IN VIEW of the variety of ways Athenians referred to their courts, it will be helpful here to list all the names and phrases together with all the monuments, sites, or remains of buildings that have suggested themselves for one reason or another as lawcourts. As explained above (pp. 3-9), a given court could have two or three different names, sometimes used contemporaneously, sometimes one succeeding another. The following catalogue, arranged alphabetically, includes names, sites, building remains, and monuments, all interspersed. Cross references to discussions within this chapter are indicated by the italicized heading italicized heading of the appropriate section and a page number; cross othe references to another chapter in this volume are indicated by the chapter name (usually shortened) in quotation marks and a page number. In all, they document an ancient diversity and multiplicity of labels as well as the conjectures of scholarship, both modern and that of late antiquity. The sum off thesere courtreferences show that there are fewer courts than there are names. Although are fewer than no single identification of archaeological remains with court name, or names, can be said to be beyond dispute, some are more likely than others. An attempt to evaluate proposed identifications is accordingly entered under each appropriate rubric.
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon ... Kappa (71). As names for courts, these letters represent an erroneous attempt by a scholar in late antiquity to explain certain Aristophanic allusions.
Archaic building south of the Olympieion. Remains of a structure described as having been built ca.
500 B.C.E.just west of foundations of a Doric temple built in the mid-5th century B.C.E. John Travlos (1971, p. 83), while conceding that "no conclusive evidence as to the identification" can be cited, proposed the temple as that of Apollo Delphinios. Four potsherds that preserve the first letters of Apollo's name, and a mention by Pausanias (1.19.1) of a shrine of Apollo Delphinios in the neighborhood of the Olympieion, form the basis of Travlos' proposal. The Archaic building (older than the mid-5th-century temple) is close enough to that structure to appear to be within a putative temenos. The building was capacious, its exterior dimensions 21.50 x 11.20 m., and in plan shows a large central hall flanked by two smaller halls (Travlos 1971, figs. 113, 114). Although the function this plan was designed to serve is not clear, Travlos argued from the site and from the good quality of workmanship and materials that the Archaic building was the homicide court called "at the Delphinion". Wycherley (1978, pp. 166-167) pronounces the identification "convincing", but the physical remains are not consistent with such modest needs for space as the functions of the court presume. The judging body was comparatively small, and a roofed structure would in any case be inappropriate for a homicide trial; see "Homicide Courts," pages 43-49 above.
Archon's Court (139-142). Possibly an alternate designation of the Odeion, q.v.; cf. "Nomenclature,"
p. 6 above.
Ardettos Hill (171-175). A low hill southeast of the Olympieion and just across the Ilissos River.
Dikasts swore their annual oath here, and Pollux names Ardettos a lawcourt (171), but there is no evidence that trials were held on or near the hill; seeJudeich 1931, p. 42.
Areopagos (1-6, 8-28). This low eminence joined by a saddle to the slightly higher Akropolis to the southeast is, in fact, a spur of the Akropolis. It was conventionally called the Hill of Ares,
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although a connection with &opa is sometimes invoked. See, e.g., Frisk 1960-1972, s.v. 'Apv(. Paul Chantraine also proposes a connection with &petwv (1968, s.v.; cf. Wallace 1989, pp. 213-214). The council met on this hill, surely when it was first called the Council of the Areopagos, and presumably thereafter even when other meeting places, such as the Stoa Basileios, were possible. No sure trace remains to show where a meeting place on the hill could have been. For a suggestion that the council originally met on the plateau or terrace northeast and somewhat lower than the highest part of the hill, where in later years a Church of St. Dionysios stood, see Vanderpool 1950, pp. 34-37; cf., however, Travlos and Frantz 1965, pp. 159-163.
By the middle ofthe 5th century B.C.E. and as late as 337/6 (28), the council met in a bouleuterion.
The word in itself means no more than "place where a council convenes". It does not, therefore, refer to the Bouleuterion where the Council of 500 met, nor does it necessarily even imply a single building given uniquely to the uses of the Council of the Areopagos. Any building, the Stoa Basileios, for instance, when the Council of the Areopagos was convened there, became for that time a bouleuterion or synedrion. Any structure within which the council met for the purpose ofjudging homicide cases, however, must have been hypaethral, since a man accused of homicide presented danger of pollution to any member of the victim's family under the same roof; cf. Wycherley 1955, pp. 118-121.
Basilica at the northeast corner of the Agora. This basilica, like others at Rome and elsewhere, may have served sometimes as a meeting place for court trials; see Agora XIV, pp. 71-72.
Batrachioun (1). A name given to an Athenian lawcourt, preserved only in Pausanias 1.29; see
"Nomenclature," p. 8 above.
Bouleuterion (28). Usually in Athenian contexts, this word denominates the building in which the Council of 500 met, and Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 45.1) assigns certain judicial functions to that body; cf., however, Rhodes 1981 and Chambers 1990, p. 356. Note also a travesty of judicial proceedings enacted by the Thirty in 404/3 (284). On the Bouleuterion as site ofjudgments made by the Council of the Areopagos, see Areopagos, pp. 91-92 above.
Buildings under the Square Peristyle. Remains of buildings under the peristyle can be interpreted as those of five structures; see Agora XIV, pp. 56-61. Initially labeled A-E, the largest of them, Building A, could have been the 4th-century Heliaia, and B, the Parabyston/Trigonon. See pp. 12-15 above.
