BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Six
officials guilty of the most serious offenses. 39 But if the Athenians had long since
recognized that, while some such public officials were best cast out of the community,
others were best left in it, in the last quarter of the fifth century only specific kinds of
dōrodokia became, in the same way, redeemable offenses. Dōrodokia was a relatively
late addition to the nomos eisangeltikos: the two clauses prohibiting stratēgoi from
taking dōra and rhētores from taking money and speaking against the people’s interests
both date to the late fifth century. 40 As far as we can tell, prior to this time the only
penalty for dōrodokia was atimia under the Solonian law against dōrodokia. In the next
section we will examine the significance of including these particular offenses in the
codification of the nomos eisangeltikos in 411/10. For now, it is enough to note that
around the same time that the Clinias and Assessment decrees first called for a monetary
fine, the Athenians modified which offenses were prosecutable under an eisangelia so
that dōrodokia, too, might receive a monetary penalty under an eisangelia procedure.
Crucially, the kinds of dōrodokia that received a monetary fine in this way were those
committed by the most vital political agents in Athens: generals and public speakers.
The development of a monetary fine for dōrodokia—first an ad hoc penalty, but
later a standardized tenfold fine—signaled how, amid the exigencies of the
Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were reluctant to expel certain corrupt magistrates,
39
Fines are attested for early major public trials—e.g. Phrynichus (Hdt. 6.21.2) and Miltiades (Hdt.
6.136.1)—but there is still debate on whether or not these were eisangeliai. No procedural details are
mentioned for Phrynichus’ trial, although Herodotus does say that ‘the Athenians’ were the who ones who
fined him. Likewise, I side with Hansen (1975: 69) in thinking Miltiades’ trial an eisangelia, but see
Rhodes (1979: 104-5).
40
Respectively, dw=ra lamba/nh|, Lex. Cant. s.v. ei)saggeli/a and r(h/twr w2n mh\ le/gh| ta\ a1rista tw| =
dh/mw| tw= | 0Aqhnai/wn xrh/mata lamba/nwn, Hyp. 4.8. The clause on stratēgoi is part of a longer list of
crimes including betray an allied city (e)a/n ti/j po/lin tina\ prodw= |, Hyp. 4.8), which could have been
added only after Athens acquired an empire: Hansen (1975: 17). We can thus plausibly date the clause on
dōrodokia to the last quarter of the fifth century: Carawan (1987: 173-6). Similarly, the word rhētor, as
used to describe public speakers, came into use only in the mid-fifth century.
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