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[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…

[German version] (λοιδορία; loidoría). Greek ‘invective’, originally perhaps ‘blasphemy’ (Pind. Ol. 9,37). Solon already made ‘speaking badly’ a punishable offence (fr. 32f. Ruschenbusch); in the 4th cent. BC this element of an offence included insult through the use of certain enumeratively listed words ( kakēgoría ). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography R. W. Wallace, The Athenian Law against Slander, in: G. Thür (ed.), Symposion 1993, 1994, 109-124.

[German version] (ἡμιόλιον; hēmiólion), literally ‘one and a half times’. Hemiolion refers to a supplementary charge of 50% of a monetary or goods service (calculated by multiplying the basic amount by one and a half). In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the hemiolion stereotypically appeared in the penalty clauses of private contracts as a fine for non-fulfilment (frequently in addition to interest), both in the papyri of Egypt and in the few documents extant elsewhere. The hemiolion had replaced the diploûn (διπλοῦν, double) of the older contractual clauses, as is well i…

[German version] A. Greek law According to the oldest Greek traditions, the relative of someone who had been killed had a religious duty to obtain revenge with the blood of the killer. As the polis grew stronger, in Athens at any rate from the time of  Dracon (7th cent. BC), the relatives were limited to judicial pursuit of the killer through a δίκη φόνου ( díkē phónou: action for homicide). Even in the Classical Period this remained a private action. In Dracon's time the blood feud (BF) could be brought to an end by payment of monetary compensation (ποινή, poinḗ: wergeld) if those seeking re…

[German version] (ἐξαιρέσεως δίκη; ex(h)airéseōs díkē). In Athens, anyone who claimed that someone else was his slave needed no special authority in order to ‘lead away’ (ἄγειν, ágein) the person concerned. A third party could then intervene and ‘free’ (ἐξαιρεῖσθαι or ἀφαιρεῖσθαι εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, ex(h)aireîsthai / aphaireîsthai eis eleutherían; Aeschin. in Timarchum 62; Demosth. Or. 59,40; Lys. 23,9) the captive with an act of formalized violence. The captor then had to free the captive, although only on receipt of surety, and could then proceed against the third party arguing exhair…

[German version] (ὑπεύθυνος; hypeúthynos) is used in the penal provisions of Greek decrees to mean ‘liable, owing’ (context: payment of monetary fines, e.g. IPArk 11,37), in Athens specifically for ‘accountable’. Every Athenian holding an office had to submit to an accountability process when his term had expired (εὔθυναι,   eúthynai ) before the completion of which he could not leave the country or dispose of his assets. In the Egyptian papyri, hypeuthynos simply means ‘required to make payment’. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens 2, 1971, 208-211 I…

[German version] (τιμηταὶ δίκαι/ timētaì díkai). Legal processes at Athens which, having completed the ballot on the issue of conviction, had to undergo a further 'assessment procedure' ( timetos agon ). In private cases concerning money ( dike [2]), it was the rule, in public cases ( eisangelia , graphe [1]) the exception. Recorded as TD are: the dike epitropes ( epitropos [2]), dike klopes ( klope ), aikeias dike , exhaireseos dike , pseudomartyrion dike , lipomartyriou dike , kakotechnion dike , biaion dike , exoules dike , blabes dike ([4. 98 f.] assumes fixed …

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | Crete | Apollo | Limes | Macedonia, Macedones | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Education / Culture [German version] I. Location One of the biggest and most important cities of Crete, in the Mesara plain on the river Lethaeus, between the villages of Agi Deka and Mitropolis, 16 km (Str. 10,4,7: 90 stadia) from the Libyan Sea, also transmitted as Gortyna and Gortyne. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] II. Historical development The earli…

[German version] (λαογραφία, λαογράφος; laographía, laográphos). From the Ptolemaic period onwards, censuses were conducted in Egypt ( laographíai: the people were ‘written down’). These took place from Augustus onwards on a 7-year cycle, and from Tiberius onwards every 14 years. In the Roman period, laographía also referred to the list compiled in the process of those liable for poll tax and the poll tax itself ( Taxes). Men between the ages of 14 and 60 were subject to it unless they were Roman citizens or citizens of privileged Greek p…

[German version] (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…

[German version] (ἐκεχειρία; ekecheiría). Technical term for ‘armistice’, ‘court rest’, and the ‘divine peace’ as agreed upon by Iphitus of Elis and Lycurgus of Sparta for the games in Olympia (Plut. Lycurgus 1,2; Paus. 5,20,1), claimed by the other great festival locations as well. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography StV II no. 185; III S. 414 (II A6)  L. Robert, Études Anatoliennes 2, 1937, 177ff.

