Oaths and swearing in ancient Greece / Alan H. Sommerstein, Isabelle C. Torrance ; with contributions by Andrew J. Bayliss, Judith Fletcher, Kyriaki Konstantinidou and Lynn A. Kozak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sommerstein, Alan H., author.

Torrance, Isabelle C., author.

Fletcher, Judith, author.

Konstantinidou, Kyriaki, author.

Kozak, Lynn, author.

Contributor:

Bayliss, Andrew J., contributor.

Series:

Beiträge zur Altertumskunde ; Bd. 307.

Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, 1616-0452 ; Band 307

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oaths (Greek law).

Public law (Greek law).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (473 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2014]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

A. H. Sommerstein, University of Nottingham; I. C. Torrance, University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Summary:

The oath was an institution of fundamental importance across a wide range of social interactions throughout the ancient Greek world, making a crucial contribution to social stability and harmony; yet there has been no comprehensive, dedicated scholarly study of the subject for over a century. This volume of a two-volume study explores the nature of oaths as Greeks perceived it, the ways in which they were used (and sometimes abused) in Greek life and literature, and their inherent binding power.

Contents:

What is an oath? / A.H. Sommerstein

Oath and curse / K. Konstantinidou

Oaths in traditional myth / I.C. Torrance

Friendship and enmity, trust and suspicion. Oaths between warriors in epic and tragedy / L.A. Kozak

Oaths in business / A.H. Sommerstein

The language of oaths. How oaths are expressed / A.H. Sommerstein

The "Sophoclean" oath / I.C. Torrance

"Of cabbages and kings": the Eideshort phenomenon /I.C. Torrance

Ways to give oaths extra sanctity / I.C. Torrance

Oaths, gender and status. Women and oaths / J. Fletcher

Servile swearing / A.J. Bayliss

The oaths of the gods / I.C. Torrance

Oaths and characterization: two Homeric case studies / L.A. Kozak

Oratory and rhetoric / A.H. Sommerstein

"Artful dodging", or the sidestepping of oaths / A.J. Bayliss except as stated

The difficulty of proving an oath false: the case of Euripides' Cyclops / I.C. Torrance

The binding power of oaths. Were oaths always totally binding? / A.H. Sommerstein

The oaths of lovers / A.H. Sommerstein

The tongue and the mind: responses to Euripides, Hippolytus 612 / I.C. Torrance

Responses to perjury. Divine responses / I.C. Torrance

Human responses / K. Konstantinidou

The informal oath / A.H. Sommerstein

Swearing oaths in the authorial person / I.C. Torrance

The Hippocratic Oath / I.C. Torrance

The decline of the oath? / A.H. Sommerstein.

Notes:

"This volume completes the publication of the project The Oath in Archaic and Classical Greece, based at the University of Nottingham"--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 394-412) and indexes.

This eBook is made available Open Access. Unless otherwise specified individually in the content, the work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783110384871

3110384876

9783110227369

3110227363

OCLC:

1002252295

Access Restriction:

Unrestricted online access