DOCSLIB.ORG

Against Neaera

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Against Neaera CLA /GWS 206: Women in the Ancient World Classical Greece Women & the Law Plan for Today • On the Murder of Eratosthenes • Adultery & Rape • Against Neaera • The Case • Citizenship • Prostitution • Adultery, again • Homework for Friday On the Murder of Eratosthenes: law on moicheia? [a law is read] He made no denial, members of the jury. He admitted his guilt, and begged and implored that he should not be put to death, offering to pay compensation. But I would not accept his estimate. I preferred to accord a higher authority to the law of the state, and I took that satisfaction which you, because you thought it the most just, have decreed for those who commit such offenses. (29) Cf. For what cloak-snatcher or thief or adulterer doing such an act secretly will be punished? For whereas those who are caught in the act are instantly put to death if they acknowledge their crime, those who have done the act secretly and deny their guilt are tried in the courts (Aeschines 1.91) On the Murder of Eratosthenes: justifiable homicide [a law recorded on pillar of Areopagus is read] You hear, members of the jury, how it is expressly decreed by the Court of the Areopagus itself, which both traditionally and in your own day has been granted the right to try cases of murder, that no person shall be found guilty of murder who catches an adulterer with his wife and inflicts this punishment. (30) If a man kills another unintentionally in an athletic contest, or overcoming him in a fight on the highway, or unwittingly in battle, or with his wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter, or concubine [pallakē] kept for procreation of free children, he shall not go into exile as a manslayer on that account. (Law quoted in Demosthenes 23.53) On the Murder of Eratosthenes: punishment of adulterer …if a man unlawfully imprisons another on a charge of adultery, the person in question may indict him before the Thesmothetae on a charge of illegal imprisonment; and if he shall convict the one who imprisoned him and prove that he was the victim of an unlawful plot, he shall be let off scot free, and his sureties shall be released from their engagement; but if it shall appear that he was an adulterer, the law bids his sureties give him over to the one who caught him in the act, and he in the court room may inflict upon him, as upon one guilty of adultery, whatever treatment he pleases, provided he use no knife. (Against Neaera 66) • Customary not to kill adulterer • Payments • Abuse and humiliation On the Murder of Eratosthenes: punishment for wife Law on Mocheia: If the husband catch the adulterer in the act, he (the husband) shall not be permitted to continue cohabitation with the wife. If he continues cohabitation, he shall be disenfranchised. It shall not be lawful for the woman to be admitted to the public sacrifices, if she has been caught with an adulterer. If she gains entrance, she shall be liable to suffer any ill-treatment whatsoever, short of death, and with impunity. (Against Neaera 87) * Solon, the most illustrious of lawgivers, prescribed—with the gravity appropriate to this earlier period—regulations for the proper conduct of women. He forbade all adornment for a woman caught in adultery, and she was not to attend public sacrifices, lest in mingling with proper women she corrupt them. And if she attended these, or dressed herself up, he ordered someone who come across her to tear her clothes and remove her jewelry and to beat her. He forbade them to murder her, or to leave her maimed, rather dishonoring her and setting her up for a life that was intolerable. (Aeschines, Against Timarchus 183) On the Murder of Eratosthenes: Adultery worse than rape? [a law is read] Thus, members of the jury, the law-giver considered violators deserving of a lesser penalty than seducers: for the latter he provided the death penalty; for the former the doubled fine. His idea was that those who use force are loathed by the persons violated, whereas those who have got their way by persuasion corrupt women’s minds, in such a way to make other men’s wives more attached to themselves than to their husbands, so that the whole house is in their power, and it is uncertain who is the children’s father, the husband or the lover… Rape • Rape as hybris • An act of violence that brought dishonor to the victim • Rape referred to with verbs meaning