Heliastic oathThe Heliastic oath (Ancient Greek: ἡλιαστικὸς ὅρκος; heliastikos horkos) was an oath sworn by the 6000 dikastes selected each to be jurors in the ancient Athenian law courts. Unlike modern juries, the oath was not sworn at the trial but after their initial selection to be potential jurors on the hill of Ardettos outside the walls of Athens to the south-east.[1] In Demosthenes' speech Against Timocrates, the oath was quoted, and using quotations from other speeches, we can reconstruct the oath's main lines. The oath was sworn in the names of Zeus, Apollo, and Demeter,[2] who played a significant role of divine witnesses in Athenian judicial practices. At the end of the oath, the juror said a curse against himself if he should break his oath. Voting in the court was secret though, so a juror could not be accused of breaking the oath. However, the juror could experience divine punishment for breaking the oath. OathGerman philologist Max Fränkel (1846 - 1903)[3] reconstructed the full text of the Heliastic Oath, which detailed jurors' pledges to abide by the laws and decisions of the Assembly and Council and to vote based on their understanding of justice when no specific law applied. David C. Mirhady has provided an English translation:
Mogens Herman Hansen offers a different translation:
The Oath's Religious and Governmental ImpactThe oath included a self-imposed curse, where jurors acknowledged the risk of divine retribution if they violated their promise to judge cases impartially, emphasizing the high moral stakes in Athenian legal proceedings. Although court voting was conducted in secret, belief in divine punishment reinforced the oath's significance.[5] The Heliastic Oath was a solemn pledge sworn by jurors in ancient Athenian courts, witnesses to their commitment to fairness and justice. This invocation emphasized the religious and ethical dimensions of Athenian legal practices, linking divine authority to judicial integrity.[6] See alsoReferences
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