Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Volume/Issue:
Volume 48: Issue 1-2
‘Those who know the facts’: Witnesses and their testimony in Isaios 9
Author:
Brenda Griffith-Williams University College London Department of Greek and Latin London WC1E 6BT England

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Pages:
253–261
Online Publication Date:
30 Dec 2008
Publication Date:
01 Jan 2008
Article Category:
Journal Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/aant.48.2008.1-2.28
Keywords:
Athenian Inheritance law: Evidence; Witnesses; Testimony; Relevance; Probability
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This paper challenges the traditional view that Athenian witnesses functioned as supporters of litigant rather than impartial observers of events, and that evidence on such matters as family disputes is irrelevant to the legal issues in an inheritance dispute. Isaios wrote this speech for a client who claims the estate of Astyphilos, his half-brother by the same mother. His opponent, Kleon, a first cousin of Astyphilos on his father’s side, says that his son was adopted in Astyphilos’s will. To win the case, Isaios must prove both that the will is invalid and that his client is entitled to the estate as next of kin. He deploys 13 items of witness testimony, more than in any of his other surviving speeches. Witnesses testify not only that the will is a forgery, but also that Astyphilos never spoke to Kleon after a quarrel between their fathers, whereas Astyphilos and the speaker enjoyed a close fraternal relationship. On the traditional view, Isaios is asserting a moral claim to the estate, knowing that his legal case is weak. I argue that evidence of relationships within the family is relevant to the validity of the will, as part of the argument from probability that Astyphilos was unlikely to have adopted his enemy’s son. Some important aspects of the speaker’s story are, nevertheless, unsupported by testimony, and I conclude that Isaios was probably trying to disguise his client’s vulnerability on the issue of kinship by making the most of his evidence against the will.

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Cover Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Print ISSN:
0044-5975
Online ISSN:
1588-2543

Senior editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Takács, László

Managing Editor(s): Krähling, Edit

Editorial Board

  • Tamás DEZSŐ (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Miklós MARÓTH (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies)
  • Gyula MAYER (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Classical Philology Research Group)
  • János NAGYILLÉS (University of Szeged)
  • Lajos Zoltán SIMON (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Csilla SZEKERES (University of Debrecen)
  • Kornél SZOVÁK (Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
  • Zsolt VISY (University of Pécs)

 

Advisory Board

  • Michael CRAWFORD (University College London, prof. em.)
  • Patricia EASTERLING (Newnham College, University of Cambridge, prof. em.)
  • Christian GASTGEBER (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
  • László HORVÁTH (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
  • Patricia JOHNSTON (Brandeis University Boston, prof. em.)
  • Csaba LÁDA (University of Kent)
  • Herwig MAEHLER (prof. em.)
  • Attilio MASTROCINQUE (University of Verona)
  • Zsigmond RITOÓK (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, prof. em.)

László Takács
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Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language English
French
(Latin)
German
Italian
Spanish
Size B5
Year of
Foundation		 1951
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 4
Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia   
Founder's
Address		 H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 0044-5975 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2543 (Online)

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