BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Introduction
Athens throughout the democracy. As the second half of the dissertation shows, in the
same way as the dōrodokos was articulated in opposition to the good democratic citizen,
the Athenians used the dōrodokos in law to think through what ‘democratic’ institutions
and legal processes should look like. We find, then, a complex process of norm
articulation whereby legal and institutional changes both reflected and influenced social
norms governing the dōrodokos. In particular, picking up on the idea of bribery as an
alternate trajectory for the democracy, these chapters suggest that the Athenians actively
sought to create a political space in which the power of bribery as a distinct mode of
politics could be leveraged for the good of the democracy. The Athenians took seriously
the idea that political outcomes were neither good nor bad until they were so legitimated
(or delegitimized) by the people. And one prominent way to legitimate outcomes was
through dōrodokia trials. Hence, the reason why the Athenians killed dōrodokoi like
Timagoras often had more to do with this process of legitimization than with any inherent
desire to deter dōrodokia.
There are numerous areas of Athenian political practice that will always be
frustratingly beyond our reach. How often were dōra given with the explicit intent of
changing an official’s mind? Were dōra given and received only within the context of
pre-existing relations, or were one-off bribes also common? What were the real-life
political and economic effects of undeniable cases of dōrodokia? These are big questions
for any account of bribery. As often, even in modern case-studies, they will regrettably
be left unanswered. For a host of reasons, there is no systematic way to gather evidence
on bribery, ancient or modern, including records of bribes received or testimonies of the
parties involved. The Athenian case, though frustratingly incomplete, might nevertheless
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