PuniSK IID IIY TH.

P uss SYNDICATE 0' THI UNIYUSlTY 0' CAM811DGI

The Pin Buildin" Trumpington SUt, Cambridc~ C81 IIlP, United Kin,.:lom

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yon.

Cambridae Uniwnity PTcu 1998

Tbi l book is in copyrill'lI. S ubjccr: to aUNlor)' HCeption and 10 the ~>o ...
of relCYl.llt cnlltive licen_ina qreemcntl, nn reproduction nf Uly pan may
tHe plKe withnUI thc written pcnnillion ofCo.mbrid,e Univcn;ty PTcu.

Fint publ ilhed 1998

ofeo.u.- ""~ i .. ~ Ita,..

Kot;....,. ; n .. Y" in ord", conflict. and community in clasakal Athms
I edited by Plul Cutlcdae, PlIul MiUm " Situ. von RNen.
Li/.wQry

p.
em .
lnclude_ blblioJrllphiclll reference. and indH.
ISIS 0 ,2 1
6 (hardback)
I . Grce - Ci";liutioo - T o 14611C .
1. Athenl (Greece) - Social
life and culloms. 1. lnlcrpcnonlll rel.no ... - <ft:ce - AWOl .
I. Cutleclae. Paul. II . Mil~n, PlIul. III . Reden , Situl von .
DP7I .1t67 1998
918 - del' \l8-1?2H CIP

,?OIl'

IS BN 0 Sll S?081 I) bafdbKk

Contents

Lis, of illwtrations
Now on ronuibUflln
Prrfau and tukl10llJkdgemmu

,
:riii

dbbm>iarioru

lnuoducDon: defining a leosm os

PAUJ CARD pOGI!

Inter-personal rdanons on Alhenian pau:

putting olllen in their place
RORIN OSBORNE

Political friendship and the ideolDI[)' of reciprocity

"
37

M&T COl M SCHOEl!!! D

'The politics of affection: emotional attachmc:on

in Athenian socic:ry

l'

lIN POXHAI'

Between koitum and iQiOfl : legal and social dimendon s of

religious associations in ancient Athens

U lAS ,uNAOtrIOGI ,QU

Gymnasia and the: democratic values of leisun::

NICK FISHER.

The seductions of the: laze: Socrates and hi. girlfriends

6.

.
10j

SI MON GOLDRn I

,.

The: Athenian political perception of the idiow

I IfNI R!!BINSTPIN

Enmity in founh-century Athens

'44

p . . ItHODES

,b

The: rhe tori c o f enmity in the Arne o n.ton

STIIPHBN TODD

,6,

viii

CcmUJIU

'0

The well-ordered polis: topographies or civic space

.,.

unA YON aEDEN

"

The threat from the Piraeus

"

Encounten in the: Agora

191

pM ROY

'0'

PAUL MJLLE1T

Guwral bibliorraplrv

:1:19

!nd n

Illustrations

Hirschfeld krater, Attic Late Geometric c. 740 BCE. Athens,

National Museum 990. Photo: Hinner Fotoarchiv, Munich
~ NcS5(ls amphora, Attic Black Figure c. 620 BCE. Athen" National
Museum 1192. Photo: Hinner FOloarchiv, Munich
3 Eyc-cup by Exc:kias, Attic Black Figure c. 540 BCE . Munich,
I

16
19

Museum Ant:ikc:r K1einkun$1 2044. PhOtos: Himll:r F otoacchiv,

Munich
Amphora, name vaSt of the Berlin Painter, Attic Red Figure
c. 490 8CE. Berlin, Staatlichc MusC'cn F:n60. Photos: Hinnet
POloarchiv, Munich
Bell krater, name: vase oCthe Pan Paintcr, Attic Red Figure
c. 460 BeB. Boslon, Museum of Fine Ans lo. 18~s. James Fund and
by Special Contribution. Photos: Museum of Fine: Arts, Boston
Phoenician silver gilt bowl from the Bernardini Tomb, 1aSl Quarter
of the eighth century or first quancr of the seventh century BCB.
Drawing from O. Montclius, La civilju,titJn primiriw". lraJ~ tkpuis
I'inrroduaion da "u/(ua (Stockholm, 1895- 19(0), vol. 1, Plate
368.5
Phoenician silver gilt bowl from Idalion, Cyprus. last quancr of
the eighth century or fint quaner of the seventh century BCE.
Drawin8 from H . Longperier. ChoU de ",oP/u",ents a"~1lU
(MuS Napoleon Ill, Paris, 1868- 80)

22

"
28

31

33

i,

Notes on contributors

assistant editor with lhe Lexi con o f Grcck

Personal Names. He has published articles on Athenian luocialiODS, on
nomicidc and on marital disputes in GrcC()o-Roman Egypt, and has compiled. sourcebook on ancient Greck law (forthcoming).
II..IA S AilNAOUTOGLQU il

ad

PA UL CARTLIIDGE is Reader in Greek History in the: University of Cam-

bridge, and Fellow of Clare College. He was a c~di lor of Nomos: &$4)11
in A,hmUJn LDw, Poiirics and SocUty (1990). He has published widely on
Greek history and histori ography, most ucently ~ GTtdu: A Ponr"il of
Sd/ and oUten (mise<! edition 1997). and is the creator and editor of TJu
Co mbridg, !llwrraud H islQry of Ancimt Grua ( 1997).

NICK. PISH1!R is Senior Lecturer in the School of Hil tory and Archaeology, University of Wales, Cardiff He: has written Social Values in CitUSicaJ
Alhnu (1976 ), Hybris ( 1991) and Slafln)' in ClaJSialJ Alhl'M ( 1993) and

several ankles on Grttk poli tical and social history. He is currently

preparing a tnnslation and commentary on Aeschines' speech Agai1l.$t
Timard!os.

is Reader in Ancicnt History in the School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leiccster. She has edited vo lumes on law in
ancient GreC(:e, mal5(:ulinity in classical Antiquity (with J. Salmon), and
wrinen a monograph on ancient Greek olive cultivnion. She is currently
wOrking on a book on the study of gender in classical Antiquity.
LIN POJ: HA LL

is University Lecturer in Greek Literature and Fellow

of King's College, Cambridge. He has published widely on Greek literature and culture, including Rtading Gra. Tragcdy (1986), The Poet 's Voiu
(1991) and Fout:ault's Virgil'firy (t995).

SIMON GOL DlIlLL

is University Lecturer in Ancient History and Fellow of

Downing College, Cambridge. He was a co-editor or Nomos: Essays in
Athnrian Law, PoIitia ami Sociery (1990), and is the author or Lnrding and
&rrowing in Ancient Athens (1991 ).
PA tiL MILLETT

ROBIN OSBORNE is a Professor of Ancient History at the University of

Orlord, and Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College. His work ranges
over the history and archaeology of ancient Greece and his boob include
Gruu in thl Making, UOO--f79 BC (1996) and An:hau: amt Ckwical GretA
An (forthcoming 1998).
S1TTA VON RIIDEN is ucturer in C lassics and Ancient History at the
University of Bristol. H er book E:uhange in Ancient Gruu appc::arc:d in
1995. She is cun-ently working on a book on economic and non-economic
uses of money in classical and hellenistic Greece.

J. RH ODES is Professor of Ancient History at Durham University. H is

many works on classical Athens include his Commmtary on the ArislDulian
AthenaioJl PoIilelQ; he has recently published (with the late David M .
Lewis) The ~I$ o/t~ Gru lr. SUlII$ (1997).
P.

ROY is Senior uctun:r in C lassics at the University of Nottingham

and has wrinen on various aspc::cts of classical Greek history, often in
connection with Arkadia. He is currently working on studies of the history
of E1is in collaboution with the Copc::nhagen Polis Centre.

JIM

LENE RtHIiNSTEIN is ucturer in Classics at Royal H olloway, University

of London. She is author of Adoption in IV Century Athm.s (1994) and is
cUfTently working on the activities of syrugoroi in the Athenian coum.
MALCOLM SC H 0 PIELD is Reader in Ancient Philosophy in the University
of Cambridge and Fellow of 51 John's College, and hu published widely
on presoc:nltic and hellenistic philosophy as well as on Plato and AriStotle.
He is the author of T~ Stoic Idea of the Giry ( 1991) and with Christopher
Rowe is editing 1M Cambridgt History 0/ GTllk and Roman PoIirical Tlwug}u
(forthcoming).
STEPHEN TODD is Senior ucturer in Classics at the University of Keele.
He was a co-cditor of Nomos: &says in Athenian Law, Politics, amt SocWry
(1990) , and is the author of 1M ShaM of Athlmian Law (1993) and of
Athnu amt Spana (1996).

Preface and acknowledgements

KonnoJ: EUIlYJ in order, Clmftict, and community in diUJicaf AlhtIU is out

of the lame stable as NomoI; EssayJ in Athmian Io.w, poiiriq, and SJ'ay
(Cambridge Univcrsi(y Press 1990) and will, we trust, prove to be no lett
of II. stayer and winner. This new collection of specially developed and
thematically linked essays arose out of the second Cambridge Ancient
History Seminar series co-directed (in the Lent and Easter Terms 1994) by
Paul Can1cdgc and Paul Millett. As before with Stephen Todd, 10 here
with Siua von Redcn, the seminar co-director!l were most fo rtunate: in
being able to harness onto the c:ditorial trOika II. third member JYIDpathctic
in general intc:llectual formation and approach but b lessed also with dis
rinctivc: outlook and expertise. All the original seminar speakers, h appily,
agreed to publish their papers in II. more or less, and usually more than less,
revi sed form.
The: JCminar', aim was to explo re the range of relationlhips that bound
together the ind ividuall and groups of which the peliJ was composed - or
that threltened to tear the peI;J apart. As in the case of Nomos, seminar
contributions were originally in vited 10 addrets the entire wider Greek
world in the period from c. 700 to ISO BCE, and il was especially hoped thai
papers WQuld be nOI only comparltivist in m ethod but liso interdisciplinary in orientation. Actually, and realistically, mOil of the offers of cootributioos that we were disposed 10 accep t chose 10 focus on the city and
community of Athens, and even m ore specifically on the Athenian dem ocracy of the fifth and fourth centuriel. Hence the subtitle of the book.
The title & 1m01, apm from iu euphony and the pan1lel with Nomos,
rttommended ilKlf as constituting the ideal of inlerpenonai social conduct - gDOd behaviour, decency, honour, and UUSI in the intere.sts of In
ordered and orderly society - towards which Greek civic communities
aspired in both their public and their private self-presentations. Funher
d iscussio n o f the term'. aptnen may be found in Caniedge'S Introduction,
chapter I. below.
Coincidentally ( perhaps), in July 1993 the University of Exeter had
hosted an intemationll conference on ' Reciprocity in Ancient GTeece', the
xiii

XIV

PrtJaa and CJ{:lflUlWkdgtmmtt

proceedings of which are forthcoming as we write. Even c1os.c:r to our

concem5 were the papen delivered to a conference held at Brown University and published as Boegehold & Scafuro 1994: see General Bibliography, p. 230. Clearly therefore we were hitting a common chord in our
choice of interpenonal relatiora and rocial order as the seminar's twin
themes. Nevertheless, our conception and treaunent differ appreciably
from othen': the Exeter conference did not apply its study of the ethical
and economic dimensions of redprocity specifically to the polis; the Brown
conference did not addreu in as rounded a manner either the philosophicalor the spatial dimensions of Athenian civic ideology.
The explanation of this coincidence of scholarly concern probably lies
more in our surrounding society than it does within purely disciplinary
confines. We live in an era of galloping atomisation at home and impenonal globaliution abroad. As the distinguished American playwright
Anhur Miller has graphically put it, ' We are now one individual and
another individual and another in the face of the fact that it is perfect1y
obvious that there is a society, that we are all in the grip of various forces
that are raging around us.' Or, in the words of Noam Chomsky, we are
experiencing an unprecedentedly 'general effon to privati.e aspirations, to
eliminate solidarity, the sense that we're all in it together, that we care for
one another'. Contemplation of dauical Athens, a complex and IOphistiCllted ancient society that not only was but law itself 1$ a strong community, has its own powerful attractions.
Finally, all such books ariSing out of seminan are likely or even bound to
result in heterogeneity of subject-matter and approach, lacunae, and a
cettain unevenness in execution. Our readen, tOO, will have a variety of
alternative agendas to promote. We do not in any CIse ~Iieve it to be
either possible or desirable to produce a volume with definite, let alone
definitively agreed, 'conclusions' on the nature of Athenian society and the
modes of ilS penonal interaction and social (dis)integration. Rather, this
volume is consciously intended to ~ exploratory and heuristic. We thus
value positively: and wish to make a virtue of, the diversity that is on offer
here, and we remain sanguine that the whole will be found to be as great
as, or greater than, the . um of its pans.
It remains only for us to thank all those (too many to name individually)
who have made this volume possible: fint. of coune, our ever-patient contributon; next, those who attended, intervened at or otherwise participated
in the original seminar seriel, especiaUy those who officially responded to
the paper-givers but whose responses have for one reason or another not
found their way as such into the published volume; penultimately, our two
notabl y frank but rarely less than bracing anonymous referees; and lastly,
though nOt least, the Cambridge Univenity Preu Syndicate.
P.C ., P.M., S. v. R.

Abbreviations

Nou:. Abbreviations of periodicals follow the convention of die relevant

volume of L 'Annie phiIoWgiql4, the sc:holarly annual of record.

CAF

KOCH, T . (1880-8), ed ., Com iGOnlm Arricon.lm FrQjfmt flla . 3

vo ls. Leipzig.

A US TIN, C. (1973) ed., Com icfmlm Graeconlm Frogmen/a in

Papyris Repma. Berlin & New York.
DK
DIELS, H . & KRANZ, W . (195 1- 2, 1954) ed,., DU Frngmmlt'
der Vonokroriker. Slh- 7th edns, Berlin.
FGH
JA CO BY, F. (1913- 58) cd ., Die Fratmmu du griuhischm H istoriktr. Berlin & Leiden.
Harding HARDING, P. (1985) From rhe End of the PeloponlVsian War to
rht' Battle o/ lpJol. Cambridge.

CGFP

TG

/nscripIW1W GTotcoe ( 1873-)

KRS

KIRK, G. S., RAVE N, J. E. , AND SC HOFIELD, M.

LSI

OCD

RE

SEG
Tod

(1983), Th. Pnsocratic Phi/owphm. 2nd edn, Cambridge.

LIDDELL, H . G., SCOTT, R. , AND JONES, H. S.
(1940), cds., A Oruk - English Uxium. 9th cdn, Oxford (with
supp. 1968 incorporated with add ., 1996).
HORNBLOWER, S. & SPAWFORTH, A. ( 1996) eds.,
1h Oxford Classila/ Ditriollary. 3td edn, Oxford.
PAULY, A. F. von , WISSOWA, G. & KROLL, W . (189 41972), eds., Reakncyclbpddu dv dauischen AlunumswiuDuchQjr.
66 vols. in 34.
Supplmtmnmt Epigraphicum G~lUCum (1913-)
TOO, M . N. ( 1948) A &kclit:m ofGruk Huwrica/ Inscription!.
Vol. II., Oxford.

Introduction: defining a kosmos 1

PAUL CA RTL EDGE

This introductory chapter seeks [0 do two things above all. Fint, it attempts
to position our collection intellecrually, both in relation to reccnt m ovements of lCCiologieaJ and anthropologicailhcory about inlerpenonal relatiom, and in relation 10 the recent developments of scholarship specifically
on ancient Greek and Athenian social hislOry. Second, it aims more briefly
to introduce the papers indudcd hereafter in this collection.
THEME AND PROBLEMATI C
What is principally at issue throughou t the volume is the narure of sociability and interpersonal tt1lnsactions within the peculiar Greek political
community that went under the name of f'Q/iJ (d. Cankdge 1996), and
specifically within the Athenian dcmocratk poIu of the fifth and founh
centuries BCI!. We arc 001 here interested primarily in the expressions of
such rclarionship5 at the molt Connal, central and public political levels;
that was the bu~iness of Canledge, Millen & Todd 1990. On the other
hand, we have not excluded them altogether, since the ancient city was a
relatively stateless political community lacking the sharp diltincrions or
oppositions all too famil iar today between th e State and the rest of the
citizen community, and between the public and the private. and lacking
conllequently any intenned.iary ' civil society' between the individual, either
as such or as a m ember of a family unit, and the State (Berent 1996). Politics in a G:ek ci[)" in other words, wu al lO a aoci.l .ffair, nOl lomethina
best left to the politicians, and society, cODversely, was also political. The
G:ek lenn poIiteia, co rrespondingly, could mean both political constituti on narrowly conceived and more broadly society (Ob 1993).

->0.....,.

the ltimull.. and

1 Mft recciftd npecialI, &om my
co-editor Situ ..,., ~ ... in the writint; of thiI inU"Odul:toty duopt"'. I wiah .... I" ..-p._ the debt
I "'" '0 ..... bmo
o.tudcnts ""'" .... q>crialisu in oncicnt and mod<-tn po~1icaI tho\>FI ..
O ... icU. AIlo:" ODd MWlc Ber..... one! the ",,,d! fVe1I ........... """",111.,1 ....,. m... , , ..n, 10 my
..... oeoior Cambrid,. .... n .,.... Pel P......un,; and GeoIhT Uoyd.

, It ... fVe1It pIcM_.o .. _~

..-1".,.

PAUL CARTLEDGE

In this respect, at leUl, Athens was a nonnal Greek city. BUI il was nOI
50 in every way, by any means. Todd (1993: 156- 7) , fOT example, hu
rightly sO'Csscd the Athenian community's unique size, degree of urbanisation, and collective wealth . Athens was also ao unusually heterogeneous,
comples, and democratic city, the mosl consciously progressive, the most
inlenRly narciSiistic in GTcece:
Athen. in the fourth centwy IIC was JOCiety eharscll~riud by (a) fundamenw differences between cimns Ind noncitizen., I nd inequ.litic. between tOCiologically
defined groupS within the citizenry; (b) both conflict and identity of internta between and within the divenc vouptl; (e) I set of rules, nonDl, and practices munciated by the demos (mass of ordinary citizeDJ qua dominant political elemmt)
and perpetuatcd by popular idC()loKY - wlUcb requiTed the consent of potcntially
disruptive t ub-groupS (norably the Athenian clites). (Ober 1993: 141)
Yet despite all that, it was also an unusually liable city, especially in th e
fo urth century (cf. Eder 1995) from which m ost of the enant evidence
comes and to which it chiefly applies. 000 continues by adang whether
Athens' relative stability as a society in the fourth century WI! achieved and
maintained because the various pam of the democratic polis consented to
the demo,', rules, norms and practices, recognising them IS substantively
JUSt, or whether their consent was based on deception or even coerced. For
the moS[ part, we shall not be operating here at such an explicit level of
politicil anllysis in temu of consent or coercion. Conflict and identity, on
the other hand, arc no leIS of the essence in our project thin in Ober ',.
So too, but even m ore so, is stability. Comparison of Athens with [WO
other n otably stable pre- modem politics offen I useful Stamng point. Of
these Sparta might perhlPS be thought even to hive pre-empted our title
J/oJmoJ. H erodOlos (1.65.4) wrote that it Will Lycurgus, an 11 lellIt temilegendary founding lawgiver, who established the Spartans' IwrmoJ. and
se-veral modem scholan have seized on this word as the leitmotif or their
enquiries inlo Spartan politics Ind society (Missoni 1984; Bringmann
1986; Nafissi 1991; Unk 1994). But Irormos, III we shaH demonstrate, was a
univenal Greek term susceptible of mOre than one locil consttuction. Ir
the: hallmark of conse-rvative Sparta's social ortinwng was guchioumheit, th at
of Athens, by contrail, was its progressive openness, in its own as well as
others' esamation.
A second useful comparison , and contrast, would be with pre-modem
Venice, the: political stability or which aroused even Machiavelli'. warm
admiration . An integral feature of this was Venice's conspicuous success at
maintaining public order, which h iS been attributed to a harmonious
combination of rlcton including the impartial application of law, the selrdiscipline of the governing class, and the ability of thll class to increase
social cohesion through both paternalistic policies and the highly ritualised
symbolic integration ofcitiunry (NippcI1 995: 114- 15). Mediaeval Venice,

1J1~tiott:

tkji"i", a kosmos

of coune, was no more democratie than andent Spana, but the Venetian
oligarchy's use of ritual and symbol for integrative social purposes is I
fanor to which we shall be retumin&: in more than one connection.
FROM THE COS METI C TO THE COS MI C
Cosmos (with a 'e') is a standard English word with a Greek etymology.
It has broadly two seoses: first, the more or less empirically detenninable
and testable phys ical universe of black holes, the Hubble telescope, and
Stephen Hawking; second , the m etaphysical universes (in either a stri ctly
religious or a more vaguely spiritual construction) orthe cosmologists, theologians, poets, artists and philosophen. In non-standard English, Kosmos
with a 'K' has appeared esoterically in Whitman's fam ous 'Song o f Mynlf'
poem cyd e (,Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son ... '). In
Gennan, to dte only one intell tual landmark, it has K I"'ed as the title of
Alexander von Humboldt's five-volume physischl Wdtbuchrriblmg ( 184 56:1). But our ' Kosmol' is none of thole. It re-presents. rather thin merely
trans literates, the original Greek word, in its original sense. That original
lense il order.
Already in Homer we find d erived usages of kolPllOJ, such as the prepositional phrase ktl/a kosmon ('in order', 'duly', for example IlitJd 10. 47:1)
and the adverbial kosmi6J ('Very fittingly [did you sing the fale of the
Achaeans] ' : Odyss~ 8.489); th e laner il a reference perhaps not simply to
the fonnal quality of Demodokol' so ng bUI also 10 its truth-value (von
Reden 1995b: ]6). Since order was considered buutiful, kolPllos came nCllt
to mean Idommenl, as in our own 'cosmetic(s)' (van Straten 1992: :1689). Gorgias the Sophist, composing an en comium of Helen, malecS her
claim punningly that 'For a dty the finest kOmlOJ (both order and adornment) is a good citizenry, for a body beauty, for a soul wildom, for an action a,."l!virtue] , and for s speech tl'Uth' (fr. 11.1 D- K; trans. Gagarin &
Woodruff 1995: 191).
Thil Ian uu ge relll on the cu.p between the pre-philosophical and the
philosophical. As early as about soo, perhapl, th e Pythagorean sectaries
had been ul ina the word to describe orderline .. in n ature (as OPPOled to
human culture or adornment). But the meaning ' world-order Item l nOI to
have emerged much if at all before the mid-fifth century, the firtt certain
extant inl tance of the utlge being by Empcdoklel (no. 397 in Kirk, Raven
& Schofield Ig83; though lee pernaps already HeraJcleitos, KRS no. :117).
The dogma of the .lraJmos .. unitary, divine, hannonioul and mathematically ordered look shape only after the mid-fifth century, pOlli bly und er
influence from the Near Eall.'
, Klan. ' 9U; Dill ... '9,6; IUhn , 9601>; Kcrt""natcinor ' 96'; l!octlle>" .til7: Kn1l, Ilo_ ..
Scholl<ld '91,: "9 II. ' i o.r_ ' 9"'.

PAUL CA RTLEDGE

An anonymous ancient commentator wrole wiltily of Plato', wo rk thai 6

6la;\oyo<; KOOIIO<; lo-TIV Ko i 6 KOOIiOOi 6nl;\oyoo; (' the dialogue is a cosm os, and
the cosmos a dialogue': WeSlerink 1962: 30-1). Yet even in Plalo the
newer, cosmic s.ense did not entirely supersede the earlier cultural-political
usage of Gorgias and, befofe h im, Herodotos. In the foundation myth
ascribed to Protagoras by Plato, Zeus is said 10 have been afraid thaI
the human genoJ would be entirely killed off. He therefore sent Hennes
together with Aidos (Respect, Shame) and Dike (Right, Justice) so that
they might bring order (koJmoi, in the plural) to cities and serve as the
communal bonds of friendship (Prorogorw 322Cj cr. 32Sd, where the
abstract noun ewkosmia is used to mean 'good conduct', in the sense of
behaviour thaI is right and pious as well as orderly).
In shon, if we were looking for an ancient CiTttIt term current in o ur
period that was equivalent to the modem phrase(s) '(the) social ord er',
kosmos would be !he neare$! we could find. Thus fon ified, we tum specifically to the question of how we are to approach an undentanding of the
order of our target society or community,
ATHENIAN CO MMUNITY

' AU societies'. it has been claimed. are 'constructions in the face of chaos'
( Berger & Luckman 1967: II ), But, if !l-O, what son of constrUctions arc
they, and how have they been put toge!her, and how and why do they stay
in place? There is a plethora of modem would-be explanatory models or
theories ofsociety or 'community',) Historians of classical Athens - 'all 50
unimaginably different, ! And all so long ago', as Louis MacNeice PUt it in
his AUlum" Jourl'lill - can no d oubt afford to adopt a somewhat m ore relaxed approach. Yet they 100 find themselves confronted by the need to
select models of explanation that accommodate both re markable social and
political stability and considerable social and political change, including a
decade (411- 401 BCE) ofsometimes paroxysmic internal political conflict.
, s!.qb<er '9&4 io mool helpfu1 <on"""",,", t.,. _
ioPL Arpobly the moo. ,dn...1t and
b<1p/'uJ mod<m tbeooy of ""It"", for .,..,. pu:pOIeS is ton~m:d in Icnno of riNlI, wbic.b can i_Ifbt
dnaibed and onolywd in many_yso.,',. GllKIanan ' 977; Humph...,.. '\17*; Mom. 1992, '99);
H ~ &. r..idl . .. ' !J9.4> TunIc. '951, '969, '912, AD rituoli.. theori of rullW'< tmphMit<
oymbo~~ m~1HIin& and mcnloli\y nm..r!han IomIoI inllitutiono and objecti. otr\OCtUt'OO. A rK='
~pl< - oil the """" in~1inI ond .. levan. for 0'" 1>"fPOteI in w. n ....u in the Athena 01
P.ricleo - Is Richard Srnnc:n'. ambitiouo dio.clttonic our-rq or tho otmk>u.:. of urban "",hiltUre
('994), 11Uo eumplm.s 0100 worIt II"" lin.. to obowhow, dctp;,. tho ... Ioti';tr of a'lIl ......... """"0,
the ........;,""'-" of ... Iotionohipo, "'" ftuiditr ofboundories and tho llbiU.,. of .ttIICtWft, ~ ..
won .. pot'O(I<>AI id."ti<y (or ;.Jentitin) it no ... th~ I.......... bow 1IChk....t, and bolid in oodal
proaica occur.d, throu,t> _
metaphon, <;Ommonly f.l, omoI;.,n.,., and oommoniy undenfOOd
~ , V.,
r - ."teM;'"", on (broodlJ) ideoJosy 10 tho acluolor> ofinttitutloas or
woWd
und..n.ble: '[N.",I;' 7... """,1 o.v;.'. and /1!,P,1 Thom.-n' tftU " " tho uominolion of commllni.,. one! ksitimocy m.... be mntq:n.td ""th th< on&/y>iI of po-., tnnofOTmation
ond confti.c:t' (Dnan '919: 7' )'

'"'ttl

'0

w.. .......

'nmxl~awm:

ikfinilll a kosmos

Perhaps we may start by noriog a happy congru ence of andent Onek and
modem thwrising.
A combination of linguistics, anthropology, me study of mentalities,
psychology and psychoanalysis. not to mention philosophy and history, has
revealed 'the individual' to be not a thing4in4ioelf but a cultural construct
(SourvinOU 41nwood 1995: 8-9 and n. )2 ). In most Greek political 4moral
theory too the normative standard of value was always 'the larger context of
the good life of the community' (Gill '995: 64 n. 64). So too in Athenian
political rhetoric the community's interests systematically overrode those
of the individual dti~en , as for example in the last speech wrinen by
Thucydides for Pericles: ' I believe that if a city is sound as a whole, it
does more good to its private citizens than if it benefits them as individuals
while failing as a collective unit' (Thuc. 2.60. 2, trans. Gagarin & Woodruff
1995: 100).
The 'community' or 'city' in question was the polis, and as a theorist
of the Gt-eek city as either a real o r an imagined community there was
no one in antiquity to rival Aristotle.4 According to the Aristotelian
' paradigm' (e:nunciate:d in Nic. Eth. 11 59- 60), the polis was the: apex in a
pyramid of hie:rarchical relationships between the cil}' and the different
kinds of smaller associations (koinoniai ). The: polis of de:mocratic Athe:ns
was a political macrocosm of which its smallest constitue:nt unit, the
de:me:, was both microcosm and model (cr. Chbome 1990a). Crucial to
AriStoue:'s conception was scale: small - meaning no more than 10,000
adult male citi2ens - was for him beautiful. We speak today metaphorically
of the global village, interlinked by a network of IIItellites and fiber~pti c
cables. Classical Athens was, by Greek standards, a global village in and
of itself.
It is, however, noteworthy. and perhaps culpable. that Aristotle's dis4
cussion of the political identity of a city pays no explicit or direct anention
to the role of the simpler forms of association (family, village). That defect
will be remedied in the chapters below. Moreover, classical Athenl was not
JUSt any ordinary, let alone typical or nonna!, Greek city. Became of its sUe:
and complexity a cenain amount of not entirely profitable debate h as
therefore been generated over whether Athens may usefully be labelle:d.
like most othe:r Greek cities. a ' face 41o--face community' . In lived reality, no
doubt, it cannot be, in the: sttQng sense, in thai all iu membcllI did not
regularly interact in person and that such personal interaction was Dot of
the essence of Athenian co mmunity. But the 140 or 50 demes ce:nainly
were face--to--face communities. and it was as a race 4t0 4face community that
the polis of Athens did at any Tlte imagine ioelf. 1b.is indeed was a central
aspeCt or what Loraux, borrowing from the contemporary Gt-eek political
Studin on AN'.....,. po~tK:al philOlOPhr .... lePOll . A ...,011. r<n' t<lKoon in Enp.b
Include Yock '98,. 19I1}, Obcr '9Ill. 19I1} (- 19\16' ch . " ), S.l~ '991 ; M ...... ' 199}.

.,

mia:h.

PAUL CARTLEDGE

theorist Cornelius Castoriadis, has called Athens' ' Civic Jmaginuy.~

Athen ian democratic civic ideology was uniquely inclusive (Hanson 1995:
367- 8), and myths of community served to unite people who were in fact
of different origins and customs (Strauss 1994: :Z64; cf. Loraux (986).
Not all members of the Athenian koinonia, however, were relevantly
equal. Democracy's strong egalitarianism, for citizens, almost necessarily
entailed inequality of stams and status-honour for 'others', thJ.t is for all
thole penons who in Aristotle's formulation were nec~sary for but not of
the polis in the sense of its politellWl(;l (dtizen-body). These 'othen' were
manifold : women of citizen statuS as well u foreign Of unfree women;
foreign men, non-resident as well as resident; and many thousands of
slaves - Greek, barbarian, mJ.le, female . Of coune, stams boundaries
might be crossed informally, and in rare cases formally CIl the limit, when a
male ex-slave became a citizen). But su ch marginality b y definition challenged and blurred as well as reinfon::ed status boundaries: for instance,
the category o f ' the ht Ulir(;l' (conventional ly translated 'counesan') did so
both d iscursively and objectively.
We should not therefore allow Aristotle's hJ.rmoni ou5 organicist model
of the polis to d eceive u s into overlooking or underestimJ.ting the 'tension s
generated by the play of differen ce between and within me society of citizens, civil society, and society at lar8e' (Ober 1993: (48). One important
site for proving - thai is, teuing - the rule of harmonious inclusivity is
me Piraeus, which was both a constiment political pan of 'Athens' and
(almost) a second Athens, both an Athenian deme and a m ulti-ethnic,
inter-cultural commen::ial community, a source of tension as well as solidarity (von Reden 1995c).
ATHENS: T HE JU ST CI TY?

Diki we have met already in Plato's

myth. It WIS the them e J.lso

of Clnledge el al. 1990. DiIU in one of its senset m eant the formal mechanisms of legal justice, and Hansen is we believe quile righl to insist mJ.t
institutions can maner. or even make th e difference (1989a; cr. KaJlet~
Marx (994). But 'I'IOrPIOJ m eant custom and convention IS well as law or
statute; and the line between the form al and the informal was blurred in
theory as in practice. To abstract ' the political' from all other forms of
social interaction, privileging legal criteria and institutions in definitions of
ProUlgOTlJJ

~. a. Vidal-Noqua '996, wtUcll inclu<ks c:cmtribution by C ..,oriodi.

1WNc:1f " 9- ' 7. On .... ""1qOrJ of '.... ~, in..,mn. 1M norion. of populu and civic
myth &Dd 1M in'tttIlion oncI ..inelltion of.....titiona, tee compwaliveiy At>dcDOn ' 99'. Oc1>oeoc
' \1904. Wilhin modiliont, i. bat ben> .......W<!, diolc<:tkal<enoion. of indiW:IuaI qaino. collecm,
of~' opino. prgenl, oncI of in.em.ol Jopin .. n ............. . rticuJ.W<! _
P impc.... '" """""
......1chan&e m the lUis<: ofoonlinuiry": Crowthor 1994: ' 0' .

ton."" 199); d .

/nrrodltion: defining (I kosmos

citi:tCn and citi:l;enship, has therefore propedy been Sligmatiscd 85 a retrOgrade form of ' constitutionalism' (A. Scafuro in Bocgehold & Scafuro
1994) . Besides, the authority and legitima!;}' of popular rule (cr. Finley
1982) and the hegemony of the masses over the elite in lawcourt and
Assembly (c!. Ober 1989) depended 00 consensual and contractual exercise of and respect for popular judgment, rather than on what we would
understand more n arrowly by the rule of law. Athens had nothing like a
modem police force (cc. Nippel 1995); indeed, arguably, it had nothing
much like a modern State ( Berem 1994, 1996). The activities of cult associations, for example, despite their imponance to Athenian society at large,
were not regulated by a comprehensive or even by a partial set of legal
provisions imposed and policed by an all-powerful impersonal State. Hence
the overridiog imponance to the maintenance of (the) social orda of classical Athens of a rich variety of informal social controls and protocols.
Negatively, this is lariely what explains Aristotle's emphasis on habituation 8J being essential to individual and social vinue, and his insistence on
the overriding oecessity of self-control. Failing that, Athenian neighbourhoods had to rely on informal networks of help, including self-help, and
mutual discipline. 6 No doubt it would be far too extreme to apply to the
real world of classical Athens Jeremy Bentham's 'panopticon' scheme.
which relied on the fiction that each prisoner, alone in his cell, imagines he
is under constant surveillance, while the panopricon itself is constantly
open to 'the great open committee of the tribuna l of the world'; nevertheless. it is perhaps a good deal closer to th e truth than the r~ate . ideologically tinged picture painted by Thucydides' Pericles, according to
which 'far from exercising a jealous surveillance ovcr each other, 1Io-c do not
feel caUed upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or
even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensivc,
although they inflict no positive penalty' (Thuc. 2.)7.2, trans. R. Crawley).7
Ideally, no doubt, the radius of trust should so extend to the whole citi2cn
body that all members of it could plausibly be considered mutual 'friends'.
But the lived reality was a precarious balance of friendship and enmity, not
made any more secure by the traditional moral injunction to harm one's
enemies as much as or m ore than one should help one's friends ( Fisher
1976, t992; Mitchell & Rhodes t996; Konstan 1997).
The other side of rormal and info"",,1 r.:straint and discipline was a
positive emphasis on reciprOCity, a philosophy (if thai is not tc/o grand a
word) grounded ultimately in the economics of pell5am self-sufficiency

Winkler '9901; Cohen '\lSI' , '\lSIjb; Hun,.,. '990. 1994. For . mo<krn (ompaNon oct EllicUul
' \lSI' .
' 111. oerin
H en:nan ('\lSI1, '9'94, '9'9j, 'g.g.6) "" orwued that II>< P"ri<kan new obt.uld
0100 be pn:..,. li,e"lIJ bolieYN by ....

of_"

P .... UL C .... RTLEDGE

combined widl a certain amount of necessary exchange.' Such a notion

might appropriately be given die backing oflegal sanction . In the sphere of
punishment, for example, reciprocity allowed for or enjoined, reasonable
passion or ange r-driven revenge, $0 11$ to enshrine die foul d eed pandigmaticaIIy in die social memory (Allen 1996). AI$O legally enforceable, on
the positive side, were festival lilUfgies, which c:onstituted a species of cuergetism designed to redistribute wealth from the rich 10 the poor for the performance of euencial communal services; in return, ideally, a reverse cur-renl ofincreased honour and prestige would flow to the wea lthy beneractor.1I
That leads us StTaighl to the second of the crucial positive fac:ton underpinning the Athenian social fabric: ritual in all its many forms, both
strictly religious and otherwise (Ober & Strauss 1990; Strauss 1985 [1991.) ;
Morris 1993; Osborne 1994b). Athens simply had morc holy-d ays than any
other GT:k city, and its centrally directed festivals c:ould se rve both as
symbols of ' na tional' unity, no less integral to the city's lJOCial structure
than Siena', Palio loday, and as agents of social cohesion (Goldhill 1990i
Giovannini 1991 ). Conviviality and above all co mmensali ty were the order
of these extraordinary festival da)'l (Schmitt-Pantel 1990, 1991.), the ShOW5
being conduc:t.ed with that theatricality which charac:t.erised so much of
Athenian public, corporate life (Ober & Strauss 1990; CanJedge 1997). A
host of private religious associa tiont, n ot necessarily meeting only on the
ma;or restival days, provided also centres of lociability. Paniciparion in
private Dionysiac m)'ltery-alits, for instance, as well as the city-cults of
Dion)'los arJUab!y lended to promOle civic unity in the Athenian polis
(Seaford 1994). C ivic: ritual of another son, fin ally, is embodied in the
laraest class of extant classical Athenian inKTiptions: the honorific: d ecrees
passed by various Athenian public bodies pour encourager In awua along
th e path of public-spirited philorimw (Whitehead 1993).
ANCIENT AND MODER N

It would be wrong, however, not to end our brief inventory on a cauti onary
nOle of differen ce. Edward Everett of Massachusetts, speaking before
Lincoln It Gettysburg, trumpeted ' the bounds thlt unite us as ODe people a subs tantial co mmunity of OrigiD, language, belief, and law (the four great
ties that hold th e societies of men together); co mmon national and political
interellts; a common history; a comm on pride in a glorious heritage'.
Clan ical Athens was nOI a nation, but, for those seeking th e principle of
order and uni ty th at enabled Athens' 5UC:CesS 15 a community, Everett' s
checklist might .eem at fint l ight a good place from which to stan; 10 it is
MiUottl99!; Seofonl ' m; - . Rcdm '99sa; Gill, PoolIC'thwaitc eo Seaford, r~ 1997; d .
fur.., tnl!ucntial ... ~ pen~, SahIino '974 .
MiU.... 989; a.m, ' jI9CIl a.brKlKn '99. ; d . on oncien, ."",..mlll.no", ~ V<J!IC '971.

l"rroduaW": rk/illing a Itosmos

taken, for example, in a recent critical appraisal of communitarianism and

spirited defence of an enlarged liberalism. 1o In practice, however, this
move goes only to show that in today's terms Athens would fail to con~
stitute a relevant 'community'. Clanical Athens, in Phillips' estimation,
sco~d highly with regard to common history and shared values, wide~
spread political participari<:m, strong bonds of rolidarity (civil l ocief)', vo l~
untary associations, fami ly, propeny rights, mitigation rather than elimi~
nation of class stratification, sufficient separation of private from public
domains). But these admitted successes were achieved only by means, and
at the severe cost, of excluding and exploiting women Ind I laves for the
benefit of I small minoriry of mile citizens. No doubt. all closely knit
communities almost always breed an opposition of insiders and outsiders,
but on these grounds iI would be hard to set Athens up 1$ a mora1~philo
sophical standard. let alone as a practicable mood for us to imitate
(compare and contrast Euben, Wallach & Ober (994).
Moreover, to end this section appropriately on a n ote of paradox, Athenian stasis ( in the modem $Cnse) was significantly premissed on suuis in
the ancient sense of h ostile division (especially Loraux 1987. 1991).
D oubtless elassical Athens was, comparatively speaking. ~markably free
from the extreme kind of nasiJ that afflicted so much of the Greek world
from the later fifth century onwards (Fulls 1984). Yet the very procedure
of democratic voting involved visible d ivision, and the interpersonal tensions normally played out in lawcourt, Assembly and theatre wen: also
normally played out agonistically.1I On two occasions (411 and 4( 4) they
exploded into OUtrighl and very messy civil war. The ambiguity we raised
in NomOI (Cartledge, Millett & Todd 1990: 17) - as to whether such
penonal-political disputes wen: a ' patho logical symptom' or ' necessary to
maintain locial equilibrium' - may thus be developed hen: along the following lines: the Athenian democratic communiry WIS founded on conflict, and it was because of it - rather tha n d espite it - that Athens achieved
a form of order, a new communitarian order ofsociery.
KOSMOS: SUM MARY OF CON T ENTS

The essays that follow operat~ at twO distinct but int~rsecting and mutuall y
implicative levels of analysis: that of the evidence (or in lome caset the
relevant discourse or genre), and that of the facu (both real and imaginary). Broadly speaking, the m ovement of the papers as editorially sequenced is from amiry and harmony through tension to outright enmiry.

,. PtIillipo '~ . Only !be motIlitoPan oflibcnl',.,... ... _

1hIn, .. oociety.
" Osborn. ' 9S5b; waoon '99' ; Co/II '995b; on Iho: .,.,nli

-wd
QUI~IJ

""",rod tho, tb<~ ;' nlIlU<'h

ofGrttk oociaIlif..........u, tf.

~'969

MI"".

10

PAUL CA RTLEDGE

from the good life such as it might have been before th e democratic poIiJ,
by way of the good life as it was or might be in the emergent democratic
pqIiJ, to an examination of violent confrontation within the very symbolic
centre of the fully developed Athenian democratic poIiJ.
OlboMle:'s lro::haeologically infonned curtain-niser (sec now funher
Osborne 1996a, passim) concentrates fixedly on pots, rather than public
an, and on these he cllims to find a discourse of personal relationships
much closer to that in which everyday personal relations were actually
earned out than the idealised discourse of lawcoun speeches and philosophical discussions that fonns the evidence of subsequeot chapters.
C hron ologicaUy, he be,ms his story back in the eighth century but continues it into the classical period on which the book as a whole is focused.
We begin with politics, bUI in theory rather than practice. Sehofte:ld
avoids the familiar concentration on Aristot1e', Nicomacluan ElhicJ and
gives his (if it is his) possibly eccentric consD"Uction of political friendship in the Eudmtian Erhics an unusually d ose inspection. Next, FollhaU,
taking politics in a m on:: extended, metaphorical sense, conducts a reexamination and suggcsu a revision of what Aristot1e might have called the
received and n::putable modem view that Greek political friendship was
essentially and primarily instrumental and utili urian rather than emotional
and affective (cf. now KonsllO 1997).
Religion WIS at the hean of Athenian democratic identiry and civic
ideology and WIS the refore thoro ughl y politicisedj the trial of Socrates is a
sufficient testimony Ind testament of that. But religious interaction in
Athenian sociery at the more local, individual and optional levels within
and undergirding the ' national' frame has been considerably less intensively studied. Anlaoutoglou's anal ys is of these smaller-scale religious
associations from a legal and social standpoint reveals how potential conflicts and tensions might be resolved, at least to some extent, into hannonious accommodations between men and women, citizens and non-citizens,
free and slave. His chapter offen also by way ofa coda an ultimately negative
appraisal of the heuristic utiliry of marginality theory.
The next two contributiOM focu s on gam~-playing , but as much (or
more) in theory or rcpresenution as in actual practice. Fiaher dra~ on
the enonnous amoun! of recent scholarship on the symposium, which in
origin was a private and elite, indeed aristocratic institution and could be
quite smoothly re-adapted to fulfil subvenive, that is anti-democratic, and
public functi on s. But his chief concern is with another traditional ltind of
aristocratic social practice, that of athletic-gymnastic competition. This too
could be used to subserve an anti-democratic agenda, but as Fisher sho~,
it was also valued highly by the Athenian d emocratic masses, who so ught
with some success to adapt and appropriate it to exactly opposite effect,
n am ely the reinforo::ement of public communal 50lidariry. However, since
this brought new sexual/ emotional involvements inlo play and m ade lo me

lrmvducticn: tkjinjng a kolm05

"

DOt insignificant cOD uibution to social mobility, such athleticism fum:tioned also (0 introduce new locial and emotional tensions.
Xenopholl is well known, perhaps too well known, as a 'Socratic' philosopher and thus ouu.polu:n critic of Athenian democratic politiC'll. II is he
who preserves an exceptionally damaging piece of anti-democntic propaganda ill the fonn of a supposed dialogue between Pericles and Alcibiades
about the Uatus of law in a democracy (Mem. 1.2.40-46; with Ste. Croix
1981 : 414- 15). Less well known is the subtlety of Xenophon's critique of
democratic sociability and sexuality by way of the witty dialogue he Slages
elsewhere in the Mnnofabilia between Socrates and Thcod.ote the ~rairtl
(though she is Ilever explicitly so called). This is a camplex text which, as
Golclblll unpacks it, can be read to reveal the density of the Detwork of
overlapping discourses (an, politics, prostitution, trOl, philosophy) that
constituted Athenian interpersonal relations. Theodote', desirable body
thus becomes, through the application of ' posunodemist' theory that
problematises the ways in which discounts of society, city, the body and
the self can both reinforce and cross-examine one another, the site for a
contestable eroties of political consumption.
The note of tension in social practices and values struck in the previous
twO papers is amplified cruundo in the remaining six. The next two papers
(by Rubinatein and Rhode.) and the response to Rhodes (by Todd)
focus, by way of contrast, on high politics, as played out in the central civic
arenas of the democratic polis, the A$sembly and lawcouns; and they do so
chiefly by means of extant forensic oratiom, that is, the no doubt polished
versions of speeches wrinen by professional speechwriten and u5ua11y
deli\'ered originally by their clients rather than themKlvcs. The emphasis
in theK three papers falls preponderaotly on the lenlions in ideology as
well as pnactice thai this peculiarly Athenian and democratic mUI-elile
discourse displays: between the (more or less) public and the (more or
less) privale, the individual and the collective, and the penonal and the
commWlal.
The final three papers imroducc a distinctly topographical slant. Von
Reden draws on the large recent theoretical lileralure on symbolic topography and geognphy and applies iu tindinp and indications to the question of how far the geographical space of the Athenian polis might have been
conceptually rendered into a symbolic space of identity and peace. She finds
that the relationship betweeo the city io the narrow sense, the central QSII.!,
and the (politically equipollent) extra-urban demes was characterised both
by tensions and conflicts and by attempts, not always successful, 51 dissolving and resolving those tensioos and conflicu al the communicative
level. Roy explores in I different way another topographical-political bifurcation, that between the city of Athens and the pon or Piraeus, almost a
second city. This was a potential source of opposition that was mOSI
sharply actualised in 404- 3 during the civil war between 'the men of the

Il

PAUL CA RTLED GE

City' and the intransigently democratic 'men of the Piraeus'. But th"
political-ideological division, he finds, was but one expression of the intrinsic structural and symbolic diffefCflce of the Piraeus, whether viewed
from the militafy, the political, the onomic or the social standpoint.
On the final stage of our voyage through c1auical Athens Mllktt conductS us back from the periphery to the centre, to the Agora, which was the
symbolic as well as the geographical node of the Athenian pol", by way chancteristically - of a coun case that serves also as a case-sNdy of
Athenian civic politico-social enmity enacted within spining distance of the
'scene of the (alleged) crime'. h would have been good to know whether
the outcome of this trial was renewed or even increased communal integration and solidarity or, on the contrary, the exacerbation of the feuding
between the principals and their supporters which, on the model proposed
by Cohen ( I99Sb), such cases nonnally and nonnatively involved. C haracteristically, however, we do not know even which side won.
IN PLACE OF A CONCLUSION

By classical Greek standards, at any rate, Athens in the fifth and founh
centuries was politically speaking remarkably stable - a case of stasis in the
modem sense rather than of muil (civil commotion, even civil war) in the
peculiar ancient Greek ulilge (Finley 1983). Yet Athens was a uniquely
large, complex md heterogeneous Greek society, as well as the most radically democratic Greek polity. How therefore wu an often dynamic social
equilibrium maintained (for the most part)? U our papers tend towards any
overall condusion, it would seem to be to suggest that the secret of Athens'
success lay in its multiple forums for. and determined practice of, creative
political and social adaptation. The highly pressured tensions between
conflicting and often contradictory social groups, forces and ideologies
were thus channelled positively - again, for the ment part - into prop-es. ive and above all solidary outlets, principally through the medium of civic
riNai.

Inter-personal relations on Athenian

pots: putting others in their place
ROBIN OSBORNE

Like the other papers in this volume, this paper tells a story. L It is through
the stories we tell about them mal we relate to th e Greeks. Telling stori es is
an imporunt way in which we relate to othen: we imagine them in a situation, imagine their reactions, deduce how they would act; and the m ore
expcricm;c we have of another person the more we are likely to get the
Story

rishl, to be able accurately to predict their actions. 8uI we also use

stories in a quite different way in our relations to othen: we may tell

(cautionary) tales to sct othen in a bad light, whelhcf to harm them or to
help others, or we may tell improving Stories to inspire emulation. Tales
rcRcel on the teller ., well as on th e penon who is the sub~cl of the Itory:
we know Odysseus as much from the telling ofms tale as from the talc told.
We: know lots of Stories told in Athens. W e kno w Storics repeated in
public on the occasion of the funeral of the war-dead, Sioriel enacled in
the thealJ'e as basis for plOI, illumination for uagi c action, or to make aD
audience laugh, siories selecled by conlemporary and other hiSiorianl 10
enable us to understand the actions of cities, storiel told in co un to secure
condemnation or acquinal, stories told in the Assembly to justify hon ours
for an individual or cil)', alliance or war. But these stories derived from
wrinen w un:es an: by definition stOriH told in public, stories told to promOle a panicular view of the teller or achieve a panicular effeci on a mass
audience. Not even the stOriH of Xenophon's Mtmo~abilia can be classed
as innocently told or apolitical: Xenophon 's own status in Athenian eyH
and that of Socrates are constantly at stake.
In this paper I have chosen to look al the telling of storits on pou in an
anempt to move at least some distance away from story-Ielling which is
I 1"hc " orr of tho paptt i ....1f 10 c:ompll",,,ed. I c:ootrib.,ed . 0 W ..".,inar oeri.. " INPO'", which
dcb"baa,clr otSdIc-wed Athonian materia!, on whetbct the "'""" !ik or the ,..,n. c:ou!d be dctmed
~,md if ... &om who. point. In "'"'" of tho Athenian"""" ofoct>a c:ontribu ....... to
the ... luInc: I OCr 110,.., " ,,!her dilfetcn, """"' ""th only omoll a,,,',,'''' of "",.<rial in common
with tho oorlier pic<:c. I am "''1 ",,'oM '0 hlOl CartkdJ< md Sino ..... IU<kro rot ""lpful com_
",mil UId triticiNn. of thlo ~ INPO'".

'3

t4

ROBIN OSBORNE

aimed at and determined by a consciousness of a wider, political, public

and towuds me story-telling mat individuals used to situate memselves not
on me public stage but in their relations with immediate mends and acquaintances. The pots I look at hue range from pots more or less ceruinly
on public display, to poa which individuals used within the private conten
of the party and which may, in the case of cups, have been visible at any
one rime to only one person. Potters produced pou largely to attract the
eye and the purse of individuals whom they did not know, and must have
Kcond-guessed the son of inter-penonal relations mat would secure them
a sale on the basis of their own vicwt of the world and what they may have
been told by tnlding middle-men. We cannot expect pots to give us idiosyncratically personal approaches to penonal relationships, but we can
expect that the stories on pots, as not those in texa, will at least som etimes
have been the sons of stories according to which individuals shaped their
private rdations with othen, rather than the sortS of stories by which they
maintained a public face. To begin book on inter-penonal relations by
looking at pottery is arguably 10 begin with the most personal fonn of
communication within the Greek city to which we today have access.
But there is a second reason for beginning with these pots. The uneven
survival of evidence from antiquity has meant that almost all of the subsequent discussions focus on the cllSJical city of the fifth and fourth century. Archaic Athen. has left. UI only paltry literary remain., indced not
much more than the fragments of the poems of Solon. That fact about
survival clearly reflects a fact abo ut composition: an cnonnous amount of
writing went on in classical Athens, and very little in archaic AthellJ.
Whole genres of literature were written down for the tint time in the fifth
and fourth centuries (forensic oratory, philosophical dialogues, and so on).
Some decisions 10 write were intimately connected to the democratic COIlstitution of classical Athens, most obviously the recording of decrees of the
Assembly, and other fOmls of writing seem to have been an indirecI product of d emocracy. But if democracy is responsible in large part for the increasing evidence available 10 us, should we conclude thai the views and
situations which are newly d ocumented in clanical Athens were views and
situations for which democracy was also responsible? To assess the impact
of democracy on inter-personal relations we need to find some way of
recovering infonnation about inter-personal relations that is nOI taldependent. That is what I try to do in tellina my Story about stories painted
on pots from the eighth to the fifth century BeE. I trace some changes in the
subject maner of painted stOries and in the manner in which stories arc
painted, and try to show that the glimpse that painters' stories give us of
the changing wa}"l in which Athenians related to each other, both on a
personal and on a group basis, gives us som e grounds for suggesting that
the way individ uals related to each other in classical Athens was indeed
distinct from the way in which eighth-cenrury Athenians and Phoenicians

,
related to each other. but that it was essentially similar to the way in which
Athenians had related to each other from the seventh century onwards and
is not to be seen as a unique: product of democracy.
Pin of my casc: is essentially negative. and in making the negative argu.
ments I have c:ndc:aV(Juud (0 employ evidence that is either typical of its
time (as with the Attic geomc:mc krater) or c:xceptionally sophisticated (as
with the Phoenician metal bowls). In malting positive arguments, on the

other hand, although I am confident that me son of analysis I make: could

be made also of many other individual pots, my point relics only on the
possibility of images that work in that way, n ot upon all images being so
constructed (they weren't), In unpacking the constructions I refcr fre
quently 10 'the viewer'. In doing so I intend to invoke what might be
[Imned 'the implied viewer' . I assume that an artist who renders individual
figures identifiable by distinctive attributes or by adding labels which name
them expects those names of gods and heroes and those attributes to mean
somelhlng. Similarly I assume that an artist who makes a pot of a shape
regularly used for a particular function to paint it in the expectation that it
will be seen, on occasion at least, in that functional role:. Individual viewers
bring, of course, their own particular personal experiences, &<)Cial background, political views and so on , but these seem to me to be necessarily
beyood the purview of the painter, except in cases where a pot has been
specifically commissioned, and it seems as proper as it is inevitable thaI the
viewer of this enquiry should be unnaturally devoid of such individuating
characterinics. My aim in employing ' the viewer' as an interpretative category is to d~w attention to what a detailed scrutiny of the visual field
suggests, and to reveal how much more is at stake in ima~s on pots than
mere labelling of a given iconognphic content.
The Hirschfeld krater (fig. 1) was found in the Dipylon cemetery at
Athens, whose u sers seem 10 have had an interest in figurative scenes
which went well beyond that found elsewhere in Athens, let alone in other
parts of Greece. ~ A marker on D. male grave, its upper frieze shows the
carrying out of a male corpse and the procession offemale and anned male
moumers; the lower fri~ shows a proceu ion of men in annour riding in
two-horse chariots. This information is efficiently and unambiguously
conveyed by the geometric figures, but little other infonnarion is offered.
The upper frieze focuses upon the dead man on his b ier transported by
hones, bUI offen no hierarchy among the mourners who are to be found in
front of and behind the bier. The lower frieze repeatS without variation me
m otif of the single charioteer, in a procession with a steady rhythm and no
climax.
The invitation to u:ll a Story offered by this krater is minimal. We are
On 1M Dipylon m ...,IY 0 Mom. ( .9'9)) ~!l-10; on tm pp brtwttn Athmi&ll ond <><hot Iip... 1M ,lyIa in tm.;Jhtb """IW'J 0 Oobom. ( ' 99M).

16

ROBIN OSBORNE

Fill;. I Attic ule Geomeuic I Kraler ustd t(l mark a mlln'. burial
(H incllfeld Kraler), I!. 140 Bel. H I 1.1} m .

ceftainly invited to tell the story of a burial mad e: in style: not all burials can
have inV(lived the bier being drawn by a pair of horses. We are invited 10
think of the deased in the context of men who pc.:Iuess ann. and annour
and who parade in two-horse chariou. BUI it is not clear that we are invited
10 make any particular connection between chariot processioru and any
single: momenl of the: man's life. This itnltet' gives us some characters for a
!lory. and it gives those: characters some props. but it is the general ambience in which the story is to unfo ld, n ot any particular evenu in the story,
that the artist o ffers.
The .cene on the Hirschfeld krater is typical of the scenes on pou used
to mark burials in the Dipylon cemetery around the middle of the eighth
century BCE. The painter respc.:lnsible for this Ye nel was also responsible for
leveral others fo und in the same cemetery and shows signs of having IeamI

Inla-penomU mawNJ on Alhrnian pots

'7

some of his art from the so-called Dipylo n Masler who painled the grcll
Dipylon amphol"8 a few years earlier.) The Hirschfeld painter has stylistic
idiosyncl"8sies of his own, such as his liking for large reserved and d otted
eyes; but his manner, his matter, and his organisation of pictorial space are
essentially similar to those of others who painted large vases al this time.
GTave m arkers exist 10 poinl beyond themselves, they are bUI part o f
a larger culw ral statement; while there may be debate as to whether the
imagery found on a pol buried in a tomb relales 10 death or the deceased ,
tbc:re can be no doubt thaI lome relationship is necessary belWeen the
grave marker and the deceased. ThaI re lationship is manifested in the use
of particular shapes of grave marker for men and other shapes for women,
and the choice of mteres to mark male tombs further suggests that the
different symbolic assoc iations of the differem shapes derive from the way
those shapes are used by the living. 111e kn own contexl of the Hirschfe ld
mler as a grave marker thus adds a further element to the ambience it
crea[(~s: we are in the company of men who gather in group$ to mix wine
with water and drink.4
The context in which the Hirschfeld krater was used is important in one
further respect: this is II public image. We cannOI know 10 what extent visiting the tombs of others was an element in eighth-cenwry Athenian tourism,
nor whether the m ighty potS in the Dipylon cemetery attracted crowds of
poor Athenians to stare at products which they could not themselves begin
to afford. But the marker o n the grave can never have been a private thing.
The statem ent which it makes, the relationship into which it invites the
viewer to enter with the deceased, these are in the public domain. ~
Two things stand out in the public presentation of the dead man: his
gender and his naws. The shape of the vase and the military imagery immediately indicate that we are dealing with a man, even without our sexing
the body on the bier .<i The size of the vase, the entertainment implied by its
shape, the throngs of mourners, the prominent horses and ch ariots, all
show thai we are dealing with a man of high status. The identification of
the deceased as a male of high status is massively over-detennined. BUI
beyond this? Beyond this the reticence of the scenes is striking; they fail to
offer allY means by whieh to mark out this man of rank from other men of
rank.. IdentitY here is a matte r of belonging to a group, not of distinguishing oneself within a group. To relate to this d ead man b 10 ~lau:. to any
man of high Slaws; individuality is of no importance.
, Dovioon

(' 96' ) ' .

Po< <he ciJhdl ...... nlUl"J .ympooi<>n

Oft ...... , . . . . ntly

'ym""""n in ....tb..:m1Ul"J KnDUOll .

Po< pouib(" conlJU" be ........ ""bIl< ond

Mu,..."y

( ,~).

Cold.....'" ( ' !lSI') JII' find,

the

(Dt",nln

Oobnntc ('996&) . I find ""

m.uk pone.,-, ~ .
BoWman ( ' 911).
Oft

priv,"c .""""~ in .lJ>..cen,ut)' Athcnlan

ofprivol" .""""unicotiono in AthcnI ... Iou,e<>-

UKe

18

ROBIN OSBORNE

Whal did you need to know in ord er to relate to someone in eighthcentury Alhens? Their rank and Iheir gender. Whether o r not we follow Ian
Morris and read changing burial numben and changing grave goods 10
lugtlt a crisis in Ihe ari5l0CTaCy in the second half of the eighth century,7
Ihe markers in the Dipylon cemetery at leall IUl8elt Ihal Ihose wh o buried
there were anxious to indicate to olhers that rank maneftd - indeed that
rank was aU that mane red. The solidariry of those of high status, whether
desperate or confident, invites a rnpeclful but distant relation from others;
it is vain to ask questions, for th ey will not be answered. This is all the Story
viewers will gel, so they had bener be satisfied . 8
Something over a century after the Hirschfeld kral er was stood in the
Dipylon cemClery, another vase (fig. 2) was employed in another pan of
the lame cemelery, possibly for the same purpose, possi bly thrown into the
pyre, possibly PUI in an offering Irtnch. 9 The uncenainry over the use of
this pot means that we cannot be absolutely confident that its image too
was ' public', but the size of the vessel makes this highly likely. In all other
respects theft is a great gulf between the images on these two vases.
The NesW5 amphora carries (WO main figure scenes supplemen ted with
a frieze of geese on th e rim and an owl and a swan on each o f the filled -in
handles . On the neck a dothed man with moustache, but no beard, attacks
from behind, with a kick and a drawn sword, a bearded centaur whose hai r
he pulls. The centaur extends his anns backwards, gropina for his attacker's chin, perhaps to beg mercy. The assailant is labelled Herakles, the
centaur, Netos ( Nenos) . On the body of the pot, below a shoulder decorati on of lotus and palm en es, are three figures, one, under the han dle, in
running posture but headless, the othen with grimacing faces, framed by
wings, staring out at the viewer as they run across the surface of th e POt;
like H erakies above, they exuberantly transgns the borden of the picture
frame. A bird swoops down over the headless figure . Below this scene a
frieze of d olphins leaps from right to left, against the direction of movem ent of the running figures.
The viewer can be in no d oubt that these are twO scen es from particular
, M<mit ('987); (hbomc (1989) 1" for do ubts .

Rudtn keen for anodIer.<Oo')' can IrY 0._ '911., which _ ..tuo, tho ""....,..,., , uch pou
, ~U,
bou. dc.th. Tho, poper enokt."""", ,n Oohow bow ~ .... nituda to de.th can be reod
!ron'l the l1'I of dil&:rm, periodo; dapi,e wlut.t eririco h_ . .... aled (ct. MorriI (1 993) z8- }2,
( '994) 64), iI don not ......., cll"" .h... the .u; nMia di,pl.yed In the indioriduol ~
eu<nin.td ...... I)'piaJ of 1M tim< It whi<h thoy ""'"' pointed .
A~ DwIIOloo (.&90)" Nptt.,]!,j .... &yyUovTOOh .. ...:.xllvTOs ~ii ....... 6U' '" ~ ~'" lit
,...,o. ... ...epo.w..r- aW ~ _laos 51 TCOlToo! '..,;><0 . 01 />0'>6 . ..; .o..s. 6( <>Ii 4<> 1_ , 6-t, ....
Orr""" ~(_ .:x .... ~ 6
.:x ~M:.;"I . cU,"); d. V. Stoio ond P . W ..lton A .......
Dc.o""',,"" I., (' 119 ' ) .6~'. &ulcy ( . ~.) ,."';tn ~ Neuoo Pointei'... h.ad his ........ &om .....
of the inscriplions on IatJ<: nuk__ pt.oro in AthenI whidJ .....-.d, ~ ke the prothai< .-- lone
bd"".,, "",nUlMnl on. ~'; WhitltT ( . 99-t} "';td (pp. 14- , ) 1M AthenI Nenoo_pIIon
for aampk 0lDf'0 """ com< &om on otIt-rina ... nct.'. ond ( p . 6.1) 'Nnsoo (Ather>< NM 'oo~)

....

_tl.,.

""V

&vm PYA' or Opfc:rtinnc .

'9

Fig.

:I

Herak.les ItruUI" with m e

""n \aUf

NcslOi on an

Alti ~

Blatk Fip", amph o", (name "'SI: o(the N C1I01 Painler) c. 610 SCI.
Ht 1 .:12

m.

myths. The labels make it clear that lhis is not just any human attack on a
centaur bUI Hcraklcs' .nac ): on Ncnos, who has juSt attempted to rape his
wife Deianeira. Punishment, nOI crime, is the focus of attention. The scene
o n the body of the pot has no labels, but the he adless body and grimacing

faces indicate thai we are looking at m e gorgon aislcn of M edusa in the

moments after she has been beheaded by Perseus. Perseus is n ot depicted,
and nothing indicates whether the g o rgons an: punuing him or fleeing him.
Once more, the crime is not the central c() nccm, bUI nlther its aftcnnath.

The artist has taken two known episodes, and has juxtaposed them. The
viewer is left 10 interpret thaI juxtaposition. Arc the scenes plU'1lllcl, sequential, or opposed? Is M edusa a Oc:ianeira figure , whose s is te rs chase off
10 emulate: H e:rakle:s al the: upc::nse o f P en e us' N es505? Such a reading is
5upponed , perhaps, both b y the parallel directi on o f moveme nt and b y

2.0

ROBIN OSBORNE

the identical graphic formula employed for the 'skirts' of Henkles and of
Medusa and her sisten. en is Medusa the Nessol figure, seen after receiving her dues from Perseus' Heraldes, whose sisters flee to avoid a like fate?
That Medusa too must be attacked from behind to avoid her fatal ga;:c
encourages such a reading.
Discomfiture must accompany any attempt to read thCtt two scenes
together. The stories upon which the images rely build up Nessos as villain,
Perseus as hero. T o suggest that Herakles is jUlllike the gorgon's sisters,
seeking to punish an admirable act, ion against the grain: should we really
applaud rape? To suggest that Perseus is just like Nessol, the perpetrator of
a violent crime against women, hardly seems to allow for the full horrors of
the gorgon. Even watering down the actions of Perseus and Nessot will
hardly do: both seek to get their own way, regardless of the cost to others,
and in both cases the other is female, but can we really rewrite the SIOry to
make Perseus' act one for his own immediate enjoyment?
The experience ofnyiog to make ",ose of this pot i. bewildering in a way
that trying to make sense of the Hirschfeld krater is not. Here, as not there,
particular stories are clearly and explicitly evoked by both verbal and visual
means. Yet although a particular set of actions is put in frame. the assessment of those actions is rendered problematic. We know who, precisely, is
doing what to whom, but our praise or blame depends not on what action
il done bUf on why il is d one. Observing action is nOI enough: we need
access to more than the story of action and reaction.
If rank and gender were enough to enable appropriate inter-penonal
relations to be: entered into in the Athens of the Hirschfc:ld krater. even
knowing precisely what a particular individual has done is nOt enough [0
enable a relationship to be: struck up in the Athens of the Nessos amphora.
The women who had a fixed place in the world of the Hirschfeld krater
have become impossi ble to take for granted. either as needing protection
or as threat. To classify inlo goodies and baddies, heroes and villains,
is problematic here. Values arc: in turmoil and no one is to be trusted.
This is the world which can accommodate: an Arkhilokhos or 11. Theogais.
a Semonides or a Sappho. It is also, I will argue, the world in which
Athenians of the sixth and fifth centuries continued to live.
As far as we can tell, the gods had no place in eighth-century Athenian
figured pottery. 10 Seventh-century artists were on occasion happy to admit
them 10 the picture frame, though hardly as active participants in the
events shown. and the Nessos painter has kept them out of sight. By contrast gods are all over sixth-century Athenian vases, actively participating as
JOdi .""....ed in an1 G,uk an bo:fon?OO.,1 io 11<1, cleu. n.c", an: ~ on lhitlcl.
_
th< 1<10;_ ."..., on Cft.. of .. 9<10 on<! <. Ik>c KI wbio::h Hem prohab", di'oine (Sd.. folcl
('99)) .6 Iia u , 6' Iia. 47) bu, ouch """'PI .. tJ>e bronze IIprc vopplin, with <."gut
(Sc:hcfoId ('99)) H II&. I,) "'" I'ay ""=tlinly identified .. z..... _ T,..w.n. Fituehm ('969)
FJPbniotalKlle ",."fir... no ""'" bdon: 7<K> ocr.

,. Whcth<r

"

well as passively surveying. Telling stories of men now regularly involves

telling Stories of gads. Should we see any significan tt in this change?
The gods had long had a very active part in both epic and didactic tn..
ditions, but !heir presence was somewhat distanced and they were: aeees
sible chiefly through religi ous rituals. Telling stories of the past and making
moral claims about the present both required divine in tervention, but, explicitly in Hesiod and implicitly in Homeric epic, there is a distance bctwn
the heroic age. in which mcn and gods communcd logeth er, and the contemporary. in which the gods are much more vaguely present. The great
lyric and elegiac remains of the seventh century rarely invoke the gods
except within festival stttings or in very genenli le nni. In the archaeological material it may nOI be by chance that it is animal figurines thai
dominate the dedicatory assemblages in tighth-tentury sanctuaries: the
pusen ce of the gods is closer in men', encounten with the natural world
than in their relations with each oth er. The limited pan which the gods
play in scenes painted on pottery in the eighth and seventh centuries would
seem therefore 10 reflect something mo re than mere anistic habits.
T o look at the way in which the presence of the gods alters attitudes to
other people, I want to look at a particularly fam ous sixth-century cup,
which is rarely analysed as a whole. A rather small eye-cup (fig . 3). only
u .S cm in diameter, signed on the edge of the foot by Exekias as potter,
shows on its interi or Dionysos sailing across a dolphin-filled lea in a vessel
whose mast is en[Wined with [wo vines, and on its ex terior two scenes, one
under each handle, in which fighting takes place over a fallen warrior. II
The interior scene has [wo primary fie lds of reference: the symposion,
and the story of Dionysos' encounter with pirates familiar from the Homeric
Hymn ro DionYfOS. In the Hymn, Dionysos is captured by pirates whose
helmsm an realises that they have taken n o ordinary man, but whose ca ptain refuses to release him. The ship flows with wine, II vine and clusters
of gnlpes spring from the mast top, Dionysos turns into a lion and Sei70CS
the muter, the crew leap into the sea and arc turned into d olphins, and
Dion)"os reveals himself to the helmsman. That hymn exploi15 the image
of inebriation as sea-siclmess, which is familiar from poeuy written for the
symposion, I ] and the way Dionysos reclines on the ship as on a banqueting
couch, supporting himself on h is left arm whilS( holding a drinking hom in
his right hand, reinforces th e sympotic .ctting.
The image is no simple illustration of th e H om eric hymn: the pot shows
n o helmsman, no sign of the bear which Oionysos created. and no garlands
on the thole pins; the Hymn makes no suggeJtion thaI the god ass umed
colossal, ship-si:l!ed, form . But that th e POI, like the Hymn, deals with
Oionysiac epiphany there can be no do ubt. As th e drunken symposiast
,. M ""kb. M.....,um ..... tiUr K!<mkuno. >044. from VIII .. , ABV ' 46.2 .
.. SII .... ( '976); Danki (. , h); U ............. ('990 [.,171) "".6 . who dio<: ... _!hi . .... II 12 0-1.

ROB I N OSBORNE

Fi,.)<1 Dionysos sailin,acrou the IOndo of an eye-cup by Enkia!,

Attic Black Figure, c. 540 Bce. Diam. II .S cm.

becomes a vessel guided by Dion ysos alone, so he~ Dionysos has turned
men (0 beasu and. looming larger than life , assumed canuel o f the voyage.
As the sailon bring on their own beslialisalion by their decision to capture
the handsome and elegan tly clad young man they sight on the sea shore, so
tOO drinken in the sym posion constantl y risk loss o f conuel even in the
ca~fully ~gulated drinking by which they seck 10 place bonds on the
power of alcohol to inebriate them.
This clever con ceit, visually re alising in the interior of a wine cup the
welcome and yet threatening epiphany of the god of wine. acquires another
dimension when the drinke r empties the vessel and views the other side. If
the eyes on the exterior - and this cup stands at the head of the great series

lnur-ptnonal rdatiom on Arhm ian pots

"

Fig. 31> Combat over a (allen warrior on the lame eye-eup by Exckiu.

of sixth-century eye-cups so thai m ey cannOI be dismissed as simply standard ornamentation - reinforce the sense of coming into m e presence of
another, the scenes under the handles provide an en counter of a much
more immediately grim varie(),. There was indeed a place for poetry about
manial prowess at the symposion ,13 both boasts aboul past exploits and
exhonations to future courage, but whethe r we read the scenes as parallel
or successive, the fighting over a body, in one case stripped of anno ur, in
the other still wearing full ann our, is nOI easily conceived as either bouting
or exhonation.
Exekias' images frequently convey a bleak view of warfare. The killing of
Penthesilea has a tragic Qven one, and th e often repeated image of one
warrio r carrying a dead comrad e back from battl e,' ~ which is even found
on both sides of a single pot, is not any th e more heroic eve n if we identify
it as Aias bringing back to the Greek camp the dead bod y of AkhiIJeus. tn
the context of this bleak view of warfare, the eyes of the cup m ay come to
seem less the eyes of intoxication than the eyes of d eath - and indeed one
later cup makes the pupils of its eyes the face of the gorgon. 5 Unli ke the

u II<>wi.: ( 1990).
.. Sec o.bomc ( '99' ) 17' - }.
" Sec UaIUTqUC ( '990) _} . On qc-c:upo ~noUy I G . ~rnri ( '9&6).

l4

RO BIN OS BO RNE

Fig. l ' Funher combal over a fallen warrior on the same

cye-cup by Exekiu.
earlier vases I have discussed, we can have no confidence that this cup was
made for the purpose it was fin ally used for - deposition in an Etruscan
grave. But we may feel that the cho ice of using this cup in a to mb was nOt
entirely without connection to its imagery.
If the tondo of this cup 5eem~ to offer a relatively simple story of
D io nysos taking control lhrough the intoxication of the drinke r, and if the
exterior offers a simple SlOry of warfare as death and despoiling, the scenes
put together offer a far from simple story. As drinking in the symposion
invites the risk that intoxication will take over, that the god will resist con
tro l, that the urbanity of the occasion will tum to bestial behaviour. the
world of culture tum into the natural world of the d olphin, so the carefully
regulated world of hoplite warfare ever threatens to tum into a world o f
savagery, butchery, and death, and where the eyes which alone give a
glimpse of the opponent pmve 10 be: the eyes of d eath. The sociali ty of the
symposion is not simply a matter of meeting for sm all-talk; there is a power
present which is outside the individuals and ever threatening to take them
over. The struggle in the banle: line is not simply a maner of the pitting of
one individual's strength against another's: possession and frenzy regen
erated as well as tempered in the phalanx.
If the Hirschfeld knn er pictures the individ ual as entirely subsumed by

Im~pnto ..al nillfiom 0"

Allwtill" polS

'S

his place in ~ociety, and if the Nessos amphora expl ore~, among other
thini', the impossibility of making an assessment when the framework of
rank is removed, Exekias' cup introduces a further complicating factor into
relations between individuals by exploring the ways in which what a person
is or does may be taken over by an outside power. The regimented world of
the eighth century and the anarchic world of the seventh are here succeeded by a world where human beings. as individuals o r in a grouP. have
limited contrOl and are always risking loss of grip. The gods left out of the
eighth-cenruf)' fanlasy of perfect contrOl and stability, and sidelined in the
seventh-cenlUry fascination with individual freedom , have reappeared as
powerful forces which intervene when people explore the limits of human
control. Behind the grim events of everyday life some hope, or threat, of
divine ord er seems 10 be on offer.
The fascination with divine intervention in human lives is arguably
peculiarly Exekian - one thinks of the game of chance which Akhilleus and
Aias play, or the eye-contact which rums Akhilleus' triumph over Penthesileia into a tragic moment. BUI the sense that human relationships must
lake account of divine intervention in human lives pervades much later
sixth-century and fifth-century vase painting. In completing my Story I
wanl to look at two funher examples which ilIustrale nicely the continuing
critical exploration of the rol e of the gods in detennining human actions
and reactions and in undennining human responsibility.
The name vase of the Berlin painter (fig. 4), painted shonly after soo, is
a large. lidded, amphora, 69 em h igh. Round the neck and on the edges of
the handles il has frieze s of ivy leaves, and on each side it has figures
sianding on a decorated ground line silhouened againsl the plain black
background. On one side is a profile view of an ivy-crowned satyr named
Orokhares, tail held high bUI displaying no sexual excitement, with lyre in
lefl hand and kantharos balanced in right, making a somewhat gingerly
progress from left to right. On the other side, Hennes, wearing winged hat,
cloak, and winged boOIS, and carrying an oinochoe in his righl hand and a
bntharo! in his left, strides behind a.nd past an ivy-crowned satyr labelled
Oreimakhos, whose head is turned backwards, and who carries a lyre in his
left hand and II plectrum in his right. Between the two a young deer
stretches its head up towards H ennes' ann and the kantharos. The superimposition of one fi~~ on another hen: makes thi, a virtuoso piece of
drawing, but what exactly is going on?
Beazley had three attempts to son this vase out, and moved from saying
that H ennes ' had often to paS$ through wild country, and it was as well
for him to be on good lenns with the savage inhabitants', to suggesting
that ' this is a komos in a higher sphere; where the scene is Kyllene or
some other remote and sacred place, and the revellers are the giver of the
lyre, and the boon companions of the god o f wine himself', and then to

26

ROB I N OSBORNE

Fig. 4" Sityl' with kanthlltOl and lyre on an Attic Red Figure amphora,
e. 490 Bel (name vale of the Berlin Painter). HI 0.69 m.

suggesting that the scene should be set at the Rerum of H ephaistos.1 6 It is

very unclea r that one can deduce from this vasc that Hennes and the satyrs
were on good terms - they rather pass as ships in the night - and h ard to
believe that the lack of setting should be read as a setting in a rem ote or
sacred place, let alone that the scene should be insened int O some partie
ular myth. But the observation that Hermes is the ' giver of the lyre' is
SUR ly im ponant.
The satyrs' names associate both of them with the mountains, places
strongly associated with Dionysos though more usuall y with celuaun or
maenad! than with satyrs.1 7 The lone Slryr Orokhares combines Dionysos'
gift with Hennes' lyre, both of them aruibulCS familiar from blackfigure
,. s .. M .., Hinn..- and Sbc:flon ('96') l44.

Inur-pn-sonaJ

~la,ions

on Arhmian pots

'7

Fla. 46 Hennes with kantharos, .aryl' with lyre, Ind

fawn on the reveRe of the IlIme amphora.

satyn. Music and drunkenness accompany satyn from their first appearance on the Fram;ois vase. What the scene of H enne$ and On::imakhos
here docs is to unpack this association, and to do so in a way that surprises
the viewer. If Hermes is in the picture, we might feel, Hermes ought to
have the lyre. it should be his hand with the plectrum. Wine, however, belongs rather to the satyr than to the messenger god. for all that Hennes is a
not infrequent companion or Oionysos. A can::less glance It the scene
might take it that that indeed is what is being shown. but when the limbs
an:: loned out we ate left with a dionysiac Hermes and an hennaic satyr.
The mixture of human and animal, drunkenness and musical ecstasy
which Orokhan::s embodies is analysed into iu separate elemenu by the
juxtaposition of Hermes and On::imakhos. and this analysis, by showing the
possibilities of being dionysiac without being a satyr. lyric without being

28

RO BI N OSBORNE

Filii. sa Pan e:.ciledly pU ~UH lliloatherd OD an Arn e Red Figu~ bell

kneer of c. 460 liCE (name ..an of the Pan Painter). H e 0.31 m .

Hermes, and by placing the satyr in the company of a ' real' animal, dfllws
I n ention to the question of what a satyr is when denied his chafllcteristic
anributes.
As fictional creatures, satyn are what they do. II This pot challenges that
reduction of a creature to its actions and attributes. Behind every creature
stands a god who may give or may take away, and is alwa)'ll liable to deceive. Behind every allegation of acting JUSt like an animal, there stands a
real animal to show just how far from bestiality the object of derision is.
Take a penon OUI of conlext, and judgments become unsafe, relationships
impossible. The gods of Exekias, who intervene when people explore the
limits of human control and seem to guafllntee a grim order, have here
become potentially ever present, undermining anempts to classify and
making provisional all attempts to enter a relationship.
In the work of lhe Pan Paimer the gods become both arbitrary and
potentially vicious. The name vase of the Pan Painler (fig. S), painted nOI
long aftef the Penian wan, shows on one side a sexuall y excited Pan, with
goal's head and feet bUI naked human body, pursuing a ru StlC youlh, in

/1Iur-pers01la/ rdations

Oil

Afhtflian pots

"

Fig. jb An~mis IJVCrKrs th~ death of Akr..ion on \he

reverse of the ume bell mler.

cloak, hat, and (?) suiped socks. The yo uth carries a whip in his right hand
and, as often in scenes ofsexual pursuit, looks back at his pursuer. Behind
Pan a herm on a rock pile displays an outsize erect phallos. On the other
side. the goddess Anemis aims an arTOW II the falli ng figure of an urbanc:\y
doaked Aktaion, who raises his right hand in despair and appeal, as four
dogs attack him, sinking Iccth inlo his neck, belly, and arm.
Parallels between these two scenes are suong. The herdsman who whips
goalS is pursued by a goat; the huntsman is attacked by his own dogs.
Aktaion the hunter is turned into an animal (vis ually so on another vase by
the Pan Painter); Pan the goat is turned into an all but human figure.
Herdsmen notOriously exercise their sexuality o n their flocks; this flock
exerdsC1I its !exualilY on its herdsman. Aktaion, who in some literary
versions has taken voyeuristic delight in seeing Artemis bathing naked
(Hyginus ,80- 1, Pausanias 9.1.3, ApoUodoros 3.".,,), now gives sadistic
pleasure to Artemis, whose pres.ence and arTOW leave n o doubt that this is
not just an unfortunlle accident.
The contra.sts between the twO scenes are undermined by these parallels.
The rough rustic Pan engaging in a bit of countryside fun by bringing to l if~
the sexuality to wruch herms regu larly draw attention, loses his innocence
when his pursuit is put next to that of Artemis. Anaion, the unfonunate

30

ROBIN OSBORNE

victim of an unplanned encounter, loses his innocence when we see the

whip in the hand of the fleeing runic. h the benn an everpresent symbol
of the way in which the gods are always (sexuall y) aggressive towards m en?
Or are Aktaio n', dogs aod the N StiC', whip sign. thai men always ask for it,
always plan their own destruction? This is cenainly the line on Mtaion
taken by the story that Aktaion tried to marry Anemis or that he boasted
that he was a better hunter than she (Diodom s 4.St).
The clash of parallels, the failure of the opposites to keep themselves
distinct, these are e:uct1y what we al$O saw in the Nessos amphora. But on
the N~sos amphora it is heroes we cannot trUSI, on the Pan Painter's name
vase it is the Sods. Unlike heroes, who move in a world of m onsten, gods
move in a world of mona! men. The ' mannerist' theatricality of the scene
of Aklaion. his head neatly framed by the vertical leap of one of the dogs,
d istan ces the viewer from the frightfulness of what is going on, but !hi$
distance is destroyed by the homely rusticity of the punuit of Pan, taking
place as it doe. again.11 familiar rural landmark. The real world of herding
and rustic sexuality serves to insist that divine victimisation is not simply a
maner of myths 10 be rationalised away, as Pausanias Mltionalises what
happened to Aktaion: ' l am l ure it had nothing to do with any god, it was
simply a conlagious madness that seized on Aktaion's hounds; they went
mad and would have tom to piect$ anyone they came acron witho ut dis
tinction' (9.2.3 trans. Levi, who comments thai ' Pausanias believed the
hounds had rabies, which is still extremely dangerous in Greece').
The scenes on this krater invite, but also refuse, a moral. 'Aktaion
deserved it'; 'Aktaion was an innocent victim'; 'It was jusl an accident'.
H owever dramatic the event, the causal sequence responsible for it may
remain inscrutable, as the parties to inter-penonal relatioos mistake each
other's actions and intentions. T o the Berlin Painter', concern 10 keep the
individual separate from the trace of past or present actions o r the ISsoci
ations of even habitual attributes, the Pan Painter adds the caveat that even
what is suffered by an individual may be no Straightfo rward indicator of the
individual's mon.! wonb. In a world where gods m ay reinforce justice, act
arbitrarily, or be simply malignan t, there will always be a number of stories
which may be told to explain an individual's predicament. Entering into a
relationship is an act of faith that th e: Story you invent to place the o ther
pany is the ' right' 5tOry.
Like Exena$' cup, the Berlin Painter's amphora and the Pan Painter's
krater belong to the world of the sym posion. The wine and music on the
amphora, and the selrual pursuit on the krater, are all pan o f the world in
which these poa were employed. The challenge which these vends throw
O UI , to lee the drinken and musicians of the symposion ou tside thlt can
text. with particular gifts, or failings, taken away, and to see sexual punuit
as part of a narrative whose beginning always, and neve!", justifies its cnd, is

3'
a challenge thrown into an arena in which inter-penonal relations were
always al the centre and were unusually intense. Exekias' cup insists that
what the group experiences in drinking it also experiences in warfare, a
solidarity which may manifest iue lf only in blindnen and fol\y, dCltroying

individuals and thereby also destroying the group. The Berlin and Pan
Painter pots tum attention from group to individual, to the intimate rdati onships with the circle, to the way in which divine intervention does nOI
simply lead 10 unforesee n and unwelcome group behaviour, but makes any

individual behaviour potentially unwelcome. But die Pan Painter has lost
me vestigial trust of Exekias that the gods offer some sort of moral ord er.
The scrutiny of individual and group behaviour in the polS by the Nessos

Painler, Exekias. the Berlin Painter and the Pan Painter npiores a world of
which the Hirschfeld Painter's krater was quite unaware. The accepted
values and clear ranking of men and actions which thai pol, in common
with other eighth-century pots, displays were swept away with the end of
the eighth century. The disorientation of the Nessos Painter's vision of a
world, in which the gods stand on the sideline as retribution threatens both
good and bad actions, is succeed ed by a world in which the gods' action
can so take men over that it becomes vital, but impossible, to distinguish
the penon from what they do, as all that the gods guaranlee is that the
causal sequence will always be inscrutable. The world of the eighth century
was full of issues and decisions, nOI least the decision about where and
with whom to live. But few of these issu~ seem reflected in painted pollery
and the world of the Hirschfeld krater is primarily a world of answers, a
confident presentation of the status quo; by conttast the world of th~e
later pots is a world of questions. The Pan Painter and the Nessas Painter
would surely have appreciated each other's work, but the Hirschfeld
Painter?
The Story of this paper is a Story about ndical dislocation in the visual
presentation of human relationship! at the end of the eighth century, and
about the fundamental similarity of inter penonal iss ues as raised by pots
of the seventh, sixth, and fifth centuri~. Athenian political inlltirutions
changed markedly between the Nessos and the Pan painter, and the con
texts of interpersonal relationships changed too, not least with the politi
du tion of the village community after Kl eisthenes' reforms. But, although
there is a plausible connection between the rise of popular political partic
ipation in Athens and fashions fOf partiCUlar scenes or ~ of scenes,
I can detect little reflection of any of these changes in the presentation of
stories on painted ponery. To set the postGeometric world of these
painten into a wider context, and to show something of the significance of
the change after 700 SCE, I want to tum outside Greece, and to look at two
productS of another highly developed narrative rradition.
Pemaps the most sophisticated Phoenician figurative an, combining a

M,

31

ROBIN OSBORNE

Fig. 6 Phoenician silver gilt bowl from the Bernardini Tomb, last qullrter
of the eighth ,enwry or fint quaner of the seventh eentury BCII.

number of different scenes, is to be found on me remarkable series of

bronze, silver, and silver gHt bowls which have been discovered allover me
Mediterranean world. 19 The examples I take for analysis are a silver gih
bowl from Idalion on Cyprus (Markee, Catalogue Cyz) and anomer from
me Bernardini tomb at Praeneste ( Markoe, Catalogue Ez); bom belong to
725- 675 aCI!.
The bowl from the Bernardini tomb (fig. 6) has a central medallion with
two loin-clothed figures striding to the right, the right-hand figure having
his ann seized by the figure behind and his heel attacked by a hound. Behind
them is a naked captive bound to a stake, and below another naked crawling man has his heel bitten by a hound. Of the two friezes which surround
this medallion, th e inner shows a file of horses trotting right with birds
above, and the outer shows nine consecutive scenes representing what is

I. On thnc

Morkoc:.

11ft

Marltoe ("Is); MOICIIri ( ' 988) 41'-.7. M y diocu";on it very h~.';1y indebted 10

33

Fig. 7 Phoenician sil~r gilt bowl from Idalion , Cyprus, last quarter of me eighth
cen tury Or fin t quane. of the seventh cen tury BCI!.

known as the ' Ape Hun t Legend ' or ' Hunte r's Day'. This o uter medallio n

is surrounded by a snake:.
The Idalion bowl (fig. 7) has a central medallion showing a king protccu:d by a winged deily, with crown and loincloth , threatening a group of
s uppliant ene m y captives with his mace, and behind th e: king an attendan t
wi th a torpsc draped over his sh oulder. Surrounding this medallion is a
frieze of alternating human-headed and fal con-headed sphinxes each with
left foreleg planted on the head of a pros trate victim. Around that frieze is
another with men alternately fighting lions and griffins; most of those:

fighting lions are th em selves wc:aring lion-skins whereas those fighting

griffins wear th e loincloth.
These: [wo extraordinarily well preserved bowls represent two imponant
ico nographic developments in Phoenician an : the devel opment of episodie

34

ROBIN OSBORN E

narntivc and the exu-action of episodes from an established narrative sequence for rein.sc:rtioo into a new context.1(I The most striking element of
the Bernardini bowl is the outer frieze with the sequence of oine episodes
telling me Story of a prince who leaves town to hunt a stag, shoots and
sacrifices the l tag, is attacked by an ape, protected by the deity to whom he
has been sacrificing, and returns to town having killed me ape also. The
clarity and economy wim which the story is devc:lopcd are striking and
without parallel in Greek painted ponery, as is the sense of symmetry and
balance to be found in the composition as a who le, achieved in pan by the
use of each of four topographical features in [wo successive epis.odes.
Whether or not lhere existed a popular fable or literary narrative: which was
illustrated by thc:sc: scenes, the viewer requires no funher infonnation in
ord er to understand what is going on.
This bowl is easy viewing, not least because the illustration of successive
episodes focuses attention on a single story line which is followed through.
The prince's power over nature, though threatened by outlandish beasts, is
assured by d ivine assistance as the deity protects the monal who offers
sacrifice. The naked captive of the central medallion seems closely connected with lhe Daked captive figure which appears both as a starueue in
Egypt and in monumental reliefs and which seems to have some son of
talismaoic value.l l Victory over adversaries is both CQmmemorated and
sympathetically em::ou...ged here, and the broad para11c:lit m between outer
and inner frieze suggests assimilatio n of the foreign enemy to me beast:
worldl y power is invincible. If gods so come to the aid of rulers that they
protect them from the wild world, how can humans hope to unseat them
from power? The confidence in rank which the Hirschfe ld krater displays
seems to be matched hen : by a confidence in the exercise of power.
Structurally the Idalion bowl seems rathe r different. The outer fri eze:
includes what seem to be three scenes from a narrative sequence (a founh
scene of which, not represented here, can be found on a silver bowl from
Kourion). These scenes show hero and lion locked in equal combat, hero
throwin&: lion off balance, victorious hero striding off with lion over
shoulder, and victorious hero striding off with lion over shoulder and
rewarded (?) with a goose. By conb'lllst to the Bernardini bowl the IdaHon
bowl d oes not show its epis.odes in sequence, and it intercalates scenes of a
combat wilh a griffin and of a hero attacking a lion with a sword, so that the
whole sequence is as follows: equal combat, hero and griffin open combat,
victor plus goose, hero attacks lion with sword, victor, hero attacks griffin
with sword, victor, equal combat, hero finishes off griffin with sword, victor
plus goose, hero attacks lion with sword, victor, hero finishes off griffin
.. FOI' 0 acn<ral diocualon "" Marlo< ( ' 915) .;hapto. 5 ' Nllmltive ond odop!ltion in CyproPhomkian an' .
.. C<>IIIJ*'< FOI'Woo>< (, wa) 71.,..

Mru

3S
with sword. The result is not to interweave three stories to make one
commeot on another but rather a series of apparently unconnected episodes which achieve a certain degree of symmetry and balance (identical
scenes appear al twelve o'clock and six o'clock, at three o'clock and nine
o' clock). It is difficult to see that sequential viewing achieves anything
more in this frieze than in the inncr frieze with its alternating human- and
falcon-headed sphinxes.
The mcdllilion has man (o r god) attack and/ OT make captive oth er men,

emulating the pose and action of the so-called Smiting-god; the inner
frieze has (fabulous) animals holding c.:aptive men, and the outer frieze has
men anacking (fabulous and real) animals, giving a general thematic unity
to the vessel and serving to assimila te the: enemy to beal u. Combat dominales this bowl, and, unlike the Bernardini bowl, the scenes here do offer
the possibility thai human control may be upsel, for m e fabulous beaS!s
hold humans hostage in me inner frieu. But there is no iconographic overlap between the three registers, no particular anacking pose is repealed , the
corpse over the shoulder of th e anendant is nOI held in a way at all closely
parallel to me way in which the body of the lion is held by the hero in the
outer frieze, the captives in the inner frieze arc literally held down by their
fabul ous adversary wnile the captives of the medallion are about to be
bealen . As in Athenian Geometric pouery. so here there tee m 10 be no
particular visual cues 10 encourage us to develop the thematic [inlts be[ween the friezes . In the absence of artistic opponunity being taken 10
make the visual presentation examine story or actions critica.Uy it is difficult
10 sec thai human control of the animal world or the power of rul ers to
subdue other m en is being challenged here by the bestial successes in the
inner frieze - particularly since that frieze is in the leasl visually powerful
position, sandwich ed as it is between central medallion and o uter frieze.
Silver-gilt bowls were neither everyday items nor made for public viewing. It would hardly be surprising if the elite liked to sec iu own power
unproblematically reftected in the imagery of its finest posscssions. The
lucid presentation of power over man and animal secn in both these vessels
could readily be appreciated by any elite, and th e presence of such a bowl
in a tomb at Praencste is much more easy to und erstand than the later
penchant of the Etruscan elite for POlS by Exekias, th e Berlin or the Pan
Painter. But these bowl. arc hardl y propaganda, and their unqueltioning
aCCeptanCe of the exercise of power as a faci of life, and of the reduction of
men to the StatuS ofbeuls before the all-powerful and god-protected ruler ,
suggests an approach to inter-personal relationships in which power predominates and m orality docs not enter the picture.
This discussion of Phoenician an poinu up me importance of me distinction which I have drawn between Geometric and later figure K enes on
Athenian ponery. The emphasis on rank in the Hirschfeld kfater seems
essentially anodyne: on ritual occasions like fun erals it h elps if everyone

36

ROBIN OSBORNE

knows what is expected of them. The Phoenician bowls b ring out the
political Significance of men knowing their place in the naked exercise of
power over o ther men displayed in the m edaIli ODl;. Inler-penonal relationships are power relationships, and the critical analysis of the difficulties
of putting oth ers in their place. which we find frQ m the seventh century on
in Athenian art, bas its political correlate. Berween the H inichfeld knlter
and the Nessos amphora something important happened which ttansfonned inter-personal relations in Athens, and laid the foundation for the
society under 5Cl1ltiny in subsequent chapten of this book. No literary
sourccs enable us to Jee or to study that transformation, but this is an area
where an art-historical approach has a contribution to make as it explores
the favoured expressive symbolism of successive stylet and centuries. WeU,
that's my Story, anyway.