disgrace or dishonor • Graphē hybreos • Possible death penalty • “If anyone commits hybris against anyone, whether a child, a woman, or a man, free or slave, or commits any unlawful act against any of these, any Athenian who wishes may bring a public indictment.” (Demosthenes 21.47) Against Neaera: background • Type of Evidence • 4th century court speech • Apollodorus (394- after 343 BCE) • Speeches preserved with speeches of Demosthenes • Main Characters • Neaera – a metic and former hetaira, now living with Stephanos, 52-60 years old • Stephanos – Athenian citizen, Neaera’s partner and defender • Phano – allegedly a daughter of Neaera Against Neaera: the accusation …I wish to prove this to you clearly, that Neaera is a foreigner and that she lives in marriage with Stephanos, contrary to the laws. (16) * If a foreigner shall live as husband with an Athenian woman in any way or manner whatsoever, he may be indicted before the Thesmothetai by anyone who chooses to do so from among the Athenians having the right to bring charges. And if he be convicted, he shall be sold, himself and his property, and the third part shall belong to the one securing his conviction. The same principle shall hold also if a foreign woman shall live as wife with an Athenian, and the Athenian who lives as husband with the alien woman so convicted shall be fined one thousand drachmae. (16) Against Neaera: the prosecution and the defense • Prosecution: first prove she is a foreigner by recounting her life, then prove she is living in marriage with Stephanos and passing off her children as citizens. • No indication that Stephanos planned to argue that Neaera was a citizen. • Defense: Children were Stephanos’ from a citizen woman • Contention: not really whether Neaera is/was a prostitute, but whether the children are hers or not. I for my part wonder what in the world they will say to you in their defense. Will it be that this woman Neaera is of Athenian birth, and that she lives as his wife with Stephanus in accordance with the laws? But testimony has been offered, showing that she is a courtesan, and has been the slave of Nicarete. Or will they claim that she is not his wife, but that he keeps her in his house as a concubine? Yet the woman's sons, by having been introduced to the clansmen by Stephanus, and her daughter, by having been given in marriage to an Athenian husband, prove beyond question that he keeps her as his wife. (117) Against Neaera: Sex Work in Ancient Greece • Terminology • Pornē (pl. pornai) from pernanai “to sell” • “earth-beaters”; brothels • Flute-girls • Hetaira (pl. hetairai) from hetairein “to be a companion” “Tell me, Theodote,” he said, “have you a farm?” “Not I,” she answered. “Or a house, perhaps, that brings in money?” “No, nor a house.” “Some craftsmen, possibly?” “No, none.” “Then where do you get your livelihood from?” “If someone has become my friend and wants to treat me well, he is my livelihood.” (Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.11.4) Ludovisi Cnidian Aphrodite, Roman copy, Rome Against Neaera: Sex Work in Ancient Greece • Famous hetairai: Aspasia, Phryne, Neaera • Neaera’s life as a sex worker • Slave of Nikarete in Corinth • Purchased by two customers (376 BCE, Neaera 19-24 years old) • Purchased freedom with help from lover Phrynion, an Athenian citizen (374 BCE, 21-26 years old) • Mistreated by Phrynion in Athens and leaves for Megara (372 BCE, 22-27 years old) • Taken back to Athens by Stephanos, who offered protection from Phrynion (371 BCE, 24-29 years old) Against Neaera: courtesans, concubines, and wives This is matrimony: when a man begets children and presents his sons to his phratry and deme, and gives his daughters, as being his own, in marriage to their husbands. Hetaerai we keep for pleasure, concubines (pallakai) for daily attendance upon our person, but wives for the procreation of legitimate children and to be the faithful guardians of our household. (122) Against Neaera: Phano’s first marriage • Prosecution: Phano’s first husband divorced her because he discovered she was not an Athenian citizen Phrastor observed that she was not well-behaved nor willing to be guided by him, and at the same time he found out for certain that she was not the daughter of Stephanos, but only of Neaera, so that he had been deceived on the first occasion when he was betrothed to her…he turned the young woman out of his house after having lived with her for a year and when she was pregnant; and he refused to return her dowry. (51) If anyone shall give an alien woman in marriage to an Athenian man, representing her as being related to himself, he shall lose his civic rights and his property shall be confiscated, and a third part of it shall belong to the one who secures his conviction. And anyone entitled to do so may indict such a person before the Thesmothetae, just as in the case of usurpation of citizenship.