Home Classical, Ancient Near Eastern & Egyptian Studies Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts

  • Jasper Donelan
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory
This chapter is in the book Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory

Abstract

This paper first presents similarities between the insults spoken by characters in Old Comedy and those employed by litigants in the classical Athenian law-courts. The comparison demonstrates how Old Comedy and Athenian legal oratory relied (albeit with a few important exceptions) on shared topics of invective as well as an overlapping vocabulary of abuse. The discussion then progresses to the way that insulting language is talked about in the preserved law-court speeches. Litigants claim that certain insults could offend the judges’ sensibilities. There is, moreover, evidence of formal restrictions on the use of invective in the public sphere. Nevertheless, it appears that judges did enjoy hearing opponents exchange insults and that they could - much like audiences of comedy - respond to this with delight and laughter. This paper concludes by arguing that litigants in Athens faced two competing pressures: on the one hand, to make a pertinent, respectful, and logical case against their adversary, but on the other, to satisfy the judges’ desire for pleasurable and often baseless invective.

Abstract

This paper first presents similarities between the insults spoken by characters in Old Comedy and those employed by litigants in the classical Athenian law-courts. The comparison demonstrates how Old Comedy and Athenian legal oratory relied (albeit with a few important exceptions) on shared topics of invective as well as an overlapping vocabulary of abuse. The discussion then progresses to the way that insulting language is talked about in the preserved law-court speeches. Litigants claim that certain insults could offend the judges’ sensibilities. There is, moreover, evidence of formal restrictions on the use of invective in the public sphere. Nevertheless, it appears that judges did enjoy hearing opponents exchange insults and that they could - much like audiences of comedy - respond to this with delight and laughter. This paper concludes by arguing that litigants in Athens faced two competing pressures: on the one hand, to make a pertinent, respectful, and logical case against their adversary, but on the other, to satisfy the judges’ desire for pleasurable and often baseless invective.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110735536-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 26.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110735536-002/html
Scroll to top button