Political friendship and the

ideology of reciprocity
MALCOLM SCHOFIELD

I. INTROD UCTION
'Qu il~

generally. all just behaviour i. relative to I friend'

(EIUkm;"" ElhiQ [EEl

VII .IO,

U4la :2Q- I).

This improbable: remark occurs a little way into the aueropi by the author
of the Eudemian Efhics to represent exc hange between pannen in a common enterprise as the basi~ of political society. J shall be concerned principally with the main ideas of what EE VII.t O calls 'political' friendship:
advantage, equality, and contract not trust; and with th eir relati on to the
' ideo logy of rcdpf Ol.:jty' argued by Paul Millen to be the cement of Athenian society in the period studied in this book, I D iscussio n of the improb.able remark will penni! so m e introductory orientatio n. It is dearly an unm odem remark; arguably unexpected as a comment on the social ethics of
the ancient Mc:diIClTaDean ; and even its credentials as an accurate statem en t of Aristotelian doctrine are questionable.
In our world justice has nothing 10 do with friendship . Whether we think
of social justice or poli tic.al justice or legal justice, we Ire concerned with
the idea of the nate as an authority from which we expe.;:t legal and innitutional systems designed to ensure the fair treatment of any persons or
bodies whatsocvcr. That such penons or bodies should enjoy friendship
with each other is no pan of what we envisage. Indeed there are Mlme
obvious oppositions between our notions of friendship and justice. So far
from being a concern of the stale, fri endship is viewed as s.o melhing belonging to the domain or the private, not pan of the public sphere II! all.
Whereas justice functions as a moral requirement, friendship is conceived
as a mailer of penonal tast e or preference. Aoove all, friendship is panial:
I treat X, who is my friend , quite ditrcrcntJy from Y , who is not. But
justice is impanial: irs concern is to treat X and Y in exactly the lame way.
There should be no surprise thai in classical antiquity friendship and
, Millen '99' : KC

,>

fM d>c .qm:..ion quotod.

37

38

MAL COL M SCHOFI ELD

justice could be interpreted as much closer. Friendship was finnly embedded in the broad social structure. h was involved in and shaped by a
whole network of social relationships within the family and outside it, and
it wu invested with much ethical significance. II straddled public and private domains, which were themselves differently demarcated. Justice on its
side is concci\"Cd by Plato and Aristotle primarily a$ the mainspring of the
behaviour of one individual towards another: the personal virtue of dikaiosunt. Both have much to say about social and political justice, and Plato
famously attempts to illuminate the justice of the individual by d oing so.
But while the conception of the virtue a5 a penon's internal psychic harmony which he extncLS from the comparison leaves IXlpular ideas of it far
behind, in his fundamental preoccupation wilh the individual, not the
strucrure of rociety, he remains faithful to ordinary panerns of talk and
thought about justice. The same is true muratis mutandis of Aristotle in his
trutise on justice (Nicomac~an Ethics lEN ] v "" EE IV).
What is unupected is the restriction of justice to relations with friends . In
800k I of the Republic <:331d) Polemarchus agrees that justice is d oing good
to one's friends and harming Onl'S memies. When he docs so, he is generally
taken as expressing a common ancient Greek view, reflecting the ethics of
a Mediterranean society in which other people divide up imo friends and
enemies, and where faction and feuding are seen as detenninants of the
moral framework of social existence. It i, the view of h ow one mould behave which penneatcs the H omeric poems; and recent writers have documented its pervasive presence in the classical period in Athenian lilerarure,
including Aristotle in the Riletoric, the Poiitia and the NiaJmlUhtan EthicJ. 2
But it has been observed thai, whereas 'approval of Hel p Friends ...
kn ows virtually no bounds, and the strongest disapproval is directed towards
those who fail to abide by' the principle, Hann Enemies is often subject to
qualification, and resU'ajnt may be comm ended, particularly in the interests of the community as a whole.' The scholar who has d one most to illustrate and explain this phenomenon is Gabriel H ennan. In a sequence of
recent anides 4 he has argued - particularly from the evidence of contemporary historians and orators - that dassical Athens had achieved a
political and social eq uilibrium and a corresponding repcnoire of nonns
unusual or even exceptional in the ancient Mediterranean. On his account,
by the fourth century Beli the expectation in Athens was thai public
behaviour would be governed not by the ' tribal' code of direCI retalia tion,
but by a 'civic' code, which enjoined the injured to seek to have the perpetnton o f the inj\lry p\lnished by ord er of the courts: they were 10 have
Sec . . BIW><I<U '919. Dover '974' ,80-4. Ed .. '99" commc:nu by B.. .5<:biltnunpf 01 6, - 6. citin&
"'" u ttncn, 01 ....... in RIt. II.J (d. olIO ) - ,) ond EN IV." on<! tho role of lt~brU in tl>< occounl
or ""'" in Pol. Y. Bu, Blundtll 1919: ~ n . '46 thinko d"" whiI. Ario,od< ottacbeo ~Ot ImportanC<
10 In<ndthlp, "" ;",Ofa Uo"" Encm .... _ onDcipo~ my line oftlKoulbl ",,", . .5<:. olao Rbode ..
Cb. ~ ""low.
~ Bhmddl ' 989: n""\l; quoution (rom S6 .

H.nnon 199). 1994, '99S. 1\196.

PoIiricaJ fritndship

39

recourse to a system of justice designed to promote stability and prevent

escalation of conflicts. The dominance of the civic code in the Athens of
the oraton postulated by Herman sugge5ls an uplanation of the improbable remark in EE "'U.l0. For if punishment of wrongdoers is I function of
the insrirution of justice (ro Jikaicn ), harming enemies will no longer be pan
of what it is to exhibit dikaiDsunL, the justice of the indi",idual.
It might be objected that the improbable remark is more plausibly
explained by lofty philosophical sentiments than by a popular ideal. Its
author is, after all, a philosopher. Perhaps he is inspired by a well-known
passage of Plato's Gorgias (507e- 508a):
say thlt what holds to~th .. r heaven and eanh Ind godl and men is kojn6nia (community), friendship, lunm;"w (orderliness). moderation and justice'

'Th.. wit, ..

- in a word, as Socrates sums it up, IwJmoJ. But whether or nOt philosophical speculation of this kind lies somewhere behind BB "'11.9- 10, the
author representS himsc:Jf as expressing what he claims to be the common
view: 'We all say that justice and injustice are found especially in relations
with friends' (EE VII . I , 1234b 25- 6). In good AriSlotelian style he introduces this endo:wn, 'opinion in good standing', for its relevance to what he
takes to be one of the obvious and fundamental quettionl people raise
about friendship: 'How should one U"Cat a friend and what is the justice
that relates to friendship?' (ibid. 1234 b20- 21).
So the Eutkm ian Bthics' treatment of friendship actually supports
Herman's view that common Athenian thinking about friend ship and justice has undergone a paradigm shift from the help friendsfharm enemies
ethic summed up by Socrates in his conversation with Polemarchus. We
need not suppose (against plentiful evidence to the contrary) that it has
been wholly abandoned, but rather thaI the civic code removes vengeance
from the sphere of personal justice, which accordingly now takes the
proper treatment or friends as its sole or principal focus. S Enemies have
apparently dropped OUt or the picture, al any rale where questions or personal justice are concerned. With this change co mes another. To the
question: ' How should one treat a friend? ', the simple answer: 'Help them'
will apparently no longer d o. EE Vtl.9- IO will show why. In a word, it is
because there are several different sons of friendship. sometimes easily
confused . 111e author's analysis will draw the proper distinctions, warn of
some pilfalls, and indicate the behaviour appropriate in different cases.'

, I btli."., tlun !his w.y of punin, i. - '0YmF ohift.o fro", !bot t phcn of pcnorW '" duo, of i..,,;ruIio!l&l justic" - copt""'" the ",. in lit! of Horman'. pooilion. ani.r;ulatod in Ilio ....:oft cardW ""milia ...... , ' .1- ' 994: ,oB_ '}. 8 .. , be ..".,,"Ii ...... wri... OS thou&h!he ide.o r ~ .,.,... honour
".. OIle, irIjuri.. t..d diuppcotod from !be Athenian ciric code oI~ (" .,. '99':" ), and thio
tIM riabdy _otod '" bio enrico in=dibl .
1 >haD haft no'pac<" '0 . ><pI<> ... the .... w.uy in !he !..... poon. of EB vn. ,o (~r "4)0 '~-)' ,
b ' 4 - ) 8) ,..-b<K the . ... - - lib Atio,otI. in the pANJld ''''''unon, in liN VfII. ' } _
IK. I - h U1'<11
<nioylllOrtin& "'" dI. monl lrickin ...... tho ,,>PIc lhrows up.

40

MALCOLM SC HOFIELD

Some homdy inlTOductory illustrations in the corresponding section of the

NicomachulPl Ethia give a flavour of the iss ues at stake:
There arc differencCl in wtu.t i. JUSt. There is nOI the same justice for p&l'Cn[ll
towards their children a$ for brothers to one another, nor apin for companions a.
for fellow-citizcn 'j and similarly with we other 10m of friendship. So allO there are
differencn in the injustices Ihal would be being commined in each of!he:sc relationships. And their IJeriousnen increaSCI the grealer the degree of friend - e.,.
depriving I compan ion of his money il more dreadful than doing il 10 a fellowcilizen, nOI helping I brower worse than nOI helping' stran,cr, and "'lulling your
father wone than anyone else. (vm.9, IIS9b 3S- 116oa 7)

Some of my subsequent quol8.tions from EE VI! may have suggested why I

queried earlier the Aristo telian credentials of the improbable remark. EN
VIII. I gives what I take to be Aristotle's considered view: not aU just behaviour is relative to a friend, but 'of the forms of justice the most imporlanl is thought to be that bound up with friendship' (ussa 28). This is the
position of EE vu. t, too. The author simply gen carried away when he
makes the univenal claim OfVII .9- IO.
I don't want to claim that Aristotle himself could not h ave overreached
himself in this way. There are deepe r reasons (or being at least a bit
agnostic about the authorship of the lTCaunent of friendship in BE VII . In
a fascinating unpublished paper Michael Pakaluk has suggested that EE is
in a variery of ways marked ly more egalitarian in outlook than EN; indeed
more egalitarian than it j, credible Aristotle ever was.1 As we shall sec, his
general thesis is beautifully iIIunrated by the comparison of the twO lTCa[menrs of friendship and ju"ice. There will be n o space to consider questions o f authonhip and composition in any depth, but I sball continue with
the cautious locution ' the autho r of EE' and develop the cue for scepticism about his identity with Aristo tle at one or twO junCtureS. B
I I. KOINONIA AND THE POLl S

1ne author of EE does nOI flatl y assert tha t all justice is relative to a friend.
He presenn it as the conclusion of a syllogism in which the middle term is
J/.qir/6noJ, 'associate' or ' partner':
Justice il a matter of how one behaves toward, (I ) particular penonl who Ire (b)
,"socialet.
, Pabtuk unpub~lhod . I &n"J p:IItdut ". tho< ... t/>or Ii>, hit kind""t in obowinl me copy of t:hiI MS.
My hcsilOtions.bout ,ulhonhip an ....".d only ... 11..; .... to BE m ., - to, and an compobble C.I.
with the hypud>nis .... , jill, Ibn pon ofthc ~~ /Mia ~J'lI iii"" M on .......... tOlCti ... hand
.bocnt 01.....,., . A, t:hiI poin, it obollld be nottd .... , whole BE ...............u, conoi.de.cd inluth<niX in the nino<temlb cen'ury, it is now ....,...rly rtpo"<l.d .. pw... NUIOIl., but ~
.m..-!han EN. H_~, Kenny '?7' (d . tll9a, Appendilt t ) 11M prCkDttd intnnnn......"......
&or Ric.."... tho, chtonolOIJY, or ........ -pn:ci,dl', ro.- n:prdina BE _ " II" ond ddiniti<- ""m>att
of AriototIc', <thKai pooition ( Kenny

.W~:

.;;).

Po/irill fritndlhip

4'

As,oolte, in one', &mily or in one', mode of life are friends.

Th"n:Core juslice ill miner of how one neau one's friend, . ( 11 421 19- 22)

Moses Finley has a useful brief account of the notion of association or

partnership the autho r is wo rking with here:9
Several conditions In: ",quisile if there ilia ~ a genuine lloin4ni<l: ( I ) the membcn
mUlt ~ frcc men; (l ) they must have a common purpose, major or minor, lemporary Or of lon8 duration; (3) they muSI have somelhing in common, share wmelhilli' such u place, go()(b, cull, meals, d esire for I good life, burdens, liuffering;
(4) there must ~ pl/iJj" (conventionally but inadequa tely trarllla'cd 'friend,hip').
mUluaiity in other wotcil, and /0 dill"ion, which for simplicity ~ mly reduce 10
' flimel5 ' in their mutual relarions. Obvioulily no single word "'ill n:nder the specuum o f lwin4niai. At the higher levell, 'community' i. ui ually suitable, I' the lower
pt:rhaps 'association' provided the clement. of fairness, mUt\lality and rommon
purpose I rc kepi in mind .

Mutuali ty is the key element for the argument of EE VI1.9 and 10. Finley
actually makes 'mutuality' the ttanslatinn of philia. I think we should accept
the idea that mutuality is a condition of koin4P1ia, but disjoin it initially
at least from philia: it should to begin with simply capture the fact that
koin4Mi, those who share in an association or enterprise, exchange things.
The nub of eondition (4) will then be that those who share in family life o r
in some other form of association are typically involved in mutual ex
changes. And the proposition that associates are friends can then be taken
as making an independent substantive claim abo ut them - as Il41a 19- 11
seems to intend.
As we shall see later (section (4) below), F inley's implication that pJlilia
in this kind of context may simply redu(:e 10 exchange in fact anticipates an
interesting problem in the theory of EE Vtl .9- IO. BUI for the moment we
should note that early in EE VII the author has characterised philia as
marked by something more than exchange or mutuality in general. namely
redproui aft"e(:oo n (1.1l36a 14- 15), involving at least a degree of mutual
concern. This prompts the interpretative suggestion thai at 1l.41a 1 9 - 1l
the supposition being made is that assodates are friends inasmu(:h a5 they
are wnum~dfor ~ach OIher. Even if your fri endship with me rests on nothing
more than mutual advantage. I will want you to do well - not OUI of disinterested goodwill ("U>101'tI) for you, but because your doing well il to m y
advantage (7.124Ia 1- 7).'0 And that concern will characteristically carry
along with it the ordinary civilities and social genu res usual in advantage
friendship - the som of fri endliness I may show to m y local butcher or
newsagent .
FmIcy

"no: I .

I. Cooper '9~-7 : 6'9- 41 olll-n. dc:..ilc<I MId . ..b!k dlK ......... of \he d,fIiofn>cn m!he .....tma>.
of ........ ;., 1-: _
EN. I am not ron.-inced by hit "'F'.... n\ lhat, dnpit< c . " 17" '4- ,6, EN
moloto ad<on'lIC" friendobip cOI>Ccm<d 60r the trion<! for hi, awn ..u .

42

MALCO LM SC HOFIELD

In Aristotelian theory the most imponant and comprehensive lcoin6"ia is

the polis or city-state itself ( Pol. 1.1 , I2pa 1- 7). The polis dimensions of
lcoin6"iu arc stressed in EE vlI.9. And much of EE VU .IO is concerned with
what the author ealb 'political friendship'. Political fri endship is a relationship citizens have or m ay have with each other qua citi~ens. The author
thinks of it as a fonn of advantllge friendship, and explains its being so in
tenns of the fundamental rationale of the existence of the polis, which is to
secure an adequate livelihood I I by coming together (1%42a 6- g), or as the
Potiries says ' by help from each other' ( Pol. 111.6, 127gb l o-lJ) . The idea is
perhaps this: since mutual help is what makes the polis the particular kind
of association it is, the many advan tageous exehanges in which as a matter
of CQntingent fact citizens engage with each other, not being kinsmen or
companions, are to be viewed as realisations or expressions of political
association - and for this reason, of tht friendship churauemtU of cirizem as
such. The au thor is undoubtedly thinking of economic exchanges for much
of EE VII.I O, and indeed near the end Aristotelian scholars will be pleased
to find their old friends the farm er and the shoemaker (1243b 30- 1). But
he also has in view the exchanges o f politics in a different sen$e: tu ms at
ruling and being ruled, liturgics (1l42b 27- 30) .
Political fri endship in EE therefore looks very different from the 'civic
fri endship' which John Cooper has sought to find in the Nicomuchtun Elhiu
and the Polit ics. n Cooper', civic fri endship i, nOt a matter of contingent
individual personal relationships, nor of straightforward advantage friendship, as on my view in EE, but of 'interest in and concern for the well-being
of (everyj citizen just because the other if a fellow-citizen . n T o me this
looks more like a Stoicised l 4 version o f Plato's vision of the community
of the guards in Book v of the Republic than anything AriStotle anywhere
envisaged; and I think Julia Annas's critical discussion of Cooper's views a
much sounder guide. Both however, like other writen on Aristotle's ethics,
miss the distinctiveness and extraordinary interest of the BE account of
political friendship. IS
Annas henelf suggests as candidate examples o f political friendship the
shared activities of civic involvement. People 'become friends, presumably,
because they are trying to suppon the sam e public measure, ostracise the

'99': ... -,.

" For ""...,.".." .. ad~,. H""lil!ood ', rather !han .. I.... u1'6cioncy' ..., Meikl~
" Coopt. ' 976-7. '\1'90" Coope. '990: IJ' . Iu I n n. ,6 Cooper 0IqI1i<:itIy """'" !ho, cMc friendohip io m:aud by Ario.000c .. . form of odvontqc frimdobip. Bu. 1)5 n. 18 Inoitu tho, " io '. ""ry special kind 01
fMndollip' - not penon&l. And 8 mokoo " oku duo.~, Cooper nry opec:w kind " f odnntIC" io in q\Oaboa 100, .......,Iy on~ inoomnl ' .1. the tone .... of othe" for "ne', own aood. in_
dudl", "",,', oc:quioibon of monl and in 1I1UaI virtue. (So why io " "'" .. the form of Yirtu<
friendohi p1)
" Sec c ... SchGI'!cId '99' : ' 9S- :lO ' .
I> Sec Ann .. '990. S,.m .Gilk, '9': '49- S1, hMr ....... io ...... cq>Iion '0 the ~ rule 1
.nund.,,~ .

Political jrimdship

43

same politician, and so on ' .16 Consideration of this hypothesis requires U $

to no tice an ambiguity in the treatmem of political friendship both in EE
and in EN. The version of it I have been discussing is that present in the
chapten of EE on fri endship and justice (vI1.9- IO); and it recurs. perhaps
only vestigially (VIlI. 14, U6l b If- IS; IX. I, 1I63b 31- 5), in the corresponding ch apters of EN. A s we have seen, in this ,ersion (versio n (A)) political
friend ship is a function of th e mutuality or exc hange chantcteristic of
Jroin6"ia. But both EE (VII .7) and EN (tx.6) also speak o f something quite
different as political friendship; namely homotwia, or political consensus,
treated by EN (and probably EE too) as the cem ent of society valued by
stlilesmen (EE VII. I, 1l34b n - 3) and legislators (EN VIII.! , 1155a 12- 6) .
This - version (B) - is pretty much the same as what Annas has in mind,
although of course it is the antithesis of the ki nd of factional activity probably usually necessary for an ostracism: a problem for version (B) rather
than Annas's acco um of it, I think. 11
So far as I can see, in each of the two ethical treatises the two con ceptions of political friendship simply d eal with different ideas; the only
connection is that both are concerned with 'the advantageous and what
relates to our mode o f life' (EN Ix.6, 1167b 3- 4) .18 In particular, whereas
there is no d oubt that th e m utu ality with which (A) is preoccupied is conceived as a fonn of real friendship, (s ) is presented as something (like
eunoia, goodwill: EE VII.7, EN IX.5) wh ose claims to be considered as
friendship are dubi ous and need examination. The verdict is not entirely
explicit eith er in EE Vll. 7 (whe re a textual lacuna thwarts us) or in EN lX.6.
But consensus emerges more as something bearing analogies to fri endship
than as th e genuine article, I think precisely because it does n 't necessarily
invo lve any mutuality, but only identity of agreed purpose and consequent
action.
III. HIERAR C HY AND EQ U ALIT Y

Political friendship (version (A has anothe r d efining featu re. A s well as

being focused on advantage, it is also a fonn of egalitarian friendship (EE
VII. IO, 124239- 11 , b2 1- 2, 27- 31) . There i$ a contrast here with what the
autho r of EE calls friendship based on superiority, or as we might put it,
hierarchy or deferen ce.
The principle of the cuntnst is introduced , and hierarchical friendship in
particular illustrated and discussed, in EE VIl .3- 4. after extensive presentation of the distinction between virtue, advan tage and pleuure friends hip,
I. Ann .. 1990' %41 .
" ~OI pnNopO bi& ptol*m: ~ ........ d by t>II 01 mo.. c:imc... will fulfil 1M
drum; ..... oppooi'" wh<n I, iI conllned ' 0 pan;cular (npcciollJ ~ ItOIIPL
II In both CIItl this odvon,qe ilNabie
tOnCd_ .. n:lulrina: in 1>oIdi", 1M ci" _
I<> I. ODia, liN VIII . I, "'SO u -6; ...::hanf;<, liN ~. " "l,b J' - 4.

'0 .....

""tesman.
..... " .... .

44

MALCOLM SCHOF IELD

in VII.2. Under the heading of hierarchical friendship come, for example,

the relationships between ruler and rul ed or father and son or benefactor
and beneficiary (vlI.3, 1238b 19- 23); and there may be either virtue or advantage or pleasure friendships of this type - the hierarchical venus egalitarian dichotomy cuts across the other division. But at the beginning of
V11. 4, the author insists that, whereas friendships may be hierarchical or
egalitarian, only those who are on an equality arefrimds (1239a 4- 5). This
seems to make egalitarian friendship the paradigm .
The opposition of hierarchy and equality constitutes a major dimension
in the framework for the discussion of political friendship in EE vlI.9- IO.
The relevant section ofvlI.9 begins by establishing parallels between fonn!
of government and relationships within the family: to kingship there corresponds the authority of a father, to aristocratic rule the re lation of h usband to wife, and to polity (i.e. popular rule for the common good) the
relation between brothers. The first two pain, but n ot the last, involve hierarchical fonns of anociation and so of friendship. Justice is in the hierarchical cases a ma ner of proportional equality, in the egalitarian it is one
of numerical equality. Having put this fairly elaborate conceptual grid in
place, the author feels able to conclude that political friendship is based on
equality (e.g. VlI.IO, 1242b 21- 2). 'Only political friendship', he says, 'and
the deviation corresponding to it (i.e. democratic friendship - that characteristic ofa polis in which there i, ,elfinterested popular rule) are not just
friend.!hiPJ, but associations which operate as frimds do: the other sorts [i.e.
ruler-subject associations and their analogues] are based on superiority'
(VII.IO, 12421 9- Jl ).
At this point the reader may be inclined to cry: ' Foul!' ' Political' in
'political friendship' seems to have become victim of a pun. The idea that
political friendship is a form of advantage friendship is supported (BE
VII .IO, f242a 6- 9) by appeal to the mutual advan!.ge the very elristence of
the poliJ is designed to secure. If is as though 'poli rical' here derives from
'polis'. But the case for thinking thai political friendship is bued on equality is made 10 reS I on its being the kind o f association characteristic of one
amona several possible fonns of constitution for the poliJ, namely polity
(BE VII.I O, 1242a 9- u ). Here it is as though 'political' derives from
'polireia', in that specific use of the word to mean a popular or relatively
popular fonn of rule in the common imereSt,'9 as opposed to its more
widespread use fo r 'constitution' in general. For otherwise the clause 'and
the deviation corresponding 10 it' makes n o sense.
The apparent slipperiness of 'political' in this passage of BE VU.IO makes
the conju nction of advantage and equality in the notion of political friend,. ct. Col. EN OID .IO, ,,600. B - S; FtJ. "1.7. "19'1 )7""9. TI>O IUthor hall ......od, ......t the ",on! in this
in tI>c tofI!UI: nlinl1" n41b )<>-1, and conceivably in adjoctinl ~ II !~Ib )5. if
Ditltnriu'l supplemen! iI cotI'ttl.

KIlO<'

Political jrimdJhip

"

ship seem arbitrary. Why should there not be advantage friendship between
citizens quD citizens under any constitution? Why should it have to be premissed on citizen equality? It is interesting that in the connponding
chapten of the Niwmachean Elhics (EN vII1.9- IX.I) Aristotle's occasional
references to 'political friendship' do not broach issues of hierarchy or
equality at all. And although he speaks there of the equal friendship characteristic of the PQlity, he does not suggest that it is to be equated with
political friendship.lo One inference might be that EE VII. 10, 1242a 6- 11
gives reason to think that the author of EE is not Aristotle. Aristotle notOriously has a very sharp ear for ambiguity: co uld he really have allowed
'political' to slither as it seeml to d o at 1242a 6- 1J? Is it not more plausible
to suppose that the author of EE is someone else - someone who from his
reading of the corresponding pan of the Nicomachean Elhics has conHaled
things Aristotle more convincingly kept apan?
So the author's handlillg of 'political' is prima facie questionable theory
and doubtfully Aristotelian. Nonetheless it is certainly Aristotelian to
combine mutual advantage and equality in the idea of the political. For
example, Poliflcs 111.6 follo~ some Statements about mutual and common
advantage as the ration ale of the polis with a discussion of the difference
between political and deSPQtic rule which assumes that a polis is an association of free and equal persons. In EN v.6 mutual advantage and equality
are conjoined in the account of political justice: zl
This is lomething that applies to those who au paroIen in mode of life with a view

to there being an adequate livelihood, being free and equal either proportionately or
numeriolly. ( lI)4a 11 - ) )

'Either proportionately or numerically' gives a clue to the difference

between EE VII.IO and usual AriS[otelian doctrine. For Aristotle polity is
not the only 'correct' fonn of government in which there is appropriate
respect for th e freedom and equality that characterise the status of citizens.
Proponionale equalily is a way of referring to hierarchical constitutions of
one sort or another. At the most general the oretical level the PO/iliu 1IlID.l~i, of citizenship is recognisably egalitarian, but in the detailed discussion
of panicular fonns that egalitarianism is sometimes qualified almost out of
existence.
For the panicular putpOses of the author of EE VII . TO any blurring of
the line between equality and hierarchy would be unhelpful. The major

... Ocnoional ",f<rCnCeI: ,,6,b '3. , '6)b 34; oqual friendJ.hl~ unci ... polity. ,,6,. '7- )0.
.. liN ~.6 .. Eli 1V.6, and on""""""""" of Kenny 1971: ch.) ito tru"""" orin be Ih< &.d<Mi...

.bou,

and over bro.do:. "........ , qUettiom

ow"c "'1 _waption
It.. EN y.," _~;.u, ArioWklian. Eli VU. ''', , '"
opco:i~ conncao potitical jill';" orith odnn ..... friendih;~ j ..., oft.. cl>ars<1oriom. political frien<hhlp ........u"'" or

&/0 ....

If be ;. ~ I ...,.,Jd nood ,II ...... _C"

til< .ulhonhip or Eli _ ito pans and !he whole - IIwl I db in thio _ , 10

"-'J

od....,~c .

- - - - - ---'''-'-~---

46

MALCOLM SCHOF IELD

distin ction he wants to establish and iIIusttate is between those exchange

relationships that are based on unequal social status and those that are not.
The most obvious point he makes about it is that in cases of the Conner sort
what counts as a juSt or fair exchange is governed by the unequal positions
o f the two parties, whereas in the latter this complication does nOt arise.
Two ahemative models for just exchange between unequal parties arc ini
tially proposed (1242b 6 - 16): what we might call Thalcherism, favoured
by the superior, and what we might call n oblesse oblige, advtXated by the
inferior. Under Thatcherism, a fair exchange takes place when in return
for a smaller favour from the superior pany, the inferior pany performs a
bigger service for him . Under noblesse oblige it works the other way
around: more is expected of the superior pany,le51 of the inferior. But the
author comments that on this sond model the superior pany seems to be
worse off (1242b 16- 21 ). Friendship and parmership tum into liturgy thai is not a teal exchange at all, but (as we might say) an act of charity.
This leads to effective abandonment of the model. Proportion, the author
says, h as to be restored: that is, the Thalcherite proportion, presumably.
This is achieved by the superior's gaining IKImething equivalent to what he
lost - the honour he is shown by the inferior for his kindness restores his
superiority. 'l2
The author also makes a second and subller point, which will help us to
extract more sensc fro m the conce ption or the political at work in YlI.IO.
His comments on the cQuality of status characteristic of politi cal friendship
(which have no parallel in the corresponding secrion of EN ) ftXus not so
much on eQualiry as such, but on utilitarian motivation and the weakness
of the bonding it creates. H e makes two oh$ervations. First (1242b 22- 7),
when citizens sec no more advantage in their friendsbip, they simply ter
mina te it. There is a tacit contrast with hierarchical friendships: between
king and subject. or father and 50n, or benefactor and beneficiary there is
more than mere exchange of advantage to the relationship - continuing
obligations, continuing emotional tics of various kinds. Second ( I24Zb Z730), the political equality of citizens under a poliry (or a demtXratic con
ltiturion) means thai the notion of rul e is altogether thinner. Governmen t
is OO( based in natu re nor is it kingly (that is - 1 think be means - paternal),
bUI something one undertakes in the spirit of an economic exchange . I help
OUI other citizens when I pcrfonn a liturgy, thai is undertake some service
ror the dry. But I am only taking my turn, in the Cltpectation that I will gel
advantage back wben othen do theirs. (He presumably has in mind the

.. TIto ........... ' btrc it YnJ~, 1t .,..y lot tho, II>< .\/thOr oo,,""a jwtic. In W oocond
kind orca",. ~ by ... ~".",-ne..J oq\lll~11 (d. "~Jb ' O)-- ' Jl: tho:
PfI roa:i_ by
lit< inkrior oq~al. tho: ouperior a ...... ",coiY-ed by II>< lllporior. "Ibis Om' 10 lot lito ",odin,
Jocbon . 1111: 95--6 (d . 9' ) imp/in (d. EN VItl. ' 4. ,,6)b . - " " ' 4). 'The no .. In Dlrlm.;cr
60ft not oddrqo tho problem; tho: _
it not ditatUl by Hath 1')49.

""P<ri<w

'!l6'

Political jrimdship

47

personal favours people holding power do for others - otherwise it is hard

to see that this d i$cuuion relatea directly to friendship. )23
It is n ow possible to see a stronger conn ection between the twO ingredients in the author's conception of the political (advantage and equality)
than was apparent earlier. Our main problem was to understand why he
thought advantage friendship between citizens qua citizens had to be premissed on citizen equalifY: could it not flourish under any constitution? The
answer which suggelts itself in the light of 1l42.b 2.2. - 30 is that, while such
an association d oes not have to be between persons equal in $latus, there
may well be a tendency for it to tum into something other than pure advanlllge friendship if it contains elements of hierarchy - fOf example into a
thicker benefactor-beneficiary relatinnship. Certainly the political relationship between equals typical of a polity turns out to be paradigman', of the
fundamenllli nature of the polis, as an association existing to ,,:cure mutual
advan tage. On the author's view of the ma tter, that relationship is itself
conceived primarily in terms of mutual interest.
Our di lC ussion in this section prompts an interpretation of the author's
general idea in VU.IO. Of the two som of interpersonal rc:lationship he is
contrasting, one is characu:rised by thick, vertical bondin&,!!, often natural
or experienced as natural,24 and not uducibk to the mutual advantages
secured by exchange; the other by thin horizo nllli bondings, which have no
other basis than the mutual advantages they enSt to achieve. No doubt
both coexisted in the society in which the author was writing ( presumably
fourth-century Athens). But the way he works the contrast out in temu of
kinds of rul e suggests a comparison - even a diachronic t Omparison (cr.
Pol. t.2) - ~rwU1l societies: perhaps mbal versus dvic, trad itional venus
rational, sa!;!'al venus d esatralised. 25

I V. CO NTRA CT, NOT TR US T

' Re ciprocal equality', Arislotle famously says of exchange relations between
the !Tee and equal, 'preserves tities' (Pol. 11.2, n6 u 30- 2). This remark
tould serve as a motto for Paul Millett's actount of the society and economy of dassical Athens as drawing SUStenance from an 'ideQlogy of red prodty'. On his analysis the Athens of the fourth-century Onltors is not
only free from the civil contliel which became virulem mere and o:lsewhere
in the Peloponnesian War, bUI en joys a social solidarity promoted by
Con>poo .nd con<ran d>< JI_J .......,1:0 about the mori.... with ...tUch pogpI~ W>dfttab HtutPH It IW. 1n.6, t Z~ l - t 6 . A, EN Yll I. ",
a7- ]O the ~uoll\lm )'1, .... of JO"U'U'l~'
cl>anctcn.o.: of po~t)' 0111. to be pcum.ed u the cij ...... in wl<kh oplitarion frio...w.rp
duivn, ,.lM< \han _ on actuIIl in"''''''' of it .
.. Ct. BEYll.lo, 'J,f.b '0,
:to The hicrvcbkol .. I.tionship of ... ,1tt"Ill ru\ft I<> .ubie<;t 0< filM< to ..... i. _no! time< """,pared
with the .. l.tion of &od '0 .n.n: m . o, ' 4'. )'- 5, 10'11"'0, J~.
"

,,6,.

.1.

48

MALCOLM SC HOFIELD

widespread neighbourl iness. Lending and borrowing arc not typically

conducted by means of impel'3onal non-recipn)Cal credit transactions with
professional banken, but by something closer in structure 10 gift exchange
between family memben or neighboun or friends. You lend me your stewpot, nOI necessarily expecting an immedi:ne favour in uturn, and certlilinly
not money with intereSl, but on the anumption that should YOII need, for
nample, an extra bed in a month's time I will supply it. One type of loan
particularly associated in the oralon with action on the part offriends is the
IIrtmOf, loan fund . Heu a group of people would each pay a certain amount
to advance some common object. for example ransomina: a friend held
prisoner of war by a foreign power. Contribution to the traMS is often
represented as the mark of a good citizen, furthering the well-being of
the poJiJ. Other not purely economic fealUres of the public life of fourthcentury Athens can also be interputed as mechanisms analogous to gift
nchange for controlling potential social problems and enhancing citizenship, for enmple the perfonnance of liturgi~ by the rich in return for
prestige and I degree of security.26
Millen makes considerable use of Aristotle - the N~oma,htan Erhia in
particular - to support his thlrisation of what he finds in the more direct
historical evidence, and nOlably in the orators. The argumenl of EE V11.9 10 as we have examined it 10 far also clearly bean out the general emphases
of the Story he tells. But the next nretch oftext, and the laS! I shall ccnsider
here, points in a rather different direction. At 1242b 3t- 12431 2 (summarised al u43a 31 - 3) the au thor draws a distinction within advantage
friendship between what he calls ' legal' (quickly but nOI consistently
renamed 'political') and 'ethical' or character friendshi p. The articulation
of the distinction associates political friendship with behaviour much less
neighbour!y than Millett represents as the Athenian nonn.
The opposition between political and ethical fonns of advantage fri endship is a function of a whole range of other contrasts:
Political

Ethical

Lookl

Bated on asre<'ment
to the tranuction

Bued on tNIt
Looks to the in tention

and Ul equalitY
1.<..1

( pmIoai"'m)
Companionable

In dnllwing this set of distinctions the author seems to be offering iome

refinement of the account of hOrUontai advantage friendship he has just
sketched (1242b ZI - 31 ). The bonding involved can be thicker and more
dUnJble than he initially suggested. Unsurprisingly he treats this as the
more admirable species. Its concern with a penon's intentions is more just
- fairer - than focus on the exchange transaction, and il called by the
.. S Millett 1991 , apccially 0 .

t.' and 6; allO Obn 1~9.

Political /rimdlhip

author ' friendly justice' (dikaioswnl . the personal virtue: 1143a 3]- 4). An
exchange be twee n ethical or charac ter friends i$ just if their intentions arc
equal. No other consideration is to be taken inlo account - for example
failing in the even t fmm incapacity to deliver all of wha t was promised
( 1:!43 b 1 - ] , 9- 11 ) .
On the otiler hand , th e author is sceptical about the integrity and uability of this ethical friendship. He argues that there is usually a dyna m ic
propelling it into the thinner and weaker political friendship:
Recrimination is particularly frequent in this lort of friendship [sc. eth ical[. The
realon is that it il unnaNnl. For friend~hipi based on advantq;e and on virrue
are differem, but these people wish to have il both ways II once - they ISsocilie
tosether for the sake of advanta.ge, but make ;1 OUI to be: an ethical friendship like
th.al of Soud men. So they represent il 15 0 0 1 merely lesal, bUI I I thou;h they acted
on the b,ali. ofcl'\lst. (1242b ]7- 12.t)a 2)
O r again:
Ethical friendship il nobler, bUI . d.... ntage friend lihip more a mltter of neceuilY.
These penple IIlrt off I I thou;h they were ethical mends and shared their friendlhip beeaus<: of virtue. But when ont of their private inlerelU leIS in the way il becomet clear that they were friend. of a different kind. ( 12411 ]4- ] 7)
The corresponding passage of the N iC,()Inadutnt E/h ics (Vil LI). 1162b 161163a 6) lack$ both th e cyni cal lone stru ck in these quotati ons and thei r
suggesti on that ethical friendship is ge nerally doomed to collapse into poti ti cal. n So rar as terminology is co ncerned, Arinotle there talks thro ughOUI of legal friendship (neve r poli ti cal) as the al!ernative to ethical. There
is some attraction in the hypothesis that the author of BE has ad opted
AristoLlc'. account of legal friendship in EN to make it serve the ends of
hi s own preoccupation with the contrast be tween the thick hi erarchical
fri endships rypic: al (as we at any rate m ight put it) of traditional societies
and the thin egalitarian relati onships chara cteristic of a society under popular rul e.
He clearly IIttaches more imponance to the egalitarian utility or horizontal advantage friendship than Aristotl e docs in the Niromuchean Ethics.
There is nothing in EN VIII.9- IX. 1 co rresponding 10 most of the material
from these two chapters with which this paper has been mainly concerned ,
although everything else in them has some parallel in the EN discu ssion . UI
T h e EN regards :ldvam age friendship as the province of trad crs (vlII .6.
II s8a 11 ), with a strong implication that people of liberal character will
n

-n.. conln<t .. ..,u DOtcd by S..,..",cil....

'9115' ' 5 t, who . Ito "",.ks of !lie 'jo"n.did tOf><' of tile:

8 _.an ~t " lOOted. S...... 01.., ..Den, on m. "romin~ of polltial!riendohip in .".
compared with its k>w p",fiIc in /;Nand ~ -,*rw:e in Pol. ( '49). BII' $he don "'" ... ,ce'"
!N, ..... <Xd>_ relo,ionUtip of EE vu.9- lo ....... to I>< Identified wim \he:
ot EH ",'-1

100. , '.

(I, . ).

.. SKtioru of x. in EEvt I. 9- 'O

nOlI>lAI~lcd

in EN _

'0.

~ -4,

' 4- ' S, ' 4-9.

_ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ ___ .c; ". '----'.C--'_ _ _

SO

MALCOLM SC HOFIELD

avoid it if possible (cf. VIII.I), 1162b 26- 7). The EE sees it as fundamental
to the achievement of the basic economic purpose of the polis. These are
not incompatible evaluations, but they are marked by a palpable difference
of tone. The author of BE YJI shows himself particularly unsqueamish
about mde in his discussion of the ethical and political fonns of advantage
friendship. There is no sign of his deploring the dominance of disembedded utili ry over vinue and thick nuS! in exchanges for advantage. He
thinks we are better off without hypocrisy and the unnatural pretences that
the ethical approach encourages. That way we avoid the recriminations
which dog exchangt transactions (u43a 2- 8) . To this extent the advent
of something like rational economic man is a wekome relier. We sho uld
n ot infer that our author values vinue len than does Aristotle in the
Nicomachta n E'hia. In VlI.2 he makes horizontal vimu friendships the
paradigm of friendship . The moral is rather that we should not muddle up
regard for a penon 's character with ou r interest in a mutually advantageous transaction with him.
A more difficult question is whether the author of EE indicates any
compannive ranking of political friend ship relative 10 hierarchical friendship, On the one hand, il is hard to conceive that h e values it more than
($lY) the relation offather to &on; nothing he says implies such a val uation,
On the other hand, he clearly ,ees hon'zontal friendships, in which th ere is
tqual muruality, at the key to friendship; only in such relationships are
the pannen friends (VII,4, 12393 4- 6, 10; 12421 9- 11). As transmitted the
text of VlI.9 looks as thoujfh it may conlain an attempt to settle this issue
of ranking. At V11.9. U41b 36- 7 we read: ' Aristocrati c (friendship) works
proportionately, and kingly also'. The manuscri pts have 'beSt' after 'aristocratic', and in grammatical agreement with it. This doesn't work syntactically; nor is th ere any convincing way of ame nding the text,2f I suspeCt
' best' represents an ancient reader's botched attempt to bring EE VII.9 into
line with the ranking of constirutions in EN VU.IO.
EE VII.9- I O begins by implying that political friendship is analogous to
the companionable rel ationship between brothers. So the disj unction laler
in VII . I O between the companionable associations of ethical friend shi p and
the legal relationship which conslitutes political friendship, while nOi in the
least incompatible with the analogy, is particularly striking. The Stres5 on
companionableness and trust in the author's profile of ethical friendship is

:to

Dirl",';'. 1962: 41B ..:cep.. Rooa'. inocnion <>f ItI bob oWI: 'the bon, f<>nll ..r .... t<>cnq', I. .
af 1M f<>ur di.rinpiol>ed "' Pol. 1'1., B~. il iI Unpl.1.IOib1e tits. "'" IU""" ibould offea Ihi. <k1Jrn' af
p<ilio<> iUll ll>is ""'nc, ....... ;c hod Men ......blJ 1ac:1<in, d_h.... in "'" con, .... n.. Loob
""" \lie O.t<.rd ........ Iion ho oc<<pC Rooo', .uppiemenl, but calec 1M .... an;nl u : 'ari"OCC'8C)',
the 1:>1 f""" of comtiNIion or .....aIDon' . ThH _
'" forc. tbc O,uk; """ Arlo_eli ... doctrine (ocr Ii....' Yl11 . 'O, Pbl.. 1'1 . ) is tits. l<inpltip is bnt. Bomes' il<'riord 0d0rd ......... Don man:
oon~r n <ioq ,.,;,u. U it is I ,Ioto, then I .u...... ;, m~ll t.a... bn ;"U>OdOJ <0 -r>PIY 1<>
Icinphlp, no. lrillocn.cy.

Mill

PoliricaJ jrimtbhip

the element in his account which particularly calls 10 mind the n eighbourly
society of founh-century Athens portrayed by Millett. But his view or the
prevalence and efficacy of neighbo urliness is evidently more jaundiced thin
MilIeu's. Probably he would have disputed the extent to which exchange
relations in Athens weI'1I based on companionable trust . That does not
mean (as Millett's d iscussion of EN VIII. I) seems to imply)/) a diagnosis of
econo mic relationships as d ominated by non-re ciprocal, interen-bearing
loans. The alternative represented by political liiendship is an exchange
relationship which does not involve lending and borrowing al all. It is an
association focused on immediate reciprocity - like buyen and sellen, says
the author ( U42b 32- 4). Docs it simply reduce to a sequence of commercial transactions? The author SI)'5 little to penuade us otherwise. But I
suppose the answer is: no - it remains an authentic form of liiendship,
presumably because each partner wants the other 10 prosper so that he may
remain a source of supply in the future. 31
.. M;U.n 1991: 4 <>-1.
" Earl ... ftnion. of lhi, lftlwiaJ w .... pt.senl.d '" lCfninan in Land"" 0U>d Sdinburch (u _11 u.,
th. Combrida>< ...".inu), ..... mot< .... cnllJ " !he CliNical AsoociItian
in 51 ""~.
I om ,.....fIIl for COrnrtl<1l .. '"' all thac ....,..;.,no. fJl>c EdlLDn MJuld like ..... '" !honk Dr
Mdluo u.s. for
obon n<>licc, AI Dr S<:ha6tId'. ddcu....., ill d>t ..minor.]

.'"'f...."""

actin.,"

The politics of affection: emotional

attachments in Athenian society!
LIN FOXHALL

INTRODUCTION

Emotion is nevcr easy to pinpoint and define in the dynamic web of human motivation and behavioun which surround us. Understanding the
culturally-detennined channels through which emotion and sentiment
CQursc in another, quite different, society is even more difficult.' In this
paper I shall be trying to trace the ro le of affection in personal rdations in
classical Athens. From hen: we have a greater wealth of evidence: than is
available: for anywhere dse in Greece, $Canty and ambivalent though it il. 1
th ink there is some: $Cope for comparing other Greek societic$, however,

and that the: general mnds sketched out here on the workings of personal
relationships are not unique to Athens of the fifth and fourth centuries BeE.
Inevitably, reciprocity entcrs the discuu ion since: it has taken hold orlhe
scholarship, though I aim to rcstrict it largely to the beginning and the end
of this paper - it is not the aspect of personal re latiom which J am mott
interested in exploring. It has frequently been observed that reciprocity is
cenlTlllat many levels in Greek friendships.) Recently, notions ofreciprocity derived largely from Sahlins' work have served as a stamng point, in
juxtaposition with the theoretical discussions of phi/ia in Plato, Aristotle and
Xenophon. For example, Sahlins' models are the primary paradigms for
Paul Milieu's '''iork on friendship, wh ose pathway into the subject has been
its significance in relationships of lending, borrowing and credit." These
co ncems have naturally inclined his discussion toward the instrumental
aspects of friendship.' My stamng point - th e significance and manifes, I ...... klliko 10 thank P.ul CanlN , o..Yid !(oN"'" Lynnl~ MJrd,.u ond n pecioll1 "'1 ori;pnaI
Kminar .... ~ u hul MjUett, fbi' Ihei:r tommonto on uti.., d...m. TIxir criliquo "'" ~d
m, IIIinl<ina .,.,1, I hope, imprt>ftd Il>o ~UItinf; ~ , Ibo.... an, ~ainina 11..... ,.,." of ~ .... ,
"" .-..ponslbiIiry.

, Abu I...u-'>od '9": )4- '; ~ '914.

f ot enmplc, MiI.hell ' \l97; Mil.... '919, '91" ; Horman '9'7; I'Ticc '919.
SAhlins '9721 Millou ' 991 .
Min ...

"

'w' and"", M~Jca, thio ",,!um<:.

l3
lation of emotion and affection - is differe nt, and the pnhway leads off
in anothe r din:ttion. I ....."ill argue that perso nal relationships in classical
Athens were complex, highly nuanced within specific social and political
con texts, and ranged wider than the alleged formalised and instrumental
senses of philia on which mon discussions, ancient and modem, have
centred. This C)[ercise will enable the notion of rc:ciprocir:y itself and its
ro les in Greek social relations to be fine-tuned.
I shall stan by con sidering the background 10 what one might call the
segmentation of f('[ationships in Greek socicty, and exploTe the significance
of (I) kinship and ho usehold mcmbenhip, (1) the separation of men's and
women's lives, an d ( 3) the pOlcntial for ~Iationships beyond the househo ld. The problem of what 1 have rather inadequately called ' the limits of
trust' is crocial here. For this settion I have often depended upon Millett's
and Mitchell's excellent work., though I d o not always agree with them.
Tbis provides the SCtting fo r an examination of the relationships in wh ich
affettion features. I want to establish that it played and was expetted to
playa significant pan in many Greek friendships . T o this end I shall go
on to tonsider who was friends with whom, and why - the nature of these
relationships is intimately related to the problem of the ' limits of trust' and
the elasti city of th ese limits. I shall develop my argument in re lation to
gender.speeifie Itlaehmenu :ind affections - in what ways do women lieem
to have trusted and confided in different people fro m men , and in what
setting5 and circumstances were these rela tionships acted out? I shall con
elude wi th a brief re-think of how we might use the notion of reciprocity fo r
unders tanding Greek social life.

I
THE BACKGROUND

Ideologies of friendship are ubiquitous in fourthcentury Greek political

phiiOliophy. The obvious conclusion is that it W IiS a major source of concern and anxiety in the greater society in which the writers of it \h'Cd. b
Most of the ancient 'theory' of friendship considers only ph'1ia between
male equals or near-equals though I thi nk it is pOS$ible to show on the basis
of other SQurees thar it was broader than this. Beyond the philosophical
1 0 Urces the term, philolj philia are used for a considenable range of persons
in a spectrum of differen t I'C'lationshipl: iii with so many Greek ab$tract
conce pts, they are so confu singly contextsped fic that it is hard to find a
common core meaning. In this section I want to de monstrate the complexity of person al relationships ".;thin the O\'erlapping institutional structul'C'S of classical Athens.
Affecti on tann ot coxin without trust, confidence and certainty, b ut whom
Srt Sch<!lidd, this ""hu" . On. ""Ib, ad" '0 "'" ....... (\;""""",, by Mnd.. U '\I'Il7 and MiJ~1I 199"
Ari.,,,d., RIt. >.4.I - p .

~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~--=--'-' -~ -'-"---

54

LIN FOXHALL

you could rely upon was problematic in Greek personal relation~hips. I

have argued el ~where that the household usually serves as the practical
'limits of trust'. 7 By this I do not mean only what is implied by the GTCek
words pisris/pisros in relationships, but the 'chalk line' within which everybody knOWlii almost everything abou t everybody else. Ideally, secrets StOP It
the house doors, and the people within those doofS would not have used
that information against each other. Concomitantly, the household delimits the practice of altruistic forms of generalised reci procity as defined by
Sahlins. 8 But the household (oiAol), of course, CTOSS-cuts the boundaries
between divisions of kin/non-kin and class and this has im ponant
implications for bond s of affection, confiden ce and trust.
Fir!ll, although some kin are nonnally co-resident in the household
(especially alJ-imponant parents and siblings), household members who are
not kin still fall within the ' limits of truSt', nmably slaves. Socrates in the
M emorabilia (2.4.9) moans that men have more re gard for their slaves
than for their 'friends' - that is men of equal statuS outside the household.
The practicalities of this appear in forensic oratory. For example, in
Demosthenes XLVIII the speaker alleges that Komon, the deceased owner
of the property being divided, had been cheated by one of his slaves,
' whom Komon thought was C$pecially faithful [piJton] to him ... this
slave had a good unders tanding of nearly all Kom on's other atrairs'
( Demosthenes XLVIII .14- IS). Although in both these cases the negative
side of close personal relationships between slavC$ and adult free men is
highlighted, the normality of sueh re lationships is not in q uestion.
Moreover, a num ber of comparati vely close kin, well within the (UlKhJiiJleia, might not ever have been sufficiently co-resident to count as
trusrwonhy within the limits of household membership. And even within
the household not everybody is relined, or related to the same degree of
security and truSt at any panicular time - thouah it must be stressed that
relatedness changes over time. For example, a man is related to his children as father, while a woman may be rela ted to her childre n as mother,
but husband and wife are nOt technically related to each other - marriage
does not signify kinship in the generation in which it occun, though it
creates future links of kinship. This is im ponant because a youngish wife,
especially one with no children, could have been perceived as a leu trustworthy m ember of the household, and also less related to the household in
which she was living, than an older wife with adu lt or su b-adult children.
The case as presented in Lysias 1.6- 7 is a good example: Euphiletos
thought his wife was safe because she now had I baby, but, he implies,
once there was no longer a mother-in-law to keep an eye on her she alle&edly betrayed the trust of the bonds of the household and her marriage.
Concomitantly. I wife might still retain (at least for a while) a relatio nship
Sahlin. ' 97" '~7- '; Humph,.,.. '916; d . Milkn'9\lt: ') ' .

L _________ __

---- "

I
I
I

I
I

Emotiollal all<lchmenu ill A thenia ll wcU/y

55

of trust appropriate to a full y co-resident household me mber with her natal

fam ily.9
I wo uld argue, th erefore, that even the ideal of what Sahlins called
'generalised reciprocity' did not often transcend the household for long,
and even within the household it was complicated by factors of statu, and
relatedness. Kin outsi de the household, however close to one's hean, were
normally expected to return affection , favour and m ateria l resources approximately equally (de ~ pite possible professions and protestations to the
contrary), even th ough the timing and natu re of the return remained un4
specified . LO Household , DOt kinship, constituted the most imponant ' limit
of trusl', hence affection changes qua litatively beyond this boundary.
Fri ends wh o were also kin or affines therefore need nor be one's friends on
terms diffe rent than unrelated persons. I L
However, to think that the potential for personal attachm ents stopped
with the boundaries of the household would be tOO simple. The: extent and
quality of person al relationships were comp licated by (wo imponant facton: ( I) in the patri archal kosmol of classical Athens m en and women lived
lives which were much of the time quite separate, centred on very d ifferent
kinds of activitie il, so that, (2) the life experiences of both men and women
almost inevitably entwined them with unrelated people: ou ts ide th e ho usehold in wa)'!! which had potential for development. 12 Sentiment, affection
and companionship might be quite important facton in the relationships
form ed and the m oti vations for fonning them . Xenophon 's Oikonomikos
notwithstand ing, marriage offered little companionship for either men or
women. The impact of ge nder on the nature and du rati on of contacts and
relati on ships outside the household will be explored in som e d etail in later
sections, but it is wonh noting here tha t m en 's and women's friendships
might have been grounded in different qual ities, and are very likely to have
changed over time an d with life stage. L)

Tb<: p"_e ;,,1.t<>ducinl 11>< moll> ...-;,,-Low. de.1I> i. cl~!y pooiOOn~, umnedio,eJy foLl""""'c
the ddcriprion of Euphiin... incn: ..itoa UUI1 ;" hio yo"",,..;ft Ir,er the birth of their child, ... WI
lI>eir ... illionship h<am. one (.iani~ca!lI1y) of'lhc 11"<'11..1 ... I.'.dn ... (1.6, .nJ<tilr.. ...,.ull>f).
Thi. jwctopositi"" mu" """,, ,u~led 10 \he jury Liueninl 11>., pon of the .....on Ilio mom ..
delll> .... 'I!w: aUK of &II his uoubl .. .... her .men.c:... l!IlIldiln in !he howellold, for tim
is ""'., Lhcy Mot bef""" <he r.elUOJ ... "' .." <ha, Iin,ooih<n .. me, ,he adulte",u. wife "' ....
funeral.
'. i<l<1 it .... ....roti.1 mit the .. tum of r.""un and lI>eir timin, rem.;" unopccified lOt thr: ... i._
tionship.o ron ...."". For on. ""rfI' .o ... tum.
100 quict.Ly;' to imp/)' that he or oM doeo
not wUb UI d<"VC:1op the ... l.tionohip. Stt H .. iod, Wl) 342-67i Ms .... '925; S&hIino '972; Bourdieu '9n; '\1'9<1. Abu Luahod '9116: 6<].
" Milkn '99" Il l; MildKU '997. See &I ... the many rcrern>c.. in GKck 1;'......= .0 CC" ,/tic,"

fa""".

I><~ brothen ..... Plut.

M .... 4"78492 .

\ha,....,....., _ ...

WTQn,

" Thio i. no o OIlY

'~""~., I'm l ure thol io ....
~ of .... q" .. don
... D. Cohen '991 : 87- 9; D. Cohen '989.
I, For ... kvan. compatvld..... Kennedy ' 986; 1'.""tulatdLlo '911 ' ; Willn '98. ; Abu t.uahod '986.
Rouldo ,~.

56

LIN FOXHALL

The kinds of friendships we hear about in the sources discussed most

(between citizen men of equal status) were by their very nature volatile and
uncertain, and the ethic of philia in which friends re:tum good for good and
favour for favou r seems to have been honoured more: in the breach than in
the observance. I . Although friends are: opposed to enemies in the ideologies, L5 it is important that in real life it was not always easy to distinguish
friends from enemies. Friends could rum into enemies, and you might not
know until they did something terrible to yoU. 16 This SOCial/ideological
disj unction was clearly a source of cnnsiderable tension. Evidence for the
anxielY it caused can be: seen by the way friendships are: felt to be legitimate
matters to ask the gods l7 or oracles ls about, or the subject of magic spells
and curses. L9
H ence such friendships often appear to have been very fragile. This is for
two broad reasons: ( I ) As Millett has convincingly argued, there is a strong
instrumental element to many of them (tho ugh this need not mean they
were purely instrumental).l<I (2) Moreove r, the nature: ohhe reciprocal basis
for these friendsh ips, with obvious political and instrumental elements, was
itself uncertain . Although it was expected by both panies that each would
re: turn favours, services, goods or whatever, the aCfual rerum fo r any service or favour proffered Wa!l a shot in the dark, a future unknown. 2L There:
is an element of unpredictabililY and uncertainlY in all friendships since
one: can never be absolutely sure thai the gift, favou r, love, or esteem given
wilJ come back again. What if it doesn't? Panics to such friendships must
have: been constantly aware of this possibility, dealing with those: beyond
the unshakeable 'limits of trust'. A bit of bad ti ming or social clumsiness
could rum a sensitive frien d into an enemy very quickly.
All of this has often been re:ad as signifying the absence of affection
in Greek, certainly in classical Athenian, friendships.ll I am none the less
convinced there was more to Athenian personal re:lationships than our
mOSt discursive philosophical and rhetorical sources lei on, and thaI the
problem may in part be one of genre. In our own wo rld, there are: certain
contextS and particular media where the expressions of in timate sentiments
.. ct. Millen 1991: "9 and Goldhill, this ...,lwne . Tbc on. pouiblc

ollC~on 10 !h. Icmn.l """d

1O'Io'afd. ""latility in friendohipo m.l' be ...-.., whkb is ....... <bbl. for ill ".biliry ... d formlHry.
Did !be ri ....Iiud. formal no....., of "'" ,d",ionwp. lion, w;!h "'" fan !hOI i.
no. Op<!r_
ltionaliscd...,.,. often, erKOUl'qc !his .Ulbmty (ef. lIorm ... ' !li1)?
.. And m;, dichotomy .lOn.. "", in philotophical . oh.torical and other lit ...", ... , ... I"ria 19119;
Mi,clleU '!IIl7.
I. LJs. VIII.1 ; o.mocritot OK 91, 1JIl0oN by MUlen '9\l I ' "9; Oem. KLY.6)- 4; Theophr., Cham< .....

"'*'

)0' 0 .100 Rhod .... <hi. ,'OIum .

" Xm. M .... , 1.6.' .

.. I'wke '1167: )1 1 - ) .
,. Xcn . M ..... 1.6. 10, j . . 6 - 18; Soph. 0..1;/1>01 '" CoIorr ... "91- 4; Winkk,
.. Mille" '99 0: "9- ').
" Sft".,.. 10 .
1I M>11ct1 '99 1: 1>1; G<)Idhlll, Ihio .... h..n.; Pri<. 19119: 144- 7. But 0 Cohen

'!I\lOII' 11- 8.
199, , 86-\1.

EmoriomU <lluu:h"" ..u ;n Alhm;an

~ty

"

are acceptable, and many where they arc not. Indeed, who you are may
considerably limit the freedom with which sentiment can be expressed as
well as its medium. So, for example, a 'tough' masculine character may feel
constrained from ClIpressing any intimate personal feelings except vis. th~
formalised and conventionalised sentiments of a greeting card. But that
does nOt make his feelings any less 'real'. So too, in Ula Abu Lughod's
study of a Bedouin community, emotion and affection were unacceptable
in everyday conversation, but expressed instead in the short lyric poems
which were interwoven with more prosaic discourses:
The most Itrikins thing about the poem. I"C'cited by Awlad Ali mm and women i
knew was the radical ditfel"C'nce between the semimems expre$sed in mem and
those expl"C'31cd about me same situationli in nrdinary lOCial inuractitJn, and cnn""nations. The Bedouins' propensity to joke .bout or deny conm in p<nonai
mane" and to tllPre" angtr in difficult lituations had struck me as defensive. But
me constellation of len tim ems expressed in their poignant lyric poems, for me mOil
pan havinll to do wim vulnerability and deep attachment to omers, were the ont'll I
could readily appreciate and the onu thallhC)' 100 seemed 10 find movinll.u
This perceptive study explores the implications of acce pting the real ity of
both kinds of discourse for unders tanding how that society wo rks.
For classical GreKe it is likely to be the case that many of the 'alternativc'
discourses through which intimate feelings might hav~ been expressed and
penonal relationships played out are lost to u s. Indeed, like the Bedouin
lyric described above, they may never have been written d own. In the following sections I aim to explore these alternative discounes for which there
are, I believe, hints in the ancient sources which do survive.
MEN 'S FR I ENDS

Men are the ones whom we typically construe as going out and making
contacts in the wider world of the poliJ. The process of mixing with the
other men of the city began in boyhood, hence an obvious arena in wruch
friendships blossomed is the schools and gymnasia, where from very young,
men formed close associations with their age-mates as well as older and
younger males. H The erotic aspect of such attaehmenu has dominated
mall of the reeent scholanhip, especially the almost formalised relationship between the older lover (tTOub) and his younger beloved (mllPlJWJ),
and the implications for the Athenian undentanding of and wielding of
power.l' This focus has perhaps blurred our undentanding of th e ~morional
complexity, as well as the broad spectrum, of the relationships between
m en represented in our sources .

I...u.JhI>d '916: J ' -~.

.. 5 F.....,!his ""h.." ...
" DoY.. '971 ; F"",,"uh '985: Winkler , _ Hilperin '990.

.. Abu

"I

S8

LIN FOXHALL

In (act, the erotics of affeclio n and friendship were complex. The evidence of vase painting suggests thaI male erotic relationships were nOI
limited to t'l'Qltls/ er6mm()1 pannerships.26 Perhaps significamly in this
regard, Aeschines (1.13S- 6), defending himself against the reproaches o(
hi, opponents about hb own sexual adventul'C'l, descri bes himself neither
as t'l'UJIls nor as trOmelfos, but as mollos, 'sexy', thus submerging the
implications o( dom inance and su bmission in his own erotic encounlen.
Aifectionale friendships need not have been incompatible with an erotic or
formerly erotic relations hip.l1
Several terms in addition to philos are regularly used to describe close
relationships between men. Notable among these are symphoiufJ, hl/illi6rls,
and hewirol, though the lasl, like philos, carnes many different meanings
depending on me conlexl, some (bul nOI all) highly political in lone.
A fYt'IphoildJ was a schoolmate, a connection which might or mighl nOI
develop into a long- o r shon-Ienn relationship, and implying varying
degrees of intimacy. That such relationships were regarded as formative is
implied by Aeschine$ in his defamation of T imarchol (Aeschin. 1.10, II).
And there are political oven ones in the long term, since 'lChools' and the
boys' activi ties associaled with them were organised by uibe (Oem.
XXXIX.24- S). Sometimes schoolmates developed erotic relationships, as in
the example of Kleinias and Kritoboulos presented in Xen. Symp. 4.23.
However, it is clear that there is not much differe nce in age O"r devdopmenlal stage between the males involved: one may be a little older than
the other, but they might also be close contemporaries.
A hililtwtls is a 'mate'. a 'companion'. The word itself implies that both
panies are around the lame age. 211 In the case of a pannership it generally
seems to imply that neither is dominant, sexually or in any other way: this
is also implicit in the uses of ht loiros for 'comrade' or a 'companion'.2'J
Age-males were those with whom yo u shared activities and important life
stages such as the tphibeia or military service.30 That these mighl also be
politicised and insuumenlliised relationships in later life doel nOi elimi
nate the continuing significance of mutual affection and influence al their
foundations . According [0 Aeschines, one of the reasons il is clear Ihat
Timarchos' relationship to Misgolas was a bad one is that the latter was
neither a ' palemal friend' ( patr,lIru philol) nor hi/illwril. Instead he was
older, implying Timarchos' sexual passivity (Aeschin. 1.41). However, both
words (and derivatives of the m) carry a specuum of meanings from 'peer,
contemporary' (for example Lys. XX.36), 10 'friend , companion, comrade'
,. Hupperu ' '111 ; F"""all 1\1\104
... See b>:1ow..,d d . Ib lperin '990' ~-7 .
.. ..... in Pl . ... $)'111'1' I Jo-<l ..t>..... it h~,

wit.b~,

... ""'"" .1>.... .

,. J!4. Xm. $y>p. ' .J I.

,,16.

an.d b; timil", ." the /'oundltionJ of do.. frieD""""",,

encountered in modem 0...",,<, hpo.\.OJ.io"'hii '5111' .

.. V">doI.Noque, '951.

~.....,tIy

Emoti01lDl artacnmt ntJ in A rnmian socitty

(Andok. 1.48; d. Sappho fro 160) to the (politically charged) ' co mnde,
comrade in arms' (HdL 5.71). There m ayor may not be erotic overtones:
generally hllilti6!ls seems not to carry them while ht wiros sometimes docs
(Xen . Symp . 8.3) .)1
All of the lemll which we mighl uanslale as ' friend' may be u sed for
rc:1ationships of varying degrees of intimacy and affection. This can be
highlighled:
( I ) by the presence of words like eUlIoia, ' goodwill, liking ' or pislis,
'lrUSI' (e.g. Aeschin. 1. 132, 142, 147) ,
(2 ) by me comparison of me relationship to thai berv.een cJos.c: kin or
household members, frequently using lerms like: oil/nos, ' related, intimate:,
dose, belonging to me lame household' (e.g. Andok. 1.48, baio. 11.3),)2
( 3) by stressing the long duration of me relalionship, u sually from
childhood (e.g. Andok. (.48, Oem. xxvlI.4).
In motl of our sources generated in the masculine public world of civic
life sentiment and affection are often underplayed in relation to omer
aspects of friendship, unless, as in me examples just cited, there is some
specific contextual reason for highlighting mem. As nOled in m e previous
section, I mink it can be shown this is largely a problem of genre and context. Poctry, not prose, was me language o f sentimenl, most of il was
probably not ",Titten down, and its setting was on m e margins of public life
or bc:yond mem. An served as a medium for values and feelings not
appropriately expressed in the genres of civic tife.
For dassical Athenians there were mythological prototypes for affectionate friendships : Achilles and Patrokl os, Harmodicrs and Arislogeiton,
and Oresles and Pylades were mOSI often ciled, though mere were others
as well. These were portrayed in an (notably vase painting) and lilenlure,
and were sometimes invoked as metaphors for 'real life' relationships.
Genenlly an erotic c:tement is assumed , but the iss ues of dominance and
power built into a/ZStlJ/erommQs relationships could be problemlltic, problematised, glossed over, or even ignored.
The evidence is most abundant for the use of Achilles and Patroklos liS
an ideal of masculine , entimen!. It has been regula rly observed that classicalliumors were in disagreement on which WH older." Aeschylus l4 represented Achilles as the older I/r(UtlJ, II view with which Plato', Socrates
disagrees explicitly (Symp. 180a 4- 7), while Xenophon (Symp. 8.]1 ) Wllnts
to make: them the same age, and Ae5chines clouds the issue, bUI implies
they were equals and conlemponrie5 (Aeschin. 1.146). "meir portrllylll on
vases is equally ambiVtllent. Sometimes Achilles is reprC!iented 15 olde.r or
" Bu, ... Elit. "''''''' ~ -4, wtw ... lllfilts ma, bea &II ..... tic W\dtno .... d. ()oft, '971 : 171, n .
" '!tt.lawdn ... ' , brinl 'lib 01_ kin' , 10 .:ommon ...... pt,or lOr a~ fric ndohip in many
oociaia, ..,. Abu Luahn<I '9" ' ~.-. , 0>' """'. rac" .. olthc modan Otuk DOrion of~ .
.. Halperin '!l9'" 16; Kl'UII ' 99): 117, 119.
.. MKhytu. frr. 'l' , , )6 [Radl, N.""kl .. 64, 6, ISmlth, u..:bl

60

LIN FOXHALL

younger, sometimes Patrok.los, sometimes they appear to be the same age. n

Obviously these varied representations by artillS and writers reflect different intellectual, political and legal agendas and a range of artistic senings.
No ne the leu, it is interesting that the iconographic and literary/ mythological traditions leave so much room for manipulation and explicit debate.
Aetehines' mobilisation of the ideal relationship of Achilles and Patroklos
and the ensuing presentation ofthe right son' of erotics in his prosecution
ofTiman'hos (Aeschin. 1.131- 52) provide a good entry point for exploring
the problems of genre and context for expressing lentiment. His opponent,
he claims, is going to 'sing about the fri endship through love' of Achilles
and Pattok!os."" After defending hi. own love life, to be mocked by his
opponents by quoting his erotic verses out of context (I. t35- 6), he then
goes on to suppon his own occupation of the higher moral ground by
extensively paraphrasing and quoting Homer and Euripides (I.J41 - 52).
A considerable amount of emotive and erotic verse fragments addressed
to a wide range of subjectS survives in the Theognidea, the Ana1o:reontea,
and from later periods a5 well, in the Palatine Anthology.H Plato's Hippothales bored all his fri ends with his dreadfu l love poetry 'singing about his
crushes in an amning voice'.33 This poetry, as described, seems to be
I kind of third-rate Pindar: e~~ n Socrates chides him about singing his
victory ode before he was won ( PI. Lyro 205C- d).
Poetry seems to be the vchicle for writing about lentiment as well as
exprening il. In Plato's PhardnIJ. Socrates is inspired by a divine presence
to give his 'COrrti:t' speech aboullove ( PI. Phardr. 242b- c), attributing it
to th~ poet Stesichorot (244&). In the mime at the end of Xenophon's
Symposium the boy and girl players perform the passion and affection
of Dion}lIos and Ariadne, and as the mime progresses the dividing line
between imitating sentiment and expressing sentiment gradually becomes
fu22)' (Xen. Symp. 9 .2- 6). tn dnma too we hear intimate friend. addressing each other affectionately, or parodies of such exchanges.:W What is
" The U.. of eumpla is not coml'ktt, d . Miller '986 . .....dlleo oIdotr. Municb 8n<> (Car"m.
'99 >: iii .....), _
unbunl .... AdtiIl. . . ~~ "lder; V.ti .... l<I" ( 8oar<Iman '974: iii. 1(0),
...."led "'duU.. with ............ Ajax: Munich 2611. (Boo,dman ,~: iii. to.I) . be ......... Adilll ..
fi&Iuioa PcnIha;I..; Rhodes)008 (Boordman '97" fit. . 0), burd... hdlUitJ rect+<u om.. from
IlIctio . l'att'Okl ... ol4w. Berlin 22]1 ( Boordman '97"
lObo K.w. '991: "9 end ~
504), un.......... d Adilll .. bindin, the wound of. beonl.d Poln>klot; l.ondoo:I ti76 (c..pmk1' '9'9' :
iii. 302). unb<:ardcd ouIkin, ""hill...... th b..rd.d l'alroldoo. , , _ Ac:1>.Uleo: Berlin 1' 99
( ao.n:tman 1939: fia . (0), unbeanl<d AchiIko with beo_"'ju. Adt~ aad r ... rokIoo.he
_ _ ....: New Yor1t 11. 1I. '1 (Boordm ... ,~: iii. ' l ul, unbc:onl'" AdUU .. mowm unbe&td<d
deed P.trokl.... both oppelt '0 be th.: """"'...,
.. AndUn .
~;.", 5,' ' - ' " ",,~pO..I.ov ... i ... xlAAiwl """""',.
" N .... '" men ....... Sappbo, . ... frr. 31, 94, 'OJ. Se. I><>v<T '971 : '7- 9.
,. PI. J,ytit 2~d: 6&0, tI\ .6 ..".a" " f<..Ml ...........iq>
.. a,. PyIo~ ODd Ot<:>-. Bur. 0... .... Suc:b "'<kana.. .,.. porodicd in Ario,ophann' I.~
( ]I- IS, 141)-1 , 14'), in the ....nincs and _~Won ofLyoit ..... and IAmpita.

6,.,0.""'"

'.'n'

Emotional al/acllm ....'u in Athenian

lOCi~ry

6,

preserved may be only a pale shadow of the Athenian poetic discourses of

5cntiment,
As argued in the previous section, however, friendships between citizen
men, approximately equal in Status and wealth, were often anxious and
volatile, Competition was clearly also an important element here in conjunction with the broader reasons for this volatility PUt forward earlier, The
potential for competition berv.'een equals must have served to enhance the
doubt and uncertainty already inherent in fri endships. Moreover, affection
could itself become the object of competition, a posscssion which could be
snatched by a competitor and used to tum a friend into somebody else's
friend , or even an enemy. An ex-friend makes th e worst enemy of all: if
he was som eone who had yo ur affection and confidence, he might well
also have information about you which an encmy could exploit to your
d isadvantage.
One 5trategy for counterbalancing the danger of intimate relationships
breaking down is to makc thcm into other kinds of relationships.40 Creating an affinal link is one possibility but lhest arc also connectiom. in which
thc ideal of intimacy and the reality which undermined it often coexisted.
Two of Demosthenes' guardians were already close, agnatic kin ( BS, ZS),
yet the logic offered for m arrying them to Demosthenes' m other and siste r
is ' to make them more reialed' .41 Unrelated affinal tics co uld be very
shaky. H erodotos' (1.61) Story of the marriage of Peisistrato-s to M egakles'
daughter and th e political bust-up which followed on th e domestic breakd own is an inte resting example. It doesn' t milner that iI'S not ' hinorieal' or
thaI it is set in an ea rlier period. What is significant is that to fifth-century
Athenians the motivations presented, with their intenwining of the pcrsonal
and lhe political, the public and the d omesti c, were credible, suggesting
that sometimes life did indeed imitate an.
Adoption and guardianship might also be used to try to cemen! already
apparently secure friendships, or as a reification of the trust embodied in a
bond of friendshi p, sometimes perhaps both together. One of Demosthenes' guardians was unrelated and made II- guardian because he was a
close friend of the elder Demosthenes ' from boyhood'. Unfortunately, he
doesn't seem to hl1\'e been a friend of Demosthenes' m oth er, an d the relahonship clearly dissolved on th e older Demosthenes' death.
Another good example of both these principles is p<>nnoyed in 1&alol ll .
Here, il is alleged, Menelde. had a long term good friend, Eponymos. who
had fo ur children , tWO sons and two daught ers. When Menekles' firs l wife

.. Ironically, ;.1..... 0 be <I>e thalktl .. "'thil b> ~'. edre Wbid> P<~" II>< pure ' fri<ndohipt.
of .... Man' diKl>f.Kd J:.,. P...,ual.i...da. ' 99" i, iI qu,,,, d.~bcn,. !hat nothlll& bin mUII,al """""
lion IW\d tlan:d.-.pc"",," ktpo th<m ;"IKI.
" Oem. "",,,n .,, td_ ia <crtllinly" '-led _
lie ... .

62

LIN FOXHALL

died childless, he married Eponymos' younger daughter on me srrength of

WI long-tema friendship (Isaios 11.4- S), 'and in mis way having fomaerly
been friend., we became related' (lsaios II.S) - in fact, affints. Thai marriage also provcd childless, and Menekles was getting on and anxious to
find an heir. So, he divorced thil second wife amicably, she was happily
married to another man, and Meneklel adopted her brother, one of
Eponymos' sons. Whether true or not, this scene of affectionate friendship is meant to so und credible to the audience of dikastt. 42
There arc lome interesting absences and presences in the evidence for
friendships between men of citizen Slatus and their slaves or ex-slaves. As
already nOled, men arc sometimes said to have been on intimate tenns with
their slaves. 45 Slaves were c.ptive 'friends' in several senscs. Because
of their dependence aD you and their place in yo ur household they were
unlikely 10 belJ"lly you (or 10 have the opponuniry to do so) in the way
an equal mighL These arc striking examples of relationships which were
simultaneously instrumental, exploitative and affccrionate. 44 Indeed these
friendshi ps could transcend sl....ery: the freedwoman resident with the
fami ly in Demosthenes XLVII is depicted as a friend of the ramily. She is
said to cal with the family al meals,4' 10 be treated by the family docto r
when injured, and when she died the family supposedly consulted the
alglUli about avenging her 'murder'. In COntraSl, neither Ischomachos'
bailiff (nor hi' wife's slaV<' Jilts) in the Oi/concmi/coJ ue depicted as being
on intimate temas with the family. This might suggest a disjunction between
the expressed ideal of the imponance of , true' friendships between equals
highlighted in the philosophicalliterarure and alternative realities of bonds
of confidence and truSI with dependants visible in other so un::es.
WOMEN ' S FRIEND S
Women's friendships were plutnled differently from men'5, though the
range of terms used to describe: them is similar. The main reaaQlU for the
differences arc; ( I) women lived their lives in two (or morc) different
households while men lived their lives in one (though thai one changes
shape over time), 2nd (~) the contexts and opponunities for women',
friendships were fewer and more limited than men's, and this is exacerbated by women's relltively limited mobiliry compared to men.
The ideal is often expressed in our sources that brothers ought to be
Ik ......."",_ UYI'.4 . _

F<>xhaI\

'9!16: r ",- r.

lMioo II; R..bino~

'994: etpiaUy dr. 4.

, 1Xln. nv'" (Komon 0IId 1m ,Io,..) .nd d>ouah mnic familia mlpt _
... thtt dift.n,nlly from
citizm &.mUl.., 1M hout<lIG\d .,( P........ Pbonnion ..... ApolkKlororr hao 0 oimilo. bio ...,. ( Dom.
ZUVI . L, Ln, LllI, ...,., h oc. rmI ) .
.. cr, s .... rl>an '918; ' 44- 67
f or o d>cf in'"""rin& uampln or rho m ..ninp of """'men ..... ". in pononal .dori<>rtohlpo in
nhn<>snPI>k con..... 0 I'lIporulatchlor ' 99'. Abu LuIhod ,916. Wibn ' 91a.

6,
friends and alli, though the reality was sometimes ditfefenl. 46 Though
not 50 fnquently C'xpreued, it is cleat that more or less the same ethos
applied to sisten and to brothers and sister!. Demosthcnes xu provides I
good example of Si5lCfS quarrelling over the inheritance, a countcrpan to
the s imilar cases of brothers quarrelling o ver inheritances which abound in

the so urces from Hcsiod onward. Yet in this same speech it is significant
that the loans made by Po]ycuctos' wife 10 hcr son-in-law arc wimesscd by
her brothers, not by a member of her husband's household or family. Similarly, when Dcmonhencs' m o ther is in tro uble after the death af the elder
D em onh enc5, it is to her sister and her sister 's husband that she turns for
,uppon , no t to relations or friends of her dead hu sband (who would in any

casc have been closely related to her opponents). M any other examples
could be cited 10 support the observation thai many of women's besl
friends and closest allies originale in the relationships form ed in their natlll
hou sehold, and that they bring these friendships and alliances with them to
their husband's household when they many.41 One important implicRtion
of this is that there is considerable scope for suspicion on the pan of her
affines in her marital hou~hold that the friendships sh e brings with her
mighl betray the truSt of her new houscliold.
Perhaps partly because a married woman could be a Sll"anger in a strange
land in her husband's house, living 100 far from her own family 10 be able
10 see them every day, friendship! with neighbours were also important for
women.48 Some of these relationships might be (ormed through her husband Of partner. In Demostbenes LV. 23 - 4 the m others of th e two opponents in court arc said to have been friends before the rift between the
famili es developed, because their husbands were friends and neighbours.
Indeed here we might have an example of the sam e kind of volatility in
female friendships which plagued male friendships in Athens: the cou rt
case sms to boil down to the two opposing m others swearing oaths
(LV.27). These are, of co urse, o lder women with adult sons (both husbands
were deceased, LV.) , 4 ). These women live in households which now belong
to them through their aduh sons and hence to which they truly belong in a
way they might not have done when they were younger. The principle that
the household was the limit of trust is evident here: clearly their loyalties to
their h ouseholds override affection and friendship.
In Antiphon I we see another exllmple of women who ~o me friends
becau~ the men in their lives were friends. The father of the speaker in
Antiphon 1 lived in the city of Athens and his friend Philoneos lodged with
him and his wife and family when he was in town. Philoneo, also kept a
slave concubine (palfakl) living som ewhere nearby. Here, the women's
.. Xm. M_.

~ .];

1";"" 1.'7; MiD... '99 " II I, 'll-I; MitdM:U '997 .

, cr. Ahl> l.I.>ab<>d '986: S4

.. cr. WiUn '9h: H }- II , '1,-6; Ahllt..upod ,,16: ' 3, 59.

64

LIN fOXHALL

fri endship is presented as one which conspires against these men, who were
poisoned when the women plotted to retain their men's affection by administering a love potion. The theme that women's friendships might
conspire against men appean dsc:where: for example, in Lysias I.ZO, the
adulterous wife is said to have gone to the Thesmophoria with he r adulterous lover'. mother. It is also a feitmunf of Aristophanic comedy.
It is also interesting in the case in Antiphon I thal though the women are
presented as being friends and equals, they are in fact of different salluses:
one is a lawfully wedded citizen wife while the o ther is a slave concubine
(she is under threat of being put into a brothd since her partner is tired of
her). This may be a friendship born of despair (Antiphon 1.14- IS) and it is
difficult to assess their closeneS$, though they lCem to have known each
other for some time.
The situation docs OO[ seem to be unique, either in ancient Athens or in
the ethnographic record. 49 Other sources toO depict friendships berwec:n
women of different statuses who are often also neighboun, with the potential for developing genuinc:ly close auachments. Because the physica.J mobility of women was socially cons mined, opportunities for companionship
and socialising with nearby neighboun, or at ' legitimate' venues for
women to visit such as the fountain house, are likely to have been seized. 'MI
The Samian counesan and the citiun wife and her daughter happily cc:lebrate the Adonia together in Menander's Samia . Similarly in the Lysistrata
(1- 19. 700). the Thesmophonazousae (79S) and the EJrJrwliazousae (32- 4)
there are references to convivial, if comically exaggerated, gatberinp of
women. Converuly, a family deal on an inheritance is implied to have
broken d own in pan because the wife and daughter of one party and the
h~tajra of h is brother-in-law didn' t get along with each other (Oem.
XLVIII52 - 5,57)

Women may have d eveloped intimate relationships with slaves. When a

wealthy woman married, did she bring her pc:~onat domestic slaves with
her to her new hou5ehold? I expc:cl 5he did. If so, in some cases a woman's
personal slaves may have been her only friends and confidantes for a long
while. In Lysin 1.8, I I , for example, it is the slave girl who alleiedly acts as
the go-between with her mistress' lover and conspires to make the baby cry
so that the wife can leave her husband and meet her love r. Women
.Ia\'es were also a wife's co-worken in the home (Oem. XLVII, Xen. OiJr.)

Wihn '9h : '4. - 67 ... tcnoiYclJ d<x:um<nu ..... ca>e of. <apenablyllW'ried """''''', who rithc.
unbeblown" to (0. UIlKknowledled by) Local
p<oIUnM. All M. fmWe Mich
boun . ..... ch ",lion! oM ....,;.~oed IqUlarfy on intim ''''''', "".,.. d>io, bu. found i, 1....1' "".
probl<lt\&M prea.."y t.cc.usc: o/'thc _lion or~n'. and "",n', world .. Ct. Abu f..u&I>od
'986: HI. '1 .
.. Wom.n -u.!i,in, ,,/Ountain 110..... an: ~U<nlly dtpia.d on ....uo, for .""mplc: London B

"'<n....,rbd ".

119 (BoW....... '97": fia. .... ); ToLedo .g6 aJ (fanlll.m c 1. 'W" : '01, fia. 1 ,U ). &. 0100
Kout. 'WJ: ' 3'- " 0. tip. 101- . <>; ".,,,,,..<ly ' 916: .. ~ Wi'Un 19h: " .. 114.

.,

Emotional atrachments in Alhvlian society

and wealmy women took charge of managing their time and labour. In
many CllSCS this must have led to dose personal relationships. The elder ly
freedwoman of Oem. XLVII again raises some questions here. She is
depicted as being part of the family, sining down 10 lunch with the wife and
children. But whose friend was she? The whole fami ly's? The wife's? Or,
perhaps most likely, since she had been Ihe husband's 'nanny', the husband's? From the wife's point ofvicw such a person might be pen:eivcd as
keeping an overly watchful eye on her and the children rather than looking
aner them, as almost a mother-in-law substitute.
The extent to which there were erotic elements in feminine personal
relations is virtually impossible to determine, and the subject deserves a
separate treatment in 11:5 own right. There are a few hints of female eroticism in art and literature, and it would not be surprising, given the amount
of time women spent with other women, if close attachments did not
sometimes develop also into sexual ones. But, the su bject was so much an
anathema to men that it is largely blaclted out in our soun:es. SI
A woman's best 'friend' was unquestionably her adult son, and after that
her brothers and sisters.'2 Yet precisely because many women lived in the
alien territory of a husband's household and family for much of thei! lives,
close penonal relationships with neighbours and slaves might have been
very imponant. Certainly statu5 seems to have been len significant for ties
between women, or at least to have had a different significance, perhaps
because such relationships were nOI polilicised (and therefore instrumentaliied) in me same way as men's friendships might be.SJ This is not to say.
hOW1:ve r, that women's friendships might not be exploitative or instrumental in other ways.
CONC LUSIONS : RE EVALUATTNG RE C IPRO CI TY

A number of subtly d ifferent relationships are called 'friendships' in our

culture, and similarly a number of different attachments could be described
by philia, helaireia, and a range of other loaded words in Greek. Affection,
sentiment and intimacy were integral to many of these ties, naturally differing in degree and lOnd depending on the panicular relationship. This is
true even of many relationships where there was a strong instrumental or
exploitative element, where the ",nk and SlalUS of the participants w.,.-c
different, or where there was an erotic element: none of lhese possible
facets offrieDdsrup cancel out each other, nor need they preclude affection.
It is easy to slip into mechanistic or reductionist explanations offriendship,

" S D<>ttt '91': '1' - 1.f: KcultI9'il): IS-6 .

..

..

'&;end ' moy"<>I be ,!"j'e Ill. riJII' 'onn _

1916: .1.4
cr. Abu L..upod 1916: '6; Wibn IgII>: "3 ~ .
"lbo~JII

. Foahall '996; Hw".,. ' gII9; d. Abu Lu~

M Ie.

66

LIN FOX HALL

as Greek political philosophen probably so metimes did. It was 100 complex a phenomenon for us [0 constrain it in this way.
At one level, reciprocity is II given in friendship. All personal relations
are premined on excha nge and rerum, even if there is a long delay ~tween
outflow and rec ompense, and even the so rt of attachment ~yond re ciprocity, th e ' friend of the hean' , observed by Papataxiarchis and Kennedy
in modern Greece,' 4 stands out IS a phenomenon precisely because of
the imponance of reciprocity in other rellms of the surrounding culture.
Affection was itself one of the media o f exchan~ in Athenian penonal
relationships. Altruistic giving with no m edium-tenn (or sometimes even
long-tenn ) expecta tion of more-or-Ien equal return was usually, but n ot
alwaY', limited to the household. Its boundaries constituted the tou chstone
o f trust against which all other intimacy was judged. Indeed, because
marriage cross-cut households, and because men and women spent their
live. in separate spherel, relation ships beyond the household were integral
to Athenian social life. But, metaphorically and pragmatically, close relationships with o utsiden tended 10 collapse into the ideology of the closeImit connections of the household.
In many friendships beyond the household, mental accounts of the
'balance of payments' were kept, e\"Cn if this was denied by the participants
and even if the time-delay for return were very long, as Millett's work
dearly t h ows. Denial of the necenity for retum and eqUilibrium can indeed be part of the whole intricate strategy of friendship." Reciprocity is
therefore Ilfl observation on the morphology of friend ship, a de$Cription of
its co nstitution . II d oes 1'1 01 provid e an explanation of how or why personal
rel ationsh.ips worked in classical ~ece or anywhere else.
With Bourdieu, 1 maintain that temporality is a particularly cru cial elemen t of friendships . The manipulation of the delay ~tween 'gift' and
return is crucial to the maintenance of the relationship, and the locus for
the strategy of frien dship. Yel this clement of delay, of projection imo
future un certainty, is both essential and problematic:. Overtures to a friend
or a potential friend arc like seeds planled, you hope they will bear fruit,
but they might nOt. And the participants are always aware that their efforu
might ne\'er come to fruition in relationships, like the farmer who lakes
measures 10 store food in the all-too-likely event of crop failure. This constant awareness of the possibility of failure must be at the hean of the Yolati lity of friendship as well. Professions of altruism can abound whic:h may
~ simultaneously expret.sions of the uncertainty and unpredictability of
retum.
This is where affection and sentiment are vital. They allow an easing
of the tensions imposed by time, even though the contexts in which and
.. I'op.atuion:hio 1')91: K.nncdy 1986; d . Wibn 191>:
" BouN.." '9n, 11190.

'n;R<>oaJdo '994.

Mill

Emotioool allDt.hments in Arhenian JOCiety

"

media through which they can be comfonably expressed arc limited. The
more affectionate the relationship, the more the temporal gaps can be
suc[ched and manipulated, and the more trust blossoms. Affection is
therefore not only a 'gift' in its own right, but also a lubricanl which
smooths and soothes, and a quality which evolves with the relationship
itself. The other side of the coin, however, is the possibility of deception.
How do you know affection is real affection, that love is true love? Sentiment can clothe an enemy as a friend and put you inlO a po1iition where he
can manipulate you. The greater the affection, the greater the betrayal
when a friendship goes wrong.
In ancient Athens. penooal relations wen:: both complex, gender-specific
and central to the organisation of life in the polis. Undoubledly relationships were frequently instrumental or exploitative, often they were politidsed. But sentiment and instrumentality need nOI be mutually exclusive,
and erotic love does not preclude affection. ' Friendship', as it operated
in classical Athenian society cannOt be limited to narrowly functional
relationships between men of equal stalus, as demarcated in political philosophy. In the terms of the elite masculine discourses of which Plato,
Xenophon and Arismtle were pan, the breadth and d epth oflived penonal
relations were inexpressible, incapable or being subsumed within the limits
of rationalism. In shon , philosophers focused on 'friendship' because it
was a problem for them ,~6 while simultaneously they largely ignored Ihe
aspects of it (such as sentiment) which could nOI be contained within their
discourse. For ordinary individuals picking their way through intricate
stnltegies for loving others in living their lives, what were a few contradictions here or then::?57

.. Se. Scbokld, dUo ""Iume:.

.. Ko""",, '971 .... "'" ....101>1<.0 me ..1>cn ...,.;u... dU. P'peT, on<! .... ho... ,,,,.h<d our ...,m _
panblo condu>ion. indt:pcndCfltly. Abo publiobed ''''' II~ ror ...,,,,idullion ~ .... Darid....,

om

5
Between koinon and idion: legal
and social dimensions of religious
associations in ancient Athens*
ILiAS ARNAOUTOGLOU

Inlerpe:nonal rdations have: been at the centre of much recent rne:a rch

in ancient history. The interaction between dc:rncsmen has been explored

by Whitehead (1 986), while H ennan (1987) has analysed th e xenia-links
d eveloped betwe en members of diffc:n:m political communities, especially
in the: archaic and clanical eras. But religious associations have: rarely been
considered from this perspective: in their own righi, although they coon inned loci o f intense interacti on invo lving development of inte:rpcnon al
relations.
This pape r explo res the kga l and the Booal aspects o f cu lt associatio ns

in ancient Athens. Given the massive preponderance: of interpersonal over

imperson,l relationsh.ip5 in Athenian sO(:icty, it seems imponanl to ask
whether cu lt associations as a focus for the: development of such re lationshi ps were rcgulau~d by th e city and, if so, what strategies were adopted,
Furthennotc, the actual configuration in the framework of cult relationships of interpe rsonal relations, rel.tions par exallnrce involving power, will
significantly qualify any nonnative contexL Within the designation ' reli
giou s association' I include all those privatc, voluntary groups, with mixed
mcmbc:nhip, whose main but not necessarily sole aim was the won hip of a
panicular deity.' Their oftcn neglected legal aspect has usually been con sidered through our modem legal experience; scholars h ll.\'e most often
considered whethe: r ancie:n t Athenian cult associations had legal penonalit)', As for the: social aspect, scholan usc:d to ad opt a similar tone and ask
whe:ther the fl ourishing of cull associations constituted moral progJ'Css or

- J om p l ...... 10 tho c:o-dirocrn of tho Oombrid,. And..." Hi""" Sominar, O>pCcillly Or P .

00nJectc< fur hit ~-pr<W<lkin1 _ . 10 tho ",,~ontJ HI .... S<min... for their com"'..... aDd
wbidll>dped m. '"~ clarify ruin poin .. of my .......... nl, aDd 10 1h< .non,.
m..... rdcts for !hc;r helpful c:ririciu:ll. Any ... m lin .... mutakos~. of <=OWK, ",mo .
In Ihio d.finition I include 1lI .... If'Oupt doKribina; thom .. Wa .. ~. ~', ..,.";"41,
ItJrkpo<.uai or othu nam. d.~ from tho wonbippod deity; J do nOl include: ~ for ...bid!
0 umbon ( ' 9'9J). F<>< tho problem.,ic CO/tCtpt of woIition in tho onlhtopolol>' of uooci .. ;.,.,. ......
S ........ ( ' 974).

