The Athenian Agora : results of excavations conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens vol 28

309 Pages·1995·7.529 MB·English

THE ATHENIANA GORA
RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS
CONDUCTED BY
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
VOLUMEX XVIII
THE LAWCOURTSAT ATHENS
SITES, BUILDINGS, EQUIPMENT,
PROCEDURE, AND TESTIMONIA
BY
ALAN L. BOEGEHOLD
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
JOHN MCK. CAMPI I, MARGARETC ROSBYM, ABELL ANG,
DAVIDR .J ORDAN,A ND RHYSF . TOWNSEND
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
1995
Library of Congress Catalogag-*i-Publication Data
Boegehold, Alan L (Alan Lindley)
The lawcourtsa t Athens: sites, buildings,e quipment,p rocedure,a nd testimonia
/ by Alan L. Boegehold with contributionsb yJohn McK. Camp II... [et al.].
p. cm. - (AthenianA gora; v. 28)
Includesb ibliographicalr eferencesa nd index.
ISBN 0-87661-228-1 (hc. : allk paper)
1. Courts-Greece-Athens-History. 2. Courthouses-Greece-Athens-
History. 3. Procedure (Law)-Greece-Athens-History. 4. Athens (Greece)-
Antiquities. 5. Athens (Greece)-Buildings, structures,e tc. I. Title. II. Series
KL4115.A75B64 1995
347.495' 1201--dc20
[344.9512071] 95-18926
CIP
) American School of ClassicalS tudies at Athens 1995
TYPOGRAPHY BY THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES PUBLICATIONS OFFICE
C/O INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
PLATES BY THE STINEHOUR PRESS, LUNENBURG, VERMONT
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE JOHN D. LUCAS PRINTING COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
For J. E. M. B.
PREFACE
THE PRESENT STUDY is intended to describe and identify objects, buildings, and sites
that Athenians used in connection with their lawcourts, especially during the 5th and 4th
centuries B.C.E. but also during the early 3rd century. The organizationo f the book is as follows.
There are three parts.
In PartI , Chapter 1, names of courtsa re analyzed. There are twenty-fives uch names, excepting
those of homicide courts, and a study of them all in context shows not surprisinglyt hat Athenians
had more than one name for some of their courts. If in fact all possible instances of polyonymy
are authentic, there turn out to have been not twenty-fivec ourts, that is, one for each preserved
name, but perhapsa s few as ten or twelve in all. These ten or twelve, moreover,w ere not all in use in
the same period. Between, say, 422 and 322 B.C.E., no matter how one segments the whole span,
there may have been functioningw ithin any of the periodsc reatedt herebyn o more than four or five
courts.
In Chapter 2, names of courts and structuresp lausibly identified as courts are reviewed and
possibilitieso f identificatione xplored. In Chapter 3, a prehistoryo f Athenian courts is hypothesized
in a sketch in which the original meaning of "heliaia"i s discussed. There follows in Chapter 4 a
schematic presentation of three representativec ourt days. The first is from an early time in the
history of the courts, namely 460 (roughly)t o 410/9 B.C.E. (pp. 23-30). A second is from a middle
time, 410-340 B.C.E. (pp. 30-36). A thirdi s from a late time, 340 to 322 B.C.E. (pp. 36-41). This last,
however,i s not the latest, and a note added as epilogue surveysv ariousf unctionso f popularc ourtsa t
Athens from 322 until 106 B.C.E. I emphasize the word "schematic"b ecause for practicallya ny
single proceduralf unction, there are attestede xceptions,v ariations,a nd alternatives.I n Chapter 5
there is a brief resume of sites, equipment, and procedurei n the Athenian homicide courts.
