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Performing Interpersonal Violence Court, Curse, and Comedy in Fourth-Century BCE Athens

:	Werner Riess
:	Performing Interpersonal Violence Court, Curse, and Comedy in Fourth-Century BCE Athens
:	Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
:	9783110245608
:	MythosEikonPoiesisISSN
:	1
:	CHF 0.50
:

:	Altertum
:	English

:	490
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

< PAN lang=EN>

This book offers the first attempt at understanding interpersonal violence in ancient Athens. While the archaic desire for revenge persisted into the classical period, it was channeled by the civil discourse of the democracy. Performances such as the staging of trials and comedies ritually defined the meaning of violence and its appropriate application. Speeches and curse tablets not only spoke about violence, but also exacted it, deriving its legitimate use from a democratic principle, the communal decision of the human jurors in the first case and the underworld gods in the second.

< >Werner Riess, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A.

	Acknowledgments	6
	I. Introduction	14
	Notions of Violence – State of Research – Goals	14
	Methodology: The Performative Turn and Ritual Studies (A Brief Overview)	23
	The Controlling Function of Ritualization	29
	Sources – Chronological Scope	32
	II. Forensic Speeches	35
	Ritual Framing	35
	Constructing Violence: Discursive Rules of Violence I (Interaction)	45
	Contexts	46
	First Blow versus Self-Defense	47
	Murder versus Lawful Homicide	48
	Public versus Hidden Violence	64
	Day versus Night	78
	Inebriation versus Sobriety	80
	Old Age versus Young Age	83
	Thresholds (invasion of homes versus protection of oikos)	85
	Disturbance of Public Duty versus Maintenance of Public Order	95
	Perversion of Religious Customs	96
	Perversion of Gender, Citizenship Status, Social Rank and Role	97
	Mediated (Sanctioned) versus Direct Violence	107
	Escalation versus De-escalation	109
	Images of Violence: Discursive Rules of Violence II (Mental and Cultural Representation)	115
	The Depiction of Violence	117
	Selfless Motives versus Selfishness	127
	Anger	128
	Transgression of Boundaries	132
	Hubris	133
	Tyrants	139
	Barbarians	143
	Old versus New Discourse Strategies	144
	Functions of Ritualization	153
	How to Plead in Court – A Conclusion	171
	III. Curse Tablets	177
	Proportions – Social Origins of Cursers – Functions of Tablets	182
	Ritual Framing	190
	Ritual Actions (drômena)	191
	Ritual Words (legomena)	195
	Degree of Violence	202
	Diachronic Development	235
	Conclusion	240
	IV. Old and New Comedy	248
	Ritual Framing	251
	Ritual Origins	251
	Theater Production as Ritual Process	256
	Ritual Efficacy	260
	The Discursive Rules of Violence	264
	Aristophanes	264
	Three Case Studies: Wasps, Birds, and Clouds	298
	The Double-Layerdness of Violence	324
	Aristophanes' Discourse on Democracy – Summary	329
	Menander	332
	Menander's Discourse on Society – Summary	377
	Ritual Functions of Scenes of Violence in Comedy	380
	Conclusion	386
	V. Conclusions	392
	Chronological Development of the Violence Discourse in Different Genres	392
	Three Theses on Athenian Violence	397
	Controlling Function of Ritualization	400
	Social Origins of Perpetrators of Violence	402
	A State Monopoly on Violence ?	404
	Outlook on Violence in Athenian Foreign Policy	405
	VI. References	408
	1. Corpora of Athenian Curse Tablets	408
	2. Abbreviated Works	409
	3. English Translations	410
	4. Secondary Literature	411
	Index locorum	454
	Literary Sources	454
	Inscriptions	469
	Papyri	474
	Iconographical Sources	474
	General Index	476
	Important Greek and Latin terms	484
	Ancient proper names (historical and fictional persons)	487