[German version] (ἐμπορικαὶ δίκαι; emporikaì díkai). Commercial suits in Athens involving maritime imports and exports. Traders and shipowners were the parties but also foreigners and   métoikoi . The emporikai dikai could be brought on only in winter months when maritime traffic was resting. First they came under the jurisdiction of the nautodíkai, then the   eisagogeís and finally (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 59,5) under that of the   thesmothétai . Under the jurisdiction of the eisagogeís they had to be completed speedily within one month. Execution of the judgement was assu…

[German version] (ἔγκλημα; énklēma). In general Greek usage ‘reproach’, in the laws of Athens ‘suit’ in civil trials, in the criminal law of Egyptian papyri ‘charge’. Before the law, which in Athens required written form for the court file (presumably 378/7 BC), the enklema was a verbal application to the head of the court (  dikastḗrion 3.) to open the trial, which included the name of the parties, the suit and, if provided, (in the   tímētos agṓn ), an estimate of the judgement sum. Written enklḗmata are preserved in Dem. Or. 37,22-32; 45,46, and imprecisely called   graphḗ …

[German version] (προδοσία; prodosía). There is evidence of constant efforts to punish 'treason' ( prodosía) and 'high treason' ( katálysis toû dḗmou) in Athens. Prodosía is the infringement on the external security of the state, which could extend to the failure of recovering the corpses of the fallen or saving the shipwrecked (Battle of Arginusae, 406 BC; Xen. Hell. 1,7,22 and 32, where a law against temple-robbers and traitors is referred to). Later prodosía fell under the law on eisangelía , but often ad hoc decisions on prodosía were enacted (thus after the Battle of Chaero…

[German version] (ἀπογραφή; apographḗ) was in Athens any written statement in respect of an authority, especially the submission of a list of goods to be confiscated by the state. Subsequently the application for confiscation of the listed stock and the whole confiscation process were also called apographe [1]. Trial by jury, normally presided over by the Eleven Men, was responsible for the proceedings. In Egypt apographe meant a written notice to a public authority on property or personal status as well as an entry in the public land registry [2]. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography 1 A. …

[German version] This name has been given to a papyrus scroll of 2 m in length discovered by S. Gabra in Tuna-el-Gebel, which contains 10 columns of a legal text in the Demotic language. The text dates from the 1st half of the 3rd cent. BC, but individual regulations could reach back to the time of the pharaohs; in POxy 46,3285 two fragments of a Greek version have survived, dating to the 2nd half of the 2nd cent. AD. Viewed in today's terms, the content can be divided into four sections: 1. Land …

(ὕβρις; hýbris). Ethical term for a behaviour that is deliberately dishonouring, including humiliating bodily infringements such as rape (authoritative definition: Aristotle Rh. 1378 b; Latin superbia). Etymologically, hybris is probably derived from Hittite huwap-: ‘to abuse’, the noun being * huwappar > * huppar [1]. Positive opposites:   aidṓs ,   díkē ,   eunomía ,   sōphrosýnē . [German version] I. General In early Greek literature, hybris appears within the much varied terminological chain of ólbos - kóros - hýbris - átē (‘wealth’ - ‘fullness’ - ‘arrogance’ - ‘ruin’; e.…

[German version] (κακογάμιον; kakogámion, literally ‘marrying badly’) was a punishable offence in Sparta (Stob. 66,16), or ‘it appears’ (Plut. Lysander 30,7) to have been prosecuted through dike , although clearly this did not entail a private complaint as in agamíou díke . It is unknown what offences committed by the husband counted as kakogámion or what punishments were imposed. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. M. MacDowell, Spartan Law, 1986, 73f.

[German version] (αἰκείας δίκη; aikeías díkē). In Athens a private charge of assault and battery. It presupposed that the physical mistreatment had been perpetrated without intention of insult and that the defendant had attacked first (Demosth. 47,40; cf. PEnteuxeis 74; 79; PHalensis 1,115; 203 f.). The penalty, estimated by the plaintiff himself, was awarded to him if he succeeded in the proceedings. It was the only private action in Athens in which there were no court fees to pay. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 93 f. G. Thür, Beweisf…

[German version] (ἀνδραποδιστής; andrapodistḗs). A person who made another person into a slave (ἀνδράποδον, andrápodon) was an andrapodistes (Aristoph. Equ. 1030; Lys. 10,10). The criminal act ἀνδραποδισμός ( andrapodismós) comprised two different criminal deeds. One consisted in that the perpetrator took possession of a free man by force or trickery (cf. for this Pl. Leg. 879a) to sell him into slavery (delict of freedom) and the other was directed against the owner of a slave and consisted in the theft of this slave for …

[German version] (ἀσέβεια; asébeia). The Greeks punished violations of the reverence due to the gods. Theft from temples ( Hierosylia) was subject to particular sanction; desecration and mockery of divine objects were together treated as asebeia. In Athens, as a political measure, accusations of asebeia for irreverence towards the state gods were particularly levelled against natural philosophers and sophists. Their project of explaining the world and putting in question all traditional assumptions seemed to threaten the order of the sta…

[German version] (ἐγγύη; engýē). Surety or bail, later also termed   engýēsis . Its oldest form, the hostage surety, can be seen in Hom. Od. 8,266-366. Therefore, the engye was a guarantee in case the main debtor did not fulfil his duty of repayment. The security consisted of access to the hostage, the ἔγγυος ( éngyos), provided to the creditor. Like a pawn, he became the creditor's who proceeded on his own if the guaranteed success did not materialize, hence also the post-verbal expression engye from ἐγγυάω ( engyáō) ‘to hand over’ as pledge [1]. In classical Greek law there was a…

[German version] (ἐπίκρισις; epíkrisis). The term was unknown in Athens. Epicrisis was used in inscriptions as a judicial control on penalties imposed by the authorities (IPArk. 3, 19,50: Tegea; Syll.3 1075, 6: Epidaurus) or as an objective third party's assent to a settlement reached by the contesting parties [1. 190ff.]. The verb ἐπικρίνεσθαι ( epikrínesthai) is found in Hellenistic court language meaning ‘to resolve’ (Sherk 194f.), in IPArk. 31 B 22 meaning decernere ( decretum) of a Roman authority. In Roman Egypt epikrisis was the procedure for establishing membership o…

