Papers by Joshua D. Sosin
TAPA
A common view holds that slaves freed on condition of paramone were juridical chimeras, legally h... more A common view holds that slaves freed on condition of paramone were juridical chimeras, legally half-free, half-slave. This paper argues that this view is based on a misunderstanding of the Greek sources, mainly epigraphic; that the intermediate or hybrid juridical state of conditional freedom is a modern invention; that the evidence for manumission in the Greek world suggests overwhelmingly that polities constructed liberty and slavery as a binary pair, rather than poles on a spectrum. "NEXT TO PAGANISM, THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY IS PROBABLY THE MOST difficult feature of ancient life for a modern student to understand." 1 Manumission with it. From Delphi alone, some 1000 inscriptions attest to over 1200 manumissions (ca. 200 B.C.E.-ca.100 C.E.). 2 Inscriptions from Boiotia, Phokis, Thessaly, Macedonia, Bouthrotos, Kalymna, Lemnos, and elsewhere offer hundreds more. Scholarly attention has fallen heavily on Delphi, where manumission is held to have worked roughly as follows. A slave somehow acquired enough money to purchase freedom. But since the slave was legally incapable of contracting the purchase, it, its owner, and the god engaged in a sham sale wherein the slave entrusted the sale (and funds) to Apollo, who bought the slave. This "sale" in effect freed the slave. In roughly a third of known cases, the former slave was subject to paramone. This obliged her to "remain" in service to her manumittor, in semi-slavery, free to go and yet required to remain in a state of conditional or partial freedom. Service was usually to conclude upon the former master's death, at which point the freedperson left this state of semi-slavery and became properly free.
Historia
“The laws even command that he who is ransomed belongs to the one who ransomed him from the enemy... more “The laws even command that he who is ransomed belongs to the one who ransomed him from the enemy, if he does not pay the ransom” ([Dem] 53.11). This is widely regarded as an exception to Solon’s law against enslavement for debt. Harris has made a strong case that the law cited by Apollodoros’ opponent did not concern debt-slavery. This paper suggests, furthermore, that the law did not apply to him and his situation at all; that we have misunderstood what this law “commands;” that ransom was a more varied process than scholars have allowed; and that the law on ransom, so often thought to have been an exception to the ban on debt-slavery, may in fact have been essential to the broader objective of which the ban was part.
Historia
Scholarly consensus holds that a law quoted in Demosthenes (23.53) permitted one to kill a highwa... more Scholarly consensus holds that a law quoted in Demosthenes (23.53) permitted one to kill a highway robber who had lain in ambush and attacked one on a road. But the relevant phrase (ἐν ὁδῷ καθελών) says nothing explicit about ambush. Modern interpretation derives from Harpocration and other ancient authorities. It is argued here that they were mistaken and that the phrase 'ἐν ὁδῷ καθελών' referred to those who inadvertently killed a fellow traveler while 'overtaking on a road.' The new interpretation may offer another way to think about the encounter between Oedipus and Laius. According to a famous passage in Demosthenes, "It was permitted to kill a highwayman who waylaid one on a road." 1 The law is quoted at 23.53: Ἐάν τις ἀποκτείνῃ ἐν ἄθλοις ἄκων, ἢ ἐν ὁδῷ καθελὼν ἢ ἐν πολέµῳ ἀγνοήσας, ἢ ἐπὶ δάµαρτι ἢ ἐπὶ µητρὶ ἢ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ ἢ ἐπὶ θυγατρί, ἢ ἐπὶ παλλακῇ ἣν ἂν ἐπ' ἐλευθέροις παισὶν ἔχῃ, τούτων ἕνεκα µὴ φεύγειν κτείναντα. If one kills unwillingly in games, or ἐν ὁδῷ καθελὼν, or having failed to recognize (a comrade) in war, or (if one kills a man who is) with a wife, or with a mother, or with a sister, or with a daughter, or with a concubine whom he keeps for purpose of producing free offspring, he shall not, for these (acts) go into exile for having killed. 2 Harp. s.v. Ἢ ἐν ὁδῶι καθελών: ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐνεδρεύοντα ἑλών, τουτέστι ἔν τινι ἐνέδρᾳ καταβαλών• Δηµοσθένης ἐν τῷ κατ' Ἀριστοκράτους. 6 Ἢ ἐν ὁδῶι καθελών: for 'having caught a person while he is lying in ambush,' that is 'having struck (someone) down in an ambush.' Demosthenes in Against Aristocrates. Harp. s.v. Ὁδός: Δηµοσθένης ἐν τῷ κατ' Ἀριστοκράτους φησὶν "ἢ ἐν ὁδῷ καθελών" ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐν λόχῳ καὶ ἐνέδρᾳ. τοιοῦτον δὲ εἶναι καὶ τὸ Ὁµηρικόν φασιν "ἢ ὁδὸν ἐλθέµεναι" [Hom. Il. 1.151]. εἰ δὲ ψιλωθείη ἡ προτέρα, σηµαίνει τὸν βαθµὸν, ὡς παρὰ Λυσίᾳ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Φιλίππου, εἰ γνήσιος ὁ λόγος. 7 Road: Demosthenes in Against Aristocrates says, "ἢ ἐν ὁδῷ καθελών" for 'in a trap' and 'in an ambush.' They say that the Homeric "or to go a road" is also such. And if the first syllable should be written with smooth breathing, it denotes 'threshold,' as in Lysias, in Against Philippus, if the speech is genuine.
