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[German version] (δικαστής; dikastḗs). In the Greek city states lay persons rather than professional judges were appointed to the   dikastḗrion . Dikastes is therefore best translated as ‘juror’. Any male citizen of more than 30 years of age and of blameless reputation could register in Athens as a dikastes. As an ‘identification’ he was given a small tablet that bore his name and each year he had to swear the ‘Heliastic oath’ that he would vote according to the law (Dem. Or. 24, 149-151). The dikastes was paid for the day that he was in court (  dikastikòs misthós ). Whoeve…

[German version] (ἐνεπίσκηψις; Enepískēpsis). In Athens, when property was confiscated (  dḗmeusis ,   dēmióprata ) a third party was able to claim that a particular part of the assets belonged to him or was mortgaged to him. If he objected, by using the form of an enepiskepsis, there would be a   diadikasía between him and the person initiating the confiscation (  apographé ) in which it was determined if the state debtor ‘owed’ cession of the asset parts to the third party (Dem. Or. 49,45ff.; Hesperia 10, 1941, 14). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II…

[German version] (καταχωρίζειν; katachōrízein). Generally ‘classify’, also military, in official Hellenistic language specifically ‘register, enter in a list’. Thus, for example, in the Greek motherland, simple popular decisions (esp. honours) were protected against repeal by ‘entering’ them formally among the laws. In Roman Egypt, katachorizein might describe any entry in a list, especially important being the incorporation of a copy of the document in the bibliothḗkē enktḗseōn ( Land register). Katachorizein could also signify a legal action against unknown offe…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Since the second half of the 3rd millennium BC [1. 63-98; 2. 345-365], a distinction was made in Mesopotamia between promissory (assuring) oaths in contract law and assertory (confirming) oaths taking effect in lawsuits. A promissory oath served as an absolute assurance of a renunciation or intended action and was performed by invoking the king or a god, or both. An assertory oath had probative force as an oath for witnesses or parties, e.g. an oath of purification …

[1] Literary history I. Greek [German version] A. Meaning of the word As a nomen actionis the noun γνώμη (not found in Homer or Hesiod), with its originally extraordinary comprehensive range of meaning must be considered together with the verb γιγνώσκω ( gignṓskō) [11; 37. 491; 27. 32 (also with regard to etymology)]. The verb with its meanings ‘to recognize’, ‘to form an opinion’, ‘to decide’ and ‘to judge’ falls between two poles: ‘the ability to recognize a state of affairs’ and ‘the consequences of this recognition’ [40. 20-39, esp.…

[German version] (χειρόγραφον; cheirógraphon), literally ‘handwriting’ (handwritten note). Along with the   syngraphe the most common form of private document in the Egyptian papyri. Entering the Roman world from the 3rd/2nd cents. BC onwards, the cheirographon tends towards the style of the private letter, and is not restricted to any particular type of transaction. Witnesses were a customary feature. The cheirographon would usually be in the hands of the person authorized by it. In the Roman period, the cheirographon could by δημοσίωσις ( dēmosíōsis: incorporation in an offi…

[German version] (κατάλυσις; katálysis). Literally the ‘dissolving’ of the constitution (τοῦ δήμου, toû dḗmou), meaning high treason, which could be persecuted by any citizen in Athens either through graphḗ or eisangelía . It is contested whether an eisangelía of this sort goes back to Solon (6th cent. BC) and was judged by the Areopagus (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 8,4). According to the council's oath transmitted in Dem. Or. 24,144, the boulḗ had the right to intervene in the katalysis. After the law on eisangelía was revoked in 411 BC (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 29,4), katalysis was regulated in det…

[German version] (πρόρρησις/ prórrhēsis, literally 'proclamation'). Prorrhesis is originally a means of blood feud against somebody accused of a bloody deed. If somebody is addressed publicly as a murderer (Homicide) by somebody who according to Draco's Law is justified in blood feud (IG I3 104,20-33; Dem. Or. 42,57), he has to stay away from the Agora and all sacred sites until the case ( phónos ). In all there were three occasions for prorrhesis: at the grave of the victim, in the Agora and by way of the basileus (C.) (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57,2). Only the last had t…

[German version] (τιμητὸς ἀγών/ timētòs agṓn, 'legal action with assessment'). In Athens every case to be decided by a dikastḗrion was either 'non-assessable' or 'assessable'. In the first case ( atímētos agṓn ), by statute a particular sanction, whether the death penalty, banishment or a fixed fine, was linked to the verdict; in the second case ( timētaì díkai ) after deciding the verdict, if it was ìaffirmed the jury had to agree again, i.e. on the extent of the punishment or on the amount of the sum adjudicated. In their 'assessment' (τίμησις/ tímēsis) the jury could only side with o…

(ἀντιγραφή, -εύς; antigraphḗ, -eús) The expression, like all litigation terms in Greek law not formulated by jurists, is imprecise [1]. It can mean: [German version] 1. Counterplea a) in the sense of a defendant's written counterplea, submitted by the defendant to the authorities responsible for the preliminary examination. He had to swear to the accuracy of the allegations contained in it right at the beginning of the ἀνάκρισις ( Anakrisis) (Poll. 8,58; Demosth. 45,46; 45,87, therefore the expression ἀντωμοσία ( Antomosi…