In Part II, an introductioni s followed by seven chapters,e ach consistingo f both an essay that
defines and sets in context one kind of object associatedw ith court proceduresa nd a catalogue that
lists all examples of that object found in excavations of the Agora. The order of presentationi n
Part II approximatest he order in which the objectsi n questionm ight appear or be used on a court
day. The first item, a lead curse tablet, would, one supposes, have been consigned to its proper
destination a day or so before the trial whose outcome it was to influence. Dikastic pinakia, of
which there are twenty-four,a re next, followed by a kleroterion( one) and balls (nine of bronze
and one of terracotta),b ronze tokens (fifty-eight)a, klepsydra( one), an echinos (one), and bronze
and lead ballots (fifty-four).N ext, a catalogue of court sites includes brief descriptionso f sites in
and around Athens that have been identifiedw ith varying degrees of plausibilitya s places where
courtsm et, both popular and homicide courts. In addition,a ll ways of referringt o Athenian courts,
whether formal or casual, are included in the same list, and various putative identificationso f sites
and building remains are assessed. Two essays follow, one presenting a description in detail of
the Square Peribolos (which has more or less regularlyb een called Heliaia in the past), the other,
descriptionsi n detail of variousb uilding remainsu nder the Stoa of Attalos.
The volume concludesw ith a catalogueo f 355 testimoniat aken from literaturea nd inscriptions
and cited here by catalogue number in bold font. The major headings are general lists of courts,
homicide courts, popular courts, architecturalr equirements,a nd equipment. This collection, the
viii
PREFACE
heart of the book, attests the use and identity of sites and objects used in the courts. Its scope
and limits can be exemplifiedb y two passagesf rom 4th-centuryo rators. Aischines 3.55-56 (229)
is included because, in alluding to an audience that stands outside the court, he helps to situate
material resources and equipment. [Demosthenes] 25.98, on the other hand, tells us principally
that there were foreignersa nd metoikoi among the bystanders. This is welcome information,b ut
because it does not help to define or limit an area or structure,i t is not included as a testimonium.
In studyingt hese texts I have undertakenv arious new interpretationsa nd assessments.S ome I
have publishede lsewhere;o thers appearh ere as commentaryt o the testimoniumi n question. A few
others are apparent as they are employed in discussion. I note the existence of new interpretations
here because they are points at which studentsm ay want to concentratet heir criticale nergies. The
numbers are as follows: 1, 5, 14, 21, 64, 65, 70-75, 81, 82, 84, 93, 104-111, 148, 176-185,
255-277, 283, 288-305, 317, and 341-349.
Detailed informationc oncerningv arietya nd densityo f laws,p rocedures,a lternativep rocedures,
modifications,a nd manoeuvresh as continued to accumulate,t hanks to major studies produced in
this century. There is first the great compendium of Lipsius, whose good sense in evaluating
literary sources continues in many cases to be paradigmatic. Other studies provide instruction
concerning special topics, those by G. M. Calhoun, Gustav Colin, Hildebrecht Hommel, Robert
Bonner and Gertrude Smith, Louis Gernet, H. T. Wade-Gery, Sterling Dow, Charles Hignett,
A. R. W Harrison, H. J. Wolff, Martin Ostwald, EberhardR uschenbusch,E . S. Staveley, D. M.
MacDowell, John Triantaphyllopoulos,G . E. M. de Ste. Croix, Anthony Andrewes,J ohn Kroll,
PeterR hodes, Michael Gagarin,R aphael Sealey,M ogens Hansen, MortimerH . Chambers,R onald
Stroud, Sally Humphreys,a nd Robert Wallace.
The present essay differs from earlier studies in its systematic consideration of the material
evidence and in the dates used as markers. Earlier studies had to be based almost exclusively
on literary evidence because most of the relevant material evidence was lacking, and even until
now most has been inaccessiblet o a wide public. Lipsiusd ivided the history of Athenian lawcourt
procedure roughly into that of the 5th and that of the 4th century. Hommel (1927, pp. 107-135)
divided the history into three epochs (Hauptepocheonn),e beginning at a time he does not define
and ending in 403/2, another lasting from 402 until 378/7, and a third, that of Aristotle,A th. Pol.
63-69, beginning in 378/7 (followingK eil 1902, p. 266) and ending in 322. Bonner and Smith
(1928, pp. 372-374) reaffirmH ommel's scheme. Harrison himself (1971, pp. 239-241), without
committingt o the whole scheme, accepts datesl ike 403/2 and 378/7 as markingi mportantc hanges,
while objecting properly to Isokrates7 .54 as establishinga ny real boundary. Bonner and Smith
in addition cite 346 B.C.E. as approximatelyt he time when the organizationd escribedb y Aristotle
came into being at Athens. MacDowell (1978, pp. 297-254) distinguishess ome 5th- and 4th-century
procedures. All these dates have their uses in discussionso f Athenian constitutions,a nd yet a case
can be made for citing other dates and for using them as signs along a continuousw ay rathert han as
beginningsa nd ends of eras or epochs.