"""",ioru,

"

Rtfigious QSJocidtium in anatn, AlhmJ

"

retrogression for Athenian society. I d o nOi think thai these questions bear
fruitful results with regard 10 our understanding of any of the forms of
the world of ancient Athenian associations. Both ques tions are built on
modem presumptions aboUI legality and society. In particular, the legal
approach is in broad (emu based on the Pandectist tnIdition of the principle of juriSlic penonality, wh ile the assessment of any ass.ociation's s.ocial
impact relies on the assumption that moral progress is synonymous with
thc progressive rationalisation of religious experience.
It is often suggested that cult associations muS! be the product of the
H ellenistic era, since most of the evidence dau!s 10 the end of the fourth
century and la ter. Part and parcel of this view is the concept of the poli tical
decline of the poliJ which allowed the Row ering of these cull groups; in this
respect they are regarded as alternatives to the poIiJ. In addition, it has been
argued that the progressive appearance of cult groups with mixed membership in the third cenlury implies weakening of divisions between citizens and non-citizens, men and women. In my opinion this approac.h is
to a large extent misleading. Lack of evidence does nOI necessarily mean
absence of auociational activity: broadly speaking, the bulk of the available
epigraphical material dates to the fourth century or later. Associations may
have been dispersed in Piraeus and inland in Auica where systematic excavations have nOI been carried out. Also, the poli tical decline of the poIiJ
was a gradual process of erosion of itS military, diplomatic and political
weight rather than 'sudden death'. Moreover, the polis retained its aUnction as a cultural and organisational model as its institutions were InInsplanted to almost every newly founded city. C ult associations were nOI an
alternative to the poIiJ but complementary to it. Traditional d ivisions persisted throughout this period, as is revealed by the example of the Thracian
orgef.l'UJ of Bendis (fG IJ ' ng3) or the recentl)' publimed SEG XLI 171.
Only in the second Century do they seem to retreal. I would argue therefore, Ihal cult associations of the H ellenistic era do nOI differ significantl y,
in any way, from those of the fourth century.
My approach will be based on the Arislotelian paradigm of the hierarchical relationship between the polil and different kinds of associations,
CJlpounded in EN IIS9b lS- 1I 60a J O. Although Foucart ( 1873: Sl ) and
Ziebarth (1896: 193) had already noticed the correlation o(association and
poliJ, the)' did n ot elaborate on il.1 -me preponderant importance attributed to the poIiJ by AriSlotle may be ordained by the original cultural conlext, in which the poliJ is considered by him as the only civilised stale of
human society. I do nOI regard these groups as m ono-fu nctional but1'1lthcr
as multi-faceted, multi-functional associations with inRu ence and impact
Thia app",...,h ..... uocd r.... d.,.lin ..,lh tbc brooodc, """,kin of Ihc ,<:I.tioouhip bcrwecn 1M con_
ttp. or political and olhn- ...,llecti~ onNitin by Schmlt._Pon 1 ( '990) . ( '991), .nd Ooban><

(1-'.

70

I LLfo.S ARNAOUTOGLOU

on d ifferent levels of human activity, individual or collective. However, this

approach d oes nOI imply an exclusively 'inlegrative' funclion of these
groups. Associations were venues of competition for prestige and influence,
where tension s necessarily d eveloped; some members had more chances
than others of administering the affiain of the Itoinoll. In an appendix I will
consider the implicit U$C of marginality, hitheno an insufficiently defined
concept, as a category appropriate to cult associations.
1. LEGA L DIMENSION S

Earlier legal approaches 10 associations were confined by the intellecrual

limits of legal positivism as enshrined in almost all the codes of civil law in
conlin ental Europe. This means that in every treatise on aSlQCiations one
can ftnd a chapter on the foundation and d inolution of the associa tion, on
its relationship with the state, Oil property (income and expenses), and
on administration (offices, officers, elections, hierarchy) . Although these
variants may be of interest in a compatalive approach to an cient and
modem associations, they d o not seem to have anyth ing to contribute to
my acco unt. What follows questions the appropriateness of these concepts
in an investigation of religious groups in ancient Athens.
It is commonly h eld that thcre were three modes of cstablishing an asweiation: ( I) by will of cenain individual,; (2) by decillion ohn individu-.Jj
and (3) by provisions in an aCt of last will.} From this list the las t mode
should be excluded, since it refers to what is te chnically called a foundatio n
or [JUSI; thai is, an amounl of mon ey devoted 10 a specific purpose (usually
culric). Thai eventually a community of worshippers appeared, especially in
Hellenistic times when the practice of apheroismos was spreading, is another
matter. The evidence for the remaining twO modes is controversial: for the
firs t mode there is only one d ocument of the second century CIl to suppon
it; namely, /G II~ 1369.24- 7: "ApxwII viII TtrVPIOl<~, Ihap 1.11\11 MOV / IIIXIc:.lII
I't1l / 6n[wll<OI&I<CrrTJ 5'lpavov oVvayov / , IAOI 6:v5p~ / I<ai I<O Lvfj jk>v~ij 6OI.lDV
">lAi'1~ \rnt/ ypa-.vav (Taurisko. was archOIl, in the eighteenth ofMounichion,
fri ends have set up an tTaOOl and with common will signed an insrirution of
friends hip). T o wha l degree can we rely on this as evidence for what was
happening in the founh or third century BCE? A pass age in Ari notle's EN
1161b IS- 16 5 seems to give credence to this principle, th ough the wording
suggests how th~ philosopher perceived the wh ole procedure rath~r than
B.,. Zid>onb (1196,

'41, Polond ( ' !lOll' 17' )'

Kampo ( '9)7) _
Man>mann ( [,,6)
MOlD!. EN [ ,("b [$- [(" tv . .. ,......,;q .... oW n&~" ,111", len... ..........'P tiP'l"'"
J

FOT '""und ........ _

..

""YY"".~.

,,_icmo

5' on. U] TiLo

U, ...... ml4"' /Jo . .,1 at !fOA,~, ."" .,i ..../on,.,,; _ i """""",.,,1. ...i 6a<., 10000"<" ,.

_ __Ill! 6oI ......

~.

ote.. rOP

o!I!>oAoylaY"""; ",I""""", " ... ,

(AII~,

.. _ hi...

iD",,1Yeo comm""';ty; bill """ &ico>dolUp _~n ",tam-co _~" """,...dn m.,. be oet
.""n .. boin, Ia. In !bt R&""" or pumaohi", ...... .,.. Ih< fri<ndohipo bet.eu, felk>w-<itiuna.
ficlw II ibel,non, ohipm.,", ond """ like; oU>ee Ibn< ..em 10 be I'ouI!dtd .. " _'" on I definite
..;d,

-...,.

Rtligiow associarionJ in ancitnr AWnJ

7'

the actual practice followed by associates. H oweve r, as Todd (1993 : :64- S)

has recently pointed out, Athenians did not have any distinct concept of
contnl<:t or of contractual obligation . It therefore seems unlikely that religious 85sociations were founded by the written agreement of their members. The second mode seems to be based on a misund erstanding. An
association is founded by the will of the initial or constituent members.
An individ ual alone cannot found an association, but he or she em simply
establish a trust. The development of a cultic commun ity is a possible
outcom e of the foundation of a trust. On this point, the endorsement of
a cult by an individual (with his or her wealth and prestige) was confu sed
with th e foundation of a cult association.
It seems likely that cult associations d id not usc our concept of foundation as being a constitutive act of a group. Although evidence for the
foundation of associa tions may be elusive, one may conjecture that if cult
was one of th e main functions of associations, th en the stipulations of that
cult could well have been the founding aCI of the group. In other words, a
document pre$aibing cult activities was sufficient to fonn the comcntone
of a cult group. A cult associati on was never founded before, or indepeodently of, the private or public in trOduction of a cult; rather, it always followed. The remain ing structural details were decided by th e d ominant
concept of what a group was and how it should be organised .o

The dissolution of the cuI! association may be similarly explained. There

is no mention of dissolution in any document of any association u d efined
above. The only reference to dissolution appears in the foundation of
Epikteta from Thera,7 in whic h any motion for dissolution is prohibited . It
seems that d issolution was unthinkable, as Poland (1909: 17S) succinctly
pointed OUt. The dissolution of a cult association was a fail accompli when
no new members wen: recruited and/or the gen erosity of the existing
members was exhausted and the dilapidation of the premise.l was evidenl
to everybody. It would therefore be absurd 10 th ink of dissolution in tenns
of an act signed by the members of the cult group. In conclusion, th e
concepts of foundation and dissol ution may ha ve been known in the Greek

Eli&ibi~'1' of mcmbua {or ollio: ... _

.. of ..lrttion, honoun and whio:h .,liIud....... promotod,
...... d ocickd '0 0 10,. d,1I>tt .... tb< be";' of ,lie model provided by tIw< pdiI ond ilJ compon ......
, IG lUI., J)C> col. "'''.JS4- 67, JlO-' ~''':': ~ eo "'" &01(0) ...... .. ... 100 001 _0'...0 - . . ....... .......
d ial. ~ &''' / A"""",, Il-Tflp N ....."."'" ~~
~ I'"""" ~,.,e.~ 11>\... ,j"", ~irn yp6lfoa . WI u , .~
&...M:Io-a, T6 . 00 ..... 01 'rlt\ IIucric>! .~ , .poyoypo>~ .! -.I:>.> .cN "",...0 " 1""'''''''' ~ 51<1'.1"8.,, II
TOO apx" iou ."
at -rio; . " " ,m, ~ y'O ......
~ ypa~ 0 _ _ ion ... . ,,1
6/ 01"", ~ y~".,..,oc.e....oO . 00...00 . ", 6' .-.Aliln ...:.,'" &pc.X...x ...... ,,_~ , .'"
io=
'"'0 ~ / ''"o ",""..0-; 1l-Tf6 TOO ~F-r00I - / fNYY- (Whol tIw< ",oPoril)' of
tho aooociotion dcricI.. dWl hi .. IUthoriry .". it i< conmt> di_lution. Nobody dWl """" tho
np,11O .ubmil on onI o r wrinen ~ to tb< df:t thol tho .......uti<m "'-II bot ditoOlw<1 or tho
pruoribcd ...c:ri6c:eo oItoould bot lbandoned, or ony of the p ropetty of the ...->orion ohould bot di.
poK<I of or ",raon-ed or tho eopital obouJd bot UK<! for onothcr p~. If~ oubmi .. . uoh.
p<Opooa/. tho pr~ oIuIl bot __ U.d fn>m tho< uoociarion and shall O'IOT 6ft hundr<d m.ohm..
and thall bot ~.ble . 0 lqaI u ..... rion """"'inl ' 0 the lowo by wbom-""r of the .,........ """"'. 00
d o 10). Ct. Wi'lmb<l.rs ( ' \190).

.",."Xf"Ioa-' "

".i

Ix"'"

,'.O...

..

"-*

- -. --- ~- -- -~ -~ ~

71

ILIAS ARNAOUT OG LO U

world, but th e~ is insufficient evidence to , uggest that they were used in

the context of associati ons.
The ~lationship between state and aS5OClatlOnS is another interesting
consideration whose ancssmenl refl eclS overwhelmingly the predominance
of the principle of juristic perso nality. In the literature from ancien! Athens,
the only surviving evidence deal ing with the relationship between potu and
associations concerns the loathing for arinocratic clubs felt by the advocates
of d emocracy along with the ban (eU4ggeltikO$ nomos) on helaireia i foU owing
the restoration of democracy in 403 BeE ( Hyp. IV 8 and Oem . XLVI 16).
However, groups challenging the dominant moral and religio us climate
seem nOI to have been affected by this ban as the cases of kaltodaimonUlai
(Lys. frg . 73) and Tribal/oi (D . uv 39) demonstrate .a
In this ~s pect, the questi on itself does nOI do jU$lice to the situation.
Relati ons berween I llite and "sociations wefC not the same as in modem
societies, in which the state is regard ed as an abstraction and something
above society. In contrast, in ancient Athens, mott citizens participated in
the assembly of th e poIh and at the same time took pan in assemblies of
various cult associations. This overlap had significant implications for the
way in which citb.ens might experience any possible conflict between the
interests o f the polis and those of th e association. Therefore the relationship
be~en the socie()' of citizens and of associations seems to be more com ~
plex than an a priori polarised confronilitio n belween suue and associationl. Rather, it was intenningled with problcms concerning the constirution of the cif}': not surprisingly, some associations were regarded as foci of
opposition, which ell plains attempts 10 ban them.
Fundamental to any assessment of this relationship is the n otorious
passage preserved in Dig. XLVII 22.4 .9 This provilion grants autonomy to a
wide variety of associations, provided that their decisions do not contravene any public law. Most scholan take: it for granted that the provision is
Solonian and, consequently, that th e core of the regulation is to be dated as
early lIS the sixth century BCII. H owever, this law is preserved in Gaius'
commentary o n the Twelve Tables, a work completed in or around the
middle Qf the seco nd century CII, and is in cenain respec" corrupt, as

r-.., ".

c:an """"ide< thnc sroupinp os CU!I......,;."tioI'Is an II>< ..arM

Mr ,
In.utIici<nl onII biMod""""o> and 'lOCk of cp"'phiaol Icslimonin mokc onr on_pC 01
tift. ~ """ be ben.,. und....ood .. IIOD-lP"ups, !hII .. fOrm. of-w
""tibet tlIamln.otion
"",oniorian which '~ oomewI!otre "" ....... n iN..-..:tina: U:.di>'iduab lr>d ~oJ <~'C JI'Oupt; fOr
......., doWlt..,., Boiooenin {.961J.
tav M 81\1>0\ ~ ~ ~ i<pC>Y ilpyi_ ~ ...vn" ~ ~ ~ """,,"0_ ... "=,:,'o, ~ hi ~.
olJ(6,.noo .... i-;~. 6. -., boo ~ 150-", npOos lli~""I, ooif>_
.i!.n.oyopo,;.n"
a., ........ ~T<I . (lr tho inb.bi, ..... of. riQ' di1mc., .... ~ .... mcmben of IfOUpo aimin, to
hold reliliou. r... n, Of ..olon, o. "",mben of sroupo dinu.. tOlflber Of PfO"idins for !heir burial,
or ...."'ben "'. m;po... dub, or indiriduals ...... d in ><>me cn .. tpriK 10, plunder or <reM,
..h.,.....". Ihoy _
belTO'n ~ will be ....tid omJ ... forbOdden by ""bUe . ..N ...). a .
[do "'" dlink \h.ol ...
~.

= ..

01"...,""

W-" ,od;a

( ' 911: )01 n . 80).

- --- - - - - - - - - -

RtlilioUJ auocian'OnJ in am;inll Allwu

73

Wilamowitz (1893 : z75 - 79; cf. Crawford 1995) long ago pointed out. I do
not find such an early date convincing for the following re asons. First, there
is no independent evidence that Solon legislated on associaLions. Although
the appearance of orgto1U$ in FGH 341 FI LO implies tha I me word was
mentioned in a Solonian law, it does not necessarily follow mat this was m e
one preserved in Dig. XLVII 22.4. Secondly, the alleged archaisms (eiJ Ida n
oicholllllfOi, eiJ t lllporion) of the preserved text are quite widely used in the
so urces from the tate fifth eenNry SCIl to the imperial era. " Thirdly, it
seems that the reference to forms of associations in this provision is n ot II
ve rn cal, diachronic reference, as the Solonian dating implies, but ramer
a horizontal, synchronic reference to current forms of associations as
indicated by the mention of homorophoi. Founhly, the expression dllflosio
grOlllmato is (with the exception of Aesch. III 24, Oem . XVIII 5S and IG II'
IZO) used quite extensively from the second century BCE on .....ards. It is
more likely, then. that this provision had its origin, in its preserved form, in
the imperial era; more specifically, in the context of what is kn own as the:
reintroduction of Draconian and Solon ian legislation in Hadrian's reign l2
as a kind of privilege granted to Athens. Therefore, J d o nOt believe that
Dig. XLVII 22.4 Clln tell us anything about the relationship between Slate
and associations in classical times, whereas it is quite explicit in regard to
the re lations berween associations and au thority in the im perial era. This
relationship is characterised, in classical and H ellenistic Athens, by the
prevailing influence o r the organisational model of the polis on cult groups
and the concomitant influence and domination of the community of the
citizens ove r them . In other words, unless they were perceived as a threat
(in a broad sense) to the city's consrirution, religious associations enjoyed
unlimited fre edom.
Finally, there is the question of property as an indicator of juristic personality. Finley (1951: 89) categorically statcd that juristic personality cannot be founded on the frequ ency or infrequency of acquiring property.
Nevenhc:less, there have been attemplS to see in property relations embryonic or alterna tive forms of juristic personality. Biscardi (1958: 3Z1 - 48 and
1982), fOf example, described the mere existence of legal sub-systems (e.g.
de",es, pnratn"eJ), which had acquired a degree of aUlOnomy within the legal
system of the poliJ (thanks 10 the above mentioned Dig. XLVII H .4) as an
embryonic fo nn of juristic penonality. H atzQpouJos (1973: 84) aSlened
that property or income that was attribu ted to the deity worshipped by the
association can be considered as proof that the associations had foun d in
UMwo< &. ~,;" """"'..... ""... _ ~ I>~ 6py~ _ , . ,,).rJcrta, ~ ",,/o.Ml"""Ilx"'"otS
""" n~ f\pwGt ~
(S.:I......... in Ihc indu of IlIc: Solonian i.PI_Iion, ' ayI thaI Ihc ..Io<tcia-rio ... in honour <>f heron of JOd ..... tailed .....-.).
" is Iftu Di.:"'-<nui X... z. IIG III . /I"" b. VI 6." I"",. I'~~ ...
Polyb. , 'l.l, 1'o1)'M1l""
.0

e.c..:..

Sf,g ....

'LL L~ . "

" 1'.". II>< Hodtio.u< k,....,;..., ;,.,,,.....,,.,,;"" ...

'.\1.

Ih ~ .......

('lIi9: ,s,-6).

74

ILiA S ARNAO U TOGLO U

the worshipped de ity a concept similar to juristic personality. I fail to find

Biscardi's argumcnt convincin g in that the powers of his legal sub-systems
(c.g. rhmQ, phrcuriQ) emanate from the city and its cultural context (be
believes that Dig. XLVII 22 .4 is a Solonian regulation, when its origin is, to
say the leaSl, problematic) and not from the will of the association's memben. H attopoulos' theory of a deity as a precursor of juristic personality is
only partially jus tified by the evidence. Although there are documen ts
which suppon his theory, there arc orner d ocuments of me same era thai
do not confo nn to his assertion. T wo d ocuments of the fourth century
ilIusU'ate clearly this point; / G II ' 1361.13- 14 provides that (ta]v 5{E TI]~
I']itt[",] Ii l1T1'l"l, iaT)l 1Tapir T6v6e TOIl v6pov6qlEl~hw : n ; 5paX"'Crs Tiil t6Ew1) (if
anybody proposes or votes against this law, he shall owe five drachmas to the
godd ess), while IG 11' 1163.43- 5 stipulatcs that EOV fif. ...", avaY0pWac.xJI.
Q1TOTlvnWOCIII TWI KOlv(;)1:n;6paX...os (if they d o not proclaim, they shall
pay to the association five drachmas). " Associations seem not to have been
involved in buying or selling land, with one exception preserved in the
fragmentary IG II' 1599.2 (fourth century BCE), which mOSt likely records
the sale of orgeonic propeny. This seems to suggcst that associations
followed modes of acquiring propeny different from the available commercial patterns. Gifts, donations and C{lnsecrations fonned some of the
altemativcs. 14
Similarly, a glim p$e of ihe way in which rel igio us associations were represented in legal disputes reveals that there was n o perception orthe group
as an entity au tonomous from its mcmbers. The decree of EikadeiJ (lG II'
n sB of the yeu 324/ 3 BCE), honouring a certain Polystralos because he
took thc initiative in prosecuting some co-associates for perjury and stipulating the election of three members to help him in the ensuing prose:cution, undersco res the inability of the group to react as an independent
enti ty and its complete reliance on its members. The same picrure is presented in the few surviving leases of land by urgeOlILl and tranuctions in
which groups of eran istai are involved."
The flawed iheoretieal bac kground underlying our failure to understand
cult associations as something fundam entally different from our own associative experience is to be found in the concept of juristic personality l6 and

" Thin! century: 10 II ' 1)73.21- 5. 10 II- U&9.4-', 10 II '

,.

I~97. ,?- ,' and _ond ~ntury: AM 66

( '94' ) ul 110. 4 ' ,1- ' 0 . In <an ..... , 0 10 II' " \1 ,6- 17 (third CCn<Wl') ond 10 u'
(tce<>nd cenlW)'l .
s...!tot paraUrl &om Rbodct SEO IIU'~ 137 B. , - , ( , " lie.): '["II ' ~ N.. oO<ll~ ..,;e,....:I.o I I

P""" "Th ~ ............ ~'v , ...... If-- n."~"'" ~". I ~ ~ .1-1

(Wh.n Ni\w.aa<>rM _ pri .... _ the ronowinC ......u.a,' orillin.c '"
funds promioed to cton.. .. m<>nq in order to bo.Iy bnd on<! Ih<y pn ill.

<.. /"'" c,,\ ,hl"l& ... _

'pl."-'.

iD..o...ov
.,.._""'"
the

'n.. "nlbkm " r tlw: Ittwoi II.. boen _ently

",...,uminftl b1 Mill.... ( ' W') .
,. F'mIey ( 'II)" 89) noted the ncod fur tho: ....wni..l of m.: problem of jurio"" pcnonality in anti_
QW'l'. Tbc """men, preKn,od her<: ilbu, on a"<"'P" " '" a " ... Iiminory..,.:l_ fur till. ~
eu",in.tion md. of COUfK, iI "'"
" Par "'~ kaon .. ~ "'" diocunion in Osbo:omo: ( '9I8b).

.><hau.nn.

Rtligiow lWooan'ons in (l nmnl ArhtnJ

"

the long standing dispute about its fictional or real character. In the nineteenth century, this subject was III the centre of a controveny with wider
political implications. On the one hand, jurists like Savigny and Jhering
concluded that only physical persons could have duties and righlS and
therefore only physical persons could be: regarded as having real legal pertonality. The other entities to which juristic penonali[y is accorded are
fictional legal penons. On the other hand, Otto von Gierke argued that
groups have their own genuine will, which historically precedes that of an
individual and, as a result, they have to be regarded as rcallega! persont. In
parallel with this debate, another axiom was devdopcd: that juristic personality was accorded only by the sovereign authorities.
However, a vulnerable point remains in the concept of juristic penonality iudf. Juristic personality denotes the capaci[y of a subject to bear
righn and duties. In other words, the concept of juristic penonality is
largely related to the legal system of any given organised society. Therefore, each legal system defines the conditions under which an entity may be
considered a legal person; thu is, a subject of cenain duties and rightS. In
this respect, modem civil law codes provide, under cenain circumstances,
rights to an unborn child; in mediaeval Europe, wolves were PUt on trial
and publicly executed, while in ancient Athens, objects responsible for
death wen ritually tried and expelled from the boundaries of the city. In
ancient Athens, political and legal rights were determined on an ascriptivc
basis, acco rding to sex, Status and ethnicity. The idea of juristic personality, in the form we know it today, is the product of an evolurion of the
right given to free cities by kings or empc:ron, and the metaphors used by
the Catholic Church to describe its unity.
An alternative approach to cult associa rions has to take into account the
fact that mOSt associate. carry their own baggage of roles, norms and
expectations when the y join a group. T o put it more elaborately, cultural
context influences and shapes the forms of organisational structure.
Aristotle saw associations as pans or molecules of the wider political community of the city-Slate. In the k OJltfos of the Athenian city, cult associations were to a large extent mitTor-images of the city on an organisational
level.
Just a5 the city was organised around its acropolis, 50 associations were
founded and functioned arou nd a consecrated piece of land, where their
temple or altar stood . Uke the city, associations had a variety of secular
and sacerdotal offices. Even the modes of selection of omc~rs conform ed
largely to those used by the city. AllO[Jllent was used for sacerdotal offices
(e.g. IG u' l)t4, I) 'S ). election for secular posts (e.g. IG u ' 1284.22).
and in som~ cases even the tame titles were used (e.g. lamias, grammauw,
tpimtilrai, hkropoioi ). All the association's offices were, in principle, held
for one year, as was the case with the city-wide arkhai. Associa tions
honoured their members for the fulfilmem of their duties while in office
or for extraordinary contributions, as did the poJiJ.

76

ILlftS ARNAOUTOGLOU

All these simiiaritie$ point to the fact that the conceptual homon of the
associates in Athens was confined to the organisational model provided by
the city-state. This idea may be reinforced by considering, on the one
hand, associative life in Hellenisli!:: Egypt and, on the other, that of late
mediaeval Florence (thirteenth and fourteenth century). In the case of
Hellenistic Egypt, the crown bad the right to dissolve associations and
liquidate their property.l7 In contrast with Hellenistic Egypt and in com
mon with ancient Athens, confraternities in late m ediaeval Florence were
miniatures of the commune, with similar offices, officials, and practices. 1ft
In summary o f our discussion concerning the legal dimension of cull
associations, it can be Ilfgued that in ancient Athens regulation of the
function, of cult associations was detennined by social context rather than
by a comprehensive syste m of legal provisions. In other words, the law of
associa tions was finnly embedd ed in the socio political context .
I I. SOC IAL DIMENS I ONS

"Ine most significant atte mp15 to understand anciem cult associations

made in the last cenrury saw in them evidence either for moral progress,
with an emphasis on the spirit of fraternity, equali ty, and spontaneity
{an echo of the values of Ihe French revolution in Wescher (18651), o r for
moral bacJcwardness ( Foucan [18131). Such approaches, however, sutrer
from an incurable partiality, We cannot rcal istically assess the morality
of ancient Athens on the basis of our Judaeo-Christian moral system.
Although Poland (1909: 499- 5' 3) tried to reject some of the tenets of
Foucan's thesis, he was confined by the logic of 'Sittlichkeit'.
I suggest that we should completely disengage from any investigation of
moral o r immoral elements, A more fruitful approach might be to consider
cult association! in conju ncticn with a model of euergetism, ri tuals of
conviviality and socia bility. III The fCason for adopting such a modellics in
Ihe fact that these three concepts have helped to unfold new dimensions of
social life in the ancient city.
Veyne (1978) , in his theory of euergetism as the actual political sYStem in
Greek cities in the Hellenistic and imperial era, saw in cult associations
an audienC('~o in which any notable would be interested, The concept of
euergetism is built on the idea that cities were governed not by the assem
bly of their citizens but rather by the wealthy amongst them , These nurgttai provided the necessary money for games, templcs, sacrifices, public
.. Su rh< deere< o r I'lokmy Euc: ...... /I .....d O<)mCtim. bel.CUl III and u S ..:;I, in I.ntJcr
( 1964: 110, "". 5<I).1Id ToubmochlaJ ( I~ ': '-47) ,
,. Sec Wrio....... ('981: , 8- 9) and .... oompanIo..., """''''', of <k Itobcrn, ( 11/14),
,. I wiD ...... oaidc o.llan,', ('9\1 1) I'~I 01 all' o<tcioDon.....nucs of P'l1<)no,<, for wtUch

... In,

article (1m),
.. Smith (> 9' 4: 94) __ doe fin. '" ddlnr corpo<tI1C p Oul" .... ONOdoDono" '""blio' ,

Religious auooan'ollS i N anciem AlhulJ

77

dinners or provision of wheat in times of famine. In rerum, they received

(and expecled 10 be awarded) public honours, Slarues, elc. The mechanism of securing largesses was called epaggt/iai, that is, promises of benefactio n when needed.
There are some striking similarities and differences belWeen the impaci
of euergetism on cities and on Athenian associations. The methods used
for securing benefactions were to a large degree similar. There are twO inSiances, in which the honoured individ ual has promised or is promising 10
help under any circumstances: IG II' 1318.3- 5 from the third cenrury BCIl
lavlTO<; 5i hr'1YYf[;\aITo EK Twvl / li5jiwv ,;~ oTTana To lTTpocn'ti l [ltloVTa TW,
KOlIIWl Ilflpl~illl ( he promised that he was going 10 contribute from his own
property everything appropriale 10 the association), and IG II' '319.1 7- 19
(175/ 4 BCE) may I yO-AFrOl 1st KO; Eis 1"011 A01Tl0V Xp6I1OV OW<PPOV"fl / fill Eis /) Oil
a-inev TTapaKaAWOW 0; 6pyE&IIts (he promises that in the furure he will
arrange everything that the orgtoneJ will ask him ). The image of the association sketched at the end of some documents implies a vigorous group
fully invo lved in the socially predo minant, reciprocal relations. An example
is IG tI ' 1262 .12- 15 (301/ 300 BeE) OTTl..>s 0:11 Ko l oj oMol Ei~ I\I , OTL TO KOL11011 Toi~ OP'AOT\~QVIliIlO'~ fi ~ OVTOVo; o~i o~ xapLTO~ cntolii6wo IV TWV rV(P)'ttTIIlOTWV (so thai other people will kn ow thai the association awards to
benefaclors honours as is proper [ 0 their benefactions). The honouring of
individuals in associations as well as in dties delineated the fricrion between the haves and the ha\e-nots. However, in the record o f lI5sociations
there is no reference 10 euergelQ as an honorific title, save for a passing
reference in IG tt' 1277. 1 1 although deriVlltive words like eu~ell~islhai or
euergtui" occur frequently. This apparent inconsistency may be explained
by the expectation of the association that il would be the 'natural' receh'er
of benefactions from its members ..21 As Veyne put it, there is no tendency
to award golden crowns. A statistical approach sugge5ls that instead of
golden crowns, cull associations developed an honorific system, in which
the longevity of the attrib uled h ono ur was sD"essed. Especially in the third
century BeE and onwards, hardly a golden crown appean (except in IG 11'
1316) but there is plenty of crowning with wreaths of olive lealles, accompanied by a statue, an icon, or a solemn public declaration on the appropriate occasion, as in IG]I' 117 1.116- 18: ovo:61illal j 6'aVTov Ka! tiKOlla TOIi
iepoii ou QV el Ka~~"TToII ypQ'fIO v / Ta~ tv TTivoKLKO"Ta TOv ...6Lmv (dedicate: 11
portrait of his, drawn on a tablet according to the custom, in the sancruary,
wherever it is best), or in IG u ' 1263 .37- 43: O:VO:YOpMII' 6i TOIl5 TOil 13 /
TEq>CJIIOV ToVS iEpoTtOI~ TOu.; QEi / lo.an::oVOVTas iEPO"ITolEiv lJ.ET0: ,-OS(1 1"ITOIlOOS,

.""""'....a-.c

IG n' " 17. '4- '7 ( ' 7i /? oco): /r.oa~, &f ~a\
~ .,,( 1/000 ",,",_ ..... ,
"tv ..... I<no jlf"TQ, ~ 6A)<.w ";"'9~ (to pno<loim Iho<\r <r<>wnt and ~. poaisc In ......,.
oocrilla t.,.01hor"';Ih the other benelacton) .
.. Sa: GauthN:r ( ' 91}).
"

""'"'1~

78

ILiA S ARNAOUTOGLOU

OTI a-TE,avoi TO KOlvOV TWI ! f>1 TWI <7TE<;>O:\Ic.)1 6 1lIlI)TPIOV aplTii~ ! EIlEKO Kol
~VvoioS';s IX~v f;ICrn).E /1 Eis ToV~ elOOWTOS (the hieropoioi chosen by lot from
time to time are to proclaim this crown after the libations, that the group
honours with this crown Demetrio! for his excellence and contin uing benevolence towards the Ihiuwrai). A funher interesting aspect concerns an
implied tendency lO differentiate between honours awarded for the mere
successful fulfilment of duties, usually with a simple crown of olive leaves
(lG 112 1284), and those awarded for services of an exceptional character,
with a golden crown and an icon or a painting (lG II' 1)14 and fG II'
1)16). In line with Veyne's theory about the ruling elite of the cities
(euugtlai), there existed in cult associations an inner circle of a few penons
who actually administered the affairs of the association. SEG 11 9, 1G 111
131 7 and fG II' 1)17b provide good ill ustrations of this. SEG 119 presel""es
parrial lists o f the group's magistrates for six non-consecutive yea rs.
Among them, there are four individuals whose names appear almost every
~ar in the board of magistrates (Ba-rpaxoo;, 90,).).05. 'APXmo).ls, K"nls).
This imprenion is corroborated by the names of magistrate1i in fG u ' 1)17
and fG u 1)17b.
'Rituals of conviviality' and 'sociability' are complementary concepts
aiding a deeper understanding of the mechanisms used in d eveloping
interpersonal n:lationships in cult associations. Schmin-Pante! (1990: z06)
devised the blanket term 'rituah of conviviality' to incl ude the communal
practices exercised by different groups. Thcse groups constitute a point of
contact where 'ind ividual' and 'citizen' converge and, more importantly,
a process o f socialisation is at work. The manifestation of public spirit
through the performance of a ritua l, which a group of people attends regularly, plays a central pan in this process. This performance provides a
social context full of meanings, values. ideas and altitudes. A ritual, even
one as simple as a sacrifice and the sharing of flesh , is usually the most
important element in the associative life of the group, and its perfol"trlance
forges and strengthens the associative links. In the context of association,
therefore, civil attitudes wen: app rehended and confinned. and the social
order was expressed.
I would srgue. however. that the mood of ' rituals of conviviality' can
shed only a half-light on cult associations. They included among their
members non-citizens whose susceptibility to these values might not have
bn so strong. In this respect, BasJez's account explains and complements
the deficiency. 8ulez (1984: ))1 - 5)) 1"C8ardS cull associations, among
others, as foci of sociability (foyen tU socillbiliu,) for the alien population of
Athens and especially of th e Piraeus. The socialisation and integration
of these foreigners were facilitated by various groups with aims that were
at least in part cultic. These groupings can be described, according 10
Gauthier's termS (1981 : 169) elaborated for the function of citizenship in
Athens and Rome, as strUCtun:s of integration in contradistinction to

79

structures of panicipauon. Citiltcnship in the ancient Greek polis may halle

been a structure of partici pation in the political life o f the ciry. but mcmbcl"ihip of cult auociations made possible II meaningfu l reconstruction of
the world of individual mcmbcn in accordance with prevailing eult'u""i
conccpl$. One can disccm twO phases in th e gradual integrati on: on the
one hand, there is the prese rvation orthe famil iar rhythm a flife (expressed
mainly through the observance of the tradition al celebrations) and, on the
o ther hand, then: is th e gradual adaptation 10 the host's pact of life . C ult
associations worked n a slIige for th ese two procedures. This integrative
process was effected by means of what might be called symboli t violcnt t .
By the term 'symbolic violence' is m eant the imposition of system ' of

J
J

symbolism and meaning (that is, culture) upon groups or classes in such a
way thaI they were experienced as legitimale.1) C ull associations uscd and
promoted the core civic ideas of el[ccllcncc (aretl), righteousness (dilt.aiol unl), piety (tuU'bcia), and love of honour ( ph ilotimjil) in hon ouring their
memben. For instan ce, in S EG II 10 .9 the epimektai of the thiasorai o f
Bendis are honoured OPfTij5 EV( kO koi 5I kO I0CJlivr)~, while the DrgwtIa of
the Mother of the Gods in lG II' 1]1 5.20-2] have d ecided 10 rnolVioo l
KpO:'wov KO; (11'~<paVC;>Ogl &c;.AAoV O"Tl~~1 voqH:ios M IC W ... i'js lis -ros Bfas
Kgi 'fIAo"rll.ligs Ti'is ~is ia VToVo; (10 praise Kraleia and crown her with a crown
of olive leaves because of her piety 10 the goddesses and th e honour
directed to them ). The meerings of th c group were condu cted with procedum familiar to the cili2ens, the usc of which gave the opponunity to nonciti7.cns to practise them. otherwise regard ed as th e privi lege of citizens.
The beginning of each dceree included nOI only th e date according 10
the epo nymous archon of the polis (e.g. IG II' 1263. 1- 2: 'Elfi ' HYllllixov
6pXOVTOS, 1.n1~ nV01lO't'1w1lO5, TTfl.llf'Tf1 i(11'ol.1ivov (Whcn Hegemachoi was
archon, in the month of Pyanopsion, the fi fth d ay of the month)) but al w
key institutions of politicillife, like the assem bly, the proposer oCthe decree
(e.g. I G u ' 126]. 2- 5: oyopO Kupio -rwv &loo,.nwv. i:Sof;w -rois &loow,.aIS,
KAfwV AIWK pO:~ Ia;l.altiVIOS limll (in the main assembly of Ihiasolili, the
thiasolai have decided after th e proposal of Klcon so n of Leoitrales from
Salam is)) and th e voting procedures were recorded (e.g. IG II' 134].44- 6:
-rwu 'I"i.,wv ai's i561'll -rOSl ... O 50yltQ I'VPIOllliual, ~ft l'OVTQ. Qls 6i OVKiOOKtl
oIi5tltiQ (votes for the molution sixty, VOles against nil)) . In this way civic
values were inculcated and th e ~ocial II l ltUS qu o was Icgirimised in th e
minds of n on-citi7.etls. In this respect ' the discourse of Athenian democracy' - the process of communicltion between citizens in d ifferent ' 'enU C5
of Athens 24 - permeated and d ominated th e discourse of cult association s,
and thereby increased the chances of a smooth er social integra tion of nonAthen ians. Furtherm ore, this legitimate (an d legitimisi ng) imposition of
" Se. J<n kin. ('1/92; 'G4- 'O) lOt Jurn"",,, "",...." of the CO<>COfI' in
n.. '""" io bo.....-d from Ober ( ' 919' JJ),

__

_ .

._ - -

RO\Ird~'.

_II.

80

ILiAS ARNAOUTOGLOU

values constituted a kind of 'cultural hegemony' and cult associations were

acring, deliberately or otherwise, as agents of acculturation. In this respect,
it is tempting, but highly coni;tural, to attribute to cult groups a role in the
easing of social ten~ ions , and the preservation of social stability in ancien!
Athens.
N one of the three above mentioned approaches taken alone can give a
satisfactory picture of cult associations. Given the variety of membership in
these groups, only a combination of all three can provide a clearer idea of
th eir complexity. lbis involved: ( I) competition and reward; (2) excellence
and punuit of honour as omnipresent features and worthy goals towards
which individuals should strive; and ( 3) celebrations of the group which
entailed im plicitly the strengthening of existing links (and sometimes the
forging of new ones) by which individuals could find suppon and a familiar
environment.
One should not, however, come away with the impression that cult associations constituted an exclusively harmonious context: groups of happy
people celebrating at different dates. Rather, cult associations replicated
the social system which gave birth to them. Clearly, even am ong I$sociau:-s,
tensi ons and competition fo r honou rs from the allocation of cenain tasb
could develop,2' and it is hardl y unlikely thai hieNirchies of wealth and
prestige railed to emerge. Memben were expected to behave in an orderly
manner. Later, and possibly under the influence of or pressure from
Roman aurnorities, disorder and anti-collective conduct were penalised
(IG 11' 1369 .40 - 44 and SEG XXXI 122.5- 8 (CE 121) : f;OV ,l~ w"Tij l7\J\/6~
llaXTlV 1TOlil0'l, "Til ExOIlM) ftll(pq a1TOT lvfTc.l 1Tpo<Tff.;1l0V 0 II'" a~OIlEllOS"
5paXllos 5b.0: 0 511 t~oICO),ov&T]OO~ lipaXI-'&<; 1T(lI"Tl ICcri i~av6ylCo 11~
,WV OVWptrlllO"TWV <;ri'l<pOV ),Ol'Qll"TC.lV i:1C~IIMO"OI (If anyone during a meering
enten a figh t, lei him pay on the following day a fine of ten dNichmai if
he SUllIed il and of five drachmai ifhe panicipated in it, and withoul fai l let
him be expelled after his fellow em"ulai have caS! a vO le).26 By the same
loken, those conforming to the prevailing nonns were constantly puised
and n:warde:d, symbolically or otherwise:. These inequalities were reflected
in the riw al of award ing hon oun, which am ong other thinp constitule:d,
as Hourdieu (1992: 79- 89) suggested in anothe:r conlc"l, a ritual or passage
from the ranks of ordinary men 10 the ranks of the privilege:d individuals .
The honorific system cn:ated a deep and insurmountable: distinction between the honoured and, no t JUSt those who have nOI been honoured, but
those who were never going 10 qualify, especially in thO!IC cases when: the
award of honoun was associated with economic prowesl. Simultaneously,
the procC1i5 of honouring res ulted in an adjustment of the attitudes of the

"s' _

.. F.... <umplc, _ 10 n '

the W"",tI' In lL.rt.] "'11.
N 11>0 oUlUln '" I.o,~ rnodlJo<Yal E",H.~ con&o,aniri.. PKKn' In'antinl ,imilari';a with ......,
prol'isiono;..,.. M elle< ( '9~7).

'"

Ihliriow assOC'iatWns in I3ncimr A theIU

8.

honoured, as well as in the attitudes of the other members towards him in

conformity with his new status. It is not accidental that the award of honoUrt inVllriably includes crowning since, as Pin-Rivers (1965: 15) pointed
OUt, ' the rituals by which honour is formally bestowed involve a ceremony
which commonly centres upon the head of the protagonist'. The reason for
pursuing honour is not so much based on a materialistic approach, but
rather on a sense of personal fulfilment in elffiibiting the activities socially
sanctioned as praiseworthy. That is the most plausible reason for the parallel
existence of honorific decrees for the successful fulfilment of duties and of
other decrees praising generous contributions.:n
One funher dimension may be added to OUf discussion on this point.
Bourdieu (1980: J18) has expounded the concept of symbolic capital as
misrecognised economic capital in societies where accu mulation of wealth
in terms of money t{:onomy is considered as a-social. Associations were a
venue in which accumulation of this kind of symbolic capital was highly
desirable and was therefore promoted. This symbolic capital could later
be convened into economic capital, through media such as hired labour,
witnesses in transactions. m idd lemen. elc. Therefore, mere participation
in a cult association may have provided m embers with access 10 capital
(informal n-aninai groups), land (through leasing) and necessary suppon
in li tigation (as Is. II 14 and contra {L)'$.J VIII).
In conclusion, cult associations need not be regarded solely as religious
groups. The employmenl of legal calegories such as foundation-dissolution.
juristic personality and propeny seem to be of little help as heuristic tools.
The activities of cult associations were not regulated by any set of legal
provisions either comprehensive or fnlgmentary. They acquired propeny
through largely extra-market procedures. Their relationship with the city
was far more complex than modem scholars have suggested. Their social
impact cannOI be assessed solely on moral grounds: cult associations were
multi-functional social instirutions facilitating the integration of novices
and foreigners into the worlcing of the Athenian city. At the same time.
they reflected the dominant social order and helped replicau: the conditions
necessary for the preservation of this social order.
APPENDIX : MARGINALITY AND CULT ASSOC I ATIONS

Paul CanJedge hiS que$lioned the Aristotelian evolurionary-functionalilt approach

adopted in !hit paper and prOpo1.C:d inSlead a model bucd on marginality. or more
equivocally. the 'interpJay of differences'. a tcrm bolT(lwed from Obt.r ( 199): 14&).
I will not try 10 provide a demiled responsc bUI ralher 10 dra ..... attention 10 the
concepr of marginality IS bciDi insufficiently defined.
The terms 'mlll"ginll(e)' or 'm~.lile' were u!ed by FrcybUJ"iCr-Galland,

ILIAS ARNAOUTOGLOU

Freybul'ler and Tautii (1986: 14) with reglltd 10 culu and cult a$t.ociations whicb
were nOi lUOiDi!led II public by the city of Athens. In this respect, althnugh many
JCholan wnuld dihgm:, the Thracian association nf Bendi, nr the usociations
worshippina the Mother-Goddcu Ire regarded II mainllTnm cults. Such a wideranging usage diminishulhe value of mll'ginality at an heuriltic concept.
I Ul ume thai marginality i, used either in an eropineal, ' topol ogical' sense,
meaning persons or idcllI th" do nOt belona 10 the mainstream $OCiety, 10 lhe
ma)ority, or in a Ie<:hnical, M>(;inlogical Knse meanina ' the lack nf panicipation nf
individuals and groups in thOle sphern in which, according In delennincd crileria,
they.ru.ht be expecled In participate, By participatinn we mean the exercisc nfroles
conceived nfin the broader scnse' (Gennani 199n: 49). According t(l this definition,
wnmen, metks and &laves (annnt be (Qnsiderc<i U marginal sin(C they played their
pmcribed roln accnrding In social IlOnns and expectations. The crileria dele ....
mined by Athntian oociCty did 00001 envisll8e the participation nf these categnries
in the political process. Consequently, I believe WI the nnly people who could be
rqarded al marginal in Athenian locielY, accnrding In the above definitinn, would
be all mile cilitens wbn were expeCted to panicipale, but did nOI, either because
they did nnt wam In (aprggmoMS) n r becauSC' they were, lemporuily nr pennanently, excluded from the civic bod y Cal;"'or). Hnwever, the absc:nc:c nf any prominent Athenian from the li,o nf members nf luch a$SOciltinnl (with the pcnsible
u ception nf 10 II' USl and ~)4) may be attributed to the marginal chanlCler nf
these groups. But, III Whilehead (1986: )t7- 16) ha.mown , l uch eminent cionn
fiaures dn nnl seem In participale in the life nflheir demn eiW r. Th.:rdon, any
115"mptinn abou t the marain.1 ehanle.",r nf cui. a ocilttons may nnt provide .
sufficient explanatinn.
It could be atg\led that aalimP*'" int ... modem PU-I994 s...uth AfriCli mi&lll p<.IIsibly pr<lvide I model or mal'linality. In a ltudy nfa cnlnured group in South Africa,
Dickie-Clark (1 9M: I)l- ) arlUed that althnugh the colnureds were culturally the
u me .. the whil", their IlIsociati<m1 were far poorer and more ill-served than thnsc
nf the whiles. Tho:: realnn lin in the institutionalised inequality nf these groups,
which in its lurn aeneraln mc,quality in educatinn, leisure time, mo!ivali<m, and In
on. Applyinl such a modd 10 an Athenian cOon text, one would expee! that a;roups
ennlisona exdusiYf:ly nffnreigners would .Isn be impoverished; hawever, mucb of
nur evidence cOomes from associatinns includ ing bolh ci tiuns and fnuigners. The
Thracian ""IUlOWJ of Bendil (for example IG u ' I2 SS and 118) fo llow their ind iaCo'
nnus riluals (Inrch raee nn hofSC~CkJ and hnnnur thdr nfficials in the Athenian
.... y with I erown nf ivy leavcs.l ' In this r0:51>1 it j.Cems mOore helpful 10 cnncentrate nn the internal divisinns promnted by the IIIIUS nfthdr memben.;;1 is nOt, fnr
example, coincidental that the gull majnrity nfthe honnured arc of citizen lIatul.'"
'I1lis phenomennn scerns In lUlliel1 th l l divi. ion. in the Issocialinn', membership
" 'ere mOore likely In be dnlwn ICC<lrding In wealth than ethn icity nr status .

.. lIu. no. Mo,,,~ {'99t} who in d;.a..;.... the introdw:tion orBendio' cull in Athem."d the
....,. Ath<nio" int<U.......w "".t.d it, undul ..... i,. ~ tl>arKu:f, implicit in the ritual pn>-

="'"

.. Fomp.cn.,.., honourtd in 10 n' ,~6) ()ooJ~lI'9 lei), 10 II' "7 ' (~98h lOCI), 10 II' '~n ('"/0
1(1:), fO u ' U9, (IIrid lhird c e.lIw)' 1(1:), 10 II- '941 (lbirdjoecond Drury &C1), ..eM 66 (19" )
U'

rID

( .)I h 1(1:) ond fG II- t n 1 C91/6 1(1:).

Mill

8,
tn my opinion the quc::nion of . Nltilf_etory definition of ' marginality' in <Aeek
antiquity remains open. But following the example of ~rm:lek (1971: 1- ) ), who
usn the judicial r:ords of lite mediK""! Paris 10 Htablilh the d ommlllJl percep{ion of the marginal prop1c as thOK 'of no ule 10 anyone'. I lhink it is JIO'lible
to consider I, marFnll IllI these ~le who c:auld nOI share (whelM. they were
cKpeCted to do II() or !'>OIl !he values of the communi!Y in which tbty livro. JO Thil
definition 1'1 0\ only providH simple ",nlema , but it is also fluible enough 1'10\ 10
oollllider II mUJinals all thO$e individual. ~t.o were: aspirin, (Dr liked to be ,n to
upire) to qualities confined to the elite of the I:ommunity. ln mil respect, it mly be
pot;sibJe In teaard women, mcticl, forc:illlC" and. slaves IIO{ neceslarily as marginal
in oompariSOll t o mile citizenl, in spill' of lheir instilutionalilCd lesser Itatw:. This

line of invati,.tion prova that C\llt IlSlooationl, although peripheral to the in lernts and nc:Ws of the Athenian dilc:, C.Mot be: ugardcd u marginal, si nce they
.eem 10 upire 10, use Ind promole cfvioc values like: "",a and pili/on",;". J\

fundi"'..,,"'"

'" Qc",,,,,,k ('97" )00): 'TI>c:

ul-.. for their (i.e . ~1 ....... , .... , "'11> , ....it
* k of OIIM, haw: be<:n lhown \0 be many. The * k 01 ancborq<: in ...a.ty and in life ...
....,nri..n)' ~_ooe<I in <lid. COftSif, ... , non'panicipatiOl1 in prod"";"", in tin or Ikpcnckn<:c and
in ""ldo, and br !beir refuNJ 10 1><....... '0 family uU, ond by thoi. lock of ..,ded mid.nee.'
., I, """ be ~..:I tha. Ibe '",.,p..I' oorio-po!iDt.! pooitlon of p;...,. and itt <thnk mD~ tor' - " ' e ,be c laim f<>t- ....,..In.a!ity _ o,.; ..ble oonooptulll ,001 for the undontandin. <>f cult _
lOci ....",. Bu, thio depiction of PirKw ....... mlKll ' 0 the biNed oo""a of ..... .-ndence.

6
Gymnasia and the democratic
values of leisure
NICK FISHER

INTRODUCTION

Elites define themselv.:1 in pan by the: fact thai they have more time for
leisure activities man the lower orders and have more wealth to spend on
more highly vaJued and pleasurable activities and consum able.; and they
tend to pride themselves, and like to be envied , for the: luxuriousness, taste,
sophistication or intellectual superiority of whatever they choose to spend
their time or money on. Attitudes of the less rich can vary significantly .
The study of leisure has ilS history and its dc:bales; a perceptive and useful
l urvey, with application to th e ancient world, is provided by Toner ( 199$).

I wish to make twO prdiminary points. Many sociologists and historians

have sought to restrict the: notion of ' mass leisure', or even 'leisure' itself,
to indusaial $Ocleties, on the grounds that ~ou$ly there was little or no
consciousness of 'free time' as oppotCd to work, and that the communally
organised rituals of .tiared enjoyments lacked the elements, essential for
' leisure'. of self-determined, freely chosen pleasurable activities.' Such
views seem unduly modernist and patronising, and fail to take account of
sophisticated prc-industrial societies such as those: of (;rec:,::e and Rome,
where, on the one hand, the philosophical elite developed an idealised vic:w
of sdll)li or otium, the 'best way to live', located above all in the reflective:
activities of high culture such as Aristotelian IheoriGjl and when::, on the
other, the people in Athens or Rome undeniably h ad choices or where to
spend some free time (ror example. in bars, at private parties or meetings
or associations and clubs, in barbers' shops or cockfighting and gambling
d ens) 11.5 well as how far to participate in or observe a variety of collective
enjoyments at restivals and games. Sc:condly, follOwing the AriSiotelian
tradition, and the modem pionee r Veblen (1925), then:: is often an intellc:croalin assumption that leisure, or at least the: mon:: ' imponant' elements or

'-.i

I ct. Toner ' 99}, npedo!!y 0..

a!oo BUlb '99' .
0.. ,tuill"'c\ian _ d. 5,...,.,. '9}6; de SI<. Ctolr. '91" npiaUy ' ' 4- '1.

"

Gymnasia and dmrlXTaric. values of kisurr

"

a culture', leisure activities, are exclusively the pn.!serve of the propenied or

'leisure:' class. This equally patronising assump tio n should be challenged,
and in studying the: ancie:nt world, and especially an ancient demOCl'!ltie
socielY, we should a\"()id exee$Sive concentration on elite perceptions and
activities; there is an associated risk of failing to question another anump-.
tion, namely that andent societies openued with a sharp and largely un
broken division between dite social activities, which needed wealth, style
and savoir foire, and a more: common or mns culture.' In fact Aristode did
not concern himself exclusivdy with the contemplative and restrainedly
sympotic activities of the Academy or the Lyceum, the very activities which
produced in time the linguistic switch from ' leisure' to 'school'. In his
tuaanenl of friendship in both the Eudemjan and the NiromacMan EtJria,
he recognised the social imponance for the community and for the overall
health of the political Iystem of the solidarity enjoyed by many voluntary
religious and social organisations such as thiluoi or ffanoi and of the collective sacrifices and festivals, which as hc says both honou red the gods and
provided relaxation and pleasure, and often coincided with the periods of
the agricultural yea r when the people had mOSt free time (f.SChoiazon).4
The re:lations between classes of citizens in Athenian society, and espe.
daUy between the mass and the dile (in Ober'. over-simple phrase), have
been the subjcct of many analY5el recendy: in panicular, the questions of
the rc.lations hip between involvemenu and attitudes of Athenian ciriuns
towards athletics, sex, food and drink and the de mocracy's success as
a functioning and cohesive, and not too violent, community, are now
receiving sustained ueaanent, if general agreement on central quc:stions is
far from in sight . ~ Gymnastic training and competition, and fonnal com
mensaliry, item 10 have been the two cellini components of me traditional
life-style of me archaic ariSlocrslS, and mere arc undoubtedly many csses
where democratic Athenian discount: expresse. strong hOltility and envy
towards conspicuous, contemptuous or conspiratorial behaviour by elile
members II gymnasia or rympolia. 6 BUI here, as in most areas of the rela
lions between social classes in Amens, bam systematic contnldictions and
considerable change are to be expected. This paper suggens that signifi
cant aspeCts of mese: leisure activities and meir rituals became more accessible 10 wider groups of citi ze ns; that panicipation in such mings became
pan of democratic expectationl, al least fa t mose roughly of hoplite .tatus;
and mat such participllion had both positivc and negative CffCCII, in the

ct. T<>n

or

' 991 : .6. )). Pur-I! , ~}: J ~ J7 , on the _bia"ltifl

<he Rol .... n eli,,,, .";,ud..:
';m"Itatw>..,Jr Ut<1>du.. lett" ... Oo<tiYItifl 10 their ,,"' ... pOor. worT]'in. obooIt II>< ",on! .!!to,
and main,ain",S hlcrardIIcaJ dMoions.
Cf. on tho. dllll<:ul .... and rd.Uoao.hIpo of ~ .... ":COWI," in Ari. totk, Sdlo6dd , tItio "",-"me;
and on tIM: utoeiltion. of II>< pMs, Am"",,<OIl<>u, Ihi......UIM, p . 69.
C/. ..... Obor'~ Kyk: ,,17. M ......... y ',,0; t>.vidoon '~l lAd '997; a ...... d '9M, ~'"
as_ At. 1(" . ,71I-So, 1Xm. S4,.......... On "" I,,,..,..,., ..... Millen, <hi. YOIu .... pp. '0) - 4, U7-1 .

'9M.

86

NICK FISHER

promotion of social order and social m obility, and in the creation of fresh
form s of social and individual tensions.
In the archaic period in Athens, and similarly eJsewhe: in many GTeek
cities, a distinctive 'aristocratic life-style' has been plausibly identified,
derived from comparable institutions observable in the Homeric poems,
and focused above all on male athletic and gymnastic activities during the
h oun of daylight, and in the evenings on the p:dominandy male convivial,
potatory and sexual activities at symposia and Iwmoi.7 Yet how exclusively
aristocratic these activities we: even in archaic states is disputable.
Young's provocative book on the profen ionalisation of the Panhellenic
athletics circuit argued that even in the archaic period less aristocratic but
talented you ths may have won victories and become wealthy and powerful,
largely thanks to the value of the prizes on offer at some of the non-cyclical
festivals; he suggested thlt some of the flmouslrchaic and classical athletes
found in the sources will in fact not have been of nob le binh, or inherited
wealth. 8 But strong counter-argumen ts have been urged, thai while the
prizes were significant, it is difficult to see how youths from unleisured
backgrounds could find the time, lu ppon and training 10 compete at that
level. 9
My concern is rather with classical Athens, the most democratic and best
IUl:5ted city and period. Here Kyle has argued for a strictly limited increase in professionalism and lower-class involvement in serious athletics,
but the: is room for more argument. I G Similarly differing views have been
expressed on the extent of non-elite involvement in any forms of sympoSiO.1I This paper will concentrate on the issues of athletic competitions
and training, while funher work will reconsider settings of shared food and
drink. The uniting aim will be to argue that anitudes of many ordinary
Athenians to such things were much mo re varied and com plex than merely
feelings of exclusion, envy, rtsenunent and hostility.
ATHLETIC AND GYMNASTI C PARTICIPATION

Young was able to point to a number o f instances even in the an;haic

period ohuccessful athletes who weu originally poor and ornon-noble binh:
for example Glaukos the alleged plough-boy from Carystos who became
fint a champion boxer, then a governor of Camarina (Moretti no. 134;
Paus. 6. 10, Aesch. 3.189- 90 and Scholio), the goatherding hare-coun;tr
, M umtJ '99); 198)0 and b; 1')90; Koorb ' 99 ' ; "" Wen '99} .
YOWII I, ;
in Golden '\190:
and N. Rkhotdoon in CAliv' '994' ~J~ -6 .
Ins'oo>< '916; o;.,lti< 1914 ; Kyle '91,; alto K...te '99I:).

8.._

"""".uppon

'" KJIe '987' "l- '}, '11-9

,'-J,

" 5 .,. M ~m>J in M ....., (cd .) '\190: '.9-n; and Co)opn/ M <>rno ibid.

66_8., lee thc1JI .. dKDtiITlIy

.Iiti", whiIc Sclmtin- r on,eL o.nd Poltiur ;n MumtJ '!l9O: r4- 26 o.nd In - 84, ...... It IIooric '99S

.:on..... plat. ";d.. ~pai<>n .

.,

Gymnasi" "nd democr"tic oofueJ of fnJu~

Polymestor of Mile!os ( Phil. G,mn. ' 3, Moreni no. 79), or the Olympic
victor for whom, allegedly, Simonides wrote an epigram, celebrarina; how
he had pn:viously carried fresh fish from Argos to Tegea in a rough basket
on his shou lden (Aristolle, Rhel. 136suo- 6, Simon. Ep. 4' Page). la All
these cases, if th ey n:ftect eve n MIre occurrencel, offer hints tha i cenain
low-grade occupations might, despite ant;-b"n/.lum prejudices, provide I
good basic training, whether for Itrength or stamina, which contributed 10
laler success in bolting or long distance running.
For Athens three texu, iI can be argued , suggeSl a consciousness of
increased non-c:lite athletic acrivil)' at least from the later fifth century.
Fint, hocrates' defence gl\en to the younger AlcibilKlc:s includc:s an
alleged justification of Alcibiades pbt for his dedsion to concentrate on the
most c:xpc:nsive and exclusive form or Olympic competition , the chariolnces (hippofl'"Ophu,) , because he saw thai in gymnastic evenu 'some of the
athleles were low bom, lived in small pofeiJ , and were: poorly edu cated '
(16.33- 4). For some, this is good evidence that at least from the late fifth
century on some non-elite and poorly educlI[ed youths - and probably
in Athens as well as in 'smaller cities' - entered Olympic competition."
But othen dismiss this text from consideratio n, on the grounds that
Alcibiades could look down on almost anyone, and this was the son of
thing that any noble athletes would say in justifying their concentration on
chariot-racing.'4 But we should focus attention nOI so much on whether,
or why. Alcibiades might have thought this, as on why !socrates thought it
an appropriate sentiment to have young Alcibiades ascribe to his father in
a cout! case. It y..'8S probably an effective gambit 10 give Alcibiades an
authentic aristocratic and uppity ton!!', and elabo",te on his desire 10 be
envied for his actions of extravagance which benefited the cil)', such as
his liturgies and chariol-victories, the ones that brought the most extreme
form of athletic Ir.udos to victor and city}' Bu t it would hann the case 10
attribute to him a statement that was totally m isleading as well as somewhat arroganl. One could yel argue thaI the three: terms used in these alleged sneers by the elder A1cibiades were intended to be applied equally
to all his supposed instances, who were all alike ill-born, from more: insignificant cities and badly-e:ducated. In this case he was presenled as, perhaps more: excusably, if no less snobbishly, attackin g exclusively nonAthenians, and the palSage, striclly speaking, provid es information aboU!
social m obilil)' in other, smaller states, where perhaps greater State effon
was put intO encouraging victors. But one cou ld still argue that it would be
unlikely tha t nothing com parable to the rise of a Glauk05 could happen in
, ..... KJ'k poin .. ou. ( ' 9':5 ' ' . , ), <lie (m)'lhoLoPoinl) <krait. <II..",.. cI tiles< __ ........, doubu,
on<! ArilUltic ""plirit/y odd"".. the &hoopOttct's Kl!i..... rnc:n' I I an <ltt<:pOona\..- .
,. 0". Youn. ,~, "41f.; Pk~ '1J7j: . 9- 19, ond (I di.on rnporl""Q Y"""Il '911: '47-60
,. Didio '914: ) '&- 9 ; Kyk 1911' ' J5.
" Cf. on W. .""", KurU ' 99).

Maler a

88

NICK FISHER

democratic Athens, and thlt Iwareness of some such cases nelrer 10 home
would add plausibility 10 the sneers. It. Thus the lext in ;1$ conlexl mly
imply more about Athenian athJetics than, strictly speaking, il claims.
Two other general texts may further advance the suggestion thaI ath
letics might lead directly to wealthlccretion Ind social mobility. In the
antiathJele tirade found in Euripides' satyr-play Fjrsr Autoly..ws (fr. 44IN',
quoted by AthenleuB 413C- f), the tirst criticisms are that athlel~ 'do not
learn how to live well, nor could they. how could a man who is a slave to
hi. jaw and defeated by his belly, attain wealth superior 10 his father's? Nor
are. they able to cope with being poor, nor can they adapt to ill fonune; nOi
accustomed themselv~ to proper habits, they find it hard to change to tit
difficult time . ' This line of argument - no doubt exaggerated, and nOt
necessarily of cOW'lle reflecting Euripides' own view, but still a serio-comic
presentation in an Athenian festival - seems to anume that som e serious
athJetes went into the game expecting to get richer, and found it hard to
cope with their winnings, or still harder to cope with relative failure . This
ten thus s:ms to assume that Panhellenic athletics could be perceived as a
major JO uI'Ce of new wealth and of social m obility, as well as a rOute to city
given honours - such IS crowns, statues, dining It the Prytaneion - and
perhaps political influence. '"
Secondly, the Old Oligarch takes up - characteristically - different pod
tions on gymnastic activity in Athens, and appean also to attribute - again
characteristically - contradictory attitudes to the people . At 1.13 he appears
to SlY thai the demos ' has PUI down those who train and practise culture,
thinking thlt it is not I fine activity, but realising that they Ire not clplble
of engaging in these studies,;,e but immediately Ifterwards he commen ts
thet the people, the recipienu of the expenditure of the chongoi, gymniJncm:Jwi and rrinarclwi, not only enjoy the money, but participate, sing, run,
dance and row in the ship!.I~ And later, II 2.10, h e claims first, IS before,
that the dlntos enjoys the benefits of the sacrifices and the festivals without

I. 0'. Youna .~., ' 00- 2; Golden ('990' 7") adeb the poosibility that Mdeoi .... the tather of Th ..
cydld .., fuundcd the rqNtation and hish ... am ... <:t>nD""Uom ofbi. dlo~ukhed family thro .. &h
W. oItiIl .. on .tILI.~ and tnlincr.
17 On tho ~ of athletic ~ ... d di............ in .. tp-p lap, d . S.otorn. edition of e.....
~ )' 40; S .. "'''' "" " 60; Kyle 1 ~7: nl- JO. Seaford', nplmalion, tho .....n .IId bop
~ as "IY" ""J hi... ro<npeted in toea .. the Anthat<:.u, pom.po 100 ..,..,iftt '0 be ..._
Io6in&- Abo ....knn ......, be <1>0. ftU.ed, co..,.,.... and phallic PI)'n ...,.... the idnl lip..,. to
parody .thlo... ' .,., . .... willi nqsenwl and ",Ir.-..ed public diOpl.oyo of .... body be ...IifuI .
h ;. ",pM 0 _ _ "btlo toMtaion, in .... !ilk of Euripld .. ~ pI'y, with thc C\llT<1Itly
atILI..,. AulOlyMs - with on ambi.,..... c:trc.. ... <hc:r like: tho. whid> oouId be
hicwd br dmotin, on .".....;..,.,..th n ' ptfltf (hloo) on. pol (d. Kyle "'7: .as, an<! below

"""'""US ,....,...
p e l n .60).

~.":,,,;,e, . 01 TO\v _''''''' h .. T',a..;OL ....... <>"T'!AU.VQv l>

10 mnn, un","'!!" .........1, dis_c', ........ thin 'd.. tro1' or .bolilh .
" The: ...",v.<I;".ion. obonved by RJdIq "79: 5-4' ) 1K,1c in S dJo (cd.)
!'att,.1 '\I'iI2; ' )' - ) .

,I ""'" 6i

5fu>oI: the .... rb ..,,"'.

'119"'" a .100 Schmin

Gymnasia ami dl1NocrarU fialueJ of tmure

8,

paying for mem; and then argues mal 'while me rich have some of meir
own private D'"'nasia, bams and changing rooms, me demos has built for
itself exclusively many wrestling grounds ( paluisrrai ), changing rooms and
public baths, and &el more benefh from those than do the few and tile
prosperous',20 So according to this leXt, probably of me 42OS, members
of the Amenian demos are simultaneously sneering at mose of the rich
who spend. good deal of meir leisure in amletics, music and the .rts,21
while also themselves eogaging enthusiastic.lIy in choruses and races, and
acquiring training f.cilities where they (men and boys, presumably) can
practise their gymnastics and wrestling, and can change and bathe, Since
the Old Oligarch might have preferred to represent the demos as idie,
sneering, or cheering spect.tors of the cultural and athletic activities of the
elite, passive beneficiaries of their liturgic.1 expenditures, it seems bener to
suppose that there is some substance at least to the more unusual of his
remarks, that there was widespread participation at festivals and a growth
of new gymnasia and palaistroi .imed at a much wider ciienteie.a:z
The growth of athletic tnining in Athens Ius been well described by
Kyle. Already for Pindar and Bacchylides, Athens was notable for providing excellent tninen for Panhellenic athletes, especially wrestlen ( Bacch.
12. 190- 198; Pind. Nem. S. 48- 9, 01. 8. 54-66, Nem. 4.93- 6, 6. 66- 9: the
twO big names were Menandros and Melesiu, the father of the politician
Thucydides). From the mid-fifth century on, increasing numbers oftninen and owners of ptllaistrai can be named; by the early fourth centul)',
educational discussions in Plato, h ocrales and Aristotle suggest thai elabonte tnining techniques have become standard and widespread, designed
alike to maintain levels of general fitness, to suit the needs ofbo~, or older
athletes, to prepare competitors for the running and other contests, or
to provide advanced individual programmes for those seeking to win at
the highest, Panhellenic, level (see especially Plat. Prot. 326b, PoIit;':,"
294d- e; h ocr. IS. 183; Arist. Pol. 1288b to-20, 1338b ]9- 1]]9a 10) .2]
Consideration of the manpower demands of Athenian fC$tivals and
games can strengthen the case that athletic competition and training, al
these less elevated levels, did involve vel)' extensive participation, parallel

", ct. o.lormr '96<>'

....... _

2Sl1 i Kyk ' 937: 68, ')4; i1 it puzzlilla tha, !he luthor cmpMoioa

publk pol.........' ..""', <han ....

,, ~

Wlf ro"<><I; bu., pc_po he io be .....

priqt.~ .
dc~ben" < 11

paradoxical, and ...... ratin&!he oelf-IllUti>'e<\'. _

puticipoti<m, .. Ir .., III W1g\lina ocu,.
;w., of the ' _10' .
" 0'. the ~a of the <;horus in Ar. KMpu ~ !ha., proVided 1tu>. they ...... en .0 611n nob/J' fOr 1h<
d iy, 1h< lOUdi....,., ohould "'" &bow ....,. .........t. !hem wi1II !heir lon, hair ond .heir .tricillrd
_in .
., cr. K}'k 19'7: d> 3, with ....dul ."""'" of the nid... oc t'or the JrOWth of I thIetk li>ciijtie'i olIO
Kyle in N.~. (0<1 .) 1991: 71- '0 ' . cr. olIO tho Old Oli.....,II' imiiar oboefvootiono 1. 7, ond 1.9 .
..t.n.. the . .. """" impl'" that "'" I......., imp<>n:o - 'I<indt
fate' (_ " " Wwl _ """ be
cq>cl'icn<:e<l by the *-' in ...... rai, "'" ;..a. by !he rich, and tha. !he _ _ ...;0,. bcin, rell~
while 1h< ricll PlY, with Bn>und 1994; ODd below p . n
,. Kyle 1917: ' 4' - ' .

"'fa"""

90

N I C K FISHER

indeed 10 partidpation in political life. Three poinlS emerge. First, while

one cannot calculate wi th exactitude the number of competitors needed in
all the athletic or gymnastic events in the Athenian calendar, from the
Panathenaea onwards, such calculation as can be done confinns thaI so
many were needed (cenainly thousands rather than hundreds) that competitOrs. especiall y for the dosed events, must have been drawn from fa r
beyond the elite ramilies. Second, as Osborne argues, the prolireratio n or
competition s and their tribal organisation, invo lving large numbers, with
priT.es given nOI just to the winners but to the first four places, were re lt to
be highly valuable to the poliJ; they offered training ro r the young, m itigated
the effects or excessive competition, and built up community spirit within
age-duses and within the K1eisthenk tribes. z Third, great m any or the
competitors were boys and yo uths, learning how to be citizens.
A particular iss ue concerns the involvement or the ephebes. 1llis is no t
the place 0 enter the long deba les on th e existence and fonn of the early
c,,~beja, th e nature of the changes introduced c. 33S, and the qu estion of
whether it was, at different times, restricted to thOJe in th e hoplite census
and above. I ' BUI it seems most likely that from the early [0 mid-founh
century, ifnol earlier, there was a two-year cycle ofrelarively low-key and
limited competitive and military activities, involving many, perhaps most,
of the eightee n to nineteen year old new citizens (there were betwetn 450
and 550 ephcbes D year in th e 334- 332 period; how many in th e p~
Lycurgan period is un clear).26 Sekunda has recently argued, with much
plausibility, that a major reature orthe fitst year oftraining was preparation
for and participation in the tribal torc h races, m ost imponantl y at the
Panathenaea, o rganised by th e gymnmiarchoi, and that this activity may
well havc involved all th e ephebes. These ton;:h races cenainly involved
contestants of widely varying fitn ess and speed; fatter and $Iower runners
might apparently find themselves mocked and hit by th e speetalOts for
their lack offimess (Ar. Fmp 108%.). Imponant evid ence is provided by
Xenophon's pamphlet of the mid-fowth century, which gives advice to
'those instructed to exercisc ... in th e gymnasia', and to those 'instructed
to guard in the garrisons and to seto'C as peltasts' ( Porn; 4. SI - I ). These
young m en engaged in some ronn of organised youth training can only be
the ephebes as they existed in this period (and Aeschines I . 49 and 2.. 167 is
good evidence for two-year service for youths explicitly called ephebci).r1

,. n.. ootoriouolr PKkcd PfOlfWllme of r""tinJ. with vvied .thlnk """'~tionl hao bn ~ndJ
_ htlpftJny IUIW)'Od _ diocuooed bJ Oobomo ' W}: 'C>-37i &too Ky\<', in Nrilo (od.) 'W': 110J, 9'1-<;>. who iI ...... p<rlwp< Uttlc diominiYo of lb< poqibili.,. of w;dH participation in the
m... n'mtl. On. the priteo, ..... K1k in Noill Cod.) '996: 106- )6.
,. ct. ~ .. RMmuth 'In'; VidaJ..N~ 19860: 0.., a. 6; Wtnkkr 19901>: . , - 1.
,. Hall .... ' 911 : ~7fI'.
" Sdo.tndfo 1\190, in I new in~ of 10 II'
_lito wtUlehtod ' 99' : ~1-4 ro. ""~
"",_rio<> bu, I<Xqltin. the rphobet' in..,l_nl; ...H..., O ...d\iet ad 10<:. I\ad plo.,.. l, emphaiHd the imponaroc. of !be ~ _It rOt the mId fourth eon'lItJ .","wla.

,.,0;

.'

Sekunda's Itlractivc suggestion is mal sons of hoplites scrved in the garrisons, and

~ons

of thetes IS pchaU$; prubably neither group involved com-

pulsory service: in this period, which is cenainly unlikely for sons of metes,
but social pressures and Iwnc:nc:n of future military demands arc likely to
have: produced quite: a high percentage of able-bodied hop lite yo uUu in the:
tphe~ .

Xc:nophon's advice that their levels of timeS! would be much higher in

the: fIY11I,uuia if thcy we re: regularly s upplied with maintenance, rather than,
as at mis time, being trained fOf the torch racel under the command of the
gymnasian;hs (Poroi 4. j l - z: ce. also the general advice to the young to keep
fil in Xcn. M em.3. 12 ). suggests th at some training, if perhaps rudimentary,
for torch races was the essential athletic element of the first of the twO ycan
of ephebic activities. These ephebes were probably also involved in other
ritual and athletic events, as they certainly were, more intensively, from the
Lycurgan period onwards; from the earlier fourth century at least th ey
probably (lot only p anicipated in the torch-races, but also emered the
Panathenaic and other games in the beardleu calegory. ~6
Also at the Panathenaea there were other liturgically organised events for
young ciauns and future cimens, which also carried evidem ideological
associations with the acquisition of allegedly 'transferable' skills which
would be of use in a hoplite battle, and more generally with proofs of
manhood. The pyrrhic dances were for boys, beardless youths and men,
offered high prizes, and may or may (lot have been tribally organised, but
involved at least three teams, and maybe many more, in each of the three
categories. 29 They were forms of military ' ballet'. at which nude males
danced with spears and shields, in imitation orthe defensive and aggressive
moves of fighters (see, for example. PI. LawsSlsa). Various aetiologies for
the pyrrhkM were in use, in different pans of Greece, including a cluster
associated with Achilles and NeoptolemosfPyrrhos, leaping at Patroclos'
pyre, in triumph after defeating Eurypylos, or down from the Woodell
Horse.J.O In relation to the Panathenaea, however, Athenians thought
above all of acts of Athena, at her binh, or more significanlly at her victories in the Gigantomachia; the derivation of Pallas, the 'leaper', from
palleJlhai is found in Plato (Laws 796b, Crat. 406ci- 7a). and conveyed. in
aU probability, as well by her pose on many Panathenaic vases, flanked on
their columns by those powed'u.l . ymbols of manhood, the fighting cocks)1
The sources (especially Plato, LAws 796) explicitly emphasise th e importance in training programmes offuture and current fighten of the defensive
.. Ci. l..ono<bk '993=,61 - 1; . .... ,Gu' ' 3*' .
' 961' 36-7; ()o.bom. indudn them '" his ~ .. of uibol comp.tition .. wi,hou1 ~', in
.somm...,cin .. M., '993: ) 0- , .
)0 IIortbwia '967 = , 8- .); Vidol-Noq"'"
I~: L)l>; l..onodal< '99): ' . 0-9.
" Po,.,.., '968; Ridley ' 97'9="U- I ; Pinner ' IlU; Lontdole '99! = ' ,0-1. On Ilah!iq <:<>cit., Csapo
'99]

,. o.Yia

92

NICK FISHER

and offensive moves made by pyrrhic dancen;" its importance in the

polis ritua ls is exemplified by the oU!rage displayed by the old-fashioned
SlrOnger Argument of the Clouds, who is upset that modem youth cannot
adequately raise their shields when they are called on (dec" QUIOW) to perform the dance for Athene al the Panathenaea (988- 9 - and so, as a side
effect, deprive the boy-obsessed old man 'of his favourite sight' [Dover
1968b: ad loc.]). Connections berween the !raining activities in the gymnasitJ
and military puparations were ! !rongly reinforeed by use of the Lyceum,
~Iablished or ubuill by Pericles, and to a lesser extent of the Academy, as
training and parade grounds for the hoplites and the cavalry.l3
Youthful physical promise was probably cen!ral to the 'manhood' conlest, the nwndria at the Panathenaea: this contest was ustricted to Athenians, organised tribally, with prizes of an ox (for the tribe ) and a shield
(probably for the winner).34 It is described as a contest of ' physical size
and strength' (Xen. M~m. 3.3.1) : mlle/hOI and rlwml) and also o f the appropriate young men's beauty (Athen. S6Sf.: ' they chooK the most beautiful men and instru ct them to carry firs!' ( prorophoran . No source
explictiy mentions the ages of the contestants, but possible: parallels from
Crete or Elis, and the plausible iconographic exampks proposed by Neils
(in Coulson I t ai., 1994: tS4ff., cf below), suggest youths, eithl.r preephebe or more probably ephebes; and the shield-prize wou ld be, as in
Crete, a proof of especial readine n for m ilitary service.~ 5 In M~nI . 33 1%- 13
Xenophon's Sokrates suggests, encouraging a young cavalry commander,
that the Athenians did especially well in musical choruses 11.1 Delos, or in
euandl'ia contests, not so much thanks to th eir inherent:ly greater musical or
physical qualities, Ill! to their keenness for hOllour ( phiUJtimia), meaning in
this context the collective drive to win the honour of viclOry which motivated th em all and above III their gym"asitJrch, who provides the parallel fo r
Somtes' advisee. )6
Summing up on the question of numbers of participanlS, on Davies'
calculations (1967: 33- 40) in yean of the quadrennial Great Panathenaea,
about fifty gymnasiarchui, and about thirty in other yean, were charged
with financing, and organising the training of teams of athletes, war-like
dancers or posing beauties, through the central liturgy-system; one might
mention also the chortgoi who trained singen Ind dancen in dramatic
choruses, many of whom weu youths or boys, and needed to attain con-

.. s ..piaIly LonodaJ. '991 : ' 1l- 9 .

., cr. K,Io

.911: 7), So;

o.den in I.Joy<I (eel.) '996: "'-9. HUIIlpbreyo '974 : 90 io ph.apo. ewer

lCcpticaJ

.. IG II' llu .7S- 6; Arlo . Ado. 1'01. 60.) ; Rhodes "" Ioc. n.... woo. _~ corn ... abo II W
n.c...., lu.. ill tbc ICCO<Id ccnnuy. IG II' 9S6, 48tr.; on tbc claooical1llna, d . lao Colom<

'n-s;

' 996:
Sc:Iurun Pan 1 '99" ,)611".
., Ephoroo FOU 70I"491 Pl. SY"'p. ,IH b.
.. cr. abo Crowther '91Si NriI., in Coul""" .. ..t., ' !I'H: '54Il; GoIdbm. Ill;' ""Ium<: p. 01, and,
....11\ <Ulli:rrn .,..tion, lI~hold, in Ndltt (.d.) . 996: 9S- ''''. cr. alto Xen. II;" . . a6.

GymnQ4ia and cUmocTlJlic va/UlJ of ki$un

93

sidenable levels of timess and endurance.}7 This IS probably an undere5timate, as we hear of some funher ciry feslivais involving competitions
such as lorch-races (d . the list of tOrch-races in Rhodes 1981 : ad Ath.Pol.
57.1); and there were other competilions 100 at more iocali,ed festivals
such as those held in the demes.)8 Each yea r, then, perhaps about fifty elile
rich men went looking to make up their leams for these competitions,
seeking the thousands of ath.Jctic and fit boys, yo uths and men they
needed. In pan selecton would have been guided by paS[ fonn, but they
must also have felt a constant concern to seek out new talent, by speaking
10 relations, fellow-demesmen and friends, and keeping their eyes open at
the vario us g;ymnasia and training grounds and consulting those who ran
and trained at them. Possible glimpses of conversations at these settinlr-i
can be found in Thwphrastos' Choracr.en: the disruptive charterer, the
laiDs, hangs round schools and paiDislrai, inrerrupting the boys' learning
processes (7.4); the unnamed show-Qff who takes up the second half of S
liked to be seen in the places where the greatest crowds and excilement
were 10 be found, in the agora by the bankers, in the gymnasia in the places
where the ephebes worked out, and in the theam, in the seats next to the
generals (he also has his own little wrestling ground with real sand, and
ball-park. which he hires out to sophists, weapons-trainers and musicians)
(s.7, 9).l9 Once gyrnnasiarchs had fonned their leams, and, when dealing
with boys, had persuaded their fathers that all would be organised properly
and with detorum (d . Antiphon 6. tiff. ), their own phi/on",ia would encounge them to see that keen to-opera tion in pursuit of the prize held the
group together and developed the collettivc training and levels of tim cu.
In these ways then, afte r the cstablishment of these elaborate feuival tompetitions, at the time of Kleisthencs or soon after, the democratic system
gradually, but positively, encouraged much wider participation in athletics
and gymnastits, at least among the hoplite class and perhaps furthe r. The
liturgical organisation fostered the constant co-operation, in athietiC5 and in
choruses (and even more clearly on the ships), of elite leaders, with large
numbers of collective teams, usually from the same tribe, engaged in intense
and physically taxing competition. This will have helped to increase tribal
solidariry and to break down class suspicions and hostilities. Against the
grumbles of the Old Oligarch (1. 13, 2.9- (0) and Socrates in Xenophon'.
Oikonomikos (2.4- 9), one can plate h c homacho.' different view at Xen.

" Winkler'. bold h1J>Othais (.\1901 lha, .11 dtlm.1ic u.o..'44i w .... ephebn, tI>ouah .~,
.., ..... to to.c:k .... l!icie." tride""e; d . V;.;lal Noq .... 1986b; ']1 .
.. Ct. &11<1 Whikhcod ' 916 : U4 .
.. On "'is ",,;.;!enlifuobl. cbaroro:r, ~ J. S. Ru ..... in .... I..... b 'Glum. ('99l), lb.ophn,m,.
CM_un I....... uabI. oouru r.... "",,,y *'1ICCtI of Ad\cnlan ooclety ., ..no... ooci&I levo:h, Ibouah
one ......, ... mem""" iu. do",. ,.,....,.... .... . .. d of II>< olo.ukal d.... ocn<y
I.", 3lOt1.l, iu. eon
""",,"lion on uadnitobk oocioJ 1ypO. and ill ...tho1'. ~hol eU';', and onobbioI> oi< .. poitI"
... Ru...,,. InU'l>ductioJl, ond MiUen '99 ' : 5- 6 ... d,...,.... and """'....., ~ Fo. '996.

94

NICK FISHER

Oik. 11 .9, or Xenophon's Socrates' in Mt1I1. 3.,.16ff., where the indiscipline in the infantry and cavalry is contnlsted with the discipline and
attention to orden in the navy, and the athletic and choral teams, or, more
impressh'ely yet, the powerful speech by Cleocritos the herald of the mysteries at HdJ. 2.4.19-:11, appealing to shued festival and military experience. Nor should one forget the alleged generosity and consideration of the
young long-haired Mantitheos, countering the suspicion against him for
his participation in the cavalry under the Thiny (Lysias 16).40 The prizes
on offer for these competitiom, and the concomiunt rewards and honours
and general fame in the community, musl have made it easier for young,
not very rich, athletes, to train, become known, and proceed to the open
individual eventS, and hence to increase their wealth and renown. Thus
this need to attract more competitors helps to uplain the growth of gym11Wl4, palaisfT'Qi and trainers, and the rush of youths eager 10 gel trained;
it also suggests that poor but able young athletes could well have found
suppon and forms of patronage to develop their careen.
EROTIC PURSUITS

One vitally impotunt aspect of the activities and the aonosphere at the
gymnasia demand. attention at this point . (rymnana and pawutrai were
perhap' the s in~e most imponanl 'eninR' for arQuul of erotic interest doubtless at various levels of intensity - and for the formation and development of pederastic relation.hip': 'Happy il he who exercises in the
D""nalion when in love, and going home sleeps all day with the lovely boy',
u the 'Theognis' couplet has il (1335- 6):u Leu explicitly, there is often a
sttOngly felt erotic charge in Pindar's praise of the beaUty and strength of
youthful victors; his odes play elegantly, throu&h his mythical narratives ai
well IS his direct praisc, with the ideas of the belutiful athletes as objeru
of desire both for older lovers and for girls for whom maniages might be:
arranged. U For Athens, late archaic and early classical vaBes (roughly from
,60 to 470) repeatedly associate Kenes of homosexual c:ouruhip and play
with gymnastic SCttings and accessories;] from the mid-fifth century
abundant literary evidence attests pervasive opportunities for ogling comments, pick-ups and the development of serious relationshipll, and the
tensions and problematic decisions thereby produced; ODe can lind also
hints thaI some social mobility might be: involved. 44 Platonic settings reveal
best the general excitement al attractive new boys at the paJaufrai; mOlt
.. Ct. CartI in Eoltertu.,,, Muir ,915: .u.- . 8; Whil.head .916: 2J,4- 52.
.. ct. aloo . . PI. t..n.. 6)6f., _
. 2))b; _
o.ov." .nt: $4- 7. 's.- ,60; BuftIO", .1/'10; Ofd...,
in u.o,.d I . 19.9.6: UI/- J' . For tho intimll' uoociationo on ...... or,..,u.; oJ Il1d 110m_INa!

,6--,

>WUhip Il1d IClivity....... . Shopiro '1/'1; Kilm.tt '\19)1: '2,

7, 11-9. 9}- 7.
Thn io won bmuah. 0\1. by
ono '\190: l-4- 9
.. cr. . ... Bbwd ... aI. ,,a9: 'dl.; 8 ............ in Murny '\190: l O - S; Kocl1 H ......k , ,a); Kilm,,.

'ft..

1\I9}O: 1. _6 .

.. cr. Dlm:r 1971: 44- 9, 51- To Foucault .915: 1)'",; \llM'0I'9Ir. 95- 6.

Gymnasia arullhmocraric " ulua of Imll'"

os

anention is aroused , it is true, when the beautiful new youth who attracts a
crowd of "astai succeeds in matching up IUs lovely body with a noble
family tree, and a soul apt fo r leaming and philosophy, as in both the
Charmida and the Lyro; but it seems possible that the relief and pleasure
with which ' Socratcs' learns that the new lovely is also of known and good
family may reflect an awareness that he might well not be (Lysis 204e,
Charm. lS4a- b). Most importantly, the Phaedrw, the Symposillm and other
protreptic d ocuments demonstrate the intensity of competition between
wouldbe lovers for prc:ny boys and youths, and boys' competition to
attract attention from famous young or not so young men; and they illustrate the dangers of teasing, exploitation and betrayal, on both sides ( PI.
Phaedr. and Sy mp. pauim; Oem. 60). The theme is equally central to
Xenophon's Symposium: its setting is a grand party given for Autol ykos the
son of Lykon, who h as just won che boy's pancratwn, by hi, lover Callias,
che richest of che Athenians. The party serves to display Autolykos' very
considerable attractiveness as a catch to their fellow-Athenians, and chen to
che readers ( Xen. Symp. pass im).
Laws - in operation at least by the founh century, and naturall y d escribed as Solonian by Aeschines - protected boys at gymnasia as well as
at schools (Aeschin . 1.9- 11 ), and in che developed Lycurgan ephebeia
specified o fficial s, over forty, regulated che morality of the yo uths (Arist.
Am. Pol. 42) . Old Comedy liked to play wich the running joke that newly
successful individuals, including com ic poets, might use their fame for
sexual conquests. Aristophanes repeated his claim chat he never used his
position as a successful poet to uy to pick up boys down at the palau tTai
( Wasps 10 23- 5. Peau 762- ] ); chere was apparc:ntly, according to che
Scholia on boch passages, a dig h ere al his rival Eupolis, who responded to what may well h ave been a running series of gags - with shamdeu
boasts, allegedly in his AUuHy koJ (on which sec also below p. 99). These
jokes rest on che assumption that any member of the social dite, e5pc<:ialty
a new member. might choose to use his increased pulling power to advantage to persuade an especiall y attractive and athletically renowned boy
to sleep with him. Some o f the dangers and propensity for violence in
chese relationships were paraded before: che courts in the lawsuit between
Archippos and Teisis; our fragments o f Lysias' 5pc:ech for the case suggesl
mat the initial insults, involving aspersions about T eisi,' relationship with
his guardian and lover Pytheas, took place at a palamra. and che outcome
was, allegedly, a particularly sadistic and degrading whipping inflicted by
the 'couple' on Archippos (Lys. fro 75Th = XVII G - B).45
Our SOUTces n aturally concentrate o n spectacularly pretty boys, the real
beauties like Lysis or C harmides, or on fam ous lovers, such as Callias or
EupoJis. If such boys had to cope wich a pack of purs uers. led by the old

96

NI CK FISHER

rich, or famous new arrivah on the scene, each hoping to be able to boast
of enjoying the beauty, then meanwhile other leu favoured boys might
have to choose between len numerous, and less glamorous, and in many
cases perhaps older, suiton. The simple 'pederasty model' of Greek homosexuality, involving an 'educational' relationship between a beardless (or
downy) adolescent and an unmarried youth in his twenties appean indeed
to have been the culturally dominant norm; but the dominance of these
' protocols' in reality has been overestimated in much recent work. The
vase evidence shows a range of age differences, and occasionally apparent
contemporaries involved, and may perhaps hint at, nillher than display,
anal pleasures; and literary evidence too ane5ts age variations, and above
aU, perhaps, suggestS that many men continued to pursue, casually or seriously, boys, adolescents, or older youths, throughout their later (usually
married) lives.'
Now in all these circumStances of social and sexual opponunities and
tensions, it seems likely that boys who showed some alhletic talent (for
example in a tribal competition) but lacked wealthy backgrounds (say sons
of comfonable hopliles), could have been helped to train, and encouraged
to go in for further, more ambitious. contests, by liturgisu, or trainen; and
if they were at all attractive as well. some hangers--on at the gym might try
to help in the training procell, as pan of their claims to be accepted as
loven, or equally might help them diveniiy inlO politics, rhetorie or philosophy. Thus in principle such concurrences of interests should have
created increased opponunities for athletic, gymnastic or political competition for those of new fa milies, forged bonds of friendship across social
divides, and helped to create erotic relationships.' In many cues these
could have passed from the intensity, or pain, of love or strong desire, to I
more lasting friendship. mutual pledges and reciprocal assistance (as many
of the speeches of the Phaedrus anticipate: 232c-234C - in the Lysianic
speech; 2j6a- b, and 2j6c- d, the more and the less philosophical pain in
Socrates' later, serious anllysis).'ln other cases, love and admiration may
.. !'or d>< m<>d<1. d . e_l. H.lperin ."..: 1)0-1; ~ 1980: '~J-48; Bremmer 1980; important
q.wifiation1 in Huppntf in OIritrianKa to . ,918: '55-61; 0","" in UOJd..o. '996: '01- " ;
~ and F...,..tniDucm"". in Km>pen (cd) ,996: 65-6. 8,"""S; and OIoM1aot1 '991: eopmaUy
,67- h . 'SO..fiJ . A lana fntmcn. from roun .......... wy """,i.e ........ ~ Instrunl
01 ..... 'n 8'> to d>< ' Hnm.'. in d>< NorthWeol (>/" the "at>n. wIICft d>< ~....:J.,..PbJb>rdIo, and in
portic ..1at one: Plw:1d"", wiU be in.m.crin& d>< trOCti"" .tuden,,' (i.c. n"" ,........ and rich
and Mmuun'ina, and ;,mle them to. hiahlr (and fan ...
on<:mbon of \be ""....".) in
ric:aUy) doborou dinn<r ."...,.,..o- ond rIYC-Up (fr. 4K- A _ A[h.". 4n.e- Jd).
.. On II><sc: iuun of the I\I~ <Jt &kndotUpo in A1heno, d . Folhall, thia voIUIn pp. S.-6r, my
oympotllio will lie ocen 10 be with FoahaU in nnpbasiIinJ: the J'<I$llbili.... of ,uanliy olI<aionate
or pauionlte elemmts, II _U II intuumenlal ....... In
t""" ",lallonolUpo
.. A, 'Slib _ mich' ."Aft\ tho< the "'~""IC" '0 tho nobIeo, """pl<. t ' - ...... how ........ full
.;".. and lubdo..o the: wic ... ridd.n f*ttI 01 th<ir 00010. 'winnina: .... lin. 0I1hru &.U. in the ,col
Olympics' includtt .... Uu,ion ro 11K unhly Olympics .... , _ . . . pal fo t MldY. man: oniltwy
poitoflan: ....

""'''''Un&

-man,

97

have turned to distaste or hatred, especially i(fed by jealousy, gossip 01'" (car
of gossip. Doe may adduce hc~ the ' paradoxical' but in many ways p lau-

sible remarks in favour of relationships involving the non-lover in the

Pluulil"W, emphasising the damage that can be done by a boll1tful. jealous
or ~sentfullo\lcr (<1311, l32a- :Z34a- b ); and also the other disclaimer in the
para/xui$ from the: Wasps, that:
nQr, if any lover

full of harred It his boyfriend prnscd him to m....c the boy the butt of hi. ~medy.
has he e""'r lonc along Mth any one: li~ that, kcf:piog alwaY' his purpose Itraight,
10 at not to make pimps ofthc Muses with whom he has hi' dealings ." (1025- 8)

Further evidence to suppon the idea that 5uch athletie re latioo$hips,

with erotic ovenones, lIuractcd public anention and may have led to the
advancement of poorer Athenian youths as well as involving dangen, may
be tentatively so ught both in iconography and in speeches, above all in
Aeschines' speech against Timarchos. First, this idea may help the explorations of some obscure details in early-fifth-century Athenian artistic representation, discussed interestingly by Siua von Reden and by Jennifer
Neils. Von Reden considers a number oflate archaic and early classical red figure vases which seem to portray inleraction between young adult males
and younger men and boys, and include a money pouch being offered by
the eras/fit to the paidika in gymnanic conlexts;5(I on the other hand, sympotic scenes do not show gifts of money being offered. Von Reden (1 995a:
ch. 9) suggests thaI the relevanl difference may be that the gymtU1Ji4 were
seen as scnings of more public male control, appropriate leisure for the
community, and displays of manly vinue (aud), while sympotic contests
speak of private enjoyment, muNal pleasures and the poIsibility of excess;
hence she argues that money is acceptable in the context of gymnastic and
athletic contestS because it 'had a positive image in the exchanges that
linked victor, poet and audience, as the choral lyric of the same period
suggests' (1995a: l05f. ), The analysis seems to me to gain force if we suppose that at least in the a~haic period vase paiDlen could suggest a precise
function of money in this exchange (as in the eschmges between city and
victor, or praise-poet and victor's family), as a direct and poIitive pan in
the relationship between D1linerJlover and young athlete; it was acceptable
for members o f the elite in athletic contexu 10 o ffer '.ponsorship' money at
the preparatory stage, as well as 'friendship' and suppon, as it was recognised that money helped the young achieve e;ll;ceUence in these vital areas of
male co mpetition. Money-pouches al the .symposia", on the other hand,
.. P.ri>apJ here ..... the .. it ;"",.. 4<d .0 be lU>dcn.ood ioU at E_li,' aponK, . . 1M ocbOI;"
;."ply,
'" lndicotion. of (tmDutic MnICna, .ucfI ...!JiJ:iL., 1f'O'\&'<"' and oil fLukl ..,.y .Joe> the ..... t.a ......,
IUUoI .....,...,..tion., and man, pcrhops often lUo , ",,,.I p<lMibilitlco, .. KiLmer '!W3" <:h. 6
a_II (ct aloo F ..... tit; Ounto ... in Kampen cd . <)96: 90. 96).