(52) • Defense (presumably): Phano’s first marriage failed because of character differences, but the son born to that marriage was legitimate and registered as a citizen, meaning his mother was a citizen • But whose daughter is Phano? Against Neaera: Phano and a moichos Epaenetus, of Andros, an old lover of Neaera, who had spent large sums of money upon her, used to lodge with these people whenever he came to Athens on account of his affection for Neaera.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Who Freed Athens? J
    Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources Edited by Eric W. Robinson Copyright © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd The Beginnings of the Athenian Democracv: Who Freed Athens? J Introduction Though the very earliest democracies lildy took shape elsewhere in Greece, Athens embraced it relatively early and would ultimately become the most famous and powerful democracy the ancient world ever hew. Democracy is usually thought to have taken hold among the Athenians with the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes, ca. 508/7 BC. The tyrant Peisistratus and later his sons had ruled Athens for decades before they were overthrown; Cleisthenes, rallying the people to his cause, made sweeping changes. These included the creation of a representative council (bode)chosen from among the citizens, new public organizations that more closely tied citizens throughout Attica to the Athenian state, and the populist ostracism law that enabled citizens to exile danger- ous or undesirable politicians by vote. Beginning with these measures, and for the next two centuries or so with only the briefest of interruptions, democracy held sway at Athens. Such is the most common interpretation. But there is, in fact, much room for disagree- ment about when and how democracy came to Athens. Ancient authors sometimes refer to Solon, a lawgiver and mediator of the early sixth century, as the founder of the Athenian constitution. It was also a popular belief among the Athenians that two famous “tyrant-slayers,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton, inaugurated Athenian freedom by assas- sinating one of the sons of Peisistratus a few years before Cleisthenes’ reforms - though ancient writers take pains to point out that only the military intervention of Sparta truly ended the tyranny.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roles of Solon in Plato's Dialogues
    The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Samuel Ortencio Flores, M.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Bruce Heiden, Advisor Anthony Kaldellis Richard Fletcher Greg Anderson Copyrighy by Samuel Ortencio Flores 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a study of Plato’s use and adaptation of an earlier model and tradition of wisdom based on the thought and legacy of the sixth-century archon, legislator, and poet Solon. Solon is cited and/or quoted thirty-four times in Plato’s dialogues, and alluded to many more times. My study shows that these references and allusions have deeper meaning when contextualized within the reception of Solon in the classical period. For Plato, Solon is a rhetorically powerful figure in advancing the relatively new practice of philosophy in Athens. While Solon himself did not adequately establish justice in the city, his legacy provided a model upon which Platonic philosophy could improve. Chapter One surveys the passing references to Solon in the dialogues as an introduction to my chapters on the dialogues in which Solon is a very prominent figure, Timaeus- Critias, Republic, and Laws. Chapter Two examines Critias’ use of his ancestor Solon to establish his own philosophic credentials. Chapter Three suggests that Socrates re- appropriates the aims and themes of Solon’s political poetry for Socratic philosophy. Chapter Four suggests that Solon provides a legislative model which Plato reconstructs in the Laws for the philosopher to supplant the role of legislator in Greek thought.