[German version] (ἀγραφίου γραφή; agraphíou graphḗ). In Athens a written charge of ‘not writing down’ by a debtor (and therefore annulment of his debt), counted by Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 59,3) as one of the public actions which came into the area of competence of the thesmothetai. According to Demosthenes (58,51) these are state debtors who had carried out deletion of their names from the publicly drawn-up list, even though the debt had not been paid (Harpocration, dependent on Demosthenes, who also quotes Lycurgus and Pytheas as sources, al…

[German version] (ὑπάλλαγμα; Hypállagma). Literally ‘exchange’, a credit security law in Roman Egypt stipulated through contractual clauses. Unlike the   hypothḗkē , the H. guaranteed the creditor no proprietary rights over securities in the possession of the debtor, as a rule a piece of real estate, but only required the debtor to keep ready certain objects to satisfy the creditor by way of enforcement. Contracts contained no forfeiture clause, but the debtor, as with the hypothḗkē, was subject to certain restrictions in respect of disposal of the objects in his possession.  Debt Thür…

[German version] (καταδίκη; katadíkē). Verdict of guilty from a trial by jury, including defined penalties, or fines imposed by the authorities (used synonymously with díkē ). Egyptian papyri also contractually established penances. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (νόθος/ nóthos) designates, in all Greek legal systems, a free person who was born out of wedlock or into a marriage that was not legally recognised. In Homer (Hom. Il. 13,693; 2,726), sons of a free man and a slave could rise to become military leaders. According to Hom. Od. 14,208ff., the nóthos was entitled to a portion of property assets, like legitimate sons, in the distribution of the paternal legacy (cf. the νοθεία/ notheía, bequests to a nóthos, often even made while the testator was still alive; Harpocr. s.v.). According to IPArk 1,17, after the de…

[German version] (ἀειφυγία; aeiphygía). Permanent banishment; in Athens archaic punishment for φόνος ( phónos, homicide), τραῦμα ( traûma, bodily harm) and τυραννίς ( tyrannís), pronounced by the Areopagus as a ‘special court’ (not by the Heliaia in normal dikasteria). There was a family liability, so the living members of a house went into exile, the dead were torn from their graves and property was confiscated (Demosth. 21,43 on IG I3 104; 20,2. Plut. Sol. 12). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography U. Kahrstedt, Staatsgebiet und Staatsangehörige in Athen, 1934, 97 ff. P. J. Rhodes, …

(Φάσις; Phásis). [German version] [1] River in the southwestern Caucasus River in the southwestern Caucasus that flowed into the Pontos Euxeinos near Ph. [2], present-day Rioni. Its estuary shifted several times, resulting in the growth of the mainland (cf. Str. 1,3,7). An ocean bay at the estuary of the P. is mentioned by Ptol. 5,10,1. The P. is first mentioned by Hesiod (Hes. Theog. 337-344). It was navigable over a course of 180 stadia (Ps.-Scyl. 81). The river's upper course was a rapid mountain strea…

[German version] (πολίτευμα/ políteuma). As well as meaning 'government' and 'form or constitution of a state', politeuma denoted, particularly in the Seleucid kingdom and Ptolemaic Egypt, affiliations among compatriots, e.g. the minority populations of Macedonians, Greeks, Persians and Jews, who had some degree of self-government and independent jurisdiction. After the disappearance of the ethnic components, politeuma still denoted an elite of the privileged classes. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography M. Th. Lenger, Corpus des Ordonnances des Ptolémées, 21980, XVIIIf.  J.…

[German version] (ἔφεσις; éphesis). Derived from the verb ἐφίεσθαι ( ephíesthai, to turn to someone), in Athens ephesis denoted a series of legal actions in which a person turned to the competent authority for a decision after a provisional decision had been reached. One certainly cannot speak of a uniform institution comparable to today's ‘appeal’. Solon (around 600 BC) is said to have allowed the ephesis for decisions of the  archontes at the  Heliaea (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 9,1). In the classical period there was the ephesis to a   dikastḗrion against an   epibolḗ impo…

[German version] (διαδικασία; diadikasía). In Athens a judicial procedure aimed at organizing the legal situation without plaintiffs and defendants. It was not introduced as part of the usual civil action (δίκη, díkē) and took place in two main groups of cases, namely in disputes in which two or more opponents asserted a better claim to a private or public right, or in those cases in which it was a matter of exemption from a duty under public law. In the first group the most common case involved a claim by several persons to a legacy in an inheritance dispute [1. 159ff.]. The object of the cla…

[German version] (παλινδικία; palindikía). 'Once more raising a legal action in the same matter', cf. anadikía and the underlying words (ἀνὰ/ anà and πάλιν δικάζειν/ pálin dikázein). The criticism levelled against advocates ( logográphos), to have obtained a palindikía through trickery (Plut. Demosthenes 61; Poll. 8,26), did not always have to take a rupturing of material legal power ( paragraphḗ ) into account, but could also relate to the fact that that a legal claim was prosecuted with a variety of actions, as was permissible in Ath…

[German version] (μεσεγγύημα; mesengýēma), the ‘thing entrusted’: an item or money, which was entrusted jointly by several individuals to a third party. The mesengyema was then to be returned to one or to all depositors as agreed (Harpocr. s.v.). The procedure was suitable for safe-keeping during disputes, for stakes in bets and for secure keeping of documents (cf. Isocr. Or. 12,13; IG VII 3172,69: Boeotia; BGU 592 II 9 and Mitteis/Wilcken 88,13: both 2nd cent. AD; PAntinoopolis 35 II 14, 4th cent. AD: Egypt). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography J. Partsch, Griechisches Bürgschaftsrec…

