously at the defendant’s hands than I? For who, whether friend or stranger, would have consented to have any dealings with me? What state would have admitted within its borders a man deemed guilty of such impiety? Not a single one. ^23.28 When they have got him, they are to be allowed to torture him, or maltreat him, or extort money from him. Yet the next ensuing statute directly and distinctly forbids such treatment even of men convicted and proved to be murderers. Read to the jury the statute that follows. Statute. It shall be lawful to kill i.e. if they resist capture. murderers in our own territory, or to arrest them as directed on the first turning-table, Solon’s laws were inscribed on square tablets, attached (by hinges?) to an upright post. These posts stood in the Agora, accessible to all. but not to maltreat or amerce them, on penalty of a payment of twice the damage inflicted. The Archons, according to their several jurisdictions, shall bring cases into court; for any man who so desires and the court of Heliaea shall adjudicate. ^23.53 Read another statute. Statute If a man kill another unintentionally in an athletic contest, or overcoming him in a fight on the highway, or unwittingly in battle, or in intercourse with his wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter, or concubine kept for procreation of legitimate children, he shall not go into exile as a manslayer on that account. Many statutes have been violated, men of Athens, in the drafting of this decree, but none more gravely than that which has just been read. Though the law so clearly gives permission to slay, and states under what conditions, the defendant ignores all those conditions, and has drawn his penal clause without any suggestion as to the manner of the slaying. ^23.54 Yet mark how righteously and admirably these distinctions are severally defined by the lawgiver who defined them originally. If a man kill another in an athletic contest, he declared him to be not guilty, for this reason, that he had regard not to the event but to the intention of the agent. That intention is, not to kill his man, but to vanquish him unslain. If the other combatant was too weak to support the struggle for victory, he considered him responsible for his own fate, and therefore provided no retribution on his account. ^23.55 Again, if in battle unwittingly —the man who so slays is free of bloodguiltiness. Good: If I have destroyed a man supposing him to be one of the enemy, I deserve, not to stand trial, but to be forgiven. Or in intercourse with his wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter, or concubine kept for the procreation of legitimate children. He lets the man who slays one so treating any of these women go scot-free; and that acquittal, men of Athens, is the most righteous of all. ^23.66 First, then, in ancient times, as we are told by tradition, in this court alone the gods condescended both to render and to demand satisfaction for homicide, and to sit in judgement upon contending litigants,—Poseidon, according to the legend, deigning to demand justice from Ares on behalf of his son Halirrothius, and the twelve gods to adjudicate between the Eumenides and Orestes. These are ancient stories; let us pass to a later date. This is the only tribunal which no despot, no oligarchy, no democracy, has ever dared to deprive of its jurisdiction in cases of murder, all men agreeing that in such cases no jurisprudence of their own devising could be more effective than that which has been devised in this court. In addition to these great merits, here, and here alone, no convicted defendant and no defeated prosecutor has ever made good any complaint against the justice of the verdict given. ^23.67 And so, in defiance of this safeguard of justice, and of the lawful penalties that it awards, the author of this decree has offered to Charidemus a free licence to do what he likes as long as he lives, and to his friends the right of vindictive prosecution when he is dead. For look at it in this light. You are all of course aware that in the Areopagus, where the law both permits and enjoins the trial of homicide, first, every man who brings accusation of such a crime must make oath by invoking destruction upon himself, his kindred, and his household; ^23.68 econdly, that he must not treat this oath as an ordinary oath, but as one which no man swears for any other purpose; for he stands over the entrails of a boar, a ram, and a bull, and they must have been slaughtered by the necessary officers and on the days appointed, so that in respect both of the time and of the functionaries every requirement of solemnity has been satisfied. Even then the person who has sworn this tremendous oath does not gain immediate credence; and if any falsehood is brought home to him, he will carry away with him to his children and his kindred the stain of perjury,—but gain nothing. ^23.70 Now why is that so, men of Athens ? Because they who originally ordained these customs, whoever they were, heroes or gods, did not treat evil fortune with severity, but humanely alleviated its calamities, so far as they honestly could. All those regulations, so nobly and equitably conceived, the author of the decree now in question has manifestly infringed, for not a single shred of them is to be found in his decree.—That is my first point: here is one tribunal whose written laws and unwritten usages he has contravened in drafting his decree. ^23.71 Secondly, there is another tribunal, the court by the Palladium, for the trial of involuntary homicide; and it shall be shown that he nullifies that tribunal also, and transgresses the laws there observed. Here also the order is first the oath-taking, secondly the pleadings, and thirdly the decision of the court; and not one of these processes is found in the defendant’s decree. If the culprit be convicted, and found to have committed the act, neither the prosecutor nor any other person has any authority over him, but only the law. And what does the law enjoin? ^23.72 That the man who is convicted of involuntary homicide shall, on certain appointed days, leave the country by a prescribed route, and remain in exile until he is reconciled to one of the relatives of the deceased. Then the law permits him to return, not casually, but in a certain manner; it instructs him to make sacrifice and to purify himself, and gives other directions for his conduct. In all these provisions, men of Athens, the law is right. ^23.73 It is just to allot a lesser penalty for involuntary than for willful homicide; it is quite right, before ordering a man to go into exile, to provide for his safe departure; and the provisions for the reinstatement of the returning exile, for his purification by customary rites, and so forth, are excellent. Well, everyone of these ordices, so righteously enacted by the original legislators, has been transgressed by the defendant in drafting his decree. So we have now two tribunals, of great antiquity and high character, and usages handed down from time immemorial, which he has insolently overridden. ^23.74 Besides these two tribunals there is also a third, whose usages are still more sacred and awe-inspiring, for cases in which a man admits the act of slaying, but pleads that he slew lawfully. That is the court held at the Delphinium. It appears to me, gentlemen of the jury, that the first inquiry made by those who originally defined the rules of jurisprudence in these matters was, whether we are to regard no act of homicide as righteous, or whether any kind of homicide is to be accounted righteous; and that, arguing that Orestes, having slain his own mother, confessing the fact, and finding gods to adjudge his case, was acquitted, they formed the opinion that there is such thing as justifiable homicide,—for gods could not have given an unjust verdict. Having