=Law-courts at Athens.=--One of the most striking features of
democratic Athens was its elaborate machinery for the administration
of justice. The system of popular control began in the fifth century
B.C., and reached its full development in the fourth. For petty
offences the various magistrates had the power of inflicting a small
fine, but graver charges were usually decided by a jury court. Those
who composed these jury courts were called _dikastae_. They were
chosen at first up to the number of six thousand from the entire body
of citizens over thirty years of age, but later on apparently any
citizen over thirty years of age was a qualified juryman. From the
time of Perikles each juryman received three obols (about 5d.) a
day for his services. The whole body of jurymen was divided into ten
sections, each of which was distinguished by one of the first ten
letters of the Greek alphabet (A to K). Each dikast received a ticket
([Greek: pinakion]), at first of bronze, but in Aristotle's day of
boxwood, inscribed with his name, his parish, and the number of his
section. In Aristotle's day the father's name was always given as
well.[4] Four of these dikasts' tickets (in bronze) are exhibited in
this case, together with a fragment of a fifth. Upwards of eighty are
known, all apparently belonging to the fourth century B.C. The tickets
shown are:
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--TICKET OF THUKYDIDES (NO. 10). L. 4-1/4 in.]
No. =7=, which belonged to Deinias of Halae, of the third section
([Greek: G]). The ticket is stamped with the Athenian symbol of an owl
within an olive wreath, two owls with one head, and a Gorgoneion.
No. =8=, belonging to Archilochos of Phaleron, of the fifth section
([Greek: E]).
No. =9=, belonging to Aristophon, son of Aristodemos, of Kothokidae.
His was the third section ([Greek: G]).
No. =10=, the ticket of Thukydides of Upper Lamptrae (fig. 4). He
belonged to the sixth section ([Greek: Z]). The ticket bears the
symbols of an owl within an olive wreath, and a Gorgoneion.
The lowest fragment is part of a ticket belonging to Philochares of
Acharnae of the fifth section.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--INSCRIBED POTSHERDS (OSTRAKA) AT ATHENS (NO.
11).]
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