BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Two
For Creon, those like Eteocles who are his—and the city’s—philoi receive honor
(timē) accordingly; by implication, people like Antigone are not well-disposed to the
polis and should never be honored by the polis or its ruler. Timē is awarded to philoi, not
the kakoi who bring harm to the city (Soph. An. 207-10). Crucially, if philoi receive timē,
kakoi are aligned with bribe monies: for Creon, the two sets of monies are thus
counterpoised and used to mark distinct sets of political relations. What we will
investigate here, then, is the valence of those political relations; in essence, we seek to
uncover what is distinctive about the relations negotiated and ultimately signified by timē
and bribe monies.
In his first speech Creon submits his policy for how to make the city great: by
holding no friend dearer than his polis and maintaining a friendship with no enemy of the
city, Creon hopes to ensure smooth sailing for the ship of state (Soph. An. 182-7).
Essentially, the king establishes himself as a philos of the polis, and his philoi are
precisely those people who are the philoi of the polis, as well. 59 It is in this context of
relations among one’s philoi that Creon denounces those responsible for breaking the law
in attempting to bury Polynices’ body:
= =
h2 tou\j kakou\j timw=ntaj ei)sora| =j qeou/j;
ou1k e1stin. a)lla\ tau=ta kai\ pa/lai po/lewj
a1ndrej mo/lij fe/rontej e)rro/qoun e)moi,
krufh| ka/ra sei/ontej, ou)d’ u(po\ zugw|
lo/fon dikai/wj ei]xon, w(j ste/rgein e)me/.
e)k tw=nde tou/touj e)cepi/stamai kalw=j
parhgme/nouj misqoi=sin ei)rga/sqai ta/de.
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in which an Athenian would have understood the play: Ostwald (1986: 148-61), Sourvinou-Inwood
(1989).
59 Though this definition of philoi is contested by Antigone, who champions a kin-based understanding of
philoi, Creon’s definition seems to have been standard within Athens. Nearly one century later, his words
were still being performed and heralded as a model for good citizenship: cf. Dem. 19.247. That said,
Segal (1964: 52) rightly underscores that Creon’s worldview is wholly civic in nature, as everything is
refracted through a political lens for the king. On philoi and philia in the Antigone, see Goldhill (1986: 88-
106), Blundell (1991: 106-48), Konstan (1996: 82-5, 89-91).
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