    [Show full text]
  • THE EPONYMOUS OFFICIALS of GREEK CITIES: I Aus: Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 83 (1990) 249–288
    ROBERT K. SHERK THE EPONYMOUS OFFICIALS OF GREEK CITIES: I aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 83 (1990) 249–288 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 249 The Eponymous Officials of Greek Cities: I (A) Introduction The eponymous official or magistrate after whom the year was named in Greek cities or as- sociations is well known to all epigraphists under various titles: archon, prytanis, stephanepho- ros, priest, etc. Some details about them have appeared in many articles and in scattered pas- sages of scholarly books. However, not since the publication of Clemens Gnaedinger, De Graecorum magistratibus eponymis quaestiones epigraphicae selectae (Diss. Strassburg 1892) has there been a treatment of the subject as a whole, although the growth of the material in this regard has been enormous.1 What is missing, however, is an attempt to bring the material up to date in a comprehensive survey covering the whole Greek world, at least as far as possible. The present article, of which this is only the first part, will present that material in a geographically organized manner: mainland Greece and the adjacent islands, then the Aegean islands, Asia Minor and Thrace, Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Sicily, and southern Italy. All the epi- graphic remains of that area have been examined and catalogued. General observations and conclusions will be presented after the evidence as a whole has been given. I. Earliest Examples of Eponymity The earliest form of writing appeared in Sumer and Assyria sometime within the last half of the fourth millennium BC, and from there it spread westward. Thus, it is not at all surpris- ing that the Mesopotamian civilizations also made the earliest use of assigning names or events to years in dating historical records.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ependytes in Classical Athens
    THE EPENDYTES IN CLASSICAL ATHENS (PLATES 51-55) To the memoryof Richard D. Sullivan T HE FEW REFERENCES to the ependytes in Classical Greek literature occur in three fragments of Attic drama preserved by Pollux (VII.45): XLTWV EpELSSXLTCTVLOTKOS' XLTCeJVLOV, LaTLOV. ETEL E KaL 0 E(XEV8VVT7)S- EOTLV EV T7 TCV 7OXX XP7OEL, OOTLS' /3OVXOLTO KaL TOVTC TO ovo4LalTL /07)OE^LV .avIX() OVTL, XA7pTTEOvavro EK TCeV 1o00OK\EOVS1 IXvvTpLCOV (TrGF, F 439): 7rE-atXOVSTE v77oaL XLVOYEVE^LST' E'JTEv8VTas. KaL ?EOT7LS UE 7TOVO')TLV EV T^ HEvOEZL(TrGF, I, F 1 c): 'pyq( VOMLJ'EVE/3PL' EXELTEV 3VT7_VV. aVTLKPVS'86E OKELTO E'VTi- NLKOXacpovs,'HpaKXEL X0PopYW (I, p. 771.5 Kock): 4pEPEVVZV TaXECos, XLTCvJa TOVO E7XEV8VTflV Tf VVVXP/3VVXEL EL LV. The lines are disappointingly undescriptive,indicating only that an ependytes can be of linen and is somehow associatedwith the chiton, and that at an earlier period (?) it had a more general meaning, closer to the root of the word, as "thatwhich is put on over."1 Works frequently cited are abbreviatedas follows: Add = L. Burn and R. Glynn, Beazley Addenda,Oxford 1982 Bieber = M. Bieber, History of the Greekand Roman Theater,2nd ed., Princeton 1981 Burn = L. Burn, The Meidias Painter, Oxford 1987 Laskares = N. Laskares, Mop4aL LEpE'(V (X;r'LapXaLov MV7JEfLV?>>, AE?\T 8, 1923 (1925), pp. 103-116 LSAM = F. Sokolowski,Lois sacre'esde l'Asie Mineure, Paris 1955 LSCG = F. Sokolowski,Lois sacreesdes cite'sgrecques, Paris 1969 LSCG-S = F. Sokolowski,Lois sacre'esdes cite'sgrecques. Supple'ment, Paris 1962 Mantes = A. G.
