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[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] (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…

[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.…

(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…