[German version] (μήνυσις; mḗnysis). A ‘charge’ or ‘application’ in certain criminal proceedings The Greek polis functioned on initiatives of private citizens. In criminal law, too, the principle for accusations was considered to be 'no plaintiff, no judge'. In cases of high treason and blasphemy, which endangered the state, the Athenians nevertheless found ways of compensating for the lack of an official public prosecutor. Thus, in special cases state investigative commissioners (ζητηταί, zētētaí) were appointed and in others a reward was offered to encourage the lodging of a men…

[German version] (κατεγγυᾶν; kateggyân). ‘To require guarantors from defendant for his appearance at court’. In Athens, this was possible in private cases against non-citizens (Dem. Or. 32,29; Isoc. Or. 17,12; Lys. 23,9) brought before the árchōn polémarchos. Otherwise, the defendant was arrested. Citizens could be subject to the same in proceedings opened by apagōgḗ , ephḗgēsis (request before a magistrate for the arrest of a delinquent) or éndeixis . In cases of freedom, the person claiming the contested person as a slave could demand katengyan from his opponent who was in de…

[German version] (φόνος; phónos). Homicide. In Greek law the nearest relatives could originally carry out a blood fued as a result of phonos. Due to the strengthening of the polis and in Athens, in any case since Draco (end of 7th cent. BC), they were limited to a private lawsuit ( díkē ) as a result of phonos. This lawsuit was brought before the basileús (I.C.), solemn oaths ( diōmosía ) were sworn in three pre-hearings by the parties and witnesses. The adjudication, according to the severity of the crime, was made in the court sessions which met on various cult sites ( dikastḗrion A.I.). Draco …

[German version] (καδίσκοι; kadískoi). Urns used in the courts of Athens ( dikasterion) to receive the votes of the jury, referred to as ἀμφορεῖς ( amphoreís) by Aristot. Ath. Pol. 68,3. In the 4th cent. BC, each judge had two bronze voting stones (ψῆφοι; psḗphoi), one with a hollow bore for a verdict of guilty, the other solid for a verdict of not guilty (ibid. 68,4). He declared his decision by throwing one psêphos into the ‘valid’ bronze urn, the other into the wooden urn. The vote in inheritance cases ( diadikasia ) was probably not secret as it was in other case…

[German version] (ἐπιβολή; epibolḗ) Any office-bearer in Athens (  Archaí , to which the   boulḗ also belonged) was entitled by law to impose within his sphere of responsibility an epibole, a small sum up to a legally determined level by way of a fine; the epibole was subject to   éphesis . The epibole in P.Zen. 51,15 (3rd cent. BC) is also to be understood in this sense. In papyri of the Roman period, epibole (or ἐπιμερισμός, epimerismós) denotes the allocation of uncultivated land to individual farmers or communities for purposes of taxation. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harr…

[German version] (τυραννίδος γραφή; tyrannídos graphḗ). Popular action for tyranny ( tyrannis ). Plutarch's report of the amnesty law of Solon [1] provides evidence that atimia (cf. also time (1)) for tyranny was already current before Solon (Plut. Solon 19). Those supporters of Cylon [1] who fled into exile after the attempted coup were probably excepted from the amnesty (on their condemnation by the Areios Pagos , [4. 1806]). Solon sanctioned the attempt to set up a tyrannis, with heritable atimia (Aristot. Ath. pol. 16,10; [5. fr. 37a]). Forfeiture of assets is first at…

[German version] (συνθήκη; synthḗkē). Something 'fixed in common' by a number of parties, often recorded in epigraphic or documentary form (usually in the plural: synthḗkai). In Greek philosophy, nómos [1] and the synthēkē (as positive rules) are contrasted with nature (φύσις, phýsis) [3. 1168]. The term syntheke is used as a (document of) treaty or contract in the inter-state law of the Greek poleis and in private relationships. According to the content (alliance, friendship) or stage of the arrangement, various synonyms are used for synthēke as an inter-state agreement ([3. …

[German version] (πρᾶσις ἐπὶ λύσει; prâsis epì lýsei). In Greek in general, the noun prasis refers to the act of selling, the addition epì lýsei (which in the sources is never connected with the noun, but only with the verb λύειν/ lýein) means 'upon redemption'. The phrase indicated a transaction, similar to the later ōnḕ en pístei (there also on the terminology of purchase in Greek), serving to safeguard a loan. The borrower (cf. dáneion ) sold some property to the lender; as soon as the loan amount was paid out, the creditor became owner of the pro…

[German version] (παραγραφή/ paragraphḗ, derived from παραγράφειν ( paragráphein, 'write beside') describes various institutions in Greek legal language. Specifically in the law of Athens, those accused, who claimed that they had been proceeded against in contravention of the 403/02 BC amnesty (see Triákonta ), had, on the basis of a law introduced by Archinus, the opportunity of adding to the statement of claim, that the díkē [2] ' was not maintainable' (μὴ εἰσαγώγιμον εἶναι, mḕ eisagṓgimon eînai; Isocr. 18,2f.). Subsequently, in separate proceedings, the dikastḗrion [2] had t…

[German version] (Ἐνεχυρασία; Enechyrasía). In Greek law the enforcement of a demand for money or the release of goods. It was used against movable and immovable assets (outside of Athens also against the person) of the debtor after the expiry of a term that is not precisely known. It was based on a judgement or an enforceable document and took the form of the creditor personally taking a colleratal. In Athens the dḗmarchos ( Demarchoi) of the debtor's community of residence gave him access to the collateral. The creditor was free to choose the collateral objects (h…