Edward M Harris
Biographic Data
| ID | 3874735 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Edward M Harris |
| GIVEN NAMES | Edward M |
| FAMILY NAME | Harris |
| SIGNATURE | HARRIS E M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0009-0007-6123-239X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 107 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 207 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 102 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Diverse Slaveries
Law, “Greek”
Ancient Greece was divided into hundreds of city‐states, each with their own political institutions and laws. Despite this diversity, there was much unity in aspects of substantive law (marriage law, contracts, real security, the status of freed persons, the accountability of officials) and constitutional law. On the other hand, procedural law often varied from one Greek community to another.
Axones
The laws of Draco and Solon are reported by several sources to have been written on axones and kyrbeis . These were probably made of wood and could be rotated for easy consultation.
Emporikai dikai
Maritime suits ( emporia dikai ) were cases that fell into the category of monthly suits and so were decided within a month. Merchants or shipowners ( naukleroi ) could bring this kind of case for any harm suffered on voyages from or to the port of Athens. The defendant convicted on this charge had to remain in prison until he had paid his accuser.
Keeping to the Point in Athenian Forensic Oratory
The first volume to connect legal institutions and court arguments in a series of close readings of selected speeches from the Attic Orators Showcases new trends in the study of Athenian Law and Forensic Oratory by creating a fruitful dialogue with modern legal theory about the Rule of Law Offers an analysis of the legal arguments and forensic techniques in the Attic Orators by combining institutional and legal analysis with the study of rhetoric…
Keeping to the Point in Athenian Forensic Oratory
This volume offers a groundbreaking analysis of legal arguments in a substantial selection of forensic speeches of the Attic Orators. It challenges the notion that Athenian courts adopted a loose standard of relevance and litigants often relied on irrelevant or extra-legal rhetoric. By integrating modern legal theory, particularly Neil MacCormick’s insights on normative and narrative coherence, the contributors demonstrate how law and legal proce…
Divorce, Greek
In Athenian law men could divorce their wives but had to return the dowry. A woman could leave her husband but had to make a declaration before the archon. A father could also compel his daughter to leave her husband and could marry her to another husband. The relatives of a widow who inherited could be compelled by her relatives to divorce her husband and marry her nearest relative. At Gortyn men could divorce their wives, and women could leave …
Diatheke (Will)
Wills in Athenian law were used to adopt a son to serve as heir, to provide instructions to heirs and guardians about how to manage property, to provide dowries for widows and daughters, and to free slaves. In the Hellenistic period, wills could be used to create charitable endowments.
Graphe nomon me epitedeion theinai
After the restoration of the democracy in 403/2 bce , the Athenians made a distinction between decrees ( psephismata ) and laws ( nomoi ). Proposals for new laws were enacted by the nomothetai , who were a special session of the Assembly summoned for this purpose. If the proposal was contrary to any existing law, the existing law had to be indicted and annulled in court before the proposal could be enacted. The legal procedure used in this case w…
Nomos and nomothesia
Nomos is the Greek word for law, though in some contexts it can mean “custom.”
Dowry, Greek
From the sixth century onwards, families in many Greek city‐states appear to have practiced direct dowry, though some traces of indirect dowry remained. The value of a dowry varied according to the status and wealth of the woman's family and the number of her brothers and sisters. The dowry would include the wife's trousseau and money, slaves, buildings, or land given to the husband.
Diadikasia
The diadikasia was a non‐adversarial procedure used in cases where there was no inherent allegation of wrong; the issue was not one of guilt or innocence, but of entitlement to some property or privilege or to an exemption from public duties.
Andocides
Andocides came from a prominent Athenian family. He is numbered among the so‐called canon of Attic orators. Four speeches are attributed to him, although only two are believed to be genuine. These provide much of the information for his often controversial life.
Aeschines (Aischines)
Aeschines (born c. 390 bce ) was an Athenian politician and orator. He was one of the ambassadors who negotiated the Peace of Philokrates in 346, which was the beginning of the longstanding antagonism between himself and Demosthenes. Three speeches survive: Against Timarchos (346), On the False Embassy (343), and Against Ktesiphon (330).
