Lysias’s speech On the Refusal of a Pension and Athenian citizens with disabilities

Authors

  • Tatyana Kudryavtseva Herzen State Pedagogical University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2022.107

Abstract

The article examines speech XXIV by Athenian orator Lysias “On the Refusal of a Pension” (V – IV c BCE.) This text provides not only an excellent example of a legal speech written by a renowned Attic orator but also invaluable material for the study of social policy of Athenian democracy, namely – adaptation and survival of people with disabilities in the ancient Greek polis. The author of the article agrees with those researchers who have no doubts concerning the authorship of the speech and its intention to be delivered during the litigation on dokimasia of “infirm” people in the Council 500. The article considers the information about the disabled people in Athens and the allowance granted to them, and analyses topoi frequently used by litigants in legal speeches. Similarly to other Athenian trials, the outcome of this is not known, nor is the fate of the disabled person and whether he managed to assert his position. The analysis of the strategies of litigants indicates that appealing to pathos, enhancing the image of a good citizen, and discrediting the opponent in combination with irony, humor, and dramatization of the trial, to a certain extent, often made an impact on judges and resulted in a favorable decision The whole repertoire of these tactics was effectively utilized by the orator in speech XXIV, therefore is reasonable to suggest that the success was almost guaranteed. It is also noteworthy that the Athenian law that granted the allowance to adynatoi was unique for the Ancient Greece and, in all probability, was connected with the development of Athenian democracy.

Keywords:

Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, trial, Lysias, disabled people, allowance

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

Author Biography

Tatyana Kudryavtseva, Herzen State Pedagogical University

Doctor in History, Professor

References

Литература

Kudryavtseva T.V. Tyazhushchiesya na beme: rechi i povedenie storon v afinskom narodnom sude. Vestnik drevnei istorii, 2008, no 2, рр. 3–18. (In Russian).

Kudryavtseva T.V. Narodnyi sud v democraticheskih Afinah. St. Petersburg, Aleteia Publ., 2008, 463 p. (In Russian).

Kudryavtseva T.V. Dramaticheskie scenarii v afinskom narodnom sude: litigantes agunt histriones. Mnemon. Issledovaniia i publikatsii po istorii antichnogo mira, 2009, iss. 8, pp. 55–64.

Adams C. D. Appendix. Lysias. Selected Speeches. XII, XVI, XIX, XXII, XXIV, XXV, XXXII, XXXIV. Ed. C. Adams. New York, American Book Company, 1905, pp. 327–389.

Adams C. D. XXIV For the Cripple. Introduction, Lysias. Selected Speeches. XII, XVI, XIX, XXII, XXIV, XXV, XXXII, XXXIV. Ed. C. Adams. New York, American Book Company, 1905, pp. 231–238.

Alwine A. T. The Rhetoric and Conceptualization of Enmity in Classical Athens. Diss., University of Florida, 2010, 199 p.

Bizot M. XXIV. Notice. Lysias. Discours. Éds. L. Gernet et M. Bizot. T. 2: XVI-XXXV et Fragments, Paris, Les Belles Lettres Publ., 1962, pp. 101–103. (in French)

Blass F. Die attische Beredsamkeit. 1. Abth. Von Gorgias bis zu Lysias. Leipzig, Teubner Publ., 1868, 676 S.

Böckh A. Die Staatshaushaltung der Athener. Bd.1, Buch I-IV, Berlin, G. Reimer Publ., 1851, 792 S. (in German)

Bonner R.J. Wit and Humour in Athenian Courts. Classical Philology, 1922, vol. 17, pp. 97–103.

Carey C. Structure and Strategy in Lysias XXIV. Greece & Rome, 1990, vol. 37, pp. 44–51.

Colla E. Πάθος e appello alla pietà: per una datazione di Lys. 24. Rudiae. Ricerche sul Mondo Classico, 2015, no 1, pp. 55–74.

Darkow A. C. The Spurious Speeches in the Lysianic Corpus. Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr Publ., 1917, 95 p.

Dasen V. Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993, 354 p., 80 plates.

Dillon M. Legal (and customary?) approaches to the disabled in ancient Greece. Disability in Antiquity. Ed. by C. Laes. London, New York, Routledge, 2017, pp. 167–181.

Dillon M. Payments to the Disabled at Athens: Social Justice or Fear of Aristocratic Patronage? Ancient Society, 1995, vol. 26, pp. 27–57.

Dover K.J. Lysias and the Corpus Lysiacum. Berkeley, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1968, 200 p.

Encyclopaedia of Disability. Gen. ed. Gary L. Albrecht, London; New Dehli, SAGE Publications, 2006, 5 vols., 2936 p.

Jacoby F. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. T. 3, b, vol. 1: Geschichte von Staedten und Voelkern (Horographie u. Ethnographie): b (Supplement): A commentary on the ancient historians of Athens (№ 323a-334), vol. 1, Leiden, Brill Publ., 1954, 661 p.

Jacoby F. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. T. 3, b, vol. 2: Geschichte von Staedten und Voelkern: b (Supplement): A commentary on the ancient historians of Athens (№ 323a-334), vol. 2: Notes, addenda, corrigenda, index: (Horographie u. Ethnographie, Leiden, Brill Publ., 1954, 635 p.

Hager H. On the Eisangelia. Journal of Philology, 1871, vol. 4, pp. 74–112.

Hansen M.H. Nomos and Psephisma in Fourth-Century Athens. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 1978, vol. 19, no 4, pp. 315–330.

Laes Chr. Introduction: disabilities in the ancient world – past, present and future. Disability in Antiquity. Ed. by C. Laes, London; New York, Routledge, 2017, pp. 1–21.

Markle M.M. Jury Pay and Assembly Pay at Athens. Athenian Democracy. Ed. by P.J. Rhodes, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 95–131.

Millett P. Lending and Borrowing in Ancient Athens. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991, 368 p.

Reeve M. D. Louis Roussel: (Pseudo-) Lysias, l'lnvalide. (Publ. de la Fac. des Lettres de l'Univ. de Montpellier, xxv.) Pp. 43. Paris: Pre es Universitaires de France, 1966. Classical Review, 1968, vol. 18, pp. 235–236.

Rhodes P.J. A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993, 809 p.

Rhodes P.J. The Athenian Boule. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972, 351 p.

Roussel L. (Pseudo-) Lysias, l'lnvalide. (Publ. de la Fac. des Lettres de l'Univ. de Montpellier, xxv.). Paris, Pre es Universitaires de France, 1966, 43 p.

Schwahn W. Ταμίαι. Paulys Realencyclopädie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. Hrsg. W. Kroll. Bd. IV A, 1932, Sp. 2099–2135.

Thalheim Th. Ἀδύνατοι. Paulys Realencyclopädie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. Hrsg. G. Wissowa. Bd. I, 1894, Sp. 440.

Vlahogiannis N. Disabling bodies. Changing Bodies, Changing Meanings: Studies on the Human Body in Antiquity. Ed. by D. Montserrat. London, New York, Routledge, 2003, pp. 13–36.

Wilamowitz-Möllendorff U. von. Aristoteles und Athen. Bd. I. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1893, 402 p.

Downloads

Published

2023-02-02

How to Cite

Kudryavtseva, T. (2023). Lysias’s speech On the Refusal of a Pension and Athenian citizens with disabilities. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 67(1), 102–112. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2022.107

Issue

Vol. 67 No. 1 (2022)

Section

World History

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.