If an era can be said to have commenced, the time would have been when large panels of judges
were instituteda t Athens, whether it was Solon who was responsible,a s Athenianso f the 4th century
B.C.E. and after believed, or someone later. The appointmento f dikastsb y lot, the use of the secret
ballot, and payment for dikasts,a ll fundamentallyi mportant developments, came next, either all
together or at least within a few years of each other. By mid-5th century B.C.E., that is, some time
not long after Ephialtes' reforms in 462, these four features, viz., large judging panels, allotment
of dikasts,p ay for dikasts,a nd the secretb allot, were the bases of the Athenianp opular court system.
ix
PREFACE
All other documented changes, whether they were new legislationo r proceduralm odifications,a re
best regardeda s ways to improvec rowdc ontrola nd to preservet he integrityo f allotmentp rocedures
and the secret ballot.
The foregoing general observationsf orm, when taken all together,a guiding assumptioni n the
essay on representativec ourt days. Admittedly,o ne can compose an account of court procedure
wherein the changes and modificationst hat seem most telling are pegged to major constitutional
changes. The method is old and known and approved. In fact the year 410/9, because so many
major innovationsc an be associatedw ith programsf ollowingt he reestablishmento f the democracy,
marks the end of one period and the beginning of another in the essay under consideration. But
overall a somewhat looser structure,o ne where most changes can be regarded as the result of one
man's or a committee'sp erceptiono f need, may producea bettera ccount of what actuallyh appened.
It was not necessaryf or a whole constitutiont o be changedi n ordert o modifyo perationalp rocedures.
ProfessorS terling Dow, supervisoro f my doctoral dissertationa t Harvard University,s tarted
me on a study of the courts in 1955 by turning over to me three looseleaf notebooks full of
analyses, queries, abstracts, hypotheses, and citations he had collected in some twenty years of
study. During my student years and after at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens,
Eugene Vanderpoola nd Homer Thompson instructedm e in the study of monumentsa nd sites, and
Homer Thompson entrustedm e with the present publicationo f dikasticm aterial from the Agora
Excavations. Margaret Crosby at the time of her death in 1972 had already collected, translated,
and put in orderw ith explanatorye ssays3 25 literarya nd epigraphicalt estimonia,a n essentiall abor,
which I have supplementedb y revisingm ost of her texts and translations,a dding testimonia, and
rewritingo r reworkinge ssays. At the same time, Mabel Lang had already completed catalogues
and introductorye ssays for pinakia, ballots, bronze balls, and klepsydraw ith an essay introducing
the dikastic small finds generally. She also directed my attention to the lid of the echinos. For
permissiont o publisht his lid, I thankT . Leslie Shear,Jr.,t he Director of the Agora Excavationsu ntil
1994. My own contribution,b esides work with the testimonia,h as been to assemblep utative court
sites and court names, suggest which courts were in use at given times, and create a context for
sites and objects by composing three schematic court days. I have also catalogued and discussed
the echinos and the dikasticb ronze tokens and edited the whole. In this last capacity,I welcome
David Jordan's publication of an Athenian dikasticc urse tablet, Rhys Townsend's descriptiono f
building remains under the Stoa of Attalos, and John Camp's descriptiono f the peribolos in the
southwestc orner of the Agora.