    [Show full text]
  • Greece • Crete • Turkey May 28 - June 22, 2021
    GREECE • CRETE • TURKEY MAY 28 - JUNE 22, 2021 Tour Hosts: Dr. Scott Moore Dr. Jason Whitlark organized by GREECE - CRETE - TURKEY / May 28 - June 22, 2021 May 31 Mon ATHENS - CORINTH CANAL - CORINTH – ACROCORINTH - NAFPLION At 8:30a.m. depart from Athens and drive along the coastal highway of Saronic Gulf. Arrive at the Corinth Canal for a brief stop and then continue on to the Acropolis of Corinth. Acro-corinth is the citadel of Corinth. It is situated to the southwest of the ancient city and rises to an elevation of 1883 ft. [574 m.]. Today it is surrounded by walls that are about 1.85 mi. [3 km.] long. The foundations of the fortifications are ancient—going back to the Hellenistic Period. The current walls were built and rebuilt by the Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, and Ottoman Turks. Climb up and visit the fortress. Then proceed to the Ancient city of Corinth. It was to this megalopolis where the apostle Paul came and worked, established a thriving church, subsequently sending two of his epistles now part of the New Testament. Here, we see all of the sites associated with his ministry: the Agora, the Temple of Apollo, the Roman Odeon, the Bema and Gallio’s Seat. The small local archaeological museum here is an absolute must! In Romans 16:23 Paul mentions his friend Erastus and • • we will see an inscription to him at the site. In the afternoon we will drive to GREECE CRETE TURKEY Nafplion for check-in at hotel followed by dinner and overnight. (B,D) MAY 28 - JUNE 22, 2021 June 1 Tue EPIDAURAUS - MYCENAE - NAFPLION Morning visit to Mycenae where we see the remains of the prehistoric citadel Parthenon, fortified with the Cyclopean Walls, the Lionesses’ Gate, the remains of the Athens Mycenaean Palace and the Tomb of King Agamemnon in which we will actually enter.
    [Show full text]
  • Archons (Commanders) [NOTICE: They Are NOT Anlien Parasites], and Then, in a Mirror Image of the Great Emanations of the Pleroma, Hundreds of Lesser Angels
    A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO UFOs, Aliens, and the Question of Contact MUST-SEE THE OCCULT REASON FOR PSYCHOPATHY Organic Portals: Aliens and Psychopaths KNOWLEDGE THROUGH GNOSIS Boris Mouravieff - GNOSIS IN THE BEGINNING ...1 The Gnostic core belief was a strong dualism: that the world of matter was deadening and inferior to a remote nonphysical home, to which an interior divine spark in most humans aspired to return after death. This led them to an absorption with the Jewish creation myths in Genesis, which they obsessively reinterpreted to formulate allegorical explanations of how humans ended up trapped in the world of matter. The basic Gnostic story, which varied in details from teacher to teacher, was this: In the beginning there was an unknowable, immaterial, and invisible God, sometimes called the Father of All and sometimes by other names. “He” was neither male nor female, and was composed of an implicitly finite amount of a living nonphysical substance. Surrounding this God was a great empty region called the Pleroma (the fullness). Beyond the Pleroma lay empty space. The God acted to fill the Pleroma through a series of emanations, a squeezing off of small portions of his/its nonphysical energetic divine material. In most accounts there are thirty emanations in fifteen complementary pairs, each getting slightly less of the divine material and therefore being slightly weaker. The emanations are called Aeons (eternities) and are mostly named personifications in Greek of abstract ideas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Athenian Prytaneion Discovered? 35
    HESPERIA 75 (2006) THE ATHENIAN Pages 33-81 PRYTANEION DISCOVERED? ABSTRACT The author proposes that the Athenian Prytaneion, one of the city's most important civic buildings, was located in the peristyle complex beneath Agia Aikaterini Square, near the ancient Street of the Tripods and theMonument of Lysikrates in the modern Plaka. This thesis, which is consistent with Pausa s nias topographical account of ancient Athens, is supported by archaeological and epigraphical evidence. The identification of the Prytaneion at the eastern foot of the Acropolis helps to reconstruct the map of Archaic and Classical Athens and illuminates the testimony of Herodotos and Thucydides. most The Prytaneion is the oldest and important of the civic buildings in to us ancient Athens that have remained lost until the present.1 For the or Athenians the Prytaneion, town hall, the office of the city's chief official, as a symbolized the foundation of Athens city-state, its construction form ing an integral part of Theseus's legendary synoecism of Attica (Thuc. 2.15.2; Plut. Thes. 24.3). Like other prytaneia throughout the Greek world, the Athenian Prytaneion represented what has been termed the very "life common of the polis," housing the hearth of the city, the "inextinguishable and immovable flame" of the goddess Hestia.2 As the ceremonial center was of Athens, the Prytaneion the site of both public entertainment for 1.1 am to the to a excellent for greatly indebted express my heartfelt thanks number suggestions improving this 1st Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classi of scholars who have given generously article.
