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[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…

[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…

(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…

(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] 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…

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…

(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] (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] (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] 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 …