Keeping to the Point in Athenian Forensic Oratory

Keeping to the Point in Athenian Forensic Oratory, Volume 1 of the New Approaches To Ancient Greek Institutional History series, examines the intersection of rhetoric and legal procedure in Classical Athens. When a litigant initiated a lawsuit, they submitted a written plaint detailing specific legal violations. Judges were sworn to vote solely on these charges, requiring both private and public litigants to keep to the point by discussing only relevant legal matters.

This work in ancient Greek legal history analyzes several Athenian court speeches to demonstrate how litigants maintained strict focus on legal relevance. By exploring these connections, the essays provide an institutional understanding of Athenian forensic oratory. This volume serves as a significant resource for scholars of ancient history, law, and literary criticism, offering an integrated approach to how speech functioned within the Athenian judicial system.