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(Κύριος; Kýrios, ‘lord’). I. Religion [German version] A. Pagan Addressing a deity felt to be powerful with ‘lord’ is widespread in Greek religious language. Since Homer, gods (especially Apollo and Zeus) can be addressed by the Mycenaean royal title anax (Ἄναξ), ‘king, lord’ [1]. A number of powerful goddesses (Cybele, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter and Persephone, Hecate, Isis) are since archaic times invoked as déspoina (Δέσποινα), ‘mistress’, and, somewhat more rarely, male gods as despótes (Δεσπότης) [2; 3]. Even though the archaic word anax is used only in epic and prayer …

[German version] (ἀγαμίου δίκη; agamíou díkē). In Sparta a criminal action which could be raised by anyone against someone who after reaching a certain age had not married (Plut. Lyc. 15). By means of this action an indirect compulsion to marry was exercised, as the transgressor was threatened with partial cancellation of citizen's rights. The charge may have occurred elsewhere in the domain of Doric law (cf. Str. 10,482), but there is no evidence of it in Athens. If Plato's intention (Lg. 721b; 774a…

[German version] (σίτου δίκη; sítou dík ē). Literally a 'claim' for maintenance in the form of 'grain' or 'bread'. In ancient Athens, a man who, after engýēsis (establishment of husband's rights) but before cohabitation ( ékdosis [1]) with the woman concerned, had already received the dowry ( proíx ), or retained the dowry after dissolution of the marriage, had to pay the woman annual maintenance amounting to 18 % of the value of the dowry (1.5 % per month). The kýrios ('head of household') might levy sitou dike for a woman in his charge, or take up δίκη προικός ( díkē proikós, 'dowry procee…

[German version] (κατακρημνισμός; katakrēmnismós). Archaic form of capital punishment by throwing the victim from a rock (at Athens into the Barathron, at Delphi - because of hierosylía - from the Hyampic Rock, in Sparta into the Caeadas). Later denounced as particularly cruel. The punishment by katakremnismos was regarded as a cultic sacrifice; if the victim survived the fall, he was exempt from further punishment. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography G. Thür, Die Todesstrafe im Blutprozeß Athens, in: The Journ. of Juristic Papyrology 20, 1990, 143-155.

[German version] (ἀναδικία; anadikía). The principle that a case decided by a court could not again be the subject of a court case (for Athens Demosth. 24,54) was breached in individual cases in Greek law. In default proceedings and in some cases after a successful action for false witness, δίκη ψευδομαρτυρίων ( Pseudomartyrian dike), it was possible to open new proceedings, anadikia. According to a scholion to Pl. Leg. 937d this concerns cases on citizens' rights, testimony litigation itself and inheritance suits. Plato, in contrast to the law of Athens, generally envisages anadikia …

[German version] (δικάζειν; dikázein). The word (approximately: ‘to exercise a right’) is associated with the ending of a dispute with a sentence. Whether the sentence was originally passed by an ‘arbitrator’ who was consensually appointed by both parties is highly questionable. Rather, dikazein in the early period was the activity of a council of elders or of an official (  dikastḗs ) that was at least rudimentarily provided with state authority. In what form this dikazein would occur is also uncertain: either an official decided in the matter on his own or a formal p…

[German version] (κακηγορία; kakēgoría), verbal insult, an offence in Athens since the period of Solon (6th cent. BC). Deceased persons were always protected, living persons only in the case of defamation in public (Plut. Solon 21; Dem. Or. 20,104). The insulted person could file a private complaint ( dike), but had to share the compensation fine with the state. In the 4th cent. BC, all prohibited insults were recorded on a list (e.g. murder, striking the parents, throwing away the shield), but the…

[German version] (Ἔγκτησις; Énktēsis). In the Greek states the acquisition of property was reserved to citizens. Individual foreigners were granted the privilege of énktesis, the right to acquire ‘land’ or ‘a house’ (or both) by a popular resolution. In Athens some   métoikoi were thus provided, generally perhaps the   isoteleís . In the Doric area the term ἔμπασις/ἴμπασις ( émpasis/ ímpasis) was used instead of enktesis. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography J. Pečirka, The Formula for the Grant of E. in Attic Inscriptions, 1966  A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 237f.  A. S. H…

[German version] (ὁμολογία; homología), literally ‘speaking the same way’, describes in Greek colloquial language simple oral consent or agreement. In the legal sense homologia was soon also used for written agreements (  syngraphḗ ,   synthḗkē ). The legal connection with the homologia originated, as can be seen in Athens, in the preliminary procedural concession of individual assertions of the opponent. In the preliminary procedure (  anákrisis , see   diaitētaí [2]) the parties had the duty to answer each other's questions (Dem. Or. 46,10). Answering such a que…

[German version] (προεισφορά/ proeisphorá, 'property tax advance'). Because the eisphorá ('property tax') in Athens yielded necessary funds too slowly in times of crisis, a liturgy [I B] to 'give an advance' as a proeisphorá on the whole of the sum to be raised, without interest, was imposed (presumably before 362 BC) on the 300 richest citizens of the city. Deducting their own contributions, they could at their own risk collect the proeisphorá from fellow members of their symmoría (tax bracket). The proeisphorá is attested also of other  democratic poleis  (e.g., Priene and Lindus…

