Policing Athens: Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

Virginia J. Hunter

Published by Princeton University Press 1994

Policing Athens

Social Control in the Attic Lawsuits, 420-320 B.C.

Virginia J. Hunter

Volume 5271 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691194608

Overview
Contents

About this book

From household gossip to public beatings, this social history explores the many channels through which Athenian maintained public order. Virginia Hunter draws mostly on Attic court proceedings, which allowed for a wide range of evidence, including common rumors about a defendant's character and testimony, obtained under torture, of slaves against their masters. She describes Athenian "policing" as a form of social control that took place across a range of private and public levels. Not only does policing appear to have a collective enterprise, but its methods were embedded in a variety of social institutions, resulting in the blurring of the line between state and society.
Hunter's inquiry into topics such as household authority, disputes among kin, the presence of slaves in the house, gossip in the home and neighborhood, and forms of public punishment reveals a continuum extending from self-regulation among kn and punititve actions enforced by the state. Recognizing the bias of legal documents toward the wealthy, Hunter concentrates on exposing the voices of the less powerful and less privileged members of society, including women and slaves. In so doing she is among the first to address systematically such important issues as the authority of women, self-help, and corporal punishment.
Virginia J. Hunter is Professor of History at York University. She is author of Past and Process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton) and Thucydides, the Artful Reporter (Toronto).

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
INTRODUCTION Policin g and Social Contro l Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER ONE: Kyrios: Authority and Ambiguity in the Athenian Household Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
CHAPTER TWO: Trouble in the House: Disputes among Kin and Their Resolution Out of Court Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
CHAPTER THREE: Slaves in the Household: Was Privacy Possible? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
CHAPTER FOUR: The Politics of Reputation: Gossip as a Social Construct Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
CHAPTER FIVE: Policing Athens: Private Initiative and Its Limits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
CHAPTER SIX. The Body of the Slave: Corporal Punishment in Athens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
CONCLUSION. Athenian Society and State Reconsidered Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Index of Ancient Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293