formed this opinion, they immediately set down in writing an exact definition of the conditions under which homicide is lawful. ^23.76 There is also a fourth tribunal, that at the Prytaneum. Its function is that, if a man is struck by a stone, or a piece of wood or iron, or anything of that sort, falling upon him, and if someone, without knowing who threw it, knows and possesses the implement of homicide, he takes proceedings against these implements in that court. Well, if it is not righteous to deny a trial even to a lifeless and senseless thing, the object of so grave an accusation, assuredly it is impious and outrageous that a man who may possibly be not guilty, and who in any case,—and I will assume him to be guilty,—is a human being endowed by fortune with the same nature as ourselves, should be made an outcast on such a charge without a hearing and without a verdict. ^23.78 he found a way of satisfying the requirements of religion without depriving the culprit of a fair hearing and a trial. How did he manage it? He conveyed the judges who were to sit to a place to which the accused was able to repair, appointing a place within the country but on the sea-coast, known as the precinct of Phreatto. The culprit approaches the shore in a vessel, and makes his speech without landing, while the judges listen to him and give judgement on shore. If found guilty, the man suffers the penalty of willful murder as he deserves; if acquitted, he goes his way scot-free in respect of that charge, but still subject to punishment for the earlier homicide. ^23.79 Now with what object have these regulations been made so carefully? The man who drew them up accounted it equally irreligious to let slip the guilty, and to cast out the innocent before trial. But if such great pains are taken in the case of persons already adjudged to be homicides, to ensure for them a hearing, a trial, and fair treatment in every respect upon any subsequent accusation, surely it is most outrageous to provide that a man who has not yet been found guilty, and of whom it is still undecided whether he committed the act or not, and whether the act was involuntary or willful, should be handed over to the mercy of his accusers. ^24.149 The Oath of the Heliasts I will give verdict in accordance with the statutes and decrees of the People of Athens and of the Council of Five-hundred. I will not vote for tyranny or oligarchy. If any man try to subvert the Athenian democracy or make any speech or any proposal in contravention thereof I will not comply. I will not allow private debts to be cancelled, nor lands nor houses belonging to Athenian citizens to be redistributed. I will not restore exiles or persons under sentence of death. I will not expel, nor suffer another to expel, persons here resident in contravention of the statutes and decrees of the Athenian People or of the Council. ^24.150 I will not confirm the appointment to any office of any person still subject to audit in respect of any other office, to wit the offices of the nine Archons or of the Recorder or any other office for which a ballot is taken on the same day as for the nine Archons, or the office of Marshal, or ambassador, or member of the Allied Congress. I will not suffer the same man to hold the same office twice, or two offices in the same year. I will not take bribes in respect of my judicial action, nor shall any other man or woman accept bribes for me with my knowledge by any subterfuge or trick whatsoever. ^24.151 I am not less than thirty years old. I will give impartial hearing to prosecutor and defendant alike, and I will give my verdict strictly on the charge named in the prosecution. The juror shall swear by Zeus, Poseidon, and Demeter, and shall invoke destruction upon himself and his household if he in any way transgress this oath, and shall pray that his prosperity may depend upon his loyal observance thereof. The oath, gentlemen of the jury, does not contain the words I will not imprison any Athenian citizen. The courts alone decide every question brought to trial; and they have full authority to pass sentence of imprisonment, or any other sentence they please. ^43.66 (To the clerk.) Now please read the words of the oracle brought from Delphi, from the shrine of the god, that you may see that it speaks in the same terms concerning relatives as do the laws of Solon. Oracle May good fortune attend you. The people of the Athenians make inquiry about the sign which has appeared in the heavens, asking what the Athenians should do, or to what god they should offer sacrifice or make prayer, in order that the issue of the sign may be for their advantage. It will be well for the Athenians with reference to the sign which has appeared in the heavens that they sacrifice with happy auspices to Zeus most high, to Athena most high, to Heracles, to Apollo the deliverer, and that they send due offerings to the Amphiones; Possibly, Amphion and Zethus; but their tomb was near Thebes . See Paus. 9.17.4 that they sacrifice for good fortune to Apollo, god of the ways, to Leto and to Artemis, and that they make the streets steam with the savour of sacrifice; that they set forth bowls of wine and institute choruses and wreathe themselves with garlands after the custom of their fathers, in honor of all the Olympian gods and goddesses, lifting up the right hand and the left, and that they be mindful to bring gifts of thanksgiving after the custom of their fathers. And ye shall offer sacrificial gifts after the custom of your fathers to the hero-founder after whom ye are named; and for the dead their relatives shall make offerings on the appointed day according to established custom. ^47.69 On my answering them, Both, they said to me, Very well, we will interpret for you the law, and also give you advice to your profit. In the first place, if there be anyone related to the woman, let him carry a spear when she is borne forth to the tomb and make solemn proclamation at the tomb, and thereafter let him guard the tomb for the space of three days. And this is the advice which we give you: since you were not yourself present, but only your wife and your children, and since you have no other witnesses, we advise you not to make proclamation against anyone by name, but in general against the perpetrators and the murderers; ^47.70 and again not to institute suit before the king. That is, the king-archon; cf. Dem. 43.42 and Dem. 43.43 For that course is not open to you under the law, since the woman is not a relative of yours nor yet a servant, according to your own statement; and it is to relatives or to masters that the law appoints the duty of prosecuting. If, then, you should take the oath at the Palladium, The Palladium (properly a statue of Pallas) was the name of the place where the court of the ἐφέται held its sessions. On this court see Dem. 43.57, with the note. yourself and your wife and your children, and imprecate curses upon yourselves and your house, you will lose the goodwill of many, and if your opponent is acquitted, you will be thought to have committed perjury, and if you convict him, you will he an object of malice. No, after you have performed the proper religious rites to cleanse yourself and your house, bear your misfortune with such patience as you can, and, if you choose, avenge yourself in some other way. ^47.72 For the law, men of the jury, ordains that prosecution shall be by relatives within the degree of children of cousins; and that in the oath inquiry shall be made as to what the relationship is, even if the victim be a servant; and it is from these persons that criminal actions shall proceed. But the woman was in no way related to me by blood, she had only been my nurse; nor again was she a servant; for she had been set free by my father, and she lived in a separate house, and had taken a husband.

