The Litigious Athenian

328 Pages·1998·4.745 MB·English

by  Matthew R. Christ

Ancient Society and History
MATTHEW R. CHRIST
The
Litigious
Athenian
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore and London
© 1998 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 1998
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., London
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data will be found
at the end of this book
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-8018-5863-1
To Robert I. Christ, 1927-1995

Contents
Acknowledgments 1x
Abbreviations x1
Introduction
Litigiousness, Ancient and Modem 1
One
Litigation in Democratic Athens 14
Two
The Invention of Sykophancy:
Idea and Ideology 48
Three
Litigation and Class Conflict 72
Four
Public Suits and Volunteer Prosecutors 118
Five
Private Quarrels and Public Disputes: Quarrelsomeness
and Community Ideals 160
Contents
Six
Beyond the Letter of the Law 193
Conclusion 225
Notes 229
Select Bibliography 2 77
Index of Ancient Citations 297
General Index 308
viii
Acknowledgments
A fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies and a
research grant from Indiana University in 1994-95 made it pos
sible for me to do much of the work for this book. While on leave in
Washington, D.C., during that year, I benefited from access to the
library at the Center for Hellenic Studies, and appreciated the hos
pitality of the Center's directors, Kurt Raaflaub and Deborah
Boedeker; Raymond and Dorothy Goodman generously provided
me with a peaceful garret and an endless supply of coffee. I am
grateful to my colleagues, Cynthia Bannon, James Franklin, Wil
liam Hansen, and Eleanor Leach, for their kindness and support; to
Adele Scafuro for sharing with me the proofs of her forthcoming
book; and to Douglas Armato and Brian MacDonald at the Johns
Hopkins University Press. I wish to extend special thanks to Ed
ward Harris, Steven Johnstone, S. Douglas Olson, and the press's
anonymous reader for their helpful criticisms of earlier versions of
this manuscript. I am deeply indebted to Sophia Goodman for her
support and patience.

Abbreviations
Abbreviated references to ancient authors and works are based
primarily on those used in the ninth edition of A Greek-English
Lexicon,e dited by H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. S. Jones (Oxford,
1940). In citing orations, I use the enumeration found in the Loeb
editions; Ober ([1989] 341-48) provides a convenient catalog that
lists and dates the extant orations. Where the attribution of an
oration to an author has been challenged, I do not bracket the
author's name. Unless otherwise noted, citations of comic frag
ments are from Poetae Comici Graeci, edited by R. Kassel and C.
Austin (Berlin, 1983-95). Abbreviations of periodicals cited in the
bibliography follow the system of fAnnee philologiqueT. ranslations
are adapted from the Loeb editions for most authors, and from
Sommerstein's editions for Aristophanes.