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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…

[German version] (ἐφέται; ephétai). There were in classical Athens, besides the court of  Areopagus, three further collegiate courts for capital cases; these sat at the Palladion, at the Delphinion and in Phreatto ( Dikasterion), and comprised 51 ephetai (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57,3f.). These colleges of jurors ( Dikastes) were small in comparison with the other dikasteria. It is now believed that, prior to Solon, ephetai also sat at the court on the Hill of Ares, but at that time not all citizens could yet be appointed. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography R. W. Wallace, The Areopagos Cou…

(δημιόπρατα; dēmióprata). [German version] [1] Public auction of goods for the benefit of the Athenian state treasury The public auction of goods for the benefit of the Athenian state treasury. They were initially submitted for confiscation in the course of the   dḗmeusis mostly by the plaintiffs in the main proceeding. After the index (the   apographḗ ) of the goods to be confiscated had been read to the public assembly, ‘to notify everyone of the dispossessed property’ (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 43,4), it was forwarded to the Eleven, …

[German version] (ἐπίκληρος; epíklēros). Not quite correctly translated as ‘heiress’. If an Athenian citizen or   métoikos was survived only by daughters, they were not entitled to the inheritance in their own right, but their legitimate sons were, and so the inheritance (  klḗros ) could in some circumstances benefit a different family. Because of that danger the law allowed the nearest male collateral relative of the testator ( Anchisteia), to obtain at the same time from the archon or polemarch ( Archontes I), by a process of   epidikasía , the immediate assignment of the klḗros and e…

[German version] (βλάβης δίκη; blábēs díkē). In Greek law, a private action for damage to property. In the case of intentional damage, the guilty party had to pay compensation to the tune of twice the value of the damage caused, as assessed by the plaintiff in his petition. The blabes dike may originally have been legally applicable only as regards violation of the law relating to neighbours. It may only have been by virtue of case law that this restricted profile of action was extended to include other cases of damage to property. Prevailing o…

[German version] (κατήγορος; katḗgoros). The prosecutor in Athens. Athenian public criminal law was based on the principle of popular complaint ( graphḗ ), a special office for public prosecution did not exist. Nonetheless, in cases that threatened the state directly, the council or the public assembly could nominate citizens to represent the interests of the state without holding an office. They were called kategoros, or, more frequently, synḗgoros (‘attorney’) (representation of the demes: Aristot. Ath. Pol. 42,1; IG II2 1196; 1205). In such cases, the public assembly c…

[German version] (ἐγγύησις; engýēsis). In Greece a festive legal act concluded between the bridegroom and the   kýrios of the bride in the presence of witnesses on which the husband's rights are founded (also called ἐγγύη, engýē), formerly wrongly interpreted as ‘engagement’. It only became fully effective with the transfer of the bride to the husband (  ékdosis ). In Gortyn the engýēsis is never mentioned but it is by Plato (Leg. 774e). In the papyri engýēsis is a synonym of   engýē . Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography H. J. Wolff, Beiträge zur Rechtsgesch. Altgriechenlands, 1961, 1…

[German version] (λιπομαρτυρίου δίκη; lipomartyríou díkē). Law suit on account of failure to provide a witness statement. The procedural testimony ( martyría ) consisted in the Greek poleis of a statement pre-formulated by the plaintiff or the defendant that was pronounced to the witness in the procedure and which the latter confirmed by his very appearance before the court. When a witness was summoned privately by a procedural party (καλεῖν, kaleîn, Pl. Leg. 937a, PHalensis 1,222f., IPArk 17,12; προσκαλεῖν, proskaleîn, Dem. Or. 49,19), he had two options: either he refuse…

[German version] (ποινή; poinḗ). Used in Homer quite concretely for blood money (Hom. Il. 18,498; aídesis ), but also generally for revenge, retribution, later extended to any monetary penalty a private person could demand for a tort ([4. 10, 35]; cf. Latin poena ; however, the extension to fines to be paid to the state or to corporal punishment entered Greek only by way of back-translation of the Latin term). The connexion with blood money (also ἄποινα, ápoina; cf. ἀποινᾶν, apoinân, demand poine, Dem. Or. 23,28 and 33; IPArk 7,14) lives on in the negative νηποινεὶ τεθνάναι ( nēpoineì tethn…

[German version] (παραμονή; paramonḗ). Noun formed from the verb παραμένειν ( paraménein, 'to stay with someone') used throughout Greece to denote a number of legal relationships. In Egyptian and Mesopotamian papyri the word paramone regularly occurs as a civil-law obligation whereby the debtor subjected himself or a dependant of his, to the power of the creditor to repay the capital sum or the interest ( antíchrēsis [6. 127]). Contracts for the letting of services or the completion of a task ( místhōsis ) often contained a paramone-clause, however, these did not entail civil-la…