47.73 Now, to tell a false story to you and support it by an oath with imprecations on myself, my son, and my wife, was a thing I dared not do, even if I knew well that I should convict these men; for I do not hate them as much as I love myself. But that you may hear this not merely from my own lips, the clerk shall read you the law itself. The Law ^58.28 To prove these facts there is no need of my calling witnesses before you, for you all know that in the archonship of Lyciscus That is, in 343 B.C. the Thesmothetae were deposed from office by vote of the popular assembly because of Theocrines. Remembering this, you ought to assume that he is no different now from what he was then. Not long after he was removed from office, when his brother died by a violent death, Theocrines showed himself so utterly heartless toward him that, when he had made inquiry concerning those who had done the deed, and had learned who they were, he accepted a bribe, and let the matter drop. That is, he accepted the blood-price instead of bringing the murderers to justice. ^58.29 His brother at the time of his death held the office of sacrificer, and this office Theocrines continued to fill in defiance of the laws, without having been designated by lot to assume the office or to fill the vacancy. He went around bewailing his brother’s fate and declaring that he was going to summon Demochares before the Areopagus, until he made terms with those charged with the crime. An honorable man is he indeed, one whom you can trust, a man quite above the appeal of money! Why, even he would not claim that. Men say that whoever means to administer public affairs with justice and moderation should not have so many wants, but should be superior to all those things which lead people to spend on themselves all that they receive.' ' None