Theft
Towards a New Text of Draco’s Law on Homicide
L’article propose un texte révisé de la republication de la loi de Dracon sur l’homicide (IG I 3 104). Les précédentes éditions, depuis Köhler, ont restitué les parties perdues du texte en se fondant sur un document inséré dans le texte du discours démosthénien Contre Macartatos (XLIII, 57-58). Dans sa seconde section, l’article démontre que ce document est un faux, comportant plusieurs erreurs relatives au droit et à la procédure judiciaire atti…
Law and Economic Growth in Ancient Athens
Federica Carugati, Creating a Constitution: Law, Democracy, and Growth in Ancient Athens. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. xii + 239 pages, $39.95, ISBN: 978-0-691-19563-6.In Creating a Constitution, Federica Carugati (= C.) claims to offer a new approach to the study of the political economy of Classical Athens.1 First, C. aims at showing ‘how a stable, growth-enhancing democratic constitution may emerge’. Second, C. seeks to highlig…
The Destruction of Cities in the Ancient Greek World
From the Trojan War to the sack of Rome, from the fall of Constantinople to the bombings of World War II and the recent devastation of Syrian towns, the destruction of cities and the slaughter of civilian populations are among the most dramatic events in world history. But how reliable are literary sources for these events? Did ancient authors exaggerate the scale of destruction to create sensational narratives? This volume reassesses the impact …
Gortyn, Law Collection of
The law collection of Gortyn is dated to the middle of the fifth century bce and contains sections about marriage, property, inheritance, adoption, and other matters. These laws are organized by substantive categories and contain little about legal procedure.
Religion and the Rule of Law in the Greek Polis
This chapter examines the relationship between religion and the rule of law. Some scholars believe that in Sophocles’ Antigone there is a conflict between the laws of the city championed by Creon and the laws of the gods championed by Antigone, but Antigone opposes Creon because he is a tyrant whose orders (kērygmata) violate both the laws of the gods and the will of the people. The Greeks saw no conflict between the two and believed that the law…
The Work of Craterus and the Documents in the Attic Orators and in the “Lives of the Ten Orators”
This essay is divided into three parts. The first examines the documents about Antiphon in the “Lives of the Ten Orators” (Plut. X orat. 833d–834b), which have been attributed to the collection of Craterus, and shows that they must be forgeries because the information contained in them is inconsistent with reliable sources about Athenian laws and legal procedure and with the language and formulas of the preserved decrees of the fifth century and …
Legal expertise and legal experts in Athenian democracy
This essay refutes the view that the Athenians of the Classical period were hostile to legal expertise. The Athenians had much respect for the Areopagus and the Exegetai, who were experts in law and religion. The legal expert Phanodemus was often praised and entrusted with important responsibilities. Litigants in public cases often show their legal knowledge by copious citation of statutes. They sometimes accuse their opponents of deceitful use o…
Many Ancient Greek Occupations, but Few Professions
We now know that in Classical Athens there were as many as 200 occupations. This essay shows that not all occupations enjoyed an equal amount of status and prestige. Four occupations are studied: actors, especially those in the Associations of Dionysiac Artists, philosophers, doctors, and sculptors. These occupations required extensive training and acquired some features associated with modern professions.
The Rule of Law and Economic Growth in Ancient Greece
The rule of law was very important for the expansion of markets and economic growth in Classical and Hellenistic Greece. The Greek city-state enforced regulations about weights and measures, ensured peace and order, built infrastructure (agoras, roads and ports), granted foreigners access to courts, gave honours, privileges and protection from seizure (asylia), and concluded treaties with other communities. The state also protected the property r…
Skilled Labour and Professionalism in Ancient Greece and Rome
The introduction offers a definition of skilled labour and professionalism and considers the importance of these concepts for our study of ancient society and its economy
Transitions to Empire
Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens
This volume brings together essays on Athenian law by Edward M. Harris, who challenges much of the recent scholarship on this topic. Presenting a balanced analysis of the legal system in ancient Athens, Harris stresses the importance of substantive issues and their contribution to our understanding of different types of legal procedures. He combines careful philological analysis with close attention to the political and social contexts of individ…
The Documents in Andocides' on the Mysteries
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Did Solon abolish debt-bondage
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The Rule of Law in Action in Democratic Athens