98

N IC K F IS HER

might suggest much too strongly that money was being directly exchanged
for sexual favours.
Neils (in Co ulson tt oJ. 1994: 154- 9), in a search for imagel of victon in
the tuandria, focuses on a series of vases showing beautiful youths, often
specifically designated as /rau,i, being crowned by older men (and admired
by other men), and often carrying branches, wearing red sashes or ribbons
round their arms and thiglu, sometimes ' liberty caps', and nothing else. In
one such cup, by Douris, whose work contains an unusually large number
of gymnastic and athletic scenes, we see on the outside a youth with the
cap being admired by old er bearded men, while on the interior such an older
man holds out a money pouch. Neils suggest this might be unden tood as
the gymNlSiarch financing the youth for the tribal contest of the euandria .
BUI equally here too the idea may be that the viewer, reaching the interio r
of the cup, may suspect the hint of an erotic relationship behind the idea of
ftlandria 'sponsonhip'.' 1 Scenes of homosexual couruhip and activities
diminish almost to n othing on Athenian vases from about 470 Be E, for
reasons that are still far from clear. One might suggest that among the
reasons may have been dial homosexual re lationships, based on gymnasia,
athletic and military training, and then on tnlining for rhetori c and other
more directly political activities, be!:ame simultaneously more widespread
among wider cin:les of Athenians and more problemalised, both morally
and in lerms oftiu"eats orlegal proceedinp, and 10 representations of them
!;arne to be avoided . If so, scenes !:ombining m on ey and gymnasia would
seem particularly sensitive, if they implied relationships indi!:ating unequal
' patronage' involving cash between older and younger citizens, as youths
had 10 be careful for their reputations. 52
One might have hoped that Athenian prosopography would h elp this
approach. Kyle's useful survey oflmown Athenian athletes presents a number or cases, from the mid-fifth cenrury on, where Panhellenic victors or
otherwise famous athletes come from otherwise unimQwn familiu, Qr rom
those attested as ' new-rich', or as belonging to wealthy but n on-aristocratic
families. Kyle (1987: 113ff.) observed , fairly enough, that where we have no
information about the sources of th ese men's wealth, or no infonnation at
all, it may yet be the case that they all had acquired wealth independently
of their athleti c careen; but equally previous an onymity may actuall y reflect
such social mobility rather than simply our ignorance of their forebears.
" While i. io "",Iin, .o fuJlow Old ... Yiew (' 996), tho, ~ actmty __ i.",iruoonaliscd
an<! imp<>nan' (nth.. than jut, <.......1""" >mmon .. i.. manJ otmieo) in \he ,,1hcni... 1and """J,
.. i. probohIJ _ in Ihc Span ... """ Thcbal annie>, .....io< probkm io Ibt loe. 01 ""l' obW:><ao
conncaio .. bc ... rtnlbt principla of orpniootion of II>< """J, bated <WI !be KJei1.<hnIic IINCt\IteI
of 1ribn,1rinJeo WId de...... , and w ",.in
<he fO<ll"lltlon of Jeri<, ... ~I.rionshipo in !be
~":", lmjucntcd 1. ... <1, on "" indm<h>al, """ <kme, bMio. Tribally o ......... d COO"",. mi&ln
011> 10 '" 00"", _,'0 iii! <hI. I'll', bu. "'" far cnou*".
,. On II>< ",II';"'" .t.enc:oo of po~ .. lIdon. in pna1Il in " """'" Mi llett in Wo1lace-HOItrilI cd.
'1119: " - 47. On cI\anaa. III onktic ,."ukn .. don, 0 e ... I>ov<c, '\l61b: 1xiY-trti; Shopiro ' 111 ' 1
Kilmer '119).0: ,ft

...runp ,,,

"

Here I discuss just two cases. Evidence: for Lykon's wealth and status
before his son took up with Callias is ambiguous. There are faint suggestions in Xenophon's Symposio" that, while the relationships are entirely
proper, Lykon is considerably less rich than his son's lover Calli.s ( 3. 13),

who generally spreads his money about generously. had already helped
Autolykos to find the: beSt trainer, inspired him with phjJorim~ and endurance:, and was next going to train him for the: next Stage: in his carr, to

go into politics (2.7. 8.36ff.) , though there is also a fiancring allusion to

Autolykos'. like: Calli as' , having a notable: (QlIOmastoJ) father (8.7)." There
is aha an allegation that Crarinu! sitirised Lykon as I poor man in Pytiffl!
(SchDl. Plat. Apo/. 231: = eratinU! 214 KIA), along with other indications
that the: whole: family was much anacltc:d in the later 4205 by comic poets,
for alleged domestic irregularities - featuring a wife Rhodia (or possibly the
'Rhodian woman', nOt his wife) as well as the son Autolykos; and Lykon
himself was apparently stigmatised as effeminate (m(llakOf). Autolykos, his
parents, and lover were the prime targets in Eupolis' [wo plays named
Auroly itos, the tint performed in 420, and the second some yean later. ~4
This may reflect comic perptions that the super-rich Callias had been
instrumental in raising the wealth and political chances of the pair, already
memben of the elite (thus malting the father a superior (orm of leo/ax, like
the many oUien, including high-quality sophists, satiriscd al,o by Eupolis
in his Koiaitl J of 421 ). while the son acquired the d emeaning nickname
'Eurresios' or 'well-bored' (Athen . 216d. 64K/A); or it may be that LykoD'S
assets were, or had suddenly become, below nonnal elite: levels, and C allias'
suppon of them both was crucial to their rise. AUlolykos' success Wli& apparently marltc:d by a famous statue by Leachares (Pliny HN 34.79), and
apparently led 10 a laler political career, ended by the Thirty ( Plut. LY J.
IS.S); it is disputed whether Lykon then became one of Socrates' accusen,
or whether that 'defender of ora ton' (Pial. Apof. 23e) was a different man . I
am len . ure than othen that Xenophon was incapable of the ironic amicipation that would (ollow from the closing praise by Lykon of Socrates
(9.1), ifhe had indeed turned out 10 be his prosecutor."
A more interesting case may be Aeschines' family , OemosthenC'll' increasingly vicious and wild attacb are mostly lies, but from Aeschincs'
defence (2 . t47) it is clear that nothing in thc way o f noble binh and no
liturgics could be claimed for hi. father Atrom"IOS. ~ What Anchin", d a..s
claim is thai when his father was young, and before he lott property in the

.. UaleM th~re it. ,ubd~ iok< ~, .ad .... ore m ..n' ,,, Ihlnk that the)' wen: boob ' nomed ' ;"
",
.. Eupo~ .. A~ I'rT. "'..... IV. '.y>. '70 '" Sch.; sen. At . W",,. ",,: StoreJ 191,: ) u - )
.. ~ idcntificlrioa is doubted by S,orey ' \11, : p}; but ,imilar iron;.. ....y be kdI in m. pn:_ ...Iion of locl>omachoo' ide.1 .... rriap: in m. 1;p' of m. pobli<: &<:lnd&Io retolkd in Andoc. , .
' 14- 9: cr. the csposilion of vi"" in S. 8 . PoJncroy" .difion (19M' 159-6.4) .
.. Cf. mo., """",,IlJ on AeKhineo' ~.. Iy cane. Huri. 1995: " . - ) ); Lon. p.,. 19M' 137- 4) ; "'1thct
.... keo much 01 urlJ JYm<LIIDc ~nnectiona.

100

NI C K FISH E R

war, he trained as an athlete ; ~7 then, in exile from the Thirty, he served as a

h oplite in Asia, and came back in suppon of the returning democracy.
There are furth er reasons to suppose thai his sons, including the orator,
had gymnastic or athletic experience, as well as making successful careers,
as Aeschines worked his way via clerking and acting into seri ous politics,
and his brothers achieved positions of military leadership, embassies and
administrative jobs (1.147- 150). Above all, we have Aeschines' own admis
sian that by middle age he (and his brothers and other relations) had long
been habitues of gymnasia and Aeschines had long pursued, and still did
pursue, boys he mel there, and got into many fights (1.135- 140). So one
might suppose that Atrometos, when an ordinary hoplile, had l tarted to
build more respectable wealth and a military and perhaps also a political
career in pan through athletic competition, suffered a finan cial setback in
the war, and had to rebuild, but brought up his sons with burning ambi
rio ns to join the gymnastic, rhelorical and political elite; however, aUega
tio ns of erotic connections are absent from the record of the father. unlike
the sons."
More generally, Aeschines' speech againn Timarchos shows repeatedly
the acceptability 10 a fonnal democratic audience of talking, decorously,
aboul a collective and popular interest in admiring the bodies of I8lented
and beautiful boys, and hoping fo r later glittering careers for them. First,
Aeschines concentrates on the in ue of the fun ction of &:Y"', ,,...ria and ped
erasty in the education of boys, as he anticipates the opJ)O'ing view of a
'fam ous general': clements in what he will allegedly say, not t ontrovened
by Aeschines himself, include the stalement that 'all of you, when about
to have children, pray thai your unborn sons may be kalci kagatlwi in
appearanCe, and worthy of the poliJ' . H e then suggests, and Aeschines is
especially quick to make it clear that he agrees, that it would be very unfair
if young men of exceptional beauty and youthful perfection (JudkJs and
hora), whose attractiveness to men inevitably provokes desires and fights ,
were to find their citizen status challenged by l uch prosecutions ( I. 133134). Thi, ' agreement' between opponents eonstitutes some evidence that
many citizens at leaSl saw physical attractiveness, fame at the gyrmuuw, and
an 'educationally beneficial' affair with an older man as major benefits
for youths they cared fOf, pres umably in pan as sources of future wealth,
reputation and career opponunities: given the necenary qualification that
" So Kyk ' 987: >16; ",l in .. YO\U>&'. WlnflN1)' Lioubu. ('984: . !6), o n m. p/>r'oK

..,,,,aIi.

..u.uu. .,,;

.. Kyk ' 917: ' 50 n. ,60 ~ <ho, A............ _ . . , . thIe 'brio", be loLL, hiLL p ope"" ond _
tbcrof<m ...,O-off 111 <ho, l UI<, b...., .. be oraued ..ni , Aetchir>n .... "'" -wan:ndy ~~ I<l
dom. l ubttanlill wulth fOr his fod>t , ... ,
Orin.",boa (fr. V1 .'4 c...-n,,), Pf'CIOKuting
m uth t. ... ..... apparently ..,If......s.., lI\d nen.ually pro..~, polirician Pythell, _
an
10 ho"" daimN lha.. he had . ..... ' lime with Aesclr....,. (II 1lman:bot hod with IU, <lit.rq>uubk
!owen), -..., """';nl ' l> ono\h< ...." with .. boon he 1.''''''0 ' mine ",ld', i.e. mad. mone" bu,
not ... do oor
"""'t~
Pros>L*'I '0 Iili:a (i.e. 11M hod with Andlin<1l).

.".e.

.LLIf<.

......

.0.
'you' addressed to Athenian jurors need nOI have equal application 10 all
ciouns, including !he poorest metes, this does no hann to the suppositio n
thai gymnastic success could lead to mobility.
1l1is picture is urilting!y reinforced by a laler passagc, in whi<:h Aescl1inel
gives a shon list of spectacularly beautiful ooys, both of those in the previous generation and of thoSt now in their beSt time of life: (hllikio). most
of whom have: evaded damaging accusations of self-ht l<lirtril:, while some,
like: Timarchos, have nOI (I.IS5- 9). Among the respectable: older men, onc
may note, one, Timesitheos, is identified as the runner (as Kyle notel,
probably the grandfather of the lau!r liturgist Timesilheos},,9 and among
the younger ones, Antiklcs the 1(adion-runnc:r (who may be the Olympic
winner of ]40. Diod. 16.77. Mon:u; 451 ), as well as the orner Timarchos,
the nephew of Iphicratn (himself a self-made man, ArlSt. RJuI . IJ67bt8).
The whole passage makeB the auumption that there was among the ciouns a genet'lll admiration for, and interest in, the young athletes and others
who proudly displayed their beautiful young naked bodies before the popular gaze, in one competition or exerci!e or another; no doubt they took a
gossipy and malicious intereSI in who their lovers were, and what they did,
and simultaneous ly if contradictorily nourished hopes that they would
proceed, without too mucll of a scandal becoming attached to them, to
other activities in the public an:na. 60 As Winkler suggests (wi thout linking
the point to social mobility),6l this is the positive co unterpoint to the ~kes
of the Old Comedy poets (and Plato's AriSiophanes) that it is the willingly
buggered and anally flexible. the elll).priiktm, who are the real men and
the future leaden; .orne of these passages suggeSt that the number of
debauched new politicians is increasing exponentially (like Hydra heads:
cr. Plato. Com. 1.01.K/A). Thus both these and the Aeschines passages
imply that popular expectations were that extremely beautiful and promising young were often born to other than elite fathen, and proceeded to
later careen.
I hope these arguments strengthen the case that the focus of the public
gaze towards the ideal boy. youth or adult male as equally athlete and
warrior steadily expanded downwards from the aristocratic or elite m embers
at least as far as those in the hoplite dan. These cilium wen: thus admired
(and perhaps punued) in the gy"",,,si(m or running down the competition

t.

Kyk ,~S7: 'HS, >2&- , . If 00, he n the Iiothu of the tI ... ""'mbcr of the &m~, Mkntilied .. 0 Ii....
p" DmWnct.,. {D IYieI '117" ,oa- ) , and i. n .. Leu. "",.~ Iho, hit bcoul)' .ond ';';!Orin
1>c1pt<!.o"oobIUb the fomilf'o "",oltlt.
.. On tI>c I"CIDlIfbbk public ' p><' and odminlion rot nokcd )'O\llha. d . 010.0 d>c iIluminatin& article
of Uri... Bonf." 1 ~89' "')- 70. thou", oI>c ....,... '0 d.Kribc the JOII\hI portnJ"d
.n."",..ti<; or .. bopIi!., withou. ~ the iN... of.", "1'10....,;.", . Anotbcr ...m .... is proto.bly
the CONWl.luobit oflat>eUin, ond/or ohoorin, ~ ",~du .. '"u,; "" polO; d U ...,....... '990:
,06; bu. in ..""",talion 0' thO pncti.t<: ;. "'ry du.;"", d . D<wer '~71: ., 1-14; Kilmt. l\l9lb .

"',nna,eIy ..

, A. A<Ao. 7,6-'7, K-itJu' In- Io, a....ds ,039- 104, IV.."... ,061- ,." 1'4, "'- '4, It. 677; Eupo!i.
fro lao; 1'1&. Com. 1D' KjA; PI.
s.. Winidor , _: 6.4;...., now.. 1\171: '4 1- ' .

S,...,.'".-a..

l Ol

NIC K FI SHE R

routes in the streets of the city, reliant on their bodily inviolability,

strength, beauty or speed; on other occasions they were grouped collectively, and tribally, d ad in their anonymous armour; they might even be unusually - represented in high art, as in the apparent representation of the
Panathenaea procession on the Parthenon frieze the naked hop lite seems to
have become an idealised, or even h eroised, cavalryman.62
On the other side of the coin, the gravest danger for the young boyfriends in or around the paiaimaj and their associ:ned intellectual schools
was that they might lose their reputations, as had, aUegedly, Timarchos
and the rest of the bad ones enumenltw- by Aeschines, if the men.:enary/
sexual n:nure of the relationship(s) bame too evident. Such individuals are notably identified by Aeschines through stigmatising nicknames 'Diophantos the so-called orphan', 'Cephisodoros known as the son of
M olon, who ruin ed his most buutiful youthfu l perfection (kal/istan hlJran)
most disgracefully'.M and ' Mnesithws known as the rnageiros' son' (I.
158-9) . In practice, the repu tations of a great many attractive you ths are
likely to have been much more uncertain and ambiguous than the white or
black picture painted here, as the speeches in the Phaedrw suggest, and as
o ne can observe in the cases of those late r politicians againu whom ailegationl of self-kerairtsis were paraded in the courts, though not as far as we
know prosecuted. such as Epichares (one of the prosecutors of Andocides:
Andoc.1.99- IOO). Androtion (Oem. 22.)0- )6), or Hegesandra. (Aesch.
1.64)

In practice 100, the more intellectual activi ties around the gymnasia and
paiaislTrJi, the rhelOrical and philosophical discussions and schools, provided a more di rect route to elite aetivities. Many cases of relations between
elite teachen, or p ractising orators and politicians, and their young pupils
could be listed; many accounts are hostile and designed to wound (for
example, Aeschines' attacks on Demosthencs' relations with Aristarchos,
I. 171 - l, l.148, 166, or Deinarchos' against Aeschines and Pytheu, fro
VI.I), or Androtio n and Antides, Oem. 22. 30-36; Aeseh. 1.16,- 6 ). The
picture in comedy, where it is constantl y ISsumed, in general and in particular, that new young politieian$, ~specill.lly from suspicious backgro unds, had all been paidilrQ and , uryprokwi, tend s to suggest they left the
discipline of the wrestling grounds for the easier pleasures o f (hot) baths,
expensive foods, wine and sex, and the more directly relevant training
offered by sophists and rhetoricians. llUs panern has the added advanlage
or en abling comic poets 10 abuse the new men for their unfil flabby bodies,
pallor, thin chests, smalt or worn-away bonoms, as opposed to the muscular, and militarily useful, young athletes (for eumple Ar. Dailakis 2 14
., a . Humplirryll99J : "';- lMi; ClsI>otnc 1987b: ' O}- of .
, I hope 10 .. ~ ..-e
k_rMo . -.... ,

.bou, ..

Gymmuj" (Jnd demoatJrj,

tuUUU

'0,

of leisure

KIA, Ach. 7J6, and above all the (JrJ>I of the Clouds PDssim).H The subtle
pomait of the 'Slronger Argument' in the Clouds, however, with its obseslion wilh haunting lhe gymnasia, and ogling boys' genillls, the fmlas),
fond ling at Birds 1}7- 41, like the later pictute1l in Aeschines' speech and in
TheophraSlol, make it dear that erotic interest, and serious, and potentially dangerolU, n:latioruhips remained equally likely to de\'elop between
keen and fit young athletes and their elden.
Some of these re lationships, as suggested above, may have developed
into lasting and important friend ships, in which sexual desire played less
of II. pan (an apparently ran: case of a long-standing, nill homoerotic,
re lationship is presented in Plato's Symposion, between Pausanias and
Agathon). Aeschines' speech against Timarchos, in a d ifferent way, may
possibly testify 10 the strength of these friendships. Those accused of associations with Timarchos (whatever the nature of their re lationships in
fact) appear 10 have stayed ' Ioya]' to him lind refused 10 tenify or agree to
Aeschine5' challenges (though they are likely to have hId other m otives as
well). Aeschines' acco um of Hegesandros' manipulation of the arbitrationprocedure in his case against the state-slave Pittalakos, involving an old
friend and alleged IO\'er Diopeithes ai a mOil hel pful arbitrator, points in a
limilar direction ( I. 6)- 4). Gossip and scandal were very frequent, bUI
prOl'iecutions for iterairiJis perhaps \'ery rare, though the IWO we hear of
were appan:ntly successful, C leon's of Gryllos (referred 10 in Ar. Knjghu
g75- g) and Aeschines' of Timarchos. Reluctance to give evidence by the
aecused's alleged parmen and perhaps still fri ends would have been a
constant problem for any potential prosecuton."'~
II seems likely, then, that gymnastic and festival needs, military ambition s, and the desire among many non-elite Athenians to shine, to rise.odally and to shau aspects of the good life, produced a great expansion of
athletic and gymnastic activity, as I believe comparable desires and opporwnines produced a markedly greater spread o f elements o f 'sympotic ' style
in the many occasions of shared eating and drinking, at festivals, in religious and social associations, and among groups of friends. The interesu
alike of the state, the tribe, and the individual liturgist and performing
it0UP, in atuining success at varying le\'els of the games, permined perhaps panem s of support or palronage for young athletes and other competitors; social pressures, however, may have necessilaled thai such palterns become increasingly circumspeci or coven. Such suppon may in rum
have aided social mobility and provided brief or lasting friendships for
ambitious youths; some of these friendships may have had temporary or
.. Tbot< who .~ up with fI>< l(>ttiaIi.. pbilooopM .. weft tuppoocd to iM up both JYll"'*>lti<::s
_ "';nc:, """ bonIc p .... _ IIIin (a....t. 10l. 4'\I - ~ " 440) .
Ct. a1 ... F~, this 'f<>I. p. 60. Cf....., on th .... prooocutioM, Winkler '9'J>IX: )4-6.

t 04

NICK FISHER

more extended erotic ekmenu. On the other hand, such relationships were
regarded with deep ambivalence, and carried multiple dangen, above al1
for the upwardly mobile younger men; fear of gossip, or even fear of prosecutions (or al least the threat of prosecutions) may well have inhibited or
destroyed lOme such relationships. Thus these complex patterns of athletic
and social activities will, contradictorily, either have increased opportunities for many Athenians for advancemenl, close relationships and
consensus, or, on the other hand, have produced further grounds for lensions and hatreds.

7
The seductions of the gaze: Socrates
and his girlfriends
SIMON GOLDHILL

This pape r will find its focus in a linle read but highly instru ctive passage of
that much maligned writer (' no philosopher', ' inadequa te historian', 'great

influence on the novel'). Xenophon. My broadest interest here is in die

cultural politics of viewing within the classical poIiJ - a subject given particular emphasis in current debalt. partly because of the heated contemporary discussion of pornography and the politics of representation,'
As will become evident, a concern with the scene of viewing will necessarily engage with the ideals of a citizen 's .clf-conuol, with the thrcau and
iun::1 of erotic vision, and with the complexities of social exchange between
citizens and non-dtizens, males and females - and all the dynamics of

power and manipulation involved in such negotiated self-positioning.

Indeed, Xcnophon will prove a fascinating and subtle guide to the questions of personal rdations in the polis which motivate this volume.
I will begin, however, with some rather general remarks by way of introduction to the topic. It all, always, begins with Homer. In Homer, the
hero's visible distinction is a key mark of being a hero. When Helen and
Priam look from the walls of Troy in the teichosropia, the prin(:es of the
Greek force arc instantly to be seen as outstanding figures , and described
as such. 'Stature' is a visible, srn::ial quality. When Achilles is fa(:ed by
Lycaon he sa~ (II. 21. 108- 9): 'Look at me. Do you nOt see how big and
beautiful I am' - for the best of the Achaeans is inevitably the most beautiful. When Hector, the best of the Trojans, is finally kjlled, the Greeks
gather round and 'marvel at the sight of his beautiful body' ( II. 22. 370- 71 )
- and then stab it repeatedly. The most shameful of the Achaeans, by the
same economy, is ' bandy-legged, with a dub foot, both shoulders humped
together, curving over a (:aved-in (: hest, and bobbing above them, his skull
warped to a point, sprouting dumps of s(:raggiy, woolly hair' (II. 2. 217-

vi.,.

, A deb.,,< fucUed m... , _endy in du. ks by IIk h lln ( '\III) whkh ,..Un "'" _ too _ " . .
oa Kt.ppeiet ('986) ;..,. 0110 HiQint & Silver ( ' \III'); TomuclU & !'"onu (. ,86);
&
Tcnnc ........... (, ,19); lain ( '99) .

Arm.""".

'0,

106

SIMON GOI.DH ILL

19) - and he rail, violently at the social positioning that condemns him to
baseness (before being physically wh ipped imo place by Odysseus). In the
OdYU9, Odysseus, the nicky one, can rerum in disguise 85 a beggar, but
even then his massive thighs show through the rags, and it is with a 'body
like the gods' (Od. 23. 163) that he finally snides into his oiko!. In the
OdyJfty, the gap between appearance and reality is opened in order to be
closed in the niumphant epiphany of the hero. Odysseus is 'beautified' rerumed to his proper glorious physical appearance - before each crucial
moment of return: it is as a hero thai he stands revealed to his wife, his son.
The suiton, who 'look like kings, b ut do nOI behave in a noble way', Iris,
the flabby and weak ' beggar king', the mon![T(lUS distortion or the Cyclops'
body, construct a pattern of disloned ' body language' againsl which me
hero is (to be) viewed. The modality of the visual ineluctably fTimes the
hero.
Athenian society was always enough of a performance culture 10 validate
this Homeric sense of a hero', construction in the eyes of othen - fighting
for the limelight was good Athenian and Greek practice - b ut the Kleisthenic reforms and the growth of d emocracy crealed new and specifically
democratic civic spaces for competitive performance, and, above all, a new
sense of the act of being in an audie nce, being a th~ate$. In the democra tic
polis, the scene of viewing has a new political constitution and it is this new
sense of the public, civic gaze thai will be importam for the fo llowina dis_
cussion. Both the law-coun and the Assembly required a massed citizen
audience, public debate and a collective vote 10 reach a decision. Democracy made the shared d Ulies of participatory citizenship central elemenrs
of political practice, and thus to be in an audience is not just a thread in the
city's social fabric, it is a fundamental political act. It is to play the rol e of
the judging poIiln, the main stay of democratic decision making. When
Thucydides' Cleon sneerinaJy calls the Athenians thearai ttJn wg6n, 'spectaton of speeches', he is in part anacking their inability to come up with
the er8t1. - bUI he is also aHacking whal in Athenian political ideology was
proudly highlighted as a commiunem 10 putting things IS mescn, ' into the
public d omain to be contested'. In trying to denigrate the rol e o r the rhearc, Cleon is challenging th e very principle of democratic participatory
citiz.cnship.
This is nowhere deare r than in the institution of the thearron, the space
for viewing. The audience - which I ha ve discussed elsewhere 2 - mapped
the city, its socio-political divisions; and me even! or the Grea! Dionysia which I have also discussed elsc:where' - took the occasion of the larges t
gathering of po/ira; in the calendar to protect and promote a particular image of the polis and the citizens' duties and obligations. This vasl audience
of citizens and the rituals of civic display create a remarkably charged space
Goldbill ('\190).

Stductions o/ Ille IfIUlt

"7

for the conlesls of SIliNS in Ih~ city. The biller row b~tw~en DemoSih enes
and Aeschines is ostensibly on the subj~cl of II pr~s~ntlltion of II crown to
D~m osthenes in th~ th~IItr~ at this tim~ . D~mos th~nes ' speech Agairur
MtidiaJ is pr~dicat~d on Ihe fact that MeidillS punched Demosth en~s in th~
theaD'c: - a physical abuse that becomes highly significant b~caus~ of its
s~tting. D~m os th~nes' accounl of M ~id i as ' appearance al the Dionysia
shoW1 well the sense of status at stake before th~ gaze of the citizens:
'Those of yo u who were spectators (rhw mmDi ) at the Dionysia hissed and
booed him as he entered the theatre, and you did everything Ihat showed
loathing of him ... ' (Oem. 21 . 226). Peter Wilson has te llingly demonstrated h ow the orator's d escription of the scene is full of theatrical language, as Ihe social drama of M eidias in the theatre becomes Ihe subject
of funher debate on Ihe stage of the People's Court.4 The theatre was a
space in which all the citi;zens were actors - as the city itself and itl leading
citizens were put on display. Spectacular vi~wing.
This democratic fonnulatio n of the socio-political spaces for viewing and
the coroliary formulation of the citizen's role as participating in - or lIS the
object of - collective, judgmental viewing are an im portant conlext for
understanding the city's imperial, architcctural programm e ( led by Pericles
and the Parthenon). The Parthenon frieze , if Robin Osborne is colTtet, is
the fint example of temple architecture 10 represent the civic body.' AJ the
citilen processes aro und Ihe temple to its entrance, his viewing of Ihe
Panhenon frieze's representation of a proceuion implicates hi m as spectalOr in a particular engagement with an idealised aristocratic image of Ihe
democratic citilenry performing its re ligious practice. It binds the viewe r in
a reciprocal proceu of self-defi nition . If, as joan Connelly has contended , 6
the friele represents the heroes of the state, the processing citiun is engaged in a different proceu of negotiation of and through the idealised
image of male figures, processing. Like the IDpDi of the fun eral oration, with
their links between the heroes of the past and the soldier-citi;zens of the
present, the topography promotes and projects Ihe ideologically charged
ro le of Ihe citizen. The theatre's dynamic of spectacular viewing, the construction of the citizcn ga;ze as the fram e in which S(IIN! is marked , finds an
analogy in the construction of an image representing (representatives of )
the whole city, on the city's primary symbolic strucrure, thaI binds the
viewer in a reciprocal process o r (sc:lr-) derlflilio n.
So tOO the Stoa Poikile, which runs along the Agora, offers the citi;zcn an
important, state-funded self-image. The paintings which give the Stoa its
name, $Ct in juxtaposition Athenian victories oyer Spana wilh scenel from
the , ack of Troy _ affiliating put and present gloriel in a military m essage. 7
This Will bunressed n Of only by caprured armour dedicated in the Stoa,
1V~ ... n (' 99 ' ),
o.bom. (1 ,111 .
Connelly (' 996).
, Sci: Caotrio.. ( '99~) for disc,...;"n ond b..blio ..... phy.

108

S IM ON GOL DHILL

b ut also - at least by the time of Pausanias - by II statue of Solon, whose

rol e in democracy as a founding father helps connect - as ever - me political
and military injunctions of me state .' The famous Marathon epigram, inscribed as pan of me same s.chema, funher links the different elements of
the paintings, since this Athenian-led defeat of the barbarian forces of the
East plays II founding role in the rhetorital self-projection of the Athenian
litate, so well anal~ed by Nicole l..oraux.' Again, a novel architectural experiment seems designed to face the citizen spectator with a pattern of
nonnative imagery, to engage the viewer in me l"C"Cognition of the military
and political obligations of citizenship.
This sense of viewing and judging was encapsulated also in an extnrlordinllf}' tomperition in the Panathenaea. For among the other internationally attended artistic and athletic competitions of this festival was a
competition in eua"dria . 11tis contest was limited to Athenian citizens, and
was organised on a tribal basis. Although d etails of the prizes and the fonn
o f competition are problematic,lo the euandria was probably 'a beauty
ConteSt .. . in which the criteria were size and strength. 'II Since the contest
involved strength, continues Crowther, ' m ore than mere posing was involved. The competitors had to perfonn. The tuandria , therefore, as far as
can be ascertained, was a team event which intorporated elem en ts of
beauty, size and streogth.' 12 As the modem 'beauty show' wim its display
of a particular image of the female (and the di,cun ion of that display) is
ham n ot to see ItS an event that embodies a wider discourse of viewing and
gender in contemporary Western cuilure, so me eua"dria may stand as an
iconic event for Amenian culture. That the most important festival of
Athens should include a tribally organised, team competition which judged
citizens as physical specim ens, seems exemplary of the way Athenian
democracy creates and promotes a particular culture of viewing.
I have offered what mUSt be in the space of this chapter a d eliberately
impressionistic account of some asp:ts of the classical city to make a first
and central point in my argument. The d emocratic city of Athens - its institutions and practices - constituted a particular cui/un of uiewing, in
which the roles, statuses, positions of me democratic actors were conuantly being muctured in and through the gaze of the citizens. This collective, participatory audience is a fundamental element of the d emocratic
poIn - a fundamental aspect of what constitutes public life.
This point is important 10 have made because it is often forgotten that

n.. ~u1p.urc ;. IIl"'od only in P.w.anl.. ( t .'6) -

""""'' '"",rw>C<>uo

and th ... diflicull It> d.~ ,.;th ccnainry, thou ...

..-itt> the d ...leoJ rcinwntion of tho lip-< or Solon

i. ia pI.Uliblc: that i. n
de..,......1k he",. See Mo... ( '919).
Lon.IU (1916).
'0 Tlw: Ario,,,,elian ,,'-'. 1'<11. (60.) "'m""', thield prilcs;. fourth...,.",,,,,,
u ' ,)tt), ~" opifi.. on 011 and 0 ... hUndM d.rachmo. .
" 5 Crowther ( ' <}IIs). Tl>c: quocalion n &om pqe all.

"

~.

pn... i:n<ription ( f G

(.935) In.

SlducriolU of ,lit Ilazt

'09

the discussions of optics begun by IXmocritus and othe/"$, lJ or the articulation of the paradoxes of sight and knowledge in the OtdipllS Tyral1l1W, I ~
or the challenge to the primacy of perception undertaken by the sophists,
or indeed Plato'. theone, of ..,imtm, epistemology and vision, have this
highly relevant cultural and political COnlcxt. Indeed, this extensive fifthand founh-century discussion of different aspects of the modality of the
visual forms in this sense a self-reflexive commentary on a major principle
of democratic practice, much as the extensive discussion of the use of
language - its deceptions, ttuths, and powers - continually reflects on the
central place of the public exchange of words in the working of democracy.
Scrutinising viewing is pan of a self-reflexive democratic discourse.
This brief introduction - which no doubt could be extended in a varie(),
of ways - is Sufficienl, I hope, to frame a remarkable passage of Xenophon
which has scarcely been commented on by scholars,, 5 but which seems to
offer a striking set of insights into the dauical culture of viewing, It is a
passage which has not yel entered either the canon of art historical cxeguis
(which focuses rather tOO narrowly on the trope of eephrasis and the rhetorical tradition that privileges ecphrasi.), or the discussions of gender
studies. Yet it traces in a faSCinating way many of an history's and gender
study's most prominenl contemporary concerns: the logic of the gaze; the
gut and desire; the politics of looking and being looked at. '6 Xenophon,
of coune, is not an evident supporter of democra cy as a political system; 17
yet even his writing, as we will see, is crucially informed by his contemporary l:Ulrure of viewing, and the contemporary sense of penonal relations
implicated by it,
The passage in question is M t moTabilia 3.11 , but the passage itSelf
receives an important introduction in the previous brief dialogue (3, 10),
which I shall look briefly at fint. Here, Socrates visits a painter ( Parrhasios), a sculptor (Cleiton) and an armourer ( Pistias). The discussion is
significantly introduced as evidence of how Socrates was 'useful' (w;t~I~~)
to those who practised ans and workmanship, nbc demonstration of
Socrates' ' usefulness' is a central plank ofXenophon's apo logetics.'&) With
Parrhasios he begins by aslcing if painting is 'the representation of what is
~en ' (Elkaaia -rWII Opwlo'iv<.lII) since 'you represent and copy (CmflkOi;oVTES
" For an in~"'OIlna <IItc_ of ,I>< ",I<n Qr...,un .. '""" """tytl~ ... d~ "'--" , ..., Sin>""
( ' 988).
.. For. " ........ ;"., or ... . ;n.,. in,.,11nul Ct>fl, ..., "';,h funht-' biblioP*Phy, "" GotdbU! ('9116)
' 99- 2>1.
" J. io puticu.....,. .u~
I no mention o f it in ..... rucn tudin of II>< ,\~,
Morriton ('994) '9' - .03 ('Soc.. tn ..
of <roti<t') and O'Canno< ('994) C"Tl>< cro<K: ..11'...1IIcirncy or Soaa_'), Thon i brief disalWon of ....... ,hct ~OI' is fiI!,JK fur Alp.ooi.o in
Henry {l99s1 4' ;0, (Davidoon '991 ~ ~ Ihio I:>ool. .... ;n pmoC,)
See HI particular ~ ( 19116); fkttIOR (.<)f,); Ptnlcy ('911),
" On Xonopbnn'. poijlical oWlCe 0 Panal< ( ' 99-4> (,u'on", ind.blNi '0 r- S .... u..); Tatum
e09f9); Farber ( om); Hiaino " m )
" See Morriton ( . 99>t), ond Slev<no ( ' \19-4), ~ .. hoI< ofbook 1 n in\J'Oll""Ni .. otorico of ' SO".., ............. ful !~'l lO!booe wbo ...... om"", l...... n:I. nobl. end.'.

'0

"'*""',

no

SI M ON GOLD HILL

iK~IIIfiae.:)

through colours' bodies of various types. This standard account

of representation as the reproduction of visual form - with its associated
ideas of aCCUfllCY, verisimilitude and a vision of the real - is first agreed by
Parrhasios. ' And yet', continues SOCflltc:s, since it is not easy for one person 10 possess a completely blameless form, does the artiSt not 'combine
the mosl bc:autifulaspects' from a variety of forms 10 make: an image, 'in
forming the likenesses of beautiful forms at least'. Parrhasios agrees thai
indeed in this way visual reproduction is also inform ed by a cen ain idealism. So, Socrates continues, is ' the character of the soul' (Ti'js "fV)(i'ls T!60s) a
sub}c:ct of co pying (III11'lT611)? ParThasios replies: ' H ow could IO mething that
has nei ther colou r nor any of the [physical] qualities you have just mentioned, and which is not visible at all be imitated?'. As is noted by Agnes
Rouveret, whose fine study of an and the imaginary begins from this very
passage of Xenophon, this dialogue 'expresses for the first time a debate
which will continue througho ut antiquity, namd y, how to render the invisi ble visible'. 19 H ere Socrates searches how to express ' the character of
the soul', and this too will become the specific search of Hellenistic painling and writing about painting in particular, where the discrimination of
eUwJ in the external behaviour and visual signs of figures is a constantly
addreued theme. n
SOCfllte$ proceeds to ask PaIThasios if aspects of social evaluation thai
arc nonnally applied to internal qualiti", are to be-. found in external signs
of expression or pose or gesture: is it not the case that 'dignity and free:dom, meanness and slavishness, discipline and discretion, insolence and
vulgarity - .11 show themselves in the face and gestures of u ill and moving
subtc:cu'? So says the famously ugly Socrates. ( Plato's Alcibiades in the
Sympo~ium , by contrasting Socrates' external ugli ness to an internal, spiritual beauty, paradigmatically articulates the turn away from a H om eric
visual regime, I turn which bomes central to Western evaluation or the
n on-corporea! over the physicaPI) Oemosthenes reveals the political, evaluative side of this physiognomies when, for example, he accuses Stephanos
of falsely imitating the pose and gestures of a good citizen, of ' preten ding
10 walk with heavy and s.c:rious expression, something a person would reasonably judge to be the signs of self-connol and sense (wphrosunl') ' (45.69);
50 Apollodorus can enjoin the jurors 'Look at the appearance of this woman,
and consider whether she - Neairal - did these d eed s' (59.1 15). When Parrhas ios agre es to this painterly physiognomics, he is open to the final m oral
ofSocrat~ - that it is bener to represent the good, the noble, and admirable
characte r (';60 than the base, the shameful and odious. The move away
,. (19119) 'll

"_t biblio&fapbycouJd

be ~ he", . On Iw in ..... sec C.I. Pomn (' 9"74) ,l(- 9. On Plo'Q "
and _ ....... c Kculo ( '918) 99- ' 09; on ""..,,<Ie and '"""'" 1ft H.ltr.r.n ('9U) 131- 67. M"",
aenenoUy, .... GUI (1914) .
Jay ('993).

.. s.. t."

&ductiolU of the gazl

'"

from representation as reproduction of the visible is thus marked as specifically ethical - the calegories of the moral and the artistic, as ever in the fifth
century and not only with Socrates, overlap. The 'usefulness' of Socrates
to the artist is to be found in the recognition of the place of the ethical in
representation - thai is, ilS use{fuln e$5) in the order of the polis.
The second example of Socrates' usefulness to artists is with a statue
maker (].IO. 6- 9). Socrates wonders at the beautiful statueS of athleteS and
asks him to explain the quali)' of lifelikednen (TO 'WTlk OIl tcivra6cu ),
which, he says, particularly 'seduces men through their faculty of vision',
a lit IJOAIO"Ta 't'VJ(Cl)'wyEi lilo Tils O'fEWS TOUS &vepWlTOVS. The danger of
artistic manipulation and distraction tha t is so evident in Plato (and in the
sophistic challenge to the security of perception ) finds an echo here particularly in the verb psyciJagogei'l, ' distract', ' manipulate psychologically'
(which term Plato, following Gorgia!, privileges as a sign of d istraction
from truth towards the faUacies of appearance Zl ). When the Slatue maker
cannot answer - aporia co mes early in Xenophon - Socrat es suggests that
lifdikedness comes from ' taking an image from the form of live models'.
This leads to a similar argument to that of the previou s encounter with
Parrhasi05. Should feelings (TO lfa6rt) be included with the other schemata
thai are persuasive and true to life? Agreement with this p rompLS the conclusion that a slatue m aker sho uld ' assimilate the works of the soul in h is
image' (TO Til~ 'f'Vxils Epya T'il filifl lT p0c7E1 kO"'III). The verb proJtikau in.
which I translated as 'assimilate', also recalls the process of copying an
image, apeikaznn. H ere 100 with the Statue-maker, Socnles' conclusion is
designed to introduce the ethical - the qu alities of a good d tiu n - in tO the
process of visual representa tio n.
The third and longest visi t is 10 the annourer. Pistias (3. 10 .9- 15). H ere
the useful argumenl is about usc itself. For the attractio n of beauty itself
is explicitly made secondary to ' proportion' (pv6;J6s) without which the
brtas lplate has no ' use' (~o<;) . The q ualities of comfon and fit outweigh
n OI m erely beauty but also simple, accurate reproduction of bodily form.
Since bodies can change shape, and move in d iffere nt ways, the crucial
characteristic of a breastplate, it is agree d, is ' not to hun the wearer when
he uses it'. If the pai nter and the scu lptor are encouraged expressly to
consider the representation of the ethical in their work. the armourer's
simpler categt)ry of what is u seful underli nes tha I the category of the ethical
is to be evaluated within the fnm e of the polis. It is the recognition of the
lise of the ethical in an as a force in the life of the polis th at m akes Socrales'
di alogue with artists useful. For the figure of SOCratU, the politict of looking requ ires that the role of ethics in anistic representation is recognised
and controlled - as what is usefuJto the city in making better dtiu: ns. This
is not a point, I take it, thai would ha ve been lost on the d esigners of

n:z

SIM ON GOLD HILL

Athens' programme of imperialist civic decoration. (Or on the Socrates

of Plato'. R~ub&. ) An and viewing an are pan of a politics of control.
In me (democratic) polis, mere is a new political culture of viewing.
Rou ... eret concludes mat mis dialogue represenu a crucial moment in me
history of an meory and perception: 'one can ask', she writes, 'whether
Xenophon's dialogue does not constitute precious evidence of a moment
when painting, con ceived .. an image rc:s.embling the visible world, imposes
on aesthetic thought new figurati ... e problems and new criteria of apprc:ci.
arion which lead it to play II. pioneering role in the exploration of sensible
appearance'.2' While I agree that this passage is cenainly testimony to the
selfaware discussion of viewing and the role of the object and su bject of
viewing in la Cilt des irnagu, I would emphasise not only the contribution to
a narrowly concei... ed history of aesthetic perception, but also the wider
political point: that in the democratic polis with the cirlun as theateJ, and
the new spaces for viewing thus created, there is II. new culture of viewing
that changes the relations between the object and subje<:t of an. Although
it wou ld be: ...ery hard to claim that there is any specifk lhrnocratic (as opposed to, say, oligarchic) political agenda in these artistic encounlen of
Xenophon's Socrates, the civic thrust of the dialogue shows how the gaze
of the citiuns in the polis constitutes the conditi on of possibility for the
debate. For alThough SlaNe making for victorious athletes may seem to
e... oke the arislo<:utic milieu typical of Xenophon'. writing, the role - the
me - of the am has been significantly reformulated by Socrates' question
ing. The statue maker docs nOt discuss monumenlal memorialisation of
fame (for all the lalk of vic lOry), in contrast with the way Thai Pindar, say.
compares his poetry for aristo<:ratic palrOns to slatu e.making. 24 The
painter, for all the ta lk of what is halo,., does nOl consider the glorification
of the kaloJ kagathas as hero. The annourer does not reflect on how armour
may be 'stored as a treasure (or a king, both an ornamenl (or his horse and
a glory for the rider', as Homer puts il (II. 3.144- 45), but agrees thai 10
value armOur for its beaut}' is misguided, even dangerous. Value is localed
in the object's use, a use defined by its position in the visual regime o( the
polis. Whal should be represented, what should be viewed, how should the
plastic am be used, 10 m.ke citi:zens better? These questions, which arise
from Xenophon's attempt to defend Socrates' role in and for the city, are
informed by the nonn.ti ... e ....Iues of the polis, its sense of how the visual
field is (10 be) organised. 2'

" JU.u..t"" ('919) "

For on ""Ue,,, aceoun, of W (CIIlrural) politico of Pind ... , _ Kurio< ( '99' )'
n II it .....p~ to opeaoi die, ..... brief ch.I>I... of ..... M ...
uriltin&lJ panieul. form
of writinL
,ud oIoud .. oympoaio.. SUm><mded by ..... ;"'0,.", of oympotic: wart, with ilS
K<'O<I>poninu:nt of horok " .,......... atId ..... ,ocra<ic c%f>CCI1oo.., the "'be ...... of tlUo diqu..
qucotlon of .......... in on imA would ho..., wid ... politic-' point fur the mak
of ',.",po...... thon Rou ... tr! 0110 .... l bil rqrrtKD\.Otion of Socn~ ... ..-t tinun it tOO<!
to.
Xtnopbon', Iwlio"",.o think wi.II, "" Ii /'<fUt'.

ubi"",.

_n:

"""P

("'''''1)

SMuuums of the gaze

"3

It is, however, quite remarkable that Rouverel does not see this discussion of an 10 be in a significanl relationship with th e following dialogue of
book 3. which givc:s an c:qually fascinating insight inlo Ibe role of viewing in
the polis, and the Socratic enquiry into it. (Neither Rouveret nor Zeitlin,26
who follows Rouvc:ret, mc:ntions the passage.) It is this funher visit of
Socrates to the artist's studio Ibal will lake up Ibe remainder of this paper.
The opening paragraph introduces several key aspects, and makes a
strong thematic connection with th e previous dialogue. It deserves to be
quoted in full .
YVV<> '''~ &1 non oVol]S tv TIJ "If 0),(0 "",),,",s. ~ 0v01lO ~" 9ro6OTI). It'" oios O\M;""" .,.c;>
"lff'&oVtL. 1oI"'l<:r6iVTO'\ <l1iT;;s .,.';'v "lfOpOVT"'''
It,,; f'"lfOVTO<; 6.,., I<pI'iTroV fi'1 ),oyou
.,.6 I<a~o<; Tf\S yvv<l.I<bs, ,,0; ~ypO~ tnoOVTO<; f;O.Wo. lI pO<; "":/"TTl"" a llmooclli"""'i. oIs ;"""'lV .... ,6"""':",,, ;O\fTi'js oXro I< o).i:><; ;Xo,. 'I n ov av ';'1 e.a.oo..,mV'l. ittl a

""..os

Iwl<pO'tT oil yap

6~

a l<oilooo( yt.,.6 ).':'you I<PliTTO" Urn I<Q"TQloLo:r6f.iv.

At one time, there wa l I beautiful woman in the city, whOle name Wli Theodote.
She was the lIOn orwoman who conloned with anyone who penuaded her. One of
Socrates' companions mentioned her and said that the beauty or the woman was
beyond expn:ssion. He also said that painten wen! to her 10 paint her, and thallhe
showed them as mueh of hen;elf all was proper. 'We should go', said Socrates, 'to
look al her. For it is not ponible {o know fully merely by hearsay what is beyond
expn:5IIion.'
The beautiful woman ('God's Gift') in th e potu is classed as someone
who consons with anyone who persuades her. avlJETval is a general tenn for
th e range of companionship a hetaira or conson or concubine provides. but
TC;> ,uI&C!vn enters her into a particular realm of exchange. Peilho implies
'seduction' as much as ' persuasion' - it is a central tenn linking erotics and
rhetoric in the pofis,17 and it positions Theodote prccisely. She is nOI a
citi;l;cn wife or daughter who should not be a figure of 'seduction', but
rather of 'obedience' (peithesthai l . Theodole is (thus) named without any
defining mate kun"os. Z8 Nor is she a /'0",1, a figure on display who can be
bought by anyone with th e m oney. She is not for sale by a pimp or madame.
Rather, she is a heraira, who needs to be persuaded for an appointment. If,
as Foucault suggests, the classical Athenian texts are concerned deeply
with the position of power and control - selfcontrOl - of the male subject,
then the ht"a i~a is a particularly difficult fillure for the dynamic. of male
authority. Beautiful and desirable - bUI who's in charge? N ot biddable
nor buyable - but perhaps persuadable. Male selfdetennination - selfsufficiency - is set al risk by the figure of the hetaira . As we will see, this
dialogue is fundamentally involved with the overlapping categories of eros,
e,onomi" and persuasion - and precisely with controlling the figure of the
heUlira as the locus of desire and expenditure .

.. Zo;,lIn <ISI'H) '92- . .

... The ......tl nl >Iud, ,onum. awn,," ( '91 .
:to s."" on ..... m... nama, Schlps (19n).

1I4

S IM ON GOLDH ILL

Painters visit this Theodote [0 paint her picture. Both the term5l;wypa~
and cnmxal;I'III h elp forge an explicillink with th e previous dialogue, as the
painters' (and Socnnes') visits rehea"e and reverse the previous scene's
trip to the artists' studios to discuss beauty. She displays ofherselfwhal it is
fine and proper (IIaMs) to display. This tpUkixis of beauty must be underStood within the gender lenns of the period. As much as a man's body is
displayed in the gymnasium and Assembly - or in the euandria - and his
StatUS fonned in the gaze of th e citilens, a woman i$ not visible in the same
way. Within the idealised (male) d iscourse of propriety, a woman who is
properly controlled - in all senses - is DOt open to the gale of men, except
under carefully regulated circumstances, particularly within the limited
sphere ofreliaiou s perfonnance. (It is not by chance that ' love al firsl sight'
and ' the glimpse of the woman al a festival/funeral' an: topoi of New
Comedy and other genres of writing. ) The prostitute is distinctive because
she is open to the gau of men. To be seen is 10 be available for further
exchange. Herodotos' celebnted talc of Candaul es and Gyges - lold of
Lydians bUI to Athenians (and other Gtteks) - demonstrates the dangers
of transgressing the conventions of aidoJ and visibility. To sec the naked
queen is 10 enter into the violent exchanges of dynastic succession. For the
queen 10 be seen n OI only is humiliating for her, bUI also leads 10 disaster for
the man who displays her in such hazardous circumstances. The Gorxonic
dangen of looking at the female form are leen from Hesiod onwards: the
figure of Pandora - the xa;\.OlI XOXOII - fabricated to deceille by appearance,
is rewrinen in Greek male writings' often vitriolic horror offema Jc make-up
- cosmetics and false Jchemata. 29 So for Xenophon to describe Theodote as
showing 000 ",all~ l){OI, is to mllfk the fine line of propriety. How much is
it proper to sec of the woman? What is the acceptable limit of the gale? The
accepuble limi! of display of the female body? Where is propriety to be
localed in looking at a beautiful Mtaira? Theodote, as we will sec, is nOI
naked - but is dressed to attract; even, like the spider, dressed to kill: and
how she fits into the dynamics of exchange will soon become the quenion.
Socntcs ends the opening paragraph by agreeing to go and view
(flEQaO!!Evov<;) the woman, since what is greater than logos cannot be learnt
by mere heanay. M Socrates with ironic literalism poin ts out the implications of the companion's phrase - how can what is greater than IogoJ
be described adequately? - Xenophon encapsulates th e classic problem of
eephrasis and beauty ' Beauty (unlike ugliness) cannot really be explained
... Every direci predicate is denied it; the only feasible predicates are either
tautology (a perfectly oval face) or simile (Iouly a.J a Raph(Ul Madonna )' ,)0
. . . or, as here, it may be subjected to hyperbo lic aposiopesis (&auty IHyond
.. On Htliod .. ~ ~.I. Lon"" ('991 ['98.1) 7J - IIO. I have ditcuoKd wNl AdUlIes T ori ... ~.ul 1M
of '*'Om ..... and othct lal~ oceoun .. of 1M bon'OrO or _ u p in Goldllill
( ' 99}) h - l , 90- 1.

"""Aao-." "'(........"

... Bortl>n ( "n5) )J.

u,

&dw;ticm of the gaze

Btlufl. Beauty can only be trOped, not accounted for. In this remark,
however, Socrates also utilises the standard Greek criterion of the primacy
of visioo aDd preseoce - the eye-witness - as the onl y adequate basis of
knowledae. Since the dialogue will go on to question the simplicity of such
terminology, this remark too must be seen as part of a Socnnic irony.
They find Theodote posing for a painting and they too vinAl he r
(i6f:aaavro) - as the philowpher and his companions double the (professional) gaze of the amsL When the painter has finished, however,
SOCf'ates asks a quite remarkable question which goes to the heart of the
pub lic constnlction o f status:
lTCiTlPOV illl6i 51; 1'6)').ov 9Io&6T.) X6P ... [xl"" (>Tl illll~ TO ~6;U~ i<:nrrfti. rnS611~, "
TairTTlV 1111;\1, l>Tl iema611f6a;

OUght we to be more aralefullo Theodole for dilipla)ine her beauty to us, or she to
u S fur viewinl her?
Cham, whose range of meanings stretches from 'gratitude' and ' thanks',
to ' grace', 'beauty', will be an importaot term in me exchanges of this
dial ogue. It is, of coun.c, a central expression in the dynamics of phi/ia political, as much as sexual, philosophical as much as economic. theological as much as familial" - throughout the fifth and fourth centuries.
Cham always invokes the ideals of reciprocity. Here the process of looking
is opened 10 discussion as Cl m:iproroi mgagemenl, aDd placed im mediately
under a rubri c of a word expressive of reciprocal obligation. The glJ".e. for
Xenophon's Socrates, even - especially - when directed by a man at a
beautiful woman, is nOI a unilinear proccn of objectification.]2
SOCf'ales immedi"ely specifies what he means by his question in a way
thaI again links this d ebate to th e previous discussiOn: ' If the display has
been more uuftd to her, she oughl 10 feel gratitude 10 US; if the sight has
been more wejW to us, we ought to be grateful to her', ap' E; Ioll11 TttVnJ
~'\.I<.:nEpo: loT;V ~ "ti5E,~.s, TOV-T1'j\1 ill'iv Xap.1I ~ KTiov, ~i 5i illl;1I t'l &to,
tllolaS TaVrl). It is the category of th e meftd thai derennines th e value of
gazing and being gazed at. As art is 10 be useful 10 me potis by virtue of its
represenlation of the ethical, so il is righl to ask if it is m ore useful for a
penon to view or to be on d isplay. The answer Socrates prol'O'es 10 his
ques tion is formulaled wh olly within the fifth-century fram e of the necessarily public construction of Status. In Theodole's case, he begins, 'she

" For.,...". di......ed familW virna< in ~ ~..., ~.l; lOt pJoiN. in ~ "" ~ .",
' .10. On """"', 0 H.,."..,. (1917) .. pec:IAIlJ 4. - 1, , 01, " 9, 'J'; Obn" ( t,39) Z26-3' ; Milktr.

{t99 ' l 12J- 6,..,.;.m bibliotnphy; M.d.achlM ( ' 99) ; ond moo, ", ... nd, in tht t>ro.dql conle><l,
...., R.ed<:n ('99"') ..... cA. .....
.. Sma <Itio poopu .... <>ripilty ...nnon lhc fine ....... of Frontioi.. Duao ... ('99') 11M
..miclt " .... ut .... iv<: d.mOnllf"lDon o f the: ",ciprocily of vision in Grod: cum..... SI>t writ.. (10) :
'tou, a qui en J"'C eoncom. Lo "';';011 , oowmio Ii un principe d. ~biI;I., I...... P'<unl p.o

_.red

,.;poor-.; doc I'""' .....'

M,

116

S IMON GOL DHILL

already profits (Klp50ivlI) by our praise (fn'OIIlOS), and when we spread the
repon to m ore people, she will find it more useful still'. Since praise, the
aim of competitive striving for status, is won on the lips of othen, and they
have been praising her, Theodo re's stock can be said to have risco; so 100
their future accounts of the event will be of benefit, of usc:, to her: the more
people who hear of her fame, the more she will have ' profited '. This
accounting - or even commodification - offemaie status in praise is a view
that stands against the grand public version of female ' report' famously
expressed by the Thucydidean Pericles (unless one reads here with a very
suong sense of Socratic irony, not borne out by the remainder of the discussion ofvicwing) . Bur it is fundamental to this dialogue that Theodote is
not a citizen wife, the class addressed by Pericles. The named entering of
public discourse here by a femal e is overdetermined by her status. For a
ht foiro, publicity - being in the public eye - is a central negotiation of status. It is because Theodote is a iuuzira that Socrates can raise the question
of II benefit in being viewed, and why, as we will see, oulside the normal
proprieties of oil/OJ life, she can a150 be a threat to the self-sufficient male
VIewer.
This striking position on the viewed female body is completed by
Socrates' version of the act of viewing itself: 'We on the other hand now
desire to touch what we have viewed, and we will go away titillated, and
when we have gone, we will feel an unsatisfied longing', ';lifiS 5t ,,5'1 TO WV
l&toaall~

lmElvlloVlI!1I aIV<Jatlal, 1<01 aTTlj.llll

vno K vl~6 l1lllOl Kai

anu..60vns

no&!iaojJf.lI. The effect of viewing on the men is to produce desire, l pecifically a physical dc:sire 10 touch whal has been viewed. This desire titillates,
itches the men, who will go away and still feel a longing that is not satisfied . Ifse lf-control and control over the passions are the aim of a citizen's
askuis, viewing is a stimulus to 1055 of control, to an uncontrolled desire.
The psuchagogio, seduction, of men through opsis, vision, thai was the
concern with the statue maker, is h ere too the philosopher 's worry. Thus,
concludes Socrates, 'it is natural (til/Of) to inrer that we arc performing
a benefit (6EpanMw) and she is receiving a benefit (6tpalTruro6<n )'.
Thtraptwr"n indeed implies nOI merely a ' benefit' or 'service' but also specifically the servi ce a lover offen his beloved, the care and a[(entioD o f a
suitor. Looking at a beautiful woman is useful, ellen beneficial for her, but
it is unsatisfying and even dangerous for the (male) viewer.
AI this poinl, however, Theodore herself enten the conversation to agree
with Socrales that hers should be the gratitude in this scene of viewing (if
Socrates is right about praise and desire). Unlike the (an -)objeeu of ) .10,
Theodore is also a subject who speaks (though, as we will see, her lines will
be carefully di rttted by Socrates). As we enter the eroti cs of exchange, and
gender ~omes a crucial marker, the distanced argumentation of Socrates
with his male anists takes on a different and more problematically engaged
form. Unlike the brust-plate or statue, Theodotc talb back - and thus

&duclloltS of Iht ,au

"7

needs to be carefu lly ... watched. This opening remark of Theodou: - as

often in Xenophon - seems to confirm the 'success' of a Socratic elenchU5
from the mouth of his interlocutor, but it also opens the way for a discussion between Socrates and TheodOle that tllkes the dialogue in a new
direction (tho ugh one that has already been signalled). For Socrates - now
- notices (Op<;..v) that Theodote is expensively dressed and well attended,
and that her house is lavishly appointed, and he begins to question her
petition in the economics of exchange. We move thus in a carefully aniculated way from the opening discussion of the usefulness of an, via the bene6u of looking at a beautiful woman, to how this beautiful woman benefill
from or uses her beauty.
Socrates leams that she docs n ot have a house or a farm or a factory that
produces income; rather that ' if someone becomes a philos to me and wants
to treat me well (ru rrolfiv), thai is how I get a livelihood'. The standard
Greek ethos of 'doing good 10 a philcJ' here seems euphemistically or
ironically to imply a range of possible negotiations between Theodote and
her admirers. Socrates retums the verbal veil with a pun on how this alters
the normal economic means of production: 'it's a much better possession
to pouess', he sa)'$, ' a flock of friends than a flock of sheep'," As d esire
loves to be veiled in language, so talk of the social positioning ofTheodote
as object of desire is disseminated into puns and euphemisms.
Indeed, Socrates continues by wondering if she attraCI$ friends by
chance or by some device (I.I'lXaYit), a device which would be even more
suitable for her than for a spider, who also 'hunu for a living' and '\I,reaves
subtle webs':)4 oicr6a yap ~ hlll\ICI1 &f1pWcrl Ta rrpOs T/W ~io..,. apOXllla yap
6i!rrov M"rrTa Vt 'lllO:l.IVOl ... 'For you know how they hunt I livelihood:
they weave what you might call intricate webs .. " The language of hunting
is tommon in erotit contexts (as is th e behaviour of presenting game 10
prospective lovers);3' so too th e 'intricate', 'fine' Q.uno) weaving recalls
the archetypal female work in the proper economic order of the household
- as in Socrates' famous advite to Aristarchus who is headins to destitution
because he has so many female refugee rclations staying with him (Ment.
2.7) : he persuades Aristarehus to set them .11 to weaving and thus with
propriety saves the oikoJ from starvltion and ru in. But weaving al50 reCIIIs
the archetypally tricky n8(ure of female behaviour. Since the ~ at
least , female weaving is a potentially duplicitous puctice.'6 Here the double use of the language of subtlery o.unO:) and weaving is underscored by
the c1assit mark of Socratic iro ny - 6ilrrov.

of.-..... -

" 0.. Ihe nI ... 01 pona,in.~, - wid> Ihe _

~.t>ulay
00< M .... ~ . 4 , _ . in
II<"1mol. 5\ ......... ('994).
,. F<><. Jknop/><><ltk Socn,,,,, ' ..........tion ollhc nlO>ddcnin. bile 01. opidc:r ond the: ...... r. kIM. on
.l-t-. I .}.U .

.. Set ~ . . .scl>Mpp ( 1"9)

.. See ..... Bertrm (197'9); Snyder ( 1981 ); ond copccio.lIJ JenkiJu, ( '''5).

118

SIMON GOL DHILL

This imagery of hunting is extended over many lines as the dialogue

continues. This most wonhy form of hunting - the hunting of friends requires udl1lZ, says SOCT1Ites. So even when hunting for hares - the lowest
fonn of game - uchnE is needed for the different rypes of pursuit. Special
night dolS (I(vvo:s WI(T~ptVTI I(O:S) are sometimes Uled, since the hares feed
at night. (The significance of night hunting here is not so much to do with
the 'chasseur noir' of ephebic lore as with an innuendo aimed n Theod ote 's pursuits.) Similarly, other day-dogs are used to punue the hares that
retl'Cat ~is n\1I tVvT,II, ' to their beds'. The hares thn run fast in the open require fast dogs and neu. Theodote continues the conceit: ' Which approach
should I use to hunt friends ( phiJoi)'? Socrates: 'Not a dog, b ut someone
who will track and find men of taue (philokaloi - thOle who are (to be)
philo" of her kallos is one implication of 'good taste' here} and wealth; and
when he hu found them he will devise a way to drive them into your nets' .
Theodote does not try to find out what son of iii penon this human tracker
of men of wealth might be; from the perspective of comedy it is difficult not
to think of the leno as the figure hinted at; but $he d oes ask what her nets
might be. Socrates replies: III ~ 5';TTOV .. . I(at ~a;\a Eli 'lupnr;\11(6I1WOII,
TO awua, 'one for sure ... and that's nlther close folding, your body'.
'lHpm;\lI(6~I\lOII, which I trans lated somewhat awkward ly as 'close folding',
could be used o f a net to imply simply a carefully made - well braided twine; but it slso strongly luuestl .omething thlt is intricn e, devious and
binding. It can also be used for a physical embrace, to 'entwine' oneself
round an object or person . (So in the passive fonn always in H omer. H )
What is more, it is used to connote the weaving of a euphemistic lIeil of
words - to hesitate to l peak directly.3!I Thus self-reflexively as Socra t~
plays with the displaced lang\lage of desire, the carefully chosen image marked again with 6irlfov to indicate the requirement of careful reading suggest! in iu range of interwoven senses the idea of veiled sense itself.
This is, however, Socrates. The punning reference to the net! of the
body leads straightaway to tallt of the soul: 'and in the body, a soul, with
which .. . ' The soul teaches Theodole ~ all f~~Mlfovoa xap~olo, ' to look
in such a way as to gratify' a friend . N ow as Socrates turns to the ethics of
behaviour and to th e soul (a familiar move from the previous encounters
with the amsts), the Iilrg\lment is turned so that Theodote il 'loolcing'
(!Il~;\htoVO'a) and, indeed, nOt so much feeling gratitude as gratifying or
gracing her man. (The 'h4 ris one is to show a philos is here refonnulated
within the (com)modification of exchange her positi on seems to require.)
Thus after running through some of the kindnesses she can show a friend,
.. Sec . . 0.1. '}.}}.

.. S c_. . ... n<I1lnO 1.5. .......... ~ """ 01&' h<.>! ~, "'P' " AiK'" 4l.,. """, ~I'ipo",tor
Oiunyooo, I don't _
thol i .... k.oq> i101Pn,1bo Ihin. all do,'. 'Ill< ' thin,( that iolxu., &I<>UW
io, .,r """"'" .,.mod, Ibo ..... of , .....n:t.oo. bod,. in prootituli"... Far th<. cquinlcn, uo<: of me
........ ,,,,,"1.6"'" '" <he- IIf<1'IIl note of M _ . ( .990') ad 4 94- 6 .

u.
Socrates sums up thai for a friend who treats her well she: should 0"1)

Til

'+'Vxil KE)(apiaSal, 'gratifY him with her total sou]', For 'whc:n you r fric:nds

arc pleasing', he: concludes, ' I know mal you persuade: [(:IPJaptithdsJ them
not by words but by deed s'. The: opening dc:scription of Thc:odotc: had
been of a woman who conson ed with TO:;> ITi60VTl; now Theodote: is said by

Socrates to penuadc: (6:V(nf(i~L~) her friends of her feelings by dc:eds and

not by words. The: opening question of the: dialogue: had been to discover
where the: choro in looking Bt Thc:odotc: was; now it is tracing in I different
way the

,ham she

shows her friends. Socrates' line of questioning is in-

verting the language of exchange in which the dialogue has been set u p.
At this poinl, Theodotl: denies knowledge of any such hunting devi ces or
traps - Socrates. note, has had to put into Theodote's mouth the: standard
negative portrayal of a woman as tricksy seductress. full of devices, as he
continues to set he r up for his put down - and the dialogue Illke. its thin::!
tack. For Socrates agrees that with friends yo u are not li kely to win them or
keep them by force (lii<jl - the standard 0pPQsition to "arM); but one
should use good deeds and pleasure. This commonplace of ethics leads to
a strong SIlltc:ment of the values of rcciprocity in the same language that the
dialogue has already mobilised: 511 ... TTpW;OV j.lEv ;oiIs +PoVTi~oVTas aov
T010VoO <i~loW, oio TTOIOVOW o\nois \.lIKpOTa-rO LLEA~O'u, tTT(ITO Sf o\rrilv
a[Ai~l Xl;lp,'ol'i"'l" TOV I;I&;OV TpOTTOI', 'when peQple care for you, you
should make only such demands as they can satisfy with a minimal outlay.
Then you should pay back your thanks in the same way', Ch(lm is n ow to
be constructed on an equal (minimal) and reciprocal basis. Q[AilH0901, with
iu lense of requital and payment, significantly qualifies the values o f cham,
with its more general sense of reciprocal gratitude, as the minimal request
for the assistance of friends receives a similar immediate return. In this
way, philoi remain longest (a common source of worT)' and concern in
Greek writing about philia), claims Socrates; for 'you are likely to gratify
(xap~olo 6.v) them most if yo u give what you have to gi\'e when they ask'.
The economics of gratification appear here to aim at a stable Stale, where
need and satisfaction coincide, As when good food is offered to a sated
man, or inferior food to one who is starving, the punuit of pleasure depends
on observing the kairos of des ire and satisfaction. Thus, concludes Socrates
(after the discussion of desire has typically found its exemplary case in
fooep9), i[ is bell to satisfy the strongly felt desire of an admirer, and
to avoid any indication of imminent gratification (xap~l) when the
admiren are satiated.
This conclusion appean to be constructed as useful advice to Theodote
in the punuit of her livelihood, a son of ironic venion of the advice of
... &00". lyopch.",. ,.pOj hutwiao

' <li m!n"" .al

.. , '10 ptactioc oclf..conlf'Ol

lO\II"1lrdl deIire f .... food, drink, oeK . : (U. , .) io the ~ dtKrip<ion of$ocn.' .. ' ..... in tbc
__
oftbcM~ ,

M,

120

SIMON GOLDHILL

Socrates to Aristarchus and his female reiations - as ifbe were advising the
htUlira in the way he advise:d me: artists and armoure:r. Bur his advisi ng also
turns out to have: had a pcrformative: function, as the: dialogue takes a
fourth and crucial tum. For The:odote: is now made: 10 ask Socrate:s 'why
don't you be:come a fellow-hunte:r [O'VII1h]po:Tt1sJ of friends?' . Theodote
appears to be: asking Socnue:s to play me role of hunter of phi/Qi that he:
outlined earlier. His talk of de:sire and hunting and me dynami!;s of salisfaction have: led her to desire him to stay with her (1JV\/iIV(J! T~ mi60vn).
Thus Socrates: rov yl vil.o.i. i<;oT'J. 1TEi&TJ ~ I'E aV, 'Yes, by god', he said, 'ifjIQu
can persuade: me.' Now it is Socrates who is offering himse:lf as obje:ct of
pe:rsuasion, object of se:duction. His speech about hunting frie:nds has le:d
her to want to hunt him. We: are watching the: personal relations of clie:nt
and hetaira at work, seeing how the dynamics of peid!6 function with this
very panicular client - lIS the: ugly but attractive Socrates is now being
couned by the beautiful htUlira .
The:odote: asks how she: can persuade [1TEieElv] him. He replies: ' You will
yourself look and you will find a device II.ITlXOvTJO'fl], if you want something
from me'. TheodOle must!lttk to find a way, she must ask - try 10 seduce the maste:r. 'Wanting', 'asking', is a common expression for a specifically
sexual request, as ' giving' is the normal te:rm for the 'granting of se:xual
favours', that is, compliance. Throdou ('God's gift'), the /utaira, will have
to IIs k .. SQ, 'Cume and visit often', she eneouragel. And SocrlllC:S:
hTlOl<W'!fTWII Tilv OVToU .mpoYJlO<l'liv<l.... AM .:, 9i0&0T'l. ~'l. oV 1TO\l\l $10' ~1i16v
iaTl "X01l0aa,' KO; yap ;Ii'o 1TpayllCTo 1T01l1l';' MO; li'lIU>o'o 1TOpX" 1>0' ooX01lio .... licn
5i Ka; ,;1101 1101. oi oVTt i)l.IfpoS oVu I'\I1<TOs
oina.... iOaovoi I'l 01T'"""". ,i1lTpa

oq.

TI lIo...e6VOVO(II 1TOP' 11>00 KOj hfc,>66l.

mocking hi, own lack of political activity,laid 'Theodote, it is nOI at all easy for me
10 tmd the time. For many po.... te and public mallen of busineu like away my
leisure. Also I have mlny girlfriends, who will nOI let me 110 out day or night,
~IIUH they I re lumina polions and chann. from me.'
The ftinatiou5 exchange between two different practitioners of the wiles
of d esire tums 10 explicitly labelled self-mod::ery, mocke:ry now as Socrates
places himself within the civic frame that has structured his remarks on
viewing, usefulness and ethics. The picture offered of Socrate:s' positioning in the politiCal world is highly complex, however (and not only because
it is a gesture of self-mockc:ry in a sociel)' where self-promotion is the normal trope: of se:lf-re:presentation - o r rather because this self-promotion is
of a figure of self-mockery). It dep icts a man highly visible in me public
eye 40 but not formally e:ngaged in public institutions; a penon whose
apragmcwmt is so well known (lind yet whose behaviour in the cil)' leads 10
... So X""""",,", in hio <>pcnina; dCKription of Socn,a ....... a ( ... . IO): &.ua
....;...-.~ 'b ~

__ olwayo In Il>c public eye'.

1...11'11\ yo 6,; ..... iJv iv

public trial and execution);41 a citizen who has no leisure to visit a 'female
friend ', because he has a set of 'girlfriends' (phi/ai ) who will not let him
out 'day or night' - to continue lIle innuendo of the hare-hunting conceit.
These girl-fri=ds to whom he is su bjected, however, are learning 'potions
and channs' from him, me master, as ifhe were me aphrodisiac-mongering
old woman of erotic discoune (rather than a Platonic ' midwife'). The next
paragraph names Apollodoros, Antisthenes, eebes and Simmias as Socrates'
companions at home, constantly with him because of his spells and IUI"e1.
Are th~se his 'girlfriends', then, with whom he has to stay in?"z Or are !:hey
the Johns to his madam?"" What educational transaction is being represented here, lIlen? 'The Girls' keep him at hom e, while or because they are
learning in tum spells from him - spells which have also bound them to
him. In what waf$ d oes Socrates use (his pupils as) phi/ai? What analogies
an: being drawn between Socrates' and Theodote 's pursuit of philoi? As
Socrates is perfonning his seductive, ed ucational ploys o n or with Thet)dote, his talk is of the seductive, educational ploys he uses. And for the
reader of !:he dialogue ... ? Where is the , hans in this eJ[change?
Socrates' manipulation of the position of the desiring subject and !:he
object of desire is fully played out in !:he last exchangt: of me dialogue.
Thwdote, impressed by Socrates' talk of his ' devices', asks him to live
her his iVy~, his 'magic wheel', so that ' I may spin it for you'. Souates,
however, declines: 6:;\.M 1-10: t.i' ... OUK aVrO<; u.Kw6al TTpOs- Of jkN;\.ol.l<:n,
6:;\.;\.", Of TTpOs- till TTOpE.lif.o{lOI, ' I don't want to be drawn to you, 1 waotyou
to come to me', The question is, who is to be master (of desire)? Who to
punue (visit), who to be pursue d (as Sappho putS iI)? Socrates explicitly and Ihus wim what deviousness? - expresses his wish to be sought as an
object of desire; not to pursue TheodOle, subjected to desire. Since this is
Xenophon's dialogue, Theodote immediately agrees to this reo rganisation
of me visiting arrangements enacted in the opening scene of the dialogue:
OUO: TTopruOOIJ,QI, itrr I.IO\lOV UTTO&iXOV, ''' I will come", she said, "only
mind you let me in"" And wi!:h a final twist o f me politesse of erotic
reception that closes lIle dialogue, Socrates responds: 6:;\.;\.' VTTo5Ef;01JO;i 0"1:.
itT). ell' Ill) TIS tl1.wTipa aov Ev50v D, '''I will let you in", he said, " unless
there is someone (female) more of a friend to me inside'" - some better
ai rlfriendl Theodote will have to take her place in !:he queue of phi/ai,
Socrates' girlfriends, striving for Socrates' acceplancc. If the ,elf-control
of the male is threatened by his subjection to desire !:hat is stimulated by
viewing !:he alluring female form, Socrates' mastery (ovcr d esire) makes all
his pupils his female friends - who have to visit him, ask him for grace and

. , On Soc:ra<n' .... iq"" form of ....,......""'. lICe Can.. (986) 11._ 6 .

So jill ,aken in moo, modem tralllla,ion .
" So the lDob _ ..... Qui. Fan""" (JNT Ii... ). Wbo the ",.;J",' "'" bo<:omn liard... 10 w>dtntaftd on
dUo .... odq - .. it the 1ln.oI1"rl<......... 0 ~ (occ bdow).

III

SIMON GOLDHILL

favour . Socrates paradoxically inverts the standards of the male discourse

o f desire, as in his demonstration of his mastery over the subjections of
d esire he himself becomes the object of d esire. ('Is it m oce useful to view
o r be viewed?', 'To desire or be d esired ?') As Socrates has o ut1ined the
economiCll of desire and satisfaction, and IS he has manoeuvred his way
through the logic of gratification, n ow once more he stimulates - performs
- the titillation and challenge of d esire thai he had deprecated in answer to
his opening question. TheodOle's desire to be received will have to wait on
Socrates' receptivity, his philia. As in Plalo's Symposium , it is Socrates who
is to emerge as the strange object of d esire by demonstrating his m astery
over the position of the desiring subject. Socrates wins control in the erotic
game by becoming - and manipulating his position as - the object of desire
for a desirable beauty.
We began by looking at how Socrates located an in a public, political,
ethical context, and we have m oved via the discussion of looking at the
beautiful woman through the discussion of winning friends to this point of
erotic flirution , apparently far from the concems of art and mimesis, titi:tCnship and power. One significant connection between looking at art and
making friends, however, is in the scrutiny of the process of viewing - or
more putisely in the empowerment that the male subject qua citizenl
fheafes experiences, discusses and needs to practise in viewing. If 3.10 was
aboUI the connfUction of the good citi1.en by the producing and viewing of
art, 3. r J is about the construction of the good - the self-controlled - citizen
with regard 10 the erotic gaze, and the retiprocities of erotiC'5 in a social
setting: in short, philia. The viewing subject is what is at stake, as the dialogue t'W'" or ~ifQrms Socrates' ironic control over the hetaira's belUty as
a disfUptive force in the d ynamics of male control.
This d ialogue begins, then, by stipulatin g a reciprocal relation between
the viewed (female) and the viewer (male) - of praise and starus on the one
hand, and unsatisfied desire on the other. When Theodote's standing in
the exchanges of eros and livelihood is further uplored, however, a more
complex positioning emerges which on the one hand analyses the established relations of exchanges in the pursuit of phi/ui - the logic of ,ham and on the other perfQrml or demonSlrIItes the shifting dynamics of desire
Ind power, as Socrates' sedu ctive discussion of pursuit rums himself into
the object of Tbeodote's desire - a condition he stimulates and flirtS with
inconclusively, though the last word is most d efinitely Socra t~'. Socrates'
opening account of the viewer 115 'titillated and unsatisfied ' is finally turned
against the beautiful woman, as he invertS the power relations of the scene.
( In the field of eros above all, the gaze necessarily invokes the categories of
power and ge nder.) In this way, the dialogue which is written in celebration of Socrates, may also hel p un cover something of the fhrt!a( o f Socrates,
the corruptiDn he brings to the city. For as much as the self of the citizen is
constructed in the gaze of the collective audience and llJ"Iiculated in the

"3
reciprocities of t;itizenship, so here Socnlcs explores and tkJwbilisa thole
reciprocities, the logic of that gaze. For despite Socrates' exemplary uiumph over the threat to sc:lf-4;onrroJ that a beautiful woman presents to the
male gaze, it is achieved by a persuasive irony and punning that destabilise5

the secure and direct uchange of language; an eroties of teaching that

turns his pupils inlO girlfiiends, learning charms and spells, and SOCTlltU
into a master visited and pursued ( like an object of beauty, seducing as
much as persuading). What is more, the previous dialogue's discussion of
artistic Conn with ilS disjunction between ethical represcntation of the soul
and the reproduction oClhe image oClhe body here develops into a shifting
dynamic of viewing and being viewed (as well as the disjunction between
Theodotc's beautiful body (and ilS efferu) and her soul (and its deviccs.
(The next dialogue will discuss the physical condition of one of Socrates'
companions .. .) This analysis of the practice of viewing - the recognition
of the manipulation of the uses of viewing - offers a challenge to the presenution and recognition of the citizen in the glan: of the public view - a
challenge marked also by Socrates' own self-mocking presentation of himself as engaged in the business of citil:enship. Socrates confuses the modes
of exchange - words, te.aching, gnltirude, desire, vision - by which a citizen
is placed. Socrates' triumph over the hetaira is won at the cost of the
biurre represenllItion of him with his girlfriends.
If the gue is to be com;:eprualised as a process of objectification by which
male subjectivity is constructed, as Kappeler, followed by Richlin and
othen, have argued - the world in his imaging - here at least arc to be
traced the ruses and ironies, reciprocities and seductiofU, by which the
subject is represented as being at risk and being maintained - and the
paradoxes to which such strategies of self-detennination lead. 44 Similarly,
this dialogue shows how the model of the aske$iJ of the self developed
so influentially by Foucault for the classical polu needs to be supplemented
by a more nuanced account of the negoti.ations and engagements of the
subjeCt, especially in the eroti c sphere. Indeed, the models of power offcrcd
by Kappeler and by Foucauh will n:quire a more complex articulation if
they are to account adequately for the twists and turns of Xenophon's
dialogic writing.
Xenophon has an oblique relation to the democratic system and has his
apolOlletic agenda . N one the leIS, IUs dialogues giye a fascinatin&; insight
into a sclf-rdlcxiye discussion of viewing as a constitutive factor in the
socio-political condition of being a citizen. The passages I have discussed
demonstrate that it is insufficient for art historical enquiry to limit itSelf
to the few well-known discussions of painting, eephrasis or Platonic censorship of th e artS: the system of different discursive siles of the polu is
.. Sec Koppel ( '91l6); IUthlin ( ,wJ ); Ib< cin<mm.:: modc:l fol~ tr, Ko>pp<1et has bn dml_
lenlled ",,,,,\ m:ently from. l..ocanian penpecti"" by Copj<c h W4) . }_)B .

1~4

S IM ON GOLDHILL

fundamental to understanding itt culture of viewing. Socrates' encounter

with the lutaira m cn the subject's concern with erotic viewing and desire,
and explores different relations of exchange and reciprocity, as it represents the pcrfonTIance or a complex exchange, the: scene of JWitM berween
Socrates and Theodote:. Penonal rc:lations in the poIu arc formulated
within these owriappin8 discouncs of art, politics, prostitution, eros, philosophy: it is this intricate nefTOrR of languages, the Anrra apaxvlQ constitutive of penonal relations in the: poIu, that Xe:nophon lets us see. 4 '
.. "This pope. woo lint

deU~

in Cambridte, _

.ubKquently in California _

Princnon.

diKuJPono, ~J F,...".. Zeitlin, ond

th.nb In TDdJ Boyle ond Frnma Zeitlin fo. tho in.... tioru '" tpoO;" """'rica.

Thanb 10 all

..too ><ttribUlC<l to ....... nll>c-r lint,

8
The Athenian political perception
of the idiotes 1
LENE RUBINSTEIN

In me year 376/ 5 one of the Athenian amphictyonists sent to Delos was a

citizen who bore the unusual name IdiolC's Theogenou5 A'hameus.1 H e
was nOI the only Athenian who answered to this name: one olher IdiolC's is
known from a cune tablet from the: early fourth century, but since: the
cunc:r failed to add Idiotes' patronymic and demotic there is no way of
tclling whether he: was identical with Idiotes the amphicryonisl.)
The name: is a$ striking as it is rare. The noun idiot/s does not have:
strong nCBativc: connotations in Greek litcfliturc: of the fifth and fourth
centuries; nonethc:lc:ss the: name is striking for its rarity, and all the: more

urilting for being bome: by an individual who had evidently achieved III
degree of politiu! prominence:. II is WQrth invc:stigating why an Athenian
would want 10 label his son in this way. Jdiotes is clearly a name with
ideological overtones which may be compared with the well-known Hippoor Dmro- compounds. But while the latter are relatively easily interpreted
as testifying to the political leanings or social aspirarions of the bearers'
fathers (or m othen), Idiotes ill not 50 straightforward. Was his father a
'Quiet Athenian' who wanted to m a~ sure that his son would Stay aW1y
from the political arena of Athena?- Did he choose the name because he
did not want his son 10 grow up to become a doctor, a shoema~r, or an
officer in the anny? Or did he want 10 stren that his son was an ordinary
Athenian. born from an ordinary and honeSI citizen who did his best to live
up to the Athenian democratic ideal?
Fortunately, we arc nOI entirely in the dark. A fai r amount of information has survived about Theogenes of Achamai, who was probably the
father of Idiotes the amphictyonist. Theogenes was, to all appearances, a

n.oou.,

I I _Id like to thank tho liton ond my 1"Df!<I'>dcnt, Dr. R.

fao-thcit uocful .-uncn .. ODd
critiriorn. I om 01.., il"ldcbtcd In Pn,r....... C. Carey, Dr. M. H. H ....... , and PI"ofHsot D. Whitewbo Ilrtt COIIlIl>mted .,., <hit ....per "
, 10 tt' 161S" 7. Dcnlin ( ' 919): 140.

he""

'IGtn_. _ J- 4.
This 01".' k'fIlw beta _

...nou........

from

eu. ( 1986).

'"

126

LENE RUBINSTEIN

very active Alhenian citizen in lhe fifth cenrury. He was elected inspector
( kata.skopoJ ) by lhe Alhenian people to be sem out wilh Cleon in connection wilh lhe Pylos affair in 425, and he had acquired enough of a public
rePUtation to merit his inclusion among Aristophanes' nugets in WaspJ,
l'eou, Birch and LYJistrata.' The scholiast commenting on PC"" 928
infonns us that he was attacked on lhe comic Stage for being 'swinish,
smelly. and poor', and anolher scholiast reports lhllt he WIIS 'a wholesale
merchant, a charlatan, and PJeudQploutos'. 6 In other words: a standard, active, fifth-century citizen of non-aristocratic stock who met wilh standard
comic abuse. Unless we assume that, at some point during the fifth century, Theogen~ grew altogether exasperated wilh Athenian politics (and
Old Comedy), it is unlikely that he wou ld have chosen the name Idiotes for
his son if this signalled wilhdrawal from the poli tical life o f the polis and
minding one's own business. Admittedly, idww was sometimes used about
the apragm611, but lhis usage is m oS( prominent in philosophical ta l$ - and
the philosophers were not exactly the most enthusiastic supporters of th e
Alhenian democracy.7
It is far maR: likely that Theogenes' choice was determined by lIle fact
that lIle word idwrls was sometimes used to denote lhe ideal Athenian
citizen wh o exercised his political righls. It is true thai idiorls is very often
used in opposition to polis o r to koi"o". yet lIle word does not in itself
indicate that lIle person concerned has withdrawn from the public life of
me polis in order to 'mind his own business' in lIle non-political sphcu.8
The idio/ls plays a pan in lhe political life of Athens as eady as the middle
of the fifth cenNry, and (what is more important) when we finl meet him
he plays a very active pan indeed. In this capacity he is better known as ho
bouJomnws t4n Alhmai6n hois txUD'", the Athenian who acted OD his own
initiative a$ a speaker in the assembly and the coum. 9 It is this use or the
word which lies behind Lycurgus' famous enumeration oflile categories or
personnel which manned the Alhenian democratic institutions: the poIiuia
is made up from three elements: lhe magistrate (an:MII), the diJr.(J.n ls, and
lIle idWw'. 10

.u.

Thuc: . " 7.) . Ariotop!:>. W,,-,/>I' "I], I'nou \1.8, Bi,./,

l.y<iltrt;ua 6).
I ArioIOJ>h. IWu 921: 900,; _ "","0 ' ... vri ...... """,Ia. ~a . a..~ y<tp l> 900,/ ....1
rio;
""i ~
.,,1 _ _ . ,,' 1Ih>t!!. cr. I Ari_top!:>. Birb I U : ayn", I....
~ '"\ ;jIoU).no .hoo,. '''po1T111l>M~. "...aa..AoInf;>l. 1.<lAd'oo iii .........os., on, =Mil
>0\ ................. ""o~rt Iv l>~I>0"'.
, I-.u. .. UK<! about the.."...,- in X .... K,ytt. 1) .1'. P1oloApoJI. }u,~. j ' Jb, ArioL &V" . 1Ib,
IW. 1271b, ' ]~I.
IJiotlt" uloCd in ops>CIlltion ' 0 poIiJ 0'11> ItcUtMt in l,ra. , .1), '6.", " .J ( ,,0>.0\ ~
......iI). '\1.'" Dem . io.H. u ...., '].9', '4.j l. '4," ) - '4, 4)." . Dem. 49.6J. o.m. n .z. cr. '4
.11.... '10<>. in ".""'., . . 1'.6, f . f '4. ' . ' .41 . X... . UtlJ . . )6- )1. ) . . '. 6.5.... """ I ,,"", of
uampln in "uro.-c:."ntry philoonpblcoot wo,b.
".,., _ of"'" , ..... '"'~ io no, .",,1\n.r<I ,,, 1M ~pI opbm:. In 0. ....
I ond Adchlnn
f .6,. r.". """,,,pic, the """ .....ion i. 'Wli.d ,,, ""Iun,.." opeu..n in "'" Aoo.c:mbly.
'. LY<'t>TI. Lt<'<'. 7\1: , pla PI> Wn.I~':" ~ "o),,,da awi<n'l""" oAp~. l> 5L~ l> i6~

"'*'... . .

u.:.a.n-

"""'l .....

'j.'

Copyrighted Material
The political po-ceprion of the idiotts

"7

For more than a decade, scholars have been aware that the activities of
an idwlh were not confined to the non-political sphere. In 1983 Hansen
drew IInention to the Athenian use of the word to denote those citizens
who ' took it upon themsctves occasionally to act as ho bouklmtl'lOI, but they
avoided any regular or "professional" involvement in politics'. II As such,
the idiotai were distinguished from the rhetorts who came close to monopolising the speaker's platfonn in the assembly and who dominated the
activities of the boull.
A year later, Claude Mosse published a more extensive survey of the
Athenian usc of the tenn. 12 She too noted that idiolis often refers to the
ordinary citizen who voted in the assembly and the courts, and who might
even serve as a bouJtUlis or a magistrate. Even when holding office, an idiorlJ
was still distinguished from the rheums, hoi poiiteuomenoi who actively
shaped the policies of their cities. According to Masse, the word idiolh
took on a new meaning after the bank of Chaironea, and its usc testifies to
the faCt that the Athenians became increasingly aware of a gap separating a
'dasse politique' from the individuals who made up the mass of citizens:
'eux commandent, leI aurres ecoutent et suivent'.
While I disagree with Mosse on the question of date (she overlooks the
rhetorical opposition between idiotai and rhetortJ in speeches as early as the
3505), I believe that her general conclusion is corr~t. That the idiolis is
found in rhetorical opposition to hoi poliu;uomenoi or rJurores from the
middle of the fourth century onwards testifies to a growing Athenian
awareness of the fact that the persons who held power de facro within the
community were the rherorts. The perceived difference between idicrai and
rherores as expressed by the Attic Orators reveals a deep tension within
Athenian ideology. But, contrary to Mosse, I do no t believe thai it was the
word idiotls which took on a new meaning: what was new was that rheUJres
were no longer considered idiotai.
Here the following wee propositions will be argued:
(I) That idiotls was often used as an almost technical tenn to denote the
individual citizen, the 'atom' of the citizen-body as opposed to the collective whole, to koinon or the polu. As such the word could be used synonymously with the word politif, regardless of whether his role was active or
passive.
(2) That when idiofis is used synonymously with the expression ho boulomtm:ls rOn AthenaMn hojs amin (which indicates active participation
within the institutional framework of the Athenian democracy) the idjolis is
always explicitly distinguished either from the polu as the abstract 'community', or, more specifically, from those who acted and exercised power
ex officio on behalf of the polis, that is, the magistrates. When the idiorls is
"

~n

('983_): 4S.

" M oue ( ' 98.4). Cf. Dover ('914): z~ D.' 7; S;""lair ('981): 33.n1h n . S4J Obe< (' 989): .08 - 12 .

Copyrighted Material

118

LENE RUBINS TlllN

seen in opposition to the an:honus, a hierarchical relationship is implied,

and in this connection I shall attempt to show thai there were cenain behavioural expectations which applied to magistrates, but not to the idiolls
who chose to participate actively,
( 3) That the occasional representation in founh-century oratory of a
magistrate as an idiotls testifies both to a narrowing of the conceptual gap
between the idiotai and the magistrates and to a perceived hierarchical
relationship betwew the ordinary citizen and the rhtt4r who held, dl! jlUlO,
an elevated status viJ-a--'llis his fellow-citizens.
I.

IDlorts AS A TECHNICAL TERM

The Athenian use of the word idiorls to denote the 'atom' of the citizenbody, the ordinary citi1.en, is well attened in a number of Athenian inscriptions from the fifth and founh centuries.
In IG I' t 18, a treaty between Athens and Sclymbria from 408, the idiorb
is seen in opposition to the community as a whole. Athens is anempting to
regulate the internal affain of the other city, including the reconciliation of
her citizens. The treaty provides for reStoration of exiles and the settlement
of debts: 'whatever earlier debts were owed by idiotai to idiotai or by an
idiorh 10 the koiltOn or by the koinon to an idious .. , they must settle these
with one another'. In the next sentence. a lituation is envisaged in which
an idiotls might appear in court having the entire community, the koimm, as
his opponent. U Funhennore. in IG I ] 101, a clause is inserted in a decree
granting honoun to the Neapoli tans which distinguishes idwtls as an individual agent from the polis a5 I collective agent: the straUlfOi and thc mag
istrates arc to make lure thlt the Neapolitans 'are not wronged by anyone,
neither by an idiotls nor by the polis IS I whole' (hypo koitlOu poll6s) . Here,
jdjOlls refers to the individual component of the citizenbody, an individual
who acts on his own initiative and who mayor may nOt act through the
established political organs of his poliJ.
His relationship with the poliJ of which he fonns pan is not necessarily one of antagonism. In times of sraru the idiotls as an individual agent
could of course be seen as a potential threlt to his community.' Bur in

it W<lrtb nolin, \hot the ...... Dll..yoi.. ' 7 .mployo ~ ward idioob t" d ....... on indiYidw.!
citizen., _ d '0 the coUlivity in prKio<ly tlUl fuhion. In '7.S he .. fen '0 the J>f"""'I<Mu InP."i,. wIU<h he initio,od ,...;no. Iht commw>ity . . . whol h ... pc.-i/ied bJ ....ce..nc. KI Ihe
dilwui, ~ .. wrlI .. opinlt iJWu.i, indiYidw.! citizen .
,. This may be iUUIU"I'od bJ .. rc""," 10 the A ....... ion tribu..,..Iio ... li en: .., mcoun, .. " catclot'f 0(
ptNU wIIicII ba"" bc<:n <n,tftd on the I.... bJ _
i. An "ttneUl-e ;".ap<et.ation or \lie bc.od;,q
' ciries wbicb ~ iJiafm have ....
II """"...,ontributon ;. tIuo, that;a;"u,; WCI"C citixnI ..1>o
..... od an their ...." initi.m-c ori!bout the oll\cial _
of thrir _ prclumabIJ oticon:hie: _ citiu.
"Tbeir ultimou p'-"POfC ..... KI enlit. Athenian IUppott bcfu ... """ttlpcin.... overth.., .. the .... tiD;t
""",liturionl of ~ pdN """,emod.. For tlUl inUIJI .. tation ..., Schill!..
Th. "'........ ,
inocription ..... IG ,' ' 71 .6.. '9; 179. 1.90; . Io.~, [nl . For" difl<ttntin'.~, ... ' .1. l.epper
( '9'61).
'J I,

t."""

