Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen

An historical recontextualisation seems to be necessary to understand what is at stake in Theomnestos 384-383 trial. The plaintiff, Lysias’client, blames Theomnestos for having claimed, in a previous trial, that he had killed his own father. On that occasion, Theomnestos would have made allusion to...

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Main Author: Francis Larran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques 2014-02-01
Series:Cahiers Mondes Anciens
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1241
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author Francis Larran
author_facet Francis Larran
author_sort Francis Larran
collection DOAJ
description An historical recontextualisation seems to be necessary to understand what is at stake in Theomnestos 384-383 trial. The plaintiff, Lysias’client, blames Theomnestos for having claimed, in a previous trial, that he had killed his own father. On that occasion, Theomnestos would have made allusion to an offensive word prohibited by the law (aporrhèta). In the early IVth Century Athens, the offence is a serious one: delivering such an abuse is showing uncivism and reintroducing disturbance in a city which aims to forget the evils of the Peloponnesian War in order to rebuild itself on the basis of an idealized past. Each one of them tries to appear in court as a model citizen. Both the plaintiff and the defendant take a stand about the aporrhèta and practise a kind of dokimasie: the members of the jury interrogate them about their behaviour, their relation to language and to the History of the city.
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spelling doaj-art-e63c5c2cbca84355a937906a0f47b2012025-08-20T03:15:33ZengAnthropologie et Histoire des Mondes AntiquesCahiers Mondes Anciens2107-01992014-02-01510.4000/mondesanciens.1241Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyenFrancis LarranAn historical recontextualisation seems to be necessary to understand what is at stake in Theomnestos 384-383 trial. The plaintiff, Lysias’client, blames Theomnestos for having claimed, in a previous trial, that he had killed his own father. On that occasion, Theomnestos would have made allusion to an offensive word prohibited by the law (aporrhèta). In the early IVth Century Athens, the offence is a serious one: delivering such an abuse is showing uncivism and reintroducing disturbance in a city which aims to forget the evils of the Peloponnesian War in order to rebuild itself on the basis of an idealized past. Each one of them tries to appear in court as a model citizen. Both the plaintiff and the defendant take a stand about the aporrhèta and practise a kind of dokimasie: the members of the jury interrogate them about their behaviour, their relation to language and to the History of the city.https://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1241sophistoffenceLysiasaporrhètatrial
spellingShingle Francis Larran
Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
Cahiers Mondes Anciens
sophist
offence
Lysias
aporrhèta
trial
title Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
title_full Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
title_fullStr Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
title_full_unstemmed Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
title_short Théomnestos au tribunal ou l’injure comme arme du citoyen
title_sort theomnestos au tribunal ou l injure comme arme du citoyen
topic sophist
offence
Lysias
aporrhèta
trial
url https://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1241
work_keys_str_mv AT francislarran theomnestosautribunaloulinjurecommearmeducitoyen