Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Αρχαία Ελληνική ΦιλολογίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Voulgaris Georgios
Supervisors info:
Ροζαλία Χατζηλάμπρου (επόπτρια), Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Δημήτριος Καραδήμας, Καθηγητής Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Σελήνη-Ελένη Ψωμά, Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ιστορίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Η ρητορική της δωροδοκίας στην υπόθεση του Αρπάλου
Translated title:
The Rhetoric of Bribery in the Harpalus Affair
Summary:
This dissertation examines the existence of regularities with regard to the rhetorical management of a bribery indictment in the latter quarter of the 4th century BC, which arise in relation to the characteristics of bribery and the needs of the case. The field of examination is the case of Harpalus and the related rhetorical speeches of Dinarchus (Against Demosthenes, Against Aristogeiton, Against Philocles) and Hypereides (Against Demosthenes).
The work is articulated in four parts. The first part brings together and presents the basic characteristics of prosecuted bribery in classical Athens, in the frame of an overall approach to the offence, which depend to a large extent on the rhetorical handling of such an indictment. The second part presents the philological and historical reasons for the research of rhetoric in this case, the inclusion of the case in the historical context and its vital importance for the later history of Athens.
The third and fourth part, which are also the core of the work, examine the πίστεις and the λέξις of the speeches, in so far as they relate to bribery and its characteristics. In the third part where πίστεις are examined, the approach is based on the aristotelian division into ἄτεχνοι and ἔντεχνοι πίστεις. Both kinds of πίστεις are investigated in relation to the degree of their processing by the orators, the degree of their contrived correlation with the case and the degree of their connection with the only legal evidence actually available to the prosecutors, the Areopagus' decision. In the context of categorisations, are featured the mechanisms, as well as their points of contact and cooperation, through which the orators manage the elements at their disposal to fill the needs and gaps arising from the nature of bribery as an offence and to serve the indictment of the case in question. The fourth part concerns the λέξις of bribery, i.e. the words and verbal patterns in which bribery is declared. Τhe different aspects of the offence which each of these patterns brings to the fore and their complementary function with πίστεις are presented. They are categorised on the basis of interpretative or etymological affinity. The detection, therefore, of systematized mechanisms at the level of argument and vocabulary to fill gaps and peculiarities arising from the identified characteristics of a bribery offence, leads to the belief that there is a rhetoric of bribery.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
bribery, financial offence, rhetoric, Athens, 4th century BC, Harpalus. Dinarchus, Hypereides
