Startseite Altertumswissenschaften & Ägyptologie Rumour and Hearsay Evidence in the Athenian Law-courts
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Rumour and Hearsay Evidence in the Athenian Law-courts

  • Asako Kurihara
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Witnesses and Evidence in Ancient Greek Literature
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Witnesses and Evidence in Ancient Greek Literature

Abstract

Legal historians concur in the view that hearsay evidence was generally rejected in the Athenian legal system, apart from a few exceptions. However, the reliance on hearsay evidence (akoē) as the second best information (opsis), according to Herodotus and his contemporaries, invites us to re-examine the rationale behind the acceptance and rejection of hearsay in the Athenian lawcourts. First, it will be argued that Athenian courts were willing to accept hearsay witnesses insofar as they made absolutely clear that their testimony simply constituted hearsay. If they failed to do so, they could be accused of bearing false witness. Second, the use of rumours as common knowledge in the Athenian lawcourts can be explained as a variation of the use of hearsay evidence, which was to be substantiated by “the citizen jurors as witnesses”.

Abstract

Legal historians concur in the view that hearsay evidence was generally rejected in the Athenian legal system, apart from a few exceptions. However, the reliance on hearsay evidence (akoē) as the second best information (opsis), according to Herodotus and his contemporaries, invites us to re-examine the rationale behind the acceptance and rejection of hearsay in the Athenian lawcourts. First, it will be argued that Athenian courts were willing to accept hearsay witnesses insofar as they made absolutely clear that their testimony simply constituted hearsay. If they failed to do so, they could be accused of bearing false witness. Second, the use of rumours as common knowledge in the Athenian lawcourts can be explained as a variation of the use of hearsay evidence, which was to be substantiated by “the citizen jurors as witnesses”.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Introduction: Witness and Evidence in Legal, Oratorical and Other Literary Contexts in Antiquity 1
  5. Part I: Written and Oral Evidence
  6. The Role of Written Documents in Athenian Trials 17
  7. Rumour and Hearsay Evidence in the Athenian Law-courts 39
  8. Part II: The Rhetoric of Information-Gathering and Decision- Making
  9. Audience Memory as Evidence in the Trial on the Crown 59
  10. Additional Information in Witness Testimonies in Classical Athens 81
  11. Self-Quotations as Witnesses and Evidence: The Case of Isocrates’ Antidosis 97
  12. Antiphon’s Witnesses: Extending the Earliest Greek Theories of Argumentation 113
  13. Part III: Scripting Witnesses and Evidence: Prose and Verse Texts
  14. The Questions in (Answering the Question about the Historicity of) Plato’s Apology of Socrates 135
  15. Plato’s Apology of Socrates: The Rhetoric of Socrates’ Defence and the Foundation of the Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry 155
  16. Witnesses and Evidence in Thucydides: The Institutional and Rhetorical Context of the Digression on the Tyrannicides 185
  17. The Torture of Prometheus 215
  18. Poet, Patron, Message: Witness-Roles and the Game of Truth in Epinician Eidography 229
  19. Part IV: The Cultural Workings of Witnesses and Evidence
  20. Information and Decision in Sophocles’ Trachiniae and Euripides’ Medea and Ino 249
  21. Scandals as Evidence in Attic Forensic Oratory: The Case of Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 267
  22. Notes on Editors and Contributors 283
  23. General Index 285
  24. Index Locorum 289
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110751970-003

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Introduction: Witness and Evidence in Legal, Oratorical and Other Literary Contexts in Antiquity 1
  5. Part I: Written and Oral Evidence
  6. The Role of Written Documents in Athenian Trials 17
  7. Rumour and Hearsay Evidence in the Athenian Law-courts 39
  8. Part II: The Rhetoric of Information-Gathering and Decision- Making
  9. Audience Memory as Evidence in the Trial on the Crown 59
  10. Additional Information in Witness Testimonies in Classical Athens 81
  11. Self-Quotations as Witnesses and Evidence: The Case of Isocrates’ Antidosis 97
  12. Antiphon’s Witnesses: Extending the Earliest Greek Theories of Argumentation 113
  13. Part III: Scripting Witnesses and Evidence: Prose and Verse Texts
  14. The Questions in (Answering the Question about the Historicity of) Plato’s Apology of Socrates 135
  15. Plato’s Apology of Socrates: The Rhetoric of Socrates’ Defence and the Foundation of the Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry 155
  16. Witnesses and Evidence in Thucydides: The Institutional and Rhetorical Context of the Digression on the Tyrannicides 185
  17. The Torture of Prometheus 215
  18. Poet, Patron, Message: Witness-Roles and the Game of Truth in Epinician Eidography 229
  19. Part IV: The Cultural Workings of Witnesses and Evidence
  20. Information and Decision in Sophocles’ Trachiniae and Euripides’ Medea and Ino 249
  21. Scandals as Evidence in Attic Forensic Oratory: The Case of Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 267
  22. Notes on Editors and Contributors 283
  23. General Index 285
  24. Index Locorum 289
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Heruntergeladen am 1.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110751970-003/html
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