[German version] A. Definition and sources Strictly speaking, the correct term is ‘Athenian law’ (AL), because ‘Attic’ designates the landscape, dialect, art and culture, while Athens, by contrast, refers to the polis and the state; but in German scholarship the designation ‘Attic law’ has been used since the beginning of the 19th cent. when philologists and jurists occupied themselves increasingly with investigating the trials and law of Athens after the issuance of a prize question by the Royal Aca…

[German version] (κλητήρ; klētḗr). On the basis of the word, a person who has to do with the summons to legal proceedings ( klḗsis, prósklesis ). 1. In the Delian League, state-appointed klētḗres summoned people to legal proceedings that were held in conjunction with the tributes (IG I3 21,42 and 68,48/49: 426/5 BC; 71,39: 425/4 BC). 2. In civil proceedings the summons were a matter for the plaintiff. In Athens two klētḗres were as a rule consulted in this regard (detailed regulation outlined in Pl. Leg. 846c) whose names were noted on the statement of claim. If th…

[German version] (ὑποβολῆς γραφή; hypobolês graphé). Civil suit against a person who was passed off as the child of a citizen. Such false children, usually bought as slaves, are frequently mentioned in Attic court speeches and  comedies: childless women attempted to consolidate their position in the household in this manner, but hypoboles graphe is only known from the Lexica Segueriana V [2]. The penalty for being a false child was being sold into slavery. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 I. Bekker (ed.), Anecdota Graeca I, 1814/1865, 311 2 Lipsius, 417.

[German version] Literally ‘surplus’ (τὰ ὑπέροχα, tà hypérocha, or ἡ ὑπεροχή, hē hyperochḗ), technically it designates the extra value by which the value of the secured object exceeds the amount of the secured debt, Latin superfluum. As the Greek pledge is to be understood strictly as a lapsed pledge (cf.   hypothḗkē ), it necessitated special contractual or judicial regulations if the extra value was intended to serve as security for a further creditor or return to the security debtor following sale of the security. Multiple m…

[German version] (Δώρων γραφή; Dṓrōn graphḗ) . In Athens, the charge of corruptibility (Poll. 8,42), also including the corruptibility of a judge. Active bribery in connection with jurisdiction was prosecuted with   dekasmoû graphḗ . The offence consisted in presents given to, and accepted by, officials, among whom the lawyers in public and private trials were also counted (Dem. Or. 46,26), to the detriment of the state (Lys. 21,22: ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως κακῷ; Dem. Or. 21,113: ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τοῦ δήμου). The charge was filed in lighter cases with the   logistaí , in graver cases with the   thesmothêtai …

(Δίκη; Díkē). [German version] [1] Personification of human law made concrete in legal pronouncements (Religion). Personification of human law made concrete in legal pronouncements (as opposed to  Themis, the divine order): the legal order breaks down if it is eroded by corrupt judges (Hes. Op. 220). She is a central figure of mythological and poetic reflection on the foundation of social existence in the archaic and classical period. The genealogies incorporate D. in a value system. She is the daughter of Ze…

(ἔρανος; éranos). Etymology uncertain; the word originally meant ‘a meal for friends’ (Hom. Od., Pind.). The cost was borne in common by the participants. Collections made among friends in order to present a gift to one of them were also called éranoi; to give gifts in return was merely customary, not a statutory obligation (Theophr. Char. 17,9). Two legal institutions developed on this basis: [German version] [1] Collective fund A kind of collective wealth. Funds ( eisphoraí) collected by a group of individuals ( plērōtaí, Dem. Or. 21,184f.) were applied to a particular purpos…

[German version] (ὑπωμοσία; hypōmosía). In Athens there were two types of sworn statements: 1. in the court proceeding one party could apply in person or through a representative for sojournment (Dem. Or. 48,25f.; schol. Dem. Or. 21,84) if there was significant cause, such as travel or funerary duties. The opponent was able to dispute this with a ἀντωμοσία ( antōmosía, counter-oath). 2. If an application was deliberated in the council (  boulḗ ) or the popular assembly (  ekklēsía ), every citizen was able to declare through a hypomosia that he would bring a suit against the applic…

[German version] I. General In antiquity homicide is often not yet differentiated from other crimes of killing ( Killing, crimes of). In many ancient laws the special reprehensibility or danger of a behaviour that resulted in the death of another human being was not yet considered a reason for a respective sanction. Thus, in the case of ancient Oriental laws, it would be inappropriate both with regard to the term and the matter to speak of particular offences amounting to homicide within the framework of crimes of killing. Neumann, Hans (Berlin) [German version] II. Greece In archaic Gre…

[German version] (κλοπή; klopḗ). Theft, misappropriation and receiving stolen goods. Robbery, misappropriation of temple property ( hierosylía ) on the one hand and pickpocketing by people doing general damage ( balantiotómoi , kakoúrgoi ) on the other hand was distinguished from klopḗ in Athens. Klopḗ of private property could be prosecuted by díkē only by the victim of the theft; a graphḗ on the grounds of klopḗ of state property is unlikely, as there were other processes ( eúthynai , eisangelía ). A thief at night could be killed without incurring punis…