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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 330-340). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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This doctoral thesis aims to explore the underlying rationale of the (by modern standards) wide use of character evidence in the courts of classical Athens. Linking divergent areas of social sciences such as law, history, psychology and social anthropology, this interdisciplinary quest examines under a socio-political prism the question of legal relevance in Athenian forensic rhetoric. Specifically, I am concerned with an in-depth analysis of the surviving court speeches placed in their context in order to reveal the function of the Athenian courts and the fundamental nature of Athenian law. I explore the utmost aims of the first democratic system of justice and give a verdict as to its orientation towards the attainment of key notions such as the rule of law, equity and fairness, or social stability through utilitarian dispute resolution. My claim is that, although ancient and modern definitions of such ideals are in essence incomparable, the Athenians achieved the rule of law in their own terms through the strict application of legal justice in their courts. In such a legal system, no ‘aberrations’ or irrelevant ‘extra-legal’ arguments may carry significant weight. Central for my argument is the homogeneous approach to (legal and quasi-legal) argumentation from Homer to the orators, in a period covering more than four centuries. Close analysis of the dispute-resolution passages in ancient Greek literature exposes the striking similarities with the rhetoric of litigants in the Athenian courts. Therefore, instead of isolating (in time and space) the sphere of the Athenian courts of the mid-5th to the late-4th centuries, my holistic approach discloses the need for an all-embracing interpretation of the wide use of character evidence in every aspect of argumentation. I argue that the explanation for this practice is to be found (on a subjective level) in the Greek ideas of ‘character’ and ‘personality’, the inductive method of reasoning, and (on an objective level) in the social, political and institutional structures of the ancient Greek polis. Thus, a new exegesis to the question of legal relevance for the Greeks emerges.

Socrates claimed Daedalus, the mythical first architect, as his ancestor. Taking this as a point of departure, the thesis explores the relationship between architecture and speculative thought, and shows how the latter is grounded in the former. A detailed examination of the Anaximander fragment, the earliest surviving record in Western philosophy, is considered in relation to Anaximander's built work. This three-part cosmic model which included a celestial sphere, the first map of the world, and a sun clock (the gnomon), reveals the fragment to be a theory of the work in that the cosmic order Anaximander was the first to articulate was discovered through the building of the model. The model is seen as comparable to a daidalon, a creation of Daedalus, whose legend reflects the importance of craft in the self-consciousness of archaic Greece where the kosmos (order) of civilization were seen as having emerged with the kosmos allowed to appear through the making of the artifact. Archaic self-consciousness is further examined through the emergence of the Greek city-state (the polis) and in the building of the first peripteral temples, both of which are revealed as necessary antecedents to birth of theory, understood as the wondering admiration of the well-made thing.

The thesis presents a detailed, comparative analysis of the representations of the body-armour associated with the Greek hoplite, the heavily-armed foot-soldier, as depicted in art, ca. 500-300 B.C. The Introduction defines the topic and its aims and explains the approach adopted. Chapter 1 deals with the representations of the different types of helmet, namely the Corinthian, Attic, Chalcidian, Illyrian and Thracian and the pilos. Chapter 2 discusses the armour vorn on the torso, i.e. the improved bell-corselet, the muscle-corselet and the linen-corselet, and the frequent absence of these. In Chapter 3 the greaves (leg-guards) are considered. Each section looks at the literary evidence for the item, the originals, if any survive, and the artistic representations, primarily on Attic red-figure and whiteground vases, but also in sculpture, minor works of art, gems, rings, and coinage. The Conclusion summarises the findings and suggests some ways in which the theme might be extended in the future. Three Appendices review the evidence for helmet crests, the origin of the Thracian helmet, and an unusual form of pilos (i.e. with a bend in the side-edge). A Catalogue of the Attic vases follows. The Figures present drawings of the surviving Corinthian helmets and most of the armour portrayed in the vase-paintings, while the Plates illustrate a representative sample of the material studied.