I gratefullya cknowledge help in the preparationo f this book from the following friends and
colleagues,w ho have given me advice, learning,v aluableo bservations,a nd criticism:E rnstB adian,
Geoffrey Bakewell,J udith Binder,N ancy Bookidis,D ietrich von Bothmer,W illiam M. Calder III,
Abigail Camp, John Camp, Mortimer H. Chambers, Guy Cooper, Margaret Crosby, Carolyn
Dewald, William Bell Dinsmoor,Jr.,S terlingD ow, Thomas Drew-Bear,C olin Edmonson, Charles
Fornara,A lison Frantz,V irginia Grace, ChristianH abicht, Mogens Hansen, Evelyn B. Harrison,
Joanne Heffelfinger,R . Ross Holloway,G eorge L. Huxley, Henry Immerwahr,JohnK eaney, Peter
Kalligas, Fred Kleiner,D avid Konstan,John Kroll, Hugh Lloyd-Jones,D ouglas MacDowell, Craig
Mauzy, Fordyce Mitchel, Harry Pleket, W Kendrick Pritchett, Kurt Raaflaub, Peter Rhodes,
Susan Rotroff, Adele Scafuro, Raphael Sealey, T. Leslie Shear,J r., Marian Hartman Shotwell,
James Sickinger,R onald Stroud, Richard Swartz, Lucy Talcott, Leslie Threatte, Gerald Toomer,
Rhys Townsend, Homer A. Thompson, Wesley Thompson, Stephen Tracy, Eugene Vanderpool,
Robert Vincent, Alan Walker,C harles K. Williams, II, and WilliEam. Wyatt, Jr. In addition I
x PREFACE
thank Elli Mylonas, GwendolynJones,T homas Pirrelli,N ancy Evans, CatherineT origian, Frances
Eisenhauer,R uthann Whitten, and Walter Stevenson for help with preparationo f the manuscript,
and Paul Langmuir for his drawing of Figure 1. Marian McAllister, Nancy Moore, Elizabeth
Bobrick,a nd Kathleen Krattenmakerh ave each made superiore ditorialc ontributionsa t different
stages of the work.
I also record indebtedness to the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, the
AmericanC ouncil of LearnedS ocieties,t he National Endowmentf or the Humanities,t he American
School of Classical Studies, and Brown University for grants of time and money that enabled me
to work in Athens.
Mando Karamessini-Oikonomidoua nd Ioannis Touratsoglouo f the Numismatic Museum of
Greece, H.-D. Schultz of the Mtinzkabinett,S taatlicheM useen zu Berlin,D ominique Guerin of the
Cabinet des Medailles, BibliothequeN ationale, Anne Kromann of the Mont-Og Medaillesamling,
Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen, Martin Price of the Department of Coins and Medals, the British
Museum, and Dr. Bernhard Overbeck of the Staatliche Minzsammlung, Munich, were friendly
and generous in their responsest o my requestsf or casts and for informationc oncerning tokens.
A version of the chapter "Three Court Days" has had the benefit of informed discussion
at a meeting of the Gesellschaft fur griechische und hellenistische Rechtsgeschichte, held at
Asilomar, California in September 1990. That version, which is without footnotes, appears
as "Three Court Days" in Symposio1n9 90. Vortrdgzue r griechischeunn dh ellenistischRene chtsgeschichte,
Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 1991, pp. 165-182.
ALAN L. BOEGEHOLD
Providence,R I
November 1994
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .................................v............................................... i
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................. x v
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................... xvi
GLOSSARY .................................xx
PART I. HISTORYA NDA NALYSISb, yA lanL Boegehold. ........................................ 1
1. NOMENCLATUR...E.. ............................................................. 3
HOMICIDCEO URTS. ............................................................. 3
POPULARC OURTS ...................................................... 3
HE LIAIA. .................................................................... 5
OD EION ..................................................................... 6
PARABYSTOANN DT RIGONON... ................................................ 6
PHOINIKIOUN(R ED) AND BATRACHIOU(NG REEN)C OURTS ........................... 8
SUMMARY .......................................................... 9
2. STRUCTURETSH ATC ANB E INTERPRETEADSL AWCOURT..S.. ......................... 10
SQUARPEE RISTYL...E.. ................................................ 15
3. HELIASTICC OURTSB EFORE4 62 B.C.E. .............................................. 17
4. THREEC OURTD AYS ............................................................. 21
460 TO CA.4 10 B.C.E ..................................................... 23
410-340 B.C.E... .................................................... 30
CA3. 40-322 B.C.E ...................................................... 36
A FTER3 22 B.C.E. .............................................................. 41
5. PROCEDUREE, QUIPMENTA, ND SITESO F HOMICIDEC OURTS ............................ 43
AREOPAGO.S... ..................................................... 44
PALLADIO.N... ..................................................... 47
DELPHINIO.N... ..................................................... 48
PHREATTO... ................................................................. 49
PRYTANEIO..N... ................................................... 50
PART
II. EQUIPMENFTU, RNISHINGASN, DB UILDING.S.. ...................................... 51
A. SMALLF INDS ASSOCIATEDw iTH TRIALS, byM abelL ang .................................... 53
6. CURSE TABLET, byD avidR . Jordan ....................................... ....... 55
CATALOGU.E... ................................................. ... 56
