The rhetoric of vengeance (timoria) in Athenian forensic oratory

This project aims to illuminate Athenian social values through a comprehensive study of the Greek value term timoria ("vengeance") invoked by litigants in the law courts of classical Athens (508-322 BCE). It argues that litigants present timoria self-consciously to navigate social tensions surrounding the pursuit of personal vengeance: they assimilate their pursuit of vengeance in court against their own enemies with jurors' collective pursuit of vengeance against those who threaten the city.;Historians of classical Athens have written extensively on the subject of vengeance in legal and social discourse as part of a broader discussion about classical Athens as an honor-based society, in which the imperative to "help one's friends and harm one's enemies" structured relations between citizens and kin. Recent scholarship on how much Athenians embraced or repudiated vengeance, however, is based more on theoretical models than on textual support. Consequently, some scholars view the courts in terms of a limited set of social values and draw conclusions about Athenian attitudes towards vengeance without fully appreciating how litigants invoke the concept of timoria .;Contextual readings of the primary sources reveal a more complex picture than previously supposed. Litigants cite timoria as a justification for litigation, but they also invest their jurors with the provision of help (boetheia) in avenging slights and encourage them to take vengeance (timoria) on their opponents, characterized as enemies of the community. By conceiving of vengeance pursued through the courts as a measured, socially-imposed act, litigants sought to ensure that their suits would not appear disproportionate or anti-democratic. Case studies trace how litigants exploited timoria and the cultural values associated with it in social, historical, and legal contexts, providing ample evidence that Athenians approved of vengeance and that the courts helped shape attitudes towards it.