BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Three
few decades of the fourth century. The dōrodokos, as we have seen, was an example of
this broader generic type modeled off of the Thirty’s negative exemplum.
At this point, I would like to examine this generic figure in action by turning to
two prosecution speeches that deal heavily with dōrodokia. There the character of the
dōrodokos is explicitly framed in reference to the Thirty’s actions; as a result, it
incorporates this association of money with political injustice. Specifically, the conceit
of profiting ‘at the polis’ expense’—in its twin meanings of stealing from the polis and
actively causing it harm—recurs throughout the orations. After seeing that the dōrodokos
was modeled off of the Thirty, we will investigate further reasons why this was the case.
In 390/89 Thrasybulus of Steiria, hero of the democratic uprising against the
Thirty in 403, was sent with his associates on a naval expedition to the coast of Asia
Minor in order to raise funds. This was a major expedition, as Athens was able to extend
her influence in the Aegean back to where it had been before the end of the
Peloponnesian War. 31 After this initial success in Thrace, the expedition was asked to
return and give an audit of their expenses (cf. Lys. 28.5-6). Reportedly on the advice of
his associate Ergocles, Thrasybulus refused and continued extracting money from towns
in the Hellespont, including Halicarnassus, which complained of misconduct (Lys. 28.5-
6, 12, 17). Thrasybulus soon died in a riot, and the rest of the fleet, including Ergocles
and his treasurer Philocrates, returned to Athens, where they faced impeachment
(eisangelia). Ergocles was convicted, sentenced to death, and his money was ordered to
be turned over to the city’s coffers; a version of the prosecutor’s speech for that trial is
31 On Thrasybulus’ expedition and Athens’ involvement in the ongoing Corinthian War, see especially
Seager (1967), Funke (1980).
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