The Age of Pericles | Athenian Courts and Justice (Lecture 17)

Lecture 17: The Athenians were justifiably proud of their legal system and saw it as the basis of their democracy. In this lecture, we investigate the history of Athenian law and examine how the system differed from modern law codes and practices. Beginning with an examination of Draco’s law on homicide, an early law that the Athenians upheld for hundreds of years, we find that Athenian law was based on the principle of self-help. With no state prosecutors or defense lawyers, plaintiffs and respondents were expected to prosecute and defend their own cases. The family was important, and many cases, including murder and rape, which we would see as crimes against the individual, were regarded as crimes involving the entire family. By the time of Pericles, judges in some cases conducted preliminary hearings, but most cases were decided by massed panels of jurors numbering in the hundreds. In this lecture, we will examine a typical legal case involving assault and battery. We will see how rules of evidence and standards of testimony were far less regulated than they are today. The emphasis was not on the truth, but on shaping the opinion of the jurors and convincing them that the speaker was a man of the middle way, a moderate, as opposed to the violent, unrestrained, and “unAthenian” opponent.

Suggested Reading:
Freeman, K. The Murder of Herodes. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1991.

Lecture 18: https://rumble.com/v5f0xrp-the-age-of-pericles-democracy-and-government-lecture-18.html