(ἀμνηστία; amnēstía). Legally established relinquishment of accusation, reopening of proceedings, execution of judgement and carrying out of punishment as means of reconciling the contending parties after internal or external wars.
Plutarch (Mor. 814b) mentions the Athenian amnesty decree of 403 BC τὸ ψήφισμα τὸ τῆς ἀμνηστίας ἐπὶ τοῖς τριάκοντα, while Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 39,6) and the orators Andocides (1,90), Isocrates (18,3) and Aeschines (2,176; 3,208) use the original phrasing ‘not to think badly’, μὴ μνη…