Historia
In Classical Athens, an immigrant who stayed longer than about a month was required to register a... more In Classical Athens, an immigrant who stayed longer than about a month was required to register a citizen as prostates and to commence paying the metoikion. So were freed slaves. A recent study treats these freeborn and freedman metics as distinct legal types of resident alien. Athenian law did not.
Historia
Since antiquity, scholars have thought that the phrase τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας (Dem. 4.36) indicated... more Since antiquity, scholars have thought that the phrase τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας (Dem. 4.36) indicated a special class of slaves, or freedmen, or (Kazakévich) an unspecified form of free alien. The argument advanced in Dem. 4, this paper suggests, shows that the individuals who lived apart, were mercenaries. In the first Philippic Demosthenes laments Athens' inability to mobilize quickly and efficiently for naval expeditions. The city manages the complex and expensive task of administering the Panathenaia and Dionysia, he observes, because law clearly establishes who is to do what and when (4.35-36). But when it comes to preparing for war, Athens' house is not in order (36-37): τοιγαροῦν ἅµ' ἀκηκόαµέν τι καὶ τριηράρχους καθίσταµεν καὶ τούτοις ἀντιδόσεις ποιούµεθα καὶ περὶ χρηµάτων πόρου σκοποῦµεν, καὶ µετὰ ταῦτ' ἐµβαίνειν τοὺς µετοίκους ἔδοξε καὶ τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας, εἶτ' αὐτοὺς πάλιν, εἶτ' ἀντεµβιβάζειν, εἶτ' ἐν ὅσῳ ταῦτα µέλλεται, προαπόλωλεν τὸ ἐφ' ὃ ἂν ἐκπλέωµεν• So, as soon as we have heard something, we appoint trierarchs and we hold antidoseis for them and we investigate raising money, and after that it is resolved to embark the metics and those who live apart, and then in turn ourselves, and then to embark another crew instead, and then in the time in which these delays take place the purpose for which we were sailing out has been lost. The identity of "those who live apart" has long provoked readers' curiosity. Harpokration explained (s.v. Τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας): 1 Δηµοσθένης Φιλιππικοῖς "καὶ µετὰ ταῦτα ἐµβαίνειν τοὺς µετοίκους ἔδοξε καὶ τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας τῶν δεσποτῶν." οὐ µὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ χωρὶς τοῦ προσκεῖσθαι φανερὸν ἂν εἴη τὸ δηλούµενον, ὅτι οἱ ἀπελεύθεροι καθ' αὑτοὺς ᾤκουν, χωρὶς τῶν ἀπελευθερωσάντων, ἐν δὲ τῷ τέως δουλεύοντες ἔτι συνῴκουν.
Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besi... more Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print-und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber. Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind.