    [Show full text]
  • Άλλες Ονομασίες Γεωγραφική Θέση Ιστορική Περιοχή Chersonesus T
    IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Kovalenko Sergei (19/12/2007) Για παραπομπή : Kovalenko Sergei , "Chersonesus Taurica (Antiquity)", 2007, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Εύξεινος Πόντος URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10741> Chersonesus Taurica (Antiquity) Περίληψη : Chersonesos in the course of its history developed into one of the most important cities of the Northern Black Sea Littoral. It was also distinguished for being the only dorian colony in this area. The written testimony and unearthed epigraphies give information on the city's name, the date of its foundation as well as on population issues and its political organization. On the other hand, archaeological investigations have provided research with evidence concerning economy, religion and urban planning. Άλλες Ονομασίες Γεωγραφική Θέση Crimea, Ukraine. Ιστορική Περιοχή Heracleian Peninsula 1.1 Location The ancient city of Chersonesus is situated on the northern shore of Heracleian peninsula within the boundaries of the modern city of Sevastopol in the south‑western Crimea. It spread over the plateau between the modern bays of Karantinnaya and Pesochnaya. The square plateau is approximately 36 ha and its relief is formed by numerous dried ‑ up river‑beds. The Karantinnaya Bay served as the main harbor of Chersonesus. Its slightly sloping western shore was ideal for dockyards, particularly for repairing and drying up the ships. Chersonesusʹ location was a perfect choice from a military point of view. On the north and the east the city was defended by the sea and there were deep ravines separating Chersonesus from the mainland on the south and the west. Along the ridges of these very ravines the city fortification walls were constructed.
    [Show full text]
  • Theorodokoi, Asylia, and the Macedonian Cities
    Theorodokoi, Asylia, and the Macedonian Cities Ben Raynor n influential picture of the ancient Macedonian king- dom in twentieth-century scholarship was of a polity A somehow inimical to the presence or development of the polis as a political or social formation. Macedonia had urban communities, but it was argued that they possessed no genuine civic life.1 An increasing body of epigraphic evidence has overturned such a picture. Civic decrees, laws, and dedica- tions now leave us in no doubt that, from at least the mid- fourth century B.C., the Macedonian kingdom was a land of genuine poleis. Cities throughout Macedonia possessed civic institutions recognisable from elsewhere in the Aegean world (magistrates, councils, etc.) which structured meaningful local political life.2 Much recent work on Macedonia has focused on 1 For a clear summary see M. B. Hatzopoulos, “L’état Macédonien an- tique: un nouveau visage,” CRAI (1997) 7–25, at 11–12. Macedonia as hostile to the polis: A. Heuss, Stadt und Herrscher des Hellenismus (Leipzig 1937) 279–280; F. Schachermeyer, Alexander der Grosse: Ingenium und Macht (Graz/ Vienna 1949) 29; H. Bengtson, Philipp und Alexander der Grosse (Munich 1985) 121. 2 The epigraphic evidence to date was compiled in M. B. Hatzopoulos, Macedonian Institutions under the Kings I–II (Athens 1996); see also his “Some New Documents from the Macedonian Chancery. Problems of Form and Content,” in ΚΕΡΜΑΤΙΑ ΦΙΛΙΑΣ. Τιµητικός τόµος για τον Ιωάννη Τουρα- τσογλου (Athens 2009) II 47–55, “The Cities,” in R. Lane Fox (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Ancient Macedon (Leiden/Boston 2011) 235–241, and annual commentary in Bulletin épigraphique.