19. Epigraphy, Ig I , 104
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • homicide • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer • phratry, and homicide

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 13, 16; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 34, 36

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104 Diognetos of Phrearrhioi was secretary. Decree of 409/8 Diokles was archon (409/8). The Council and the People decided. AkamantisV was in prytany. Diognetos was secretary. Euthydikos was chairman. –phanes proposed: (5) the inscribers or writers-up (anagraphes) of the laws shall inscribe (anagraphsanton) Draco’s law on homicide, taking it over from the king (basileos), with the secretary of the Council, on a stone stele and set it down in front of the royal stoa (stoas tes basileias). The official sellers (poletai) shall make the contract in accordance with the law, and the Greek treasurers (hellenotamiai) shall provide the money. “Draco’s law” (10) First axon. And or Even if anybody kills anybody not from forethought, he shall be exiled. The kings (basileas) shall pronounce responsible (dikazen) for homicide the one who himself killed or the one? who planned it; the appeal judges (ephetas) shall decide it (diagnonai). There shall be reconciliation (aidesasthai), if there are a father or brother or sons, to be granted by all, or the objector shall prevail. If these (15) do not exist, then as far as cousinhood and cousin, if they are all willing to grant reconciliation, or the objector shall prevail. If none of these exists but he killed unwillingly and the fifty-one appeal judges (ephetai) decide that he killed unwillingly, let ten members of the phratry allow him to enter if they are willing: let these be chosen by the fifty-one on the basis of their excellence (aristinden). And those who killed (20) previously shall be liable to this ordice. There shall be a proclamation against the killer in the agora by those as far as cousinhood and cousin; there shall join in the prosecution cousins and cousins’ sons and brothers-in-law and fathers-in-law and phratry members . . . is responsible for homicide . . . the fifty- (25) one . . . convict of homicide . . . If anybody kills a killer, or is responsible for his being killed, when he is keeping away from a frontier market and Amphiktyonic contests and rites, he shall be liable to the same things as for killing an Athenian; the appeal judges (ephetas) shall decide . . . (36) . . . he is a free man. And if he kills a man by defending immediately when the man is forcibly and unjustly taking and removing, that man shall have been killed without penalty . . . . . . (56) Second axon. . . . text from Attic Inscriptions Online, IG I³
104 - Decree to republish Draco’s law on homicide '' None

20. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 33; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 33

21. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • homicide • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 13; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 36

22. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Homicide • homicide trials, oaths in • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer

Found in books: Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53, 64; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53, 64; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 202; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 21

23. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • homicide • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer • phratry, and homicide

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 13, 16; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 25, 34, 36

24. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Draco, cf. homicide statute/law • Homicide • homicide • homicide statute/law, cf. Draco • homicide/murder, cf. killer, murderer • killer, cf. homicide, murderer • murder, cf. homicide murderer, cf. homicide, killer

Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 54, 55, 197, 198, 199, 553; Papaioannou et al. (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Papaioannou, Serafim and Demetriou (2021), Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome, 53; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 19, 36, 38, 43, 53, 54

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