Law and Drama in Ancient Greece

Law and Drama in Ancient Greece
Author:
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2013-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 147251985X

The relationship between law and literature is rich and complex. In the past three and half decades, the topic has received much attention from literary critics and legal scholars studying modern literature. Despite the prominence of law and justice in Ancient Greek literature, there has been little interest among Classical scholars in the connections between law and drama. This is the first collection of essays to approach Greek tragedy and comedy from a legal perspective. The volume does not claim to provide an exhaustive treatment of law and literature in ancient Greece. Rather it provides a sample of different approaches to the topic. Some essays show how knowledge of Athenian law enhances our understanding of individual passages in Attic drama and the mimes of Herodas and enriches our appreciation of dramatic techniques. Other essays examine the information provided about legal procedure found in Aristophanes' comedies or the views about the role of law in society expressed in Attic drama. The collection reveals reveal how the study of law and legal procedure can enhance our understanding of ancient drama and bring new insights to the interpretation of individual plays.

Law and Literature in Ancient Greece

Law and Literature in Ancient Greece
Author: Martín Laclau
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2024-01-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004686738

In this work, one of Latin America’s most renowned legal philosophers conducts a comprehensive survey of the ancient Greek understanding of the law, drawing on texts by poets (Hesiod), philosophers (Anaximander), playwrights (Aeschylus and Sophocles), and historians (Herodotus and Thucydides). The book ends with a finely detailed analysis of the relationship between language and reality in Aristotle, and the emergence of the notion of the system and its subsequent introduction into Roman law. The author’s in-depth study of all these aspects makes this volume an essential reference for philosophers, jurists, and historians.

Early Greek Law

Early Greek Law
Author: Michael Gagarin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 178
Release: 1989-04-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 052090916X

Drawing on the evidence of anthropology as well as ancient literature and inscriptions, Gagarin examines the emergence of law in Greece from the 8th through the 6th centuries B.C., that is, from the oral culture of Homer and Hesiod to the written enactment of codes of law in most major cities.

The Essentials of Greek and Roman Law

The Essentials of Greek and Roman Law
Author: Russ VerSteeg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2010
Genre: Law
ISBN:

Countless books detail the development of Roman law and explain the laws of the ancient Romans. Similarly, many scholars have traced the law of ancient Athens. Written for both students and educated lay readers, the chapters dealing with ancient Greece focus primarily on the law of ancient Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E. But material relating to other Greek colonies and city states also plays a significant role in the development of ancient Greek law. The Roman law chapters explore both law and legal institutions and emphasize the growth and expansion of legal principles. Roman law still serves as the foundation for the civil laws of many nations today. And given the importance of globalization, Roman law is likely to continue to influence the modern word for the foreseeable future. Each unit begins with a "Background & Beginnings" chapter that establishes the historical context in which law developed and introduces relevant principles of jurisprudence (i.e., legal philosophy). The second chapter in each unit covers procedural aspects of the law, such as court structure, judges, trial procedure, evidence, and legislation. The remaining chapters examine substantive legal topics such as property, contracts, family law, criminal law, and the like.The text also maintains a focus on the connections and influences of social, cultural, economic, philosophical, and political forces as they have affected law and its development. In addition, several sections of the book add another dimension. These sections, entitled "Law in Literature," use works of ancient literature to explore aspects of law as seen through the eyes of poets, dramatists, orators, and historians. In theory, modern readers can learn a great deal about law through literature because literature often lacks the "official filter" of many traditional legal sources.Of course each individual author brings his own biases about law and the legal system to his writing. But as long as we acknowledge the potential for such bias, these sections have the potential to offer completely different perspectives and insights.

Ancient Greek Laws

Ancient Greek Laws
Author: Ilias Arnaoutoglou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2008-02-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134749953

In this comprehensive and accessible sourcebook, Ilias Arnaoutoglou presents a collection of ancient Greek laws, which are situated in their legal and historical contexts and are elucidated with relevant selections from Greek literature and epigraphical testimonies. A wide area of legislative activity in major and minor Greek city-states, ranging from Delphoi and Athens in mainland Greece, to Gortyn in Crete, Olbia in South Russia and Aegean cities including Ephesos, Samos and Thasos, is covered. Ilias Arnaoutoglou divides legislation into three main areas: * the household - marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, sexual offences and personal status * the market-place - trade, finance, sale, coinage and leases * the state - constitution, legislative process, public duties, colonies, building activities, naval forces, penal regulations, religion, politics and inter-state affairs. Dr Arnaoutoglou explores the significance of legislation in ancient Greece, the differences and similarities between ancient Greek legislation and legislators and their modern counterparts and also provides fresh translations of the legal documents themselves.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law
Author: Michael Gagarin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2005-09-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139826891

This Companion volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major themes and topics pertinent to ancient Greek law. A substantial introduction establishes the recent historiography on this topic and its development over the last 30 years. Many of the 22 essays, written by an international team of experts, deal with procedural and substantive law in classical Athens, but significant attention is also paid to legal practice in the archaic and Hellenistic eras; areas that offer substantial evidence for legal practice, such as Crete and Egypt; the intersection of law with religion, philosophy, political theory, rhetoric, and drama, as well as the unity of Greek law and the role of writing in law. The volume is intended to introduce non-specialists to the field as well as to stimulate new thinking among specialists.

Space, Place, and Landscape in Ancient Greek Literature and Culture

Space, Place, and Landscape in Ancient Greek Literature and Culture
Author: Kate Gilhuly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2014-09-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139992716

This book brings together a collection of original essays that engage with cultural geography and landscape studies to produce new ways of understanding place, space, and landscape in Greek literature from the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The authors draw on an eclectic collection of contemporary approaches to bring the study of ancient Greek literature into dialogue with the burgeoning discussion of spatial theory in the humanities. The essays in this volume treat a variety of textual spaces, from the intimate to the expansive: the bedroom, ritual space, the law courts, theatrical space, the poetics of the city, and the landscape of war. And yet, all of the contributions are united by an interest in recuperating some of the many ways in which the ancient Greeks in the archaic and classical periods invested places with meaning and in how the representation of place links texts to social practices.

Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society

Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society
Author: Elisabeth Meier Tetlow
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2004-12-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780826416285

Crime and punishment, criminal law and its administration, are areas of ancient history that have been explored less than many other aspects of ancient civilizations. Throughout history women have been affected by crime both as victims and as offenders. Yet, in the ancient world customary laws were created by men, formal laws were written by men, and both were interpreted and enforced by men.

Classics in Progress

Classics in Progress
Author: T. P. Wiseman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2006-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780197263235

The study of Greco-Roman civilisation is as exciting and innovative today as it has ever been. This intriguing collection of essays by contemporary classicists reveals new discoveries, new interpretations and new ways of exploring the experiences of the ancient world. Through one and a half millennia of literature, politics, philosophy, law, religion and art, the classical world formed the origin of western culture and thought. This book emphasises the many ways in which it continues to engage with contemporary life. Offering a wide variety of authorial style, the chapters range in subject matter from contemporary poets' exploitation of Greek and Latin authors, via newly discovered literary texts and art works, to modern arguments about ancient democracy and slavery, and close readings of the great poets and philosophers of antiquity. This engaging book reflects the current rejuvenation of classical studies and will fascinate anyone with an interest in western history.

Women in Ancient Greece

Women in Ancient Greece
Author: Sue Blundell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674954731

Largely excluded from any public role, the women of ancient Greece nonetheless appear in various guises in the art and writing of the period, and in legal documents. These representations, in Sue Blundell's analysis, reveal a great deal about women's day-to-day experience as well as their legal and economic position - and how they were regarded by men.