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Lysias 1: A case of Adultery? (or cold-blooded murder?)

Lysias 1: A case of Adultery? (or cold-blooded murder?). Adultery in Athenian life and Law. Since many marriages were not based on attraction or emotional commitment, adultery must have been frequent.

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Lysias 1: A case of Adultery? (or cold-blooded murder?)

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  1. Lysias 1: A case of Adultery?(or cold-blooded murder?)

  2. Adultery in Athenian life and Law • Since many marriages were not based on attraction or emotional commitment, adultery must have been frequent. • Adultery definition (moicheia): if someone had sex with someone’s wife, sister, mother, or daughter, but • NOT: if a married man had sex with a prostitute, one of his slaves or another man. • Adultery was viewed as a very serious offence because it interfered with someone else’s family and polluted the bloodline of his oikos.

  3. The Law • If someone caught in the act was killed by the woman’s husband, father, son or brother, the killer was not punished. • Alternatively, the adulterer could be humiliated and abused without the possibility of redress. • Financial compensation could be agreed as a civilized alternative • Possibly a prosecution could be brought at a later date. • Unlawful confinement under a pretext of adultery could be challenged and the alleged adulterer walked free of any obligation if he could convince the jury that he had not committed adultery, but was punished with humiliations before the jury if he failed.

  4. Euphiletos • Euphiletos killed Eratosthenes alleging that the latter had committed adultery with his wife. • The family of Eratosthenes disputes the facts and argues that Euphiletos killed him outside the house accompanied by a gang of his friends and then brought the body inside and made up the charges of adultery. • The case is tried at the Delphinion court before 51 judges called Ephetai. • If Euphiletos fails to convince the jury he will be treated as a murderer and will be executed, but if he wins , he walks free.

  5. Questions which the case raises • The ethopoieia: how are the characters potrayed? • What was the role of Sostratos? • Why does Euphiletos need witnesses? Do you consider those witnesses reliable? • How could Euphiletos escape unnoticed? • How risky was for the wife to have the lover in while the husband was sleeping in the other room? • What evidence is Euphiletos presenting about the affair? • Do you believe Euphiletos?

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