On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An EssaySeebohm, Hugh E. (Hugh Exton)
History
On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay
Seebohm, Hugh E. (Hugh Exton)
Greece -- History; Greece -- Law -- Antiquities; Greece -- Social life and customs; Land tenure -- Greece; Tribes
_Il._ xxiv. 479. “And as when a grievous curse cometh upon a man
who in his own country (ἐνὶ πάτρη) hath slain another and escapeth
to a land of other folk (δῆμον ἄλλων) to the house of some rich
man, and wonder possesseth them that look on him....”(117)
_Od._ xv. 272. “Having slain a man of my tribe (ἔμφυλον): and many
are his relations (κασίγνητοι) and kinsmen (ἔται) in Argos: at
their hands do I shun death and black fate and am in exile.”
_Od._ xxiii. 118. “For whoso hath slain but one man in his country
(ἐνὶ δήμῳ) for whom there be not many avengers (ἀοσσητῆρες)
behind, he fleeth leaving his kin (πηούς) and his fatherland, how
then we who have slain the pillar of the state!”
(M53) If ransom there was none for the murderer within the tribe, there
was equally none for murders between citizen and citizen,—in this point
also the inheritors of the sentiments of tribesmen. In the law of
Solon(118) it was forbidden to take payment in compensation from the
murderer:—
“The murderer can be slain in our land, not tortured, not held to
ransom (μηδὲ ἀποινᾷν).”
Plato(119) describes the soul of the deceased as troubled with a great
anger against the murderer, so that even the innocent and unintentional
homicide must needs flee at any rate for a year. The presence too of a man
thus denied with bloodshed at the sacred altars was held to be a gross
impiety and source of divine anger. Plato(120) says:—
“The murderer shall be slain, but not buried in the country (χώρα)
of the deceased, which would be a disgrace and impiety.”(121)
In the case of a suicide, the hand that committed the crime was to be cut
off and buried separately.
In Isacus(122) it is related how Euthukrates in a quarrel over a
boundary-stone was so flogged by his _brother_ Thoudippos that, dying some
days after, he charged his friends (οἱκεῖοι) not to allow any of
Thoudippos’ people (τῶν Θουδίππου) to approach his tomb. But if the
murdered man before his death forgave his murderer, the relatives could
not proceed against him.
If the murderer escaped fleeing he must go forever: if he returned he
could be killed at sight by any one and with impunity.(123) The pollution
rested on the whole kindred of the murdered man.
“Whosoever _being related to the deceased_ on the male or female
side of those within the cousinship shall not prosecute the
murderer when he ought or proclaim him outlaw, he shall _take upon
himself __ the pollution_ and the hatred of the gods ... and he
shall be in the power of any who is willing to avenge the
dead.”(124)
The pollution cannot be washed out until the homicidal soul has given life
for life and has laid to sleep the wrath of the whole family
(ξυγγένια).(125)
If it is a beast that has killed the man, it shall be slain to propitiate
the kin and atone for the blood shed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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