BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter One
democracy, a figure aligned with a number of distinct social types at specific periods
within Athens’ history. Through most of the fifth century, the dōrodokos was like a
disobedient citizen (Chapter Two). A different type emerged in the last quarter of the
fifth century and especially in the decades after the rule of the Thirty Tyrants, as the
dōrodokos became a thief of sorts, someone who was plundering the polity for his own
gain (Chapter Three). And finally, in the middle half of the fourth century, amid the
constant threat of civil conflict throughout the Greek world, the dōrodokos was a traitor
(Chapter Four).
On a relational view of bribery, there are a number of factors that contributed to
the dōrodokos’ transformation from a disobedient citizen to a thief and traitor, and our
focus in these chapters will be on understanding precisely why this diachronic
development occurred. Changing social configurations, both inside and outside politics,
created different patterns in which the frame of bribery might arise. This, in turn, created
changing patterns of how social relations were leveraged within politics—for what kinds
of duties, how often or how thoroughly they were leveraged—and, consequently, shifted
the frames through which Athenians conceptualized the civic obligations of public
official and citizen, alike.
Of course, these factors shifted the ways in which the regular, legitimate monies
used to negotiate social relationships in politics were conceptualized, as well. One of the
most striking stories we will trace, then, is how the monies of dōrodokia were constantly
counterpoised with the monies of democracy. There are two components to this
argument, each of which will be fleshed out in the chapters to come. First, the dōrodokos
was consistently thought to weigh illegitimate bribe monies against legitimate political
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