    [Show full text]
  • Space in Aristophanes: Portraying the Civic and Domestic Worlds in Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps
    Space in Aristophanes: Portraying the Civic and Domestic Worlds in Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps Nina Papathanasopoulou Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 ©2013 Nina Papathanasopoulou All rights reserved ABSTRACT Space in Aristophanes: Portraying the Civic and Domestic Worlds in Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps Nina Papathanasopoulou This dissertation explores the treatment of the scenic and diegetic space in Aristophanes’ Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps, and the comedies’ attitude towards a variety of domestic and civic spaces, taking into consideration the cultural context in which the plays were composed. I argue that by using visual creativity and the available staging resources, Aristophanes calls attention to the consequences of the Peloponnesian war on the Athenians’ civic and domestic life. Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps all literalize in an imaginative way the impact of the dysfunction of the polis – the assembly, the agora, the boule, the lawcourts – on the oikos and the householder. The plays not only explore what happens to the oikos itself, but also the implications for a polis in which the oikos loses its place of prominence. Acharnians displays an example of the polis’ dysfunction in an assembly meeting at the Pnyx, and traces an individual’s frustration with this polis and his journey back to his oikos. We witness the reactions of Dikaiopolis and the Acharnians, both of whom have been forced out of their oikoi, have had their properties ravaged, and experience their estrangement with nostalgia or anger. I argue that through a private peace treaty Dikaiopolis is able to return to his oikos, and then expand his domestic space in order to be reintegrated into a functional community.
    [Show full text]
  • PRINIATIKOS PYRGOS and the CLASSICAL PERIOD in EASTERN CRETE: Feasting and Island Identities Author(S): Brice L
    PRINIATIKOS PYRGOS AND THE CLASSICAL PERIOD IN EASTERN CRETE: Feasting and Island Identities Author(s): Brice L. Erickson Source: Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 79, No. 3 (July-September 2010), pp. 305-349 Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40981053 . Accessed: 18/03/2014 10:15 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 71.168.218.10 on Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:15:14 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions HESPERIA 79 (2OIO) PRINIATIKOS PYRGOS Pages30 ss '49 AND THE CLASSICAL PERIOD IN EASTERN CRETE Feasting and Island Identities ABSTRACT Classical Creteis stillpoorly understood archaeologically, although recent workon local ceramicsequences has begunto changethe traditional picture ofisolation and declinein theSth century b.c. At PriniatikosPyrgos in the Mirabelloregion of eastern Crete, relatively rich phases of Classical occupation providea detailedview of local ceramicdevelopment.
    [Show full text]
  • Archon - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Archon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon#Gnostic_archons Archon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Archon (Gr. ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες) is a Greek word that means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ἀρχ-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchy. Contents 1 Ancient Greece 2 Byzantine Empire 3 Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople 4 Gnostic Archons 4.1 The Hebdomad 4.2 Mandaean Archons 4.3 Manichaean Archons 4.4 Origins 4.4.1 As planets 4.4.2 In Zoroastrianism 4.5 Usage 4.5.1 In Judaism and Christianity 4.5.2 In Greek theology 5 Other uses 5.1 Real life 5.2 Books 5.3 Movies and television 5.4 Role-playing games 5.5 Video games 5.6 Music 5.7 Others 6 References 6.1 Bibliography Ancient Greece In the early literary period of ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called Archon.[1] The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "master of the tables" at syssitia to "Roman governor". 1 of 14 03/12/2010 07:27 PM Archon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon#Gnostic_archons [citation needed] In Roman terms, the board of archontes ruled by potestas, whereas the Basileus ("King") had auctoritas. In Athens a system of nine concurrent Archons evolved, led by three respective remits over the civic, military, and religious affairs of the state: the three office holders being known as the Eponymous archon (Ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων; the "name" ruler, who gave his name to the year in which he held office), the Polemarch ("war ruler"), and the Archon Basileus ("king ruler").[2] Originally these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years.
    [Show full text]