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Moicheia, and a Comparative Study with Near Eastern Adultery Law Demonstrates That This Created an Important Difference in How It Was Punished Durham E-Theses Ancient Greek Law in a Near Eastern Context: Comparative Case Studies of Homicide Pollution and Adultery Law in Greece and the Near East CLAPPERTON, BEN How to cite: CLAPPERTON, BEN (2019) Ancient Greek Law in a Near Eastern Context: Comparative Case Studies of Homicide Pollution and Adultery Law in Greece and the Near East, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13093/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Ben Clapperton Ancient Greek Law in a Near Eastern Context: Comparative Case Studies of Homicide Pollution and Adultery Law in Greece and the Near East Abstract: This thesis comprises two case studies which each examine a point of Greek law in the context of the Near East. Significant work has been done in recognising that the Greeks were in a network of exchange with the Near East; but whilst progress has been made in areas such as literature, less work has been done in legal history. In part, this is because a similarity found in a law cannot point to influence in the way it can in other fields. A difference in constitutional law has also erected a barrier. In the case of private law, however, the issues facing the Greeks were the same as the ones facing their neighbours. The first case study focuses on Athenian homicide pollution; which has been influenced by studies such as that of Robert Parker who believed it to be a relic of an earlier period that had no place in Classical Athens. A comparative study with similar beliefs in the Hebrew Bible instead demonstrates that in each society it represented the concerns of the community, who could not otherwise be involved in what was legally a private offence. The second focuses on adultery law. The Greeks differed from their neighbours in subsuming adultery into the broader offence of moicheia, and a comparative study with Near Eastern adultery law demonstrates that this created an important difference in how it was punished. In the Near East, adultery was an offence committed by the wife and her lover against the husband, who was required to mete out an equal level of punishment to each. In Athens and Gortyn, the offence was by the moichos, and no punishment was imposed on the woman. Collectively, these case studies help to demonstrate the value of studying Greek legal history in a wider regional context. ANCIENT GREEK LAW IN A NEAR EASTERN CONTEXT Comparative Case Studies of Homicide Pollution and Adultery Law in Greece and the Near East. Ben Clapperton Collingwood College PhD in Classics Department of Classics and Ancient History University of Durham 2018 1 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 5 SCHOLARSHIP ON GREECE AND THE NEAR EAST ............................................................................................. 7 ARCHAIC GREEK AND NEAR EASTERN LAW ................................................................................................. 15 USE OF THE TEXTS AND SOURCES .............................................................................................................. 26 A COMPARISON OF HOMICIDE POLLUTION BELIEFS IN CLASSICAL ATHENS AND THE HEBREW BIBLE .......................................................................................................................................... 31 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 31 REVIEW OF THE SCHOLARSHIP ON POLLUTION ....................................................................................... 36 CLASSICAL ATHENS ......................................................................................................................... 45 CLASSICAL ATHENIAN HOMICIDE LAW ....................................................................................................... 46 CLASSICAL ATHENIAN HOMICIDE POLLUTION .............................................................................................. 51 SCHOLARSHIP ON CLASSICAL ATHENIAN HOMICIDE POLLUTION ...................................................................... 70 THE HEBREW BIBLE ......................................................................................................................... 86 HOMICIDE LEGISLATION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE ............................................................................................ 88 HOMICIDE POLLUTION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE ........................................................................................... 109 THE FUNCTION OF HOMICIDE POLLUTION IN CLASSICAL ATHENS AND THE HEBREW BIBLE ............................ 128 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 137 A COMPARISON OF NEAR EASTERN ADULTERY AND GREEK MOICHEIA .................................... 139 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 139 ADULTERY LEGISLATION IN THE NEAR EAST ........................................................................................ 142 THE DEFINITION OF ADULTERY ............................................................................................................... 144 PUNISHMENTS FOR ADULTERY ................................................................................................................ 150 OATHS AND ORDEALS ........................................................................................................................... 177 EQUAL PUNISHMENT ............................................................................................................................ 193 MOICHEIA LEGISLATION IN CLASSICAL GREECE .................................................................................... 198 THE DEFINITION OF MOICHEIA ............................................................................................................... 200 PUNISHMENTS FOR MOICHEIA ................................................................................................................ 239 OATHS AND ORDEALS ........................................................................................................................... 257 EQUAL PUNISHMENT ............................................................................................................................ 267 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 269 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 275 2 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 280 3 4 Introduction The overarching aim of this study is to help bring the discipline of Greek legal history into an increasing climate of openness in modern scholarship to studying Greek civilisation as both influenced by and in a network of exchange with the civilisations of the Near East. Fields such as art, literature, and philosophy have led the way in these kinds of studies, and in presenting parallels between Near Eastern and Greek works they have helped to demonstrate that the Greeks did not exist in isolation but were influenced by their neighbours. The focus of this study is, however, a purely comparative one, which is primarily because common legislation against offences such as adultery or 5 homicide by the Greeks and their neighbours is much less likely to demonstrate influence than a similarity in literary motifs. Instead of seeking influence, a comparison between the respective sets of legislation and legal documents can highlight similarities and differences which form the basis for exploring issues in Greek legal history from a different perspective. Examining these similarities and differences can provide insights which would go unnoticed in studies focused solely upon the Greeks, whether by adding additional context to a debate on a point of Greek law or bringing to light questions that would never otherwise have been asked if the differences between the Greeks and their neighbours were not examined. As may be obvious from the preceding discussion, whilst what follows is a comparison of Greek and Near Eastern legal history, the focus here is on what this comparison can tell us about Greek legal history, rather than what it can tell us about Near Eastern legal history. This should not be taken to mean that the study assumes the comparison can only be useful in one direction, but rather that it is simply the scope of this particular study. The method chosen for this
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