,!IS"

n.
an internally slable democracy where die suess is on unity. it is iii central
part of the ideology that ' whal is good for the polis is good for the idiqroi ', 15 As Thucydides' Pericles has it: ' I think thai it is of mort benefit
to the idiorai when me ciry as

perous in regard
whole.'16

to

It

who lo: is doing well than when it is PI'QS-

each of the citizens but comes to grief as a tollective

So, in the inscriptions, idiotb is used to distinguish the ci tizen co mponent of the polis from the collectivity of which he (o nns part, and sometimes (as in IG I' 10 1) the individual agent from the poliJ as iii collective
agc:nt. 17 When iii polis is said to act, this musl be undc:rstood in the: Sense

that the actions are decidc:d upon by formally recognised political organs
and the dc:cisions implemented by citizc:ns who have: or recc:ive: compeu:ncc:
and the obligation to usc: it. It is therefore not surprising that, when the
idiotis appears as agem within the Athenian community, he is normally
distinguished from the agents who administer power delegated to them by
the polis. I' In Athens these are the arellai in the wides t sense, that is, the
magistrates including the bou/mlai.
Two examples may be quoted here. In IG , 3 102 the boull is ordeud to
take action against some unnamed citizens who have received bribes in
return for proposing a decree, probably granting Athenian citiunship to
Apollodotos of Megan. The boull is to refer th e case to the diJ/.asuriota , and
in this connection ' the boulmlai present shall reveal what they know and
(so shall) anyone who knows something else about this matter. This shall
also be possible for an idiolis if anyone wishes.'9 Similarly, in I G ti l 204
ex idiolWl is used synonymously with the phrase ex Alllmai6n lIapaNI6N
about citiuns who volunteered but did nOt hold office, as opposed to the
bouleUlai who participated tx oJjicW.:W
More imponamly, idiolb is used aboul the volunteering eitiun in contexts where one would not expect to find ho bou/omtlWs used as a technical
term. When 110 bou/oNlnloS is used, this is essentially an invitation issued to
the ordinary citizen to come forward and act. But in prohibitions agains t
acting, for example entrenchment clauses, idiml$ is the term used - and
Jw boulcmmos would be an absurdity in this context. 21 The idiom here
cannot be anyone but the citiun who addresses the assembly, and it is

" Finley ('985b): 76 .

I. Thuc . . 60 . : iy<:> y l.p

ilyoOuo'

tw .. ,,~ tF a .Ivorl
0t;>60v 6i~.

"~,. ,,~.;..,

j"" .... "" ~ "'O~,~ ""'pa)'Cl'Joo

~I.

"'""" '8"::'_ II . at

" ldib contftt<cd.-ith wu;_ /p<>IU. found in the followintl in~ : IG I' . 40.6, II ; 101 .5);
I,8.1}; IG 11' , 6JSo . 'S o .... " ' : .6)7.(' 'I: SEQ )0.61& . 0 .
IG " . 6} .(zl. 7 . (11): 10a..47: no .: IG 11' u6b(nl : ").}'; .."..h: 16a9.'), .
.. IG I'. loa .....-1: -WI! 6i ~<l1"""'1 ..... p6vT<Il a...a...~ Mi n' 4 .. , fM,,, . 00 ......1~"l TI &.U<>
rlM..-.pI -.!...:n-- lxafva' 51: ~crl I15.o..... "'" TIl J!i>Ural'! .
.. IG n' ""'.4'- 4' Woe<.> 5i 6 &[fJIo.IO! [, pl.i! 6~ "'1"1 ~Iil. 1."Tfr; .&ov~f\I". &W 51: I( "-"1 ....1..1..
41Jr<ivn.>o . . Wb ... Ih_ OfC lilIN in 1m.:. h - " tho phrase 1~ 1&"-'T<lno io ".cd _. _ d (01"
"'" pbn .. ~ )I,~ ............... to dcl>Ok Ihc pc"""'" """'.....".1\0< ",.",ben of tho 6otJU.
.. IG I' 6).(' 1: IG II' ~) .}J; d . Dclll_ '3.6 .

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impossible to see any difference between him and what Hansen has termed
' the rnetl5r in the legal sense'.ll
This formal usage of the word idintiJ in Athenian inscriptions may serve
to substantiate Lycurgus' claim that, within Athens, the idintls, the 'atom'
of the cii:U:en-body, was a political institution. Together with the dikanoi
and the magistrates, he manned the Athenian democracy. While the opposition between idinfis and dikmfes is extremely rare, idintls seems to
be used as a technical term to denote the citizen who did not hold public
office. In what follows I shall focus on the relationship between him and
the magistrates.
Over the last twenty years modem scholarship has concentrated on the
large decision-making bodies, the Assembly and the People's Court, and. to
a lesser extent, on the BoulL and the nraugoi, whereas the minor Athenian
magistrates selected by lot have not received comparable anention. This is
not surprising, given that Ihe debne has been cemred on me political
power-structure of the Athenian democracy, the relationship between
political institutions, and the relationship between elite citizens and their
m ass-a udiences. The minor Athenian magistrates had nothing like the
power which was bestowed on a Spanan magistrate. for example; and the
fact that an Athenian magistrate was accountable to the People's Court and
tha t his decisions could be appealed h as removed him from the centre of
the modem debate.
H owever. the ordinary Athenian magistrate does deserve attention in a
volume on interpersonal relationships. While his political importance may
have been extremely limited in the fourth century, the minor magistrates
did, on many occasions, constitute an interface between the Athenian citizens and the polis. It must also be kept in mind that the magistrateS were
empowered and expected to implement certain decisions made in the Assembly and the People's Court. Although self-help did play an important
part in the implementation of decisions, as poimed out by P. J. Rhodes in
his contribution to !his volume, some minor magistrates had executive
powers which could affect. sometimes quite dramatically, the lives of individual citizens, and which carried with them a considerable risk of mismanagement and abuse. 21
., H",,~ ( 'I).O) . II 11M bn no",d by Han.en ( 'I} ): 4' duot>he no"" riot.". ace"," 0lI1y one<
(ODd he..e it ;" ruton:d) in tbc enUl'O body ." ~pigro.phi<ollOutCCI _ in on entrenchment cllu .. r (lG
,> 46.a4oqq .). IIln..n uplaino !hi. phcoomtnoo hy poinru.. to the Or=k pocfcrn>e< for verb<
over noum in decne fonnulao. rem..po onother ",uon why the: no"" docs not I pp<&r mooc often
i. duo., in ~nlrenchntcn, clIU""", it compc.W with the funnulo contoininl the .... td idib.
" One t ..timon, to tho Athenian lwarene" th.o. map, .....t., mi&bt he in I p<l1ition to lbus. (or
mOorn..,..e) their pow... i. fG" .63 .
Sopolio and hit ... I.ti.... &tC: lJtIn.w the ti&h' .0
pro...,.,t Dumber of map ......... by mcon. of trl'pM kulnuoh, if the vol". ot the oan rttumed
by Sopoli. it no. dcdu<:tcd from hi. debt to the treuury. No doub!, Ihio pro';Uon in the deaee it
in nded .. I prot.<Otion of Sopo;;.: .. I ""bllc debtor he wu l>o=d fro", _.noll in <;OUr(, aDd
if the respon.ibl. rnqjstnt fr.iled to ... Jiotcc "'poymcn, of hit deb, h. would not hi,.., b<cn in

)8,-.-0'.

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'3'
II THE lDJOTES AND THE ATHENIAN 'ST ATE '

What d is tinguishes the idiotiJ/ho boulolfle>lOS from the magistrates is this:

he acts on his own initiative, voluntarily and nOi U oJJicw, and he holds
no position which in any way separates him from his fellow citizens. He
has power to make decisions only as a member of the entirt demOJ, the
Assembly. and when he moun ts the bima he can encourage, dissuade and
suggest, but never coert:c. The same of course applies when he appears as a
volunteer proseCU tor in court, for here the decision rests with the diJuUloi.
The magistrate was in an entirely different position. Magistracies were
filled by volunteers, and no one could force an Athenian citiu:n to panicipate: in selections o r elections. 2~ But o nce a citizen had been selected o r
elected, passe d his doJdmllsia, sworn his oath and en lC~rcd into office, he
had a who le range o f duties specified by laws and decrees. When he acted,

he was, fundamentally spealtina. no longer actina as a volunteer, although

he did have to exercise a certain amounl o f discretion, for example when
decidina on whether 10 bring a case to coun or not. One imponant reservation must be made, howeve r. M ost Athenian magistrales worked as
memben of boards of ten or more, and an individual member who shirked
his duties would hardly get into serious trouble as long as the board as a
whole carried OUt its tasks as specifi ed. 2' On the other hand, examples
of fines imposed on magistrates for NOI acting an: legion,26 And it would
appear that these fines were imposed across the board, on each individual
member, if the board collectively failed to cany out its d uties. In addition
to these fines, a magistrate could presumably be accused al his tulhytloi by
any citizen who found that the magistrale had refused to take proper action
without justificarion.
Consid er, for aample, the case of a magistrate, the Basileus, who
refused to deal with the prosecution for mu rder brought by Philokratcs
aaain$( the speaker of Antipho n 6. The magistrate refrained from acting on
the grounds that there were only two months left of his term of office. According to the speaker the magiStrate was right: at least three months were
pooiti<on '0 ."" ""'In, Nod ;, """ beeP fu. thlo up!;rn =~ '" m.. ruk opf>/yi"" 10 ...v-t. Bu.
"". tNt pt'(I'rioion, Sopolio ....... 101 hI~ risl<cd bocolninr hclpkoa wictim of Inqio,u iol "",",an

~ , O<._

.. Sec . ... Rbod .. ('993 (198. 1):

}1 1 _ 1~.nth

addenda ( p.n' ) ."d Honoen ( ' 99'): ~)) .

.. H ....." Iw quod fot I dm.;o" of adm;"iltnoll"" dulln on 1M buis ohhe pIfyl,,;, ( '9'91 ): ~37-',
wberc he obo ""'os the ' d~ be ........ e<>!Iriv. odminlotn,;oo _ _ A ......ian IqoI oyo
tem, whkh _
~ on indfridu.al rupoou>1Ii.lioy'. TIlls ~ hccocnco .... n II>OK probIema.ic in """""''''''''' with fina, that could bot i~ (." 11IIppeatItIO indiocrimina ..!r) ..,,..,..
...n..: bauds ofmotiltn... (.... n . ~6, bel_) .
.. R. . fG ". j.4.)6-7 ( ~); " .6 - 10 ( "*,,,~ .....); 61.}6- 9 (..au~,); , ' .l9- ]'
( ,.,.. ...... ); fG 11-. 2U.4' -" {ptrdJr>o' on<! .,u.,.flI o!io _ _); >.... ~ 1 - .
'6~9. ~39-4~ (no"""" and ~); 16]1.]'5- 93 (0100' "", _ _ ~ ond the _ " ' " "'"
_~), SEG '7.2' .11- '4 (l1Ia_1Y.... ) . . then on: m ...
It is undc", bow octJ,t theO<
finn .... n imr-d. For. d<UiJod diocuuion, 0 PiHan ( '97' )'

{,..........};

,_1

"

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LENE RUBINSTEIN

necessary fOT carrying out the preliminary procedures berore the trial. His
opponents, however, complained that the Basileus had obliged the speaker
in preventing the case from coming 10 court. In 6.43 the speaker argues:
' whereas this Philokrates tonnented and acted as a sykophant against other
magistrates who had to render account of their office, he did not come
forward to accuse this Basileu5 who, so they say, had behaved in a horrible
and insolent way' . 27
U a magistrate decided not to act, his decision was expected to rest
on objective criteria, and it appears that he could be taken to tuk at his
euthynai ir it was suspected that other ractors (ror example a bribe!) had
influenced his decision.2ft Discretion apan, it is sare to say that the magis
traIe in office was the only type or political agent whose decision to act was
not made on a purely voluntary basis.
Furthermore, the relationship between the magistrate and the idiollJ was
hierarchical. That the word idimls indicates a hierarchical relationship in
which the idiotZs held a subord inate position may be corroborated by the
fact that in historiography and philosophy idiotlJ often designates the subject ru led by a tyrant OT a king. 29 Aeschines' claim (3.233) that 'in a democratic ciry, the idiollJ rules as king with the law and the VOte' may conrorm
to the democratic ideal, but it is true only in those simation! where the
idiotlJ rormed part of a large decision. making group. When confronting a
magistrate on his own, the idiotls was expected to obey, and the magistrate
10 command. Thus, a magistrate was often faced with the choice of either
exercising his authoriry over one or several idioMi (for example to make
them pay up or do as they are told) or paying a fine himself.
That the Athenians recognised the uistence of a hierarchical relationship between the magistrate and the idiotlJ is clear from the following passage: 'for just as they think that the idiolai must obey them when they are in
office. so they should justly obey the laws that govern (arr:housi) the polis,
when they themselves become idiorai again' (Oem. 26.s).30 Authority was
" 41,""0pan,1

yap

"""""'i 1Ttpct.>\ "'"'" ""ovew.". !<nil ~,,! .."".eta""". ~"'""" &I ToO 11<>,,,,\1<.>\. IN
. """ Me.

coun' ..

c:ri'~rU'

~.

'e< fG r'. ".6-10, lfpocn<aMI""" <>

I ~ xv.lal"""
, d . Oem.
. The

e~,en, to whkh "",gi'",,(e ooukI a.mK ;

...
Todd ( I99) : n'-1,]'"WOan from Ikm. ~~. 13 tha. mogi.tntn e<>uld oom.time. postpone trial.
(th peolt.r !Odd. 'if the Jitillrtto &JreC beTW .... themsclv".'), lrtd pootponcm ... , in iuelf miah'
Kl'V<: ,., h~1p "... of the eontendin. partin. For pootpon.....,nt ofo triol ., ...... tqy =pIoyed by
litrpnto oee ., . Oem. 48.23.
,. H d . 1.21. I.p, ' .'9. ""3, 2.'13, 4. 7), 6.'7, 7.3, XCII., Hill. ).4 .7 ( tnpl. A""b. 7.7. 8. In
Xcnophon', 'philooop!ucoJ ' worb,
io ul<d in oppooition to ~{ks11nof in twcnlJ-fiw:
inotronc .., IJtd therI: .re furdt .. elew:n eump!e tI",d ,n oh .. worb of Pl.,., .
.. Dem . 6." ~ yap. 6-r"" apx-'. TOUo! i&..;,.rn\ OIOVTO'
o';"oil ,."Oonriv. Wa miT<.><;. <rTOV
...:rn>1 [&""..." ~, ,.w.w. 'J'O'I ~ ~"" apx""", ~ 6 .. oi"'l ow 60o.l.O<I6oi",. cr. Oem.
z,. ~6: Ii ~ e..""".,e.il 6 ~~ ~"X.:w T<!> AnX''''''' x.,.; " ~'" X"poTo .... lIoi{ T<!> X"poT~ l~ "'OIl
('I'J'Oi~ .i.." ""l ~
.....nxm .,,1 6/0."" ~O\ wO'. "'" "~<pO\ ~6 nflO<'1l ooOTa "pQ'fTO"

ill"""

50,"

,tV"

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The po/meal perceprion oj the idiotcs

'"

vested in the penon of the magistrate when he carried out his duties as an
agent of the polis and its iaW1. me abstract 'community'. And although we
may question the legitimacy of Demosthenes' famous claim that Meidias
the idjot/s hi t the entire poliJ embodied in Demosthenes the clwregos (and as
such IWt a magistrate), the rule that magistrates must not be insulted or
obstructed when on duty did exiSl. This was what the speaker of Lysias 9
experienced to his chagrin when he was fined for having criticised the
mategoi who had called him up - in his opinion unfairlyY
The arguments presented by the speaker of Lysias 9, which will be
examined in greater detail below, testifY to an Athenian awareness of the
fact that the authority vested in the magistrates in office constituted a
potential threat to the democratic ideal of equality under the laws, in so far
as any delegation of power could lead to abuse and to the entrenchment of
hierarchical relationships within the citizen-body. The Athenians responded
to this threat first and foremost by imposing structural limitations on the
power of their magistrates. This was done by limiting their decision-making
capacities, by constantly monitoring their behaviour, by making most of
them wo rk on boards of ten or more, and by rotation .
The principle of collegiality, panicularly, must have restricted the powers
of the individual magistrate, and his opponunities to use his official position on a given board to help his friends and hann his enemies must have
been somewhat limited. In his r('spouse to P. J. Rhodes' contribution to
this volume, S. C. Todd draws auention to the civic subdivisions of the
Athenian citizen-body (demes and espcciaUy tribes) which may have been
imponant for the forging of ties between individual citizens. This may, in
fact, go some way towards explaining the Athenian preference for boards of
magistrates which were made up from representatives drawn from each of
the ten phylai. 32 Recruitment across the t('n phylai would reduce the risk of
the magistrates' knowing each other in advance (for example, from army
servic(') and colluding on the board. More importantiy, the seemingly deliberat(' attempt to compose boaros of magistrates across the phyle-structure
(and, by implication, the deme-structure) would have mad(' it more difficult for the individual citizen to manipulate a given board of magistrates;
he may have encountered one p('rsonal fri end (or enemy) on the board, but
it would be less likely that the other nine were acquainted with him.
In addition to the strucrural limitations of the magistrates' powers, there
were also behavioural expectations which contributed to the reconciliation

""""""><Iki:.

/ill,&,.oh ~O "'"<>YUM;W I~ I~..w ~ ~~. Imrrw IkoVA'l<''''..w.w, &'>xi}><. """,(I.

""'. ,J moon" "11"010;"",. i<>T, Tir ..."". oi .""",>; In L1". ~6.9 mqill"" ...... d.. <ribed .. """"" ThW
""""'" . ,,1 Tl\! ,.0At<.>!; nole, !u>w<ver, tIt.t tit< oonla! is 6o" I><Im ..-tIere it would be 10 the
.pe.ke.... .,J"""UIC '0 ""aaente their imp<>""'cc.

" L1". 9.6, d . Dem.

zt .3~ .

.. E .. "'" AIAIo<Iuca. (AIh. Pd. 6o.',}), the EpiMeInai n.r ~ ( Ar./I. Pd. )6.4), the T~ ....... ll.
A""'- (AIh. Pd. H .I), on<! the ApgJ.l-..... (AU.. Pd. 8.,). Th= .... mony o!l>cn

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LENE RUBINSTEIN

of magisterial authority with the democratic ideal of all Athenian citizens

being equal under the laws. The most important of these was the demand
for impartiality: the expectation that peI'llonal tics of friendship and enmity
would not influence the decisions which a magistrate made ex officW.
The perception of the magistrate as a basically impartial agent who acted
and exercised power over his fellow citizens on behalf of the polis, indeed as
an instrument of the polis, is perhaps the closest Athenian parallel to ou r
modem notion of the impersonal uate, although it is debatable whether the
term 'state' is at all useful to the historian who anempts to describe and
explain Athenian ideology.3' There is no doubt that the Athenian relationship between idwtai and magisttutes differed markedly from the relationship between the modem citizen and the 'state' as manifest in a large,
faceless bureaucracy where individual bureaucrats are recognised 115 persons only when they make a really blatant miStake.
For one thing, the Athenian magistrate was never 'faceless'. This difference is not to be ascribed only to the difference in size between Athens and
a standard modem community. Of course, it may be claimed that modem
administrative units are so large that facelessness is an inevitable result.
But while size is undoubtedly a major factor, it is important to note that the
modem preference for reducing individuals to functions is an essential pan
of a strategy employed in face of the danger inherent in any delegation of
power. The depersonalisation of our administrators makes it possible for
a citizen in a modem, representative democracy to believe that it makes no
difference whatsoever whether it is bureaucrat A, D, or c who handles his or
her tax-returns or application for income support. The outcome is, ideally,
bound to be the same, because the individual civil servants are supposed to
do nothing but administer power delegated from us to lhem via an elected
government.
The Athenians employed a different strategy, that of keeping their individual magistrates visible, personally responsible: and individually accountable. On the other hand, they did not escape the dilemma which was generated by the tension between their notion of 'direCI democracy' combined
with a realisation that a certain delegation of administtutive power was
inevitable. What, to an Athenian, would constitute abuse of thaI power?
It is widely recognised that the Athenians were much concerned with
one particular type of abuse, the 'selling' of power in rerum for material
gain.~ But while there is no doubt that the Athenians operated with a concept (admi n edly ill-defined) very close to our modern notion of 'bribery'
(an offence which could be perpetraled not only by magistrales but by any
Athenian who was active in the political sphere), it is harder to detennine

......ruJn."

.. Its
hal been ""..tio.ood for .umple by P. S. M ... viU. In OIl onicl. in . rxntly publiahc<I coUection, 1Ioc,d>old ond Scafuro [odo.} ( '99~). 5 Coztl.d, dtiJ ""Iwn., 'IntrOduction-.
.. Fo. the Athenian notion of bribe.,.- ... D. Harvey In CartI.d,. ond Horvey I.d..l (' 98j); 7'\- , ' 7.

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Tht political pactption of tht idiores

'"

what their attitude was towards another phenomenon which most modem
westerners would regard as a manifestation of 'corruption', namely favouritism Of nepotism . Although this is widespread in modem democracies,
most of us would probably deplore the practice of using one's official position of power in order to help one's friends or harm one's enemies. This
phenomenon has received only scant anention from modem scholars in
connection with the Athenian magistrates. And understandably so. It is
not even clear whether the Athenians ever invented a label for this type of
behaviour.3' Yet it is in this connection, much more so than in connection
with ' bribery', that the difference between the position of a magistrate and
that of an idwrl$ shows most clearly.
Consider first the idwtls, the 'atom' of the demos. In the real world atoms
rarely occur on their own: they are usually joined together with other atoms
to form molecules. The individual Athenian d til!!en was the atom not only
of the demos, but also of a whole range of other associations, religious and
secular, official and unofficial, citizen-only or open to citizens and meties
alike. He was bound by ties of loyalty towards friends, kin and associates;
he cultivated hostile relationships with others; and (most imponant) it was
recognised and universally accepted that he was often motivated to a!;t
in the political sphere, especially the couns, because of personal ties of
loyalty, friendship, and enmity.
As long as the idiotls/ho bOWomenos had the same friend s and the same
enemies as the community as a whole, and as long 3S no-one questioned
the ideal that ' what is good for the idwtls is good for the polis and viu vtTSa'
this posed no problem. Being motivated by self-interest (as long as this was
not connected with male rial gain) was fully acceptable in so far as the selfinterest oftbe individual cltittn was identical or at least compatible with the
interests of the entire community.36 Thus Aeschines can claim that 'personal enmities (idiai echthrai) correct very many public matters (polio pany
ton koinon)'. 37 Stressing personal relationships, whether hostile or friendly,

,. LiP'liu. ('90S - IS ): 29' (<:ill'" Anlipboll 6) ""d 38<>-. jnlUpn:led!he offenc. MI."", in A.lh. Pal
S4.2" 'MilIbn.uch de. Am"C~lt' for which' m&giltnl' could be held reopon .ibk It hIJ.uev.
V'". H i. inl<rpl'Clltion h .. been '1u..tioMd by Pienr.n ( '97' )' Rhod .. (. 993 1'9!']): S99 points
out IhIt 'no lext mikes it d ... wh.t wrongs oren: ca""n:d by !he ypo..~ a~,. iou and
the
tfllUl,lian m'ld.m.... our'.
,. 11>c mo.. open Wmi..ion of 'lqitimote oclf,,,,,cn:lt' .. I moti ....tion Nr active puticipation mly
De round in t.l"" tll.20 wIl .... the . puker m ' 0 defend hi. political "",ill' thus: "H!'l15O ~''''''''
~'lV, .;, jIau~"',
&,,:, t<lir!a ~ 1'01. ~ - : .... poo; .:w ;11<)("1"1"" ~iy<", Iv ~'" ~. iyW
&i t 6 oh< "'pWT"" ~""'T.~ ""lp '''''' I~ "pay","_ 5'lu'l)">PlWm. f,n"a I'ivt'" ' 01
iI.....;. 50. ", ,v.o.,.,o-y'pov &.,.,.ei\"", ...,.; ~. &"" IIfv '''''' .. poyil ..... ~ ln, oV&("
.. lmIIN1O> y(, t~, ... 6"-'; "p<h--r~ &"" &i ~~ /ip<lw (ta y<'Ip li).T)&I'I xP*! Myt __ ) t~ t~
~ (T\..o.;) 6.~i""l _i4<>vno; " _, ... BearinC in mind
Monlith<os, tb<: drlendo.Dt, dchvcrcd
hIJ "",,II in 001:;,.,"';" in olu to conV>llCO the I>DtJiI of bill heina' 'loyal democra,', thit II
remlrl:lbl x"",. faf hi' alle,ed OY<:=.lown ....
" AeKh. ' .2: ' <li .:.; b.,v, .;, &v&Pf' A&.j"">O,, '" ,ioMm Myo. /dyta&a. hri toi<; ~fl'IOO'io ay.:;,."v
".:,< riai ~ts- eli yap i&,,,, ix6pa .... <.1.6 """""';'v <G.""'" m,,~,.

I""""

."i

lit.,

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L ENE RUBINSTEIN

was a rhetorical commonplace in those lawcourt speeches where a prosecutor or a symgoros wanted to reusure rus audience that he bad leaitimale
(that is, non-financial) reasons for acting.J.8
But it could and indeed did happen dial an Adlenian found himself in
a situation where his penonal ties of loyally conflicted with the loyally he
owed to his porn. Whit d oes one do if a fri end, relative, or other associale
turns out to be an enemy of the community as a whole? In one striking
instance we find a speaker (Aeschines) looking back to the good old days
where 'friends prosecuted friends, if these had hanned the community in
any way' .}" But the same Aescrunes - a pastmastet of the Athenian art of
double-think - earlier o n in the very same speech rebukes Demosthenes for
having prosecuted a Jrraugos, an old friend of Demosihenes' n.thcr, ' with
whom he had sbared table, sacrifices and libations' ..o There is no doubt
that a prosecutor, however m uch concerned with the interests of the community and however much h e professed his public-spiritedness, was met
with deep suspicion and downrighl resentmenl if he confronled a fri end in
coun in a public llial. Whal was th e way OUI of this dilemma? The remedy
u sually prescribed was simple: Stay passive! Tenninate the friendship (for
no one should remain friends wim an enemy of me comm unity), but do nor
prose(:ute:fI
While it was possible for an idwrlJ 10 take: this piece of advice ad nora",
and aet (or ",ther nOt act) upon it, me mlgiltnte could nOI employ this
solution 10 his dilemma. He was compelled 10 act, in many instances under
the weal of a fin e, and at least som e magistratl:$, the srrau goi, had to swear
an oath which limited the extent to which ihey mighl take advantage of
their official position 10 help their friends or, worse, hann dleir enemies.
And yel, they were still Athenian citizens, and outside meir specific sphere
of duly they were still idioroi, even while their Icnn lastcd . For I II the impartiality which was due from them, dley were still expected 10 preservc
their identity I I individuals and all th c ties of personal loyalty thai went
with il.
This conflici is highlighled in Lysin 9, where the speaker shows a cenain
awarencss of the magismte's dilemma when reporting his confrontation
with th e board or maregoi. The speaker bad allcgedl y becn called up by th e
stnUtgoi only two months after his rcrum from a military campaign abroad .
[Ikm.1,!M oqq.; .... - . . ' - l; H yp. J- ' l . ~ impo<u.r> of ",,,.,,"", r<l.1ion-<obipo fur ~ ~ of public proo.ecu ....... baa .nrocted til< .MnUon of
Kholarl ....

.. 0..... 14.6 1'1'1.;

..

(' \194): Uj - 9
(j, '94): i)p~, ........ yOp 6AA~

..aan.

mo..

on 1ho"'1I\erUn odminiIuuion ofjuoticc. Stt .. Ooboro.c ( ' 91,b); T odd (1993):

.~~);

HunICt

. ".,....;.-.,.:,..0.- oi ~,,.....,,,.._ , 6,.;. . ..; 01 tJ

...... ~ ~.;.., ~J>'T""'''' ,;\ T'I\Y " ,;;t"v.

... A<Kh. ) .,' - 1.

.. s.,. .. Dtm . ......; ........ . . 67; !.,yoW 6 .1}, . , .67 (allhou&h~' oliprdtk friend._ro
t>.d 10., he oIIould not _ . bmuth. them '1> triol, tinct !her wu< biI friend.).

Tnt political pnuprioll of Iht idiote.

'37

According to the speaker. the Athenian srroregoi were required to swear an

oath to the effect that they would call up only those citizens who had not
recently been on service. 4Z The speaker claims that the Siraregoi had
betrayed their oath only to annoy hi m and to get back al him because of
penonal enmity. He relalcs how, when he voiced his dissatisfaction, he was
promptly 'disciplined' with a fine which h e refused 10 pay, and which the
lamiai refused to acknowledge on the grounds that 'it is not seemly milt
citbens are registered as debtors because of enmity,.n
When Polyainos, in spite of the alleged support from the lamiai, laler
found hims.elf in uouble and ultimately in court, the arguments he presented reveal a deep conflict between competing seu of values on an ideological level. He first complains about the unfaimen of the whole affair and
makes a point of the lamiaj's demand for objectivity. Then he goes on to
argue that in any case the Jrrougoi had no rellsons whatsOever for being his
enemies. 44 But what is most remarkable is the way in which he ends his
speech: ' I was only moderately vexed by the injustice done by them, since 1
h old that it is an obligation (ur<unzhai ) to d o hann to one's enemic:s and to
O'eat one's friends well. But if I am deprived of justice by you, I shall be
truly annoyed. For then I shall not think that I suffer because of enmity but
because o f the bas.eness of the po/is.'4' The spealr:c:r seems to recognise that
magistrates ace: inevitably tom between two incompatible obligations: on
the one hand, the obligation to stay impartial; o n the other, the duty of any
Athenian citizen to observe and act according to the ethics of friend ship
and enmity. This is, of course, contrasted rhetorically with his demand that
the judges remain completely neutral. His recognition of the magistrate's
dilemma thus forms pan of a rhetorical stralegy in so far as it s.erves to
emphuise the importance of an impartial People's Court.
H owever, the speaker of Lysias 9 is not alone in drawing attention to the
dilemma faced by magistrates who are sometimes expected to pay heed to
personal ties of friendship or kinship when discharging their official duties.
We find a similar expectation voiced in Aesch. 1.104 where Timarchos is
rebulr:c:d for not having secured invalidity benefit for his blind. o ld uncle, in
spite of the fact that Timarchos ' was a boulmtZl and prouJroJ on that very
day'.46
., l..)'l. 9 . 1} .
u

1..,... ' .1: TII"./y "pa.............. ~ do",...,. t..t.i<N0Vff<; <!>! ...... 1..... 010; ,\'1 M ... ol.,..::w
Soh "'" Ix..! _ypO ........ . .

.. 1..,... , . I } .
, 1..,... , .20: '"""""' ..... oW do6,. ...................pi<.>o; r~J ~y""'""TOW. >'Iy~ ~l""
.a.~ ""~I """ 60 ti~., ,""p' ~ &i TOO

&,,,,.;,,,,

'n1OCl';

""" "'" ~

"""" ohr...aMoo

A..".1lfoj'l". 8,'

IxtPo"..., yoloI' "" ~ ... 04!.......,...;...~ 510 . a _lao &i """ ~

...at TIl ~ ....... 8 ."j 60~ . .n<>At,~ ~ .... "'P""jIY'rw

em""

mp ....

Iiooo """,i<rf, wi !~
~ ~ jIovA/po
~
~.
"'..: ..... ~ 1\o.IIpo. . ...... 1l(it.>aw "'"'" ......... ..., ... &AM> "''P~iIw

"

138

LENE RUBINSTEIN

The eontliet between the demand for magisterial impartiality and the
individual'. duty 10 help his friends or kin and to hann his enemies was
present when the magistrale was perfonning hi. specific functions; it was
even more pn;mounttd when it came to appearing in the courtroom. It has
been and il still deba led to whal extent magistrates would appear as prosecutOrs in public trials within their jurisdiction. 41 BUI even if Hansen is right
in stating that 'in principle an archl never prosecuted', a person who he.ld
office could still appear in coun as a witness aDd as a tyMgurof. In these
instances, he appeared, technically speaking, as an idwlls. not CIt o~w.
Technically speaking, however, is one thing; another is how the Athenians
reacted to such behaviour.
Humphreys has presented a fairly large collection of instances where
citizens who held magistracies came forward as witnesses in coun. And
although the central claim of her article is mal bearing wilnesl was tantamoun t to taking sides in a dispute, she makes the rervation that 'it is
perhaps in the use of office-holden as wimesses that Athenian couns came
closest to the modem idea that the wimess hat a civic duty to tell the cnun
what he ltnoWS'.48 When magistrates are called as wimesses they tend to
appear as ' cxpen wimesses' and u such they are not real ly separated from
their magisterial functions . It is rare to find it admitted openly that meir
decision to come forward rested on personal friendship or enmity.
S~gorio by a magistrate was viewed with more l uspicion.49 It did occur,
but a magistrate who appeared as a ~goros was definitely open 10 me
accusation thai he abused the power that went with his position. S(J In some
instances il was claimed Ihal his only reason for appearing was lluIt he was
anxious to avoid crimin al charges himself." The speaker of Lysias IS caUs
attention to a phenomenon which he represents as completely un.cceptable: the magistrate who .ppean 15 a J)I1Iegoros in a l:illwsuit within his own
jurisdiction. ~2

-oov. II mllot be noted tha., to Ancftifta., Ihtr< io

ft(J . . . . . . . . . conftiq ~ ' ju.ri' one:! 'dllty'

c-.. H. dwelb .... <be pi. ., of.he old man, _
is indeed Pft"K",ed .. I
~ ca..; .... 11>. othe. tu.nd. ,be .... in "''''.. <>fltio ...,.mcn.......... 11>, faa 11>&, Timardtoo
had fliIcd '0 tHe lItvon .... of bio <>J/i<i4I ~tioa <>f POW" in otdct .0 ouppan toeti"Cly (.,""......M
m.mbe. <>fbio (amUr. Sucfo an ........... ' would hardly be occcptabIc in. modem con ....: Ihtr< is
linlc oSo>ubt. 11>&....... bellavic>ur 00 the JIUI <>f. m....bcr ot parIiorncn, or ci-ril oernn' would be

in thio

...... d d . . . . . <Jl~, rqudle ..

or ......1bt:r

<he._

"m.

WI. odIefwioe de .."""' .....

~' (wid>. ~riott

, AI ""pr< ..nuorivn ofthc two ~ Yie_, Ilinak 0,,, H....... ('980'

n. sa) ......... <. MocDowcIi ('911)' 2)7 .

in

.. H umpht.,.. ('9S,); ) '6 .

.. R.,. Dem. 22 .)8, 40; Anell.

.. Anch. l . ll!6.
" Ikm. >2.,8, 40.

t. I )~ , u14. ) .7 96. [kin. 1. 1 " ~ ')

'1I....w.

,. l.ys. 1,. 1- 4 , cop. J ' ... &.6. a"'x_1&o$ ~ &o!..n.pov " p&yt.Io. . - ( w )
yftooo ......1.....,....,..,.
~ .... 6p)[ ... w ....1. ~"'" .... ,.~~_ Bin ", 6 .... >jlocWIv . ai I.......:..,.....:.; &O ."'"~ 6 ~ , 6. ~,,",'"
" 1'<')(111-. 0 5i ~~ ..aI oi l-.6noa ~, W Tal>; a ,,"1 Toil .:.t' Io..m;w ~

."

17u political peruptim! of the idiotes

There Wen: thus limits to the freedom o f action of a magistrate, which

did not apply to an idiow. The!te were perhaps mOSt clearly perceived in
the highly antagonistic atmosphen: of the coumoom, where impartiality
was a virtual impossibility.
The demand for impartiality was, then, an imPQnant feature which distinguished the magistrate as an agen t from Jro bouklmmos, the idiow. II
would be an ovenimplification, however, to claim that the distinction was
clear-cut. We encounter many idiQloi who performed quasi-magisterial
functions, such as ulCTllrchies, embassies and a host of other, usuall y shonterm, tasks. They too wen: expected to act hypa lis poie6s, and even if they
were not expected to disregard pcnonal ties of friendship and enmity
completely, it is probably safe to assume that the priorities were clear in
their case. In at least one instance, a number of idioto; who were sclecte-d to
decide on the erection of boundary stone-s in a sanctuary were required
to swear the ltOmimos horkoI thll they would not let chans or enmity influence their dttision.'} The narrow conceptual gap betwten such quasimagistrat" and the uue ones also shoWI in Dcmosthenes' claim that a
ChortfOS was nOt an idiotls. Demosthe-nc:s, howC'Ve-r, is undoubtedly pressing
the point: while these wiotai were sometimes required to remain im partial
when acting hyper tis p.ok6s, they wen: still hi e-rarchically subordinate to theuue magistrates, as for e-xample- the- trierarch to the SlTougo;. Furthermore,
il is d oubtful 10 what CXlenl they had the authority 10 coerce their fe-llowcitizens. ,.
His authority, together with the- demand that he be impartial, is what
characterise-s the magistrale- as opposed to the idiotls. On an abstract level,
the idiotls was l ubordinate 10 the polis and iu laws; on an intetpefS(lnal
leye-I to th e- magistrates who embodie-d the- polis. It may very we-II have- bee-n
this 'democratic submission' which Theogene-5 of Achamai had in mind
when he chose the name Idwtts for his son: submission to the polis, its laws,
its courts, and its magistrate-so This type of submission was expected from
every de-mocratic citizen, and th e- vow to obC'}' formed pan of the ephebic
oath. ss

.:..m.p ",,;..o.i Th;,

. p<e<h .... ,cjti .. 'J'unou.

'" 0...- ( '9610):

. 66- 7. H ......., ('97)): ' 7

"""",.rod ~ , ~ .. '" poinw.. ou. thalm.y,..,., Ul:I .... iv<ly on tho diO<f'qlenCJ be . .......
tho rifle .. fl.yo;. (.O"T<I ).).. ~ ~.1!'OTO( Lou) and 1,.1 and .-tIm: it 'f'I)C:an thaI tho prot""",uon
YJK>+<'l';"'-~ H_D ', ............... are ...... ~ ond I _~ willo roan.
that Iho:y h.aYc MYtt bft-n .........,ed &om "'" Danish. Corey ( '939: 1) ,110 OoptI t"oiu., ..
"",uin<, pnm.rilyon .lyIiotic: sroun<! .
" ~ """I ........ XGpno{ i-no ....... I r~ ~ . oU).n ' " 8'1000611:1"" 'DI .... " " ' 0' .. (lG

broil"".

""'''-4.9-''')'

cr. Hyp. l .t , .
.. NOIe Il>o probkmo tha. ApoU<><IofQo tonf....."ed ... Irierard>, both ...-prdin. <he "",,,,,,,10 whom
he . . . "bonIina"" and "'prom. hU ........ n.;" ho ""Lot.. in [Ikm.l so.
.. Tt>d 204.

M.,,,,,

140

LEiNE RU BINSTEIN

III lDlOTAI AND RHETORES

It is when we consider this nuance of the word that the opposition between
rhe/orts and idio/a; reveals a tension within Athenian democratic ideology.
It implies th at II. hienm::hical rdationship cxists betwcen the two. But
whereas the actions of a magistrate in power were checked and monitored
before, during and after his term of office by struc:turallimitations of his
powers, by his oath, and by routine procedures such as tuthynai and dokjmaJia i, the rheroru were m ore d ifficult 10 keep under control. Of course,
the Athenians had ~ngefia, graph! paranum6n and dokimasia 16n rhetoron,
and il is true that these were powerful and dangerous WC1ilpons thai were
often used againsl rlutortl. BUI such weapons all required the initiative of
the individual citizen, and if one compares them 10 the enormous appaftlIUS designed to Iimil th e power of the magistrales, il is like seeing a row of
semi-automatic guns aimed at the arch ai, as opposed to old-fashioned rifles
(where illook an individual agent 10 pull the trigger) pointed at the rluwru.
So when viewed as the su perior in a hict"ll.n:hical felationship with his
fellow-citizens, the rhe16r was m ore d angerous and mOfe powerful than a
magistrate, ~a use his authority and the power which he wielded over his
fellow citizens were vested in his capacities as a penon, nOI in a fecognised
office. II is hefe that the basic political meaning of idiorh, 'not holding
office', 'subordinalc'. combine~ with another meaning of the: word which 1$
well known from the works of the philosophers: idiollJ as the unskilled
penon as opposed to the skilled artisan or ' proessional ', be he shoemakef,
doctor or architcct - idiollJ IS the layman.
To be , killed on the political Slage means i killed in speaking, manoeuvring and manipulating.'-i When this combines with having power but not
wielding it " offido the result can be dangeroU5, es peciall y in a direct
democracy which did not attempt to impose structural limitations such
as rotation, collegiality and routine scrutiny on i~ political protago ni$~ .
When faced with a rht16r, in the sense of 'skilled operator', even a true
magistrale was sometimes represented as an idiotlJ, and this equation reYeals who could be construed as the real holders of power in fourth-century
Athens.'7 It lestifies to a narrowing of the established (and fully accepl
able) perceptual gap between magistrates and idiotai, on the one hand, and
an awafeness of the existence of a hierarchical relationship between wiolai
and rhelOl"tJ, on the other.
Since it was recognised that the only way of ched:ina; the power of a
rlu/6r was through individual confrontation in the courtroom, and also that
'it took a rhl r6r to catch a rhett1r', ties of phi/ia be[Ween rhelOrtS were
potential1y dangerous. The existence of enmity and rivalry between them
"

~. n .)1;~.

' 4.'''; Hyp. ' .2,.

Copyrighted Material
T1u political perception of the idiotes

'4'

was the only remaining way of keeping them in check. And thus it ~came
pan of the unofficial 'office' of a rhewr to prosecute his peen - another
point where he diffen from th e idwri.s, since public prosecuting could now
be construed as his 'duty' more than juS! a purely voluntary action."
In so far as the Athenians operated with anything which may meaningfully be: termed 'state' as opposed to 'individual', a 'them' a! opposed
to an ' us', the rhtrores definitely belonged [0 ' th em ' when seen in opposition
to the w Wta i. This opposition is very lik:c:Iy a fourth-century phenomenon.
It does not necessarily reflect an actual change in the balance of power
within the community and a widening gap betwee n politically sltilled citizens and the ideal amateur participant in the Athenian dem ocracy. But the
apparent change in vocabulary, th e depanure from idiotis as a tec hnical
term, attested in inscriptions and early oratory, for the citizen who did
not act ex officio, may very well testify to an increasing awareness on the
pan of th e Athenians in the fourth century that their direct democracy
with its ideal thu all should rule and be ruled in tum was not all they
claimed it to ~, and perhaps - but only perhaps - not even what they
wanted it to be.
APPENDIX , ;6''':''''''1 AS U SE D IN TH E WORKS
OF THE ATT I C ORATORS
(I) as opposed to apxoVT~ / jl:ov;l.nrro:i
Lys. s.]
(&pXOVT~ gcncn.lly)
Lys. 12.]6
(&pXOYTI~ generally)
Lys. IS II
(o-tpaTflyb;/i-.ntO:PXe<;)
And. 1.84
(jl:ovllnrroi)
Oem. ,8.78
(&pXOIITfS generally)
Oem. 19.17
(]30LJlIwroi)
(mlgistrates r1:s po nsible for fcsrival)
Oem. 21.17

Oem. 21.]2
Oem. 21.]]
Oem. 2] .62
Oem. 2.5.2]
Oem. 26.S
Oem. SI.I S
[~m.l

5] .24
Aesch. ]. IlS

Lyk:. 1.79
( 1) U opposed 10

(a.O"~oBh'1~)

(lipX'"'Y ......*"""'~tvo.;)
(lipX'"'v (bis) laWlC:Xland paraphrue)
(jl:ovAwroi)
(lipXOIITE\ generally)
(vlI.!i~ "" ~MvTai)
(i] jl:ovll'; and 0; iv6. Ka)
(~oLJ;l.EVTai)

(&pXOVTE\ and 6' Kao-toi)

6, ~o. O"TQ(

Ant . 6 . Z4

Lyk:. 1.79

(along with IipXOVT~)

Copyrighted Material

141

LEN!! R U BIN ST E I N

1km. 21.)3

Dem. 21.61

(4) .s oppoud 10
Lys . 12.8)

1'!6l. '~ / c;ollectivi9'

Lys. 16.18
(WQJ,,~ personified =
L ys. 17S
(TO 6quQo.ew)
Lys. 179
L ys.19 . 11
Oem. 20.S7
Oem. 11 .44
Oem. 1).91
Oem. 24 .)1
Dem. 24 2 1) - 14
(Dem .) 4). 71
(TO 6ll...oo,ov, I.....)
(Dem .) 49.65

u....i~)

IDem.) B .2
(S) i6.wTTt! w ed synonym ously with Q JIov1<~
And . 1.84
Dem. 1).61 0 ..... )
IDIOm. ] 0 ."

( I....)

[Oem.) SP

Aescll.I 7
Aesch. I.8
Aesc;h . I. 165
A"ch. 1. ' 95
ACKh. ) .l j)
A"ch. ).lSl- )
Oem. 10 .10
Oem. 18.4S

Oem.

10 .9

<Pf!n.>p, neu tral)

(P>lTt.>p, neulnl)
1'!p<>O",C:W, neutral)
(0 1'!pOs T<lo
(0 6qU'lYopaw 16 Wo}.' TfV'I>lWo'O\', neutnI)
(P>lTW{), ncga~, 6 oerroi _ i6,(;)TQ')
(P<'!n_>9, ncaalive)
(6 1'!o'\'ITlVO~ neutral, i6,wTI'IS = IllrperyllWv)
(oi jv T<\> wo,\.,nvlO'8cu . 0 ; "panllV, ncplive)
(oi tv T4l .0.Y<jl. ncuml . ;6.$)To. = persons outside political

.0.""

sphere)
1km.22.)1

Dem.14 I

SS
Oem. 15.)8
Oem. 1S40
Oem. :lS.41
Oem.1S97
Oem. 26.)- 4

(oi Myovn'So ",",aove, ilh.:no' "" JIovAlVTO i)

(6 'IfO~'TruOlIYOS, neutral )
(P-ljTW{). neutral)
(p-ljnp. neutral)
(p-ljn,lp. n,.utral. i6'WT'l5 6,...pos and vulncnblc)
(p-ljTwp, neutral)
(0 Wo,\.'T~, DculrIIl , ah(;)TQ. cannOI hlnn c:ommunity, but

Inm.16 .IS

only wffilclves)
(0; 1'!"9lf>yo~i T. .0; . 011"1) 1'!Ovro~ lvoX~oi)vTlS .0;
1'!1""'""0'~ ump T~ ~ liva', ncgaove!)

[Dem.) Sl .18

(6 wo,\. ... ~, nculrIIl , .lmosl U I pror,.uion)

"I

Copyrighted Material
T1u politiGal ptrceptimt of the id iou:s

'43

Hyp . 1.24
Hyp . 1.25
Hyp. J.9
Hyp. ).27
Hyp. ).)0
Lyk. 1. 14
Lyk1. 3 1

(Pf)TOPIS ~o ; <rrpa-tf)yoi)
(pf)TDplS, negative, i6.c:.T'1S = apx"'v)
(Pf)TOl"'s. negative)
(PiIT"'p. <rrPOT'lY~, neutral)
(pfjT<o>p. neutral)
(P";w.>p, <rrpa-t'1yOs?)
(P";T<o>p. av,,*~. negative)

(7) i6,..ro,s used

Aellch.l.t7)
Aesch. ) .10
Aesch. ).214
O em. 4.)5
Oem. ::1.0.9)
Oem. ::1.::1..::1.5
~m. 14.66
Oem . 14. 11::1.

in opposition to those skilLed in speaking / manoeuvring

(negative)
(<>1 T"i)v ".o},lTfiav i6iav aV-rwv 1'\YO\iJ.>wo., negative!)
(negative)
(neutral)
(neutral. the ones who know all the laws)
(negative; &peeN<; "0; MlvO<; My"v)
(neutral)
(negalive: the i6''''TTlS is too poor and unskilled to evade the law,
as oPPO$ed 10 the ri ch (and clever) who can get away with much
worse crimes with impunity. i5.c:.-rlls : apx"'v)
(metics about themn1ve!] claim to be i5'WTO' = unskilled in
speaking)
(neutral)
(neutral, about a speaker who had served as phyluch and
hippar<:h)
(neutral)
(neutral)
(negative: icrxVpOT(tTOI, &,v6TaTo" SPOerl'S "oi aOIAY,,!)
(neutral, i6,c::.TIlS = Mi6TJ<;)

Oem . )4.1
[Oem. 44.4)
Hyp. 2.::I.0
Hyp. ) .11
H yp. ) . 1)

Hyp. ).::1.8
Hyp5, 9

Copyrighted Material

Enmity in fourth-century Athens l

P. J. RHODES

In recent yean several scholan, approachina: the subject from different

angles, have agreed in the re od usion that fourth-century Athens finally
achieved the rule of law. For Ostwald, after the oligarchic rCvtllutions of
the late fifth century ' the democracy achieved stability, consineDC)', and
continuity when the higher sovereignty of IWIIIOJ limited the sovereignty of

the people? for Scaley, who is reluctant to believe that the Athenians ever
held strong feelings about democracy as a fonn of government, 'the Athenians strove through the centuries to achieve the rule of law';' Hansen has
lo ng m ainta ined that in the fourth century the law-..;;oun.t ranked above the

and in his general book on the fourth-century democracy he

argues, in similar vein 10 Ostwald, that the Athenians ' wanted to modify
their constituti on and place some controls on the unlimited power of the
people'.4 In 1992 I attended a conference 5umm oned to di 5cu~$ the proposition that in the fourth century Athens at last achieved a stable form of
government.' My own view is that in the fourth century the constitution
continued to develop; by the middle of the century there were developments away from democra cy as the fifth century would have understood it;
but the founh-century developments did not make the government of
Athens obviously bener or obviously worse.'
In this paper I want 10 focus on founh-ccotury Athens (or, more accurately, Athens in the hundred years of the orators) as a ciry allegedly under
the rule of law; and in a papcr written for the Cambridge which has
As~embly,

Dr 1_ G . MittMD c:ommen,.d on I dnfi oflhis PIpet, ond Cn;on. ........ ad to the " - ..rie.
Dr Todd WI. my rapondm'J ond to N...". in Durbam, I thonlr. 011 win Cam~ (I. _
wbooe COIIUl"Imta ho~ c.... tri\>uttd." Ihio fino! ~n . S.. abo Rhodes '996.
o.rw.Ld .9$6: qUO"tIti<>n from p. 5' 4.
Selley ' ~7' q...,ta';"" fr<>m p. '46.
KonKn
296- )'0. cit. rii; quoution from p. )OJ.
RhocIes '99S .
Rbod .. ' 99S; d . Rhodes ,m/lo, Rbod .. '994' )6S-7' . ~tion"bou, the Yiewo ofo.twold
lind Sclkr"'" ctpUocd by Todd '99J: '98- )00.

'44

'99"

Copyrighted Material
Enmity in founh-cen/llry Arntns

."

recently given us Paul Cartledge's picture of the Greeks as (in some basic
respccts) 'desperately foreign',7 and for a response by Stephen Todd, who
has recently emphasised the 'otherness' of Athenian law,' I want to look at
some of the circumstances and the ways in which enmities were: pursued,
which hardly fit modem western expcctations of a State under the rule
oflaw.9
Cartledge in the discussion in Cambridge asked whether the cas whicll
I discuss below tell us only about feuds within the elite, in which the ordinary citizens were involved simply as jurors, subjecting the members of the
elite to the contrQl of the ckmOI. 1O Cenainly rich men had more Q[ stake
than poor (though one's all is one's all, however little it may be), and had
more means to invest in the pursuit of a quarrel (for example by hiring the
services of a speech-writer). We do not know how many cases, initiated by
how many litigants, were tried in the Athenian couns in a typical year.
Hansen has suggested that courts were convened on about 175- :2.25 days in
the year; \I several couns could meet on the same day, and for private
prosecutions one coun could tty four suits in a day (Arn. Pol. 67.1); in the
fourth century private suits went to a dikastirion only on appeal, and there
were enough private suits for the Forty to decide those for under ten
drachmae and for all men in their last year on the army registers to be used
as arhitrators to decide those for over ten drachmae (Arn. Pol. 53). It looks
as if the Athenians' rc:putlltion for litigiousness was not generated only by
the elite, but a significant number of Athenians pursued quarrels by judicial means significantly often: l~ I should guess that in the law-couns as in
the Assembly the man who was a mere voter on one day might well be an
active participant on another.
There was indeed a considerable degree of 'otherness' in the whole
Athenian legal system: the fact that there were: no legal expens, and a trial
tended to he seen as a contest between the opposing litigants rather than a
matter to be decided simply on points of fact and law relevant to the
charge; that prosecution was almost always left to the initiative of a private
indi\;dual, even for offences against the state; that there: was often a choice
available to the prosecutor between different forms of prosecution for the
,

CanI~~

'997' qu<>ltItion fm'" (no, J. W. bull H. J. F. Jon .. on p. ,.

, See T<Hid '993' ptusiM bu,npccially 6B~70

Ham. '994 ha. .tt ....d lILa, 'lb. AIb.niAnl held "'" ",I< of l.w ,n doop "'p<<< lind odh.",d '"
form of go"""""'CtI! lILa,
flU' ma, ideal In", pn.cticc (p . ' 31); ODd C-r '9940:
e'p:W], ,8' - 4 has .treosed mal the Athettians' ide. of ",hi, Utia"'" nc<:d~.o de",,,,,,,mo,. in.
I......oi' w .. no 0toUydilZrcn, from our own; .... , 100 C~n ( ' 99$0) . I. IS d.o: fr<>m "'" """_
.. bkh they cit. tha,!he Athenian. did believe mat the" counolbould ond did uphold !he 1.... ;'1.0
deo: &010 the , IUd;'" of Tgdd tnd othero Ib" thei. eourtl nourthcl . .. functioned in waY' which
out own tociety ""uld no. reprd II conducive '" !he rule of taw. I, it no. ",yin,ention '" ' ua:e",
tho, on. of the .. Yi ..... of.m.t io con.duciY'< '0 the rule of taw io COlTcct and !he other it inco ..... ct.
,. cr. the"';c>o of >yloop/!Q_" upreo. cd by a.borne '990b.
" '$0- )0<) dar> . _ , . d by Han,.n '979; ' n- '~' dO)'O 'uun'~ by Han.en '99' : ,86 - 8.
" cr. HlDocn '99" ,86- 1.

."."""ed '"

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P.

J. RHODE S

same wrongful a, and these diffi:n::nt forms of prosecution could have

differenl consequences in the evenl of success or failure.
I take n my staning~point the Demosthenic speech nvu, Alainsr Evergus emil Mrun'b ulw, and since several imponant poml5 arise from it I outline the hiSiory of the quatTel at some length. I ) The narrative begins in
section 18. In 351/6 a naval expedition had to be sent out at short notice.
There was nOI enough equipment for the ships either in the dockyuds or
available for purchase . The law of Periander, which in the previous year
had instituled the naval symmories (groups of men who could be called on
to shan: the C0515 of the uierarchy), required the uierarchs and the epi~
meUrai of the symmories to take over equipment directly from previous
uierarchs who had not retumed it, and ad hoc decrees provided for the
allotmem of particular o ld uierareh! to particular new uierarchs for this
purpose. The speaker was a new lrierarch and an tpimellrb ; Demochares
and Theophemus had been joint uierarchs the previous yeu, and wen::
alloned to the speaker (20 - 5). The speaker had never previously had any
dealings with Theophemus (1 9).
He fint asked Theophemus for the equipment, but Theophemus refused
to hand it over. He then formally summoned Theophemus before the
apouoleis (the comminee responsible for the dispatch ofms expedition) and
the epimdl roj of the dockyards; according to his own SIOry, Theophemu5
was present in court (Of the Jiadikasia bUI did nOl comcal m e cafe, and me
court upheld Theophemus' obligation. Demochares also had his obligation
upheld, and he then handed over his share o( the equipment; but Theophemus did nOt hand over his share (26- 8); he allegedly uied to transfer
the obligation to his own predecessor, Aphan::us, or to Oemochares; he did
nOi take legal proceedings against Aphareus, or againSi Demochares while
Demochares was still alive, but subsequently he summo ned Demochares'
sons [0 a djadikasia (29- 32). The speaker's next Slep was to complain to
the apostckU and the boull that Theophemus was refusing to comply with
the court order; other new lrieruchs in a similar plight complained likewise; and the boull passed II. decree that they were (0 exact the equipment
due to them in whatever way they could, ~i O"lTp<hna6(Xl Tp01T~ ~ elV 5~
I.Il&: (33). ' Unable to see' Theophemus, the speaker went with the text of
the decree to Theophemus' brother Evergus; on a second visit he dis~
covered that Theophemu$ and Evergus did not hold their property in
common, but had divided it; then (rather belatedly) he diK overed where
Theophemus lived, and wenl there with an anendant from the arcM
(presumably the epimellrai of the dockyards) (34- !j).
Theophemus was not at home, so the speaker senl the slave woman who
opened the door to fetch him; when he arrived, the 5peakcr showed him the
text of the decree, and asked for an inventory of the equipment which he
" ct. II.hoda.

'97>:

' s..-6.

E"mjry illjourth-cCJItlity Athtm

'47

had. Theophemus responded with threatS, so the speaker asked the at~
tendant to tall witnesse1 from the street, and in their presente he tailed on
Theophemus to atcompany him to the apouoltis and the boull if he dis
puted the obligation, or else 10 hand over the equipment; othe.rwi!lC the
speaker would take security for it, in accordance with the laws and decrees.
Theophemul remained uncooperative. The speaker tried to seize the
woman, but Theophemus would not let him. H e. then tried 10 enter the
house to take securiry - he adds that the door was open and Theophemul
was unmarried, so his inu~.ntion could not be misunderstood 14 - whereupon Theophemus punched him in the face, and he, calling on the witnesses to take note., hit back OS- 8).
The speaker showed his bruis~ to the boull; the boull considered this
llSSlult 10 be not only a private injury but defiance of the state. and told the
speaker to bring an riulngdia against Theophemus for obstructing the
dispatch of the fleet; be did SOj the bDull convicted Theophemus. and
allegedly considered referring the case to a diltastlrio" for a penalty heavier
than the boull itself could impose, but the speaker says he was satisfied with
a modest fine (41 - 4). At the end of the speech he adds that there WllS to
be simple restitution of the equipmem due, and reference (namely 10 an
arbitrator) for the assault (80). 15 After that the speaker Wal ab le to set sail
(45), and we hear no more of the equipment, so presumably Theophemus
did at last hand it over. 16 BUI this was not the end of the quarrel.
On returning from his expedition the speaker prosecuted Theophemus
for assault, in a dilti ailteias; Theophemus made a counter-charge agains t
the speaker. After the cases had gone to the arbitrators, TheophemUI
entered a charge of inadmissibility (paragraphl) 11 and a swom appeal for
postpOnement (hypomosia) to delay the trial of the speaker'. charge against
him; but Theophemus' charge against the speaker came before II jury
( presumably on appeal by whicheve r man the arbitrator ruled against le) ,
and the jury found against the speaker (45- 9).
Theophemus' brother Evergus and his brother-in-law (?)I 9 Mnesibulus

.. I ...""", i. i. >imply. oIip..n.:n Daviu '91" a, infen &om TbeG,,""""'" ""om,. bo<IIo ..ubi,
own thol M ..... married and \hat bit w.:Iurb Mncsibuluo ..... hio fa!h<:t--in-llw.
w~ _ ' " "-< <IIpc<"tod ~u. to be ..... kd . . . <k&ultin. okbtor and tho
01
~uiprnm. due &0 ... bini '00 be doublcd : the opeolr.ct <Ioeo _
~oI_ .....""""'.. ~ ...
uoed 100 obtU> Iud< Lenior" " ...!m... L
,. Cf. 0 0 _ ,917: . , .
If pg,qnop4lond ~ ore ",... Iionod WI<d\cr;". oimilar
in Iktn. ""'.14; _ ..... 1hc
""hoIi"", "" ,h." _
(.s,b Oil"), i.e. RIwL 0..",. IrlI oUaa ~(.1I (II Hn .. um . . .. UriN
a.-.. M ......), Poll . "'l.~. I, b .. oft... be... tboucIu !hOI
be ... d<KI "'" "" Iu u ......
echnicol .. nac bu. it O<J<LtIeCIod willi Ih< ~~ ~, bu, ~ it no sood ......,., to ~ !h<: "'.....
I:hnic.lteno<, ICC M.oc~D '990: )06-' (<:ommen ...,. <HI oc<:tion 84), ~ bit eIIJ1ia
><icction of 1M, ......., one! to hio ~It of ocbolon ""'" _
rcjKtod the ,cdulicol ICMC odd

.mow"

"

"""'n!
,.,.....,..,p4l

Horrioon ' \16' - 71: YOL

1,.01 o. ,.

,. O . A~ ""'. 5J.' .
,. C/.

11 . . . , ."""".

M.

.~,,"'~k

1<411

P . J . RHODES

had testified that Theophemus was willing to produce the slave woman to
give evidence under torture. The speaker planned to proS\Ile them for
falae testimony, in a diklpuudcmlJrryrW" (39- 40, 46). In the meantime he
was bound to pay damages to Thwphc:mus; he had to ask for extn time to
paYi but in due coune he invited Thlphemus to go to the bank with him
to receive the damages (49- 51). Instead Theophemus seized fifty sheep,
the shepherd and a slave boYi and Evergus and Mnc:sibulus broke intO the
speaker's farmhouse, look all the fumiturc: , used violence again.. a freedwoman 10 take a cup from he r, and tried to seize: the speaker's son under
the impression thaI he was a slave (52- 61). The next day the speaker went
with witnesses to Theophemu5, calling on him to go to the bank to receive
the payment, and to provide a doctor for the freedwoman. Theophemus
eventually went and received his payment, but he refused to return what he
had taken from the speaker unless the speaker would abandon all claims
againSI him, and Evuius went back to the farmhouse and took more items
(62- 6). Despite funher demands, Thwphemus did not provide a doctor
for the freedwoman. and after a few days she died (67).
The speaker did not attempt a prosecution in respect of the vio lent entry,
which suggests that, however close 10 the truth his account of his overd ue
offer to pay may be, Theophemus and his relatives were technically within
lhcir rightS in entering the property when the speakers payment was overdue. On the death of the frdwoman he <;onsulted the u4gEtlJi (the e.Kpounde", of lillcred law - a small c:J(ception 10 the rule that Athens h ad
no legal experu l "}: they advised him that, since the only witnesses 10 the
assault were his wife and children, h e should make proclamation against
the ki llen but nOI by name, and, since he was neither a relative nor the
master of th e woman, he should not undertake a prosecution for homicide.
His familyll gave the same advice, and he followed it (68- 73). After thaI
his charge of false testimony against Evergus and Mnesibulus came to
co urt, and the surviving speech was wrinen for that trial. We do not know
the outcome.
The lack in Athens of public agents and public procedures for enforcement, and the survival ohelf-help in this area, have often been suessed, and
they stand out very clearly in this case. It was reasonable enough thlt, 10
save time in a crisis, old trierarchs should be expecled to hand over
equipment directly to new trierarchs, rather than deposit it in the dockyards for th e new trierarchs to take it from there. BUI, when Theophemu$
was first taken to coun and the court confirmed his obligation, it was still
the speaker's responsibi lity to obtain the equipment or some security for it>
when Theophemus obstructed him, and other old trienrchs were similarly
recalcitrant, the boult's response to complaints was simply to decree that
>0 ct. Todd ' "1: } I -~, n<>tina \h,,,
" For pIIJoi" f"";11 in thio cOillm

""'J an: ott<ttcd on'"

Oft

in _ction";\h ~

Macno-U I941: [6.

tala

ofhomicidc .

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'49

the new trierarchs should exact the equipment in whatever way they r;:ould;
and, ifTheophemus did at last hand over the equipment after the mangeiia,
he will have done so in response to a dedsion of the boullbut not in response
to any executive action by state officials. Similarly, after Theophemus had
won his assault r;:ase against the speaker, it was the speaker's responsibility
to pay his damages directly to Theophemus, and when he failed to pay on
time Theophemus and his relatives considered themselves entitled to enter
and seize the speaker's property as security. Finally, after the death of the
freedwoman, Evergus and Mnesibulus escaped prosecution, because
homicide charges had to be pressed in a diki , a private suit, and the law
ordered prosecution only by a relative, or if a slave had been killed by the
master. (Here we seem to come up against a grey area in Athenian law.
MacDowell has argued that the law ordered men related in certain ways to
the deceased to prosecute; it neither ordered nor forbade other men to
prosecute; the exigilai and the speaker's family did not tell him that he
could not prosecute in this case but merely advised him not to do SO.22)
In our world it is considered important, and it hc:!ps [0 limit the punuit
of enmities, that as far as possible self-help is ruled out and the enforcement of the law is impenonal. The whole concept of a liturgy, in which
men did not have their money taken from them by the state and then spent
by the state, but had to spend their money directly for some public purpose, is alien to our society. Its alienness is reinforced when new trierarchs
are left to obtain their equipment directly from old trierarchs; and when
the antido$U procedure, used when a man claims that a liturgy ought to be
imposed on another man rather than on himself, is again a private mauer,
which goes to the courts only if one pany claims that the other is wronging
him. 2 ) If I were sentenced to pay damages to you, it would not be left to
you to ensure that I did so, but the payment would have to be: made
through public officials, and it would be: the responsibility of public officials
to ensure that the payment was made. A case of homidde would nOl go
unproser;:uted because there was nobody who stood in a relationship to the
deceased which required him or her to prosecute. Wilh increasing irequenr;:y, journalists interview victims of crimes after a trial and publicise
their view that the r;:riminals are not being punished severely enough; but
although English law does now allow appeals against over-lenient sentenr;:es, such appeals r;:an be: made only by the Attorney-General, not by the
aggrieved victims.24 We occasionaUy hear of threats to murder a r;:riminal
arter the end of a prison sentenr;:e, but I do not believe sur;:h threats are
often carried out. By r;:onn-ast the Athenian system of private prosecution
" ~D..-Il '961: I~- I9 .
.. The p.m.tc
r"'"
wiU bt diKuued btlow .

".tuft ..

g~1i<SruU

proctdure is Itttued by Glbritl .. n '987. Inltanca of 4>UOdotu

.. nu. WI.

proridtd fOl Enaland, Wain and Northtrn ktland by ...."",,, 36 ofthc: Crimin.l JUlU
Act, '9B8 . 1 am VOtcful '0 Mr . F. W. Pri,chard f<>t information on Ihi. poin~

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P. J. RHODES

and private enforcement made the continuation and aggravation of quarrels all too easy.l'
Seizure of propcny is an area in which there is ample scope for disagreement, injury and ill will. In Athens, although in the end the man to
whom propcny was due had to help himself, there Kerns to have been a
good deal of latitude concerning how far one should persist with legal
processes before one did help oneself. The speaker of [Demosthenes]
XLVlt, if he is telling the (fUth, was extremely cautious: it was only after he
had complained first to the dockyard authorities and then to the 11(11</1, and
the boullhad passed a decree authorising exaction in any way possible, that
he went to Theophemus' house; and, when Thcophcmu$ resisted him, he
went back to the boull before ( I assume) he eventually did obtain the
equipment from Theophemus. On the other hand Thcophemus, if the
speaker is telling the uuth, went 10 seize the speaker's propeny when his
payment of damages was overdue, even though by the lime he did this the
speaker was able and willing to pay.
We find further examplct of this latitude in the earlier phase of Demosthem:s' quarrel with Midil5. In 364/3, when Demosthenct was prosecuting his guardians, Midias' brother ThrasyJochus was nominated as a
toin t oieran::h, and to oblige the guardians he challenged Demosthenes to
an antidosis, in the hope that Demosthenes would agree to the exchange
and Thnllyl<.>(:hus could lake over the propeny and abandon the prosecution. A m an cballenged in an antidosis seems to have had three options:
(I) he could acknowledge that he was richer than me challenger, in which
case he would presumably re lain his own propc.ny and perform the liturgy;
(2) he could believe that his challenger had misjudged and was so much
richer than himKlf that it was worth his while to exchange propeny with
the challenger;26 (]) he could believe that the challenger was richer than
himself, yet want to retain his own property without performing the liturgy.
In the sond case, if there was an exchange, that would require formal
completion; in the third, if the man challenged refused the challenge, there
would have to be a diadi}/(UUl to decide which man was the richer and was
bound 10 perform the liturgy. Demosthenes might have been richer than
Thrasylochus if he won his case and obtained the propcny for which he
.. Her....ItD '991,;" . , lUdy of Ll"w I, A",hu, &"'~ IUUClII tha , duaicaJ AtheM ."""'plod
com""",,;"'" betwe<n the 'tribal .. Jimc of ItOI\ow and ,d(-Mlp and the 'civic' ,qilne of reotninl and IepJ procod ........ that Eupbiknn rqltCkn.od h;,,-lf .. '"" IIml of the puniIhinI F.ncOlmcn.. ..t/tcr than ... ~ hmband .~ himIdf on &..oo.1hmco; althouJb
Jr<"' deal or ..<>p< _ aIlo.ftd ,.". ..If-h<lp, the Athc-n..... Iriod I>Ol to Ie"! il aet ou. of hand.
Hemwt '994 : "S- . 6 opin osnpI>uloeI the
of an indiYidUIl"1 ... .......,00 by. Law"",,,'1 punillhmmtl bu. thio DUd, to tor qualiliod by _...,u,;.,., of <he """"' 0 whicb <lIttubon
o!"lM law-coun,' ...-rdic1l otiU depended "" Klf_Mlp .
.. An ""chan&< .. r"""",..,. it oc;nptod rmltim pouibmry by Hurl.....
YoI. II, 116- S,
M""D.....dl I,,..: lIh - " Gobrielsm ' ~1i rtiect<d by Gttnet "57: , ..- " M ..... 1961: ISl n. 6.
Todd ' 99)' U O- . , _
inclin .. toward> "'<q>!IO<>< , miotakc:o II .......... ' . pookion.

.uppI..,lin.

'96'-"7"

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was suing, but without that property he was presumably not rkher than
Thrasylochus. It looks as if at first he took the second course, and agreed
to an exchange;17 on realising me full consequences of that he changed to
the third course and decided to force a diadikasia; and eventually, since
Thrasylochus refused to demand a diadikasia which he was likely to lose,
Demosthenes changed again to the first course, borrowed money and
penonned the Iiturgy.28 He refused to let Thcasylochus enter his propeny;
in response to that Thrasylochus did not reson to legal proceedingl but
with Midias broke: into Demosthenes' hOllse, and used offensive language
in the presence of Demosthenes' mother and siSter (Dem. XXI.78-80, d.
XXVIII.17)

Demosthenes did not prosecute the men for breaking into his house,
which suggests that after he had agreed to an exchange mey had the right to
enter and inspect his propeny.29 He did prosecute Midias for slander, in a
dikl kaklgorias; when Midias failed to put in an appearance, me arbitrator
ruled in favour of Demosthenes; but Midias challenged the ruling, and at
the end of the year by means of an mange/ia to the whole board of arbitrators 30 he had the arbitrator sentenced to atimia (8 t - lor ). It is unclear to
us, and it may have been unclear to contemporary Athenians, what the
fonnal consequences of that were for the original dikl kaklgoriaJ. l1 It
suited Demosthenes to assume that the arbitratOr's ruling remained valid:

FO>" the oignifiC&llC<: of6~." io Ocm . XlMll .'7 0 M o<Do_U '990: 2~S, 197- 1.
'" Gobri.lsen 19~7: U-4 ODd MocDoweU '990; 2911 0Jtur !ho, !he dio"ih';o could be demonded
only by 0 man who claimed !ho, his <>l'P<"">"'" bod failed to wbmit In>< inven'ory Or to carry oul
on 0KCban~. MlcDoweU Km.rk" 'Thio io clear
if D. had be.n ...,titl.,J to in';", on
diJ>diJ<.uia, h. would obviouoly have d"". so.'
,. cr. MocOoweU '990: 298. Pha.nippus, llI< .....n <Weaaed '" an """""" III IDEm .] lUI, hknri,<
.J1U<I ot /in"o an uch~ - IlI<K
to be 1 meetinl 10 . gree Ill< oettletrlC"D' (~"''Pi
6\a~.:.r-) followed lW<> d.yo latu b,r the prodll<"tion <>fin~n ..,., ... (12) - bUI immedilte/Y or """"
often..nb he d..,"'ed to force . "'~ ........... , ond he therefore detoyed the COtrIpJ<1ion of lb. ""_
cbma. ODd in Ill< meantime .., lbout mioimi,;n, the ""),,. of hi> property io !he hope !ho. he
would no. If> the tlWthlo4 ... be ju<i&ed be ll>e riclIcr man (s - ' SJ. o.briel .. n '981' " - lllflUe.
!hll ~>6:~""'fhen: ",fen ,oan I,..._en. OOt to ~.d with ..... ~ohan~, as in '-yo. IV (If. p. ISS,
bel.,..); bu, 1 lind lh urd to bci.tCll<:.
'" 0 . AlA. l'Dl. $) .6; w.....d!hen: !h., <pIu", to. diJlllJU>otim w ......i1&bl< . MacDow.U '990' )14 it
amooa those who ink' &<om ~ 9' that in this co .. the armtnlor did appeal ""d the <oun
upheld hlo coodemn.cion; bm other "".. ;bi~ri .. an: !ho, this ubitto.",. did no, date to n.rci .. hi.
riJll' "'oWnl apinot Midis, (conoid.red ""..ible by MacDoweU 1971, .n), and !hit "'" ri,hl of
.ppeal was in!n>ducod . ft ... and in rnpon .. l() _
cas. (Good.1I .191: 3ul.
" CompaK!h. di.put< .. '0 whether . p>p<>ted d.=<:, challenjl.d in 'l'""f>I>l
bcfure it
w" enoc,ed, became nUd . ",omatic.ny ,r th. l'""pIri failed, or ",mained m....1y propoul, wtt.ich
would belm< valid only if . uboequently <fl&cted. TIuo, it become ..lid . uromoncally is arpcd by
Han.. n '987 - H&nkn 19B9b; >1,-8. ; thai i, did 0'" ia...,.ed by HlItlUd '9Bt . It would not
, urpri .. me if!he 1. ... '" AllI<n. failed to , pell ou, Ill< cono.equencn in 'Uth 0 ene, ..,d .100 in Ibc
<:aIC ofan .rbittotor coodcmned .t the .nd ohhe ye ....
MacDowell '971: >10 foU~ Hlrrell '936: 'I, ond ",,"Ote, 'p.."umably lhe con';<;tion meon,
tho, the ubi""I","" judJmen, in the onlin.! "".. .... in""bda .. d and. new ubiU"Otor ,"",uld uve
to be ap""",t<d for i" ; bu, MacDowell '990: 3-4 . ........ !ha, Ocmoul> ...... "" Y Uv. be.n
,eclurically nih,' in lbinlrini!ho, the arbiuotor, rulini w .. "'" ou'omatically """"lied.
"n

bee."..,

w.,

'0

,.._6ft

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P.

J.

RHODES

he daims merit for not resorting immediately to self-help against Midias'

property but initiating a suit for ejecnnent, a diki nowls: this, if he was
successful, would not only have confirmed his entitlement to damages but
would have added a fine to be paid by Midias to the state (44). Midias had
never accepted the arbitrator's ruling, and he employed various device$ to
prevent the dikl UQults from coming to trial (8 1).
It looks as if self-help to execute a decree or a judgment was permissible
from the beginning, and men who were sure of their rights and/or confident
that they could succeed were willing to reson to it from the beginning; but
if the man from whom payment was due offered resistance there were further legal proceedings which a cautious man could use to strengthen his
position in the hope that he would not have to use force to obtain his due.
But even those legal proceedings had to be staned by the individual, and, if
the other man did not give way after a series of judgments, he would in the
end have to use force or else fail to obtain his due.
Another feature of Athenian quarrels which we see in the feud between
the speaker of (Demosthenes) XLVt! and Theophemus is the remarkable
number of counter-prosecutions, diversionary prosecutions and subsequent
prosecutions which can be generated by a single quarrel once the parties
have gone to law.3Z The speaker used a summons to a diadikasia and a
complaint to the bculi before he even discovered where Theophemus lived
and went to his house to demand the equipment; after going there, and
suffering an assault wirhout obtaining the equipment, he made first an
informal complaint and then a formal eisangeJia to the b<luli; and at some
stage Theophemus, in his anempt to transfer rhe obligation, summoned
the sons ofOemochares to a diadikasia. Later the speaker and Theophemus
each prosecuted the other for assault; Theophemus' devices to delay the
trial of the charge against himself induded a paragraphl, a charge that the
suit was inadmissible. The charge against the speaker was upheld; he prosecuted Evergus and Mnesibulus for false testimony in connection with
that; after the violent seizure of his property he did not enter a prosecution
for that, but he did contemplate a prosecution for the death of the freedwoman, only to be advised against prosecuting. This is as far as we can
follow the feud, but it may nOl have been the end of it.
In we late r pan of the feud belWeen Demosrhenes and Midias, Midias
tried to sabotage Demosthenes' chorigia in 348 (Oem. XXl.13-17) and
finally assaulted Demosthenes in the theatre (I, 18, elc.). Demosthenes did
not hit back (74), but he obtained a preliminary vote of the Assembly
against Midias in a prob<lli (1-2), and later planned to follow that up with a
regular trial (the speech is addressed 10 dikasrai; I etc.).]J Midias tried a
" Todd '9"9<" ,6, ,..mlrb on thi., but d""" no, . opl"", "'. m.ne, I. Imp. In Pl . lAw J.9j8b1

''''pOv

improper mulrip~c.tioD of I....ui.. (... "pO

"o~vfi .. ,iv) ...... do on oRm .
.. I! i. often thoua;hl ",,,!he lrio! would M. trtJp14 .......... , fo, impiety (d . H.rrioon '961- 7' :"'1.
ii, 6' - 3) or 11"Ot>M~. for auU"l~'" ....uIt (Ham. '989; .15; d . Todd '993 ; 270 n. '3);
but Goodwin .~, "R - 6z, MocDow.n [990: ,6- '7 ond Raw. ' 994 hl~ preferred '0 ...prd ....

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variety of diversionary tactics to prevent Demosthenes from proceeding to

a regular trial: a charge of desertion, presumably in connection with the
recent Euboean campaign; a charge of involvement in a murder committed
by a man called Aristarchus, with whom Dcmoithenci and Midia. bad
both been friendly; an attempt, pc:rhap$ in a speech in the Asaembly,.54
to blame Demosthenes for the failure of the Euboc:an campaipJ; and an
anack in the doJeimariD when Demosthenes was appointed to the boulL ror
347/6 ( t03- 1I ). Demosthenes survived all those attacks, but it seems likely
that in the end he accepted damages from Midias in an oUI-(, r-coun
settlement.)'
The modem reader might think that Demosthenes' Story or irrelevant
attacks which nevcr came to anything contains a large amount of fantasy;
but such ways of undennining an opponent's position were all too common, and the allegation, made by Demosthenes will have seemed plausible
enough to a contemporary hearer, and may well be substantially correct.
Indeed, the accusation that Demosthenes was responsible for or involved
in the murder committed by Aristarchus is found in the speeches of
Aeschines.*
A similar attempl al diversion led 10 Antiphon's spcli VI, On the
Chorw-Mlmber. The speaker had begun eisangefiai against four men for
embeuh:ment C3s}. Meanwhile he had to serve as a c/lorlgos, and a member
of his boys' chorus was poisoned by a throat linctus (11 - 19). The cmbezzJers encouraged the boy's brother. Philocrates. to prosecute the speaker
for homicide (37- 8); Philocrates tried to raise this as an impediment in twO
of the embezzlement trials (ZO- 4. cf. 37); but it ~5 too late for the basiltIU
to accept a homicide case and bring it to trial that year, the ruangeliai wenl
ahead. and the embezzlers Were convicted C3S, 41 - 3). Philocrates and the
othen, nOI wanting to make In enemy of I man who might continue his
activities against embezzlen, then made friendl y overtures to the speaker;
there was a Connal reconciliation. and they associated with him in ways
which would nOI be expected if they tc:garded him as auilty of and polluted
by homicide C38- 40) . However, in the new year the speaker was a member
of the boull (44- 6); in the coune of his duties he uncovered IUnher embezzlement; Ind after he had drawn attention to that Philocrates was persuaded to revive his homicide chlrae. This time the charge was made early
" . - .. opplicabk to tb.t whole procc ... _
"",lIrninay _e in tb.t """",bIy IIId .ulloequcn, triel in cou .... n.e procC<lun: .......... d in Dnn. 1m io <rn.oinIy tri.oJ in 0 ~ .......... for
."..,pltl; .. Todd pointo 0011 (199): . 00), .1ICb lenn... ~~ lnI.y>U I'W>1 ho.. bn ua.cd
ill tb.t ...... RSUlotin.l:!h ...now procC<lUftOi and I 'usp' f"""" ..:en'...,. ... thcnl .... mlatll 1\0""
fowId j, o,uUn'crnlina. 0< cvm tncaninp: .., iii .... .ma, tb.t nome oJ tb.t prod\ll'e in coun _ .
_

... ThUll Mac:o..-.U '990' 9- '0 .

.. Thirty rninu d.....,..., Aetch. "'.},- a. n.. inre ....... e .,,." .... tt.>e did ...". <om< 10 ,""I io
"""pd by Wi!OOO '99' : . 6S"';d! ,89 n . z; Mac:~U ' 990: 11- 1 doeo I'W>1 think il pOMibIc iii
docidc~!b ... tb.t d..".... _ .. owuded in .triol .... ocrtt<I in on "",...r-coun oetll ........ ,1 H orn.
.,., orpeo .... , "'codIina' ...,emen, abou, 0 Kttlcmm. io ' pun: Ikrion' (q.-.tion p . ~ )
.. ",""h. "' 70-), n . I, ,66.

M '"

IS4

P.

J, RHODES

enough in the year, and the txuikus accepted it for trial; the proclamation
will have been made which excluded the speaker from public activity until
the case: could be tried; but it appears that the embezzlers were tried and
convicted, although if the investigation Wal still in progress after the proclamation the speaker himself could have played n o further pan in the
matter (49 - S0). The homicide charge then came to trial, and the speech
that we have WIIS written for that trial.
We know of many other disputes in which prosecutio n followed pr05e*
cution. In LYlias x, Againsl T'heom/'WlllS, i,]1 we find that Lysitheus had
charged Thc:omnestus with speaking in the Assembly when disqualified,
becaU$e he had thrown away his shield in battle. Theomnenus was acquitted on that charge;}II he then sue<:essfu\ly prose<;uted one of Lysitheus'
wimc:sses for false testimeny; the speakcr was another of Ly1 itheus' wit*
nesses, and Thc:omnestus in his original defence had accused this man of
patricide; that, if untrue, Wl$ an actionable allegation, $0 the speaker
prosecuted Thcomnc:stus for slander, in a dikl kalUgoriaf, and our speech
was wrinen for that prosecution.
Many disputes abou t propeny, adoption and inherilallce generated a
large number of lawsuits: I take as an example the story which we find in
Ineus III, On Iht Sfate of JYrrhw. Pyrrhus had died more than twenty
years previously. One ofbis sister's sons, Endius, was adop ted by Pyrrhus
in his will, and on P'yrrhus' death took over the estate unchallenged, but
when Endius died twO rival claims to the estate were advanced. Xenoclc:s
claimed it on behalf of his wife, Phile, who was said to be legitimate
daughter of Pyrrhus; Endius' brother claimed on behalf of his and Endius'
mother, who was a sister of Pyrrhus, Xc:nocles claimed in a di"marryn'a, a
fonnal d eclaration, that his wife, Phile, was a legitimate daughter of Pyr*
rhus, and therefore had a stronger claim than the sister ofPyrrhus; Endius'
brother prosecuted Xenoc1es for false testimony, and won his case ( 1- 7).
Before thaI trial wa5 <:omple:ted, Xenocles announced that he: was going to
proKcute the wiUlcsKs to Pyrrhus' will, by whic h Endius claimed to haVe
bttn adopted (s6); but Endius' brother prOKcuted the brother of Phile'l
mother, who had te:stified that the mother was duly married to Pyrrhus and
that Phile wn the:ir legitimate daughter, This prosecution by Endius'
brother came to mal berore XenoclCll' prosecution of the witnCll5es to the
will; as usual, we: do nOt know the outCome.
A third feature on which I sho uld like to focus attention is the extent to
which mer! admined or d enied that they were perwnal enemies, and to
which personal enmity was bound up with political opposition .
.. Todd '99): >,1- 6a UKS tIU Pd'I ....., of,,", _tudi .., .rod ~marb !ba,!hio <_ ' off...
pnbapo our c!nreo. aampl< or , "'" ,.ndl dispute ., Athe ..... in ...tUcb the liripnll OHm
CONlOmcd leu ... rnoIw: wn 'I) perpc'uo,. """fti~' (q uotolion from p . 6, ).
.. cr. Todd '991:
with n. ' .

z,.

."

Enmity in fou nhoU1llUry ArhtnJ

Sometimes enmity is denied. The speaker of [DemosthenesJ XLVII ins ins

that before they came into conflict over ship's equipment he had never had
any dealings with Theophemus (19), thai is, thai his dispute with Theo
phemus arose l imply from the maner of the ship's equi pment, and he wu
not using that as an excuse for pursuing an already-existing enmity. Similarly, in XXI. Aga;,m Midias Demosthenes states that he was not even
aware of Midias' existence until M idias and Thrasylochus broke into his
house in connection with the anridDru (78).39 Euphiletus, the speaker of
Lysias I, On tM Murder 0/ Eratosrhmes, who caught Eratosthenes in bed
with his wife and killed him on the spot, states that there had never been
any previous enmity, or d ealings of any kind, between Eratosthenes and
himself (43- 6).40
It might happen that it suited one party to a dispute to claim that he and
his opponent were enemies but it suited the other party to claim that they
were not. In Lysias IV. on a charge of WouHding with Inwn, the speaker alleges that, although he had challenged his prosecutor in an amUlosis, they
had been reconciled, so that after all there was no exchange of property
and the speaker did perform the liturgy.41 The speaker had no minated his
prosecutor as a judge at the Dionysia at which his chorus was competing,
and, had that man not been one of the nominees who were eliminated
before the final judgment, he would (with a suitable lack of impaniality)
have voted for the speaker's tribe (1_4).4l Subsequently the speaker.
somewhat the worse for drink, broke into the prosecutor'. house to lay
claim to a slave girl in whom they were both interested, and gave him a
black eye : according to the speaker, the prosecutor and he were not
enemies, and so the prosecutor ought not to have taken the maner as seriously as he did, by treating the anack as wounding with intent to kill; but
evid ently the prosecutor claimed that he and the speaker were enemies, and
that he was therefore entitled to view the anack in a sinister light (j - II).
Euthycles, for whom Demosthenes XXIII, Against Aristocrous, was written, begins by asserting that he is n ot a personal enemy, prosecu ting
Arislocrates OUI of malice, nor one of the polileuommai (an active politician,
whose prosecution might pre1 umably be interpreted as part of a larger
campaign), but an ordinary public-spirited citizen who wants the right to
.. Todd .",gn.. tha, the Athenian eli,. wu no, .-ery Jars< body ond tho, ..... .."bitiow Dcn>ooth<nco,
ofrwml)', oua:I>, to ..........ard of. ",an lib. Mid .... [kmootbenn ""Y be
_ _ ..Ii... ~ , bu, I .." noll"'" tha, he ill: A _ wu I ...... ' ond had IkvcIopN I\Irthct frvm
...... mall r.... ' ... tacc """,m"nil)' <han mot, Gtttlt ciri ... (ApUn' !he ..;.... 01 duoial Alh<nt II

<YCn., ........

rK<"-tO-r.:c c,""""unity I

0._ ' 91J.O: 64 - , .)

"" 0.. tho: o<I>c:t hand, II T odd pointed 0'1' to mo, ocam1in& ' 0 ooaion 20 Eu""il.",,' wife Iud . to !he ll>oomopt>orio';tII
mo ........ 0.. tItis opeecb d . boY<-, B . 2, .
, ct. Gabri<:1Ktt '917' " - 2.
.. Todd WO<><kn il" tIIo """ m<:n bc~ .0 II>< ....". tribe, and thct"d"o", il"!he tribe rot..t.ldl the
pn>tKIt.", ' would t..v.: ... ,ed' irbe had 1>0< bn elimin.,ed .......... prooccutor'l ownlribe o. w.U
.. II>< .peaker'. 'ribc.

En,"'.........'

156

P.

J. RHOOES

prevail in a particular issue (1 - 5). It lums out, however, that Euthyc1es is

nOt a total innocent: his prosecution concerns Athens' relations with the
Thracian prince Cenebleptes. and he himself had been a trierarch in one
of the expeditions to the Hellespont which figure in his narrative. and had
afterwards prosecuted the general, Cephisodotus, and others (5, 16]- 8);4)
moreover, while in the present case Euthyc1es is using Demosthenes as
his speech-III.Tiler, in the eulier case he had had Demosthenes u synlgoroJ (Aesch. m.p:). so there is a connection between Euthyc\es and
Demosthenes which penisted over several years.
In other cases, however, enmity is paraded.'" It was. of course, a widespread view in Greece that it is right to help one's friends and harm one's
enemies: we find it in poetry from Hesiod onwards;4' one of the definitions
of justice rejected at the beginning of Plato's Republk: is the one anributed
by Poleman::hus to Simonides, that one should render to each his due.
good to friends and harm to enemies (1.]3td4- 336810); Plutarch anributes
to Themistocles the wish that he should never occupy luch a throne that
his friends should not receive more from him than those who were not his
friends ( Plut. Prcu. glr. rap. 807a- b).46 This is an attitude which litigants
are not ashamed to admit to. In Lysias IX, For 1M Soiditr, Polyaenus IIYS
that he regards it as right to help one's friends and hann one's enemies
(1 0) - bUI he did not lake advantage of his connection with the influential
SO$tratus 10 help his mends and h arm hil enemies, so the enemies of
SOStratu5 have no justification for their enmity towards him ( t]_ 16).47
We have two speeches in Lysias' corpus, XIV and xv, Agairut Alcibituks
(the son of the famous Alcibiades); the speaker of XIV is the son of a man
..... ho had qUllJ're lJed with the famoul Alcibiades (2); and the speaker of xv
is a mend of the prosecutor and an enemy of the younger Alcibiades ( 12).
In [Demosthenes) LlII , Alairut NiulStratw, Apollodorus begins his speech
by saying that he i. prosecuting in an apographl, to claim that two slaves are
the propeny of Arethusius and are liable to seizure for a public debt, not
., On oN. cut

Ibnkn '9n' 91-11 no. 96 .

.. ct. o....n '974: ,a,: 'Few 01 ... npt to be in..,l....:I fOl' Jon,; in. n:lllionohlpd ............. the name

of n",uf]'. and mon """" opoII.c of "my """",;eo" could fainy be '''sptcd of puanoil. A!b<:nlano
<OO~ enmity mud! man: for ..... ted: Can:r '994b: II . _....
protUw. in I public ouit
misbt <In " ...Iion ,I> pcnonal.nmi" in <>rcIe. to ou,,"' that he _ . - brin& mcddl_ but
hI>d rood n:_ to
the proICC\Ition.
H... W&'D 14'. 149-" ~ Archil. ""'''. ' 4- ' ' w ...; 'lbwpt. 3)1- 40; and many 0","" in.taDceo .
W. ore """or &o.n tile Od in Hom. 011. 1Y.6g' - I . On <hit !bane 0 [)oo.rn '974 : , &0- .
.. Bu. in 107tl Pluweh pnKee<b ' 0 tell the """".otin."ory (siYen 0100 in Plu . 7Jor"o. , .' and .1K""""'") in which Sin"....dn _ an unjw. f ....... of Thcmis,oei<:t and Thcmlstocln replies _ hE
......,Id not he 'noonoblc oII\r;i.1 if Iw sn<l.N favo .... contnry w !he law.
" Hcnnan '994' npeci.ollr .01_'0 cloimo that the ' primilivc' cook whiclr Il'I""'ftd of~ ..... had
no< betn t<><all,.~ bum Atbcni&<> life'. but ther. ~.cd and compc.ed wi.h h l'eMHoed' <Od. which n:jccwi .uch lniNdcs, and i ...... the "<:MIiKd" corI ...tUc:h PftII>nted the
d;I<a... mind. and otr'Uetllftd their KnK ofjuttK:.'. I $!>Quid oar .h.u the I""" of ~~ remlin.d,
bu. the ocnsc of KP"~ 1Onn. of ........... hod beon torncd. ond thoH who dOd noc ...... ~
th ......, ...... .;.,~nll y .. thC)' m~' Ioid claim ,,, oin.,. for

tho,.

undo".

.ho,.