Draws on insights from legal theory and the New Institutionalism to challenge many traditional assumptions about the primitive nature of Athenian law and legal institutions
Women and Lending in Athenian Society A "Horos" Re-Examined
Did the Athenians Regard Seduction as a Worse Crime than Rape
One of the most ingenious arguments in all of Attic oratory is to be found in the speech Lysias wrote for Euphiletus to deliver at his trial for the murder of Eratosthenes (Lys. 1.30–5). In his speech Euphiletus first describes to the court how his wife was seduced by Eratosthenes, then recounts how he discovered the affair, caught the adulterer in the act, and, despite an offer to pay compensation, slew him. Euphiletus defends his action by citi…
Toward a Typology of Greek Regulations about Religious Matters
Les recueils des « lois sacrées » effectué par Sokolowski et Lupu sont incontestablement un instrument de travail de premier rang pour l’étude de la religion grecque. Pourtant, les documents dans ces recueils ne sont pas classés sur des critères juridiques. La présente étude vise à proposer une classification de documents en question conformément aux autorités qui les ont émis : conseils fédéraux en charge de sanctuaires panhelléniques, cités, su…
How to Address the Athenian Assembly
In 428 b.c.e. the city of Mytilene launched a revolt against the Athenians and invited the Spartans to send them assistance. The plans for the revolt were reported to the Athenians (3.2), who sent a force against the city (3.3). The Mytilenians asked for help from the Spartans (3.4.5–6), but the fleet they sent arrived too late to help the city (3.26.4). The revolt appears to have been the initiative of the city's wealthier citizens: Thucydides r…
When is a Sale Not a Sale? The Riddle of Athenian Terminology for Real Security Revisited
In Athens during the late Classical and Hellenistic periods, it was customary for a man who was borrowing a large sum of money to pledge some property as security for the repayment of his loan. To show that this property was legally encumbered, a flat slab of stone, called a horos , was set up, and an inscription, indicating the nature of the lien on the property, was inscribed on the horos . These horoi served to warn third parties that the man …
Homer, Hesiod, and the « Origins » of Greek Slavery
Selon E. Meyer et M. I. Finley l’esclavage ne jouait pas un rôle important dans l’économie grecque avant le Ve siècle av. J.-C. Cet article écarte cette hypothèse et montre que premièrement le statut des dmoes et de dmoai dans l’Iliade et dans l’Odyssée n’était pas différent de celui des douloi et des oiketai (esclaves) de la période classique (500‐300) ; deuxièmement que les esclaves étaient déjà très nombreux dans la société des poèmes homériqu…
The Liability of Business Partners in Athenian Law
One of the most striking features of Athenian laws regulating commercial activities is the absence of any concept akin to the modern legal notion of the partnership or corporation. Despite the presence in Athenian society of numerous koinoniai , groups of individuals cooperating for some purpose, be it commercial or otherwise, Athenian law concerned itself solely with individual persons and did not recognize the separate legal existence of collec…
The Authenticity of the Document at Andocides On the Mysteries 95-98
This essays studies the document inserted into the text of Andocides' speech On the Mysteries (96-98) and shows that it is not a genuine copy of the decree of Demophantus from an analysis of its contents and a comparison with the formulas and language of decrees from the late fifth and fourth centuries BCE preserved on stone. The final part of the essay analyzes the historical context of the decree of Demophantus and shows that it belongs in the …
Dinarchus, Hyperides, and Lycurgus
A Note on Adoption and Deme Registration
The Athenian law of adoption allowed a man who had no (...) children to adopta son to serve as his [...]. As part of the process of adoplion the adopted sonwas entered on the deme register of his adoptive father . After the process was completed, the adopted son lost all rights of inheritance in his natural family
Nicias’ Illegal Proposal in the Debate about the Sicilian Expedition (Thuc. 6.14)
Apotimema
When entering into a legal agreement, it is not unusual for one of the parties to ask the other to provide some security so as to ensure that the latter's obligations under the agreement will be fulfilled. There are two basic forms of security, personal and real. In personal security for a loan, the borrower arranges for a third party to come forward and to promise the lender that he will fulfil the borrower's obligations in the event that the bo…
The Work of Craterus and the Documents in the Attic Orators and in the “Lives of the Ten Orators”
This essay is divided into three parts. The first examines the documents about Antiphon in the “Lives of the Ten Orators” (Plut. X orat. 833d–834b), which have been attributed to the collection of Craterus, and shows that they must be forgeries because the information contained in them is inconsistent with reliable sources about Athenian laws and legal procedure and with the language and formulas of the preserved decrees of the fifth century and …
Legal expertise and legal experts in Athenian democracy
