Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part 1: Law in Greece
- Part 2: Law in Athens I: Procedure
- 5 Law and Oratory at Athens
- 6 Relevance in Athenian Courts
- 7 Differentiated Rhetorical Strategies in the Athenian Courts
- 8 The Role of the Witness in Athenian Law
- 9 Theories of Punishment
- 10 The Rhetoric of Law in Fourth-Century Athens
- Part 3: Law in Athens II: Substantive Law
- Part 4: Law outside Athens
- Part 5: Other Approaches to Greek Law
- Index
10 - The Rhetoric of Law in Fourth-Century Athens
from Part 2: - Law in Athens I: Procedure
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 August 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part 1: Law in Greece
- Part 2: Law in Athens I: Procedure
- 5 Law and Oratory at Athens
- 6 Relevance in Athenian Courts
- 7 Differentiated Rhetorical Strategies in the Athenian Courts
- 8 The Role of the Witness in Athenian Law
- 9 Theories of Punishment
- 10 The Rhetoric of Law in Fourth-Century Athens
- Part 3: Law in Athens II: Substantive Law
- Part 4: Law outside Athens
- Part 5: Other Approaches to Greek Law
- Index
Summary
Following a brief exposition of the rise of rhetoric in Athenian democracy, the first task of this chapter is to explain how rhetoric became a primary instrument of the judicial process in fourth-century Athens even though rhetoric had no intrinsic interest in the law. The second task of this chapter is to demonstrate how rhetoricians spoke about the law and used it for rhetorical purposes in speeches delivered by them or others before the law courts of Athens.
Athenian Democracy and the Rise of Rhetoric
The Athenian democracy of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E had no executive office or executive council. Rather, official, binding decisions were made in two public, democratic institutions, the Assembly and the courts. The purpose of both institutions was to express the will of the demos – that is, the mass of ordinary citizens who made up the vast bulk of the citizen body and wielded power in the state – in a fair, open, institutionally stable way. The demos delegated tasks and decisions to lesser institutions or colleges of magistrates in the name of efficiency. Initiatives in the Assembly and courts were in the hands of individuals, who competed for political leadership. And the demos often reconsidered or revised its own decisions. But there were no institutional mechanisms to limit the demos’ sphere of activity, and there was no doctrine of rights restricting the will of the demos. The power of the demos within the state was absolute, its decisions in the Assembly and courts were final and not subject to appeal.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law , pp. 191 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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