BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Three
defense speech on the charge of dōrodokia (Lysias 21), will illuminate why this
conceptual convergence took place. As will be clear, primarily because of the
Athenians’ political and economic efforts to get along as a democracy after the horrors of
oligarchy, the dōrodokos became a thief of sorts, someone who sought actively to harm
the dēmos. 5
The Thirty as Anti-type at Athens:
That an Athenian like Plato might view the dōrodokos through an economic lens
ostensibly reflected the dire financial situation Athens faced at the beginning of the fourth
century. 6 Sparta’s occupation of the Attic countryside during the last decade of the
Peloponnesian War had ravaged much of the land, including olive trees, grain, vines, and
livestock and had consequently disrupted agricultural production and patterns of rural
land tenure. 7 Sparta’s threatening position effectively shut down production at the
Laureion silver mines, as well. 8 Moreover, a drop in commercial production and the loss
of virtually all of Athens’ overseas possessions, not to mention the immense annual
5 It should be noted at the outset that the great majority of examples and evidence discussed in this chapter
come from the 390’s and 380’s. Historical sources for the 370’s in Athens are notoriously scarce, while
sources on dōrodokia in the 360’s are few and far between: Timagoras (367 BCE) was discussed in the
Introduction; and our only other attested trial of dōrodokia, that of either Callistratus or Philon (361/0
BCE), receives only a passing reference in Hyperides and Lycurgus (Hyp. 4.1-2; Lyc. 1.93; cf. Dem 50.48).
We simply do not have enough evidence for these two decades to make anything more than a tentative
claim about how Athenians conceptualized bribery at this time. The limited extent to which we can discuss
how the Second Athenian League (379/8-355 BCE) may have affected conceptions of bribery and politics
is discussed below.
6 For general historical overviews to this time period, see Seager (1967), Funke (1980), David (1986),
Strauss (1986), French (1991). On Athens’ economic conditions after the Peloponnesian War, see
Andreyev (1974), Strauss (1986: 42-69), Ober (1985: 14-31), Burke (1990), French (1991). Politics in the
post-war period: Cloché (1919, 1923), Sealey (1956), Bruce (1966), Seager (1967), Funke (1980: 1-26,
102-67), Krentz (1982), Strauss (1986: 11-41, 89-178).
7 Thuc. 7.27.3-4, Lys. 7.6, Aeschin. 2.147, 175. Andreyev (1974: 6-7, 18-25), Ober (1985: 113-14),
Burke (1990: 3-4), French (1991: 24-7). Cf. Hanson (1983: 131-73).
8 Thuc. 6.91.7, 7.191.1, 7.27.5. Ober (1985: 14), Strauss (1986: 46), French (1991: 33).
129