[German version] (ἀγχιστεία; anchisteía). In Athens the closest collateral relatives were combined as anchisteia. In the event of  murder of a member of their family they had a duty to bring an action against the perpetrator and the right to grant pardon ( Aidesis) to an unintentional perpetrator (IG I3 104,13-25). The anchisteia also referred to the circle of those with inheritance rights if there were no direct descendants (blood or adopted   eispoiesis ). The anchisteia comprised 1) the brothers of the deceased coming from the same father and their descendants, 2) c…

[German version] One can only speak of a land register (LR) in the legal sense when a complete, comprehensive register of property - either of all inhabitants (personal property system) or of all plots of land in a precinct (real property system) - is generally acknowledged, thus guaranteeing the right of ownership of the registered purchaser. In antiquity, there were numerous simple property registers ( Estate register), which, however, mostly served as the basis for tax assessment (examples and literature [1]). Institutions for the control of legal transactions regarding p…

[German version] (πρόκλησις; próklēsis), literally 'challenge'. The concentration in cases before the Athenian courts of justice ( d ikastḗrion ) on a single time-limited trial created a need for careful preparation of material before the case, or in a preliminary trial before the relevant court magistrate ( anákrisis , diaitētaí ). Próklēsis was an opportunity to provoke the opponent to make binding statements before the trial. This means both the act, before witnesses, of making a deposition aimed at the opponent and its content  and the fixin…

[German version] (παρακαταθήκη; parakatathḗkē). derived from the verb παρακατατίθεσθαι ( para-kata-títhesthai, to deposit) the noun parakatatheke, also parathḗkē, is employed in the entire Greek sphere to denote a range of legal relationships in which objects of persons were entrusted to someone under a duty of care. Although the term was used in Byzantine legal literature as a Greek translation for the Roman term depositum , Greek parakatatheke had a more wide-ranging application. For example the person to whom it was entrusted was entitled to use or consume …

[German version] (ἀπαγωγή; apagōgḗ). ‘Taking away’ was a drastic, speedy procedure in criminal cases in Athens. In its original form it permitted two categories of criminals (κακοῦργοι and ἄτιμοι, kakoûrgoi and átimoi), if caught in the act, later also where the facts of the case were obvious, to be taken away to prison and if they confessed to be punished immediately, or otherwise to be kept in custody and handed over to the court. Responsibility lay partially with the Eleven and partially with the thesmothetai. The penalty was death. Later written charges of the same name cou…

[German version] (παράβολον; parábolon). Literally payment, a sum of money that according to Poll. 8,63, had to be deposited in Athens as security payment when lodging an éphesis , however, it was probably indentical to the parakatabolḗ (cf. also Aristot. Oec. 1348b 13). Further expressions for payment in the context of a legal procedure: ἀπάρβολος ( apárbolos, i.e. 'without parábolon': IG IV 175, 8f. and 197, 21-27; SGDI 3206,117); παρβάλλειν ( parbállein, to pay: IPArk 17,65f.) In the papyri the words παραβολή ( parabolḗ; as also in OGIS 41) and παραβόλιον ( parabólion) are used as …

[German version] (ἐξωμοσία), literally ‘denial on oath of knowledge’. 1) In the procedural law of Athens, witnesses could avoid the obligation to appear in court (and confirm evidence which had been pre-formulated by one of the two parties in the case) by swearing ceremonial oaths out of court to the effect that they ‘did not know’ the facts in question. The exōmosía did not entail any legal sanctions, only positive testimony in court could be sued for (  pseudomartyríōn díkē ). There is evidence of a similar system recorded as apōmosía in the indemnity contract of Stymphalus (IPArk …

[German version] (βαλαντιοτόμοι; balantiotómoi). ‘Cutpurses’ (pickpockets) were pursued in Athens on the basis of the νόμος τῶν κακούργων ( nómos tôn kakoúrgōn) with   apagōgḗ (‘leading away’) and punished with death. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (παρατιλμός/ paratilmós, literally the removal of hair), a measure employed against an adulterer ( moicheía ) caught in the act, whereby the hair around the anus was plucked out whilst rubbing in hot ashes. Generally it was accompanied by inserting a radish into the anus (ῥαφανίδωσις, rhaphanídōsis; Aristoph. Plut. 168 with scholia.; Aristoph. Nub. 1083). This degrading self-help measure could occur in Attic law instead of legally permitted killing, but it could also be avoided by paying a ransom. Presumably the paratilmos is referred to by the legal rule, tha…

[German version] (ἐπιορκία; epiorkía) means ‘perjury’, ever since Homer and throughout (with the exception of a single incidence in Solon's Laws as ‘oath’, Lys. 10,17). It was common practice for every  oath to conclude with a curse for a potential perjurer. As epiorkia was not a secular offence, its punishment ─ which was not limited to the offender himself, but could extend to his entire household ─ was in the remit of the gods, who were witnesses and guarantors of the oath (Xen. An. 2,5,21; Dem. Or. 23,68; 19,220; Lys. 32,13).  Oath Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography K. Latte, s.v. Meine…