Copyrighted Material
Enmity infounh-untury ArhenJ

'57

as a sykopnanus but as a man who has been wronged by the brothers

Nicostratus and Arethusius and who wan tt revenge (1- 3) . Although
Demosthenes had had no dealings with Midias before the antidoru. as II.
result of that affair the twO men became bitter enemies, and it was as an
enemy that Midias assaulted D emosthenes in the theatre in 348, whereas in
a t ase whith Midias alieged to be parallel, the man who assaulted a proedros
in the assembly was not an en emy of his (O em. XXI.36- 9); in other pas
sages in the speeth M idias is again said fa be an enemy of Demosthenes
(61- 6, 74, d . 55), and the speech contains many general referentes fa the
ways in which men behave IOwards their enemies (49, 59, etc.).
As is often remarked, Athenian sotiety was unlike our own in that politicians and their suppo rters were bound together primarily by personal
considerations (although men who agreed on a particular policy, more
or less extensive, could join forces in the pursuit of that policy, and in
D emosthenic Athens we come tlOier than usual to parties with political
programmes 4 1:1). The Athenians did not distinguish as we sho uld wish
between acting illegally and acting in ways which were politically or mili
tarily unacceptable; this facl, and the fact that prosetution was nonnally
left 10 the initiative of individu als, resulled in frequent prosecutions of one
man by another on politital grounds.49 lt is not surprising, then, that there
was a closer link between personal enmity and political opposition than is
normal in our society. In a passage in the speech Agairur Midiar, where
Demosthenes argues that other enmities have not been punued 10 the
same outrageous extent as Midias' enmity towards him, he refers twice to
' men who have become enemies of one another not only on private but
also on public grounds' (YfYl'VTJIJivwIl iX&pwII aAA1)AoI5, oV lJO\lOV E~ iSiwII
6:AAc:' KQi EK KOIIIW" lTpo:ylIc:'TWII 62, cr. the similar wording in 65).
There halle been wellknown cases in the Bri tish H Qu se of Commons of
memben' being political opponents but penonal friends: such a phenom enon is hard to imagine in Athens. so We should regard it as a utopian
evocation of the Good Old Days rather man a statement of what actually
happened when Aeschines claims that in th e past prosecutions in a graphl
paranomon were made not on ly by political opponents but by friends
against friends if an offence had been committed against the state, whereas
in his own day distinguish ed men would seek acqu ittals, th at is for their
guilty friends (Aesch. 111.194- 6). His example of the Good Old Days IS
.. For my .... w ofth .... monen oeo: Rh<>de.t978; Rhodn '986
.. Not <Very p",""",ution orItkb _ mly <onsidct to hove ""on mod. on politico! ""undl will ha ..
""on "",de on on """my politico! ~ (cf. T<>dd I\I';I}' t 54- ') . On 'politico! trial.' in A""'n. ICC
CIo<:M ' 96<> (Uyina to pf"O~ tha, political trial. wen: not fr<:quent in Atheno, but el'kctNc1y
olt<>win!I that they wer.); Hl1\Ien tIt" , 58-.fi5; R.obc:m t982 ; KooK 1985; T<>dd 199}: IS4-.fi},

35'

... Notice Dcm.,.the"",' ,""IIIpl';"t in 1OI.ns- 6 th.t Pytbocko used 10 be on friendly lenni with
tum, but evcr . inee he hccame a pamt.l>l or Philip be hal .voided 0.:11101""'''''' and b.. .ucn to
_kiDS oround the ~ with AClChinCl.

Copyrighted Material

158

P . J. RHODES

Ar<:hinus' prosecution of Thrasybulus for his proposal to honour the men

who had supponed him against the oliguclu in 403:51 An;hinus ceruinly
had different views from Thruybulus on how the democnts ought to
behave after their reStoration;'2 r suspect that the basis for his being described al a friend of Thrasybulus is only that he was with 1l\rasybulus at
Phyle, in the earlier stage of the democrats' srruggle against the oligarchs
(Dem. XXIV. t3S); but the facl that both men were suang opponents of the
extreme oligarchs does nOt prove that this was a prosecution of a friend by
a friend .
In the late 3Sos and the 3405 it appeal"! - in spile of MacDowell's
doubtsS} - that Demosthenes and Midias were political opponents as well
as penonal enemies. Although Demosthenes, like Midiu, served in the
Euboean campaign of 348 (133). and it was presumably in connection with
that campaign that Midias contrived to have him accused of desertion (t03.
110: d . above), Demosthenes notori ously was opposed to the majority view
that that was the most imponant campaign for Athens in 349/8, and he
wanted Athens' major effon to be devoted to the saving of Olynthus.
Midias, on the other hand, was the Athenian proxtnoJ ofEtetria and a xtnoJ
of Plutarchus, the man on whose behalf the Athenians began the campaign
( 11 0, lOO). Hegesileos, who was a general in the campaign and was afterwards accused of 'joining Plutuchus in deceiving the people', was a cousin
of Eubulu$, and Eubulu5 spoke in his l uppon in hi, trial and asked for
forgiveness for himself. U Photion, who also commanded in that campaign,
was associated with Aeschines and Eubulul.'6 So, when we read in the
speech Agairuc Midias that Eubulus was an enemy of Demosthenes and a
friend of Midias (20S - 7), it does seem reasonable to assume that Midiu
was connected with Eubulus politically as well as personally, and that
Demosthenes' feud with Midias, which undoubtedly began as a personal
matter, eam~ to be compou nd~d by political opposition.
Oemosthenes XXU, Again-fl AndroMn, was written for Diadorus, sytiIgoroJ
of the main prosecutor Euctemon: both had been the victims of prolecutions by Androtion (Euctemon in connection with an office 10 which he
had been appointed), and Diadorus unashamedly hoped to obtain revenge

'4

.. CI. A ..... 1loI. 4 0. 1 .

.. On 1M aU .... ion or Au.. TW. 3-4-} ma. in 4"" Archinu ..... OD ...,..;... of"lll<-ramenn ....
IU'>o<In "1,, od koc.; i. "",y, bul need no<, be """
' Moco..-U
1I- I) , _ . On p. 11 be U)'l it ;. not ,...,....t 'Wt Dellloodlcn.. bad political
"'...... f pro.din,.,.wt ( Midia.) in 147/6, oinc:c "'" do no< mow o f any poIitico!~.
men. be, on Detnottllonn ond Euboulot .. ""', date:' _ but iI; . . . u - " l y be .,.ued tim
I><mootbo...,. ODd Eubul ... ,1OOd r.... diff...... ' fnf-<i&n policin &om }4' to carty )46, aDd IhAI
ollho"ll< bo<h ....... in }4e to faout "'aIcinc ""'0\1 ";!h Pltilip ch<y ... about i. with ... .., clil'lierm.

''',I:

tlIpcctltiont.

.. D.-m. " .j, d . 1- 111 . Com""" . 100 Midi ..' .[....u- ( Delli .
rnp;tmiblc lor lho failun: ell tho oompaicn.

Ul. IIO)

tho. o.moo<h<ncs _

" Dem. mE.I!1O wid> UIpi",,'. ocl>ol . U'J DiJtI)

.. B.s Actch. If.' 70. I '4 : """'ion ""d Eubu[uo botb "'J'I""U"d A<Khinc. in hia trial in )4}.

Enmiry in /ourth-century Allum

."

by baclting the graphl pan.uwm6n against him for an illegal propo...l [0

honour the boull of which he was a member (1- 3). tn the course of the
speech he announced his intention of prosecuting Androtion on two other
charges, for being disqualified from public activity as a male pronirule (:u 32) and as the SOD of an undischarged public debtor 8 3- 4); bUI as far as
we know those prosecutions were: never brought. In this trial Androtion
was probably acquitted." We learn about the continuation of the feud
from Demosthenes XXIV, Agairul 7i'mocrales. In 355 Androtia n was II member of an embass y which caprured what was deemed to be an enemy ship
and failed to hand over the proceeds due to the state. After Aristophon had
proposed a commission of inquiry imo public moncy in the possession of
private individuals, Euctemon gave infonnatian againS! the uierarchs of
the ship conveying the embassy; he instigated the enactment of a proboukuma , and in the subsequent debate of the Assembly he proposed a d eQ"ee;
his proposal was c:hallenged by Androtion and his colleagues in a graphl
paraMm6n, but was upheld by the coun;58 Timocrates on their behalf then
proposed a law which would have been milder than the existing law conc:eming men in d ebt to the state (11- 16, 39- 40 with 41 - 95); Euctemon and
Diodorus replied by prosecuting TimocTltes in a grophl nomon ",1 epitideion Iheinai, and Diodorus again uscd Demosthencs as his speech-writer;
we cannot be sure of the result of th is trial, but it is more likC:\y that
Timocrates was acquitted than thai he was condemned.'9
The earlier speech refers to a group of men who ' with (Androtion ) kepI
the council-house in their own hands' (xxlI.38: !II' knrrwv (ixov \1f"Tcl "oV,-ov
,.6 ~AwnlP I OV); Timocr;;l[es cooperaled with Androtion in at leasl two
other political m ailers before the affair of the enemy ship (XXIV.17T ,.oihov
,.0\1 naVTW\I ,.W\I KQKW\I KOIVW\lO\I; 16t - 2), and in 347- 6 an omission in a
decree p roposed by Androrion was remedied in an amendment proposed
by Timocr3les' $On, Polyeucru s.1IO On the other side. we:: know nothing
about EuClemon and Diodorus apan from their involvem ent in these
quarrels with Androtion and his associates.
Demosthene::s and Midias began as penonal enemies, and their enmity
was pursued at a time when they were also political opponenrs. Androcion
and T imocnucs were political partnen over a long period; their finl attested clash with Euctemon. if nol their first with Diodorus, was over a
poli tical appointment; but evidently there WIIS 11150 II c:onsiderabh: amount

" n.c .u

ul, of ~ triol is ..id '0 boo unknown by Honten 1974' P ..... '1. Hownef, it is wi&1y
infer=:! !ha, Androtioln was ..,quittcd !'ram <he f..,. of hi, iC~ on !he crnt.o,1O M*'*"... 10

3H (~ , DIY. 12); C,I . Hatdina 199.1: al

.. FOf <his trial ..., H ..... n '974' ]2 - ] no. I} .

.. We nut bear of T ImO<Tllloo, U>d of his oon P<>Iy<"""' .... . .. pport<" of Mid... itt Oem . DJ. ' ]9.
&ol"1 1993' ,,8 ollKrvn ",," '!he ou",,"mc can"", ha .. IIftn diou"" ... rot Timom ... ' .
.. fG II > a" _ Tod ,67, ........ al.d Horoi... h , On AndroIioa and IUs PCI~riQl _
.. tOO _ Sc&lcy
' 99}: I I'- ao .

160

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J. RHODES

of personal enmity in the qUalTel which ran through lhe 3505. There are
many olher cases tOO in which penonal enmity and political opposition are
so much bound up wilh each other that it would be wrong for us to try to
separate them.
Success or failure in a prosecurion could, of course, have imponant
political consequences: the penalty on conviction might be death or elI.i1e
(and Callistratus was PUt to death when he risked returning to Athens after
fleeing into exile to escape the death sentence!>I); in 323 after the dealh of
Alexander the pro-Macedonian Demades conveniently incuned an'mia for
being convicted three times in gropnai ptlfallOmiln (but after Athens' defeat
in the Lamian War his rights were restored so that he could once more talk
to lhe Macedonians).62 In most public suiu, a prosecutor who failed to
obtain a fifth of the votes would be fined and would or could lose the right
to bring similar prosecutions in futu re f>3 (and Aeschinet afteT his failure
against Clesiphon chose or was forced to leave Alhens"').
What I have tried to do in my contribution to this series of papers on
relationships within lhe polis is (Q bring OUt aspects of enmity in Athens
which involve legal proceedinp but do nOt reflect a state under the rul e of
law as that would he understood in our own society. First, the successful
parties to lawsuits commonly had in the last resort to use self-help, if necessary by violent means, in executing lhe decisions of lhe couru, though a
cautious man could brina prc$llurc on his advcnary through supplementary COUrt decisions before proceeding to that final Stage. This was
more conducive to the aggravation and prolongation of qua ITch than a
system in which the execution of judgments is lhe responsibility of public
officials .
Secondly, an original prosecution could generllte a remarkable range of
counter-prosecutions (such as a pafatmphl to show that the original charge
WI5 inadminible), diVersionary prosecutions (such as an accusation against
the prosecutor, irrelevant to the original charge but designed [0 undermine
his position in pressing lhu charge), and subsequent prosecutions (such as
a charge of false testimony against a witnets, or a charge intended to
strengthen the successful litigant's position in executing judgment). This
again was conducive to the aggravation and prolongation of quanels.
Thirdly, al though there are occasions when it suits a litigant to claim lhu
a man wa, not his enemy, and indeed that he had had no dealings with the
man, before the man wronged him, lhe view that one owed good to one's
friends and fu.rm to one's enemies persisted ioto the age of the oraton, and
litiganu are not ashamed to state that they are supporting their friencb , and

1..,.:. t-a. 9! .
... E..IJ. Diod. Sit. """'. 1.1- 1, PI"" 1'*0<. 26.).
~ ""'"' rottnlly MtcDo.>,o,:U ' 9?0' 127- 1J .
.. Plut. DtM. 14.1- 1. [PI,,,.1 X 0.. I4OC-L

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Enmity injOrmh-ntury Athetu

.,.

that they arc prosecuting their enemies in the hope of obtaining revenge.
Because of the personal narure of political alliances and antipathies, and
because of the use of the law-courts, and of volunteer prosecutors, in connection with politicaJ as well as with what we should regard as legal issues,
personal enmity can be inextricably bound up with politicaJ opposition:
politically active men who are personal enemies are likely to move in different political circles, and they arc likely to pursue their enmi ty mrough
prosecutions both on private and on public maners.
To all this we must add notorious fearures of Athens' judicial system,
such as the amateur and agonistic character of trial!. The result was a great
deal of litigation, but nOI, I Ihink, what we should be happy to recognise
as me rule of law. In this respect classical Athens was indeed desperately
foreign .

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The rhetoric of enmity in

the A ttic orators 1
STEPHEN TODD

Alkidamas' Odysseus is a rhetorical exercise dating from the late fifth or

early founh century BCE. The dramatic date, however, is the Trojan War,
and the context is the trial of Palamedes for treason. In Alkidamas' speech,
Odysseus the prosecutor insins that he is not acting from personal motives
su ch as enmity or friendship (3), and that he and Palamedes have never
quarrelled (4). This is notable dissimulation, given that Allddamas' audience would have known from the epic cycle the story of how Odysseus
framed Palamedes for treason precisely because of personal motives. 2
One way of reading this text is as parody of the conventions of forensic
oratory. By having his prosecutor deny a well-known motive, Allddamas
can suggest that litigants who do this in real speeches 3re playing similar
games with their audience. This reading invites us to examine those of
Rhod C5' cases in which Athenian litiganu frame their arguments with the
assertion that they had had no previous relationship with their antagonists.)
Two related questions sp ring to mind. First, how do we (and how did the
jury) react to thC5e claims? Secondly, how do they fit into what we imagine
to be the conceptual world of the speaker (and of the audience)? To set
these qUC5tions in context, let us first consider some issues of scale.
Athens was an exceptionally large pqlis. The geographical size of Attica
and the number of Athenian citizens - modem estimates for the founh
My th_ ..., dur ' 0 the ot'I.niK" of the conferm/edito" of tho. vol ...... e fot in";!ina me '0
,....pond to cbIpttf!}ll, ODd to d....,lop m1 reoponK;" prin~ P.ut CartIe<iF. S<ephen Lambert ODd
Kathryn Morsan abo commenlOd on the &nol drift. Since .pace iIlimued, and 1 lubo"""i.Uy .are
.nth Rhode>' critiqur ofthr Sul.,.;o.lWIld modol of Alb .... u ommunity mo",,,.1OWU<i1 <.h.
",Ie of I.... , I concenlr.K on """I wbc", I ha"" funher que,,;on._
Their =mitT had br"", when Odyue"" had p ... endcd 10 br mad 10 U 10 .YOid lOrna '0 Troy, ond
Polamrdr. hod dc!tctod Ihl. by trick.
, RlIod .. pp. 'SS- 6
8"" ""... wh.", litilloo' deni .. brinl; hi. on",onlo,', .l!Jolirn>o
(cnrmy): Oem. nyu. nom. J<ld, Lyo. t, Lyo ..... one! Oem. UIII . I ha"" nothinl '0 add on Dem.
D"t, .1COpt ' 0 "'JI<a' Rhoda' poin' !hat Euthykln <.h. "",ok. . it 1<11. innocent of enmity ""'" he
claim . Th. other four ""... "'" .,..",in.d brio .... (Such d." i.oI it DOl the only pouible
Rbod .. pp_ 'S6- 7 not .. <.ha, enmity it plroded in Lyo. mo, Lyo . IIV, and o.,m. un.)

.uur.i,....

.In.I<.,.,

,"
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.6,

The rluwric of fflmily in the Attic orQ/01'$

century vary between 20,000 ( Ruschenbusch 1981 ) and 30,000 (Hansen

1985) - make wh olly inappropriate Finley's description of Athens as a ' faceto-face society' ,4 because in a communi ty of this sizc it is clearly ridiculous
to suppose that everybody knew everybody. But the polis encompassed
various smaller groups, which are imponant for our purposes, because
to the exten t that th ey engaged in communal activities, they could be
expected to act as social networks.' The greater the interaction, the greater
the likelihood of friendship or enmity rather than indifference.
The best-attested such groups at Athens were the demel, which had
been the local communities of Anica at the time of Kleisthencs' reforms,
sho nly before 500 BCI!: membership thereafter was hered itary in the male
line, even for those who ceased to reside th ere. K1eitthencs distributed hit
139 (or 140) demes am ong ten new tribes, each made up o f three trinyes,
in such a way that although the d em es were o f very unequal sizes, nevertheless each tribe contained about onetenth of the citizen body. This
lribc-trinys--deme structure ronned the basis on which sealS were allocated
to K1cistheDcs' new councilor bouJz:' each dem e had its so-called bouleutic qu ota - that is, the number of co uncil scats (determined on the basis
of its size) to which it was entitled annually.
The bouleutic quotas of me d emes, at least in the fourth century, arc
known fairly ac(:Unllely, and cnable us to es timatc ordcrs of magnitud e not
only for each lribe (10 per cent o r th e total, or lome 2,000- 3,000 citizens),
but also for the individual demes. For this period, we sho uld expect cach
deme to have had very roughly one fivc-hundredth of the citizen body for
cach of its placcs on the co uncil (that is some 40 or 60 members, depend
ing on whether we acce pt Ruschenbusch 's or Hansen 's estimates). There
were some large demel, like Achamai with a bouleutic quota of 21, which
implies an approximate membefShip of 880 or 1,320, but only 10 demcs
had a bouleutic qU Ota of 10 or more (implying a minimum membership of
approllimatciy 400 or 600). No fewer than 72 demes (m ore than half the

Thu. Osbomc (' 9II}.1: 64 6,), oaainll Y"'kJ (" B,b: '7). Oobomo: no.a IN. wkn ( , ,~), In>m
.. hom <boo phro.. '&ct-_faa oocielY' is taken, ...prd. it .. on appropriau modeL (or I commllllill'
.. fno m"", thon , ......... cici .......
In od<!i!io" to <boo demc..lrin:rs-rribc .uu~ dioocuoHd in the ....., t\'ft)' citiun pn>IMb/J bcL~
'0 I pbnny and..,...., to . . -. n.a.. - . _
<, Of. no< ....u .,....,'"" ( t-nb<n ' 5I9J: ,1_
JO il l ;.,dicio"olr op<n -atdcd difcuo.ion of the number and oDe of!be phralrin). Mo.m: the""
is DO ... ...,., thai <boo iu<J "",uld haft kn ...... IN. litipn .. ~ to panIcuI ... phro...... obo.,.t.
!hey mJaht haft known IN, "" indiYidu.al bclolla~ '0 ~I _
. n..,. would <VtainIy
haC hurd (and mi&/I, .......1IIbef) the d..... aII'IIiorion or....,., litipn., Which would appear in ....
indictment.

Dc"," hi"" bootn ~ by 001>00>< (' 91,..) and Whi ...hood ('9116), bu, there it no conYCflicn.
IrCIDl1"''' ofmc mo.. It ........... (Rouo.I<:J '976: ,6' )0\1 <kab with";IIn~' <boo a.-k
world). n.. ......., to which dcmn contin....., to be .... L c:orrununitin in \he ro..rth ntlit)' ;.
dilpuud, bu. de ..... and m"bco (...., 10 much trinyn, II'hid> ......
haY< been ......... onif\cioL
\Uti ..) fulflU~ ... ri ...., conIT;,utionIL, mm ...., and ... L;,;..w fUllCtions, IOIDc of .. hieh .... diKu-.L
~

....

'It

164

STEPH EN TO DD

total number) had a bouleutic quota of 2 o r fewer (implying a membership

of approximately 80 or 120). 7
Another factor to consider is the size of the political, social, or litigating
elite, both througho ut the po/iJ and within th e individual tribes and demes.
There are vari ous ways in which such an elite could be defined - economically, for instance, in tenns of those with sufficient wealth to undertake the
different liturgies o r compulsory public services. or politically in tenns of
those who regularly or occasionally hold public oftke or propose motions
in council or assembly.' The size of the elite in each case will vary according to how it is defined: Davies suggests that normally 300 m en al any
given time were liable to the trierafl:hy (funding a warship, Davies 1981:
20), and that roughly this number were wealthy eno ugh to afford festival
liturgies (19i l: 27). but that the clan of those liable to th e eisphOTa or
wealth-taX was considerably larger (19il : Ii). Hansen similarly seeks to
broaden th e concept of politician'. by including n ot only those few who
can be d escribed as ' professional' or 'semi-professional' politicians, but
those who proposed decrees - a group which he believes to have numbered
700-1.400 in the period 3SS to 31.2 BeE (Hansen 1989b: 123).
AgaioS( th is background, we tum to Rhodes' cases where enmity is
d enied, and begin with a general question abo ut relationships between
members of the elite, and the way such relati onships would be perceived by
the jury. D emolthenu (in Oem. XX I.78) aslts a jury to believe that, al the
age of twenly. he had never heard the name of II prospective politician aged
around thirty with considerable inherited wealth. (Inis is pan of his tacti c
of representing Midias' behaviour towards him as gratuitous violence.)
There is adminedly n o obvious link between the two: we do not know their
phratries, but Demosthenes belonged to the d eme Paiania (tribe III Pandionis), and Midias to Anagyrrhou s (I Erekhtheis). H owever, many stories
are told about how Demosthenes trained himself in rhetoric from an early
age, to avenge himself on his (alleged ly) corrupt guardians. Rh etoric at
Athens was as much a political as a legal tool, and if there is any truth in
these stories. they suggest that he was politically as we ll as legally ambitious. Would such ambition be compatible (either in fact or in the eyes of
the jury) with a total lack of interest in the identily of potential political
rivals through out th e po/iJ, or is Demosthenes suggesting that he did not
, F.. u .... for boukuDc ' 1 - .... ",Un rrom Troib ('986, " ) - 4", bu. ROle Iho. TroiD opii" "charoW ;"'0 tw< . n..r., may bo <Qnfinno\ioon Iho ..... cokul.o ....... arc in \he richt ord..,. of m.."ioude,
iClamber! ( ' 993' 3'9"111) it COfftCt.o inkt &om 0.", . L'tD tho, Hali_ hod So- I, ll>mlben in
146/" H.I ......... ho.d _ku';" 'I""'" "'}, &urn _
.... o.bould ha... apccted 0 IIJUft of
....LqIbly ' :10 or "'"'"'IhIY ,So rm>:>:lbo .. (\he ~In .... 1>01 do.., bIlt at k ... !hey .... ..." ,.- , . or
1 ,~_ , ,8001 . For other poIlibk WIlY> of ~lkut.rinl .... Iile of. de""" ..., e.l . Oobome (, 911,..:
- , ). On .... ,iIe: of Ac~', ~tc c""tina....., .... ..", Reden, thla "roIwn<, 111 n. 6a .
00 .... ( 191') .,..t<matl<a1Iy cotak>pn 'propertied r.:nffin', acwnI;,,1 !O .,.,...;.,w defined economic
critcrio. Sec 1100 HONICn ( '9I9b: }4- 1') r.... I co.......... of III known _ _ ('f>ubli<: '~l
Uld UNUp {Jcnotnlol.

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The rheuwic 0/ tn",iry in Ihe A rric oraum

.6,

then know Midias simply to enable the rhetorical interjection 'if only I did
not know him now'?
Lys. I contains ell:plicit and repeated denials of enmity and therefore of
any motive to murder (4, developed at 43- 46), backed up by the implicit
assenion that the name of the adulterer Eratosthenes was unknown to the
speaker Euphiletos until new1 of the affair was broken to him.9 What are
we to make, therefore, of the statement at 20 that during Euphiletos'
absence in the counuy 'my wife went to the Thesmophoria in the company
of his mother'? On one level, this serves to create the image of devious
females scheming together to undermine Euphiletos' control of his oikos
(household). But it also implies that there may have been more dealings
than he admits. The Thesmophoria seems to have been a festival at which
some hospitality was offered within the deme: as Isaios remarks in another
case, 'given that Pyrrhos owned a three-talent house in his deme, he would
if married have bad to provide a Thesmophoria meal on behalf of his wife
for th e gunaikes Ithat is for the wives of the deme-membersJ ' (lsai. 111.80).
At first sight we might be tempted from the behaviour of Euphiletos' wife
and of Eratosthenes' mother in Lysias I to infer that adulterer and cuckold
were members of the same deme, which would make it difficult for
Euphiletos not to have known of Eratosthenes. Oe was a moderately large
deme, with a bouleutic quota of 6, from which we would infer a membership of roughly 240 or 360, and a community this siu is small enough to
provide plenty of motives for murder. Against this, however, is the wording
or16, where Euphiletos' informant breaks the news to him with the words
' Il is Eratosthenes ofOe who has done this', which would be an odd thing
to say ifOe were Euphiletos' own deme.
In Lys. tv, as Rhodes has noted, the opponent apparently claimed that
the speaker had anempted to murder him because of enmity, whereas the
speaker argues that no such motive still elcisted. But the affair of the Dionysia (3-4) raises further questions about religious festivals. There is
dispute about the details of how the judges for the choral competitions
were selected, but it is generally agreed that the preliminary choite was
made on a tribal basis.' o The speaker claims that he had nominated his
antagonist to the post (4), and that the opponent had voted for the
speaker's tribe, thereby proving that they had been retondled. The fatt
that the speaker tould nominate his opponent, however, suggests that the
two are members of the same tribe. This hypothesis is supported by the
fatt thai they had been involved in an antidosis: if (as seems likely), this
antjdosis was to detide which of them should undertake a thoregit liturgy,
we would expect it to involve members of the same tribe. If so, then these
are no[ simply two of the 300 or so Athenians rich enough to fund liturgies

,.6

Not<: tho """. i.,on, .... of 'tbil man' until

whon Euphile'oo i. ,okl th. odul,eru's nome.
I. This much io ogrftd be"" .... Pick&n:l.Canbridsc ('981: 9,-8) ond Pope (1986: J U ).

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166

STEP HEN TODD

(cf. Davies 1981 : 27, cited above), but two members of a group one-tenth
this size, with all the possibilities for enhanced rivalry which that might
imply. Moreover, such a hypothesis would undermine one of the speaker's
main arguments that a reconciliation had occwred, because it would mean
that the opponent's having voted for 'my' tribe need nOl signify anything
more than local patriotism.
In Oem. XLvn, much depends on the identity of the unnamed speaker.
We are told at 22 that the opponenl Theophemos (whose deme is nOI
stated) had been joint-trierarch with Demochares of Paiania. An inscription recording naval debts includes one incurred by Demochares of
Paiama and Theophemos of Euonymon as join t-trierarchs of the trireme
Euphues (/G II' 1612.3t]-t6) . Identification with the Theophemos of
Oem. XLVII seems certain, and it is possible that the command of the
Euphues is what is at issue in the speech.l1 Even if the Euphues is the right
trireme, however, the inscription does not identify who took it over, in
other words the speaker of Oem. XLVII . We know from the speech that
he farms and has since boyhood lived close to the Hippodrome (53, probably near the Piraeus, but not cettainly identified, and it may not be property in his ancestral deme). More significant is the arbitration (discussed at
5-Il).
Public arbitr.nors at Athens were appointed to relieve the workload of
the Forty, who had jurisdiction over private cases, by attempting to resolve
such cases before they were referred to a cO un. We know that the Forty
were d ivided for the year into ten panels, each dealing with the cases of one
tribe (allocated acco rding to the tribe of the defendant), apparently in such
a way that n o member was allocated to the panel dealing with his own tribe
(Alk. Pof. 53.2 with Rhodes 1981: 590). This was presu mably d one to ensure
impartiality. There: is a reference in the present speech to 'those serving as
arbitrators for (particular tribes]' (Oem. XLVIl . Il ), which again implies
tribal organisation. It is natural to assume that the reference here is to the
tribe of the defendant, and plausible to suggest that the public arbitrators,
like the Forty, heard cases for tribes other than their own (thus Rhodes
1981 : 594 on Ath. Pol. 53.5).
This hypothesis, however, is nOl conclusive. We have four reasonably
well documented cases of public arbitration in the orators, and in two of
them the tribe of the arbitrator is indeed different from that of the defendant (and incidentally of the plaintiff). In O em. XXI.83-7, a case brought
by Demosthenes of Paiania (tribe III Pandionis) against Midias of Anagyrrhous (I Erekhtheis) was h eard by Straton of Phaleron (IX Aiantis). t n
O em. XL.16, two sets of cases seem both to have been heard by Solon of
Erkhia (u Aigeis): one was brought by Mantitheos of Thoriko$ (v Aka" Pcnibl~, "'" ....,..,oiD, be usc pain of ni.,.....,bJ _.,"" .. ""IIl""..>de<l one ship '''F~r in
~v<n 1""' .... d ano"'er ohip 'oa.the. 'I>~ucnt/y.

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T1u. rluwric oj .... miry in In, Artie (frOwn

'"

manris) against his half-brother, fonnerly called Boimos (deme um;:ertain,

but tribe VIII Hippothontis), but who later, successfully and confusingly,
claimed the family name Mantitheos of Thorikot (Y Aumanris); the other
was brought via wno.
M ore difficult is the case in Oem. XLY.8-to (which is probably the one
m entioned in Oem. xxxy1.f8 ), where the arbitrator is named in a quoted
document as Teisis of Achamai (YI Oineis): unless (as is possible) the
document is an interpolation, it would mean that the arbitrator was not
only from the same tribe but also from the same dem e as the plaintiff
Apollodoros, also of Achamai. Even though Achamai is the largest deme,
it would seem surprising in this case that the defendant Phonnion made no
protest. Phonnion has been identified by Davies ( t971: 436) with Phormion of PiMieus (Vtll Hippothontis), but the identification is inconclusive.
Given that enfr.mchiscd meti like Phonnion tend to take their panon's
deme, and that Phonnion was originally the slave of Apollodoros' father
Pasion, we might have expected him to be a member of Achamai (a possibility canvassed but rejected by Davies). Ideally, arbitration (whether public or private) is designed to reconcile nlther than to adjudicate a dispute,
and if Phonnion was a member of Achamai, the Forty may have felt justified in referring a case involving members of the same d eme, with the
agreement of the litigants, to an arbitrator who was their fellow-dem esm an.
We are told in Oem. XLVII.S that the arbitrator was Pythodoms of Ked oi
(I Erckhtheis), and at Il that the case was heard ' at the Heliaia, where
th ose serving as arbitrators for the tribes Oineis and Erekhtheis hold
session' (d. ahove). We have identified the opponent Theophemos as a
member of Euonymon (tribe I Erekhtheis). U nfortunately it is unclear
whether the case under arbitration is that brought by ThCQphemos against
the speaker, or the corresponding one brought by the speaker against
Theophemos. If the latter, then the location is unders tandable, and this il a
case of an arbitrator acting for a defendant from his o ..... n tribe. If the defendant i~ the speaker (which seems more probable in the light of 46),
then the location leaves us with a fifty-fifty chance whether the speaker
is from Oinds or fro m Erekhthds. It is possible that the speaker is from
Oinei5, and that that is why Pythodorol (as a member of Erekhthds) has
been allocated the case. But in that case (as in the case of Phonnion, if
Davies' identification is accepted), we might have expected the speaker to
protest against Pythodoros for having undu ly favoured Theophemos. The
alternative possibility is that the speaker, like Theophemos and Pythodoros,
is from Erekhtheis, and that the Forty have allocated the case deliberately to
a m ember of the tribe of both litigants (the parallel .....ould be that o f T dsis.
above, ifPhonnion was a member of Acham.i). Any such reconstru ction is
eJ:tremely sptcuilulYe, but il would be interesting if they were members of
the same tribe, because the contexts in which the speaker claims to have
had no previous dealings ~ith his opponent Ire highly restrictive: he docs

M'~."'

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STEPHEN TODD

not say that there had been no political or military or liturgical rivalry, but
simply that ' I have had no sumboloion (business dealings?), no lromoJ
(drunken dances), no erlJs (love-atrair), no poCOJ (drinking bouts) with him'
(Dem. XLVII.19). It would also be interesting to mow the jury's reaction,
because they would have heard (and mighl have noticed) the two litigants'
demotics read OUI at the start of the case.
H ow realistic, if we may m ove briefly into the mental world of Athenian
litigation, is the concept of persons 10 whom you are indifferent? Is this a
society in which you have relatively small numbers of philbi and e1rhthmi
and lots of people who fall into neither category, or arc you assumed to
have urong reactions (positive or negative) towards the ma~rity of people
around you? It is tempting here to recall Millen (19 g4) on the world of the
H esiodic peasant and the concept of the ' limited good'. If there is a finite
supply of the good things of life, then every household will be in competition, and everyone who is n ot your fri end is your enemy. We should not of
course assume withoul question thai the mental world of cighth-century
Boiotia is that of founh-century Athens. But in &orne ways at least the
thought-world to which elite Athenians even in the fourth century subscribe (at least in public) is very much a world of peasant values writ large most notably perhaps the ideal of autarlreio (self-sufficiency) . Intern.tional
relations may provide a parallel wo rld in which neuU'lllity is unnatural.
Plato remarks in the lAW' (62.6,) that all palm arc natul1lo11y hostile to each
other, and Athenian law seems similarly 10 assume that there has to be
some &on of friendly relationship ellablished before members of another
community can have access to the couns. 11 The significance here of the
fourth-century invention of the concept of the Common Peace (see most
rttently Jehne 1994) would be that ulale as the 3gos it is a state of peace
throughout the Greek world (nOt war) which is the thing thai you have to
declare.
The reconsuuction of relationships in the speeches &0 far discussed has
been speculative. T o give an indication of how such relationships might
affect litigation, I would like to conclude with one further text (n ot analysed by Rhodct, because the relationship that is being denied is nOI with
the speaker's opponent) . Lys. n is the defence ofa man called POlys U3tos,
who is evidently a fa nner member of th e Four Hundred, the oligarchic
junta of 411 BCE. At II- I] the speaker, who is Polystratos' son, seeks
to defend his father against the innuendo that he was a blood-relative
(sungmi3') andlor a friend ( philo!) of Phrynikhos, one of the disgraced
leaders of the oligarchy. He insists that the two were complete oppositC'-:
PolysU'llloS (as a gentleman) had been properly educated at Athens,
whereas Phrynikhos is tendentio usly alleged to have been poor, and therefore to have grown up as a shepherd-boy, presumably in the country. In

...
adulthood their locations had been reversed, with Phrynikhos 'coming 10
the city and being sykoph ant', U and Poly51ralol retiring 10 his farm ,
presumably in his ancestral demc.
Thill is an interesting passage, partly because it implies that Phrynikbos
and Polysttatos were exact contemporaries. The speaker's real difficulty,
however. as he proceeds to let slip, is thai they were members or th!: &arne
dcme. Phrynikhos is known [0 have belonged to the deme Deiradiotai,
which had a boulcutic quota of three, so we would expect it to have had
approximately tl O or 180 members. R;ent studie1l of the dcmcs (Osborne
19851: 83-7. Whitehead 1986: 313- 26) have argued that to the: extent that
memben of the dite arc active in the affairs of th e poIiJ, they [cnd to be less

active in their demes - panly, we may suppose, because ( Iiltc Phrynikhos)

they arc len likely to live there. But the assumption of the jury (not themselves m embers of th e elite) may have been that two such men will have
been neighbouring country squires. Given that polis and deme are on a
different scale, the jury will surely have seen lhrough the speaker' s argument that POlystrltOl cannot be blamed for being a m ember of the same
deme IS Phrynikh05, any more than they th emselves can be blamed for
being memben of the same polis ( Il-I). And after ail, the speaker
devotes no great efforu to demonurating that Polystrltos was the enemy of
Phrynikh05. preferring simply to deny evidenee of friendship.
"On f)'t<>pIwIlS,...., Otbome ( 1'}9Ob). with the respaoH by H.....,. {I",,}. w. know nochift.
abou. I'tuynlkboo" financ:ial b6<qr.,und, bu. 1M: .... rid! <....... id ." .a.Q become one of <1M:
l<a<kn of. wnlth"-<!. 01iprcl>y, ond <1M: charp 1M' "",,', ~._ orip>aUJ. poor maD
orho II.- bee""", ric:h by impr<>p<r mnas It "ock rhct<Jriao1 . . ..

10

The well-ordered polis:

topographies of civic space
SITTA VON REDEN

It is a IXI mmonplace that the poI~ is iu; citizens as opposed to im walls or

towers. l 'Every l Ute is a community' Aristotle begins the Paliria, thereby
immediatc:ly establishing that the poliJ Wat conceived in terms of the association of people rather than its territorial boundaries or other physical
features. Much the same is intended when a modem scholar writes ' ,polis
is type of society for which the proper label is nOl 'city-state' but 'citizenstate'. It don not have to have an urban centre dominating a rural hinterland. '1 Not surprisingly, therefore, ltosmOJ is above all explored as a social
ideal, a. the way in whi c;h orde r w .. ~ c,:rU led in the: GTec:k polis by partic-

ular Stt ofrelationships and rituals (see C anledge in this volume), Yet the
/"Otis was also Ii place, a site which was ordered an;:hitectun.lly and conceptually by the people who occupied and inven ted it. The various ways in
which people create a place and invest ;t with meaning has become an
imponant issue in the social sciences.' At a time when placet! no longer
house stable and cohesive communities, questions like how place supporu
identiry, how it creates peace and locial cohesion , or how it h as been
exploited as an instrument of power are all the m ore emphatically posed.
Urban structures, architecture and histori cal m onuments have all been
con sidered in thi5 context.' Another way of looking at the relationship
between place and identiry is by studying topographies as representatio ns

, For. t<mlJlfellau.iwoo OVUYicwMancio:m and modem dofinitiono ofdIC,.,w '" S.!tellario<! (.,119).
~ ia>portan of &II url>&n <a>tft on tho one hand and of 1M dtu "" tho olhn r.... !he doll .....
<ion M tho pJio .... or t<I\It'K m.1I.....11J boetI d ilC\1t.Kd, and Iw by .... me.... bttn cltt>i<d, cr.
Sakt!lIrio\I (1 989), ).1 - 6 with I'ulthn bibliosroPbJ. N~ Mao ..... of tho ...bon1ina ",k
terri....,. plays in !he """"cpt of tho "oIU, and boa .... of the ra... that the dt6ro it ~~ .boo<c
011 in ito ~ function, ill .... Mio& I I I bit>difta:
<:ftatintl i<kn1itJ' and di~
Iw lnt of'tLn ....... into 1Ocuo. S bowe'", do PoIipac ([ . ,&4' '995), and bc_.
Runciman ( '990)' ).I'.
S ,;opcci&Ily ~th and Pile ( o99l); Canu, Donald , III Squ ..... ('9\1] ); Soja (. ,.,); Allen III
- , . (I,14)i Ar>.donoo ( ' 99' ),
Soja ( ' 919) ' ' 79- 10.
Sn _
putkularly Ebner ('m)' " '- 56; and M ilkn , 111 .. 001 .......

r.c.",

'7<>

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Topographils of civic space

",

of places which explain and support the relationships that these maintain.
In her recent book on the re -writing of modem Greece as a nation-state
Artemis Leontis has drawn attention to the interplay of IOpography and
national identity;
To become a homeland, a place requires topography. To understand how a place
bomes II homeland, one must know its lopogrllphy. 8y topography J refer to any
conceptual map that sites a place ... Topography is a proceu: it requires the persistent rt:tum to history, the systematic uneanhing of ruins, me conscientious
recovery of traditions, and, genen.lly, the reactivation of In inherited past. 6

Is th e polis, th e citizen-state, to be excluded from this observation d erived

from nation-states? The often quoted r emark attribu ted to the Athenian
general Nicias that ' men constitute the polis, not polis-walls, nor wanhips
devoid of men' (Thuc. 7.77.7) denies that social need fo r a place. And
similarly, the suggestion 10 remove Athens 10 South Italy, which is artributed to Themistocles, plays with th e idea of d islocation as if location did
not matter (Hdt. 7.62). These statements are in line with Pericles' even
more profoundly anti-territorial argument that the loss of bodies should be
lamented , nOI that of houses or land (Thuc. t . 143.5) . Yet they are in overt
contradiction with the perception that civilisation was al ways locaud elsewhere than, or bounded otffrom, the uncultivated and unbuilt wilderness.
Already in H omer civilisation is marked by th e ord er of inhabited space:
the Phaeacians live in a city around which Nausithous had drawn a wall,
where he had built houses and temples and whose land he had divided into
fields; in Troy th e wall of the city sepantes civilised relationships and discourse from the violence and wildness of the battlefields; and the Cyclopes,
JUSt as they lack civilisation and social relationships, fail to give order to
their space by buildings and agriculture, despite the natural amenities
of their country.? Civilised, and that meant peaceful, relationship s were
materialised in architecture and the ord ering or space.
The public renunciation of place is also in violent contrast with the
emotions that the Periclean policy evoked in those people who had to leave
their fields and san ctuaries, pull down their houses and move to the city at
the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. As Thucydides writes;
Deep were their trouble and discontent at abandoning their houses and shrines I t
whkh right from me rime of the ancient conuirution they and their families had
always worshipped, and at having to change their habits of life and to bid farewell to
what each regard.:d as their native po/iJ. (Thuc. 1. 6. 1; cf. I,p)
Statements which denied the importance of place as a co ndition oflife had
their own agend a. The Periclean policy realised physically what had been
~nri. ('1>95) : 1.
, Scully (' 990) : ~I~SO. For fun:l>er In"",liptiom of GTeek <>rp"'.. ';on of """,,,e, nOl ditcutsed

!hi> paper,

Ie<

Veman! '96s/

"~81);

11\

u ."'" (1 988): erpeciolly '}.4 - 8; and C ..... lly (' 99S): .63 If.

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S ITTA VON R EDEN

fostered politically since the refonns of Kleisthenes: the creation of Athens

as a single topos, centred on the city and beyond. II was a spatial order
which cut across an alternative map.
The polu was, of coune, more than just an assemblage of wpoi, as Aristotle wants to make sure ( u80b30). But it involved such an assemblage.
Many of the demcs could be called poIeiJ before, or in spite of, the Kleisthenic refonna. Eleusis is thus described in the HOlPler* HymrJ w Ihmeur
( I14, liS), Thorikol is mentioned as a poIu by Hecataeus (FOH J F
(6), and four villag~ in the MArathon region made up the so-called T etrapolis. 8 From fourth-century and later inscriptions we know of territorially defined cult organisations which cut across the Kleisthenic dcme
boundaries and which arc generally regarded as archaic in origin: the Tetrapolis comprising Marathon, Oinoc, Probalinthos and Trikorinthos,9 the
Tetrakomoi ( Piraeus, Phaleron, Thymaitadai and Xypcte),IO and the League of Athena Pallenis which probab ly consisted of Achamai, Gargetos,
Paiania and Pallene. 1I Demes had their own political institutions and rituals which did not conflict with those of Athens b ut were interlaced with
local custom and loyalty. The cult calendars of thc fourth century, morcover, d ocument a large degree of religious activity al the deme level. Yel
they also betray the need, at least in the fourth century, to coordinate these
activities with the cults and festivals celebrated by Athens u a whole. 11
In this paper I shall concentrate on the ideological work that was necusaf)' [0 make Athens a single place:. I shall be looking at how Athens in the
fifth century was imagined as a unified place, and how this map was t~ted,
I;ontested and undennined. Athenian tragedy, the O ionysiac celebratinn of
dvic unity at the height of the Empire, is source: and evidence for the neaotiation o f social d ivisions and concord. The Otdipw at ColoPlw in particular offen valuable insights into the topographkal tensions and their solution in the polis of Athens. l ) The DC represents the relationship between
city and dcme in tenns of the ambivalent meaning of a spot of land thll on
the one hand was marginal to the city but on the other central to the d eme.
The question whether the d emesmen of Colonu$ will al;cept in their midst
a polluted ou tsid er, who as a panhellenic hero will confer blessings on al1
Athens and reinron::e her hegemonic claims, is a test of internal territorial
Parker (',.7): 'J7.
IG u' 'Ul with W. Puk, AM" ( '9+l ): '~- ' J no. 10: Slnb. 1.7.' ,
,0 IG n' J'o. , 1 IO); d . Poll"" ".'0' .
" !o1Mlt. 'j4F-'J'C: ond W. Pe~kAM 67 ( I,..'):
hO. 26. Sec ..... lzwio ( '\1'61): It-.' O, Lewil
Il'lftltiotI rwtber ""'I ","up, comprioinJ: the T cttUotnoi,l!upurid.ai, Kropid.i ond Peldtn, which
io "'" o'\eO'~ other than In Stcpll. 8~ I.Y. E~. See 0100 11'!o.hehn.d (.,116): ,I" o . 6 .
.. Sec In ~l Whi,ehead ( .,u) ; for me cult colrncl..,., <q>ially MibJroa (1m); fo r 0 loeol
pulitical c:uI",,,,, npeciolIy o..b<><m ( 199Qe).
" Topopphial 'lpCCU of A,ric ~ '" diKuooed in particular by S""IQII ( ' 99'): OWkia
(.,&6); r ookl ( '990): ond J<nunm<.n ( '991); in. more concrete I<:nl<: .100 by Ikmoa>d. ( 19I}) ; ,"d

'.-9.

R01

( I~).

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Topographin of cimc $paCl

integrity as well as external Athenian power. L Places like Piraeus, Acharnai, Eleusis and Oeceleia, on the other hand, are frequently singled out as
having histories of their own and serve as symbols of the enduring threat to
territorial unity especially in times of crises. What is of interest here is not
so much whether local politics ever seriously upset Athenian consensus - a
question that should probably be answered negativelyL5 - but the extent to
which political disharmony found its expression in topographical terms.
Care muS[ be taken that the issues addressed in this paper are not confused with the problems, discussed some time ago, of the conflicts between
local aristocratic familie s and the formation of a democratic constitution in
Athens. L6 The themes are related, as identifications with a place are fos tered by social ties and cult, both of which played an important pan in the
political conflicts of the sixth century. Yet the focus lies here on whole
communities rather than aristocratic heMirriaL~ on the attachment to places
rather than to people, and on the tensions created, rather than solved, by
the Kleisthenic rdorms.
It remains only to say that the following is tentative and preliminary no more than an attempt to draw attention to some aspects of the Greek
kosmos that seem to be rather unexplored.
I

The Athenians glorified their territorial integrity in two different myths

which were at the same time related and conflicting. Both were re-invented
in the fifth century.17 In the myth of autochthony the Athenians assened
their common descent directly from the same land. In the myth of synoikism they celebrated their consensus but laid emphasis on the original independence of twelve cities. The myths were related because Erechtheus,
the fint Athenian, and Theseus, the synoikiSl, could be linked genealogically. bocrales conceives the line of Attic kings as having been unbroken
from Erechtheus down to Theseus (Panarh. 126). Yet the myths were also
contesting each other, as is indicated, for example, by the fact that the two
major festivals in honour of the one and the other, the Panathenaea and the
Synoikia, were celebrated consecutively in the same month. Herodotos,
moreover, relates a Story in which Decelus, the eponymous hero ofOeceleia. and TiUlCUS, an auwchlhi5n of Aphidnai, bettay Helen to the sons of
Tyndareus, because ' they were angered by the pride (hubris) of Theseus
,. Blundell ('!IIll):

.17.

" cr. Oobom. {'98S"j; ,IJ-9; ('!Ill' ),

Tbe belt and .rill mOOt ",dul . "'<mI<n, in <hi. dio<:uuion" L:wi. ('963).
" Tbe m)'lh of autochthony is not llteote<i be~ the .. cond Iuolf of the fifth ~ntwy .c. For the
fifth century .. I panlcularly
period of the m)'lh 01 Et.chthew and othu Athen,.., ... tional
hero .. in .onerol , ... tn.."" ([ '911.J '99) : .t, n . u ; fur Th ... w in I'iflJ>..centwy ~"' ... IU",..,d
v.... painting nl""e (198)).

won,

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SITTA VO N RED6N

and feared for the land (chora) of Athens' (9.7).1, Veiled lension also comes
to the fore in Thucydides when he contrasts the time of the fIlnqikismos
with the one beforehand (to de pro), when the Akropolis was still the city.
Hi, description of the Akropolis 85 the sile of the major Athenian sanctuari es, including thai of Erechtheus, culminates in the remark that 'soU the
Akropolis, because the Athenians had there in earlier times a place of
habitation. is called by the Athenians today " the poJis''' (%.15.6). Yet me
altar of me twelve gods which symbolised the Junoiltismos was situated in
the Agora which was, like me am.., a relatively re<:enl addition to me poJis.
M oreover, in me sentence immediately following me description of me
Akropolis as the 'poJis', Thucydides points out thai me people living in me
cououy 'had to bid farewell to what each ~garded a! their native poJis'
(%.16.2). Not only did m e Akropolis struggle wim the QSIU for the symbolic
title of 'poJis', as Loraux has argued, but it competed also with the clu1ra .
Two topographies of the polis were at stake: Athens as a single place and
Athens as a group of places mat were linked to a political centre. 19 The
rivalry of Erechtheus and Theseus 85 me found ing fathers of Athens strikes
at the centre Qf the symbolic construction of Athens as a place.
Scholars in me past have taken the myth of synoikism as me reflection of
an historical process by which Athens d eveloped out of several independen! com munities Of cull associations into a political state. 10 The llI'C.haeological evidenu l uggel ll a different d evelopment. Pottery Ityle and burial
customs betray a large degree of homogeneity in Attica from the Geometric
period. 21 Moreover, any kind of phY'Sical synoikism seems excluded by me
fact that senlement siles show conunu oWi occupation from the M ycenaean
period mrough me Dark Ages. However me weial or political linb within
and between settlements in Attica at the end of the eighth century may be
reconstructed, the material cultun:: suggests contat:ts and ut:hange rather
than hostility. Problems of interpn::Ntio n increase in the period from the
la[e eighth cenNry onwards. This period is marked archae<llogically by the
inci pient construction of temples, a proliferati on of Cul lS at tom bs and
s8Dt:tuaries, and a revival of settlemen[ acuvi[y after a generation of decline.
It hu bccn suggested that during the seventh century and beyond Attica

" Lon .... ( [19I41 199)}: }9-40 ODd "". '}- 14

_OJ WI chc loc.I """mons of lutoclubony, ouch ..

of Aphidnl, ohould not be rqordcd .. 1<I0'a$C 10 !he oIfLciaI one; tbry obould nuher be
.. prdcd .. local rormuloriono ofl ~......uy 00C<"q>Ud mydL.
L. Loro"" ([ 19114\ 199}): --"",Uf 4} . To an a;tm!, Loro ... io hin!ina at !he 01"'" OJ'POIhlon, .... ~
bod! in !he A,.,.. and in the K.cf'llMi);oo, the rttOpLition of
by de ..... it ..."'" emphuioc1l
lhan on !he Akropolio. S .. ~!y I-.WI ( 1916): 2} .
Sft. by ......11'. .,. cattier rncucll, qllOtc<I .. Saltdariou (,,?6h), n. ' ; Sokk.. ( 19)1): '0)- 19. and
'bO Diamanl (19h); Sial,.,. (.,Il) .
.. CoIdt_ .... ( 'lin ): .., 1'[; SnocItnH ( ' 9I< , }t; dUconlilluity and..notion ..,.... to occur in "'"
oevcnolL ~nlu", _ .. Proto.oX pon..,. 0;0.0. . . " Of compo'.' with .III orientalioina: sty\<. 1"00'
pOI,ibl. upI.............. Wbidq ('988) ; Oobom. ( '919 ): JI) It None of thcoe .v.anu th."
~ panicuWiom in Artka ~ .........

<he

om-

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'7S
was resettled from the centre of Athens. Agriculture, and as a result the
collective defence of the arable land, gained increasing imponance. 22 The
interrelated processes of population increase, rural dispenal of settlement,
concentration on agriculture and collective defence of the country should
be understood as aspects of the formation of the polis.
The increase of cult activity in rural sanctuaries during the process of
polis formation has attraCted different interpretations. By some 5cholan
it has been regarded as the religious practices of independent local communities, cities or socio-religious networks. The case most frequently discussed is the cult of Demeter at Eleusis, first considered to have been run
independently by Eleusis, but in the sixth cenrury incorporated into the
city of Athens. 23 Other examples include the cults of Anemis at Braumn,
Anemis at Mounichia or Dionysos at lkaria, all thought to have been
founded by independent townships.24 Only by the second half of the sixth
cenrury, it is frequently argued, were they endowed with central religious
significance by the politics of Pisistratus and Kleisthenes. 2~ This interpretation of cult activity may provide suppon for the idea of Athens as
originally being politically and religiously divided.
Alternatively, it has been proposed that rural sanctuaries, rather than
reflecting separate local activities, mediated between city and countryside
and unified Athenian territory as a whole. Their very foundation was related to the process of economic, political and religious integration which
characterised the emergence of the polis. De Polignac has argued that the
small extra-urban sanctuaries in mountainous and coastal areas, as well as
the large rural sanctuaries on the edges of a plain, were not places of independent, local worship but had been sited with speCific relation to the
urban centre. 26 Within this model, the development of the polis is not understood as a process whereby independent local communities were united by
an increasing centralisation of politics and religion. It is rather regarded as
one of continuous mediation between social and geographical divisions
which even a single political community necessarily involves. Processions
lO and from extra-urban sanctuaries continued in the classical period and
served ritually to stabilise the civic and social space. 27
De Polignac originally considered Athens as an exception. In contrast to
other poJeis it had been monocentric from the beginning. Symbolically this
was manifested by the fact that civic processions moved from the centre to

.. Cold......... (1977): pecW!y 'H; Snodgrass ('980), 'J, )5-40; Osborn< ( 19870): n ,-]; Whitley
( 1988); MAnvill. (1990): IS ff. For ~ hypotht.i. that ..,m. ronIIiCl .....rs! between new ..,nl...
in Attic. and old communities ... Wlutky ('988) .
.. S apeciaUy Pad",a ('97'); Simml ( I ~J); Osborn. (,9!sa): ch. I; Foley ('994): AppcndiK .
.. Sold... ('93 ' ); I t t oJ ... !he bibOOa:r'phi.ol not. in S.ullariou ('976h): " .
.. Ct. KoIb ( '9 77); Snodpuo (' 980) : 1'5-.1; Shapuo ( 1919): "-'5; Mora'" (1990): ..-.6 .
.. Dc Pol; .... c ([ '9141. '99S): n ff.; I. tf.; of. ('994): 4.
" Dc PolipLoc ( ' 9841 '995): 33-."

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SITTA VON REDEN

the periphery of the polis. Afchaeologically it was indicated by the absence

of any large extra-urban sanctuary. ' Neither the culu at the furthermost tip
of Anica n or the mysteries of Eleusis, which were reserved solely for initiateJ or prospective initiates and so were quile different from purely civic
culu, really played the same role for Athens a! the great territorial sanctuaries of Hera and Apollo did for so many other cities. Right from the
time of the formation of the city of Athens, iu cenue was the acropolis. '28
Osborne agrees with de Polignac that Eleusis cannot be compared to
extra-urban civic cul13 in other pokis, because it accommodated a panhellenic cult and because it was attached 10 a settlement rather than being
an isolated foundation . Yet he dnW5 attention to shrines ouuide Athens
which seem to have served preciuly those territorial rites which de Polignac identified in other fJ4/eis. &th Brauron and Halimous were linked
with Athens by a procession; Herodotos reponed the mythical abduction
of Athenian women by the Pelasgians while they were celebrating the festival of Ancmis at Bnuron (6.138); and PIUlarch preserved the story about
the Megarians being killed while attempting 10 capture Athenian women
celebrating the festival of Demeter at Cape Colia! ( Plut. Sol. g). These
processions thus hinged exactly upon the ritual preservation of boundaries
which de Polignac iden tified in other po/ris.2'1 Moreover, the gnu of the
Saiaminioi, whose migration to Attica can be dlled into the Dad: Ages,
looked after .everal p';e.thoods within Attica. From the geographically
widespread cult activities in which a single genos was involved from a probably quite early dale, Osborne CQncludes thaI the great expansion of cults
in the seventh century should be seen in terms of the marking out of claims
to territory by people who identified themselves as a single community.'Ia
Seaford tOO explains Athenian ritual activity within de Polignac', model.
Oionysos was the god of boundaries and m argins par tXUihnu. )1 Interestingly, he was also a god whose worship increased with the emergence of the
fJ4Jis. While his importance in Homeric epic was tangential, the large number of Oionysiac festivals eelebrated in Athens involved processions which
crossed and comrolled social and territorial distinctions which were fu ndamental for the fJ4lis: male/female, inside/ou13ide, civilisation/wilderness,
city/countryside. The co-c:xistence of rural Oionysiac festivals and the City
Oionysia probably also expressed the territorial relationship between city
and countryside; the respective festivals were so timed that demeimen
could participate in both.)l Seaford observes, furthermore, that Dionysiac
,. Oc PoJ;p.c: (]r9i4) . '?'iI'): "
.. 0.-'" ('?'iI4"): 'n o

o. Oobome ('W4'): , 60" S<!m< diJ'5i,1'ft><:< of ... <l><nion Dionl'f/K ,;",.1 6t>n'I ,h." poootulot<d "" d< 1><> ........ , II>Odc:I it
noud, ~ d . s"oford ('9\1. ): ~9-10.
.. ~oford ( ' m ): ~"- ~, , . HmrictIo ( '1190). '00, o bkl'\'d "'" ritual d im<"';"" of"'" tim.,. of
RunrJ ODd aty1);onyo;'.

Mill

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rituals in Athens are hardly attened before the $ixth century and are
therefore too late to be considered as important for the process of the formation of the Athenian polis. They should rather be seen as an expression
of continuing integration being necessary at a time when Athens set itself
into the wider world, aspiring to being the centre not only of Attica but also
of Hellas.')
Against this background, the ritual celebration of Athens as a unified
place does not seem to be the result of bringing together initially independent communities. The theme of unity, rather, had a contemporary agenda
in the fifth century. Internal cohesion was a precondition for empire. The
interdependence of the discourse of unity and that of empire cannot pass
unnoticed. As Loraux has demonstrated, the praise of Athenian autochthony was an indispensable pan of the Athenian funeral speech held at the
occasion of public funerals . Like the myth of autochthony, the epitaphiai
held in honour of the d ead warriors unified all Athenians in both past and
present, endowed them indistinguishably with an heroic descem, and expressed the destiny for victory in face of those just fallen in battle. Neither
the epitaphic! logos nor the myth of autochthony appears in the same fonn
before the second half of the fifth cenrury.14 Thucydides makes autochthony the reason for the absence of stasis in Attica (1.5). This origin was
the oldest and slrOngest reason for the stalUS of Athens as the greatest city
(2.36). The territorial consuuclion of Athens as one place, civic unity and
hegemony were, then, related themes.
The legend of synoikism told a different Story aboul the origins of civic
unity. Here a quasi-divine figure was required in order to make Athens a
unified space. It is significant that Thucydides tells it first, and in most
detail, at a point in his history when the IUtU claims total dominance over
the land of Attica.'5 Autochthony and synoikism wrote different and conflicting topographies of Athens in the fifth century.
II

In the Oedipus at Colonl4, perfonned posthumously in 401/0, an extraordinarily complex discussion of the relationship between a specific locality
and its meaning for Athens as a whole is presented. The play alludes to the
ambivalence of a place located outside Athens on the one hand and fonning part of it on the olber. It constructs difference and distance between
Colonus, outside the walls, and the city of Athens and then establishes a
hierarchy between local identity and that of Athens as a whole. The play

" S.aford ( '99~), 250 WIth tvid.nce cited tn M. 7' - ' .

.. l.orowt (,,~86): '1-15 .
.. In tllia C"."nt i, ia oiptificon' tha, 11Ieseu. is a particularly populO[" IiJUrC '" AtII.ni"" on;
d . Dlo ....... , l'9h), Do';' ('98.).

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modulate. belWeen an exclusive and inclusive rhetorit which t ulminates in

the praise of the bleuing bestowed on the city thai receives a hero at its
threshold. )()
The hill which is kn own as Colonus Hippius and wroth gave its name to
a deme lay about one mile no rth west of the Dipylon gale of Athens. The
epithet Hippius was given to it because Poseidon Hippius was worshipped
here; and it helped to distinguish it from Colonus AgoraitU which lay
within the city walls. 37 That both the region and the name of Colonus
Hippius were familiar to all Athenians is borne out by the precision with
which the location of Oedipus' grave is described ( l 593- 95). Colonus had
powerful resonances within Athenian politics. Just as Mounichia was
remembered as the fonification of the Pisinratidl, Colonus was known as
the place of the oligarchic assemb ly under their government in 411 BCE
(Thuc. 8.67). Moreover, Calonus was the deme of origin of Sophocles,
which raised the question whether in his play, wrinen fOf the City Diooysia, he addreued the audience as a demesman of Colonus or as citizen of
Athens, or indeed in both capacities. The choice of site will h ave poignantly emphasised the double nature of a deme as both a local township
with its own history and population, and as a part of Athens.
The chorus consists of local demesmen who are closely associated with
their place. They are called guardians of their local lind (qJhoroi cMnu,
145), inhabilant. of the soil (oiJcl l Ol'f' clldtonoJ, 118), JX'ople of !hi. place
(mlopoi (8 41 ); egchiJriqj (871, and once even lords of the country (untlkus
gis. 834).].11 The play's concern with territorial inlegr.tion, division and
order is instantly brought out by the frequent and differentiated use or
geographical vocabulary. GI. which in this play is associated with the land
of Athens as a poIiJ. occun thirty-six times and is noticeably the most imponant cont ept used in the drama; dWra, and ch6rof. which ~em to be
notions of local countryside and region, occur sixteen and eleven times
respectively; dllMn, which brings into (o<:us the eanh as the resting place
of heroes and binhplace of aU Athenians, occurs sixteen times, while topol,
m ostly u~d 10 designate a precise SPOI, occun nine times.19 A sense of
locality and place is further enfo rced by the distinction made belween
native inhabitants (tgdJ6roi, egch6riDi, mtopoi, mtpalm, astai ) and the vari.. Pot the DC., o...,......tivc descrip_ of the ,.m ... "pc<'wly Blund.n ( 199)). Otb<r~ ...talon who ....... anaIyoed the ",nil<>fiol Upe<:II of the pl.,. loa .. pold. ~ ult Otl.tI!ioo> IQ the \dolliJb>1
rq>I'd<n .._
of the ",I.otionthip betw<rn dtJ and CO\UIU)'Iido:. Sft KtuIlUDcll (19!I)): Allison
(' 914); Winninawt>-W&nm (1910): 339- 40.
Of l'lluo. 1.)0-4: d . .I<'bb (1900): DJI
.. 11IiI tide iI ..,.".what in coollic. ";111 duo. ofibeteus (.6)0). but may be apJoincd by the fO<;l that
it iI .... d by ~ip ... who 1IJ>I)eII1t. in the ablCnce ofnon. ... . to the chotu. to rq>I'd<nbtion of
....... n; .... uthori<y

.. 'TbcK numben do not include the .......... cop ... of ~ ..........ud> U ~ ....".
. ._ _...... _
1ft f'unbcr incrc_ Ih< " ' - <0 which eo<>ceprJ oflond and pI8ct" ,;.... colow 10 .... plor; d . Aliloon ('984); 6\Jj also for doc foU""",,,.

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'79

ous outsiders and newcomers to the locality: :renos/xeinos occur no less than
sixty rimes in the course of the drama. A term, finally, that brings out the
contrast between a place as a random spot and as a meaningful entity is
hedra. In the opening scene !he 'seat' which the blind old man seeks has a
double meaning. It is on the one hand a place to sit, the rock in the countryside which is unknown and meaningless to the one who knows neither to
whom it belongs nor what it is called and to which god it may be sacred
()8). Antigone recognises from its vegetarion and sound that it is sacred
(16- 17) . Yet Oedipus recognises il (46) only when he is lold some of its
story and its name. AI this moment il becomes a hedra in the other sense, a
sanctuary, a hero lomb, and notably il is then called hedra gh (44) . What
was first a resting place of a tired wanderer becomes the resting place of a
hero which brings benefits to all Athens. The double sense in which hedra
is used poin ts to the difference between what I would call a place, Oll the
one hand, and random space, on the other. Outsiders do not understand a
place. Physical features are indicators; but knowledge of its past, its destination for the future, its name and, as we will see, its indus ion in a larger
political context give a place its full meaning.
The description of Colonus by the local citizen al the beginning of the
DC conveys what was necessary in order to create identity with a place. At
the same time it brings out the double identity of a locality mat was both a
region of its own (chOms) and pan of the soil of Athens (ch/.hOn):
This region (chl!roJ), aU of it, i, bles$ed ground;
Poseidon holds it; in it the mcarTier
Prometheu! has his inftuence; in particular
that spot (' ''/Jm) you rest on has been called this eanh',
brazen-stepped
threshold, and bulwark of Athens.
All men of this land claim descent from him
whose sta1\le stands near-by: Colonus the h"ruman,
and bear his name in common with their own.
Such are these places, stranger: honound less
in stories than by the living with them (SllnI>!UUI).o

(~htlltmoJ)

The Coloneans are conscious that they live on sacred ground which
belongs to Poseidon. An accurate description also incl udes mentioning the
next-door neighboUr, Prometheus, who did not reside in Colonus itse!fbut
had his altar in the Academy, just so uth of Colonus. 41 The citizen then
turns to the identification of the particular spot on which Oedipus rests. It
is a spot in the chtMn not in th e cMmt, a COntrast which sets it apan from
the rest of the land and gives it a myth-historical quality. The brazenstepped threshold (chaJkcpous oudoJ) is rich in mythical association and

..,

OC~,

It ....,. adopted &orn FitJieTold .

" Jebb

ll~):

ad \0.0.

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S ITTA VON REDEN

must be imagined a! bOlh a featun: in the landscape, and a mythical image.

Both H omer and Hesiod mention a brazen threshold (chalkws autios) as the
enrrance to Hades. Heliod describe!. il u 'immovable, fixed in the earth by
roou without a break, of nalua] gt'O\o\"Ih' ( 1"hMg. 811). This suggests that
the threshold may have been an imaginary one. Yet in I. 1590 of the OC
the thrnhold to the eanh is said to be: 'bound by brazen steps', which
renders it likely that the image of the myth wa! made visible by !ome artificial su ppon at the top of the rift. U This well illustrates the interface of
n:ality and imagination, the interdependence of the imaginary and physical
manipulation of a landscape inhabited by human beings.
The brazen-stepped threshold, the prospective grave of Oedipus, is also
said 10 be the ueisma of Athens. Here the description touches upon the
double meaning of the topol, and the double function of its location, which
lies at the hean of the OC. Oedipus is nO! welcome as a local hero, but he
comes as a panhellenic figure to the rescue of Athens as a whole." The
Athenian claim to the spot at Colonus meant both that they had power to
receive a poJ1uted man despite the hesitation of the locals (119 tr.l , and that
they could appropriate the mili tary power radiating from a grave of a hero
located then:. What is more, Athens' claim to the brazen-stepped thn:sho ld
alIened her power over Greece as a whole. Er-tisrn' Arhln6n strikingly
echoes the title given 10 Athens in a Pindaric dithyramb. At the very
opening of the. poem, Pindar <;111. the. cnrin: <;ily Hdlado, ...-ft"'fa. 44 What
referred once to Athens as a whole and her ro le in the defeat of the Persians
was now applied [0 the Spol at Colonus which, if becoming the grave of
Oedipus, would confinn the Athenian hegemony within Greece. 45 The
Colonean citizen gives due respect to this all-Athenian imponancc of the
grave's eanh. But he also does something else.
Oedipus could have sought his grave in Athens itself, ir Sophocles had
followed an alternative version or the myth according 10 which the tomb of
Oedipus was placed in the shrine or the Sernnai on the Areopagus.4fI Yet he
comes to Colonus which, as the OC makes abundantly dear, is cenrral 10
the Colonean demesmen, but marginal to Athens. From an Athenian perspective, Oedipus was allocated a liminal site on the border of the city',
./<"bb ( ' 900): n<>k on lin ,,...
'J lkdipw ;. .. ill '" be EmpotWl, n", Oft!y 5:>. A"' .... 0 1,), bu., aloa for"J""hebco ( 89) or>d oJl of
Gn>tc< O'n). w. con _....., __ the OCcnvi....,. in'.....1 ""i<y, tha,;' the cnopcratinn of"'"
C:oIo!o:>....., .. I vital oondition for Alb..,. ' panh<-lknic tipinlinno .
Pind. tr. ;06: 0 Kir~ (' 9*'): ' 04- 5 .
.. A ....",.. ohi"! impononcc II the time when the pLoy wu IOTilkn (berore 4oF./, ). Alt .. IU, Athem

wi'" "'" lou ofOeccIe;. in 4') : d .

Krumm... ('99l): un. F <>r the military fuoctlom oflnc.] be<oco Of dckndcn ofthe ooil ICC ""arm
('911p): 44 - , .nth funl>n ""'" ..
.. P.ut. , . ~8. 7; d . 81und.U ('99) : '1/0. A local ohrin. o f"'" Eo>mtnid.. ", Colon,.. is "'" I n ..ted
mn.toCK, IIId baa been calkd in", q..... ti<>n (d . J. G. F.-.-, in hi. ilion ofPa........., od ~).
""".."i.. kn<;nn """ of "'" ohrine of the s..".,.; II """'.... ya he doeo ",."Iion that
Hippilll ... the plaoo whe ... o.:dip!lllin. clme' (' .1.4); ICC funh.,. Kirkwood (1986):
n . ,.
had ~. oeriou. l>IooI "'" only in 4 " b,n ~ mOl"< ...

",oec.

CoIon".

'OS,

,8,
territory, halfway to the Theban land .47 The imponancc of the panheUcnic
hero's being buried on the edge of Athenian territory is emphasised several
limes in the play (299- 300; 784- 6; 1342 - 3). In this Il:spcct, the tomb of
Oedipus is well placed in Calonus. Yet Sophocles unsettles this order by
giving a voice to the people who inhabit the perimeter of the civic space.
For them, Cotonu! is not marginal hut unerly central as it is the residence
oCtheir local hero from whom, after all, they all descend and who gave them
their Dame and identity. This common name, it seems from the clustering
of vocabulary in 11 . 60- 1 (lOunomo to toude koinon pa",n onomasmmoi ), is
a vital factor that enablu the Colo ncans to identify with their p lace and

regard themselves as an autonomous group.

The tension between me two topographies is taken funher in the last
two lines of the speech: il is the gathering: of lands, goos and people which
gives this place imponance - nOI fogoi. That IDgoJ is identified with the city
of Athens is indicated by the faci thai it is the city thai gives the locals right
of speech. and goes without saying in a drama perfonned al the C ity Dionysia. 4 8 By disclaiming an imponant place in IDgoi the Coloneans marginalise themselves. but at the same lime they undennine the entire scheme of
values which COntttuCIS centTality in these tenns. Emphasising that their
place is honoured by their SWlOWia. their community with each other and
the gods, they reconstruCI the idea of what is cenmt. Lagoi in this alternative scheme are dangerous devices which may lum inlo duplicitous or
'crafty artifices' (thus in the mouth of Creon 761 f.; c[ 806- 9 ). 4'1
Athen, and Colonus were physically close, but the OC creates some
distance between the two. 'The towers that guard the city are far off' (16).
says Antigone in reply 10 Oedipus in the opening lines of the play. A little
further on she claims !hal, while she d oes know Athens. she does not know
the region (cJr4roJ) where !hey have JUSt arrived ( 24 f.). This picks up on
Oedipus' initial distinction where he, too, separates the duJros from the
polis (If.). Oedipus, and even more so the chorus of local demesmen, make
the city appear fa r away, too: it is a long voyage 10 Athens and will take
lome time for a message to reach Theseus ( 299- 304). What is more, the
chorus distinguishes between hi chQra , hi gl and to astlt. thereby disputing
the city's unequivocal right over the ch6ra. Theseus, they say. ru les at
the city of his father 'in thi5/our land' ( /Xltrown auu gl$ uha, 297), which
subvens the meaning of the much more common phrase in which the city
is called the owner of the anceslTalland of all Athenians { putr'iJiUJ/I'"fn'Q$
gls Qstu) .~o For the Coloneans the land is common to all, but the city belonp 10 the Icing. NOI only is there a conceptual boundary consttucled
0 oloo s"pI (' 9'lI.): } .
.. For ttq<dJ " I ptnc1!ution of ond reflection on 1<>to>I~', .. ~ the: valuabk dioclootion by Gold

Zeitlin ( ' 990) : In;

!till (19M): . - }a .
.. 1I1W>deU ( 'Wl): a91
'" Sft Jobb (. _ ): -" 10<:.

1h

SITTA VON REDEN

between asru and gl, but the d eme is also closer 10 the border than [0
Athens on this ideological map: in 885-6 the Coloneans anxiously cry OUI
that Creon'. m en, while still 8l Colonu., a~ already passing towards the
other side of the border (d. IOl3- 4).51
At a religious level, tOO, Colonus is portrayed as ditre~nt and distant
from Athens. One aspect of Utis is mat they have a distinct grove of
the EumenidC5, and they call the goddesses by a different name than, as
they say, 'elsewhere:' (4 3). Thi. may refer 10 shrines ou tside the polis of
AtheDl,H but it more likely all udes to the faci thai the Eumenides were
named Semnai in the asru. 5 ) Another aspect il thai Poseidon is wonhipped
at Colonus in a differc:nl capacity than in the city. The patron of Colonu' is
Poseidon Hippius. lnterestingly, however, this epithet is added, suppressed
or changed in the OC as diplomacy requires. Colonus is introduced by iu
cioun as the land that belonp to holy Poseidon (54- 5). It is not made
explicit here in which capacity Poseidon holds sway over the place, panly
because there is no d oubl for those who know, and panly because il is
tactfully left open for thole who would rather have Colonu1 ruled by the
city gods than its own . Hipporh appean as the epithet of the eponymous
hero Colonu. only later in the play, where il calls to mind that h onemanship gave the Coloneans their pride, and that this was the gift of Poseidon
Hippios (713- 4). When Theseus eOlen the stage, by contrast, he d eceptively incorporatc:t the Local eull into the city of Athens:
What f",.r h .. m.de you ;nlrrnlpt m", .. I '"-I ..crificioa
10 the great god of the .,. (ermli6i IhM), thc CQrnrnandcr (tpisr<ltb)

or

Colonus (8&7- 9).""

Since Theseus tad been on stage before, it m ust be talten for granted that
hc sacrificed It the altar of Poseidon al Colonus, thai is, of Poseidon
Hippios. Yet refcrring to the god as maj.-oJ, he cunningly confuses the twO
identities of the god. Calling him epUwlls IOU Kof6rlou, morcover, is also
ambiguous, as it ctluld refer eithc:r to the faci that Poseidon H ippios is thc
patron of the Coloneans, or to thc fact that the god of the city reigns over
them as well. Theseus, then, thc king of Athens and synoikiSi of Attica,
either is ignorant abou t the distinct identity of Poseidon Coloneus, or plays
it d own.
The discrepancy betwecn Thcseus' and th'" Colonean's naming of Poseidon is not accidental. In thc first stasimon of the DC the poten tial tension
" Sec oJ", Blund.o ( '1'93): u 6, and Jebb , ."",): ad Ioc.
" Thu .kbb ( ."",): ad Ioc.
11 Knmunrn ( '99) : .a. fIIUOIti til&'! n .... !he runl roo,en which p".;!kd !hot< jIOdd"""
""'" ....,.., Fun .. iD II>< ci.,.. Thio .....wd ..w fI>ttMr .. pea 0( .... difkrt:nc" b e _ ci.,. and
CClUntryW"

.. In '49' Ih~ -..... tDo,...u 'Thr_ ..... y from """ IlI..- of POH1d.oa ....... --s.... I' .... y be til&'!
1hio 10 I hannonioinl ,,"'''''' in. _
tho, .. ~inllltoF!he< {d. '49'\), b",;, mlY"""
be 1hI' ~\IJ ucrific~ 10 this lOll It !he Ilw of' Ih. Col"""."..

.8,
between the diverging religi ous affiliations of Colo nu! on the one hand and
Athens on the orner is recon ciled under the all-encompassing title of Poseidon 'son of C ronus', The stasimon begins with a praise of Colonus, the
land (chOro) beloved of hors es (euhippos). In the antistrophe it m oves to the
fertile land (chrMn, 691) of Athens and its power 10 bring forth the olive
tree unc:onqucnable in battle. Presented in II distinctly aanrian image, this
praise carries over lO the Athenians, the children of the chrh6n, as themsc:Jves unconquerable in battJe. It invo kes the myth of aUiochthony which
had affinned Athenian power yet which was above all sea powe r, 55 The: fint
two strophes thus celebrate two co nflicting images of Athenian power associated with two different locali ties in Attica . The final sttophc: climaxes in
a praise of the polis as a whole. H ere al\ blcssinp are unite:d and the: city
has become: the: mothe:r-city (matropolis) of its (!;olonise:d ?) regi ons: 'city
o f fine: horse:s, of fine: foals, of the: se:a (euJr if1p(JJ, I UpdlaS, tuthalasMlf)'.
This strophe: cc:Je:brate:s the: u nity of culls and culture:, the: country whe: re
Poseidon taught people to use: both the bridle: and the oar:

For you, son of Cronus,

OUl" lord Poseidon, has throned her in this prid~, linc~ in

these roads finl you showed men the curb Ihal curn th~ rage of IIcedl; and the
I hapely 01U", apl 10 hil hands, which has I wondrous speed on the brine, following
th e hl1lldrcd-footed Nercio;b.~

Blundell has argued that, despite: th e: chorus' assenion ofl oeal identity, the
OC designs a picture of the ideal polis. Colonus stood for the: Athenian polis
in me broadest sense: the land of Attica, unified by Theseus, which was
ruled from, but was by no meant identical with, the city of Athens. 57 The
distance: mat is crcaled between city and de:me was required by the cuSlom
of burying heroes in a distant and liminal space. The d eme was portrayed
as accepting the rule by the city and forming a representative pan of the
polis (66- 9). An orderly hierarchy of consultation and authority was established betwee:n the city and in local citizens who never acted without
the approval of the:ir own elde:n and the king (cf. 47- 8; 77- 80; 288--95).
Theseus, on the: other h and, took part in the: loeal $8!;rifice, and came: to
the rescue against the Theban invaders <54-5; 898- 900) . He was not
.. In <. 406 , ..."'"" <ho< pl.y .... compotl, ,he onolo.,. man ha"" 'U"IIet bi-ner chood . All>enion
militafJl.ItC".u. ........ocunl moo' .<rOnlly"";<I\ ill fkt1, 1fl while !be olive I1UI w ert. 1fl .....
besten, the Athenian Heel hid cxpmmced some seriou. blows. GiV'tR!hIt IhiI could be mriOOted
to *~ or In",mal Iwmony .. much .. '0 fail"", of <be maritime: poHcy, the .tooimon queolion.
two imperio! doarinn "' on: confidence In o:naritime power ond mforn",cnt of in.ernll unity
"';dI f _ on Awno (_ .~ p. Ln ).
11 Z- 17 (b""ODOl.otion adapd &om Je bb). Anti",nc' iI'rlrncdiotc ~ to the pn;.., iI .....
din,: 011 podiatr dI.1 iI pnitcd abon .11 otbcr' (7. 0). I'tdiiIIt (p lain) il l compentiooely ..."trol
,..", for "'" land of. rounuy _ ..,..... to ha ... , at Ie... In the con.,., of "'"
l\Od\in. or "'"
dLofIC of II, du""', dt4<Gs, Of f>O/iJ, whlcl! the chotuo
p<efe ... It ..,em' dial, in C""tBll 10 the
choN., "Ib<KUJ _ o.dip"s, A.nri.~ .." a/Icord to o.dOJll a ... utnOl .nitudc: to the A!bcnion

,. ac

"..,If

.......

.. BhlMen (199} ).

ac,

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184

SITTA VON REDEN

merely a political authority but was the rul er of the poli$ and its land (gil
OtlaX, 1630, cf. 294- 5; 862, Jl24- 5, 1476, 1552- 4). Blundell concedes that
the chorus was not throughout the playa reliable B5sociau: of Theseu s and
willing to accept Oedipus in their grove. Their initial reaction to the polluted man was timid and fearful. They wanted to throw him out of their
land, away from the seat, away from the spot (232- 3; cf. 118 ff.; 34 If.) . By
thinking they had to reject Oedipus th.ey re-enacted his original expulSion
from Thebes (cf. 407), and exposed the polis to the doom that awaited
those who drove him out (93). Yet since they abided by authority (75 If.,
938 f. ) and were open to persuasion ( 1034- 5; cf. 930-1), they fulfilled their
normative role. Therefore the inviolability of the Attic borders guarded by
the people of Colonus was 0 tm of Athenian territorial integrity and of the
city's will to abide by its own values. 58
It is the aspect of testing, rather than idealising, the unity of the polis
which seems to me central to the OC. It may be that the image of a consen sus between city and ciHJro prevails at the end of the play, but it is also
seriously PUt at risk by the local in terests of the chorus. As Blundell h erself
observes, the consensus of king and people, of city and periphery, was an
unstable constru ct. N ot only is Thebes, the threatening counterimage of
Athens,59 riddled with internal discord (cf. 911-12; 919- 23, 929- 30.
r034 - 5), bur Athens irselfis vulnerable to dissension (1028-3 1). The different identification of Colonus by ilS locals and the reluctance of the
Coloneans [Q be identical with. Athens do not represent an easy solution of
unity-despite-dilference, but seem to address the potential danger implied
in a territorial stru cture such 8$ that of Athens. Especially in times of crisis,
when desperation, fear and insecurity held sway over the peop le, the gaps
between places were felt to be great. In the last section, I wish to tum [Q
the contestations of Athens as a single place and the alternative tOpographies that the realisation of differen ce generated.
III

W . R. Connor observes that ' th.e identity which residents of Attica felt as
Athenian citizens was only one of the loyalties and ties that operated on
them. Athenian civic identity was indeed problematic.'6o H e singles out five
areas which notably in and after the Peloponnesian War period upset the
homogeneity of Attica: Piraeus, because it remained a bastion of democracy while the city acquiesced in an oligarchical regime; Acharnai, whose
extreme local patri otism manifested regional tensions persistent within
Attica even in th e high classical period; and the T ettapolis, the regi on
around the Academy. and D eceleia, which were spared by the Spartans
,. Blund.u (199]): . 18 (my italics) .

.. Z.i1.hn (I99Q).

.. Connor ('994): 4Q,

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TopographitJ of civic spa

'"

because some cultic tics linked them 10 the invaders. 61 LeI us concentrate
on the first two of Connor's examples. 62
(a) Piraeus. It has been argued thaI in the fifth century the relationship
between the Pil1leus and the city of Athens could be used as 'a son of test
of the situation of internal politics in Athens and of her poSition in
Greece'.6) Much effon was made under Themistocles and Pericles to link
the hatbour to the aslU and to merge the twO places into one single fortification; at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, while the people of
the countryside filled up the space between the Long Walls, harbour and
city. Athens and Piraeus became al mosl a single town; in 415. when the
Sicilian expedition was launched, all the people staying behind flocked to
the Piraeus 10 see off the departing fleet; and Xenophon descrihcs how the
neW1 of the disasler of Aigospotamoi travelled quickly from the Piraeus
along the Long Walls to the city."'"' Conversely, under oligarchic occupation the harbour was consciously sepanlted from the asru. First. in 411 . the
government of the 400 fonified Eelioneia. II strategically imponant place in
the Piraeus, in order 10 control the grain supply of the city and to prevent
the ships returning from Samos from entering the harbour. The walls of
Eetioneia were a major issue in the struggle between the factions and, as
soon as the connections with the Spartans were broken off and the moderate regime of the 5000 was installed, they were demo lished. Again in
404, after the surrender 10 the Spanans, the Long Walls were the first to be
destroyed when the oligarchic regime of the Thirty took over government
in the city. The contempt of the Thirty for democracy could not have bn
marked more clearly than by the fact that for three talents they sold the
dockyards which once had COSt one thousand. 6' Amit'! description, hcing
based on the ancient n arratiVC1 of the event. mirrors their ideology; the
lerritorial link hctween Athens and !he Piraeus was not simply functional
but symbolic of the political consensus within Athens.
The most unequivocal representation of the Piraeus as an Other place
within Athens can be found in AriStotle. In book .5 of the PoIiria he argues
thai naris may occur dia row.s ropow.s. and his examples include the Piraeus:
Sometimc:s poIeiJ enter into civil strife betal.lSe of the place: (diD. UlIU Ulpous), bet ause
the land is not well ,uited for a polis to become I single unit. As for eumple the
peopL I I Chytus in Clazomenae. Or thOle from Colophon and NOlion. And . 1$0 at
.. Connor ( 1994): )8 f.
.. On "'" T.aapolis Ott lofJOl FGU n .F3O; for "'" AC8d.mJ.... Mcirotion FGH 3a,F3~
PMochonll l-"GII )zIt"Ia, ; l'1u .. n:1I TIt ... l a. Fot DeccLei. K<: olso Hdl. ' .7) .
.. Ami! (,96,). II - I . I hi"" di ..... oed Ih< I"iraeUI in mtn clttail in..,., R.ckn ( I99jb); Ott olso in
",nerol Gartand (,,17) .
.. Thl>C .a. I7i 6.)O-a ond Xcn. II,H. n.z.J .
.. Am;' ('96' ), .6JI-?O. d . Thuc. I .9<I If.; X." . H.J1. 11 . 10 If.; Arlit. A .... f\>L '4 .1, 1'.' and h oc .
1.66 (for "'" nento in 404).
Roy, mil ""Lurn< (pp. ,,2- , ).

s.........

186

SITTA VON REDEN

Athen. they an nm an like minded (oltA: "-'0i6s Mil) but th()!e living in Piraeus are
mon demOCTlltic (...
Mtttotilloi) than the&e in the city. (Pol. 110lb7)

alI,,"

In his example of srasis dia tow topOw Aristotle constructs what I would
call a topography based on a social map. H e translatcs the difference of
two popula tions identified with differen t occupations and thus different
political orientation into a geographical incomparibili(}' of two places. The
strength of the topographical argument comes out particularly clearly if it is
seen in relation to another argument, d eveloped earlier, where Aristotle
emphasises that even if two places wc made one (sunagagoi tow topow eis
htn) by a common wall, they would not be a polis. Only when friends and
families shued in the good life did they form a polis (u80a I4- b3S).
Other lexts d eploy similarly spatial rh etoric. Arinophanes m akes a char
acter say that ThemislOdes had 'kneaded' the Piraeus to Athens (Knighu
8IS) . The image is reworked by Plutarch, probably on the basis ofa fourthcentury source, who gives II more extended account of th e ways in which
political rivalries were expressed in terms of rival topographies:
After this Themistodes equipped th e Piraeus, because he had noticed the favourable shape of its harbours, and wbhed to arueb the whole city to the sea, thus in
ceruin ",... ys C(luntcracting the policies of the ancient Athenisn kings . I... J BUI
Thcmistoelcs did nOl, as Arinophancs thc comi<: poet says. 'kneld the Piracul on 10
the citY' but he fastened the citY to !.he Piraeu., and the citY to the leI. And 10 it WQ
that he 'n.. reued the privilcges of the common people as IgainS! the nobles, and
filled them with boldness, since the conlrOlling power ..lIll1e now in the hands of
skippcn and boatswains and pilots. Therefore it was, tOO, thlt the rostrum ( /JlII!,, )
On lhc: PnYX. which had flood 10 IS to look towards the sea, was afterwards turned
by the Thirty Tyrants !IO IS to look inland, be-cause they thought that maritimc
empi~ wlS the mothcr of democrll:y. Ind thl! oligarchy WII lesl diltlSleful to
tillen of the soil. (171m!. 19. :l- 4)
The Piraeus developed contemporaneously with, but indepc:ndently of,
Athens all a second urban Centre. It had a distinct architectural laYOUI. its
own administrative buildings, its own administration. To an extent, its
foundation appears to have been envisaged in similar tenns to that of a
colony. btl The Piraeus, while being the Centre of the maritime policy, bad a
shifting location in the topography of the polis. In the examples just given it
cmcrged as ana .. hed to, but barely integrated in, the territory of the city of
Athens.
(b) Achamai. The Achamians arc famo us for being the onl y d eme that
Thucydides portrays IS acting on their own behalf. 67 When the Athenians
aU camped in thc city during the fint year of the Archidamian Wat, th e
Spartans advanced as far as Achamai in thc hope that thc Achamians, who
.. cr. von Roden h\l'9Sb):

n;

also DC 107,

,,~

qumtly tm~ lor 1M 'mQlhn-cily' of eotonit .

., Wbi.~bead ( 'I/86): l \/9.

"'<!>ens ;,

n...".,d ",am>pdit, "'"

'~rm ~.

"7
fonned a large clement in the: Athenian army, would urgc: the Athenians IQ
defend their property. Conversely, if the: Athenianll did allow the: Ac::hunians' land to be laid wam:, the Acharnians in rum would probably nOI be
prc:pan:d 10 fight the: Spanans close to the walls, which would cause 11,,",
among me Athenians (Thuc. 1.19 If.), The Achamians Irc single<! out not
only I S a particular siuble: dc:mc:. but as the onC' which could by itself extn
prenure: on , and create disunity among, me: Ameniam." The c:xceptional
characler of the Achamians appears to have been commonplace .110 in
othtrrelpccts. Theywtrt regarded as particularlybc:llicosc: (perhaps because
they wonhipped Ares locally) and as living o ff I Itrange business (charcoal
buming).09 Siu, military tradition and economy gave the: Achamians I
distinct identity. and a potentially threatening one al thai.
[ f it il accepu:d that, a. I ariuc:d above, the proclamation of Athenian
unity was pan of an imperial rhetoric, the separatist politics invented in the
Athamiam of Aristophanes are intimately linked with the play'. more gen
enl theme of peace. War resides in an Athens that disregards the intc:re11$
associated with the cou ntryside. Within the same movement, the play allO
transfers the process of decision-making from the city to the counrryside.
The foundation of II new poliJ in the counU)'!ide and the opposition that
this CIUSes, not in downlown Athens, but among the Achamians themselves, mean that the potil of Athens is no longer the place inside the city
walls. According to the A ,h"mioll.J concept of place, the countryside is the
real centre of civic life . But this mus t nOI be understood as a straightforward political mesSIge. Rather, it s.eems to be a pcniflage of the d ominant
Athenian rhetoric which made the ciry the centre of the empin: . Sun:ly the
play c:xpn:S$el, as Bowie has argued, competing claims of dcme and polis,
countrymen and ciry politicians, individual and assembly.1o Yet the degree
to which these claims are associated on the one hand with places, but on
the other with quite the opposite of what th~e places are for (for example
the private "gorg of Dicaeopolil, the un -civic Pnyx, and the rather di s-located deme of Achamai) suggests that the play argues more deceptively
with, and againlt. the imperial rhetoric of territorial integration. The n:writing of Athenian topography in the A , hamiall.J is a disguiJed criticism of
the Athenian hegemonic discourse. 1L
.. Tbo n..mb..- '" Acbamian I>op!i .... in tho ~ ..my. p..,n .. J _ " HUIy to bot '''''' ~
(d . WM~ (ljll6): )97- 1). Yn th .... ill i"<kp<-n<km. _
"""O.. O! ollt< ",.,,,. <kmc

"'11M:

In ito b(luJ ..."" " ....... and "'" "'" duo, it fonned .......... of;1l

own: Ott Todd. this 'OIWD~. 16)- 4

ond n. 7.

.. Com_, AndrcoI.. "

I\onhcr

m..-cnc...

0..- ('9?O): 4<46, d . o.bon>< ('915'-): '119. ond

{199i1: 44 for

.... B<:>onc ( '99l ): 44

.. n... n ....... ond d~ of Ario~. ,w; ......... """tnwcnl.olloouc. I

odop. "'""" .... ri<w

..-pr " ') who 0fJIK
W! ~..ty. no< un~'" !he 10_.... proftIod dcmOCft"" "'rum for """pomm: dtcitionmom., (Jlmoknon (' 990). 21' It) . M~. it cmployed ond re.-"d d.anocn.tk """""....1
eo"ft .......Iieo (C.I . pen""';"" ond dcoc ....... o) 111 Otdor ' 0 ........ w.~_ vl thrir meeIuonlo",.

brou&!>' r.,.......a "" IIcndcnon {' 990J ond c_dod "" ~I" ( '99Oi

--'-- - - ' -

188

SITTA VON REDES

The Athens of the A chamiam is marked by the absence of a political

centre. Arislophanes evokes this image by having Dicaeopolis enler an
empty space where he expects the assembly 10 take place (20- 1). Rendering the Pnyx empty and the Agora a place where the people ' babble' (W ellsi,
21) he d eprives the city of its key civic aymbols which legitimised its centrality. Instead, Dicaeopolis' eyes gaze out into the countrySide (32), taking
the audience beyond the cit)' walls in passionate search for peace (eirblh
nOn) . Peace has a location, and thai is outside the city. Dicaeopolis soon
U'aflsfonns his Saze into active movement. Fint, however, he sits through
an assembly wIDch starts late, in which the civic voice is silenced by foreign
accents, and which undennines its own authority by disorder, violence and
self-interested politics. Dicaeopolis then starts to build a new cen~, symbolised ritually by the celebration of the Rural Dionysia (201 If.), and
physically by the construction of an agof'Q attached to his rural household
(719 tt ). New boundaries arc SC I which parallel the ones of the city agof'Q
and separate the space of Dicaeopolis from the resl of the polis. The audience sees itself taken 10 this new place as the scene shifts, without further
recastins> to its new setting. AJ MacDowell has observed, Dicaeopolis
places lhe audience through his narratives; they d o nOI know that they arc
on !he Pn)'J[ until he tells them, and he has 10 tell them that he is now going
into his house in the country (101) or to the house of Euripides (94).
Wherever hI: goci the play 8oc" and if hI: doca not say whe", he is, the
scene is nowhere, or rather, back in the theatre. 72 This technique skilfully
puts the audience at the mercy of the main character and makes them gau
as the collective citizen body al the re construction of the city. City Dionysia are replaced by their rural counlerpan, and the Agora by the private
new foundation ouoide the city. The new agora, above all, is noticeably
oUlside Athenian territory. Not only do the Megarians freely movc around,
although they a", said to have been banned from the entire Athenian
sphere of influence (m ill gii mi l ' m ugorai, mi l ' m IhalwsLi m i t' m l peiroi
mePl4in, 535) , but LamachU$ (719- 22), as well a5 the fanner Dcrceles
(1025- 35), are in effect excluded. By removing the Athenians in this way
Oicaeopolil reduces the StatuS of his fellow citizens below that of xenoi ,
who in Athens were allowed at least to tntde in the market on payment of a
tax (896).7)

The chorus of Achamians fonn the third clement in the triangular conflict between city, individual and d eme. NOte, to begin with, thai it is not
so much that the chorus represent the Achamians as a community, bUI thai
a topographical label is given to a cenain type: of citizen$ which have been
ond don&nt (Cortk<l., ( '990): 46 11: ). 1M <:al.l1Or pcoce in tbr A<"""""",,. it nn th ... ""~.
jmoloed tbr _ . fundamental itI...., ofl>otv d.t<iol...". 'IIfUt mad., ond
,ed ",!b< <kmoo,
in la'e-Mb-n1W'J AIbm .