HIS SMALL TRIBUTE, not phoros but syntaxis, grows out of a visit to the Harry Ransom Humanities R... more HIS SMALL TRIBUTE, not phoros but syntaxis, grows out of a visit to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.l P.Aust.inv. 32, there housed, comprises six pieces, which float free in a plastic folder. Four can be joined, so that the text consists of two large and two small fragments, which belong to the same document, but do not join. 2 The document concerns allocation of land labeled x£pcro<; (Kat) a<popoAOyrrCO<;. The latter designation is rare in the papyri, occurring elsewhere only at P.Tebt. III.1 737.22,32 (restored), and P. Thomas 2.14, a papyrus from the Duke collection recently edited by John F. Oates (P. Thomas 2 : ; ; ; ; P.Duk.inv. 318). I worked on the Duke 1 The HRC catalogue reads: "Interesting but mutilated fragment (complete at the bottom and right side; partly so at the left side) concerning the episkepsis of land. 18 lines (the ends of a preceding column are still visible). III/II B.C. 18 x 16 em." lowe thanks to Jack Kroll, who kindly brought me to the HRC and so to notice the papyrus, to the HRC for allowing me to publish it, and to Kent Rigsby, Roger Bagnall, and John Bauschatz for their generous criticism and input. 21 made the joins on autopsy in January 2001. HRC policy prohibits reproduction of cropped and manipulated photographs. Thus, as the HRC archival photograph is of loose pieces, 1 have numbered them and describe here the steps by which the reader may join them as I have (see PLATES 1 and 2). All manipulation is keyed to PLATE 1. Pieces #2 and 4 overlap in the plastic sheath but are not joined. Rotate piece #4 90• CCW and flip on the vertical axis; piece #4 joins at the right edge of piece #3, to give "fr. A" Rotate piece #2 90• CW and flip on the vertical; piece #2 joins to the right edge of piece #1, to give "fr. B." I have been unable, on autopsy or manipulation of a scan of the photograph, to place or join pieces #5 (fr. C) and 6 (fr. D) to the remaining fragments. Rotate piece #5180•; this fragment preserves a right margin, but whether it belongs between fro A and B or above A is hard to say. It would be tempting to ipin C to the right edge of A, such that yiiv (e.3) followed TT!V (AiD) and wv (e.4) followed Yii (Aii.4), but the tears and the fibers do not suggest this, and such a 1 would extend the right margin of fro A far the Doundary suggested fro B. Rotate piece #6 9"0• CW and flip on the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 42 ©2002 GRBS
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2002
The Numismatic Chronicle, 2002
In 1995 C. Grandjean re-edited with copious and learned commentary a wellknown account left by th... more In 1995 C. Grandjean re-edited with copious and learned commentary a wellknown account left by the Theban hipparch Pompidas around the mid-second century bc (IG VII 2426). 1 Grandjean has advanced a novel solution to the longstanding problem of the nature and date of the so-called argyrion symmachikon attested in the account; she suggests that the symmachic silver was issued not by one of the better known leagues, alliances or amphictionies of the fourth, third and second centuries, but by the Hellenic alliance that Antigonos Doson constituted in c. 224/3 from the old Hellenic league of Philip II and Demetrios Poliorketes.2 Whether this ingenious suggestion will hold true, time and perhaps new inscriptions and coins will tell. But two important puzzles remain. First, the account mentions both 'Boeotian' drachmas and argyrion symmachikon , and appears to reckon them interchangeably. While Grandjean has proposed a highly plausible identification of the latter, the 'Boeotia...
Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2001
A papyrus at U. Texas at Austin (late 3rd cent. B.C.) is published which helps establish that lan... more A papyrus at U. Texas at Austin (late 3rd cent. B.C.) is published which helps establish that land described in the papyri as aphorologetos is not “unproductive,” an agricultural condition, but “not (at present) taxed” by the state, a fiscal status.
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2013
TYCHE – Contributions to Ancient History, Papyrology and Epigraphy, 2000
Beiträge in deutscher, englischer, französischer, italienischer und lateinischer Sprache werden a... more Beiträge in deutscher, englischer, französischer, italienischer und lateinischer Sprache werden angenommen. Disketten in MAC-und DOS-Formaten sind willkommen. Eingesandte Manuskripte können nicht zurückgeschickt werden. Bei der Redaktion einlangende wissenschaftliche Werke werden angezeigt.
TYCHE – Contributions to Ancient History, Papyrology and Epigraphy, 2002
Zeitschrift Fur Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 1999
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Papers by Joshua D. Sosin