[German version] (συνήγορος; synḗgoros), literally 'co-speaker'. Person who speaks in court with - not instead of - one of the parties in a case; a term not always distinguished from sýndikos . In principle, the Greek view was that each party should present their own case in person. In ancient Athens synēgoroi claiming either a close relationship to the party they supported or enmity to the party they opposed could be allowed in private and public actions; only accepting money was forbidden to a synegoros (Dem. Or. 47,26). Since joint action in court was, from a more recent poi…

[German version] (μαρτυρία, martyría). In Greek law, the deposition in court of a testimony, its content or a document drawn up for this purpose. Witnesses (μάρτυρες, mártyres; synonyms [2. 2032f.]) were formally invited to be present at business transactions, and witnesses to wrongful acts were called by the injured or avenging party. At the time of the Attic orators (5th/4th centuries BC) they were not sworn in but affirmed that they were ‘acquainted with’ a formulaic phrase drawn up by the person presenting the case o…

[German version] (δικάσπολος; dikáspolos). In the Homeric epics this term applied to a king or geron (member of the council of elders) in the role of judge or magistrate (Il. 1,238). Wielding a sceptre he would deliver the judgement (θέμιστες, thémistes) coming from Zeus. It depends on one's theory about the course of a lawsuit (  dikázein) how this is to be imagined in practice. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography M. Schmidt, LFE 2, 1991, 302.

[German version] (ἡλιαία; hēliaía). 1. Derived from ἁλίζω ( halízō, ‘assemble’), heliaia originally means simply ‘assembly’. In the Doric area this expression survived for the public assembly [1. 32ff.] and in Arcadia for a committee, of probably fifty people, which made political and legal decisions (IG V 2,6A 24 and 27; 3,20 = IPArc nos. 2 and 3, both from Tegea [2. 36f]). 2. In Athens, according to Aristot. Ath. Pol. 9,1 (cf. on this [3. 160]), in opposition to judicial decisions by the archons, Solon introduced the   éphesis to the heliaia, at that time either the entire public…

[German version] (ἐπωβελία; epōbelía). Athenian law stipulated that in some private law proceedings, the losing plaintiff had to pay a fine equivalent to a sixth of the sum in dispute ─ i.e. an   obolos to the drachma (hence epobelia) to the defendant for wilful litigation. The same applied to litigants who were unsuccessful in a   paragraphḗ or who lost an appeal against a   diamartyría , but in this instance only if they had not even succeeded in securing the support of one fifth of the judges' votes for their case (Isoc. Or. 18,12). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law…

[German version] (καταβάλλειν; katabállein). Any method of making a monetary payment, or paying for other services. Plentiful evidence from public life in [1]. Payment of legal fees in IPArk 17,42 (=IG V 2,357). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 J. Oehler, s.v. K., RE 10, 2357f..

[German version] (ἀντωμοσία; antōmosía) was in Greece, in particular in Athens, an oath, which both parties had to make in the preliminary examination or in the main proceedings, probably a relic from archaic legal procedure. By means of the antomosia the truth of the plaint and the answer to the plaint was substantiated in advance. Therefore the name also extended to the pleas ( Antigraphe). The antomosia was not adopted by Plato (Leg. 948d). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1971, 99 f. G. Thür, Greek Law, ed. by L. Foxhall, 1996, 63 f.

[German version] (κακοῦργοι; kakoûrgoi). Generally ‘malefactors’ but in Athens criminal offenders listed in a specific law: night thieves, thieves of clothing, kidnappers, burglars, and pickpockets. When they were caught in the act, anybody could take action against these mostly lower-class criminals through private arrests ( apagoge ), and could bring them before the Eleven ( Hendeka ). The latter immediately ordered the execution of the criminal if he confessed. Anybody who could plausibly deny the crime was brought before the co…

(ἐπίτροπος; epítropos). [German version] [1] Alongside a great number of other titles, this was the term generally used for a steward who supervised the management of an estate on behalf of the (generally absent) owner. The duties of an epitropos as well as the degree of independence in decision-making varied from case to case, but, as a rule, it was his duty to supervise the workforce, to purchase supplies required for the estate, to sell surplus agricultural produce, and to be accountable to the estate owner. For that reason, he ha…

[German version] (δεκασμοῦ γραφή; dekasmoû graphḗ). In Athens the charge of active corruption of judges (Dem. Or. 46,26; see also Poll. 8,42; Harpocr. s.v. Δ. γ.). It concerned the offering of inducements to the chairman of a court, a member of a jury committee, the council or the people's assembly in the context of a legal case before them, to manipulate or decide the case to the advantage or disadvantage of a participant. The offence of dekasmou graphe was more precise than that of passive corruption (  dṓrōn graphḗ ), to which bearers of office were exposed irr…

[German version] (δικαστικὸς μισθός; dikastikòs misthós). Daily payment for Athenian jurors from the mid 5th cent. BC (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 2,2). In early Athenian democracy the principle of democratic equality of all citizens applied. Increasing economic and social inequality resulted in only the economically independent citizens, i.e. the wealthy part of the population, being able to participate in courts while the less wealthy and poor citizens, especially the rural population, could not abandon the…