FW: BMCR 2012.03.20: Fletcher on Sundahl, Mirhady, Arnaoutoglou, A New Working Bibliography of Ancient Greek Law
Uri Yiftach
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UY
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Subject: BMCR 2012.03.20: Fletcher on Sundahl, Mirhady, Arnaoutoglou, A New Working Bibliography of Ancient Greek Law
Mark Sundahl, David Mirhady, Ilias Arnaoutoglou, A New Working
Bibliography of Ancient Greek Law (7th-4th centuries BC). Yearbook of
the Research Centre for the History of Greek Law, volume 42.
Supplement, 11. Athens: Academy of Athens, 2011. Pp. 657. ISBN
9789604041985.
Reviewed by Judith Fletcher, Wilfrid Laurier University
(jfle...@wlu.ca)
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Sundahl, Mark, David Mirhady and Ilias Arnaoutoglou. A New Working
Bibliography of Ancient Greek Law (7th-4th
centuries BC). Yearbook of the Research Centre for the History of Greek
Law, volume 42. Supplement, 11. Athens:
Academy of Athens, 2011. 657 p. (pb). ISBN 9789604041985
Reviewed by Judith Fletcher, Wilfrid Laurier University
(jfle...@wlu.ca)
This volume is the child of the online and ongoing bibliography project
NOMOI (http://www.sfu.ca/nomoi/) , created by the same triumvirate of
scholars, and currently hosted by
Simon Fraser University, where it is updated twice yearly. The intent
of both the electronic and paper bibliographies is
to collect and catalogue scholarship on ancient Greek law between the
7th and 4th centuries BCE; this version is,
however, more than a printout of the web site. The bibliographers have
used the opportunity to re-edit, and re-
categorize their material in a volume that is a boon to any scholar
working on the topic of Greek law or ancient Greek
legal history: expansive and multi-limbed topics that grow increasingly
more sophisticated with each passing year.
As the introduction explains, the project took its inspiration and
impetus from G. Calhoun and Delamere’s 1927
bibliography (cited only as Calhoun in the introduction, but correctly
in the bibliography itself). The introduction
(given both in English and Greek) sets out the parameters and
rationale of the project. I advise consulting this brief
introduction first, since it not only explains the logic behind the
different categories, but also defines and defends
the limits of the bibliography. For example, researchers will not find
articles on different aspects of law in Hellenistic
Egypt, but we are directed to sources that will provide useful
material.
In the interests of concision, companions and edited volumes cited more
than once are given in abbreviated forms
listed at the beginning of the volume. There are a few omissions from
this directory, which can lead to a bit of
confusion. For example, we find articles from (2005) The Cambridge
Companion to Ancient Greek Law, ed.
M. Gagarin and D. Cohen, cited simply as The Cambridge Companion at
various points, but the full citation
is missing from the list of abbreviations. Nonetheless such lapses are
rare, and problems can usually be resolved by
an online search. They certainly do not compromise the value of this
useful tool.
The aim of the bibliographers is to collect articles and books “in as
many languages as we have access to” (p. 30).
The results are impressively comprehensive, and welcomingly accessible
for specialists and non-specialists
(especially if they consult the organizing principles laid out in the
introduction). Material is set forth according to
different topic headings, and the entire catalogue is presented again
alphabetically by author in the second half of
the volume. Modern Greek titles are transliterated into the Latin
alphabet; titles of some foreign language articles
(e.g. Serbian) are translated into English. The same material may be
cited more than once under different headings,
which adds to the utility of the volume. Occasionally the notation of
page numbers is inconsistent: e.g., Saripolos,
N.I. (1860) is Solon 1, 3 ff., while most entries give inclusive pages.
This is a quibble, but it makes ordering
arcane material through inter-library loan a bit more challenging.
The first section deals with source material on Greek legal history,
and includes general sourcebooks on Greek law,
material on the orators, references to legal issues in literature,
philosophy and historiography. Researchers in the
ever-burgeoning Law and Literature movement will be grateful for the
inclusion of material on poetry and drama,
although perhaps Rogers, R.S. (1985) “The Wasps in court: Argument and
audience in the Athenian
dicasteries,” American Journal of Legal History 28: 147-163, should be
listed under the Aristophanes
heading (with the full page span, rather than 147ff.), in addition to
its appearance in “Legal redress” (p. 341).
Section II is a comprehensive list of auxiliary material including
methodological and interdisciplinary approaches to
Greek law. This is an excellent departure point for students and
scholars in the preliminary phases of research.
Section III sets out the resources for “Fundamental Principles.” This
includes articles on legal thought (e.g., the rule of
law), litigation, codification, the different lawgivers, the
relationship between law and justice, and legal terminology
(e.g. nomos, psephisma).
Section IV is devoted to the Polis (or public law), and lists
scholarship on constitutions, magistrates, legislation, and
finance. Section V, entitled “Individuals, status, and law,” comprises
entries on different legal aspects of identity
including age (e.g., ephebes), status (e.g., metics, slaves and
freedmen), and women. The latter category is especially
welcome in light of the temporary curatorial hiatus of the website
Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient
World. Researchers on issues of women and law will find further
resources in Section VI, “Family and
inheritance,” which includes sub-headings on marriage, divorce,
illegitimacy, and the epicleros (or brotherless
heiress).
Section VII covers “Contractual and property relations,” and Section
VIII “Trade and commerce.” Section IX, “Crime and
punishment,” includes sub-divisions on homicide, hybris (criminal
violence), and theft, as well as penalties.
This is followed logically by Section X, “Legal redress,” which covers
arbitration, the Areopagus, regular procedures
(dikai and graphai), extraordinary procedures (e.g. antidosis),famous
trials, personel (sic)
and equipment, proofs, torture (the basanos), and witnesses.
Section XI deals with “Law and religion.” Material on suppliants and
the law (which might deserve its own sub-
heading) are listed in the general list at the beginning of the
section. Otherwise, the sub-headings are:
Asebeia (impiety), Asylia (inviolability), Defixiones (curses), and
Leges sacrae
(sacred laws). The final section (XII) is “Inter-poleis relations”
which includes diplomacy, international arbitration,
and treaties.
In conclusion, this bibliography is a superb research tool, thanks to
its comprehensive scope – no archival stone
seems to have been unturned – its logical organization and attempts to
avoid ambiguity. I recommend it as a
resource for anyone researching or teaching ancient Greek law, social
history (including women and the family), or
even ancient Greek history in general. It deserves a spot in every
serious research library.
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