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[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] (ἄδεια; ádeia). Generally freedom from fear; juristically freedom from punishment or prosecution, wherein the state waives per se legitimate demands for prosecution. This waiver was declared in Athens by popular edict (Demosth. 24,45; And. 1,77; 1,12; Lys. 13,55; IG I3 52B16; 370,31+33; 370,64, as an exception by council edict (And. 1,15). In papyri also: protection from injustice, discretion, permission, safety. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography A.R.W. Harrison, The Law of Athens II, 1971, 199.

[German version] (παρανοίας γραφή; paranoías graphḗ). 'legal action on account of insanity'. As in Rome, the squandering of an inheritance (but not of property acquired in other ways) was linked also in Athens to mental instability and led to a procedure for interdiction. For this Plat. Leg. 929d requires also infirmity, old age or an uncommonly violent temperament in addition to profligacy. Athenian law provided for a public action against the spendthrift ( graphḗ [1]) (Aristot. Ath. pol. 56,6), which was normally raised by a relative entitled to …

[German version] (ἄμβλοσις; ámblosis).  Abortion, recommended by Plat. Pol. 461c and Aristot. Pol. 1335 b 25 under certain circumstances, besides abandonment of the newborn, but regarded in Greece in general opinion as reprehensible (Hippoc. 4,630,9 f.). However, there is no evidence of amblosis as a punishable offence in the area of either Greek or (see, however, Cic. Clu. 32) Graeco-Egyptian law.  Abortio;  Abortion Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography E. Cantarella, L'ambigno malanno, 21985, 66 f.

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General The magic of the ancient Orient and of Egypt is based on a view of the world that runs counter to that of religion. In the world-view of magic, men, gods and demons are tied to each other and to the cosmos by sympathies and antipathies, whereas in the religious world view everything is created by the gods for their own purposes; the relations between men and the cosmos are the result of deliberate actions of the gods. In the practice of religion, however, b…

[German version] As with the koine in Greek historical linguistics, legal koine (LK) refers to a phenomenon of Hellenism analyzed by legal history after the event: the spontaneous merging of various Greek legal concepts, especially in Ptolemaic Egypt. Institutions of different poleis ( Polis) blended there in the legal world through the mingling of elements of the Greek population among each other [4. 140] without the authorities working towards unity (in this way also in [3. 50 f.]). As examples…

[German version] (βιαίων δίκη; biaíōn díkē). A private action that could be brought in Athens against robbery, rape of a free person (male or female), or abduction of a free person for the purpose of illicit sexual relations. In the 6th cent. BC Solon had established a monetary fine for this offence; later, on grounds of public interest, the fine paid to the injured party was accompanied by one of the same amount to the state. Thür, Gerhard (Graz) Bibliography D. Cohen, Law, violence, and community in classical Athens, 1995.

[German version] A term used in modern scholarship, from Ancient Greek law. Hans Julius Wolff (1902-1983; obituary [4]) discovered in the contract law of the Greek poleis and Hellenism a fundamental doctrinal concept, which departs in essential respects from modern conceptions modelled on Roman law: it is not the consensus between the parties to an agreement that creates the right to claim on the part of the 'creditor' and the liability on the part of the 'debtor', but, indirectly, the felony of injury (βλάβη/ blábē) against the creditor’s assets occasioned by the debtor’s beha…

[German version] (ἀσυλία; asylía). Protection of persons and things, at first within the sanctified precincts of the ἱερὸν ἄσυλον ( hieròn ásylon). The foreigner, ξένος ( xénos), was in especial need of asylia because he was subject to another legal jurisdiction, and had to obtain legal protection in the host country in order to be safe from violent attack. In this connection cf. the bilateral agreement between Oeanthea and Chalium in c. 450 BC [1; 2]. It is possible that all secular asylia and even the μετοικία ( metoikía) had their origins in the sacral asylia. [3; 4]. Thür, Gerhard (Gra…

[German version] (ἕδνα/ hédna, ep. ἔεδνα/ éedna). Common only in the collective plural, in Homer they are the bridegroom's  presents to the bride's father (idea of the ‘purchase marriage’) or to the bride herself (similar to the Germanic jointure). Differently to Hom. Od. 1,277 and 2,196: endowing of the bride by her father (related to the   parápherna or the   phernḗ ), sometimes also to be interpreted as a ‘dowry’ (  proíx ). Unclear: Od. 2,53 (verb); Il. 13,382 (deverbative noun). Presumably, the hedna is based on the archaic idea of arranging social relationships by means o…

[German version] (φερνή; phernḗ). Movable goods brought by the wife into the marriage as 'dowry' (φέρειν, phérein), were known throughout the Greek world as pherne. The pherne needs to be distinguished from the προίξ ( proíx ), i.e. the dowry mainly comprised of plots of land and slaves, which was common in the Greek poleis. The lines between these concepts were blurred through the valuation of the ammount to be returned in terms of money, though the two terms cannot be regarded as synonyms [1. 2040f.]. Classical Greek authors used the term pherne only when referring to mythical and n…

[German version] (ἔνδειξις; éndeixis). Literally ‘charge’: in Athens the endeixis was a special form of public intervention by a private person that resulted in the immediate arrest of the accused or an order for a material surety by the head of the court (the ‘Eleven ’, the Árchōn Basileús or the thesmothétai;  archontes). It was permissible against persons (state debtors, exiles and átimoi ( atimia) who visited places (their home town, the public assembly, council, courts, sanctuaries, the market) that they were forbidden to visit by law or popular resol…

(διάλυσις; diálysis). [German version] [1] Procedural law The procedural law of the Greek states was based on the principle of the reconciliation of both parties involved (διαλύειν, dialýein). Only after the failure of that step a formal verdict was to decide on the matter. Dialysis proceedings thus constituted the first procedural step in ‘preliminary proceedings’, irrespective of whether heard by a magistrate (  anákrisis ) or by public or private   diaitētaí , in international arbitration or in proceedings heard by ‘foreign judges’ called from one or more cities to decide on a case. T…