[German version] (ἐπαγγελία; epangelía). In Athens the legally prescribed announcement of the submission of a   dokimasía against a speaker who put forward a motion in the public assembly. It could be submitted by any citizen against the applicant who had incriminated himself of an action that removed his right to speak, but who had not yet been convicted in court (Aeschin. In Tim. 28ff. 81). Epangelia means the announcement of a complaint against the obligor in the Egyptian papyri. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 204 M. H. Hansen, The Athe…

[German version] (Δήμευσις; Dḗmeusis). Confiscation of assets by the state. 1. Demeusis is encountered in Greek criminal law together with capital punishment, lifelong exile or penalties for severe crimes but the term demeusis is not always used. Occasionally, demeusis occurred in Athens on its own (cf. Dem. Or. 47,44). Plato (Leg. 855a) radically rejected confiscation, apparently because of the injustice to innocent heirs [1]. The property was always confiscated for the benefit of the community even though the sum wholly or partial…

[German version] (καταποντισμός; katapontismós). To throw into the sea - the killing of a person by drowning, or the cultic sinking of objects. If the sea was distant, the katapontismos could be performed at a river. Already in myth, katapontismos is attested as a special act of cruelty, or as a capital punishment with the mark of an ordeal (the gods could save the condemned) in cases when the right to a burial and death cult had been forfeited. In historical times, tyrants or cruel rulers were punished with katapontismos, although sometimes only their corpse or even their statue wa…

[German version] (ξενίας γραφή; xenías graphḗ), literally a 'charge/claim of (the status of) foreigner'. Public action for arrogation of Athenian citizenship. A Greek polis was constituted as an association of persons; despite their right to personal freedom, outsiders ( xénoi ,  cf. [1. 1442-1447; 4. 18-27]) had no fundamental participation in family or citizen status, or in the protection of the law. The rights of  a citizen (πολίτης/ polítēs; presumably to be distinguished from an  ἀστός/ astós  [3. 49-78]) could be exercised in Athens only by somebody who had been…

[German version] (ἀνάκρισις; anákrisis). After bringing an action the parties in the proceedings met in the anakrisis, a preliminary process before the magistrate of the court. Just like the official   diaita in Athens, this appointment was used for conciliation procedures or preparation for the main proceedings before the   dikasterion . In the anakrisis the parties were obliged to answer one another's questions. This part of the proceedings can be referred to as the ‘dialectic’, as opposed to the ‘rhetorical’ part of the main proceedings. All the…

[German version] (λαοκρίται; laokrítai). Authorized by the king in Ptolemaic Egypt, consisting in each case of three judges of Egyptian ethnic origin taken from the priestly class, before whom the Egyptians (λαός/ laós, the people) could resolve their civil law disputes according to their hereditary law and in the Demotic language. A building ( laokrísion) designated for the laokritai is attested from the Fayûm (PTebtunis 795,9; 2nd cent. BC). An official of Greek nationality ( eisagogeús ) appointed by the central administration acted as the chairman…

[German version] (κακοτεχνιῶν δίκη; kakotechniôn díkē). Action against ‘wheeling and dealing’, in Athens specifically against a legal opponent whose witness had been condemned for giving false testimony ( pseudomartyrias dike ) (Dem. Or. 47,1; 49,56). The proceedings were conducted by the same official who had also conducted the main trial. The person who had called the witness had to pay a fine to the plaintiff. Since, however, the plaintiff had usually already been awarded damages in the lawsuit, it is rather improbable that he was entitled to the kakotechnion dike without further…

[German version] (ἐμβατεύειν; embateúein). In Athens the seizure of immovable objects (even ships, Dem. Or. 33,6) by ‘stepping upon’ them, due to a claim of ownership (law of succession of the son of the house, right of distraint, court judgement). In Egyptian papyri ἐμβαδεία ( embadeía) signified official seizure as the third stage of compulsory acquisition in real estate matters.  Succession, law of Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. Kränzlein, Eigentum und Besitz im griech. Recht, 1963, 94ff.  A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 156; 272; 283  H.-A. Rupprecht, Einfüh…

[German version] (συγχώρησις/ synchṓrēsis). No later than the end of the 1st cent. BC, the synchoresis had developed as a notarial legal document in Ptolemaic Egypt, originating from the voluntary jurisdiction of the chrematistai and a conciliation of parties in a dispute before the court of chrematistai. It was issued as a regular form of document by the katalogeîon in Alexandria [1] during the Roman period. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography S. Allam, Zum Aufkommen der notariellen Urkunde (Syngraphe und Synchoresis) im griechisch-römischen Ägypten, in: Studien zur…

[German version] (οἶκος/ oîkos; “house, household”). The Greek terms oîkos and oikía (οἰκία) were often used synonymously; however, in Attic Greek, oîkos was generally no longer used to denote the house as a building, but for the household, while oikía as a rule meant the building. The work oîkos encompassed the entire possessions of the household as well as the family (although in Athenian law the term seems never to have been applied to the family). In Aristotle, the oîkos to which the married couple, their children and slaves belonged became the most important element o…

[German version] (ἀτίμητος ἀγών; atímētos agṓn). Primarily in Athens, a trial in which the accused could make no counterplea ( Antitimesis) regarding the severity of the penalty. After a guilty finding no further decision was necessary as to the degree of the punishment: the trial was ἀτίμητος, ‘beyond judgement’. The severity of the penalty was already established by the relevant law: in public trials for serious offences it often entailed death or banishment. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 81f.

