Socrates in the Agora and the Legal System of Ancient Athens

OUTLINE

The archaeological excavations of Athens, and in particular the Agora excavations carried out by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, have produced a remarkable alignment of artefacts, sites, and ancient literary sources to provide an extraordinary access to the lives and times of the 5th and 4th Century BC Athenians, bringing to life the indictment, trial and execution of Socrates in 399 BC, the prosecution speeches of the great orators such as Lysias and Demosthenes, and Aristophanes’ satire of the legal system and its practitioners. In this course, with the aid of archaeology and the ancient literary sources, we shall look at the remarkable sophistication of the Athenian Legal System and some of the great trials of Classical Athens, and learn that the Ancient Athenians went to court over much the same things that we do, from fighting over deceased estates to suing for defamation.

OUTLINE NOTES OF THE CONTENTS OF THE FIVE SESSIONS

SESSION ONE – A OVERVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY

The historical and geographical context. The topography of ancient Attica and Athens. The archaeological sites of legal significance in and around Athens. The excavations in the Agora and the artefacts of legal significance found in the excavations.The policing of Attica and Athens: the role of the citizens themselves, the Eleven, the Sythian slaves, the Ephebes, the Agoranamoi.

SESSION TWO – THE HOMICIDE COURTS

The ancient Areopagus Council (even today the name of the Supreme Court in Greece is the "Areios Pagos"). The archaeological sites on the Areopagus (the Hill of Aries) just below the Acropolis. The Areopagus Council as a court for intentional homicide and the debate about its constitutional and other possible roles. The four other homicide courts for different forms of homicide (and the archaeological record for these courts): the Palladion, the Delphinion, the Phreato, and the Prytaneion.

SESSION THREE – THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES

The remarkable alignment of archaeological finds in the Agora in particular the Royal Stoa site, and the four works of Plato that relate to the indictment trial and execution of Socrates, the ‘Apology’, the ‘Euthyphro’, the ‘Crito’ and the ‘Phaedo’.

Aristophanes' satirical treatment of Socrates and of the sophistic movement  in ‘The Clouds’. The equation of Socrates with the Sophists.

The historical context of the indictment of Socrates.

The role of the King Archon generally and in indictments concerning impiety. Socrates’ defence speech, and plea in mitigation, his conviction and execution.

A survey of the debates still raging today about the trial of Socrates.

The court sites and site of the prison found in the Agora, along with ampoules found in the prison site and thought by some to have facilitated the drinking of hemlock. Did Socrates drink hemlock, or was his death as peaceful as Plato portrayed it?

SESSION FOUR – THE ORATORS

The heroic stature in the minds of Roman luminaries such as Cicero of the Greek orators of some three centuries earlier. The famous ten: Lysias, Isaeus, Hyperides, Isocrates, Dinachus, Aeschines, Antiphon, Lycurgus, Andocides and Demosthenes.

The orators as speech writers for Athenians when they went to court. The 100 or so speeches that still survive. The speeches as an immense source of material to access almost every aspect of life in Ancient Athens, both day to day life and life in relation to the courts: how the courts worked, the ‘rules’ of evidence and procedure and the remedies and penalties dispensed by the courts.

A survey of the speeches and an examination of some of the trials of ancient Athens for insight into what the Athenians thought about, among other things, the status of women, of slavery, of property (real and personal) and of justice generally.

SESSION FIVE – THE PLAYWRIGHTS

The four playwrights Aeschylus, (c.525 – 456 BC), Sophocles (c.496 – 406BC), Euripides (c.480 – 406BC) and Aristophanes (c.460 – 366 BC).

‘Eumenides’, ‘The Suppliant Women’, the ‘Oedipus’ plays, ‘Electra’, ‘Antigone’, ‘Alcestes’, the ‘Birds’ and ‘The Wasps’, amongst other plays, as a source of insight into the legal system and the thinking of the Ancient Athenians about law and justice, and as agents in the development of jurisprudence in Ancient Athens. References in these plays to materials and sites that have turned up in the archaeological record.

A look particularly at Aristophanes, merciless satirist of the legal system and its practitioners, and proof that lawyer jokes have an ancient lineage.

The Constitutional Structure of Classical Athens: From time to time throughout the five sessions the opportunity will arise to examine the constitutional framework of Classical Athens and look at the democracy in action and some of its curious inventions, such as ostracism, and the annual trial of sycophants.