This essay refutes the view that the Athenians of the Classical period were hostile to legal expertise. The Athenians had much respect for the Areopagus and the Exegetai, who were experts in law and religion. The legal expert Phanodemus was often praised and entrusted with important responsibilities. Litigants in public cases often show their legal knowledge by copious citation of statutes. They sometimes accuse their opponents of deceitful use o…
Aeschines and Athenian Politics
More Chalcenteric Negligence
How often did the Athenian Assembly Meet
According to the Aristotelian Constitution of the Athenians ( Ath. Pol. 43.4), the Assembly in Athens met four times every prytany. At each one of these meetings certain topics had to be discussed or voted on. For instance, a vote concerning the conduct of magistrates presently in office was to be taken at the κυρ⋯α ⋯κκλησ⋯α . At another meeting anyone who wished to could request a discussion of any matter, be it private or public. Nothing is sai…
The Names of Aeschines' Brothers-in-Law
The Date of Apollodorus' Speech against Timotheus and Its Implications for Athenian History and Legal Procedure
Edward M. Harris, The Date of Apollodorus' Speech against Timotheus and Its Implications for Athenian History and Legal Procedure, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 109, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pp. 44-52
When is a Sale Not a Sale? The Riddle of Athenian Terminology for Real Security Revisited
In Athens during the late Classical and Hellenistic periods, it was customary for a man who was borrowing a large sum of money to pledge some property as security for the repayment of his loan. To show that this property was legally encumbered, a flat slab of stone, called a horos , was set up, and an inscription, indicating the nature of the lien on the property, was inscribed on the horos . These horoi served to warn third parties that the man …
Demosthenes' Speech against Meidias
Iphicrates at the Court of Cotys
The Liability of Business Partners in Athenian Law
One of the most striking features of Athenian laws regulating commercial activities is the absence of any concept akin to the modern legal notion of the partnership or corporation. Despite the presence in Athenian society of numerous koinoniai , groups of individuals cooperating for some purpose, be it commercial or otherwise, Athenian law concerned itself solely with individual persons and did not recognize the separate legal existence of collec…
More Chalcenteric Negligence
The Constitution of the Five Thousand
Did the Athenians Regard Seduction as a Worse Crime than Rape
One of the most ingenious arguments in all of Attic oratory is to be found in the speech Lysias wrote for Euphiletus to deliver at his trial for the murder of Eratosthenes (Lys. 1.30–5). In his speech Euphiletus first describes to the court how his wife was seduced by Eratosthenes, then recounts how he discovered the affair, caught the adulterer in the act, and, despite an offer to pay compensation, slew him. Euphiletus defends his action by citi…
When Did the Athenian Assembly Meet? Some New Evidence
Demosthenes
Women and Lending in Athenian Society A "Horos" Re-Examined
Apotimema
When entering into a legal agreement, it is not unusual for one of the parties to ask the other to provide some security so as to ensure that the latter's obligations under the agreement will be fulfilled. There are two basic forms of security, personal and real. In personal security for a loan, the borrower arranges for a third party to come forward and to promise the lender that he will fulfil the borrower's obligations in the event that the bo…
Aeschines and Athenian politics
Filling a major gap in scholarship, this is the first full-length study of the Athenian politician Aeschines. Along with Isocrates, Aeschines was one of the most prominent Athenian politicians who advocated friendly ties with the Macedonian king Philip II. Though overshadowed by his famous rival Demosthenes, Aeschines played a key role in the decisive events that marked the rise of Macedonian power in Greece and formed the transition from the Cla…
Aeschines and Athenian Politics
A Note on Adoption and Deme Registration
The Athenian law of adoption allowed a man who had no (...) children to adopta son to serve as his [...]. As part of the process of adoplion the adopted sonwas entered on the deme register of his adoptive father . After the process was completed, the adopted son lost all rights of inheritance in his natural family
Aeschines and Athenian Politics
Transitions to Empire
Dike Phonou
Roman Law in Context
Did Solon abolish debt-bondage
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Dinarchus, Hyperides, and Lycurgus
A New Solution to the Riddle of the Seisachtheia
The aim of this chapter is to propose a new solution to the mystery of Solon's enigmatic Seisachtheia. The first part will argue that it is necessary to abandon the traditional assumption that the reform concerned control over land. This assumption rests on an anachronistic interpretation of lines 5-7 of fragment 36 West of Solon's poetry. In my opinion, the lines are better interpreted as a metaphor for Solon's suppression of stasis in Attica. T…
Aeschines
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