[German version] (ψευδομαρτυριῶν δίκη; pseudomartyriôn díkē), recorded in several Greek legal systems as an 'action for perjury'. Only a person was liable to such an action who had confirmed (generally not on oath) a pre-formulated statement of a litigant before a court ( martyría ), but not one who had denied knowledge of something out of court ( exōmosía ). The opponent in the case was entitled to undertake this private action ( díkē ); the respondent found guilty or the unsuccessful plaintiff in the original trial demanded a financial penalty proportionate to the damages ( blábēs díkē …

[German version] (ὅροι; hóroi). Boundary stones marking the boundaries (also called horoi) of political territories, temple districts and properties, public places and private land throughout the entire Greek world. They bore only the inscription hóros, sometimes with more precise additions, and were under the protection of Zeus Horios. Following inter-state arbitration in border disputes [4] and revision of leased temple land [8], commissions of ὁρισταί ( horistaí) often appeared to set the horoi in the site. As the Greek poleis did not have a  land register, horoi also function…

[German version] (ἱεροσυλία; hierosylía). In many Greek poleis ‘temple robbery’, removal from a sanctuary of objects consecrated to gods, which has been very broadly construed (e.g. also embezzlement of silver in state minting of coins, Syll.3 530, Dyme in Achaea, soon after 190 BC. [2]). In Athens hierosylia was probably prosecuted in the 5th cent. by   eisangelía , later by a coming under the jurisdiction of the  thesmothetai ἱεροσυλίας γραφή ( hierosylías graphḗ), involving the threat of the death penalty with denial of burial in Attica and financial ruin. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibli…

[German version] (ἀπενιαυτισμός; apeniautismós). Absence for a year, penalty of exile, usually for one year, for certain crimes or misdemeanours, in particular manslaughter by criminal negligence (Bekker anecdota 421,20; Suda), which, pronounced by the court, could be in force as φυγή ( phygḗ) for a fixed time, if it was not taken in the strict legal sense, but as a pseudo- phyge (suspension of citizens' rights and duties and automatic reinstatement at the end of the term). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. M. MacDowell, Athenian Homicide Law, 1963, 122 f.

[German version] (κατενεχυρασία; katenechyrasía). Derived from ‘security’ (ἐνέχυρον/ enéchyron, Hypotheke [1] A). The compulsory execution usually carried out privately by the creditor was called katenechyrasia, but more frequently enechyrasía . The most common term, however, was prā́xis (in rare cases eisprā́xis ). In Greece, execution always meant the confiscation and sale of different pieces of the debtor's property, never the entire estate, but (especially in Egypt) it could include the person as well. While the creditor had to proceed privately in the poleis, in Egypt it…

[German version] (φυγή; phygḗ). Literally 'flight' out of the legal community because of the threat of blood feud, which leads to the condition of 'banishment'. Dracon already intended it for homicide in Athens (end of 7th cent. BC; IG I3 104,11). Later in Greek law it was often tolerated in place of the death sentence (Dem. Or. 23,69) or imposed as a sanction for political crimes, either lifelong ( aeiphygía ) or for set periods of time ( apeniautismós ), in the case of ostrakismos for 10 years; it could be recalled by a popular decision or aídesis (agreement of penance…

[German version] (ἀνδροληψία; androlēpsía) was in Athenian law an authorization to take the law into one's own hands, conceded by law (only attested in Demosth. 23,82) to relations of an Athenian murdered on Athenian state territory. If the person responsible for the death had made himself inaccessible to the relations of the deceased, they could seize three hostages from among his dependants (interpretation is controversial). Nothing is known of their fate. Unjustified exercise of androlepsia was punished. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography B. Bravo, Symposion 1977, ed. J. Modrz…

[German version] (συγγραφή; syngraphḗ) refers to a Greek 'document' in the material sense; regarding the content, it refers to an agreement (sing.), a draft of a law or a call for bids on public buildings or leases (regularly pl., syngraphaí ). In the sense of 'contractual agreement', syngraphe is one of several terms, the other being synállagma , symbólaion, synthḗkē and homología (Poll. 8,140). Only one type of document is referred to as syngraphe in essentially the same way from the 4th cent. BC on into the Roman Period: the private minutes (a stylized, objective …

(διαιτηταί; diaitētaí). [German version] [1] Private arbitrator In Greek law, diaitetai was the general term used for ‘private’ arbitrators, appointed with the agreement of both parties; empowered either to mediate or to settle the dispute in a binding and final decision (Dem. Or. 27,1; 59,47). Frequently, each party nominated an arbitrator assured of their confidence, and these then agreed on the appointment of a third, so that the arbitration was accomplished by a total of three diaitetai. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) [German version] [2] Athenian board for preliminary proceedings …

(διαθήκη; diathḗkē). [German version] A. Meaning and essence The diatheke represents Greek law's central instrument for testate succession. The word is derived from διατίθεσθαι ( diatíthesthai): the ‘putting aside’ of items of personal possession by the testator for persons who did not belong to the family household (οἶκος, oîkos) and thus could not be legal heirs. Diatheke, somewhat fuzzily translated as ‘testament’, describes the act of disposal itself as well as the associated document. Its purpose was to order the proprietary and family affairs a…