,.p, ......

~u

(,",): T7 t.

.. Bowie (' 99)) : ) .

Copyrighted Material
Tupographies of dvic spau

'"

described in II. 179-81 as fJTesbulai. niproi geronw, MaralMnomachoi (old

men, tough old veterans, Marathon-fighters; see also their self-description
in the parabasis 67S-70 z). Such citizens were surely !lot confi!led to
Achamai. 74 Yet the comparison with Ach.amai lent itself because it was
known as a deme which worshipped Ares and which was associated with a
strong local identity. Note, funhermore , thai the opponents of Oicaeopolis
are not the Athenians, whose identity as a group is precisely what is questioned in the play,n but the chorus of Achamians who represent local
identity.
Just as Dicaeopolis, the Achamians, tOO, marginalise the city. Their
reason for fighting is the loss of their vines (230 ff.). They hate the enemy,
not out of patriotism but because they wish revenge for the destruction of
!.heir own fields (tOn emon ,hlin'on, 227). One separatist movement thus
opposes the other. Politics have moved from !.he city into the cMra. In face
of the demise of a civic identity, be that in peace or in war, both the chorus
of Achamians and the city ofOicaeopolis aim at replacing the polis. Athens
emerges as a disordered place with different interests scattered over its
countryside.
The play ends, however, in the reconciliation of Dicaeopolis and the
Achamians and the joint celebration of the rural festival. Lamachus, literany having gone down a different path (1144), heals his wounds alone in
the city (cf. 1174 fr. ). The Acharnians moves from the construction of an
empty centre, through a landscape marked by boundaries and separation,
to a countryside unified by ritual. If the play explores the relationships between polis and individual, between city and demes, and between city and
country, then the ending clearly celebrates a victory of the polis (that is,
Dkaeo-poIis) over the individual. Yet the polis is no longer the city, nor an
agglomeration of separate demes, but the united countryside.
To conclude. We staned from the question whether and in what ways
the Athenians ordered the geographical space of the polis conceptually, and
what function any invented topography might have had. As exemplified by
two imponant myths of origin viewed in the light of the remains of material
culture, the story of the territorial integration of Attica seemed above all 10
serve the ritual needs of the fifth century when the ideology of empire was
required to close the gap between the democratic focus on the Agora of
Athens lind a much more diVerse socio-political reality.7~ In a complex set
of images these myths reflect the attempt to create civic identity via the
,. S Forrnt ('9~l ): npeciolly ". It moy 01.., not be """levant !hit they an: callN Iitot n(lt Ao:.Io~,...
- . but A.I"",,,-/IDi ' men of "'" Aohorn .. n kind' (,10). All CU .... nt tnn.botion. render 'men from
Acham.oi, which i..... uaUy pouiblc, and in. way mo", ~ico.J u. Lobel fm- "'" old folks enttrin,
III~ ..... ; reI Ihc nuan of III. tellt .hould be notN.
" Sec.~ fm-III. d~ne ofth. UKmbly. 'l'r>/U'. mo"'o ...... iI<h. obJ.C'I of o;c._~ lamen.
<>nly wh ... otaDding oJonc '" "'" cmplY luembly plac. (n).
, . Th. wciol ",.lity lias pcrlutpo been host d.oaibcd by Olbom. (19900).

..

Copyrighted Material

190

SITT .... VON R EOEN

identifiution with a land undivided by boundaries or difference. and to

represent the political unity of Athens as a conscious territOrial act. Terri
lOry played an imponam role during the time of the Athenian empire. Yet
in contrast to its meaning in ideologies of nationstates, in the polis it
reinforced the image of a link between power and intemal cohesion, rather
than power and extemal expansion.
As much as social cohesion and stability are constantly at risk, the territorial order of Athens could be represented as pr:arious. The Oedipw (1/
ColonlU offers an extended debate on the social lensions within Athens,
especially as mey become coincidenl with the rirual distinction between
centre and margin. The deme of Colonus, physicaUy close to the city of
Athens, muSi be conceprually pushed to thc edges of Athenian territory in
order 10 become the proper place for the grave of a hero. Vet within the
image of rirual distance between cenlrt and margin, the more concrete
tensions between the city and a deme were expressed: to whal extent
should a deme agree to subordinate its local traditions, its social and religious life, to that of the city of Athens?
It has been observed thai the Athenians since the rdonns of K1eisthc:nes
wae not divided by open conflictS and political ri olll but that they 'displayed a remarkable solidarity, breached only under severe outside pres
sure in conditions of d efeat at war'.11 In the last section we discussed twO
examples of how sodal and political conflict could be represented in terms
of the gtgraphical distance of particular places. Pincus on the one hand
and Achamai on me OIhCT clearly were places wilh distinct local identities and geographical boundaries. But the extent to which their distance
from Amen! became more emphasised in times of political conftict not
confined to thcst places shows how the view of terrestrial space intencted
with the regulation of weial and political relationships. The continuous
rc:-assessmenl of geographical diStances and boundaries at a communicative level will have contributed to the remarkable solidarity which the
Athenians displayed during much of the classical period.

II

The threat from the Piraeus l

JIM ROY

In the: earl y pan of th e fifth cen tury BCE the Athenians deve loped the
Piraeus as a new port. Rapidly th e Piraeu s became the base for the Athenian war-fleet and also II major commercial harbour, and the associated
Icrue rncnl grew into II major urban centre. The exact rale o f growth is
unknown. but by the later fifth ccnrury it seem s cenain that the Pincus
had far outstripped in siu: every other se ttleme nt in Attica except th e auy
(th e town of Athens) itself. and could be considered the asty'l only serious
rival as an urban centre within the Athenian 8tat c,l 111c major political
functions of th e Athenian stue continued to be concenUllted in the asry,
but the inhabi tants of the as!)" and the Athenian community generally,
had to come to terms with the socill.l, economic, and military importance
of the n ew town. There is evidence that tensi on developed between the
Piraeus and the w ry, and that the all)' constructed a discoune designed
to contain the threat from the Piraeus.) (Comparable altempu to define
the 011)' from the viewpoi m of the Piraeus do nO( survive.) While the
Piraeus, as II majo r pon, attracted social groups who could have been regarded as marginal to Athenian society, the evidence suggests that much of

KJ,,_

A~;.,n of thi. poper .... ~ .. d .,

~inar . . . _
I<> p.per by Sina ......
RN ... wbid!,
othn thlqJ, di~ .. ",me l<:tJ&Ih !be Pine .... Sul>oequcntly Sitta hat
publio.bcd <udy oCm.,!'iraan e~ (""" Reden ('9\lJb , and ohil\ed!be focuJ oC t- O)nuibution 10 " " -
0.. the Piraeus I G.rlond ( '917), on<! aloo Ami, ( , 9<\,), ~ PI>- )0- ' 9 rWhQ ....,. the
oaih",r). pp. n -7 ' ('SeI pwpt. and poLitico'), and pp . 73-<J<t (on the Pirae-u.). Gwtalloi ('9'7) 1H , ummari_ "'. lu..o.,. of"'. PItH .... The aU".I" oCGarland (. glr. (0) thaI by 411 loCI tM
popuJ.1ion oC!l>c PItH ... equalled thol of the "'9' io op:uI&li>'C: .
Ami, (.96 ' ) q..ed tho, in 1M fitIh R.Ul)' ofiet die con,uuction of .... 1.0", WoIl. ~nl<in& .... "'0'
and the Pin .... the two -... .... i'ed and ,h,u their hlt.Of}' cannoI bee ..-pon,ed ( p. 461) . wtUle I><
brtnI",. OIl' -n the ouyi", m ........ (.n<! phyaical linb ) bctwftn .... PfraeUi and the "'0' ond
.... ted perIodt of<eMion (n.o<abIy ....., .... Thiny, p. 410), hio ItJWI\<"RI for WId..".... wUon don
not motch the ricwo of Ario",~ (.-born Ami! dilClllocd .. p . 474). The wtion .... preourttably nne<
aq><ed by ""'enian oIiclf'Cha 10 tudIc by the Thirty, ..-bo in 40<1/), alIc.,..uy, ~ .... ope.....
....""'" on the PD,.. 10 race ...... , from .... K. bc<: ...., 1In-p<roKr .... the ,cncoio of Ikrn<I<ncy

....on.

( Plutan:b

n. ,._",

' 9 .4).

'"

192

JIM ROY

the tension between the Q,n y and the Piraeus arose from the relations of
their citiun populations.
Some o f th e most striking, if puzzling, comments on the Piraeus are to
be found in the work of Aristotle. He knew Athens well, and his opinion,
though dearly coloured by lOCial and political bias, would be important
even if isolated; but in fact his views can be related to othen expressed in
fifth- and fourth-century Athens. Aristotle Politics '30387-tl considers
cues of poIeis where geographical facton give rise to srasis, citing as examples C lawmenae, Colophon , and Athen s, where he speaks o f stasis between
the inhabitants of the asry and the inhabitants of the Piraeus. (It is notable
that Aristotle foc::u ses his comparison on the two major urban areas in
the Athenian slate. 4) Even from our limited evidence we know of slasis at
C lazomenac and Colophon;' but the choice of Athens as an iIIustnti on is
odd, because in our much fuller evidence for Athens we do not hear of
specific cases of sfaJis between asl)' and Piraeus except in the reSloration of
democ::racy in 403, and on that oc::casion, as Aristotle well knew, the pani"
to the conf1ict were not the normal co mmunities of the aJl)' and the
Piraeus/' Yet Arislotle presumably did not choose Athens as an example
lightly, and his statement deserves consideration. His genen.1 context
concerns th e internal politics of the citizen-body in II polis. Moreover, his
terms of comparison for the panies at Athens, namely that ' those dwelling
in the Piraeus' are more ckrnorikoi7 than ' those dwelling in the cury', again
implicitly refer to citizen panicipation in the polis.
Aristotle's prejudic" about dem oc::racy are well known. 8 and his judgment on the Pin.eul is presumably to be taken as less favoun.ble than his
view of the as!}'. Vet it is not clear why th e residents of the Piraeus seemed
to him more ckmolilroi. It might partly have been because of the events of

Comparison mial" ..,ncci-r.bly 1\aY~ been mad. "';!h o\l>t ....... with ....,...bly.pedaI . - . . . .
ouch .. Rhomno .. "';!h ito fumns and ioololtd poo;tion (_ C.J. Otbornr ('jI9Oa), Petn.koo
( ' 99' , Of AcJwno.e wllh ito 1'OIaIty-tw<>~"'; (_ TnoiU '975 : ' 9- :lO). Howev.',
onal """Id ma.ch the impononc:. 0( the Pinoe ... by the II.... fill:h nlUl)'. Ario.od< dc:otly did "'"
ohat<: 00011 ..... 0.,jew .... , the Piraeus ... , '!he ""inldoCtltiol Athc:n,' (Garland 1917: , ). 1 "h. """'_
pori-, of PInt'" ond '"'0' ... uld be ............ d ..,;th oht .. nd<ncy '" di,tin,..m. urlwJ <:enl<"< ond
..-." nol<d cioe1ooh= in II>< fwnh
d , the pain" made about f....rtIt-dru'Y on::il"l>dft ...
ddendi:n. the wban hI<"< o(\I>t pel.. on<! <km>dinc the <Iter<> in Gorlan ( '974 : .. 2n on ' the
IfOwiaa ...bordintttion of the dde...,e of the tnrito<y .0 !hoI of the city').
, "Tho .~ Is ownm.n..d by 1.. 8 iOn:bntr RE n (192)) ..011. !~-6 (on. I(]Q
mil, cob.
I I' 4~ 1' (on. ~ (2) , ond .010. II " - '9 (on. ~ ()) .

non. "r_

..,,,Nt]':

n..

~ tho. the ' met> of the Pi ...... ' 0( 40] ...... no. Ifth p"rel, .. nsi<kn.. of the Pinr ... ;'
de"'" bro"&h' Out by remort in t..y,i .. I, .), ..t.er. the opeUtr clloiml !ho, he .... . ... ouch .. the
beo. r.fthe m.n &om the
would 110 .... """ if,.. hod .'*1'<"d In the "'0".
, (H,.,onJrai In this pao.o.,. _ .... ' n ",un bel.....,;n, to the oocnmon people (.,....) on<! fo-""'.
poJiricaI...oon in the In, ...,... " r!h. ~ GuIand (1987: )lOou.....) lakes. oimilotv;n.. cr. dt<:
..... of"..""",,, in the Ari",,1Wt ~ "' ..... A<Jot.rUuu .6.9,.mII the ""'. ofRhodeo (1981)

Pine",

"'''''

S .. Un"", ('992),

Till tllrtarfrom rile PiI'<UUS

'93

403, and thc focus on polis and asry ccnainly recalls those events. Q Xen

ophon in panicular presents the duh es between oligarchic and democratic

forces (after the early phase aI Phyle) in terms of oligarchs based in the asry
and democruts based in the Piraeus ( H ell. 2..4.10-43). One aspect of his
narrative is worth noting, namely the pn:sence of stonethrowers in the
d emocratic forces. When the democrats repelled the first oligarchic Rttack
on Mounichia, their hoplite formation was only ten d eep, as opposed to the
fifty--deep oligarchic formation, but they had pc:hasu and light javelin-men,
and also stone-throwers, who were very numerous since they came from
the an::a iuelf (Hell. 2.4. U )" Later, when the democra tS dashed with the
forces of the Spanan king Pausan ias near the theatre in the Piraeus, their
light-armed troops shot armws, threw javelins, launched slinphot, and
th~ stones (Hell. 2.4 .33). Pritchett has discussed sto nethrowing as a
technique in Greek warfare; it emerges from his account that, while
stonethrowers. unlike slingen, were n ot commonly used military specialists, stonethro1.1.; ng was a recognised form of fighting . Thc democratic
stonethrowen in the Piraeus in 403 might have been at least panly exiles
whose weapons had been confiscated by the Thirt)','o but it is interesting
that on two occasions in thc Pe1oponnesian War Slonethrowcn appear
among Athenian forces. at Sphacteri a and at Syracuse (Thuc. 4.32.4;
6.69.2). At Sphacteria the Athenian forces included the cn:ws ormon: than
seventy ships anned with what came 10 hand (Thuc. 4.32 .2). and Pritchcn
conjecturcs that the stonethrowers at Syracuse also included crews from
ships. " A significafll number of men in the Piracus in 403 willing 10 fighl
for dcmocncy by throwing smnes could well be explained as oarsmen from
what had been the Athenian fleet. The Piraeus, the flect. and d emocracy

,.U

Von Rt<kn ('99,b) d iocun.,. th~ willinanno of inhobiwl1. of !he PirMu. '0
pan in m.
'!N&Ik opin.t ..,Ii-d~",oc",ti~ tnO.-em""U in 41 ' and in 404/) .
,0 On !he t:OnfiKIIti<>o of"",,, on x .... lid . 1 .) .10: AlA. Ptli. )7.1 ; Junin , ., . II . It;. t;lur thl' IDA'IY
cin..-m .....,'" driven <N' of !he "'0' by- m. Thin)", and ,h." many -'" ... 1M Pint"" bu, i, io kM
cl"... how m..,y 11. )"'<1 in the Pif"KUI d urina; tI>< flIl~ of th~ Thiny. [);odofll. ( ' 4.) ' .4 ) oayt W,
1M Thlrtr ttlmf.m:d 1M cit ....... "'" incluckd in the)OOCl ... !he Pi ........ (d . JUllin
who
H)"I w,!he Thin:y ordered ....... liItbk citiwoo .0 ij\"C in the >p""
!he d.m<>lished '-"><>c
WIU.); Xen . IIr1I. 1. 4. ' "'YI tho, tNtt1 d u...no who
",(up in tho< Pi .... UI ...... driv"" ou.
rr..m ,h.".. 1C>O, .nd ""', thue .... ~ mont
~cn in Mcpn ..... 1 lM:bet.: I...r>i" 2.6 . 66, in dacrilrina "'" ""'alo ............ d.mocrocy in ( 0), ope.'" only oflhooc; who '"" wned ...
<he I'irKw", _
")"I n<>thin, of ""tua_ Uvina lit the Pineu>; " .j ) limllon, i ",~ tha, tl>o
drntocnll in <hc P!raeUl had mumed &oat mi., ..... I I ." ope .... "f A!benian ~ in od>rr
.."n. ,--",n
tho 1ltiny compelled m.,..., dwI,ooo to <W fu,. '" 1M !"ir.cw;
bu, 11.4 } implies that .... ckmocroll in dw; Pin "us had rnumed ..,d tIIha il Oa".
II On I",<><thr-m. in G.uk .....-fa... "" I'riu:btn '99' ; . - 67; m. .......tion tluttlhc: ltonethrow<n
It Sync_ m "l' b . ... bto <In ..... &om oIU",,' "'"""';.., p .66. 1M ovid"""" pthoud tor I'rilhe"
m ll<n It ck lt 1hI' .. Oft<~ io ~ ..", dU~ &0 ... the """ of oIi .... (.. in X .... l/tII.
' .4 .))). PIli" eom ....... tled thol thue o.houId "'" ""'. ".,.,. IOrpeloliti '" both thrnwina _ .. .....
ulin, .lin" (Z-. 134A. diocu-.l tor Pritdte.. II p . ).
Pri,<:bm p. 12 Qlumn wilhou, dKcwIioll Ihll m. tk1nocratic "on.w..-n of Xc ... " .
W<"R: from Pttyl. n ther Ilwt &om <hc PItoe.a; II",, ;. "'" "'" naNnI (and - '" i>odI" tor
..--1an- - wt,tal) in~'l''''''ion of Xcnop/>o<t ..."n b .

"'then,,,,,

,.6''')"1 "'.,

"""Pt'

""'twa

,.,.Il,

194

J IM ROY

au an obvious mad. H owever, even if the u siden15 of the Piraeus threw

stones bravely for democracy in 403, that hardly justifies AriSlotle's claim
of (presumably ongoing) Slam.
The period of the Thirty may have been linked with the Piraeus in the
minds of Athenians. for o th er reaso ns alia. Oddly, il was nOI fifth-century
democrats but the ' f1Iiny who gave institutional recognition to the imponance of the Piraeus. (They may, as Whitehead sugges15, have done so
because they feared the Piraeus as a potential centre of opposition and
wamed to control it.) The Thirty established ten 'archons of the Piraeus'
in 404/3. and the restored democracy then installed its own special provisions for the administration of the Piraeus. Eventually the Athenian state
appoinled OS/yI'Wmoi, OgorOllomOl~ metrorrcmOl, Silophyluku, JtrouP. and a
demarch to operale in the Piraeus. l , By the end of the fifth century the
Piraeus was formally recognised as an exceptional commun ity within
Attica. and i15 special status was an achievement o f the !"e5loud dem ocracy: moreover, the appointment of the officials who administered the
Piraeus - incl uding, exceptionally, the demarch - was comrolled by the
Athenian Assembly. l) Again, su ch considerations do not justify Aristotle's
claim of 'lam, though they do show a concc:m to keep the Piraeus under
comrol.
Anemptl to trace political [endencies among th e residents of the Piraeus
arc complicated by the nature of the Piraeus' population. In thco fifth and
fourth ccomuries the deme Piraeus probably had eight boufeufai; if right,
that sugguts that th co Piraeus >Val already one of the most populous demes
when me Kleisthenic system was sct up in 508/,.'4 Generally speaking. a
demeo's quota o f bo uleutui seems to have been in proponion to its population, but that cenainly cannOt have been true for th e Piraeus by the

i._ " . .

.. WhiteMod ( 1,86) )9<4- 6 ditcUueI Ihe IPW .......... m..," for Ihe odmini .....1ion 01 1M 1'UKuo.
ond tell <N. Ihe "';<kn<;c: t ..... Rhodeo ('98 . ) ' 16-9. 468-"1 ' on d>c ten ordw>no of Ihe Pi,.....,1
;"'u.Ued.". "'" Th;"'. The imponaJ> of _ ......-chon. oflhe I'i.......
fa.<l\ho'
!My ..-ere ImOOi 1M (rebtively few) O~larcho aduded
r:he IftI<"tIl _ I ] ' wbm Ihe oliprdIy roIIopocd. and it .. Itrim.. tho. they -... ", ~ KnltinJ "'" r:heir .roo... in Ibe !'itwu.
;tool!" (1ltA. 1'tJI. 19.6): by !be oppoinlDlell' 0I1i>e.. orchonlli>e Thlrry hod ,..... """" ..-.y .0 di<rid~
!be PU-.euo fn>m Ihe ...,., of At~. t om ....
ttl PolIl CanIedst "'" drowinl my on ... rion 10 tbil
oIiprchic ~ 01 Anka (.-epnled when ... o~p.rchic 0I0,.1e, ......... up., !!Iewit). ond 10
r:he n:snnblaDc. belWttn tbo ..... !'itw... ..,,""no and the de<:vdtia. Jet up .1Kwbere by Ibe
Thirty'. Sponan ~1rO<I Lyunde .
.. Von Reden . ,,,b: 17 dioculKl and bri"" OUt the <1<_ oI.ontrol by !he Alhenia> ,lO.te OYer "'"
..............11 for Ihe odmin.tnriGn 01 lb. PirKw .
" S.., Troill ,,16: ,6- . 1; d . PSI. '16- 1 on Hipp<>_ .... the tribe '0 ...tUck II>< <1< .... belonF'!.
n..,." it no rn.kru:. fOr !he number of Pi ...... MJ"",,; beron: l<Y1f6 ; aI'<<< JO'1/6 Ihe Pito<uo hod
ten NvI...,,,;. and TroiIl ......... oill" before 1<Y1f6 . fl'n;ill 'P7': 1r - ~ hod .. ti:N .. d Ihe number
of~ beforT )07/6" nino, b<rt modified Ihe fi~ ;., ,,86 in !be li&hl of ...... (indiTut)

r.vm

,.fuJ

~e~ .)

Garlond 1987: ,,~60 (taIin. lb ......, from Trom I97S) m ...... the po;'" that. iflhe Pincus had
nino boul .......; und Klm.hc:na' oricinoJ diotribulion, ir mu.. ob...dy ho." be ... ,.._bly
populous in II>< Iote oilnh century. H- . (n s) ~ ~ for <be poooibiijry tha. bG"l..wc
<I""'*f Weft rudj"".ed in or """",d 401l2j if co ..... ,. his qwnerI' would mun th.ot _ could be
leu .-lid.." of ntimom,. Ihe ori,pn.oi bGule .. "", quouo "f the Pinoo .... in !be 10..
.:en''''1.

".It>

."

1M th ~tljl from lhe Piraeus

second half of the fifth century. There was however no reason for the subsequent growth in population to be matched by a corresponding increase
in the Piraeus' quota of bouleuUJi; IS most, if nOt all, of the growth was pre:sumably due to an influx of citizens from elsewh ere,16 choosing bouhuuJi in
their own demes, and of course of merics and slaves, wh o had no entitlement to appoint bouhulai. H ow much the Piraeus grew we d o not know;
Garland suggests that by 432 the population of the Piraeus m ay well h ave
equalled m at of the 1U1y, but such a judgment is speculative. 17 We can
however be con fident that the demesmen of the Piraeus were I minority
among the population of the Piraeus. According to Garland, '8 of 240
sepu lchral inscriptions commemorating citizens buried in the Piraeus, only
eight commemorate Piraieis. One consequence of th e fact thai, among the
citizen inhabitan ts of the Piraeus, the demesmen of the Piraeus were
greatly outnumbered by other citizens is that it would have been difficult to
press the interests of the Piraeus in the Boule: citizens of other d emes living
in the Piraeus might have been chosen by their own d em es as ixnJtUUJi, but
they would then presumably have had 10 take some account of the interests
of their own deme. '9 Another consequence is that it is difficult to ide ntify
politically active residents of the Piraeus, since most of them will have had
the demotic of some other deme. For example, the fact that in his cllalogue of rhe~ and slraugoi for the period 403- 322 Hansen has identified
on ly five from the deme Piraeus 20 - a low number for a major deme - is nOI
significant. It is aiso, for simila r reasons, impossible [0 be sure how many
wealthy men lived in the Piraeus: while the development of th e Piraeus in
the fifth century will have brought to it relatively poo r Athenians seeking
employment in the navy and the harbour and re lated occupations, and this
inftux may well have given th e Piraeu s a social chara cter different from
that of the 1UIy, there were cenainly some wealthy Athenians living in the
Piraeus, but a number of wealthy residents may be concealed behind other
d em otics. 21

<I""'"

" T o what CIknt tbr b<>Idc"tic

01 d~ ......
modi6.d bcfu ... tho lOurth century io """leor.
sec H"'$<n ' 9B9b' 73"'9' (upeci&lly n~' and BS.-fi) for araum ..n .. in fa ........ of """"",in. tho.
odjuounen1J tool. place in tho Mb tIlury.
>. H......., ('919: 7)- 9 . ) ........ ro. 1 """oide",bl .. ..,.,.....,., ... , ofcitUen. &u<n Lho dana of 1M Parolia and Ilw: M......,iot ;n,o tho d=.. of tho "'0' (in<1lLdint: tbr PIroe".), ~ oc~ ..... t of tbr
..-,wncn.. 0 1 OobotfM: and WNu:bcod !IuL, ouch
11M bc<:n <uu<:"".d . Pot tbr intl... of
Alben, ... IQ tbr f'irKu:t in the IiIih cmtwy I l'Iutardl ,",-.. IN.. 19.1- 4.
" Garland ,,17' 110.
" Glrlond '917' 110, wit!> no ~f .-nc< 10 """'. W<>rlt.
to $eo Osbo .... ,~S"' ~-91_ tho cOD'lf> ....
be.-.:n de .... ond ... '" politicO; t:!. fI ...... n
,~, 71-9 '
,. Hanten 1989b, 74 o.s; Ilw: ~ eitcd by HanS> forothu ml;or dcm .. ,.... much hichrr. 0 . Ilw:
""taioJu< of ........... ond atnne"'; of 401-)U in H ..... o 1919b: }J -72.
" DI";.. (197' : 6[7) liou _ly Ii... PInoi as mtmbcn of tho \lppn o. liturp..1 (I.,. it! the pniod
600- )00 RC'. Thil iI opin a low ~ ro......;or demo; bu, opin m... , oth.,. Pi....,.,. ruidenu.
""Y
In.o Dr;;.. ' "",e","" b". be conce_d by other demo..... Cf. tbr onol,.io by Osborn<
( . ~J.O : .-6) oItbr cue: ofMeQ;de..- of M)'nftino ... ,
numbc< elmen from the demc
Mynhino\ll ~ in tho Pi.-....

"'_0'

""..,,11>,

rau

",...,!Yin,.

""

196

JIM ROY

Clearly the Piraeus also had a significant metic po pulation. M etics were
not of coune d irectly rel evant to citizens' political activity, but the pres
ence of meti~ may have coloured AthenilUU' perceptions of the Piraeus.
Whitehead (1986: 83- 4) summarises what we know about the distribution
of metics within Anica. The: deme residen ce of 366 me:tics is known. Of
these, sixty.nine (almoS[ 19 per cent) lived in the Piraeus, while l23 (almost
6t per cent) lived in six major d emes of urban and suburban Athens (and a
few more could be included from other demes of the asty). On that evi
dence, if the free po pulatio n of the a.fly was less th an about three times as
great as that of the Piraeus, there was a greater concentration of metics in
the asly than in th e Piraeus. 22 It is of course possible that the metics in the
Piraeus, even if a smaller proportion of the population, were m ore visible
than merics of rhe .:my, because rhey were concentrated in and around rhe
Emporicn. The Emporitm may have seemed marginal to many Athenian
citizens, even th ough citizens and foreignen cooperated there;a but in any
elise such a perception of the Emporion d oes n ot explain Aristotle's verdict
on the citizen res idents of the: Piraeus as ckmorikui nor his belief in nasis
between Piraeu s and a.sly. Metics might also h ave attracted attention as
non-Greeks: Garland (1987: 1(9) tabulates fifteen 'foreign' cults attested in
the Piraeus from the fifth century onwards, though his own discussion of
individual cults shows that at least half do not clearly attest non-Greek
wonhippcn in rhe: PiTlle:US. 24 Garland also tabu lates ( pp. 64- 5) th e: origins
of m etics shown on sep ulchra l inscriptions : 11 0 cases are known from the
.. cr. W opec1Ilotion ofo.rtand ( '9h: 60) thn in 431 th~ "'" populotio", wen: rouchlJ equal; bu.
"",. tho, OuIond (p. 61) aloo
0='. view thlt w "",tic po(>ULotion ~u d...nn. the Pdoponncsian W .. and n..... r ...piMd ito ~_ level. r..,siao ~9 . 12 .~to tho, '.llla the citizoon
popuI.,;on of the PmcUI .........11 helow that of the IIJ/)' (Rby I99S).
.. On the &.r,.,.;....., Moue ( '91]). Von k<;Ien ( ' 99,b: 34, dn....u.. DOl the ..."k of M<>Ni ond of
Millen '9a] ), dnWl .ttention 10 W coopet1IUon of cirluno and fo~ in tM E."""",,, and

""<1>"

q"""tion. anotnpto (notably by Voliouropouloo ond Polonyl] '0 ....... that the F....".,...".. ..... 10cioUy and onomkal1y
&om W
of Athm..i.m~. Cf. Millen 199" '1II~96.
,. The fol!~ culto .... included in Gulond', ij" offt/l:em, I"" do no. necell&rily 1I>ow. con.,.n.....tion of...,n~k wonhi;>pen in tb~ Pi.-u. (rcf~rcN>eS .... fO poaa in OuIon.d) :
Aphrodite Euploi. (112 ): sanccuary dedicated by Conon oft." 0 ri<1Ory off crud... in 194.
Apbrodit. Ouran;' ( ' - 'l): the cult 'probtobly- arrived in the P;racu. in 3]). _U 0.,...,. cen,UI)'
t.,." than ilS lin, Iffioooal in the ....1)".
8enilis (" I- u ): mi. cull .... olficiallJ oodopCed by the Athenw. . .. t~, tht>usb 'Thncian~_
...................d . s.~ al ... Garlond '992: " ' - '4.
Kaheiroi ( ,al): il is uncertain
the cult ..... lou'ed in the Pinot ... or in the "''Y.
Sabaioo ( ']I- l ): iI is uncc:rtaln whether the cull ",.. located in W Pinot ... or in the 411y. Su 0"'"
Oalond '99~: 149-}o
SlInfIi. ( lll- 4): II is unetTUtin whether the cult ..... lou,ed in
Pi .......
in the <W)I, and the
",,1, is
ed bdi>n: 11 514, when it _ opn:adinl 0"'001 O"",b.
7.ew Ammon ( 1).4): W. euh ... probably adoptl by the Atho<nian
in the !lrst half of the
founll
ond iI is nor ceruin, thou'" proboble, tho, the oancntaty ..... in W PifKUl.
Zeuo Lobraund", ( ' ).4- ' ): thio c ult is DOt ... tl until the ~alr .. cond <enlUll'. On the bc:Utn.......... oIeana, &om whi<:h the ouJ, an,uwly came, sec Homblo .... 19112: }p.".
Von RIen ('\I"\l,b) )0- ' offen """,parable """,,,,en,, on Oorland'. lis. of to...isn '""''' in tbc:
!'irK....

_,I

,ft'

"""'tiler

no, .tt...

"""'Uf)',

o.

".t<

."

The Ihrtat from th( Pira(14

fourth century BCI!, and of these the overwhelming majority (at least
ninety) are from G~ek communities (though any ethnic group that did not
adopt re<:ognisable funerary practices, and especially the habit of erecting
tombstones, may be underrepresented, and non-Greeks were pre$umably
more likely than Greeks to differ in their manner of remembering their
dead). 25 The various pieces of available evidence do not on balance sugge5t
that the metic presence in the Piraeus as a whole made it seem a very different community from the as/y.
It is difficult to know how the residents orthe Piraeus showed themselve$
more demotilloi than the inhabitants of the any (except in 40)).26 Even if
(which is very doubtful) political tendencies of Piraiei! could be perceived
in the &uk or in the Assembly, the demesmen of the deme Piraeus were a
small proportion of the citizen ~5idenUi of the Piraeus (and Aristotle'.
judgment explicitly refers to the residents, nOt mere.ly the dernesmen l7).
Both &uJe and Assembly occasionally met in the Piraeus, but we have no
reason to think that these meetings took on a different political colour.211
H ow citizens grouped themselves at meetings of the Assembly held on the
Pnyx, if indeed they did fonn identifiable groups at all, is a notorious
problem;29 there is at any rate no evidence that residents of the Piraeus
could have been identified at a meeting of the Assembly. Our prent evidence simply d oes not allow us to identify strongly democratic behaviour
by residents of the Piraeus in either &ule or Assembly.
Though Aristotle's passage about stasis between Piraeus and asl)' cannot
be corroborated from available evidence of political events in Atheru. it

.. It i. di!&:.. h to eomp u~.oct /iaurct &om Garland ' lB. It &hoWd "" "",td tho, G&ttand ......
11>11 the \ir,. rn.]' '0 oomc del"" mi .... prco.cn' the cthnJ. milr of tit< m";" c""""unity: be pOio ..
'"'" lOT inounce, Iha, (p. 66) w:ry /~ 1ltn.ci&ll' OPf'("O' on the CtI'-a.,ona, thouab Thnocion.
'..,.. on< of !he moo. prominml foreipt ""lIP' in the Pirac ... ' ; K ....,., bio no.a 6, ond (\(\ on
p. '9) .
... Ami! ( . 96,: 6) nOltd WI if ..... look for mdenc. ohowU,. d;"ttI. infIumcc at the -.n,~ 6x~
on the eondu.ot of . 110;" in putic1.oJor c..... !he .... ,,1. it d;pPpOiDtint .
., One 'u' idc"tifyin, /urort b<lonain o dille ..... ' dema bu ..... idina in tho PirKu. to L,..... ~9. '.
(tbou.;:tt i. don not .nribu.c &IIY plrticular poUric.1 ,.ndmcy 10 them). n.c 'lKokn ",u... \hi<
_1)1 "", .. bowttia.td claim duo" ., "'" time o f &II oari .... triol,
bad cloimcd to ""...,
bribtd jOG;wnn &om the Piracu. and. ,600 from Ihc: "'0'. Tbo ...... I\er'. d o;"" io tbo ....,.AIy ....
... U.ble .. e";denee of bribtry, and hio num""" may _11 be ;n""ntcd: b", hio .ta. ........ ''"'I'POKI,
in the """,,01 iWT"'Pancl of 6000 citln:". 0"" thiO"ty 7"<'" "'d, "umbo.. of.-.. hm tit< Pirvu.
clearly >0 lltl' to bt all "",mbe ... of tb< de"'" Pinmo, ond futtber . uppooeo 11>.. these mon ...,.,Id
be id ... tiMd .. r-oMdcn .. "f the Pi"'CUI . (lbc impl;c,tiooo of t.y. .... ~ 9. n .... uplo... d "'"her in
Roy '9"9' .) On "'" AII>.ni&ll iury-ptm<1 _ Todd '9"9J: 12"""9 ' .
.. On m .... lm .. of the &oow in tho !'i_us (ond clocwbcn """'y from the Boulcu.crion) ..... Rhod",
('97') p. 1'. On mcctin&t ofth<: ...... mblJ' in til<
K . . H ..... n '987: '4. wit!> n.l09 oro

""""in "...,

p.I.'.

..

Pint.c".

On Ihc: &uk ond the no.,. ... RItocIeo <' 97' : "l- u ). In military ..... tte .. 'w &..It', main dulY
in "".blinl "'" cify 10 li&hl iu .... "'.. tbc pt'O"I"ioion of Ibipt and. equipmen. lOr the novy' ( Rhod",
p. " 5), bul iI oocmo unlikely dtot Ati.."tI< ....... iJh' the inhobi ...". of 1M l"inIcus ~ m.ruy
bo:cauoc ofvicws tab:n obou. tit< no.,. in the 8owU.
n.. prnbl.", io oct o ut by HanK" '9S" 19- 4' .

198

J IM ROY

cannot on thal account be dismissed. The srosU he writes of can be

understood, not IS open political hostility, but IS persistent socio-political
tens ion, Aristotle's views arc alone sufficient to suggest thlt at least some
Athenians felt a continuing tension between the Pif'lleus and the QSly related to I persulsion that the citizens residing in the Pif'lleus were more
demon'kui. In flct, however, his views Ire not isolated, but comparable to
views about the Piraeus which appear in other texts. These views amount
to I discourse about the Piraeus I . a democratic stronghold of the navy,
a discoune in which the Piraeus is frequently criticised explicitly or
implicitly.
First, another illuminating comment from Aristotle himself. In giving
examples of the different social categories to be found among the demos
(as opposed to the pwrimOl~ or notables) of a pof~, Aristotle (PoJitiu
129 181 7- 25) mentions those connected with the sea, and then subdivides
this category into those connected with naval warfan: ( polemikon), with
commerce (chrnnarurikon ), with ferrying passengers (porthmeutikon), and
with fishing (lla/ieu/ikon) . He then points out that each of these l Ubcategories has numero us members in various places, and gives examples:
fishennen in Tarentum and Byzantium, the m en of the Reet (mmkon) at
Athens, those engaged in commerce (nnpon'kQ1l) at Aegina and Chios, and
those engaged in ferrying (porzhmeutiJum) at Tened os. It is very striking
that, while Aristotle is, on the one hand, using ,oc;iai categoriel related to
merchant shipping, and, on the other, qu oting Athe ns as an example, he
makes absolutely no mention of merchant shipping at Athens, Whal matters
for him at Athens (and so, presumably, in the Piraeus) is the war_Reet. lO
Aristotle's comments on the rrUrlkoll, and his comments on the demou'kOl'
of the Piraeus, contribute to a debate about democracy and the navy that is
already clearly formulated (in a very different tone) by the Old O ligarch.
The Old Oligarch does not mention the Piraeus, but he docs notoriously
contrast the common people (.umos) who drive the ships with the hoplilC5,
the well-born (gm1Ulioi) and the good (lIh~loi), and he stresses the polilical power of the demru. 31 The discoune had been launched even earlier,

... ArUwIk', Com .... nll 01 P...... n9lBI?- ~S .... pramlt<! .. ..,rerrinc 10 hit 0"'" d.,., or., ""1
...,. no< _n,t<! M-.. from \he !'ti Von ~ ('99,b: 26) "'""" 'b7!he
,...,.1I>t

""uro. ....

of tht Pinocuol_ no Lanter primorily ossocia.ed with onal poom- bu, with <:Om,
m...,. .,. bu. doeo no< IUR." wIIJ in the fourth =rury the Pi.""", would .... leu ..ooc:ioted...;th
n_1 power. C."'aori" of .-.id ...,., ""' no< identical for the Mh and for \he fourth <:a>turiq, and
in puriallar r",."oi< 'p"Kbc-o, nuoinIy of tht fourth tet\'WY. '"" i ... l&hlO ;n.o the world of the
EM/N>ritM.tUck"", do DOl ba"" 10. \he I'iftb ....,ury; bul .uch oIl.it'U in the balance of ..,..;......
nidencc do Oot n~1J me ... tNl the interelll or the Pi ......... ot !he P""'pti.mo Dr;. by
... lhtn ...... had ';prilkont/y .~, The ... then;" ........ ft< ...... ,tiD of major im_ in "'"
fwnb ....,wy, UId ther<: io no ctil'fieull)' in
1011...... "".""" ' 0 hi. own d.y in
I'bIilia ,,,,'S '7-~'. Se .............iI '960: .71- ], ond Hanon. '987: ,a.
" ..... ud"..Xmophon c-.tino,;"" tJ/ 1lu A ............ nor.bly II 1.1 .

hut>our

[i.~.

_.plio., """ . . . .

'99
if Plutarch's repon u that Thc:mislOcles

developing the Pineul was

consciously promoting the political uungth of the dtrm:Jj agai nst that of
the best men (gristo') g~ back to fifth-century opinion;)) moreover,

In

Pluta:h's repon Io:eka to explain the political power given by Thc:minodc:s

to the demos by the importance of seamen, boatswains, and skippers.
Another contribution to the: debate is by Plato. In lArw 704A- 707DJ4
the Athenian sets out the: disadvantages for a polis of being on the coast
with good harbours, and gocs on to dcJcribe the m Of1ll di sad vantages of
having a strong war-flt.]' (The: re leVllncc of nis remarks to Athens is
anyway obvious, but he makes it explicit (707A- C).) Sea-trade bring! for-

eign merchandise and retail trade, and breed. in m en 's souls knavish and
tricky ways ( ,oSA). A strong navy corrupts morals: ' marine'! arc: used to
jumping ashore frc:quc:ntly and running back at full speed to their ships,
and they think no shame of not dyi ng boldl y at their POSts when the enemy
anack' (706C). Wone: 'states depend ent upon navies for their power give
honours, as rewards for !.heir safety, 10 ascclion of !.heir forces th at is n OI
the fin est; for they owe their safe ty to the am of the pilot, the captain and
the rowe r - men of all kinds and nOI IQ(I respectable' (707AB). Finally, in
response to the suggestion that the sea-baltle at Salamis saved Greece, the
Athenian offers his view that Marathon began the salvation of the Greeks
and Plataea completed it, while the sea-banlc. al Anernisium and Salamis
made the Greeks worse (707BC). The Athenian's judgments make no reference 10 the pr~nce or absen ce in a pofu of foreign ers: they refer to the
m oral effect of sea-trade and sea-power on the citizen-body, and rut
clearly on a set of preferences for social gro ups located primarily within the
citizen-body.
Such preferences no doubt underlie other comments on the Piraeus. It is
the place where Timarchos went and sold himself as a prostitute (Aeschinu
1.40), and Aristophanes characlerised it by ilS wh o~ ( Pttu:t 165). It is
where to find the meric com-dealers wh ose interests clash directly with
those of the poIu: ' their in terests are the opposite of other men's: they make
mOSI profit when, on some bad news reaching the city, they sell thei r com
at a high price. And they are so d elighted to see yo ur disasters that they
either gel news of them in advance of anyone else, or fabri cate the rumour
them.tlvcs' (Lysias 22 .14 : Loeb translation by W . R M . Lamb). In the
" l'Iuwcl! n..-~ I,. J - . Th. pal''';' diocuMcd by ""'" Red ... '99111: .s .
.. S , ..... , (. ,Io: ) - )9) on "'" dcv.:lo\'Imcn, of tlw: lito:..,.,. u-.dition oboIo, 1'IIemist:ocIa. PlutarCh
dearly b.... fiftb-<:altut)'
,1>cl:I " HttOoCio<".. Tttucydideo, and S,alfnbtotuo. S alto
p.,rn.., ( , "2), ""'" D<ltn ~ ( W . " - l D) tho. Plwan:h IWrudfhad, parriculor imrrat in
the ",l,rion.hip be ........ indirilluol pnlitkioD ond ~ whidI owe'" in .... Lilt ., ~
... The tnn,l.olioDt dM:! on: by R. G. 1'1"" in rho: Loeb odition.
" Ario!Oll."..,..". .l.... ' . - b" offe ........... bolan<l."olyoio of ....
ond di...,...,."IeI
10 ,.,m of &ood c:ommunicltiono by ..,. lOt bo<h mili...,. and U>IIImuciol pwp>oa., whil. otill
~ ,,"'''WId milttuOl Df the m... of _1. pth.red in 0 jIOr1 U>Wn.

."than

-Ill"

- - - -

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zoo

JIM ROY

Piraeus all sorts of rogues can be found : ' There existS in the Piraeus a gang
of scoundrels closely leagued with one another. You would know them al
once sho uld you see them,' said Demosthenes' relalive D emon 10 a jury,
before feebly admitting that when he himself became involved with such a
scoundrel he did nOI recognise the man's CharaCler (D emosthenes 32.10n ).16 There were cenainly prostitules in the Piraeus, and no doubt unscrupulous com-merchantS and a varie[y of other rogues; bUI the imporlanl question is why such people could be held 10 characlerise the Piraeus,
the area whose citi2en residents were more demorikoi than the residents of
the asl)'. The reason is surely thai there was a continuing social and political discourse of which we have the side of the as/)" assening ils more consel'V1l.tive values againsl those of the Piraeus. The claim thai the cilizen inhabi tants of the Piraeus were more demotiJroi than the citizens of the asty is
part of a construction of a view of the Piraeus which demeaned il and dislanced il safely from the values of the afty. It is nOt surprising to find critics
of d emocracy su ch as Plato and Arislotle using the alleged d emocratic
lendencies of the inhabilants o f the Piraeus as an instrumenl to subven the
status of the Piraeus in comparison with the arty, and antidemocratic prejudice against the citizens of the Piraeus could have served such critics'
purpose without necessarily being based on any objectively observed paltern of political behaviour. It is, however, revealing 10 observe the same
discourse in texts addressed to the Athenian communi[y which prided itse lf
on its democracy.
Such texts are not lacking, When it was convenient, the uni[y of harbour
and po/it could of course be stressed: of Leocrates, who fled from Athens
by boat after Chaeronea, Lycurgus (Against LeccraUl n ) says 10 an Athenian law-coun: 'He left in rughc, feeling no pi[y for the harbours of the polit
from which he took ship, fee ling no shame at the walls of the fatherland
(parris) whose defence he left abandoned .' In such cases the Piraeus is
implicitly subord inated to the polu Athens, as it is when bocrates says in
his Pa~gyricw (4.42) that the polis Athens established the Piraeus as a
markel, and thai thanks to the Piraeus goods which are scarce elsewhere
are easily obtained in Athen s;3? or aga in when Arislophanes ( Knighu 8IS)
said of Themistocles that ' when (the polis] was lunching he kn eaded
Piraeus-cake fo r her as a second helping, '3S in a line which in effect claims
" Th. ooci..J con le>rl oflhi. cut I. up!o ... d VI MOil. (1983).
" II I1I'i1<ing tho" when Thu<:ydldeo makes Pericles .peak in the Funeral Spcodt ('Thw:. '.38.') of
Ih<c benefi" am""'l in Alh<cn. &om othor ~omm uniti<:., dle.e if no ",rerenc< '"!he Pifuu . Th.
""pUc,lion. of "'., pauliit', IIIId or othe ..... IIIinJ to !he illl""" of o:ommo<!inc. &om abrold, a
eq>10tt<I1n Lon"" (198.) 86- 1.

.. Th. tranllalion quoled i. by Sommerst"". Plutarch ( ~. 'II,}) quo,es from 1h< phns<-, but sives
only I few word. and '0 obocu .... thc-i. meaning: bttlC< Ih<c ....mon by B. Perrin In 1M l.oeb edition
of Plutan:b ~;'U>dG 'mud the Piran>t on to the ciry". (Pl uta ... h!he .. n:;'cted the dlllm mode
by hlo trur>c ... d .enion of !he lin., rina: thot In met Themioto<:les joined Ih<c polis .., th. Pifuu.
and !he land to !he IIU.)

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The ihl"taf from ' M PirIUW

supremacy for die existing polis over the new Piraeus. At the other extreme
the naval character of the Piraeus could be used to locate it not on Athe
nian territory at all but offshore; ' You have left die afty,' said Aeschines to
Demosthenes, 'and in the Piraeus you are not residing but lying at anchor
off the polis' (Aeschines 3.209). Or the SlTength of the Piraeus, which generated the Sl asiJ between wry and Piraeus, could simply be etraced; Plalo
Comicu5 wrote ofThemistocles' lomb, sel on a promontory near the large
harbour of the Piraeus, that ' Your tomb, heaped up in a fair place, will
always be a greeting to merchantmen, and will see those sailing in and out,
and will look on whenever there is a race of ships. '39 The venes stress the
imponance of merchanl shipping in the Piraeus, and implicitly contradict
the empha&i5 on the IrUrikon of Aristotle ( Politics 1291817- 2.5). "Ine venes
also link Themistodes and the Piraeus with the boat-races which fOfTlled
pan of the Panathenaea, a prime ex pression of the unitary Athenian poIis. 4 0)
Plato Comicus thus disassociates Themistocles, the founder of the Athenian flee t, from the navy, 5ubordioates the Piraeus to the Panathenaea, and
dissolves the tension arising from the triad Piraeus, navy, and democracy.
In conclusion, the arguments presented here can be summed up thus.
The rapid growth of the Piraeus in the fifth century soon made it the biggest urban concentration in Attica apart from the JUry itself. As a result the
wry fe lt threatened, and tension developed between the citizen residents of
the Piraeus and those of the asty. While meric [taden active in the Em/H'n on may have affecled perceptions of the Piraeus, there do not seem to
have been propon.ionatcly more metics in the Piraeus than in the wry. and
Aristotle, categorising the res idents or the Piraeus as more ciemollJf()i. makes
clear that the tension was fel! between the citizen reside nu of the twO
centres. Except in the extraordinary circumstances of the oligarchic regime
at Athens in 404- ). the tension does not appea r 10 be related 10 panicular
political issues (though il is admittedly difficult to distinguish politically
active residenu of the Piraeus because the great majority of Athenians
living there belonged to demes elsewhere and were fOfTllally identified as
members of their original demes, not as residenu of the Piraeus). Rather,
the enduring lension between Piraeus and aSly seems to have been due. nOi
10 pan.icular issues, but to the challenge which the new town posed to the
tnditional centre of Athenian life. How the residents of the Piraeus represented their relarions with the asly we do nOI know, for the surviving evidence does not lell us. but we can see how the JUry developed and expressed a perception of the Piraeus in an attempt to assert its own
n... .,....... )'.4-'

quota D;od"",. I'ctiqc.co. "''''' in turn had 'IIIOttd 1'1.0.0 Comku.;

in R . KMod NWI C . "unin IW't>< <:-tin Gromi 0'01. VII
<'919). ",. ~, .nd l'Iutat<:h, ocepIicDm lbout "'" lOmb', lumcn riciqo, o.n: dioano.ed b3'
Garland '987' "(\.-'7.
.. On the too. ... occo .. the
IUco.td frnm Ih< fino. half of Ih< IOunh untwy, 0 S.~,
' 99': 91, _!be >'IOtCO "4 - .6 ()fI p. 101 (.... ""'" 1I>cre on: f... nca '0 .arlit< ij,ao"UfC) .
.. l'Iutudl

1I>c

quotlDon 1ppt'1. . . .

f'Ilo.o

fr.,"

Pan.""".....,

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202

JIM ROY

superiority. In its most hostile form this discoune stressed unfavourably

the links of the Piraeus with democracy and me navy, but even in a milder
fonn, acceptable to me Athenian assembly, it emphasised the subordination of the Piraeus to the auy, and in the comic theatre or in a law!;ourt the Piraeus could be dismissed as a haunt of prostiruteS and rogues.
The range of texts which express, with more or less hostility, the a.ny's reaction [0 the Piraeus shows how much the WI)' fell threatened.

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12

Encounters in the Agora*

PAUL MILLETT

MEN MAKE THE POLIS?

One evening, in a year not know to us but sometime towards the middle of
the fourth century BCE, two friends went for a stroll through the Agoca.
Their names were Ariston and PhanostnllOs, both of them Athenian citizens. We arc able to trace their steps as they walked southwards as far as
the Pherrephattion (a sanctuary of Persephone) before turning back. There
was apparently nothing unusual about this talting of the evening air in the
Agora: Ariston describes it as being his usual custom. What made this walk
different was its unpleasant ending. As the two friends, on their way back,
approached the Lcokorion (a shrine to the daughters of Leos), they were
set upon by II. gang. Phanostratos was pinned to the ground, while Ariston
was brutally beaten. His attackers tore off his cloak, threw him down into
the mud, and then jumped on him, cursing all the while. As a climax to the
attack, the ringleader stood over Ariston and began to crow, imitating a
fighting cock that had won a battle. To complete the effect, he flapped his
elbows against his side to resemble wings. After the attackers had made off,
Ariston himself was carried home by some passers-by, more dead than
alive. Although he had sustained internal injuries, so serious that the doctors despaired of his Ilfe, he did make a slow recovery.
This hostile encounter in the Agora was neither the beginning nor the
end of the story. Ariston recognised among his anackers one Kanan, together with his sons, with whom some two years previously he had had
violent dealings. On this subsequent occasion, Ariston prosecuted Konon
for assault. The speech delivered in court by Ariston was written for him by
Thil p.o~r is, in pari, an .lUmpt 10 ~.pond 10 I ,,,",,,.ion m..t~ or rh~ Enrer Conf~ten"" on
Recipt<>Ciry in Ancien. Greece (Gill ... oJ . furthc<>minJ) ma, n:ciprocity in Athtn, mipll haw had
topogn.phk"l implic.lio .... It io oJ ... in pari uopo_ '0 .'>hr}r B..nt , I... tifi.oble imp.';.""" with
~dprocitJ' .. tho fuhi<><lllbl. wI ..';"n to .11 0..,. problem. os ""ci.n, hiJlorion. ('G". UI " lti.. iI
no. the ......... give u' fiver', .. ohc put it).
In whal full ..... , ' .... " .. ' .. r.,.. to rho Aeon in rhc: city of Athmo, ' _ ' '0 rhc: Je1'ctol concept.

'0,
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PAUL MILLETT

D emonhenes, whose fifty-founh oration Against KoruJfI for Auault is the

soun::e for this narrative. L
Towards me end of the paper, we will return to Ariston's brush with
Kana n and its implications for the o rdering of personal relations in Athens.
As a whole, DemO$thenes' speech ranges through time and space as me
speaker presenls the jury with a series of vignettes blending people with
places. Apart from the topographical detail of the stroll through the Agora,
there is Ariston's description of his arrival at the family home, where his
mother rushed out and the women of the household set up a wailing as if
someone had died (20). There is the pictun: of Arinon being carned across
the city to a public bam to be washed and shown to the doctors (9). Too
weak to stand the return journey, he was put up for the night by a friend of
one of his relations who happened to live nearby (10). Moving funher
afield, AriSlon tells how the unpleasantness with the family of Konon
began outside the city, while he, his brother, and the sons of Konon were
on garrison duty at Panakton, on Athens' frontie r with Boiotia. He gives a
terse account of the mounting antagonism between them, culminating
in blows (3- 6). Altho ugh the action of the speech does not m ove outside
Attica, the listeners are made to do so in their imagination. Ariston accuses
his opponents of ' playing the Spanan' (34); Konon is said to have been,
in his youth, a member of a gang calling themselves ' Triballoi' (39). The
all usion il 10 a Thracian [ribe which became a byword in founh-cenrury
Athens for ils barbarity. All this uncivilised and supposedly un-Athenian
behaviour chimes in with the location of Konon and his friend s immediately before sallying forth to beat up AriSton : a drinking bout in the house
of Pamphilos the fuller in the districl of Athens called M elite (7).
Againsl K OnDn exemplifies the sense of place that is characteristic of
Athenian public discourse. Lycurgus in his speech AgajrlSl Leallrares present! himself as perfonning a civic duty prosecuting his opponent for treason, having quit Athens in the dark days after Chaeronea. In the coune:
of sixty or so pages, he invo kes for the benefit of the jurors a sequence of
locations and anefacts in Athens and Attica. The speech opens with a
prayer that Leokrates should get hi! just deserts, addressed to the statues of
Athene and other gods and heroes in both city and country whose temples
and shrines he has betrayed (1- 2). A recurring theme in Against Leakrates
is the personification of place. In defence of the Slate immediately after
Chaeronea (44), 'the land was giving up its trees, the dead their graveStones, and the temples their weapons'. l..c<l\trates' actual escape from the
threatened city is conceived in terms of abandoning nOI so much people
as places personified (17; cf. 136). Lycurgus stresses that Leo\tratC'S left
Athens with no intention of returning by explaining how he took with him
the family's cult objects. The sacred images are conceived as individuals,

Encollnun in tlu Agora

'0'

forced to abandon their own temples and go into unwilling exile in the
alien territory of Megara (%5; cf. 56) . The peroration to the speech is
another striking piece of personification (IS O):
ImRJine then, Athenians, thai the lemlOry (chora) and in trees arc appcalins 10 )'0\1;
thaI Ihe harbours, dockyards and walls of the ciry arc beiiing for protcClion; yes,
and the lemples and sanctuanesloo. Bcar in mind the charges brought and make of
Lcol<rales a proof that , with )'QU, tca... and pit)' have nOI ma rc ...datu than the
preservation of the la...., and of the PIple.

A linle earlier in the speech (145), Lycurgus envisages the fate of Anica,
had othen imitated Lc:o kntes in aband oning the place to Philip: il would
have become a sheepwalk (mt loboI05). In other words a wasteland, without
an y of the buildings and monumenlS on which Lycurgus places such
emphas i s.~

The recurring theme of ' built environment ' in public perfonnanee cuts
across the commonplace that, for the Athenians, th e essence of the pol"
was irs politai, with the material side strictly an cillary to the human di
mensio n.) The passages conventionally dted 10 show up th e primacy of
people need 10 be rean en ed in context. Says Thucydides' Nikias as the
peron!!ion to his troops in Sicily (vlI.77.' ), 'It is men that make the polis
(and,1S gar polis), not walls or ships empty of men.' But this COUnts as a
clear case of Thucydides putting into a speaker's m outh what the occasion
called for. The anny Nilcil$ was trying to rall y was on the brink of defeat
precisely because it did not have accen to a city or fleet . Special pleading is
also evident in the brave words attributed by Herodolos to Themistocle.
before the Battle of Plataia (vlU.61 ). Challenged by a Corinthian that he
was apol" - ' a man without a polis' - Themistoc1es replied that, even though
the Persians had occupied Athens, he and th e other citizcm $till constituted a polis to be reckoned with by vinue of their two-hundred triremes
filled with Athenians. Also to be taken in context is the advice given by a
priest to Oedipus in plague-stricken Thebes that, if he is 10 continue as
ruler, then men are needed: ' neither walled town n or ship is anything if il is
void and n o men dwell with you ' (OedipllS Tyn.lnnllS 5%- ') . In a city suf
fering from an epidemic the human dimension is neeen arily to the fore .
The sense of the passage from CRdipllS 1jrrn mtllS is not so much that men

'0

E1ocw!><.." L1='"1JUS ",ron

ciry ...allJ, docb , p ,es. Ilton and amt y tampS ( ... . $f, .. y . The
importance of I ...... o f pb hal Igq _
IppKtio.cd in .............. dram . AriKOPhaneo' l~
" "'4 ..... pd, d..cribtd moro dan .--hw>drcd-and.6ft7 )'<~ . . . . . . the 'bn< lOPOi,ophical
"";d~ 10 tb< Ac:n>poIi. oI ... tb<ns'. The phn.. ..... 1.U;cn ....... from Chrl",ophu WordfWOO"tb ('In:
,n) by Nicole Lon ..., ""'" provid .. her awn IUide to 'The Comic Aavpol" ( 199) : ' .. , .... ' ).
M.nand...... ~
",,"I th of .~hicc" <kuoU (u ...,Ucy,
~
For \he
pltJlittl tid. 01"1". city of"Thebcs in Euripid.. A~"'-, ... K.- (l9Ial. The In' (Ould ....Iy bt

.....,tain, _

'\16" ..... ,).

a lCndcd .

The ido_ n likel, '0 bt rrinfon:cd bJ JI"nclmon', ..'II........ ..,...btll~ of tb< ",n. _
'city-Otou' _ citiun.....,.' ('990: H I ). oS f\utb<. ron Rockn, lhlo _ . ",.

M,

no' .. muc:b

206

PAUL MILL ETT

alone make the polis, but rather that there has to be a blending of material
and human elements. The starting point for the tQjJOS that ' men make the
polis' conveys an identical message. According to a fragm ent of Alkaios
(fr. tl2 in C ampbell), 'Men are a warlike tower to the city' (andres gar
poleos purgos "mos), which need not be taken as meaning that towers are
not necessary. In what follows, I want to explore a variety of ways in which
personal relationships are expU$sed with respt to the physical context of
the city of Atbens. 4
GRACIOUS LIVING IN ATHEN S AND ROME

Location of social and political instirutions against the background of place

has long been familiar to historians of Rome. The exemplary survey by
John P:menon of 'The city of Rome from Republic to Empire' (1992)
shows how appreciation of Roman politics and society can be enhanced by
integration with the physical fabric of the city: Panerson's analysis includes
the Forum, C ampus Martius, Aristocratic housing, Palatine, and Imperial
Fora. An approach along similar lines to the city of Athens would necessaril y be different in COntent and emphasis. This is, in pan, a function of
the differing archaeological testimo ny. There is Iimiled scope for the systematic exploration of Ame ns, which has not had the same continuity of
occupation or prel ervation as the cil}' of Rome. The .ite of the ancient cil}'
of Amens and its environs is overspread by a modem indusuial city of
some three million people, with occasional bits of the earlier settlement
poking through. By way of illustration, the location of the Agora (to which
we will rerum) WIS not formally confirmed as such until 1934. Before
excavarions could begin in 1931 , the site had to be cleared of some 400
modem houses and anything between one and twelve metres of eanh
caned away. By ContraSt, the site of the Forum in Rome has never been in
doubt.s Apan from cenain key locations such as the Agora and Akropolis,
excavation within the built-up area of Athens has been predominantly
piecemeal and reactive. And yet, in spite of these difficulties, possibiliries
do exist fot integrated approaches to me ciry of Athens. 6
The ohiftinc emplw.i. of"'" _
1hn>UJ:h tUne h uved by 1.0..... ('97., '975).
, Conlinned in '9l4 by the ~of"'" ThoIot.nd IlIe Ahvofll>< Twelve Gods (Camp, '986:
12). c..mp.... with ~ .... pi.". oflhe A.... &tel Ill< Inempu:d ruoM!fUction by Judeich from
'93' (nprodUCfll in ~ ZJV: u,). For ... impr'aoion of the , k
the ~otis<s, con....., II>< 'bdono and aft .. ncwnrion' phoI"IJ'Ip/tI; ~pn>duud by Camp ( ' 986: II). who ....pM...... and mu......... Ill< poor pre .......""" of IIJUCtW'es irI the """",, ..mJ rWn, oboYe lfOund

...,.

r..:u...

Anol)'lio of me ron.. and functiod of IIf>KC In Ihe G.ttk d.,. _ until ~"tly ~ dominltnt by
Prench ..,I>0Il..: &om ~ '" VNlal-Naq\lo<l' . . ."",Don ofKleiothen ... ",anipubrion of cmc
'pa ('9'96 1,9641), .... Manio'. I)'IIOpDc lrud, oflht chancini nlrionohip berwem ,,;.,;c, rdiPaul ond oecuIar ",OCt ( ' 91) , ", L.onowt'. symbolic m.apfIiq of"'" In)'tI> of Athenian IU",d llhon,
( ' 99)' }1- 1 ' )' <krm.on hiolOrionl .... now in....md in tncinc poaiblo 1mb b<rftc" poUIicaI
ide"Josy otwl v....:k _
... <loc architoctuft (ICC n . '0), FW'thu ... f<~ in ..... Re<ltn, this vol""' .

Encounun in rht AlO'Q

'"

A key area in which progress has rently been made is belief under
standing of the Athenian oi"ia and Oi"OI ( house and household) which
provides a sharp contrast wim what is known about housing in Rome . AI
though the physical remain! of all too few private house. are known from
classical Athens (n othing survives above the ground Roor), and the literary
sources are meagre, enough has been pieced together to warrant tenative
reconstructions and conclu sions. 7
Strilting here are the homogeneity and relatively modest SCale of houKs
known from the ciry of Athens. Apart from the unifonn design (a single
entrance, olten SCf'Cened from a small co urtyard, off which rooms open in
one or more buildings, with or without an upper slOrey), differences in
decontion, architectural features and size hardly correspond to presumed
gradations in the wealth and status of notional inhabitantS. 8 Such are the
findings of Jameson's valuable study, 'Priva te space in the Greek city' (1990:
119 - 8~) , the title of which highlights a second key attribute of Athenian
housing: ' In effect, private space is oi"o$ space, as opposed to polis space'
(t79); ' That privacy. , . was the matof aim of these houses is strongly suggested by the remains and is confinn ed by literary references . , .' (183) .
The preoccupation with prillacy is alro picked out by NelleR (1995), who
notes the frequent restriction of sight lines from me street into the hou se.
The outer and inner donn of the classical Athenian house remained
finnly shut against the wider world o f the city. Houses of me wealthy might
ellen have a slave as rhl4roroI or d oorkeeper (pseudo-Arin., Oi"orl. 1345a35).
In his Proragonu (3 14C-D), Plato gives a vivid account of a poner u sing
his initiative to keep unwelcome visitors OUI of the hou se ofKaUias. Transgression of the threshold is regularly manipulated in law-coun speeches in
order to discredit opponents. In Demosthenes' Agaiouf EungoJ (XLIII1.5261), the speaker alleges that some debt collectors burst into his house while
he, the head of th e family, wal away, and terrorised his wife and children
who were taking their meal in the courtyard. He further claims that a
neighbour, who came to see what the fuss was aboul, would nOi enter the
house in the absence of its head, but had to be content with obseMng
events from the threshold. tn another speech of Demosthenes (xxu ), one

' s'-

T Still helpful in pthnm, ",(<KnCn lithe HCunUO on 'n.. Gruian HOUK' in IIker ( , 86(,:
1 ' )' oloo RIde, ( . ~,6 ); ..-.. <en. KCOuftI> I' W )'< ...... ..,. ( '96.: ' 1 , -96: '971 : ~J l - .. 6 ) .............
(,,11, ' 911,), Me":", (,,a') ond ...... NCfttI (' 1'9,). Who. (ollows on AII>enian ""...... own ...
inopi ..,.jonol deb< .0 Nid>olo, """"n', 7"'T WlpllbiiaMd 1""" ..kin,:: OW .. A..ri,.... Rome
mon: ~ kc c.Jrun. 0< Lo:,cbworth?'
"The impreuion dw 1m", conc!itionJ, IIOt only in Athen, but in Ou1tiell 0.-: .. in "",<nl, ...",.
about 0 0. pal' witb oW' modem biI..aty 01=0 "'" no< yet d;""ppcon:d. wri,co Gnhan ('97.' . 5),
with lpecitk ",ferena: ... Thompoon & WJCbcrlcy'. _
of bouoi", """"d 1he .....,.. (JIpPG
:nv: '1J -~S). Graho>m fond ~ i>< '11,1IUriouo dom ..tl< on:bi'<etwe' ill fourth..:coturyAthcao
In the runairu 0( "bo .... ,;01 7"" totiwy ""'- under til< modem M..,."de, S~ Allbou,p taIlt
0( tl...- in Athc:no .. OU' of ploa: {the poodt>Cl' of in,hlltrial oociety: the word ;. lin, " lnled in prinT
. ,100), 110 Ita 0IIIdtr0nittic: io the a"e...,ud ....l:>o>.o<F<>iocmu>, of Ath=ian domatic: ordU_
~.

Copyrighted Material
z08

PA.UL MILLETT

of the accusations against his opponent Androtion is that by ruthless pursuit of public debtors, he has turned each man's ' private house' (idia oikia)
into a prison; and all this 'in a dem ocracy' (5Z) . An indignant account
follows of hard-up but otherwise blameless Athenians clambering over
neighbours' roofs and hiding under beds, and in front of their wives, too.
The families who inhabited the houses described in these and other lawcoun speeches were from the upper end of Athenian society, wealthy
enough for their menfolk 10 serve as trierarchs and owe - if not always pay
on time - the eisp/wra or property tax. Very differenl was the practice of
their counterpa ns from the city of Rome, who not only built large and
sumptuous houses commensurate with their wealth, but also m erged private with public by throwing open the doors of their homes (o r pans of
them) to the outside world. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (r989b) has given an
eloquent account of how the architecture of elite Roman housing reflected
the hierarchy inherent in Roman society (63- 4):
To 5tand al the door of an upper-class Roman house of the late republic Or early
empire is already 10 glimpse something of the ~nrrality of patronage in Roman
society ... The way the Roman house invites the viewer from the front door, unparalleled in the Greek world, flows from the patronal rituals so often described in
the Roman sources: the opening of the doors at dawn to the crowd of callers, the
accessibility of the dominus 10 the public, his cliems and his mendl.
The demands of patronage and the need for competitive display III the
quest for political power are crucial in explaining the rela tive ri chness of
infonnation about Roman elite housing: its lavishness, location and differentiation. Some impression of the intensification through time in competitive house building is provided by Pliny the Elder's earnest assurance
that the finest h ouse in Rome in 78 BCE was, just thirty-five years la ter. not
even in the first hundred ( HN XXXVI . I O) .9
The classic Roman conjunction of hierarchy, patronage, political aspiration and luxury housing helps explain by contrarieties the relative homogeneity of housing in Athens. where nothing readily corresponds to the
greal gulf between the senatorial elite in their town houses and the plebs in
the imula~. The ethos of democratic Athens - where even purchase of an
unusually expensive fish might result in unfavourable, if jocular, comment
(see below) - reinforced the classical Greek tendency for houses to be
modest and relatively undifferentiated by decoration and location. 1o
On Roman bOIl.ma, .. e, in add ition to P.n ..... n ( '99~: ~OO-~): Wi""man ( '<}87), Wall.ce
H..trill ('988, 1\19.4), Lo.wrencc (I 99~).
,. or cn......" thlo ~pUIle. tho pit""ro, to be oIuorpen.ed by the addition of the eni,m.tic MI... i<ti o. lenemon, housn oeanerotd around our ooun:a ('cc, for .~amplc, O,borne, 1985': 1_6;
A,c<> ... "I: no.~S for.,.....,;lu! .djal;:ent to the Aanra). Tho .. mulopl. d.... tlinp "",ro pre.umably
..... ted 0 '" 10 poor AlIKnian .. mclic. and UJUII (ICc n nlr, ,gig). P.no.... ofb llildin, may a1,o
Iwvc been dille.. n. In the Athenion counuyoide Gone., 1975; Jona, S.ol<cn IIr Gnl>&m, 1973). Tho
brood toci.!ion ;" ,."rio"" ports of Grecce of oo-calJod 'Typcnhoibe.' (.moll, uniform,

Copyrighted Material

'09
The limited literary testimony on housing that survives from Athens all
points in the same ideological direction: large, fancy houses could be represented IS democratically unsound. It cannOt be !;oincidentai that the
earliest Athenian account of wall paintings in a d omcstic conttxt should be
associated with Alkibiades, the renegade aristocrat orlhe later fifth century.
According to founh-ccntury sources (Oem . XXI ,147; scC' MacDowell, 1990),
he illegally imprisoned Agatharchos the: merie, famous for his work on the
new buildings o n th e Akropolis (Plut. Palk. XIII.3), until he had decorated
the walls or his house. ' D emocracy and freed om counted for n othing' says
the author of th e speech Againn Alkibiadti attributed to Andokides (IV, I,):
'he was as much a prisoner as arc acknowledged slaves'. Plato scems 10
suggeSt in the Republic (373A) thaI painted decoration (z ographia poiltiJa)
is symptomatic of the luxurious (lnIphosa) polis (cf. Xen. Mem. m.8.lo;
Oikon. lX.2).
Consph;;uously absent from the city of Athens is the grouping or cluslering of elile housing so apparent in Rome. 11 Preindustrial cities are about
the concentration and articulation of political power which has its physical
focus at the hean of the community (Sjoberg, 1960: 95- 103). Hence the
attraction 10 me Roman nobility of the late Republic of the area around the
Forum, especially the Palatine Hill, 15 the preferred place for their residences (Wiseman 1987). Intensive excavation in and around the Agora of
Athens has uncovered nothing demonstrably grand in the way or housing.
In fact, one of the m osl modest hou$Cs so far discovered in Amens, the $0called ' H ouse of Simon the Shoemaker', is so clOle to the Agora as to have
one of its boundary-marken built into the Wall . 12 A solitary but significant
text from the fourth cenrury incorporates the concept of zoning in Athens,
whereby different types of people had their se:parate locations. In Plato's
dialogue called the Krititu ( I12B), the notorious oligarch or that name is
made: to hark back to a mythical early Athens, when: the 'warrior class'
(to machimon) lived on an extension of the Akropolis, segregated and selfsufficient behind a pniboloJ or cunain wall. Kritias is here presumed to be
looking back with approval to a pre-democratic Golden Age when, thanks
unprctontious dW'Cl~ ....) ";1II de..-",tic w-;., (0 lIotpl'n"" '" Sclowandner, ' 9'6; Sdlul~r,
H.,.,,&Ic. '" SCh ...... net, ' g19) hal beon dL'U~ by H.....,., '" _
lh.,otD ( ,~: I. - S),
"""" Id .,tity tlIoe Typtnhll ...... I:><><b ~ one! <>li,ordtieo. II", ....., <loa ..... pn:dude tho
ideoIopcol mob\ijsaticm of bousin& iro Alhc:nt .. d<llliled in d>< ,'''' below. I., any oaK the Jtria
MI or .... ~ ... ' hal bn quolilicd by N ....n {'99S), " _
d<aoil<d tfudy olC'oftCt ""us..., one! oocic1r is .wam.d.
. , 0tDustinI Of cl ...
in d.fh<nc. '" Wllloce_H odriU'. coccn' orswncntl ........ tho OflpIiariDn
olznnin&, dro..... from IDDdtm wbon~, "' .... city Df ILJ_ ('m: ?S, Il9-lO)
.. On "'" HOlIK ofSi ....... , ..., Camp ( , ,a6 , 4S- 7), w!w> cnvi_ oM AU>mi.o.n . Ii.... >""""""'y
.....idinf: tho: ........... . p/I ol .... id.DCC ( , - , ). Bu, _ knDw ofK..nol prom"-'I AtlIcniofto.,
includm, ThmtistDdn ( Plu .
lCU _ J),
(Ar" ~ }ell with o<hoLl and PboboD.
( Plut., """'. %VIII,,), '""" hod houoco in "'" d ..... of M eli,. , ..tIIth ... oIto .ppof'tmly inhabi\cd
by ItiJb p!oponiDn of metics ( Whitehead, .9U: .)-. ), IU>d hoi boa> i<Ienti&d n "" ind ...1rioI
d io<ricl of A<hcno'
""",hwn. o r ,he A&<>no. clo se
An:1opqoo on<!
( Y _ ' 9S,).

,erin,

n....

'0....

Kam.

'0

"")"I

210

PAUL MILLETT

to ' divine heroes' (noC), the ariStocracy ofwanion was not compelled to
mingle with the man of ordinary Athenians. I ]
Ideological implications of housing in Athen5 are cleareS[ with respect to
the size of dwellings . From the early founh century, the speaker in Lytias'
Agaiml Epikrales (XXVII ) stands accused of embezrling public funds. He
counter-anlcks by portraying his opponents IS enrichina themselves at
public expense. Whereas formerly they were barely able to suppa" themselves, they are now wealthy enough to pay the property tax (mplwra),
sponsor choruses, and they also live in great hou,es ( II ). By contrast, the
litigllflt in L)'$ias' On w MIfflhr 01 Eraumhmu (1.9) n:assun:s the juron
that his house, which he is about to describe, is 'just a little one' (oikidion).
Throughout his speech Against Mridias (lOU), Demosthenes aims to subYen his opponent', democratic credentials. In displays of insolence (hubris)
towards the donos he is even worse than Alkibiades (143-150); he has
shockingly underpc:rformed his liturgies or public services (158- 74); his
sole claim to distinction (lamprow) is conspicuous expenditure (sonna
analomata). Apan from purchasing for his wife a euriJ.ge drJ.WD by a pair
of wbite horses from Sicyon, 'he has built at Eleusis a house so big that it
overshadows everyone else in the neighbourhood' (158- 9).
The motif of inappropriate expenditure on housing occurs elsewhere
in Demosthenes. In his Third O/ynthwc (111.25- 6), the public and private
expenditure pattern. of present-day politicians are ..ontraued with thoae of
the past, who 'set up out of the wealth of the state so many fine buildings
... yet in peRonal terms, they were so modest and anxious to conform to
the spirit of the constitution that the houses of their fJ.mous men, of Aristeides or of Miltiades, as an)' of you can see who knOwt them, are not a bit
more sumptuous than those of their neighboUR'. He passes on 10 drJ.w the
inevilable, unfavounable C{lmparison (29): how his opponents have risen
from obscure poverty to high profile prosperity, erecting private houses
more sumptuous tbllfl public buildings. The motif i. repeated almost word
for word in DemoSlbenes' later speech Agail'l.Jl Aristokraw (xxlII .206-8; cf.
xltl.291. where the housu of Themistocles and Miltiadc:t are invoked as
proof that, in former rimes, ' no man held himself above the mas5 of the
people' ...
Ostenlatious adornment and public display of his house is one of the:
,. nu, .. ...run. in itt full, dMoM: KftK; Oft l.iftqIx a.

Vid.ll_N""I~' (c99l\: '9), who conlnll, Ibt

acillOi.;,y of !be linn of Kritlu' oil)' with d>c: <>PalM" of <"U\ the ~ _
.
I. I. DetI>Oflhenn, in d>c: ........ UW)'Cbt ..,. {'96a: . ~, pIa,m, Ibt pan of /.!IMJD_ ~ om,
..~ than dnwins ... ,,",,"c ...m;.ecn.nI comporioon ""'-II PQI_ prnrnO Would """'l'
(.- on,) of lIiII Iii........ "" ol:>I< '" kI.,.nr, d>c: bot.>oeo officur'eo &0", .... put? Accord .... to Maccm..,.. ( .g l,: od ~.). DmI...the .... em:fully (and cleetly) Imptieo ..... thac ' - - "'" ...
~ Iber will _ be ... ncnlI, 1tDoom. For wbac it iI ""'"", W,lI..,..Karydi ('994), who
!Un Ihio _
.. her point of <1<""""", d emo , _
'NoblIiriorunt:. in 10.... Groelt houo .....
Bu .tuo ..... w., fOf OUt purpooc iI the pttaumcd oppnl u the o....-tbcD.. _
to oodiftaty

Am.llians.

E1ICf1unInJ in flu. Agom

failings of the 'Man of Petty Ambition' or miJrrophiltJtimia (:en ) as t;aricatured by Theophrastos. His house has special feature. which include: 'a
miniarure wultling ground with sand in it. and a handball coun. He goes
around lending this place to sophists, to drill-inSD'Ut;tors and to musicians
for giving displays. When things are in progress, h e himself walks in late
when everyone is sealed, so thai !he audience rum to each other and .ay,
" That's me man who owns this place".'I'. [ndispensable to the Min of
Petty Ambition would be the attentions of Theophraltos' JrolD.x or 'F1atterer' (II ), who is the dOlest we get in Athens to a client in the Roman
sense. Although the F1atterer is briefly shown expressing admiration for hi.
pattOn's house as well laid-out and goes there to dine, most of his toadying
is carried on in the open. Hetwecn them, he and the Man of Petty Ambition are made 10 range over almost the whole city of Athens: the streets, the
theatre, the ston, the sanctuaries, the gymnasia; bUI, above all, the Agora.
The behaviour of these and other Characten suggests !hal, for Athenians,
the crucial factor in defining starus and regulating relationships, beyond
relations and close friends, was interaction within civic space. The rest of
dIis p aper is concerned with the Agora and its function as the major zone
of personal interaction in Athens. 16

MIXING IT IN THE AGORA

The centrality of the Agora in the life of Athens is a modem commonplace:
'the focus of the life of the city' (Wycherley, 1978: 27); 'the pan of Athens
where the whole life of the city was concentrated' (Travlos, 1971: r); ' the
hean and soul [ofdassical Athens]' (Camp, 1986: 18) .
If the Greeks thought of the public domain as extending es to muon, then
the Agora was symbolically the centre of the entire polu. A pusage in
HeTodotos (u.7), implying that distances ro places inside and outside
Attica were formally measured from the Altar of the Twelve Gods at the
north end of the Agora, is confirmed by a milestone from the late fifth
century. ' The potu set me up, a truthful monument to show all monals the
measuring of their journeying; the distance: to the Altar of the Twelve Gods
from the ha.rbour is fony-five stades' (/G u l640). The altar may also be
intended in Pindar'. Dithyrambic reference (7S) to the omphalos or navel of
Athens .nd its 'richly adorned and glorious agoru'. NOI only space but !he

, .".,... io alM'Ol>l<'''' of.trribution, in all MSS, II>c p _ quOl<d fomu p ... of on ~ .. <
tailpi< to "lb< Obocquio ... /\ton' (V.6- .o), whe"" 10 pIainIf do<. _ilL I!.ith<r i. hal beeonI.
dioploccd from DJ (wbc"" lII0I. tditon locat" it) Of i. form. part of .........amcd a..naer 0Ibcr_
'lrit< 10'"' (on Uaher, .t6<r. 6]).
,. On II>c /toUq . . cliont, .... Millett ( ' 989: 3. - 1). For. ""......... ofCbuo<:.on' in~ with
the A&ora. on Edmonda &: A ..... o ( ' 904: ...:.. the indo:II, . .... 1loc MaBe. Plac.'); ......
imp .... ionioticollJ, Vernll '" Huriton ( ,lye>: ' 1-,6). It ma)' be noted tho" in aU their public op.
POonDCn, DO a-.n ... io OMociot<1l with the AbnpoIio OJ' an, of ito "' .... um ......

111

PA U L MILLETT

dimension o f time could be mellSured out with reference to the Agon.:

' when the agora is full' was one way of saying ' mid morning' (Hdt. 11.173,
IV . 181, VII.22]; Thuc. VI11.91 .1 j Xen. Mem . 1.1 .10); 'the breaking-up of the
agora' signified the lale morning ( Hdl. 111. 104) .
It is therefore appropriate and fonunale that the thirty or so acres of the
Agora area should be one of the most intensively excavated pieces of
ground in Greece, if n Ot the world. The explorations of the American
School in Athens, going back more than half a century, have been painstaking and no effon has been spared in the detailed yet speedy publication
of results. T o date, there have appeared twenty-eight vol umes of excavation repons, with accompanying papen in almost every issue of H eJpnW
and its supplementary volumes. 17 All this offers everything the historian
needs for a deeper understanding of the Agora - or n early so. Naturally
enough, the attention of the excavators has focused on the material side of
the Agora, to the relative exc:1usion of the behaviour of the people who frequented it. That is true of even the more general, synoptic studies, including the otherwise indispensable Agora volume by Thompson & Wycherley
(Agora :uv). Similarly restricted is the valuable collection of Agora testim onia gathered by Wycherley (Agora III): actions of individuals go largely
unrecorded, unless tied to some particular pan of the Agom. L8
What follows is an attempt to supply a pan of the missing human dimensiQ n Qfthe AgOnl ..,d 'repopulate it in our imaginalion' .'9 M y concern
is with the Agora of the later fifth and founh cenruries, with little said
about development of the area through time. Here is another contrast with
the Roman experience. where the changing topography of the Forum can
be read as a microcosmic political history of the late Republic and after: the
tension between popular and aristOCtlltic power, with th e eventual shift to

'~01 tnd 11><_

m,"': Compo. ( 19M). """" G..;,i, (I9~), Arvr.. DY ("17 ; f.,.. JOOd .ynthft...: Wyd><.tey
(1971: 11- 104). Suppl<mentary ""Ieriol is 0110 .ppWill,J in the publi<:ootionl
~

" "n.. bM.k bibijosnp/ly, fo r opproKheo thaI or. 'dJK<ti..,ly chronoJo&i<1o!,

of"'.

JWiJ Cen .... ' WI\i,ebc:ad (1m ), Han..,.. at R..lIoub (1995) , ......... (199') .
" Hence ... hear ,boul lI>< diny work of ~ tnd Co . 'b<ne. 1b II>< poplar' (AndoL '.'91 .t,.".. m "".7'0) , bu, no, II>< unac<q>Ull>k bd....... ut of Midi.. in lI>< .... on (o.m. DI ."I, ond
in W:
bolow). Only rentlJ b.u t.bc: .,1I"KIiv<: Ap. Pk ...... Book on bOrdo of the " '......
(Umbo""" at _1'/, ' 9B}) bea1 complemented by. vipouo bu, It.iPtlr odeai"" ...... """'" of
peopk in the Alan ( Una;, '994). Note .Ito the brief bu, conuntnllOd ... olrti. of 'Politics in 1h<

IU'.

""",,' by """ Red ... ( IWS>: , 06_ , I).

It bonowed !rom Wallocr-HadriU in hi. ""tmnn of 1h< Roman bwo< ('981 : 61).
Wha, _
pottlblt Ih< ptO.. of ~population ia the rid! ~.....,. Ifttimony from Atheno, in
panjcuw the On"on. AbKnu of liwvy IOI1tCe1 !rom other po/iiJ maw di ...... compuiaon of
..",.,...oai';ll' dillicul, if no, impouibie; _
_fcl"'tnS ~, for cwnpl., all bu, ,boe ... !rom
the full . lUdy of the all' of Corinth tor Salmon ('984). For , brid I Utvq of otbcr ~, sec:
W,-dterlql ( 196' , so-l6) ; $tonky ('976: ,,_I}) pro';,," oud! dOl";" of marltot JUI.ti"" .. ~
known &om ""toid< Alb ..... Mutin (1951) IIIoinl W: fundamenw ,IUdY.
my coauaenll
in the XI, bolow. Wha, is known of the oo-aJled 'Hippodantian
in the Pi.... UI i. tum _
maritcd by Gu\or>d ('917'
Bum. (1976) b.u mod. o ut aood en< for d~plill,J
Hippod"",oo !rom th< <...,.,.", of the unified Ot 'Ionian ' ..,.,.., (on which sec: Wycherky, '94 ' ) ,

I. TIM: ~

'.'-.

"""*' bu,..,.

"3
imperial rule ( Patterson, 1992: 191-4). Power suugg[es in democratic
Athens were different in chan-cter and not reflected in detailed patterns of
building; at least, not in the Agora. Even the approximate date at which the
Agora came to have any fonnal existcm.:e remains an open question:
around the time of Solon (Wycherley, 1978: 27- 8), under the Tyrants
(Camp, 1986: 9- 11 ), at the insuption of Kleisthenes (Shear. 1994). or
even after the Persian invasion ( Miller, 19951: 224 n.4).2() Even so, agreement seems to be general that, following a bunt of activity in the yelrs after
479 (Stna Poible, TholO!, Sto. of the H erms), from the middle of the
fifth century, buildings were added 10 the Agora at irregular intervals with
no overall plan such as is apparent on the Akropolis. Such buildings as
were erected before 404 (New Bouleuterion, SlOa of aWl, South Stoa,
Mint) were of limestone and mud-brick rather than marble (Camp, 1986:
63). The fourth century before the Macedonian takeover saw limited
building activity (Southwest Fountainhouse, Water Clock, Temple of
Apollo Patroos).
So the stage on which our acton move may be conceived as being, in
the words of Thompson & Wycherley (A gora XIV; 21); ' an open tree-lined
square, with comparatively mode$t architectural adornment h ere and there.
It was subject to no master-plan; iu growth was spasmodic, and the result
was not a complete and co-ordinated whole.' Something of the effect
come$ acron in the perspective drawing by Travlos ( Agora XJV: 22). though
for the sake of clarity most of the trees are left OUI as are the hundreds (if
not thousand s) of inscribed JuJoi sianding in front of the: various buildings
and monumenU (Wycherle:y, 1978: n).21 The roads which traverse the:
area gave the Agora its basic configuration. The antiquity of these thoroughfares, ante:dating any kind of fonna l Agora, is atteste:d by e:xe:avation
(Agora XIV: J7- 18, 192- 4). In simple:st te:rms, the road-ne[Work resembles
I lop-sided lener A, complete with cross-bar, with apex pointing roughly
north and [WO legs extending south-west and so uth-east. The thr~ roads
extended in various directions, ensuring plenty of traffic through the Ago ra
area. From the apex of the A, a road strikes o ff north-west to the Dipylon
and Sacred Gate, leading to Eleusisi the weStern leg reaches past the:
Arc:iopagol to the: asse:mbly area of the: Pnyx, with a sub-branch passing
through a gale to the south of the Hill of Nymphs; the eastern leg, fonning
the Panathenaic Way. leads past the: E1e:usinion to the Atropolisi the: road
fonning the CTOI$-bar extends acron the city to the north-west and cuts the

.. n... orilinl

of tbc "",.. in tbc ~~jkoo .,.. Ikd in with tbc ohift from Ih~ oo-call<d Old
Aaota', of which tbc nill~ oecmo "CUI'C, bll' tbc Jo<o,tioo:> maUU oI>$o:\IR'. S....tiooa boo
tbc ~ around 1ht oUtopolia: notth llopea {Robe....,." 1916, d . SchnWT,
nonb..., .... olopeo {MUkr '99}11J; benco ... tbc e.. ' .... . 1iftS (SIIe... , I~: uS_'); on 1ht ........ 1Iopu
(Oikonomidn, 196-4: ;"_ n ); 10 .....
of tbc Ab'opo,iI (WycIIcrI"l', .966).
" For tnUmonie ofmn in 1ht ........... KC Az<wIlIl: "",., ' j - . li on ..... ...,.,.... .. conlributina 10 .....
dfKt of ..... ;,....w: Cam>U ... SpiUke ( ' l1-li9: l ' - l ).

""!"";

"'tI,

2.14

PA UL MI LLETT

city wall at the Piraeus Gate. To quote again from Thompson & Wycherley
(Agora XIV; 192.) the res ult was an Aa:ora area which was ' more than a
single, simple cam/our aDd there was more than one focal point'.
Key locations, foci of altention and activity, included the Altar of the
Twdve Gods in the angle of the northern apex, the Hephaisleion on die
low hill of Kolonos Agoraios to me west of the Agora, the complex of
public buildings (ThOI05. Metroon, Bouleulerion), kn own collrively as
die arr;nna or 'offices' in the south~welt comer, the two fountain houses at
the western and eastern ends of the road traversing the Agora, and, in
particular, the stoas clustered around the nonhern end of the Agor.. By
the fourth century, there were at least four of them; the Stoa Basileios
('Sloa of the Bu ileus'), die Sloa Poikile ('Painted Stoa'), the Stoa of Zeus
Eleuthttioa and the Stoa of the Herms. 22 Basically, a Sloa, with its solid
wall along one side and roofed colonnade along the other, offered an
agreeable compromi$C between the sun, wind and rain of the open air, and
the 5Nffiness of an enclosed space. It is in the Stoa of Zeus E1eutherios that
Xenophon's SoCTIleS, often in the Agora late mornings ( MtHt. 1.( .10),
happens on Ischomachos apparently at leisure, though aCNaJly keeping
an appointment with some strangen (00. vtl.I- 2.; cf. uu ). Socrates sits
beside him to enjoy an extended conversation about household manage~
ment. It is in an unspecified stoa that Theophrastos' 'Aalterer' claims to
have gO"lped with a group of more than thirty men about the identity of
Athens' finest citizen, who conveniently turns oul to be his pluon (11.2). If.
with its conversational possibilities, the Itoa w.s 'a peculiarl y Hellenic type
of building' (Wycherley, 1978; 37), those in the Agora seem particularly
Athenian in their multiplicity offunction.23
In an extended section of hi. speech Against Kusiphotl (m .lgt - 90),
Aeschines invites the jury to make a tour 'in the imagination' (rei dianoia)
around the Agora, where ' the memori.ls of . 11 our noble deed. Btand
dedic.ted' (186). Records of Jfeat evenu rom Athens' pan are then rud
so IS to undercut Ktesiphon's proposal that Oemosthenes' services to the
pom be rewarded with a golden crown. For example, the fin al destination is
the MeD'OOn, a stuine of the Mother of the Gods, where there were held
details of the rewards offered to the Men from Phyle for standing firm
'gainst the Spanans and the Thirty Tyrants. The contrast is drawn by
Aeschines with the honours proposed for Oemosthenes, who ran away
.. Tbe eHCfttiol d ... In: Jh'<n by Camp ( '!I8IS) : AI ... oflWelvo: Gocb (4Q-l), H .phais,.ion (1: ' - 7),
'ThoIoo (94-7), M.,,- (" ~4), l'IoWnlOrioa (9o-1), Fo\an,ainhouoo C4' - 4. '~-7), Tho
F..-,........ Hon>n (97 ~ , ool, Stoo Builric. U}~1, ,00-,0,). S".. Poikik (6I ~ 7 21. S,,:.. orz.. ...
1!It...thcriot (1Oj:- 7), Stoll of 111. Hmn. (74- 1). A fifth ...... <fIl~ from
IocoDon tIu: 'South
S...., 10 known onIr &om nc.......... (''' ~ 6) .
.. On tho: d ....oiled form _ fImrtloo of tIu: Greek .toa, KC Colli"", (' 976: otptriaUJ ' - ' 7, 3'~

'to

74).

