Trials from Classical Athens

by Christopher Carey

The ancient Athenian legal system is both excitingly familiar and disturbingly alien to the modern reader. It functions within a democracy which shares many of our core values but operates in a disconcertingly different way. Trials from Classical Athens assembles a number of surviving speeches written for trials in Athenian courts, dealing with themes which range from murder and assault, through slander and sexual misconduct to property and trade disputes and minor actions for damage. The texts illuminate key aspects both of Athenian social and political life and the functioning of the Athenian legal system. This new and revised volume adds to the existing selection of key forensic speeches with three new translations accompanied by lucid explanatory notes. The introduction is augmented with a section on Athenian democracy to make the book more accessible to those unfamiliar with the Athenian political system. To aid accessibility further a new glossary is included as well as illustrations for the first time. Providing a unique and guided introduction to the Athenian legal system and explaining how the system reveals the values and social life of Classical Athens, Trials from Classical Athens remains a fundamental resource for students of Ancient Greek history and anyone interested in the law, social history and oratory of the Ancient Greek world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Law

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 1997

About the author

Chris Carey is a British classical scholar, currently Professor Emeritus of Greek at University College London (UCL). He held the Professorship of Greek at UCL, from 2003 until his retirement in 2016. In April 2000 The Independent named him one of the "stars of modern classical scholarship".

Reviews

[Bertie Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trials from Classical Athens give an overview of the few surviving legal trials from Classical Athens covering cases of homicide, assaults, property, commerce, citizenship and slander.

Each case is given a brief introduction from the writer giving context on what the case is about and the people involved. There is also a conclusion which stipulates the importance of the case as well as speculating on the validity of the statements made by the speaker.

The book gave me a lot of interesting insights into the Athenian legal system, which was more advanced than I imagined. Although there is a lack of lawyers and judges, the system of adjudicating guilt was very dense and organised. Unlike modern trials each side involved in the case gives their argument on their own, giving a focus on the rhetorical skill to succeed in a case. Speakers would use relevant laws, depositions and witness testimony to make their point before a body of citizens would vote on which side of the story they believed.

The trials are recorded in the notes of speech writers such as Demosthenes and Lysias, whose work has been some of the fortunate few to have survived to the present day. Even though it's a gift to have these speeches at all it's frustrating that all of the cases are written prior to the trial itself, meaning we only have one side of the story and have no way of knowing the outcome of the trials. Additionally, most of the trials don't record the witness testimony and laws, which would go a long way in helping to understand if the prosecutor/defence is grasping at straws or actually has convincing evidence.

Despite these drawbacks, I found the book had some interesting cases that demonstrated the highly advanced state of rhetoric in Greece as well as giving a great deal of insights into the Ancient Athenian legal system.

[Ana Teoh · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's supposed to be a complement to a textbook. As far as I can tell, it did exactly what it set out to do. As someone not studying Ancient Athenian law, I found the commentary interesting and helpful, but perhaps the explanations are a little elementary.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

thus far, it's intriguing and frustrating. as you can tell from the title, it's a series of trials from classical athens. actually it's various defense and prosecution speeches. that's where it gets frustrating! we only have one side of the story! my instructor introduced this book to us by likening it to modern csi/law and order shows...with that in mind, it makes it an interesting read! it's amazing to see how trials were "conducted" in 5th century athens. no lawyers, no judge, no police...just rhetoric, sweet rhetoric...