[German version] (κάκωσις; kákōsis), literally ‘bad treatment’ of people requiring special assistance. In Athens there were three such groups: 1. parents, 2. orphans, 3. heiresses ( epikleros ), Aristot. Ath. Pol. 56,5. Since the persons affected were not able to defend themselves on their own, every citizen had the opportunity to call the offender to account through graphe , eisangelia or phasis without themselves risking a lawsuit. Whoever refused to support and to house their parents or grandparents (including adoptive parents), stru…

[German version] (αἴδεσις; aídesis). At the time of Draco (before 600 BC) a contract concluded between the dependants of an intentionally or unintentionally killed person and the person responsible for the death, probably affirmed by an oath, on ending the dispute by paying the wergild (IG I3 104.13; Demosth. 43,57), in the 4th cent. the ex parte pardon granted by the dependants of the person killed by unintentional homicide. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. M. MacDowell, Athenian Homicide Law, 1963, 123 ff. A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 78.

[German version] I. Ancient Near East see Cuneiform, legal texts in Thür, Gerhard (Graz) [German version] II. Greek Succession laws in Greece primarily followed the concept of family succession. Greek law therefore contained several provisions to secure succession within the family group even where there were no legitimate sons ( gnesioi). For example, eispoíēsis allowed the nomination of a non-testamentary heir, a process akin to adoption. Where such a replacement heir was also absent, the inheritance ( klḗros ) either passed to lateral kin ( anchisteía ) o…

[German version] (δεσμωτήριον; desmōtḗrion). In Athens at the market (on location [1]) there was a prison (Dem. Or. 24,208f.) that owed its name to the fetters, δεσμά ( desmá) that were put on the prisoners usually in the form of chains and shackles. The places of detention were not safe from breakouts in other cities either. The supervisory authority, in Athens the Eleven, decided the nature of custody (in chains, permission for visits). Prisoners were always held with others and imprisonment was not imposed as punishment but to secure the accused, condemned and state debtors. The desmote…

[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] (εἴσπραξις; eíspraxis). ‘Collection’ in the largest sense; in Athens, for instance, it was the collection of tribute payments for the naval alliance (IG II2 1273, 24), in Egypt that of all taxes, but also of private debts ( Praxis). Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] (εἰσαγωγεύς; eisagōgeús). Every office holder who was entitled to preside over a court in Athens ( Archontes) was responsible for introducing (εἰσάγειν , eiságein) his subjudice cases into a law court (  dikastḗrion ) and, concerning this act, was also referred to as eisagogeus. In a narrower, technical sense, the eisagogeus was part of a five-member collegium which was entitled to preside over certain urgent legal affairs (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 52,2). In Ptolemaic Egypt, the eisagogeus was a permanent official of Greek nationality and nominated by the kin…

(πρᾶξις; prâxis). [German version] [1] Execution of a court decision Legal term for the execution of a monetary decision in a Greek private lawsuit ( d íkē [2]), which in Athens was the affair of the successful creditor and was termed prâxis generally (And. 1,88) and also in the text of contract documents (Demosth. Or. 35,12). The usual word for 'execution' was εἰσπράττειν ( eispráttein) (Demosth. Or. 47,33; 47,37; 47,41; 57,63; 57,64). Prâxis was not allowed against the person of the debtor, but merely permitted the seizure of items of his property ( enechyrasía ). For prâxis in the Secon…

[German version] (παράκλητος/ paráklētos, literally 'one who has been called in support'). In Athens, litigants fundamentally had to present their own case, mostly supported by related persons, who took up the word in front of the courts in support ( sýndikos , synḗgoros ). A practice developed (Xen. Mem. 4,4; Pl. Ap. 34c; Pl. Leg. 934e), whereby the accused, who in the epilogue to his defence oration made an appeal for acquittal to the jury, 'called out' his wife, parents, children, relations or influential friends, i…

[German version] (πρόσκλησις; prósklēsis), the summons, the 'call to court'. At Athens, it took place by a private action, with the plaintiff informing the respondent of the claim ( énklēma ) and the date on which he was to present himself before the magistrate of the court. The prosklesis had to be made before one or two witnesses to the summons ( klētḗr ), whose confirmation of the proper prosklesis was required as a condition for a default judgment in the event of the respondent's non-attendance, and who were liable to pseudoklēteías graphḗ ('action for making a f…

[German version] (προίξ; proíx). Etymologically 'gift bestowed with an open hand' (in the epics known only in the genitive in the sense of 'free'), in the agnatic family order of Greek poleis proíx denotes the 'dowry' (in contrast to the phernḗ of small families in Hellenistic-Roman Egypt). It is not before the 3rd cent. AD (precursor FIRA I2 58,25; AD 68) that proíx occurs as a translation of the Roman dos . The legal structure of the proíx is best known from Athens (on the Hellenistic inscriptions from Myconos, Tenos, Amorgos, Naxos and Syros cf. [6. 135-137, 149 f.])…

(μίσθωσις; misthōsis). [German version] A. General Similar to the Roman locatio conductio , the Greek misthosis comprises a series of remunerated transactions in which one person transfers things (or a person) to another person for use, so that a particular outcome is achieved, or commits themselves to providing labour or a service. The current (Romanist) classification of these transactions into rent/lease, work and service agreements is too coarse for misthosis because Greek contract practice developed suitable special regulations depending on the specific facts…

