BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Six
This legally defined space, i.e. one marked out by ‘the laws’ constituted what I
am calling a domain of authority. In analogous fashion, the inclusion of clauses on
dōrodokia in public pronouncements like the archons’ oath signaled that, while
performing their duties within their proper domain of authority, magistrates were not to
act contrary to the community’s interests. Even if an archon had prosecuted someone
within his own domain, it would have been untenable if his actions in prosecuting or
judging the case conflicted with the community’s interests, especially if these actions had
been motivated by dōra illicitly received. The oath sworn thus promised that a public
official would act only within that political space.
Moreover, because this was a legally not socially defined space, the oath signaled
an early step towards removing the official’s actions from the world of social exchange
relationships. Instead, with the oaths, officials like the archons grounded their actions in
some de-personalized externality: the laws of the community. So these oaths both
defined domains of authority and thereby indicated that magistrates’ actions should be
grounded in those de-personalized domains. The de-personalized externality on which
political actions were based was itself defined by the community’s interests. It was de-
personalized precisely because it privileged civic relations with the community over
social relations with individuals.
We find one of these oaths in play during the Persian Wars, when in 480 the
Persian general Mardonius sent a herald to Salamis to address the Athenian Council and
encourage them to make peace with the King after the battle of Salamis (Hdt. 9.3-5).
After listening to the herald, one Lycides suggested that Mardonius’ offer be put before
the Assembly. Those at the Council meeting, and even those who later heard about it,
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