Email this article Citizenship and Active Participation: Timē, Atimia, and Epitimia in Ancient Greek Legislation against Tyranny
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This paper re-examines ancient Greek anti-tyranny legislation from the perspective of honour, through the analysis of the relevant legal terminology (timē, atimia, and epitimia) in three anti-tyranny laws: IG II3 1 320 (Athens, 337/6 BCE), IG XII 9 190 (Eretria, post-341 BCE), and IMT Skam/NebTäler 182 = I.Ilion 25 (Ilion, c. 281 BCE). It argues that honour dynamics were central to anti-tyranny laws in that they allowed these city-states to encourage active participation from different stakeholders in the community while simultaneously modulating their degrees of inclusion and exclusion. The centrality of these dynamics is suggested primarily by the prominent use of the penalty of atimia (‘dishonour’), which is a common trait of all three statutes; but also by the differential focus on rewards (timai) displayed in the approach to honour of these three different poleis at different times in their history. By highlighting the importance of timē and cognates in anti-tyranny laws, this paper thus demonstrates that honour mechanisms were conceived of as one of the most powerful tools to promote, to different levels, the active engagement of community members in the defence of the democracy, and to police their behaviour – especially of those who found themselves in positions of power.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7358/erga-2025-002-rocl
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