[German version] (ἐξούλης δίκη). In Athens, a charge of ‘expulsion’ was a criminal charge. It was available to privileged claimants (e.g. the successful creditor in a lawsuit) against debtors who resisted, by formally expelling the creditor, the justified seizure of property by the creditor's formalized use of force. The expelled party could raise the charge of e.d.; if he could justify his action, the expeller was sentenced to a fine of double the value of the land. It was divided between the claimant and the state, in accordance with a law of  Solon's. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E.…

[German version] The noun is derived from διδόναι ( didónai) ‘to give’ and like the verb has no specific legal meaning. The legal institutions gift and endowment are quite inadequately covered by the term dosis : the Attic orators use διδόναι ( didónai) and διατιθέναι ( diatithénai;  Diatheke) alternately when they justify testamentary gifts of money from Solon's law. In the large law inscription of Gortyn, didónai means ‘to bestow’ (col. IX 15-30, with legal limitations). When setting up an endowment, ‘giving’ naturally plays an important role, but it depends…

[German version] (παρανόμων γραφή; paranómōn graphḗ). 'Action for improper legislation'. It was presumably only after the time of Pericles that there was introduced in Athens a public action ( graphḗ [1]) that could be raised within a year by a citizen without prior convictions against anybody who had proposed in the Assembly ( ekklēsía ) a resolution that contravened procedural prescriptions or an existing law. The thesmothetai (á rchontes I.) had jurisdiction, and the dikastḗrion (on one occasion even packed with 6,000 jurors, Andoc. 1,17; 415 BC…

[German version] (παράφερνα; parápherna), literally 'items of property given alongside the dowry (‘ phernḗ ’)', in the Graeco-Roman world signified a variety of legal institutions, in all cases separate property belonging to the wife. In the laws of the Greek poleis women were fundamentally capable of owning property, however, they were often limited in their capacity to enter business transactions. Their goods were inherited in a different way than those of men ([8. 26-130; 5. 64-70], see IPArk No. 5, ll. 4f.: πατρῶια/ματρῶια, patrôia/ matrôia, paternal/maternal property) s…

[German version] (κοινωνία; koinōnía) is the general Greek term for any type of human community such as a state, association, commercial company, or community of heirs or joint owners. Regarding associations, a law by Solon is transmitted in Dig. 47,22,4, Gaius 4 ad legem XII tab. (= Solon fr. 76a Ruschenbusch), while societies and communities are mentioned only occasionally in the Attic sources. In the papyri, koinonia refers to the Roman societas as well as to communio. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens I, 1968, 240-242 A. Biscardi, Diritto greco a…

[German version] (παρακαταβολή; parakatabolḗ). Literally the payment of a sum of money ( parábolon ), it was used in Athenian law to denote a number of payments which the parties had to make at the start of a lawsuit ( prytaneía ). Especially in in lawsuits about inheritance and in those concerning confiscated goods, the pursuer had to deposit one tenth, sometimes one fifth of the value of the dispute, which was forfeited to the State, sometimes to the successful litigant (disputed) if he lost the case. The purpose of this was similar to the epōbelía that had to be paid…

[German version] (παραπρεσβείας γραφή; parapresbeías graphḗ). Public action ( graphḗ ) against envoys (s. presbeía ) who had foresaken their duties. Many examples from Athens are known; the PG of Demosthenes [2] (Demosth. Or. 19) against Aeschines [2] (Aeschin. Or. 2) is famous. Punishable offences included, for example, transgression of official capacity, false reporting, unauthorised actions, receiving foreign envoys against the wishes of the council and the people, or the receiving of gifts ( dṓrōn graphḗ ). The accuser could also raise a claim of eisangelía . The eúthynoi ( eúthy…

[German version] (συνωμοσία; synōmosía). Legally barely definable 'oath community', which occurs throughout Greek areas among private individuals, in cult, the army, politics and judiciary ( Hetairía [2]), and also in inter-state relations; used in the Roman period as a translate factio or coniuratio (FIRA I2 Nr. 68, Z. 7, first Cyrene edict on praevaricatio ). Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Seidl, s. v. S., RE 4 A, 1445-1450  L. Rubinstein, Litigation and Cooperation, 2000, 204-208.

[German version] (κράτησις; krátēsis) denotes in Greek civil law the actual power over an object, allowing physical access to it, comparable to ownership, but not understood technically in the sense of the Roman p ossessio (the Greeks knew neither possession by prescription ( usucapio ) nor a special ownership protection by interdictum ). Kratesis was exercised, for example, by the creditor on the mortgaged object, even if this had remained with the debtor, and likewise by the tenant on a leased property. A person having the kratesis on an object was not allowed to dispose of it,…

[German version] (δάνειον; dáneion). The  loan, limited assignment of fungible goods (in kind or money) was an everyday way of doing business throughout the regions inhabited by the Greeks. It took place between private individuals as well as in public life. The lenders were often banks or temples and the borrowers often states, which often also owed debts to private individuals (e.g. IG VII 3172: Orchomenus is indebted to Nicareta). This practise was generally known as daneion, but sometimes   chrḗsis was used; the   eranos loan is a special type. The daneion was set up with a fixed r…

