BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Introduction
Our sources suggest, moreover, that the Athenians enacted and modified more
legislative and institutional reforms dealing with bribery than for any other offense. They
created no fewer than seven legal processes for prosecuting the gift or receipt of bribes,
whether generally or involving specific officials in specific contexts; some of these were
modified more than once over the course of the democracy. The penalties attached to
these legal processes—a tenfold fine, disfranchisement, or death—were considerable.
There were, in addition, public curses and oaths against taking bribes, as well as
numerous changes to the jury and magistrate allotment procedures, reportedly to reduce
the potential for corruption. And in the fourth century, on at least one occasion the entire
registry of citizens had to be re-ratified under suspicion that some residents had bribed
their way into the citizenry. 29
These legal and institutional reforms certainly suggest that dōrodokia was a
persistent problem at Athens, but is that all they suggest? Were the severe penalties for
dōrodokia indications that the Athenians had trouble deterring it? Timagoras’ embassy
provides two clues to the contrary. First, it is important to note that, in all of our
accounts, the only person who was ‘deterred’ by these laws was the Persian King, not
Timagoras or any other potential dōrodokos. Demosthenes remarks that, once the King
saw how serious the Athenians were about dōrodokia—by killing Timagoras—he
15 unique ambassadors and generals per year over the same time period, this amounts to around 1500
possible bribery cases during this time for the most prestigious public positions, of which we have attested
in one form or another 45 trials. Given the tremendous gaps in our evidence—with the high frequency of
trials in the early fourth century (so Strauss [1985]), the general dearth of evidence for the 370’s is
particularly striking—let us assume that these trials represent only half of the actual number of trials, or
about 90 (6%) out of 1500 possible cases. By contrast, Hansen (1975; cf. 1999: 217) points out that, for
the most important position, the generalship, we know of only 289, or 37%, of the 770 generalships held
between 432 and 355 BCE. A more accurate assessment of the prevalence of bribery trials thus might be
closer to 10% (or even 15%) of the major political positions held. This figure excludes prosecution of
minor officials, for an example of which see Ant. 6.49-50.
29 On these legal procedures, penalties, and institutional reforms, see most recently MacDowell (1983),
Hashiba (2006). All of these developments will be treated in detail below in Chapters Five and Six.
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