7. KLEROTERIONb, yA lan L Boegehold. ................................................ 58
C ATALOGU.E... ............................................................... 58
8. PINAKIAby, M a belL ang ........................................................... 59
C ATALOGU.E... ............................................................... 61
9. BALLS,b yM a belL ang ............................................................. 65
C ATALOGU.E... ............................................................... 66
Xi TABLEO F CONTENTS
10. BRONZTEo KENsb, yA lanL Boegehold... .......................... ............... 67
SEUESA -E ...6......... ............................................. . 69
SSEEARmISE FFS--J J .7...0.. ........................................ ....................... 70
CHRONOLOGY.. ............................................................... 71
CATALOGUE. .................................................................. 72
11. KLEPSYDRbAyM , abelL ng .. .... .......... ........... .... 77
C ATALOGU.E... ............................................................... 78
12. ECHINOSb,y A lan L Boegehold. ..................................................... 79
CATALOGU.E... ...............................................................80
13. BALLOTSb,y M a bel ng ............................. ........ ......................82
C ATALOGU.E... ............................................................... 87
B. COURT SITES, by Alan L Boegeold ......................... .. ... ...................91
14. SQUAREP ERIBOLObSy, ohnM cK. CampI I ...........................................99
CHRONOLOG.Y... ............................................................ 100
M ODIFICATION...S.. ......................................................... 101
IDENTIFICATIAONND F UNCTION... ............................................. 103
15. THE SQUAREP ERISTYLAEN DI TSP REDECESSObRyS R, hysE Townsend.. ................. 104
BUILDINGA .................................................................. 104
BUILDINGB .................................................................. 106
BU DINGC .................................................................. 106
BUnIuN GD .................................................................. 107
BUILDINEG .. ................................................................ 108
SQUAREP ERISTYL.E... ..................................................108
FUNCTION. ................................................................... 110
PART III. TESTnMONIbAy,A lanL Boegeholadn dM argareCt rosby.. ............................ 117
G ENERAL. ......................................................................... 118
THE HOMICIDCEO URTS ............................................................. 121
G ENERAL .................................................................... 121
THE COURT OF THEA REOPAGOS. ............................................... 126
THE COURTA TD ELPHINION... ................................................ 135
THE COURTA T PALLADION. ................................................... 139
THEC OURTIN P HREATT.O... ................................................. 146
THE COURTA T THEP RYTANEIO.N... ........................................... 148
THEC OURITN Z EA ........................................................... 150
THE HELIAJAA ND THE OTHER DIKASTICC OURTS ....................................... 150
G ENERAL .................................................................... 152
THEH ELLAI.A... ............................................................. 162
OTHER BUILDINGSU SED BY DIKASTICP ANELS .................................... 173
DIKASTERIA..(.?..). .......................................................... 186
ARCHITECTURRAELQ UIREMEN.T...S.. ................................................ 192
STRUCTURES FOR THE AUDIENCE OR SPECTATORS .................................. 192
KmIKLISA ND DRYPHAKTO(IG ATESA NDmFE NCE) ................................... 195
THE BEMA ................................................................... 201
TABLE OF CONTENTS xmii
SEATINGA RRANGEMENTS.. .................................................... 205
TAD KSTERA (A COURTC OMPLEX). ............................................. 206
COURTE QUIPMENr:M INOR MOVABLEO BJECTS ........................................ 208
EQUIPMENTU SED IN VOTING: URNS, BALLOTSA, ND TRAYS ........................ 209
EcHI os ..................................................................... 222
K LEPSYDRA... ............................................................... 226
KLEROTERIO..N.. ............................................................ 230
PINAKION. ................................................................... 234
SAwDES(NOTICBEO ARDS).. .................................................... 236
THE DIKASTInBcA TEIA (STAFF)A NDS YMBOLON.. ................................. 237
TABLETA ND STYLUS .......................................................... 239
DEPOSITL IST .......................................................................... 243
CONCORDANCES
CATALOGUEDO BJECTS. ............................................................. 245
T ESTIMONI.A... ................................................................... 246
INDEX ................................................................................ 251
FIGURES
PLATES