[German version] (λογογράφος; logográphos). Writer of Greek court speeches. The ten classical Attic rhetors were called logográphoi. The word was, however, also frequently used in a derogatory sense (e.g. Aeschin. 1,94; 3,173). As in principle the parties in the proceedings in Athens had to represent the matter themselves before the court, the ‘orator’, if he was not appearing on his own matter, remained undetected in the background: he was not a representative of a party or an attorney ( syndikos ), but a ‘speech writer’ (which is how logographos should be literally translated). H…

[German version] (Χρηματισταί; Chrēmatistaí). In the Egypt of the Ptolemies, judges delegated by the king to try fiscal and civil cases for all sectors of the population. They were probably introduced in the 2nd cent. BC. The courts had jurisdiction over an individual nome, or several in combination. In the provinces the chrematistai courts lapsed during the early part of the Roman Empire; in Alexandria they are attested into the 3rd cent. AD, with a somewhat modified range of functions. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography H. J. Wolff, Das Justizwesen der Ptolemäer, 21970 H. A. Rupprech…

[German version] (Διωμοσία; Diōmosía). At least from the time of Dracon (before 600 BC) Athenians of both parties and their helpers (witnesses) were obliged to swear a solemn oath, the diomosia, to the archon basileus during the official preliminary hearings ( prodikasíai) for murder trials. The prosecutor swore (while calling upon the goddesses of revenge and other deities) to his right of prosecution at the risk of his own person, lineage, and house, and to the fact that the defendant really had committed the crime (Antiph. 6,16; Dem…

[German version] (ἀδίκημα; adíkēma). Non-technical term for an illegal act committed intentionally on a private person (Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1135 b 20 f.; Rhet. 1374 b 8); if adikema was associated with damage to property, it led to a   blabes dike . Sometimes the unlawfully gained property is also referred to as adikema (Pl. Leg. 906d). In the papyri: marital misconduct, violent affront, peculation. Thür, Gerhard (Graz)

[German version] A security, especially in relation to purchases. On the model of ancient oriental laws (cf. Gn 38,17), the Greek ἀρραβών ( arrhabṓn) represents a requirement to establish liability. The usual token of personal liability was a ring. Its symbolic meaning was soon accompanied by a financial function: breach of contract on the part of the giver of the arrha/arrhabon resulted in the latter's being retained by the recipient (the security functions as a forfeit); breach of contract on the part of the recipient rendered him liable to return the arrha/arrhabon or usually a mul…

[German version] (ἀποκήρυξις; apokḗryxis). In Athens legal right of inheritance of the legitimate sons was compulsory. Disinheritance was not possible. The father could, though, renounce a son during his lifetime by apokeryxis and in this way exclude him from the inheritance (Demosth. 39,39; Aristot. eth. Nic. 1163b; see also Pl. Leg. 928d-929d). A similar provision is found in the law code of Gortyn IC IV 72 col. XI 10-17. Parallel manifestations in ancient oriental legal sources (Cod. Hammurabi 168 f.; 191) cannot be taken as models. Diocletian forbids apokeryxis (Cod. Iust. 8,4…

[German version] (φαρμακεία; pharmakeía). The giving of a medical drug, magic potion or poison ( phármakon). In Athens, if someone personally administrated it and this resulted in a citizen's death, a δίκη φόνου ( díkē phónou, 'murder charge'; phónos ) could be brought , which was decided by the Áreios págos (Dem. Or. 23; or. 24; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57,3). In the case of premeditated killing, the punishment was death, otherwise exile. Plato differentiates between the pharmakeia of doctors and sorcerers on the one hand and that of laymen on the other (Pl. Leg. 932e-933e).…

[German version] (σύνδικος; sýndìkos), literally 'co-litigant'. A person who appears in court conjointly with another. In Athens, the synḗgoros who intervened on behalf of a private person was often referred to as syndikos as well [5. 43-45]. Both groups were the targets of schadenzauber ('harmful magic' or binding spells; defixio ) [5. 65]. S ýndikoi (always five in Athens) became necessary when alliances of people such as a polis, demos or cultic community acted in court. The public assembly ( ekklēsía) elected five syndikoi at a time to defend the validity of a law in a paranómōn grap…

[German version] (ἀργίας γραφή; argías graphḗ). After Draco (before 600 BC), probably to preserve households with considerable land property, had issued a law against idleness and had threatened it with   atimia , Solon (594/3 BC) made the action into a public one, reduced the punishment to a fine and implemented atimia only on the third conviction. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Ruschenbusch, Unt. zur Gesch. des athenischen Strafrechts, 1968, 50 f.

[German version] (διαμαρτυρία; diamartyría). A ‘testimonial decision’, an archaic procedure different from normal witness evidence: based on the testimony of one or more witnesses, it was an act with formal determining powers, which in Athens was predominantly admissible in administrative proceedings in respect of inheritance. Such proceedings were initiated by someone with a claim to the estate who was not one of the direct heirs. He would apply for the assignment of the estate (  epidikasía ). A direct heir would then appear as respondent, and suppl…

(γραφή; graphḗ). [German version] [1] Statement of complaint Literally ‘script’, in adjective law in Greek poleis graphe generally had the meaning ‘statement of claim’ (Dem. Or. 45; 46; cf. also IPArk 17; 114/5; 178 from Stymphalus and SEG 27, 545, 27 and 33 from Samos). Especially in Athens graphe was used in the actual sense of ‘complaint document’ that each blameless citizen (ὁ βουλόμενος, ‘each person who wishes’) could lodge against persons who harmed certain public interests, whilst a party whose rights had been infringed in a private sense could defend himself with   díkē [2]. Thi…