Homicide, wounding, and battery in the fourth-century Attic orators.

Abstract

<italic>Homicide</italic>, <italic>Wounding</italic>, <italic>and Battery in the Fourth-Century Attic Orators</italic> addresses the law and rhetoric of violence in fourth-century Athens, utilizing case studies from the Attic orators. The first three chapters are concerned with different aspects of Athenian homicide law. Chapter 1, Lawful Homicide, analyzes the claim of lawful homicide made in Lysias 1, and shows how Lysias manipulates statute law in an attempt to win an acquittal. Chapter 2, Homicide and the Thirty Tyrants, examines the effects of the oligarchy of the Thirty on the substance, procedure, and rhetoric of Athenian homicide law through studies of Lysias 12 and 13. Chapter 3, Homicide and the <italic> Oikos</italic>, examines two killings in Isaeus 9 and [Demosthenes] 47, and discusses the role of the victim's family in Athenian homicide law. Chapter 4, Intentional Wounding, defines the terms tra<a><ac>u</ac><ac>&d5;</ac></a> ma and pr<a><ac>o</ac><ac>&d12;</ac></a>noi a as technical terms of law. The evidence of the orators proves that the former indicates a wound made with a weapon, and the latter means 'intent,' not 'premeditation.' Lysias 3 and 4 address these questions, as well as providing evidence for the rhetoric of violence employed by litigants. Chapter 5, Battery, covers the offenses of a<?Eqn TeX style=script> ,<?Eqn TeX endstyle=script> <a><ac>i</ac><ac>&d12;</ac></a> k3ia and hubris, using as sources Demosthenes 21 and 54, [Demosthenes] 47, Isocrates 20, and Lysias frr. 75--6 Thalheim. Under Athenian law, a<?Eqn TeX style=script> ,<?Eqn TeX endstyle=script> <a><ac>i</ac><ac>&d12;</ac></a> k3ia was simple battery; hubris was an aggravated form of battery whose aggravating factor lay in the <italic>mens rea</italic> of the actor. Hubris was thus a fluid concept which was open to interpretation and manipulation by litigants. The Conclusion, Violence, Self-Help, and the Rule of Law, employs the evidence gathered in the foregoing chapters to demonstrate that the Athenian legal system represented the rule of law while simultaneously allowing a broad range of self-help. This compromise ensured the successful functioning of the system and served the interests of the individual, since Athenian litigants used the courts to further disputes as well as to settle them.