BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter One
political and social relations. As we will now see, Athenian politics, including actions
framed as bribery, was rooted in the cornerstone of ancient Greek society: reciprocity.
For this reason, a relational model of bribery is a natural choice for Athens.
Reciprocity fundamentally guided how relationships—social, political,
commercial—were forged and negotiated in Athens. 58 The common expression, “Help
friends, harm enemies,” concisely expressed the ethos of reciprocity that underpinned the
exchange of gifts (dōra) between friends (philoi). 59 Gifts could be given for a variety of
reasons between a variety of relations, including friends, family members, and political
allies; in this sense, they were the fundamental currency of social relationships. When
someone gave a gift, it created an obligation, for it was a symbol of the relationship itself:
one had to return gift with counter-gift or else risk marring the dynamics of the
relationship. 60 Dōra were thus calibrated to the dynamics of the relationship or the
circumstances of the exchange. Giving more or more valuable dōra might signify greater
social standing or a greater request (reward, thanks, honor) being made. 61 As in our
58 The scholarship on gift giving and reciprocity in Archaic and Classical Greece is vast. I list here the
works that have had the greatest impact on my thinking: Finley (1977), Humphreys (1978a: 107-74),
Donlan (1981-2; 1989), Herman (1987), Seaford (1994), von Reden (1995a), Millett (1997), Mitchell
(1997), Gill, Postlethwaite, and Seaford (1998), Knippschild (2002), Domingo Gygax (2007, forthcoming).
It should be noted, with Will (1954), that the reciprocal justice forged by gifts was also created by other
monies, including currency.
59 See further Sinclair (1988a: 187), Seaford (1994: 7-10), Domingo Gygax (2007: 113-19). This ethos
readily shaped how political networks were constructed: Lys. 9.13, 14, 21; Pl. Rep 362b, Men. 41e; Xen.
Mem. 2.4.6, 2.6.25, 3.7.9. Connor (1971: 35-47), Dover (1974: 180-1, 304-6), Sinclair (1988a: 187).
60 Hence the frequent injunctions in Greek literature to match gift with gift, to give when one has given to
you: Hom. Od. 24.283-6, Hes. WD 353-5, Epicharmus fr. 273K, Hdt. 1.69-70, Xen. Cyr. 5.3.31, Aristot.
EN 1167a14-16. Cf. Mauss (1990: 47-8), von Reden (1995a: 18-24), Domingo Gygax (2007: 113-19;
forthcoming: 23-5).
61 Cf. Arist. Rhet.1.5.9, Mastrocinque (1996: 9). The exchange of armor between Glaucus and Diomede at
Iliad 6.234-6 has been taken as the locus classicus for discussions of how dōra are calibrated to a
relationship. See further Donlan (1989), Brown (1998), and generally Mauss (1990: 43-6), von Reden
(1995a: 18-31). von Reden (1997) rightly extends this point to say that all money takes its meaning and
value from the (social) context in which it is used.
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