Enwu.n~

in

u,

IItt Ag.m.

from Chaeronea. The Metroon functioned in Aeschinu' time a. a public

record office: II. natun.! pon of caU on this morally uplifting tour of the
Agora; but the itinerary also takes in two !lOas. These arc the Stoa of the
Herms, where there were displll.~d three verse insaiption. , (quoted by
Aeschines) honouring those Athenians who defeued the Penians on the
River Srrymon in the earlier fifth century; and also the Stoa Poikile, where
one of the paintings on display depicted the Battle of Marathon.
In addition to providing space to meet and talk in suitably uplifting
surroundings, these buildings had other functions . Apa" from housing
Athens' archives, the Mettoon apparen tly also housed Diogenes the Cynic,
who 'took a storage jar in the Metroon as a house' (Diog. Laen. VI., .,) .
The Stoa Poikile in panicular was remarkable in the degree to which public
and private activities were intermingled. Apan from acting as a patriotic an
gallery (alongside Marathon were depicted Athenian banks against Spartans and Amazons), a military museum (Spanan shields captured at Pylos
were on display: Pausan. 1.15 .5), execution chamber (Diog. Laen. Vll.I.S),
and a honeymoon hotd (Aput FUn-. 14), it was a possible location for
holding arbitrations (Oem. XlV.17), Ilw-cou", (fG Il~ t641 B 38- 40, 1670
34- 5) and public proclamations (Schol. to Ar., FreE' 969). It was llso 1
haunt of philosophers (Athen. 1It.I04b), both Cynics ( Lucian, /CtJf. )4) and
toponymic Stoics (Diog. Laen. VII.I.S), men of leners (Hesychios, s.v.
Jt(1ill.m'), IUltenainen (Apuleius, Metam. 1.4), the fashionable set (Alkiph.
111.53) and beggars (Oiog. Laen. VII.I.21).14
This mixing of activities and penons within the space of the SlOa Poilrile
excmplifies in miniature: the blending of formal and informal, public and
private that went on over thc whole of thc Ago ra arca. In civic tenns, the
classical Agora was the !c:tting for administration, publicity, justice. ostracism, imprisonment, religion, processions, dancing, athlctics and equestrian displays. In addition to persons passing through, individual, might
gather there 10 gCt infonnation (official or otherwise), gathcr a crowd,
gamble, tonule a slave, get hired as labourers, bid for ContraClS, accos t I
prostitute, seek a5ylum, have a haircut, beg for moncy or food, fetch water,
walch a cock-fight and find out the time. The list is hardly exhaustive:. And
going on all around was the business of buying and selling. 2'

.. F<>< d>< fu U .., oI ... tim<>nil , I Ap,o Itl: noo.4?-9 . It will no' 1>0..., nnpo<I W .. Ad ... dw. mAl\)'
01 theoc refi:1"_ oJlhouch d>ey All point in "'" _
dir<1:tion, .... poo'-c:iuoical .
>'J -n.. .-.ferc:DCeI duo, fuJlow .... "Pfnentl~.
" .......... , ado .. , the uc-. _
their ....th '., d>< .......,. in fron, of th<
a uildot ( A'~ .
1'tJI. "" , ' with ~ ' 91 1: Ad 10<:. .-..,., displlyinJ pt'OI>CIO<d 11M on board. bero.. w
8pcmyrnotA Htroa CIKtn. u ....~}; d . ...,..". '" noo.n '- 4o), And ;" PllOO'. Un. (7S}c, 76~,
9464, 9}4e-d); ditplay of bUty (ThOlC. " .47. " ); . . . -.. , dcipite trrina near w Aaoro.
ope.' hot ~ been ;" <:<>un (t..p. ID.,.v; Socn. ... ~ in 1. ..... uit, Ippeon ., the
5I00I IIM ~ ~ ( PI . , .,...,..,. und, E..u.. u ), ,.". ... II.......... ditplor<d ( Au.. Pol. "'u, tooc.

5,,,,,

,,.1,

:u 6

PA U L MILLETT

If marketing is given no precise location by our sources, that is because

it was carried on all over the Agora (see Stanley, 1976: 36- 45) . Although
the so-called 'South Stoa' may have provided a focus where business was
lnlnsacted and the mttnmomoi or market officials were housed (Camp,
1986: 122- 6; Agora III: 189- 90), temporary wicker*work or canvas-covered
booths (Jkmai) were presumably the nonn. An individual might be iden*
tified in a law*coun l pec:eh as 'Pythodoros Jllmiles' - the man with the
skent (lsoc. XVlI.93). These stalls may have been concentrated on the open
ground on the eastern side of the A80ra, where more pennanent market
sO"Ucwres, includin8 the Stoa of Au.alos. were eventually built (Agora XIV:
170- 1). But a famou s passagc from Plato's ApokJgy (261:) has Socrates refer
10 the purchase of the works of Anaxagoru 'in the Orchestra', at the very
hean of the Agora (Agora XIV; 126_9).26 The perspective drawing by
Travlos could be made yet more realistic by cluttering iT up with stalls after
the fashion of a modem provincial markct. 27
Small wonder that ' market place' is generally ackn owledged to be an
inadequate description of an area encompassing such a rich variety of
activities. This blending of businenes made its impression on con*
temporaries. EuboulO$, the comic poet of the mid*founh century, makes

"" .4' ); - . -..... , " - r""".d O...mII _ . wi ............ mone. per tribe ( l'hiIo<:h. rr.JO);
Impriloo .....am Socnlel' uial_lw:ld Milt the prison (Pt.<. J>t.id. "d; d..t,...... III "01.
)OJ; ~ .. , -"fiee ODOun"iD.l; ., 011"" .. oU ...... ' t.he ...,.,... (Tbcoph. CWr. DI. I1 , fot t.he
Melr"6oll);
trit]r,
iD Ibe Aaor- (A1bm. 1II.40u- f wilh Camp,
'986, 111 - >1); p~, !he ~.,... !nY....... !he ...._ wilb fpectl10A "" woode ..
t.qi.af; ( Poll"" "" .n } with Camp, '916: .,-6); _
. . . bonowin& of Aaor- ohrin.. on hone
md fool (Xen. Hipp. III.J ); addelka: Apto _ contllioillJ; too:C course (Camp, 1986: .6, diopltlod
'" M;U.,.,
a n - , I ); ..
-.u.,. . citiacn opotO his...."., iD. lit' fot mmlarJ
..,...;ce (Ar. I'MU 118}- -4): ~-ptloeriq-: PItWatoo eb m""tion by .inin!! naked .. Ihc
oJtar of !he MctJoDn (A_hiD. 1.60-1): I
MIDI""'" d .. \llhu' .. 1hc
ofpmhlcn (",hoi .
.... Surip. MM. (8); 10",,",,-, 1M Aaor- u!he p\oce to dWlmJc ... oppor1o<"fIf to """""" hio .......
{Dem. D..III.u }, ond do t.he 10.......... (Dem. KLVII 6; d . N . I'fw.. 174); klriIo.I labou." . ... kina wort: plhcrod 011 Kok>nDI "oniot (Poll"" VIII. Ill- }J): b'ddb,. for eolOtncC.,., the
I'oIctmo.. {Plut.~. W.2 willi
n , '-.531- ""}; pk'lnl ' ...-t1Ioe,!he ~ II
li~",.,.., (Alltiph. pUt. "'.S; o. Dem. LlX.67); 001)'....... w ..... Altar of t.hc -r-t..c God
.. pi_ of..yl"", ( Lyk. ~. 91): Ii.......... Ihc Th...aon ( Ptut.
DJIII .2); ha!reIIttlq: I
OOlllltrynl ... irw:ludu haitc:ut In hio pi .... fo, mo.tl<nin& (TItotoph.
]\I. IS); .......... ' ;"
thc 5"", PoikOlc (Di<>I. I..acn. Yn . I.n ; d . ...,.... III' no.]'9 wilb Plalo, r - 9-'6<1); rcu:lWr,
_1ft": Enncllu"ounoo .. ;" .... ncar Aao .. ( P......
with ~ III no "1; d Un., '9>61);
.""....,.. .Ii.... birdo (........u, q""u..) wu< _td>cd In .... bin. ()U'I
orhld> t..rl<-y ..... .aid
{od>ol. to N . PlIII (31); ' - ' " _
time, publio: wo<tT-c"",k in SW comer of "I"" (Comp,

'.9-

,..."ceutu ....

'99s-'

<......,. _...-.

. ., m.._ ....

Ita"",

A,..,..

:n....
a.....

"'4-'

or

'916: 'S7-9) .

.. Attempt>.o rei""" .. ~UiIIJ . ...1 &om !be AI"' .."...,..,...... on richdy r<itct.d by Fe........,..
( '9)'0). 'Pt-rhapo Ibis quiet ond oober trode _
conied OIIU... pAn of"'" .... 0..1 ~ lith 0IId.
vq<ubI.. "'... nOllol~'od' ... ~" ibompoon & wychtTl.,. (A,tm> JIV: 17' ); bu. Cambrid..
hiblioptUla wilt m:oIl o..i<!'. boobtoll .. ,liY<lr 0IId. it"."", porn oft.hc ..... 1001 oquorc .
.., "The rutily oflhc Aaor- with ill 'crrm II1I<I ouIIo, Ihc ~tmit>& "-kDI o f _ ond the Ihru....
ofol>o...."'.' is wen 'Wf""ci,~ '" MOn ... ( '99}1: " 0). F01" t.he .,.....,.ire atrcme, ICC t.he calm,
poiJCd IIId ...........1 rt<OIIIl<\ICrion 01 .... "",.. dr-own ill ,"0 '" J. SUhImanll (Ap. "" pi"
'0), inc:rodlbly tcproduced .. if ,rill ddioiriYc by KapIl ( ' 99").

ErtCOlmUTJ in rlN Agora

"7

play with the mingling of marketing with the appararus of the law-courts

(AIIi!filiOI mMOb=( : Kocl 11190):

In one and me HIlle pllce you will find aU kinds of things for sale [Diemer It
Amem: fi&$, bliliffs, bunches of II"IPCl, tumipl, pca,." Ipples, witn~, rotc"
median, milk-puddinp, honc:ycomb, chickpel$, lawsuits, bc:nlinp, curds, myrtle,
allotmen t machines, irises, lambl, WI[crclocb, llws I nd indictments.

In spite of the derailed discuss ion by Boc:gehold in a re!;ent Agora volume

(XXVII), problems inevitably remain in identifying the various couns and
their sites. It seems cenain, however, that there were couns in the Agora
area without their own buildings: use of the Odeion as a coun is well
attested (Ar. Wasps 1008- 9; Oem. ux.5l; d. Agora XXVIII: 94). Open
Sttuctuc like: the Stoa Poikile, when in use as a coun (AgON.! XXVIII: 98),
were presumably roped off or otherwise demarcated with wicker screens to
provide a formal boundary between judicial and other activities (peri.
Khoinisma; see Agora III: 163- 5). Even so, it is hard to imagine that the
more boisleroUll aspects of the Agora did nOI impinge on the law couns,
with passenby dropping in 10 IiSlen to the spc:eches.2S
Recent debate over location of the diiuurma or people's coun highlighu
the merging of Agon activitiel. Some thirty years ago, Boc:gehold (1967)
plausibly identified four long, uone benches along the wesl side of the
Agon, beneath the Hephaistc:ion and between the Old Bouleulerion and
Stoa ofZc:us, as providing (together with a missing but feasible fifth bench)
accommodation for 501 jurors (lee Agora XXVlII: 95 with plate I). As they
sat listening to opposing speeches, the jurors would have looke:d out over
the hean of the Agora. 8c:hind them, the slopes of KolonOl Agoraios, the
bill on which the Hephaisteion nnod, seem 10 have been colonised as the
metalworkers' quarter. Bronufounding is hardly the most tranquil of oc
cupations; 10 lay nothing of the presumably vucal hiring of casual labour
that went on round about. l9 More recently, Miller (J99Sb) has challenged
Boc:gehold's hypothesis with the intriguing suggestion that the benchu
were actually the seuing for the fifth-century boWl or Council of F ive
Hundred. He enviuges a space in front of the benches containing altan
and designated area for the prytQlIm, all marked off with a fence complete
with gates: the drwphaltloi and itigitlw$ familiar from lilcrary [exu. Aristo-phanu in the Knigllu (64otr.) hal hi. Sau.agelel1er push open the gatCi with
hit backside, and then rum to announce 10 those present the: remarkably

,. [, ..

~ tho. Bocpholcl', ",,1Iecbon of talimonia t>q>Iicidy (tho ........... tandobly)

..... its tcfo:t.mca to porwno in "".on whidI ho.. no ,opopphicaI ....i6< ....... EoIdcna: ...... br,land... ODd their bchn;our h.. been ..wrscd In an .o"pubiiohed _
by Adriaan 1MuU ( '99').

S~ " '0 !>Ole tho, [k"..,.th<ne,. ~mpm.io on !be ... llom: 11["""" of !he Amopqoo, I'OPf<l off
in !he Stoll BooiIcioo (Do .2), imptia. tho, oIh<r count wue I... wdl imuJ ......
,. 1'01' broruo:f<><u>dirlc l)D KoIorM)r,
e JIfI"" ZJV: '4' , '19--90. wit!> An4ok. ' .. 0; l)D its
function .. an open . .. , Iobout ~~cJw\ae: Fub ( '95 ' )'

"-onioo.. ..

Copyrighted Material

ZI8

PAUL MILLETT

low prices being charged for anchovies. In th eir eagerness to take advantage of the bargain, the assembled bouleutai abandon their meeting and
leap over the fence (see funher, below). As Miller notes (rSl ), ' The 6shmongen are perceptible to eye, ear and probably nose of the councillon
seated on the slops above the square.)(1
IDEOLOGY IN THE AGORA

This mixing up of functions in the Agora, especially commercial with religious and political, was the despair of contemporary, conservative theorists. In particular, th ere was the unavoidable mingling of rypes of peop le
whom they reckoned ought to be kept separate.
The preferred solution of Plam in his LaWJ is the removal of the political
process elsewhere. Assemblies are to be held in rdigious sanctuaries (738d)
and magistrates elected in temples (7S3b). Although the agora itself is
bounded by temples (848d), which are the responsibility of the agora1l(mwi
(849a), rules and regulations are elaborately framed so as to make Platonic
marketing crucially different from buying and selling in the Agora of Athens
(849b-Ssoa). Commercial interaction between citizens and non-citizens
(such a feature of the Athenian Agora) was to be minimised: citizens were
to deal with non-citizens through slaves or other non-dtizen agents, and
then only in certain commodities on fixed days in each month. Resale of
these and other specified goods was forbidden, save in 'marketplaces of
strangers' (xenon agorai), which are perhaps to be identified with marketp laces 'outside the city' where traders from overseas were to be quarantined (9sz0). Other goods and items could be bought and sold in the
'common marketplace' (kui~ agora), but profits were predetermined and
haggling suictly forbidden (9t7b-c). Again. the contrast with Athenian
practice could hardly be more marked (see below).
Aristotle's remedy in the Politics in part echoes the LaW1 in creating twO
com plementary agorai (I33ta30-bt4). He advises that, adjacent to temples
and other pub lic buildings, the re should be what the Thessalians caU a
'free agora' (agora ekll.lhera), which is actually dosed m artisans and peasants unless summoned by an official. This agora, which ideally includes a
gymnasium for older citiuns, is devOled to schole (only approximately,
' leisure activities'). The agora for marketing, which is to be in a different
place, Aristotle labels "the necessary agora' (a llagkaia agora). The class who
get their living through marketing in the agora form a distinct ' illiberal'
group in Aristotle's sociology of the polis (I29t bI4-30; tz89bz6-34): how,
JO

Miller (1,' _2) oloo ",.<dIe, ill, ",intctpft""';on '0 <he confronIOtion belWa Th<"",,~, and
by Xe""phon (HoII_ n .3.5' ). Hio ~id."tifi<.Iion of th. 'Old
Bouleutmon' .. the MetroOn (inrolYing !be eliminotion of th ...,pooc<I Motr60n build"" in
ill own np.t) io o:ilOrou,ly o~ by She" ('\IiI,)- The deb. well ,lIu'In'" the unoen,in",
,till weoteno .... n Lh< fundanu:nhlb or .... O!"ll <op<I1I7"phy.

Kn" .. before <he bowIl .. J'eCtln:lrd

!h.,

Copyrighted Material

EnalilNUI'J in fM AgortJ

"9

in the best constituted pohis, those pursuing the 'market life' (agfmlWS IMs)
would not be citizens (1328b34); how those democracies which admit
'market people' (agora;o; amhropoj) are far inferior; how the Thebans had a
law which barred from office anyone who had been active in the azom in
the previous ten years (1218az5; d . Rile!. ad Alex. 1424115- 31). Ariltotle
justifiCi hi. low opinion of what he renns the ' market mob' (agoraws odUo,)
on the grounds that their lowstatus lifestyle does not inculcate appropriate:
virtues (1328b40)."
Arislotle'. (and others') mistrust of market people is echoed and amplified in the e:onc:Jusions drawn by Martin in his R"~u lur l'agora
rru:qru (1941 ) which, after more than fony yean, remains the standard
work of synthesis on the Greek agora. Manin argues on the basis of an
extended survey of archaic agora; that buying and selling were late arrivals
on the agom-scene (214). Literary sourcel from the sixth and earlier fifth
century conceive of the agora 15 a place where citizens gathered together,
whether for political or religious purposes, with no hint of marketing
(280).l2 The intrusion of marketing meant a derogation from the democratic ideal (28,). Martin analyses the Aristotelian alternative whieh he
adopts 15 an explanation of the problems facing the Athenian Agora and,
by extension, the democracy in the later fifth and founh centuries (306- 8).
He associate. Aristotle'. ideas with sentiments expressed in Aristophanes'
plays as pan of what he tenns the 'moderate pany' of the founh century
(301- 4). What they collectively favoured, he argues (307), was a democracy based on peasant fannen who did not wasle their time lounging
around the Streets and in the Agora, with all-IOQ-eas)' a,ccss to the assembly. Su,h views apparently have Martin's approval. He funher points out
how the influx of commerce swamped o ut the religious and political fun,tions of the Agora. The only way of restoring equilibrium was by following
Aristotle's advif;C and separ.ating out agora aaivities, which became ' une
da lois de l'urbanisme helJenistique' (30g). Martin claims that, in the

" T"" .. wri .... n by and for tb< Athenian eli dto Ano.otl.. diuppronl of marko. poopIe. For
1'1 0. they .... tbooc who .... ...,.~ .. in body and 6.... d for n.othj....1... (R . )7.e), _ ooIuntarily ... bardinl'e themKl_ ( Polio. all9c), and .... inc_bl< of mi<>riIII pr'OfIU 1<... - (Aoouor.
J.47"). ~ in his ~ (u .}) ..:pbint <bat tb< Peniano Iu."" an om ulIcd t h e _
........... _ ..... foo.u>d .... polo<c """ <>ther official bWldinp ( ..........) . _~ ..,...to few
oak and IhoK ..Ilin& Ibm> wid> ....ir """ and audilleo ( ~. ...., ..,...,..,...&;) &I'<' . . lcp,.,j 10
anod>a- pla.' Wha,",," the .. ali!)" behind Ihi. rocon.1NCtioa (not much?), the .~tisl ideoIotical
""" .......Iy Xcnop/><:!f>'. own Cd
111.7.$. dioculMd bel_).
Of""" .... , it eavJd be counttd th tb< earlier rerua (/ytk pomy and <n&edJ) by their nit....
bypao. the totnmen:ial world or the _
Arit.opbana m.u. hiI Andtyt ... ..,.nay ~
~ _ . iD pia ofhil _
~ . porva)' on the ..... Ihirkns, _rypa one! f<ICU<I (Avt>
'O'1~ '7). Miller ('99sa: U9- 1) ItIIICS. by modem .......1)'. Ihot marloe<inl QIJIO tin. in the
of ~ M.... it be __ or the od>er1 I would prefer to ...~ tho .~. at ao<><b
one! terric .. (.. fin. witbo ... , Iau:r with e........ ) . one .. fthe me .... by whidt ..!arionohipo .......

M_.

=.Uon

.....latt<l in ....,.. (and pIaceo) """ '"" .... to .,...... . . . .. For the _ " "
cial itnolJUY iD P\ndar'. pomy of prolO<, .... Kurloe ( '\lSI, ).

minaIinI: of COUlIDU-

220

P .... UL MILLETT

coune of the fourth century, the Oraton occasionally express regret at

seeinl the Agora (as he puu it), 'packed out with peny merchan15, waSters,
deadlegs and all those who, with doubtful morals, spend their days there
unemployed , looking for the slightest diSU'action or the smallest gain. But
the decadence of the political process was too far advanced. It could not be
revived, and the agora was lockc:d in with it ... They grew weak tOlether.'
So the mingling of economic exchange with politiC$ in the Agora becomes
an aspect of the IO-Called 'founh-century crisis'; what Martin brands ' Ia
decadence meme de la citC:'.
Porty years on, few Greek historians believe in the idea of a fourthcentury crisis; and there are those of us who see the fourth century (down
to the Macedonian take-over) as the climax of Athenian democracy.)]
What Martin reads as sians of decadence in Athens I would interpret as an
integral part of the political proces,. Specifically, the blending of buyinl
and selling with other Agora activities created a distinctively 'democratic
space'. The Alora provided a neutral stale on which all citizens, however
poor, had good reason reaularly to appear, relate 10, and ( if they wished)
compete with each other. To change the m etaphor, the Agora was also a
melting pot in which citizens would necessarily have dealings not only with
one another but also with non-citizens and even slaves. In this way, claims
to status could be conceived, express.ed and assessed. Although citizens
were in key ways eq ual (reflected, as we have leen, in the relative homogeneity of housing), appearing in the Agora offered scope for an element of
differentiation; II least, for thOle willing to take the risk. This process of
give and take whereby relationships between citizens were perpetually
being reassessed and readjusted might tentatively be labelled 'competitive
reciprocity'. Herodotos (I.n ) causes the Son of Kroisos, forbidden to run
the risk of fighting or hunting, to ask his father, ' How can I then show my
face when I go to and from the agora?'
The overlapping of buying and selling, reciprocity, status and democratic ideoloiY in the Agora is lupponed by several pieces oftestimony. Let
U5 begin with the overa:hing pan played by reciprocity in the polis, and
speCifically in the Agora.
AriStOtle, in the fifth book of his NiJromachean Ethia, ana lyses the nature
or justice within the civic community. He explains that what holds the polis
together is 'appropriate giving in return' or reciprocity (113Zb35- 3314):
Men Jerk ro l'Cturn rither evil for evil (and if they n nnOI. they think their polition
mere slavery), or good for lood. And, if they cannot do 10, thel'C il no doiDI in
.. NOIabty Obtr (1919: ,,- '0) . TIle ....""'" ci,td by Martin (, " " )0& n.a) in I .. IIPOI"' of tho
On,on <Utpleu......, tho comm. rciali........ oflbc: AI<>no do I..
up '0 ocrutiny. I ....... , ..
(ru ..(I}""''' u. ~ AndUn<t (111 .,76) and o.:m..theno:, (Eam.n ) .... racn:ly
CCllltetmd
tho bannina of criminailYP" r.om II>< AI<>no.

".tand

..w.

Encounlen in the Agora

ren.,.., and it is by r:iprocity that they bind together. ThaI il why they give I
prominent place 10 the sanctuary of the Charilcs, in the inle~". of I'CCiproc:ity. For
this is the ch.aTlCT.erisric of c1lllris: we !IIould serve in ~tum one who has shown
,Joom to UI, I nd should another rime take the initiative in showing it.
Emphasis here is on cham (personified as me Chariles) as a fa'lOur bestowed
or a benefit rerumed. Recent work has tended to bear out Aristotle', in51.$tence on me centrality of reciprocity in ord ering penonaJ relations wimin
me poIiJ.'. There was a shrine of me Charites associated wim me Agora in
Amens. It would be neat indeed if this monument could be identified with
Aristotle's illustration of the binding power of reciprocity. Inevitably, there
are difficulties. Was the Agora shrine really 'in a prominent place'? It is
shown on the map of the fourth-century Agora rucked away on the south
side of the Sacred Way, JUSt shon of the n orthern entran ce. The evidence of epigraphy suggests thai, at least in post-classical times, the shrine
was dedicated not just to the Charites, but also to Demos and Aphrodite
Hegemon - a powerful combination (lG II' 2798). A major pan of the
problem in assessing m e prominence and origins of the shrine is that, being
on the site oCthe Athens 10 Pineus Railway, il no longer exists."
Whatever the status of the shrine along the Sacred Way, marketing
activities within the Agora gave ordinary people plenty of scope for, in the
words of Aristotle, returning evil for evil and good for good. Negative
aspects of reciprodty are to the fore in me anecdote told by Herodotos of
an encounter between Greek and barbarian (I.I S3). King Kyros is made to
tell a Spanan envoy how he can never fear men 'who have a place set aside
in the centre of their polis where they perjure themselves and deceive one
another'. This H erodolos explains as referring to Greek agorai, where
buying and selling take place; such things being unknown among the Persians. How this story was supposed 10 be read by contemporlries is not
clear. The intention was presumably to represent the Penian as misunderstanding something that was essentially Greek, but wherein lies the
Greekness? One possibility could be Kyros' failure to grasp that all the
posturing between buyer and Beller was to be accepted as pan of the competitive process rather than barefaced deceit. There was pride in the muiJ
('wily intelligence') needed to get the best of bargain. Appropriately
enough, the patron deity of the Agora was Hermes himself. 'Yes, by
.. On "'" """"cpt of .:Joa';' .. c Mille" (' 99. : "3-6), '0 which ..w Moc:l..achI.an (' \193) ond
L.o Schi.... (.\19)}. 11Ic """'me of ....}'1 "';1\1 "'" of II>< &'or ~c of '99l.co~ ,0
tho ritoJi.,. of~.,. in tho claooi<al
( bu, ""'e Sulon1, '994: '9. 23~). MOl' tttmdy,
Allen (.\196) bas demon........:! In d
Ihoo tccipf'Od.,. inh< ...... in Alhonian
.........to

..u

"'*'

.,thud..

punOthmc:n,
.. S A,..... ' tt: nOI.lI'- lZ; Az<w<o m<: "9-60. Ul;""""" (;wi;J. p. AI..., thftl' it nid.,..,. of an
.."'..... ~ monum..11 '0 tho: Chorl<a by Ihoo .... uanc<: to tho: AIt:ropo!io, noled by r .u....... (l. n .I;
1L35.2, 7), who"}'1 ooUUna of"'" A&on thrinc .

222

P .... UL MILLETT

Hennes of the Agora, I , wear falsely even when there are eyewimesses,'
avows me Sausagc--seller in Aristophanel' Knights (197- 8}.36
I have tried to convey elsewhere how buying and selling in the Agora
combined etiqueue and eloquence with an clement of street theatre
( Millen, 1990: 193- 4). Stallholder and customer acted as protlgonist and
antagonist, with bystanden forming an appreciative chorus-cumaudience.
Elaborate examples of repancc arc developed in Comic and allied texts.
Apples on sale arc so few and so expensive that they must come from the
Garden of Hesperides; a requcst for an extra fish 10 be thrown in (or free
results in me fishmonger agreeing to add in not the fish but its deme (of
Phaleran); an enquiry .bout the price o( meat is punningly traru(onned
into sexual banter (Athenaios 1Il.84a- c; VII.309'di xlII.S8oe). Bdclykleon in
Aristophancs' Wasps (488--99) imagines a market scene in which a dis
gruntled seller of sprats is made [0 comment that a penon purchasing an
expensive: sea-perch !'rom a neighbouring stall must be aiming a[ tynmny.
The p,ss'ge has been brilliantly exploited by Davidson (1993) to show how
suspect behaviour in one are. (conspicuous consumption) could be associated with other forms of transgression (sexual and political). The regular
appearance o( bargaining scencs in Comedy (Ar. FrofS 167- 79. PMU
tl97- 264. Achorniaru 863- 9:z8) reinforces the idea of Athenian appreciation of the role of marketing in regulating status and fClationships . How an
individual coped with the ch.lJcnge of marketing mattered enough to be
the subject of a book. We hear from Athenaios (Vtl.313f- 14a) how the latcfounb-cenrury figure Douria of Sarnoa wrote a treatise called Th, An of
Provisioning. allegedly wrinen for one of his acquaintances who was inexperienced in making purchases."
Finally. there is the blending of marketing in the Agora with political
ideology to create II peculiarly democratic space. A major theme of
Leveque & Vidal-Naquel's study of Kleisthenes (1996) is the manipula.. P .....,.;". (1 ' . ) ..... bronze IUIUe 01 Henna Aforaloo dose 10 the Stoo PoilWc (d . A,.... m :
_ .196-)00). For !he potiriw: ~rion of 'ronnina inu:Uict:ncc' ..,.. Dctlc:nnc "" Vemao,
('971)
1twU ( 191,) in&cnloualJ IkpOoyi thc Hcn.dotoo P ..... IO cluOd.u:
5960 ( ...,......,..
Iumed _"'" I>0OI' the ond Iouah ., cadi <><htt) ..... orillOCfaIM: Il\CCI' ., the poor m<nJs 01
......a-l;l"a&n. She dI .. in ouppon. ...,.... pIod in tIw mouth of Ibc lqendory buborian _
Antdoanio wbo """n"", to Diopnea I..-rrioo (1.10$), ddined thc _ _ .. '. piKe for
_ ....-,. _ <laimint: _ m ...... B.... iD tho Hcrod.oI..., -.cnion. \be Iok.e hod 10 be .,$eat

n-cm.

_tin.

partly

a. tbt "PC""" of the Penian KisI&> ............u.:

aiold.eeI 41 ......' ....... t... <:t.c.1in&

bio .1Jdimcc ...... 1<1 be - . . - brinf:

dc~ .

,t 'Me, they II< der.oted in wat, thc coum and Ibc ",..... So tuna pan of. "" _ _ AttclIlnu
(D. ,. ) quotn _ claimo .. pari o r thc..,.;pl or thc PiA< $o.tted War. CominJ on:OO<>d-bom
.. buy<n Wld .. Uen in thc marte. place? 1be u..b cdiI .... Adamo (,",), _
'" thlnlI M>; but
II>< olllllion ia ~'" to ~ in thc ...... oIpoUtical ouemb!jeo (d I'l0l0, G,.,.,. 41, d ). eon ....,
Ibc comic
10 0 thc _ . in N . P- 999.
Pot ibcophns ..... CA.ono<....
the cUquwc of~, 0 _
Redon ('99sa: 107);
10 whleh odd MfCMtic. commen .. on oboK orrbo do Il>rir ............. ~ iD ......,..., ...... ......,."

""'"". cuniftc

_ _ (Ar. ,:n.

m ..)

...-.un,

'"

tion of civic space so as to strengthen the cohesion of the demos. To this end
(they argue) the Agora was remodelled, complete with boundary Ilo n:
' The political space of the Agora, situated at rhe geometrical ccoter of the
potU, came to be sharply defined and circumscribed' (13; cf. Vemant. 198);
Strauss 1994).
Perhaps Kleinhenes got m o ~ integration in the Agora than he bargained
(or. We have already encountered the dis like of conservative thinke" for
the inclusion of marketing in the classicaJ agora. Their prime objection
scems to be the way in which buying and selling provided people of low
status (possibly not even citizens) with a legitimate' renon for being there
lind interacting with their betlen (Din. fro 7; cr. Oem . LVII.30-6). H ence
Aristotle's preference for the Thessalian practice, which banned those
whom he saw IS undesirables. By contran, the inclusion in his own ideal
agora of a gymnasium encouraged suitably elite activities. Arislol1e also
raises the practical objection that people loitering in the agora find it all too
ellSy 10 attend the asse mbly (1319324). His partial remedy is 10 hold IS
n mblies infrequendy so lIS 10 ensure good attendance by the more reliable
Igricultural population (d . Eurip. Orm. 919). Such thinking may be based
on a jaundiced exposure 10 the Athenian experience. The assembly area of
the Pnyx is, IS Wycherley pUb il (1978: 35), an appendage of the Aa:ora,
onJy a ten minule walk away. Xenophon surely lempen ariStocratic preju.
di ce with a degree of realism when he causes Socrates 10 populate the
assembly with a high proportion of agora~people (Mm! . iU.7.7): fullen,
shoemaken, smiths, peasants, merchanu and ' th()5e who trade in the
Agora, who think of nothing but buying cheap and selling delr'.}11
Xenophon 's Socrates goes on to say that these are the people ('dunces and
weaklings', he calls them ) who, though they tum up to the assembly, never
Jive a serious thought to politiC$. But this apparent conlrlldicrion hints at a
further association of m arketing with the democratic procus. There is the
notion thlt the business of buying and selling, with all the penonal inter
action thaI Pilio sought 10 supp ress, actually encouraged and even equipped ordinary people 10 tlke pan in politics. This is an underlying theme,
appropriately burlesqued, in Aristophanes' K 'lighu, where m arketing is repeatedly exploited as a m etaphor for the process of democratic politiCS. 39
.. ,.".. d o.. ..-ition .,r A.,on> &lid PnJ'l it brauch' ..... ill !be mmp"i... 0( ...... tophanea.
Dikaiopolll Iha. his fdlow.dnz..1II <klay sossiPinc in the A&o<:r. ",tI.." d>an hutryina: in.o !be
-.ol>ly (A.:A. '9). AI... , Wn: it II>< _D _
inddcn., n:<:aIled by n c - _ (rm' , ' 69),
.men ..-. ..nne! in A!bent
Philip bad occup;.d El..eia in PhociI. ~ ,....,...... mc:cn .... cd .......... ' mind. on politi"" "'tl>n- than marlottin. by ohurtina liP and even oeuinc tin: to
.... tUlb in tbc A.,on>. A. 00< time tbc ScytIU... archen oecm to tine been _
_ in II><

th'"

"" n~ 0(11)<

Aaon (s....w, . . _

,.

.. ilndlnt: blot""" ou. of Ari.t<>pbaDd io """";"'uoly """'pin:: """'n: don n:aIiom .aIoe oft In", ~
hn...p il>c Uurod"",...,. obotrvI ....... o f MKDowtU ( '99!: . - 16) on 'In.... tion and Int .....
pn:uclon' ..... 'Audo.:nOl: and Ibtpcao"""" .... eminen t/)'"*"", . . . n: "" .............. on K.,;p"
(10-- " . j. ~ abo..,.. RLd.m, t.Itil Y<>lumr, , n . 7' -

U4

P .... UL MILLETT

Briefly, a rival is needed to challenge the domination of the Paphlagonian

slave (alia.! the politician K1eon) over his master Demos (the people of
Athens). The chosen character is a SaUllge-Seller. Towan:is the end of the
play (1257- 8), he rareals his name [0 be 'AgOtakritos', which ambiguously
means either 'chosen by the assembly' or ' arguer in the agora' (which il
how the Saulage-seUer himself eJ:plainli it). He was born and bred in the
Agora (293). A politician who saw him as a child ingeniously steliing food
in the Agol'I prophesied great thinp for him (424- S). He is acclaimed by
his lupponers as the 'greatest of men' on the grounds that, just like his
political predecessors (128- 40), he is a brass-faced rogue from the Agora
( t8l - 2). To succeed as a politician, all he needs to do is continue as before; afte r all, with his loud voice and low binh he is agoraiJJJ - an
'Agora-person' (;u8; cr. 293). He fulfils this prediction by bringing to bear
his Agora-skills in worsting the Paphlagonian when they appear as rivals
before the bou/l. Not only are the councilmen distracted and the meeting
abruptly tenninated by his announcement of cheap anchovi~ in the AgOi'll
(see above). He also comers the market in onions and coriander needed as
seasoning for the fish which, distributed for free, win him the suppon of
the entire bouU (624- h) ..a
THE MANIPULATION Of MARKET SPACE
Restriction of access to the Agora-arel was an obvious wly of making a
formal and public statement about a person's repulltion (see de Ste.
Croo:, 1972: 397- g) . According to a law attributed to Solon (Oem.
XXXIV. 103), a man found guilty of ill-treating his parenu who intruded on
the Agora was to be imprisoned. 'The man who fails to take the field', says
Aeschines (m. 176), 'and the coward, and the man who has desened his
post, the lawgiver has kept outside the lustral basins of the Agora ... ' The
Orators regularly introduce the motif or being banished from the Agora. 1
have brought this proSC1;Ution, advises Lycurgus ( Ltolt. s; cf. 42), because
' I thought it shoclcing that this man should push into the Agora and share
the public sacrifices'. Our anceston banned from the Agora people like
you, Demosthenes infonns his opponent (XXII.77).
Fonnal exclusion from the Agora reflected its status 81 a WlftfWl or
sacred space, marked off with lustral basins and boundary stones (Camps,
t 986: 4g- S2) . But the marketing space both within and beyond these
boundaries could also be used in the furing of ~utations . Although the
impression given so far is or a sprawling col1tion of temporary stalls, all
the indications are thai the market was set out along acknowledged and
predictable lines; at leasl, ror those who blew the rules. This is made
.. 'The poIitico... ~ "":t,,pIMw .. 10100 od<>pU<l bJ D.otnootheneo (1)<.)9): ....... in power ....
M:\~'" ... Lhen. tbon. M.d:r...... " metophor ' " moralt:
S)oorp.
1IpGI. r ..",.

x....

"".11,

us

Encounters in tlu Agoro

explicit by Xenophon's Ischomachos, who lectures his wife on the need for
evef)'thing to have its place in the home with the analogy of the Agora (Oik.
Vltl .zz) . 'Whatever slave you order to buy something for you from the
Agora and bring it, not one of them will have any difficulty; every one will
plainly know where he must go to get each type of good. The reason for
this is simply that they are kept in their appointed placel!. ' He gon on to
draw a COOtrHt: ' But when you are searching for someone, you often fail to
find him, though he may be searching for you himself. And for this again
the one reason is that no place of meeting has been fixed.'
In order to forestall this, people might arrange to meet in a designated
pan of the market area. Pollux, a late lexicographer, explains how: ' The
Attic writers named places after the things sold there; for instance, they
might say: " I went off to the wine, the olive oil, the pots"; or again, in the
words of Eupolis, " I went around to the garlic and the onions and the
incense, and straight on to the perfume".' Apparently, a high degree of
[)fecision was possible in terms of locating individuals or groups o f people
in the Agora through time and platt. The speaker in a speech of Lysin
wants information about a penon who claimed to be a Plataian (XXUl ):
'None of them Iwho were initially approachedJ knew his name, but they
said 1 should get the most accurate informa tion by going to the fresh
cheese on the last day of the month; for on this day each month the Plataians gathered together in that place.' There are other passages in Lysias
( XXIV .ZO, lCtlll .) which tell of people habitually meeting at the same stall
or shop in or n ear the AgonJ. (see MilJeu, 1990: 190).41
By selecting the pan of the market a penon chose to frequent . a statement could be made about character, positive or negative. At one exucm e,
there was a section of the Agora known as 'Kerkopes' ('The Fences') which
allegedly specialised in Itolen goods (Agora U1: 669- 7). Il was thought
incongruous that the philosopher Arkc:sila05 should be spotted there
(Diog. Laen. IX.7.114; cf. Oem. XIX. 2.4S). h is cited as a sign of his
shameless servility that Theophrastos' 'Flatterer' (11.9) should be willing to
run an errand to what is called the ' women's agora' (agora pPUlik~ia; cf.
XXlI.IO). By the same token. involvement in other pans of the market might
be advanced as a claim to enhanced Status: it is !.he moneychangen' tables
!.hat Theophmtos' ' Man of Petty Ambition' chooses to frequent (XXI).
Othen said to haunt the moneyehangers include thl' rival philosophers
Socrates (Plato, Apol. 17C) and Hippias (Hipp. Min. ]68b) . The perfume$ClIing pan of the Agora was apparently the fashionabll' place to meet
(Agora III: nos.674- 8o). H ere was where we are repeatedly told that the
~ dcrtl gathered; Aristophanl:$' Sausage-Seller parodies their prious
. , MY" ";"'" 'rinp' rtfcrnd ' " by lcxicoanphen ~
IoI:atictn.. bu, n'ft> qI< .taD could 1:>< uoed .., F
f'yUIodoroo' pi..,.' (Dt-m. 1LN.1).

"t! noo.6,6- 2 ,) milh' h_ helped in !bini

b<ann,: ' """",;'e tbc l.cokonon, n r

116

PAUL MILLETT

talk over a lawsuit (1373-8).'.1 A fragment ofEupolis (sebol. to WasPJ 1271 )

suUests that a visiting peasan! who tries [0 join in the conversation around
the perfumes is likely to make a fool of himself.
There was the expectation that any active citizen would want to be a pan
of these discussions. So Oemosthenes' criticises hi. political opponent
Aristogeiton (UV.S I- :l), whom he says does 1'\01 call in at the barber-shop
or perfumers or any other shop. Innead , ' He makes his way through the
Agora like a snake or a scorpion with sting erect, darting here and there, on
the lookoul for someone on whom he can call down disaster . .. ' Dem osthenes favoured lIS a technique of character assassination the delineation of inappropriate behaviour in the Agora. The doubtfully democratic
Meidias (~e above), 'swaggers about in the Agora with three or four attendants, discussing . ilver beakers and drinking horns and cups in a voice loud
enough for passers-by 10 hear' (Oem xxI.lS8). Although e!ei;ted cavalry
commander, he fell off his hone while processing through th e Agora (171).
He portrays Ae.chines as struning around the Agora, hi, cheeks puffed
out, wearing a cloak ruching doWD to hi' ankles. Con spicuous display i,
here tied in with Aeschines' alleged desire to subvert the democracy
()[V1II.314). Demosthenes draws the contraSt with his own behaviour (323):
how he does not glad-hand it around the Agora.
A regular charge of negative behaviour in the AgoTl is the generation of
rumour and false accusations. II i. naturally in the Agora that Theo_
phrutos stations his ' Rumour-monger' (VIII ). Demolthenes accuses
Meidias of spreading lies about him in the Agora (:IDU. I0 4)j it is, he complains, th e obvious place to plant people to spread false reportS and slander
(xnv. ISj ct. xxv.8S) . Othen wo uld agr. The Agora was also the place
for political debate poi&ed between the formality of the assembly and the
privacy of the oileoJ. Dinarchos tell. of De.mosthenes going around the
Agora and malting speeches aligning himself with a particular policy.
Demosthenes him&elf mentions in pass ing the use of the Agora for informal politic.l discussion both before and after assemblies (XIJ:. I2Z, :125).
The practice is singled out by Martin (1951: 291) .. ' la marque indelebile
de la democratie decadente'. Against this interpretation is the emphatically
open narure of discussion in the Agora itself. It was apparently noticed to
whom people were seen talking (Oem. XlX.22S). It is in the workshops
(ergcuuria) and not the open Agora thai hocrates siles thOle people who,
while they publicly suppan the democracy, complain about it in private
(VII . IS ). Theophrastos' 'Oligarchic Man' (XXVI.) advises his like-minded
Tho: s.....,..s.lIer'. incention Co buI bcanlleu,.,..chJ &om ~ ....... ('171) OUQaca th.oc ~ is,
lficr aU, ...unchty """'~. Compan: ch~ oi.... 01...., 'RiIh' Ariumc:n,' in a-.u (99" '00),
'05!) ..... I...... ' ... (viI." , with ...... Rclen, '99" : '01-9). iJ>tricacia of plot in J6ritIoII an:
npIomI by Btoc:k (,914).

"7
companion thlt lhey must hold their anli-democratic discussion in private:
as he bluntly puts it, 'away from die odUos and the Agora',")
THE C ASE AGAIN S T KONQN RECONSIDERED

Aic:nc:d to the ridmen of nsociation in the Agora, let us anc:mpt

reassessmcnt of Muon's violent encounter wilh Konan, a, presented by
Demosthenes. It is measure of Demolthenes' skilllhat the speech Against
Konon implies far more than the speaker actually IIYS.
The topographical detail of Ariston'. ,noll in the Agora would have bad
resonances for the Athenian jury. He and PhanosU1ltos entered the Agora
by the Leokorion, then proceeded to the Phcrrepbattion. They then
retraced their steps to the Lcokorion , which is where the assault took place.
Provided that accepu:d identifications ofLeokorion and Phcrrephanion arc
correct, then the twO fri ends foll owed, before tuming back, the ro ute of
me Pana thenaic Procession." It is in the context of this private recreation
of the Panathenaea thai the double mention of the Leokorion has some
significance. A.ccording to Thucydidel (vI.67), this was the spot at which
an earlier celebration of the Panathenaea had come to grief. 11 was, he says,
at the place called the Leokorion that the ryrannicidel HarmodiOli and
MSlogc:iton showed their h ands and murdered Hipparchos, who was
marshalling the procession. In so doing, they generated what was, to quote
Cardedge (1993: 3:1), 'the most important chaner myth of the Athenian
democracy'. So we have the Leo korion as the scene of an earlier, violent
assault. but with intentions and outcome very different from the attack
made on Mllon by Konon and his sons. They are shown as getting
themselves mOlt inappropriately mixed up in the setting for a piece nf
A.thens' past that the jurors associated. however incorrectly, with their
democratic origins. The way in which Ka na n and his ass.ociau~s are later
portrayed by M ston further implies thai their democratic credentials we ~
less than perfect.
J

.bou,

I!ay1hinI _ _ ,old
tbo ~ wpportI tbo ide. of on un ""'"" Kriom wa'C . . publi< ..
_ibIo ond oe<nq' ou, 01 the qllUtioa. ~ OOI\'I~ of ,.,.. ha... Ken W'iIl> )'Ou ...... eyn'.
~1lImct tdH "'" fwy. 'for
counted 0..1 tlw ...", of mont1 in Ilw: Aaoro'
(onI .. , .) , .......... So<ono<a' ron....,. obo\I, beini ;".n..b!e in Ihc Aeon ( 1/.tf1. )6ob) ; oleo the _ _
01 aull'l'" opirm \hose who otnIIood peopI< in tbc Aeon (Andok. ,.)6. II.'; Dem . .,..., ," .

'IlK.,.""" ...

lJIJ\I. u 4. ,6J).
.. How doa alllbi. <;OtpP*fe witl> tbc Romon Poruml n.. Ii....., .cuimony for oarril)' in tbc Po"""
toDcu>lI'I' . . in detail on oil.. in~... . a Ilw: ",1.tiYt ir"i.ibiIi.,. oftbc pIebo (..........,. _""'"
in S,ombo ..... , ,,.,: ' .... - ' 9). EYidcncc oIot<:haeo1o&Y _ _ _ Yto redrna the:~.";!I>
""'" Jus. ""uoa .......... !he Pan.... incorpon ..... sbopo, for whicb there are bin.. in Iho Ii.....,
II'Idition (Wlll __ HodriD, ' 994' 129-3')' n.. ~d..iob oICoto the Eldn 1hIo. Ihc Forum be
,...,cI";lt! obatp "MI"" .a diocoun... IolIOrina; ....y rdIea on AriolOldlan impa1icnc~ .,;It! -I&rt<ocalc populo. prnencc. There . . . m""", difk ....... from A!hom' "&on in the - r R.<JtM' ~~
im~ \bomK1va on the Forum wilt! !heir ndahbourill& marWont and nomtd pubtk buildiql.

Copyrighted Material
22&

PAUL MILLETT

Immediately before the assault, Konon and friends are said to have been
drinking at the shop of Pamphllos the fuller. On learning of the presence in
the Agora of their enemy Ariston, they rushed out to the attack. As has
been pointed out by Fisher (1982: 101), the attack is presented as the work
of a drunken .winOS, following on from iii symposium. The non-democratic
associations of private symposia in classical Athens hel p explain Ariston's
subsequent accusation that his opponents like to 'play the Spattan' (lakonizein) . As is appropriate for a person claiming to be the victim of an attack
by drunken symposiasts, Ariston claims repeatedly that he is the victim of
hubril; though the charge he is bringing is one of assault (aikeia): that is, he
demands less than his due. Although the speech from the other side has
not survived, Ariston predicts what Konon will say (14). H e will claim (says
Ariston) that the dispute has arisen out of blows given and r eceived over
some hetaira or other: the kind of give-and-take that is natural between
yo ung men. In other words, he will seck to assimilate the incident to what I
tentatively called 'competitive reciprocity', characteristic of the Agora.
One of the classic books about markets in the modem world is by
Bohannan & Dalton (I962) on markets in Africa. In the Preface (x-xi),
they explore possible non-economic functions of markets. One marketuser, when asked, replied that: ' I must go to the market, and when I get
there I look for three persons: my girl friend, my debtor and my enemy, If
I do not know whether any of them arc at the market and do n ot see them
all, then the market is not good.' It is now generally accepted that the idea
of a 'face-ta-face society', with everyone knowing everyone else and their
business, is not appropriate for Athens as a whole. But the Agora was an
area where the concentration of activities maximised the chances of making
unplanned meetings; it is a favourite place for SOCJ1ltic encounters (Eryx.
392a; Pannen 126a; Menex, 234a).4 5 When wanting to find a person, the
obvious place to stan was the Agora: 'I was looking for you in the Agora
and wondering mat I could n ot find you,' says Euldeides to Terp,ion at me
opening of Plato's Theaitetos (t42a). The councillors wanting to arrest
Agoratos were more fonunate: heading for the Piraeus, they came across
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., F_ler ( '9,1) ide"ti6ed the Ph.,..phattio" wtth til. Eltuoinion, ""IMY _~ the ..,utlle ..,
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'986; 1B-8a. T .. limony on the

~I>rion;

Apd III , nO'l,311- ]8 .

.. Other plac.. have their Ac<>,.. . 'TI>c ""d. of tilt urth t"""'Tie the"": ' "Y' Sandy AItoutbno, of
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Copyrighted Material

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lVlIl. lLI.:.J

1V. 181
D I OGINII LA.IT I IIS

L..!.Q.1
YI.Z.. !l

ru

U1

,.. I

;uti "lS

LIlt.II,
U

KICATA I U S

no

1.1:1.111" ill
J.!!:..U 3 17

10

1:11 n36
ill

VlU. L,

1X.7 . 114

~;uti

ill
l1S

V. 7 1

n~9,

1.1..1

.u:

VI .ll 1)1 n19

VI ill u6
11.1,

VlI .l

')1 n19

VlI.~

m .1B

111

1.1..1

1.1..1

III nl1

KU OOO T U. (con,.)

.,.n.61

1lI7

IlI.n

10,
In, 174
II, n6J

flo
W& D ),4J17 55 n lo
),41 IS6 1l4S
),49- 56 ill rl4S
KIIY C 'U US

J IS

119018
171.6.19 ul n l 4
/G I' 179.1.90 u8014
101'110.1 (71]118"'4

10 " JlO. l
/G "

KOM

f/iad 1l.JI7- 19
111. 144 - 5

1I..47J

105- 6

1 12

lIXI . l oI-9

IG Il' J 6b[n]ug nil

IG ,,, 4) .S l 119 " 18, !l9 " 1 1
IG III no 73

l OS

1JU1.)70- 1 IDS
~ iV.691 - 1
m l . 41 9 )
XXIII .]} III n)7
QnI .16} 106

ui n4'

"' !!!i

IG
119
IG II' 10!!1.9- IO ')9 oS)
IG III JO!!I .4J- 4 119 oJD
IG Il' !04.h
n9 0 .1
/G II' Jll ' 59 D60
IG
121-18- $1 II I OJ6
IG u' 144.17- 1 ' ] 1 ,,16

KO M'. I C KYM,. TO U'M. T

114- 15

JI

IG II ' 9S'.4111' 91 "34

IG Il' U'O go 017
IGlr l l , 181

H YGIN US

110-1

"I

11 J

KOM.I I C HYMN TO U ION YSUS

J9

'." '"
1119
'"'"

f40 n 57, f4)

111.11

m . l) 1]6031, 143
111.1, 1)9 oS)
1II17 143
In.17- 30 14' oS8
111.11 143
m.)o 143
v.19 143

"'.8

1) 1 1U6

10 I' 6}. (11 ug Oil, Ill I

71 .19- )1 f) 1 026
/G I'71. [II ] U 9 nll
10 I' 10 1 121
IG I ' 10 1.B 129011
IG I' fOJ
" 9
IG f' IOJ .44- 7 "9 nl9
IG I' 101 .4 1 129 n il
IG " II I
u 8
1011 11 1.1) 1l9n l 7

'l'Iwt'. III

1.1,

13 1 016, . )1 oJl

/G I' 6 1.}6-9
IG"

KIlI OO

'.v. 'Stoikoi'

/G I' 5$.6 - 10

IG

u' 1155 b

10 II' U S' 74,80 nJS

10'" 116J , n - l , 77
IG Ir n6) h 019
IG W u6}. I- ,
79
/G II' 1163.)7- 0
77
10'" 116}.4)- '
74
IG

,,1 n 7'

IG II '

IG n l
IG II'
IG II'
10 II'
IG Ifl
IG " I
IG II'

INS C lIr Tf ONIl GI U C "I

10 r I 6]1 .3h- 4 0 1 1]011.2)

I'
IG I'
IG I'
IG I'

If}

),4.)6-7 131 n16

4 0. 6 ug nil
40. 11 ug 0 11
46.1411' I] O OJJ

10 III
IG III
IGn'

IG

It'

oJ9

U71.116- 11 77
U 73 h nlg
I1n. ll - S 74 nil
un 77
U 77.14- 7 77 OJ!
nl] 69, h
f1l4 71
" " '.11 15
n 89.4- ' 140I}
119' h 019
" 9J. I6-17 74 n l]
n 91.ll- 11 14 01 )

IG tr l]14
iii tr I]IS

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15

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II

1
1011 Il l 7b ~
2
IG
1]18.] - 5
l O ll' il~Sp.l7- I?
IG liZ 1331 8J n2,

IGU' 1338 ,11 - 14

II' H8

19

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:a

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10 liZ 1]69. 14- 7

1

10 11 1369."0-,,

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~

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to

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8J

IG UZ 1640

:z.u

IG 111 1798

III

10 II' 1'47
10 112 }IOZ
I G liZ } IO}

ill

&1.

FGH 3341'30 !.!.S

80.

167<l.]"- S !!l

IO IlZ 111l n-4

lSTltUS

J USTIN

166
10 liZ Ih9. JU ~ 018
10 II I 1619. 139- 4 Z !1! n26
10 liZ 16} 1.}85-9} !1! 016
I n II~ 1615.1 ,'
~.D.lI
10 liZ 16}S&IS !.!i 1'117
IG liZ 161$n4
~ 1'1 17
IG liZ .6]s& L1I
~ ni l
/0 II' 1637.111] ~ nl 7
10 111 16 " lb]I- 40 i l l
/G liZ

!2J 1'110

XVIII . ~

12

1011 1 ~ "Z!
10 111 16u.}I]- 16

/G UZZ} II

"IV. lll !!g

IViH - 4 !Il
XVII 61 114]

74m]

IG liZ 1]43. 44-4

IG

VlI.,,8 l.1& n33 .ul5.

VII .6:6 !!S n6S
IlI. uti 173

n"
nlO, nll

ill nlo, nil

nh

!2J n lO
!2J nl O

UK. ItHIT.

CAN T.

l!.! Houuman ,.. II

Lexica Grace. M inou ]

..,
u.oa..ID
,AzQ,otn
.. 11"....
""

LV CUltGUS

!1

."
",.

100. i2:4
101

11"

~ i2S.D.lI

101
101 111
u6 ni O. 141
L6g n61. uti nJ 5

" ....
ill
~

.... '"''0'
'""" ..,

101 111

!SAlUS

II

113

6% 1\41
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Y=S iU

L VilAS

Ill!!!. ~ US. 161 !!.L 165

!!.,l1i1

1.6 11!!i
1.6 - 7 l i

!h!!8J

1II !.l!

liD

L II

a .l l

~ 1146

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cw ..
ISO C .... Tl S

1.41- 6

!.ll

1V .i !

100

1V .14'
VU .I S

13 nil
u6

61 - 6 ill nlo
IV 151 039. 161 !ll. .63"
1V. 1- 4 !..1S

VlI M

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IVS- II

II

ill

11 17

!!:1 Ii. 1122.

1. n U l (con 1.)

YI .n

P ... US ... NU S

J..U,. uz

w.u

u6 ruS

I)} n)1

ill 1\4)

22.1 n)6
ill

I ] ].

IX.6
IL7
IX. I1IX. I,

~W

YlII 8onlS, b
YlII .l ~ n l 6
Ir

1:1.9= 10

!l! 1\41
1<4 1

!:l

16

ill!!i!. 1\4<4
.lL.1.Il !lL ill.

wi '"
1ll "lS
1.11.7 I SO 1\46

u!H

!.:..1Y 1lI " 37, 1&0. 1\46

1U1.~

1..\1

X11ll
X11tz
III.lJ

!.il nl o

u6

l..,J..l.I

1\41

s .......

Dithyramb

ilVul

u6

:m.1Q

nJ6
uti IlL u.I n, ) , !Ai
I }S

"US

li!.!!!!

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u,

lIlI .~

I
nlll . )

PUf O

ApoI. l7C
ill t i

Uj

IITf 10

}1I

2.1
CNr. ..o6d..,. 2.!
Ct'IiUu II OC llD

un ..1 1)1 n)o

U9 .11

BIlI. U

llD

1I1b ~

u6nLW
!.it n22., !..21 n17

/jryx. }9J1

!'u3ll

&U!.

fr 7sTh = ilVlIG-. ti

MN IJ I M.u; K US

fr ~ KJA I", Athc-n. <401_ 3d )

OLD O Ll G .... CH
~ n)1

n, U
!!:1 b n22.
!:.!l

u6 117

a.._. s.a-b

']1/ ) n]O

BVU , II

11S

... WI

!i! tI6

m . :z.6.

1U

US

m l

:z.s

P"'LOC HO.UI
FGH )18p)o 116 nl,
FGH 118puS !.!.5 1>61
Gy.w~ !.l !.z

svn9 !J.!
IllLlS !!..1 D2 )
SLlI - 13

l2

01. 8.S4- 66 b
li' 1t 1!0 n

'<41

m" n'.

!i

6.66=9

U!{g nSl

n .ll

UI II)S

P INII ....
N _ . 4.9\~

!.l!l! nSl

n . J.::j.

UI II)S

!!;ll:1

!.l!. 161 !!l

P .<4

~~

IX.1-]
nt]'P

u6 n8. ~
1l1 25 !.il nl O
IIII.!J 22.1
IllY U9 n Sl, !.l!. 161 !!l

"

&6

YI . W

i 1\46

JI

nl

ill nl,

Gorr. <41s<! 111 n37

107'C- jOb D
SISb u6 117
Hipp.Mu.. )68b 11S
LnlII 616. I.6I
6)68' i f 1\41
zo.l- 707d !.ti
7)8d
7Slb

JIll
118

1H~

ill IUS

761

11, U,

,-

"..
lisa

' LI NT TH "

91
1\1] n l I
S41k1 118
'4~ l i S
149b-1se 1 11
.7.... lIS.u,
9 17b-c II I
9]lbl ISl n)l

:axvt .10

' )4'

Altib. S.I 1 16.uS

0-.. 14.2- ) 160 n64
/.,yI. I ,.S 99
M",.w, 478-9

Ptridu I ) . )

I Isl6 nlS

PItoc.. II.,

\I,uI

III

16.)

U,

'1",c-d 1 1,
1.yfiJ l04d 60 "31

W4c \IS
60

M...--. IW 111
PoIrww>I. 11610 nl
~,9d u6u S

""'"'"" "
1)1'

\17

1)U- 1J4. - b \11

1)1e- 1)4C 96
14Jb-1: 60

" . . 60
lsSb H nt l
lS6e- b

96

10\1
20\11>11

160 1161

PNc.,.. ..,.,. I07Jo- b Is'. 156 ",,6

&1.1

176

n-. , .6

1,6 ",,6

19 . 2- 4 186. IllS nl6, 199

1\1.) l 00 n)1
' 9 4 1\11"]
10. 1 - 1 10\1 nn
)1 .4- ' 101 n)9
TluJ. )l l I S n61
)2 . 2 116 u S
( ' LUTA. C HI

XO r. 14OC- C 160

n6.t

171"10
1'11.11, 1.6
"1II .6o 147 nl 7
IV. IOS

a6laff II I"n
I"oIiIiau 1194= 11\1 ") 1
l\14d- c 1\1
1'nH. ) 14 C-d )1
4

lIse! 4
)16b 1\1
l47'C' 1 1\1 "]1
R~ llld 3'
]) 1<4- 3)610 10 I S6
)6ob n7nt3

"as

VlII . I ) 2- )

116 "1,

, 0LT .. n-.U.
SInIL UI. I" . I

1.1) .)

71 "

S .... H O

&).

)7)'

fr9.4 60 ")7
fl"l 0S 60 n)7
"'160 '9

10\1

.s.-P. 9S

110&4-1 S\I

7) n il

.OLYIIUS

)71C 119 ")1

112a- b

H "1I

,O LL UJ

1,6c-d 96

)l1C

99

108

'LUfA . e H

H6d

1 0sc-d

LD ' .

H utN.... unv.79

6on37

91 ")'

II]C- d sI ,,31
11I1e- a. 10 1 n61
nw-. 14n n8
1 1011 11, nl,
PL .. TO CO ",U CUS

fr'\19 KJA
fraOl KJA

10 1 ,,61
310 " )9

.C H OL I A

Arilloph. Bird. In
Arittoph. Pm" SOl

116
10\1 nu

969 2 1S

Atilloph. Puu \111 116

Arittoph. Pftu. 10 )7 JI6 u ,
luisloph. W... pr 1171 \19 n'4. 116
Dem. :QJ. J90 lsi] Diltll IS'''SS

707 116 n66

713- 17 !!l
7 ' 3- '4 113

$CHOLIA (.:onL)

DaD. UI ..... (311b OJ]"1

Eur. Aftdta61 1 16 n1S

n17

P!aWApoL1}C _ CntinIll314K!A
SU'PU ... . NTU ... IP I GIAPH I ClI ...
IiIAICUM

99

720 !.lJ n56

731 !II
7'61 - 3 I I I
714-6 III

SF.Gu9 71

106- 9

SEGu. IO9 7'9

SEellVII.U .U - I4 131 nl6
St."G1D..611.30 n9 nl7
SEGJ:DI .ln., - 1 80
SEGJ:DIII71"I- , 74 n'4
SEenl.171 69

1)4

..... ueul
FGH 34111

III

!..I!
h i !II

161 184
'71 !.2l
115-6 III
117.., 113

"'-900

7l

939-30
..... OH I DII

Ep. 41 p~

'7

SOPHOCLIS

DId.CDl. 1- 3

,I,

16
16-17

17'9
24 - sf ,Ii

~II"

....
179

. ,,,
)8
43

.I l

111. !!l

5Slf 179
60- , ,II

66..,
7511"

I BI

114

910-1 '14
931.., 114
'011- 4 III
1011- 11 l&.t
10)4- ' 1'4

11:1..4- ' I'"

1192- 4 56 DI9
')43 - )
.11
'476 114
1491 III ns.
1496 111 0,",

15)2- 4 1'4

46 '79
47- ' !.!l

'"'.oj

!!J

911 - n 114
919-23 114

J.!J

180

1590

1J93- ' 1..21

16)0 121 n31, '84
o.d.1)or. 109
,2 - 7 20S
I TIAIO

'14

n - Io !.!l

VIII.7.1

'72..,

93

. 84
u811" 114
11911" ' 10

'4'

UI

113- 1
211.."

' 14

!!l

294 - ' ' 14

199- )00 , I,
199-304 ' I'
41'>7

"5
jl9

'97

114
110 n41
11on41
110 1\43

691 !.!l

TIIIOGNI.

J9-60 U1 n16
337- 40 u. "4S
'335-6

9<4

TIIIOPHIUTUI

n .2

111 nrS,n16

114

u 9 US
" . 1, 216 n2S
V.6_10 211 n l '
v.7 91
n4 91

""

Dl il.!.!.. UJ nlS, u s
IXI. U u.6. tllS

us

DII . 1.Q

XXVI .]

XU

.) 1 n 19

"I. s.,~

U6 nI

!,.!iM

171

D. I' . I

1,1

0-6

100 n)7

" ." .1 W

!.2l

...... WI"
ill
Y4711

n15

YI. ] o-l

!.!1 n64

~.H
111 .) , 12 - 1]

i!
Ul.S., 611" 2f.

lJ.!:.2"j

l!i 11]1

l!!.:..Z:1

III

L!!5I

1II . 1.Q

111, ~

III . U

'71,

l.l!W u!
VIl1,9OIf 1!S n6,
ll.lI

~ 11 "11
! 1I . 7 .18 1]11119

A.a6.

,.1 i9
"40

C'JootI. U:.!! uti!!1.

!!.i n)1

!!l n6.
nlO

!.!.:l:.1! l ' I "lft

!Y.:..! !JJ IUO
" .4. Ia lr .lb 1'6,
11.4 . 10-0

00

1U.:.!! !.ill !.2l nil

IU. I 'l-2J

1!!9- y

....

"

m..u 2!

o.c. L!::!
2 1- 2

111,11 .,6- 1'

l..a.i

I.NOPKON

11 .] .10

!2!il

II! 8 I 0

m . IO.9 - 1,

VI.U
:l1Z
V1 .ti,1 !2l

G)n>p. 1 .1. ]
11111. I U ,]

Will.!

1: n!l
u..A.J..o. ~ nl9
.., U7

IL6R.J S. l!!I' n l6
IV. Il]
Wi ns

11 u.

Jl4o, ll!i ill

!:l:.!l ill n34

11.1.. 1 !.!i "l9

0 .4 - 0 .10

!!.:ll:! 1

Apol.

LZQ

u.u

In

ym.on .!

1,; .

ill nll
6] <146
!LA 1f.! ill nn

ILtl! !!l

YO.n .'

l.:..! 116 lIiS

M .... , J...L..UI

ILl

",
!Jj n6.4

N . lI ..

u6 nI

lL..l

IL.ltl !H

n . }I .l

uti n&
lIiH. L.z.6 91 nlli

......
WI"
L.!H:!

11.36

J!l!:..2

al6

!o.1l.ZZ

IL.J.2

13 nl l

U6
~

1l.lA.J

1II.! .11

THU C YO I DIJ

iI

1ld,ll !ila!.il nIl

11 .4 .16-7 Wi nil

iJ

st2...i!

2i

i:.!]1!

!:l 12

l.7"

Lu

' .3'

ill
US

~ i2i
1..1.1 ill
p",y,,' ~
S>""p. i j

'"
l..!.J

n.,

~ 1I<40
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tJ!! i2
, .1- 6 60

it

- --- - - -

I
Ij

I,

Index

NOTE, Gftek nlllTln an lllually rmdeml in their latiniJed fonn .

Ac..:l~my

' 79. "4

~ountlbilky

.." ~Uum4i
Aclwnae (deme) !.!l. W. 164>17, ill=lo

184. , &6- 90
Achilln (and Patmclua) !1.. ~
Acropolil , AtMnian U. !l!.z ~<>6! ~

(~Li&iO\ll)

!li>. 134, 186,!!.1i

n. !At. ~ '" abo

DlIIptlll'"
.doptioo 6.1
M$OIpotami, bank of !.!.s
AclChinn l!, ~ 99- 100. 101- 1. 107.
u!::L Ul. 1S7- 9 . ~ ~ ill.lli.>
:136; I 4110 nano.thtnn, Tin'larchua
AclChylus H
Aaora. Alheman lli!!!b!l!o III, .Ig,
10), 206.!!!2. 1 11 - 27

l!z. III; ( in I'''to) 2. 8; ( in

Amwtk) u8 - 19
qriculrure 171, 17S, !!l
Aldoo, <lidos 4.

....

-.

Alcibiadn !.l!.l09- ' o; (in Plato) Jl O;

(die YOUllf<lr)
~

tz..

.JlTUilm ~ _,.u., ch .... charily, pIoi&.

rccipmciry

An~ "

Andocidn JmI
Androtion (mcm~r of emblUY, 3S' BCII)
102. lli
Annu, J. i!::l
IlnthropoiOty. romptlralin ~
"mitIOtU 1451- S0, !..S..1. I", 165
AnliplMm

,6,

~, apraptDSomI !!. Ulb ~

.. l'<k<Ii _

m~llllIln

AtdtiIoehllS ,;m

ill
odminismllion

Aphidnl (dam) ' 13

Aphrodite Hc~n, shrine of W
""'I"GpM U
"pMI ~

!J

~ ~Ul

....u 49- JO, 2i. U. iL. !!i

aristomlcy ~ !.l. SQ., 81 - 7.
.I',!ti.. ~

' 73.

A.rWon (plaintitl"in Oem. UY) 10]- 4.

117- 1

Arinophana ( in Plaw) LO.l

Amtotle s.. L ~ ~ ~ 21t ~ ~
191 _ 201

an .." ",;mDis, vuepmntinl. mwml

Artcmil 11- 6. 2'- ] 0, "S- 6
AlKrnbly, Atmnian L i. !L l.l.u. ~
n6. 129=10. !.U::.S> !.H> In. !.li> ~
~ III, !97>. 20 2, !!l..u.6
auociltionl, cultie ~ 68- 81, ~ ~
13S, !.Hi I Gb<> .IMsoi, ~
....... , of Adlem l1!. 177. 179- 81, ' 9 1m
AtbenlelUl 2~~
A~m ~ t::1. ~ U, l!" fl=!...11t 71 - 2,
106. Ill> (archait:) !..iI 86-7, ill::2i I
also Acropol~. Alht:nian, Aeon, Athenian, ... fW, o f Atbcns, citium , demc ,
dcmocnocy, ae-, dcmocnocy, mqis!nICS,

poiu, J Ulte

2!. ~ ~ 106, lll.. ~

_ lllw g;ymn ium, ~

.thJctiQ ~

Q';,..u, 'SI , Uig

,6,

Imfa
A tti<;. ~ 171- 2,

In.

184, ~ 10 4- 6;

Jtf

<JJuJ Athen., ClNIh~ncs. d"me

lutochmony '7]- 5. In. ~
autarChy ," ICtr... llfficiency

Bacc:hyHdcl ~
ba.nb !l!. n !A!

bart>arianlI ~ i l l
IHuikw !.l!=!o !.ft:j; JU abo S I OI of the
BalilcUI
baths. pl.lbl;<; W.lli
Dendi. ~ IU
bmd'acton H. ~ .zt!., 22.
Iknthun , jeremy, panopticon idu, 1
Ikrlin Paimer !S
Ikmardini lomb E=l
Bohannan, P. " .. 8
~

129- 10 ,

i>. !..i1t !.2L

uz. 146- 8, 1 5~-3, !li.t 16)11 8

u.12>

COlTUpUon Ill, Il S' "".m., bribery

Council In btnJI
credil .i!. I SI; M~ tilio banb, debl, """"',

...

Critias

baukuta "" map.:tnln

Bouleulenon !..S2.i (O]d) 117
boulcutic quou., of demc:1 !!l.
tWo communi!,!" IW: of
Bourdiw, P. ~ &0

Colonus A(oniUl u!.llh 217

ColonUi H ippi"" !B!
commcruality JU. b <npiWity
commerce JU. PiruUl, cnde
comm uniarianWn, modem theory II
community, Iiu of ;t, i> !!L !H::li "
iJho boulcutic quou., r.cc-Io-facc
community, ..",..........
competition no
12, ~ il=!> Il20
,.6, ~ 161, no. 221; ,..m., .mlctia
Connor, W. R. II4- s
conltitution 7- 1. " ' i!!. Z!=l. ~ 173
connitutionaliun 2
conuact Ll..L.fl=lli Th i l l
Corinthian ~

aown
~ $N

Brauron 175- 6

~ JH tilio

Thirty Tyrants

n.. 11- 1 , H.; set..uo Ithletia.,

felti ......
cult Z2. !1L ~ I2:li JH .w.. ~tionl,
u nctuarin, lempln, and I.".
individual sods/,oddclln

bribery !.ll. 1]1, 1)4 - 5

buri allu funenol

CanlNac, P. ~ 1.4S, 117

CuloriaciCI, C. 6
Chacronu, banle of 111, 2QQ, !2:L ill
cit" ... !.!S. 118- 11.!Ji., I.ll.=.1
Charitca ~

charity ~

w...

drorIJ '" Awn

clttmcia. dIoroto. t

i!> '33. !]2, ' 51- ).

11 0 ; .". Dlso lituraic i

tATUM 108- 9j _Illso aristocncy, elil"
citize n, citizenshi p a..tz.. ~ j,!, is.>!l!.

Z!::i.!!. ~ L1L ~ !l!. !.ll

ciucoen body .". .w..<H
til)' vs cou.nuy.idc U . Allin, d"me,
OiC:OOwpOlil, Dioo1'i.
civil JOo:i<;I)' !. !iI
civil war > RwU, Thirty Tyranu
ClcUthcnn lh i2a !.!l. !..ll::.l. 175. l22.
w..!!l> 111- ].'" tWo denies
Clam 106, u 6; (in Arilmpbanes) !.QJ

Cohen, D. u
coin "", _

Dal lon, O. uS
DI";n, J. 9..!.. !.!i
duth !1.t ~ , . <>40 funeral
dcbt ' SI, !2l; (public) !.S!. 166, 118,,.
..uo banb, credit, lifts, nlOllqDec:dci. (dcmc) 173, 184
dec:qnion l.. ~
Delos !.AS.
demc l! 2.l. 13),
111 , !.ih l OI; , . aho
boulcutic q UQiJI, and I.v. individual

money

coloniution !!J., l&6

Coionul (dcmc:) In - 84. !..2Q

d<~

democracy !..i::.!.5.,,!1.=L 2.l. 1..!12. .06, !..!!:it

.U,!.!Il.t ')4. U2> w.. u!.. 173. ~
!.'1!. 103- 9, no.ll1>. n6- 7; JH aho
Amenl, polis, ollie
dcmocncy, rntontion of (40) . ct:) :u.
!.5!. !.9E '" abo n.iny T yran..
Dcmocritwl (on optiCl) !..Q:!l
dcmop1lphy,. com ..nmity. lize of
""""', Athenian 1.!!::i.. U 7. !.l!. ' 4S.
~ ug. n1j , . tilio Athenl, citizen
Ikmos and Aphroditc, ahrine o r l..Z..I
Ik"""thenn 61 - 1, tiI.!.1!2. ' 13, !.J!=L.
!.l!h!.l2=L!..S..1.. IS1, !.llb !.!:i. 1OO- I,
!lll. nil. !!.f, !.Y.. az6; _<>40
Aeochinn, Midias

Oicaeopoli. (~t in Ari$lophanea.

Ac4a",.) 186-9
~ ~!l9:=.!

_h"..ai 1)1 - 1. 1]4. 140

ucJur,.c 8, )1. 41 - ) . 46. 50- 1. 66 . 91,

.......
l OS.

diJuliMIPIl He junKe
diJf(1SJb n.6, 130-1, 137, 141. 145, 15l,
~ .66, 169, !.!1.o. U7 ('The F ortY')
167
Di~, diU 4.6; '" olso IaW$\l.iI. ju. ticc
DilUlrt'hul ll.6
DiOllYl'i. (City) 106- 7, !.Ut 165, 17~. 1,6,
181, .88; (l"UtlI.I) ' 76. ~ _ tWo Di0Ilys<)t, festivals, Henne ..
mYl'lnies, thu=
Dionysosl. ~I , ~,-6. 60, In~7
Dipylon Cc:m~ IS, 18
Dipylon Gelte ill
dockylrdl _ Pincus
.w......uU! 1]1, 140. 'S~

'4'.

""""" 13
edueotion h. 9), <;16. 100, 101. 111 . IJ);
_ tUM> tpINbriD. erotica, IYnlnlSiwn
1!etlom'18S

epJilUiuUtm, equality 6, )7, 4]- 7, 48. ,6,

61, 76. Ill; _ olso elite, hicrvchy. inequality
matJi4 140, 151 . ill
rispltoN !.h. 1 09=10
S leu l inion ill
E1euli. (dcmc) 111- ). 176, 110. ill
elile 1, 10, 6" 84- ' , 89. 9) - 4. 99. 1)0,
145. 169, ~ 11)
Empt:dodn 1
empin: 17.1- ); '" abtJ idcolQCY (of empire)
emporian I ~, 199- .101; _ alJo PH.eul
~ity 7, n., 19. 56. 60-1 , 66, 13]- S, ' )7.
140- 1. 14+-61. ul; '" olso MidilS,
p/riJi<I, Hlf-help, violence
~ Sl, 90-1 , 93. 9'. 116. 1]9
~dfl#. u< maptnlln
_JIDi 41. 70, 74. So, 8S
w(JJtbl _ _ _ eroticl

omI""'.

ErhthcU' I7) - S

erotics, II , S7- 9, 66-7, 94- 5, 100, 10).

113.116.114, 168; '" olsoeducation,
IYnlnQit.lm. Atu!i",. prottirution
ethnicity 75, 81 - .1; HI alJo
twJlldritJ 91 .,s, 108. 114; HI <JIm.thktics,
festival.
Eubulus ~
eueractillTl . . bcnefKton
Euripidn 60; (houle 00 lIB

barbo....w..

11]- 14.

~ tee

116.

11 8. 1.14. 110; _tUM>

ildminiltrloon, nlia)oUl

eKpioillloon 9
f.ce-lo-flC< conununiry 5. 16], nS
famity I , S. 9 , 44, 53. 97, ~ '" <Jim
Mloption, kinship, oiItol, womcn
r.thct-aon-n:I.oonship 44, 46. SO, 54. 88,
99. 101. 1)9, 168
festival. 8. 16, 88-9. 9)- 4, 1]6; JU olso
athlctia. ~ DionYl'i., PlJl.lthclUlca
fincI_ penalty
Finley, M. I. 41 , 7), .6)
forriplcn 1. 10. 69, 7S, 11- 9. 8]. l OS, I )S,
119, 188. 1<;16 .118; '" oJ., barbarians,
mctics, /WOXnM
F ort}' . . diJuUlb
F OUCIIUh , M . II] , 113
Fount.inhoUK i l l
friends, fricndahip _ pIHIio. plliII.>i
funeral. fimc:nry practiCQ I) , 16, )',

',0-,

gamn sa Ithletia, festivall

~e"\II (deme) 11 3

G.,land, R. 15"
GIIuthlct. P. 71-9
J("nder 11- 18, 5), H, 66- 7. 7S. 108- 9 ,
116; sa olso male ... female, women
&ift:a S6. 66, 97
soda, rcpracntltion of 2' , 2S, 28; HI <Jim
I .V. individual sod_, cull, fntivala, myth.
rdiJion, N.nCtUarin, CCftIpln

GotPu (on

Iumotm) ) - 4
l"lsip 51, 1<>0-4. ' 951, 2'4, ll.6
aovcmmml 46; '" ahD Idmininntion,
Athen" m ....trllcs. />filii, Stlte
~ par..
140. I S? 159-60
1JmI~" 90-.1, 98 ; ", <Jim lirurain
JYffiIUIIit.lm 57. 8,-6, 94- ', 98. 100, 101 ,
1 11, 11)

,.o...,,.

HaIimou$ (d ..... e) 176

HIIlKn , M. H . 6, 117, 1)0. Ill, ~
16). 19'
HmnodiOi and Arinoaeilon 59, 117
hatred _ ~nm;ty
H eaotlcUl 171
Hcplu.iauion i l l

>Os

I"""
Henein ,1- 19

Hennan, G. 3!::i. 6&

Hennell 1$- 6, 111; (bringina .wmtDJ) i
HnOOofUl !.l. M. ~ ~ 111. 120=.1

Hniod !!. ~ !..Y.. !.l!. Llc

~

6. u. M.

11 3- ~ ! 118;

_..Iso

CrobCl, pm,tiNtion, oympolium

ionaima, Iww"" ~ Z!i _ <Jlso pIoilia
hiuvchy (of lot"""",,) 1. ~ I n. !!J.,
102, ( in frlcndship) ~ (political)
1)2 - ), !!';I., In. 208, (bcrwn
ma';'II'JIICI) u.lI
H inchfcld Krlller !.f.. . 6- '7

H omer !!.l!.. ~

II!li (on

"""'""j

uL [7' ,

1.

homicide JU bosUnu
homoluuality '" crooo, lCXUality
honour _ cotnptition, crown, p/liJori",i"
boplilc ~

I!s.. i!=3..o 100-1, !.ill ~

hotpilility t. !.f.. :z., :z!, b. !g)

OOUKooid "' 1IiU.
loub,u 'lL '13, U!!i _ <JIso violence
Humbokll, AJexandtt von (on ..\on",m) 3

Lamian W.r L6D.

land '" Attic.
law (Athenian) !. I!t ll.. I l l, ~ 149;
(En&lith) 2Q, U. '49; _ ~ "",",os
I.wroun n t,.!.!>!l! Ht ~ ~ U9l!1.. 1}5- 9. 145. !..f1, 16 1. J01. 316 - 11;
(Odcion) 211
lawsuil !..f1, 149. 151 - 4, nti
l.wp"" Lepllltion ru '" abo Onocon,
L)'nItiUt. Solon
leil ure ~!!2.0. 213
Lcomi.. A. 171
lituraia !U. ~ ol!. 117- 1. i.!.!l9.. 101,
'49- SO, !.11. ~ JIO; ' " abo bencflelon, chorqia, ,;,pMrD, tyfN""""rdtiG,
trim...:;';"
Loraux, N . 1. tQI, ill
L~on (dwlIcter in Xcoophon , Symp.) !no

"

Lynll'JIIl, Athenian politiciln 1)0, 300,

,..",
LYCWYUI, Spartan l_w&iver 2
Macl'lilV~lli,

identity, political !.10

10 - 11 ,

!1.t

!.!1..

189- 90
ideolO8Y. Athenian (civic) ;to ~ !..!j=1.t
.110; (offrkndship) 11..u.!..11i (Ilf
empire) ~ !.!z... .89

idiorb I1S- .I3; _1Iho DprapunI,

individual ... c:ollec:tift, mq:iltnll6
individual ... . collective .s.. !.!. !..it 30-. , 1!..
:E.. 116- 8. 131- 4' , !f!. 145. ,87- 9
inequality ;to COrst.IUS) ~ il=!i
(inlfiNtionali.ed) k: SH <>40 hierarchy,
p8t1'Onqc

in.orpc:rwnal n:IUMml

sa U'IIUQ, pIoilia

IKhom.chl.ll (clIatacter in Xmophon ,

0.) n.llL uS

mqiltrlta
~ !.SQ.,

N . (on Venice) 1
116-8, I}G-I, 1)1-4 0. ~

t57, 00

(offices of) !!f..

~ 118

mile VI female .. 2.t LQ, !.s.. !.L ~ n.. 6}<L ~ ~ !H.. 119=22, 165, rn
Matlthon (dane) 171; (baltle of) 108.
,119. ~!!S
m..pnality ~ !.i!. ~
maniaae ~ h.!1.!Hi _ abo male VI
female, women
mart<clplacc su Agon., Athenian, qorG
M.atrin, R. 119- 2 0 , ;ufi
Mclcsi .... rlther of Thucydidel ~ '" abo
.thletiC'S

merics

81- 3, t}" ~ !.SIlL i2!.!Q:ii

_~fo~en

juron, jury '" diA<Wh

julti !. ~}o;>,. l1.t 1'1--40 ; (adminiuntion
of) ill
kinwp U::l.. 135. !.ll. ~ !H; '" dIM>

....Iis 2.1..l
Mctroon ill
Midi.. (enemy ofDcmoslhcnel) ~ ')3,
~!.11. 157-<), 164- 6, 2lll
Millett , P. 11t ~ 1!.. B ~ 66. t.6II

family, .Mw

IwinmritJ, u> ItoinoN f.t 1. N.. ~ 12> 126.

123. ~

Konon (defendant in Dcmoothcncl ZLnI)

lO}-4, 221

huftDI, social order 1.. l.=j, 10 n., 11. ll..

~M.~

_____

money ;tQ, lQ,. ~ lL ~ M.. U. in. !.!l..

'45, 149- 5 ' . !.S9.. !!1. 225; _abo
NIlb, credit, debl, liNl'Jies
Mother of the Gods, shrine of i l l

Mounichi. 175, !.Z!. !ll

myneriel !!.. 'l.ii ' " abo Elwlinion, Be"";,

_____

. --'-_ ~c:"__

166

JIIdu

myth h 11~ 19. ~!2!. '79, ~ ll7; _

GUo auwchtbony, .....,..,..","', and

individual ,odl

1.1'.

navy i!. !.!h!..!ll.o ~ 101 ~ l i _ GUo

PirKUl, muanllia
NUT ea.1 {inftLlencc on Greece) .1
NcsSOl Ampbora ~
Nidal ' 71, 105
_
&. &i _GUo law
non-<:itiun '" fo~an<""
Nympbl, hill of ill

Obet", J. l..11
Oc (demc) 165
Ocdipul 1'9~ 8 1 , 184. 105-6
.,.."'" Sl=.1> ~ ~ 2i. 116-17, 165, 1Al.
~ ~ ~ lli.o 114 ~6; '" GUo
family, indiridL1ll1 VI coUc~, lrinlhip,
prinlt vs public
Oinot: (demc) ill
oliprchy I 1M (J/.SQ Sparu., "aN
OlymhL1l

ill

onkr, public h 2.t

~ ~ IIli

(divine)

'" GUo ""'''''''

orpa1W 1l::t.. n.. 7!L ILl; 1M ahD ..soci ...

tionl, flo;...m

Otbomc, R. ~ !..Q1,
Ott....Jd, M . !.i,t

Paeania (deme) !.!.l., 166, m

p.tJIaGtN ~ il=.i. 101 , l..U.
Pallene (deme)
Pan Painter l!:'
PanathclUlu i2::!., l2L loi, 173, 10[,
In; _ ahD fnunl,
Panathcnaic WI)' ill
pa....,...phl J..U. [51, ~ ... <Ih<> ,",phi

~-

patron. 2lL. !.!!l.t 111 ; (Roman) 1011; _

.u...benefKton
Parthenon W
P.......i.u IIlll

Pc!oponnn;an War .iL 1,1

penallY !.]!, !lz.!J1i _ <Iho retali.tion
Peoplc ', CoLln _I.wroun
perform. nce ~ Ill . ~
Peri.nder, Ilw o f ill
Pericles .1.1. 2!.!Z. 116. ut. 1, 1,
~
Pencus 19- 10
Persian Wan .l8

pencmal politics U. ~ !.l; "" GUo enmiry,

crolics, plQIi<I, Idf-help
penL1llsion UL. !.!l. 119-10, !.Y. '84
Phaleroo (demc) m
phili<o, pIIiloi :z. ~ 12=1L SI -67. ~
!..2L 1 17-U; (and 11I'tion) !2. f.!.t d.
E.t ~ (and cqualil)') il=1i (institution.lised) 2!!i (with .Iaves) 61~6.ti (of
women) 1iz- 6s ; IN..u.o contnC'l. lfi/U.
MIIJirn..,~ , reciprocil)', !nI11
plliloti...ia. L ~!l,. ~ 22.t 111; _
..Ju/ cornpt"tition, crown
l'hocion Jjj
Pbocnkia (in comparil(lfl 10 Athens) ~

,.-6

pIt,yII_ aibe

Phylc !..!ll.o W; ' " .u... Pine"', Thirty

,."..,.
Pind., &so !2.t u.. LLL 1.12. i l l
Pirftus t. u.. J!.,. a!.!.S., 166, 173, 184, 190- 1OJ. 1[ 1. u8; _ahD lUI"}'
Piraeus alfC

ill

Pililtratus ~ 17S, ill

P;n_Rj~. J. II
PIaIK', bIInlc of .!H.. ~

I
I
I
I
I

l!.. e..1!.t ~ ~ H.! 110, .'.!l.. 100;

(on . . -) h4.
Pn,.,. I.H. I.D.. !..2L ~ i l l
police for 1
de Poli&na~, F. !.H=!
pdiJ L. u. ., tZ::!. SQ, ~ ~ 169-71 .
!.U.. !.!1::::2.t ~ _ abo ltate, "thelll
polireia. JU citiunship, polis, Rale
poIw-mai 117. ~ !lli _abtJ
tdminil traUon, mlgistral'"
politY ( in Mltodc) fi
population, I ;': of t. !.!z
pgntI _ M lai ... , Pf'OlUtution
POICidon 179- 10
ponery _ vucpainlm,
po.....,r (politic,l) H::!, !.1!2.. !.i2i (divine
OYer humens) H=!
prin't vs public L. Ub !.l=..!.:l.t !.L l1=!. ~
n..1l. Q9, IS?, 161, !2L.ue..!!l.
Plato

....

Probalinthu. (demc) m
property Z!!.
~ 149- SI , U!.!l!;
(riVUI) 'b !!l
proltituDon !!i. 100- 1 ; _ aha eroties,
AmI;"", KX
prG>:mta ~
Prytaneion U

u..

- ~ ----~-- -~---

I
I
I

,6,

J""'"
PyI... 116, 215
P'yt/uaOfli (on .0\,"",,,,) z

rank 18, 31,)4, 80; _ abo tUN!

fOIdprociry', 37. sa~s, 6S~6. 76-7. 96.
li S, 119, U2 - 4. 220- 1, HI; _ tlho
contn<:t, UuorU, philia

n:ligion _ .uoci.tionl (rull), t;IIlt,

(.... ;vallI, 10,b. m)'lh, .pcrifiC(,
Nnct\laria, ttrnples, and I.V. individual

....

"'tali,cioo ]'- 9; ,".:r40 l'lIrnit)', penaltY.

rccipmcit)'
rew1Inh 94; ... tlho crown

tIuuYr 117. ' 40-3. 195

Rhoda, P . J. 130, 133
Rome 206- 9. 21l- 13
RoUY<rcl , A . 110, 113 - ' )

rumour '" ,ouip

Sacnd Gli tl: 113
crifice 76, 78. 85. 88 )6, 112,:>.24
Sahlin., M . 52- 5
Salam~. hotdc of I ~
unctuann 174- 6, 2Q5. 211; 1M tlho
Icmples, and I.V. individual.hrines
Sappho 20, 111
w..:Jl IN lcisun:
school_ education
Seaford, R. 176- 7
self-control 7, H, 25. 28, l OS, 110, II).
111 - )
KIf-~lp

7. 130, 148- 9 . 151, 160; _ abo

violcn
Iclf.. u!1.cicn cy 7 68; . . tWt>.n!un
Sclymbria, IrClty with 128

Snnonidn 10
In, savillty 10, II, 15. 28- )0, 65. 8S .
91\; _ f.IlM> crotiQ, Icnder, Iu,,.;,..,
proot;NI;on

SimOnidcl 87, 156

m"",,, slavn 6, 9. 28- 30, S4, 6) - 4. b 1, 88 , '46, ' 55- 6 , 207. 209, 2.8 , 220,

,,,

aocial mobility 86, 88, 94, 98, '0 ' , .03

sociaLo rder ... A>tu...os
Soc:ratC'l' O, ll , 39, 94, 96, 109-24. It 4 ,
22}. u8; _ . Pllto, Xenophon
Solon, So lnnian lell$lation '4, 11- 4, 9S,
108,2 1}

Wpm'tII02,2 11
Sophocles I n-34
S~RI, Sparum 2- }. 107, ' }O, t84 - 1,
19} , 1 . S, 221, 218
<taro 9, n, 128, 168. tn, 18s- 6, 19 2, 1918: JU <JblJ democracy {l'C'ItOflltiOO o f,
40} Bel), Thirty Tyrants
nl.te I, 10, 12, 1)1 - 40, 110. 199; (nation)
8, 171,190; (modem) 7, 37, '34; IH tJ..,
guvemmCnI, polis
ItlNI 17, 6~, 7~, 81 - 2, un, li S, 219; '"
..bo .rislocracy, eLi.e, inequality, rank
Sloa (of the BuileUl) 214: (of the Herms)
214; ( Poikile) 107, 1'4- IS; (South) 216;
(of ZcUI) 2' 7
smJUP ' 30, ,}6- 7, ' l9. '9~
11I1\qQ1'011)6, .)8,
'S6, IS8
17)- 4, 177, III
Iy.;ophanl ' }2, 1$7, '68
symboLic vioLence 79
tymmory ' 46
Iymposiwn to. ' 1, 21- 4, )0. 84 - 104

,"""'-1!""""

",,,,i<u

')4.

')7

UCIlM 118
temples ' 74. 104- 5. 217- 18; _DUo
u.nctuariel
Tctrapolil. Marathonian 112. 184
theltre I , 9, '3. '06-7, ' 51. 187- 8. 21. ,
211: _ """ D ionysi.
Thebes.ll , .1}- 4, 20S, 1 19
Them;SIOClell,6. , , 1 1,-4, ' 99- 201,
IDS. 110
Theodole (chlrleter in Xenophon. At_. )
1I, 1I }- 14
1lM:ogniII0. 60
1lM:scUI 17)- S. 181 - }
1lIeImophoria64, . 65

dljlJJOj 78-9. 8S
Thiny Tynnts 9'1, 99- 100, 185- 6 , 193- 4,

".

Thorieus (de....,) 171

Thnce, Thncianl 104; '" <Jbq Bend;',
T riballi
Thnlybulus lS8; '" """ democracy
(restoration of, 40) BCII)
Thymacudac (demc) 172
Tim an;hUl (enemy of Aeschincs) 58, ' 0 11, '37, 199
Todd , S . 2, 1 ' , ' 13. 14S
lopop-aphy, Atheniln 170-90. 104, 212
trade, lBden 49- SO, 198- 101, 118

z68

'''''"

~unr ... "''''.....

Triboilli 71
uib!: 47. S8. 90> 91 - ). 101, 101. 1)) . 16.4 -

YioImc:e 9S. ~ 1,I- S. IS'. I62.

10),_ul
'timJe
_ ; _ tWt! Midiu., Klf~lp

9; ... tWt! C1~ilthcnes

rrWrardIi4lo, 1)9. !A., l&!.. tl!, IS9, ~
101; _ 111M> lituqica
Tricorinthus (dcmr;) 171
tNSt 7. )7. 47- , 1. S3- 4. ,6, 3\1. b
~lve 00dJ, AI .... of 174. 1 11. 114
tynnny 1)1. Ul j _ tWt! PiSiltrlNS.
Thin)' Tyrant5

""hili 9

UrbaniNlhon 1, 1.19- 10

allln . romnlllflKahon of S. 9. 10. ) I, )8,

71- 10, 11 1
YUq>Ilintina I). ,1-9, 94- '. 98; _ tWt!
Berlin Painta-. Hinc:hf'dd Krstet,
Neuos Amphora

Vcbkn. T. "
VC)'IW. P. 76. '"

Vid ...N.q""'" P. an
mwml. or an I" 17- 19. I Oj- II,
... tWt! ........... vawpainq
Yillqe_dmx

warflft I). )I - S. 187. Ltli _ tWt!

Umian War. Pdoponnailn urn.

Pcn.ian Wan, PI.Utl, ~
wIr1'iot 16. I), 1 1, 110
W.~t Ooct. ill
.-...lth I , 6 1. 71, 80-1, 'S- 6, II. 96. 91--9,
100, III, 14S, !.lQ,. 16,. 19S, 107- 1 ;
( publit) 1 10;'" ~ liturpc:o, money,
rank, IOCial mobili!!'. IUNS
Wbi~h...d . D . 61, b , 196
Whiunan., w..., ( q ' " -)
Winkler. J. J. 101
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