The four buildings A-D were at one point in theirjoint history close enough together to construe as a complex and, accordingly, as having had at least one common use. Rhys E Townsend describes the remains on pages 104-113 below. If the work that made these structures a complex was done around the middle of the 4th century B.C.E., two of them could have been the First and the Middle of the New Courts in 342/1; see "Nomenclature" and "Structures," pp. 8-16 above. Two of them could also have come to be known as Batrachioun (Green) and Phoinikioun (Red). See also next entry.
Courts, The: TOc 8xacOTpLaC (61-95). The phrase sometimes designates Athenian judicial admin- istration as a whole and sometimes the actual buildings used as courts singly and together; or it can designate one coherent, generally recognized architectural complex of courts as in Aristotle, Ath. Pol. 63-69. In these last two senses, the phrase has a place in this catalogue.
Buildings within this last-defined complex can have been called, for example, Batrachioun and Phoinikioun in accordance with the colors that Aristotle says distinguished one court from another.
The same buildings could also have had names like First (lIprov) and Middle (Meaov); see
"Nomenclature," p. 8 above.
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Delphinion, at (1,2,3, 14, 29-39). See Archaic building south of the Olympieion (p. 91 above) for a proposed identification of Delphinion and court at Delphinion.
LDikasterion of the Thesmothetai (97). A panel of dikasts rather than a specific building, synonymous with Heliaia of the Thesmothetai; see "Nomenclature," pp. 5-6 above.
East Building. This structure, designed ca. 150 B.C.E., measures 13.80 x 39.80 m. and joins Middle Stoa and South Stoa II at their eastern extremities. A spacious terrace along the east front of the building once accommodated large numbers of people. Thompson and Wycherley (Agora XIV, pp. 69-70) interpret this building as the formal entrance to the South Square (q.v.), where courts sat in the 2nd century B.C.E.
Eleven, Court of the (139, 156). An alternate designation of the Parabyston; see "Nomenclature,"
pp. 6-7. When in the law quoted by Demosthenes 24.105 (136) the Eleven are directed to introduce a certain kind of case elt; Tiv XLccialv, they are being authorized to take the case to court but not to a particular building called Heliaia; see Hansen 1981-1982, p. 14. Aristophanes' reference to a court at the walls (Wasps, line 1109 [139]) can be read as an alternate designation of the court where the Eleven judge; see "Nomenclature," pp. 6-7 above.
Epalxeis. See Prytaneion, p. 96 below.
Ephetai or The Fifiy-One. A court that sat in judgment on certain kinds of homicide case could be cited in formal contexts by naming its judges, the ipeatL or Fifty-One; see Stroud 1968, pp. 47-49.
First and Middle of the New Courts (148). tpcoTov xcal Tle aov O xaLvX)v 8Lxa(TtT7p[Lv are mentioned circumstantially in an inscription of 342/1 (147). Dow (1939, p. 23) postulates a Third Court;
cf. Buildings under the Square Peris_yle, p. 92 above.
Heliaia (1, 2, 96-138). Foundations of a capacious, unroofed structure, square in plan, situated in the southwest corner of the Agora, have been labeled "Heliaia" with or without a question mark since being excavated; see Agora XIV, pp. 62-65. For a complete description of the physical remains, see "Rectangular Peribolos," pp. 99-103 below.
The building called Heliaia, whether it was this one or another that housed such assemblies, had no roof in its early phases, a circumstance that led to comic punning such as we find at Aristophanes,
Wasps, lines 771-772 (108, 109), where TXaW eaczL and "XLo<? are associated. The word 9)Xala is, in fact, cognate with Ionic a&Xi, or "assembly of people", and has nothing to do with i'XLog, sun, but such nice etymological distinctions are beside the point for a comic poet. Scholiasts, however, accepted a connection between iXLoiad and 5XLoq as fact and took it to demonstrate that the Heliaia was unroofed. To use the scholiasts' etymologizing as a support for the identification of this particular unroofed building as the Heliaia is not credible. The identification of the building remains could be correct, and scholiasts may even have known or heard that the building was unroofed, but the false etymology is not relevant to the question. Rhys Townsend (pp. 104-105 below) describes the remains of Building A under the Stoa of Attalos. Building A is also a possible Heliaia; see
"Structures," pp. 10-15 above.
Heliaia of the Thesmothetai (97, 130). A phase of court administration rather than the name of a specific court. It is synonymous with the dikasterion of the thesmothetai; see "Nomenclature," pp. 5-6 above.
Kainon (143, 144). This single court, named just once in Aristophanes' Wasps, line 120, has not been located. It is not to be confused with the First and Middle of the New Courts, which are
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attested in the mid-4th century. Note, however, Wycherley's caution (1978, p. 60) that the title
"New" can last for many years.
Kallion (2, 145, 146). See "Nomenclature," p. 9 above.
Klepsydra (323). A note in the Suda, s.v., construes what may have been a synecdoche as actual name of a court.
Lower Court (83, 85, 86). A speculative entity, product of ancient attempts by commentators on Demosthenes to explain x&Tco0ev v6pooq.
Lykos (176-185). See Poros Benches, p. 95 below.
Meizon (2). Possibly another way of referring to the Heliaia or the Odeion; see "Nomenclature,"
pp. 5-6 above.
Meson (2, 144, 147, 148, 167). The name of this court can represent the time when it was built (given a sequence of three courts) or its location in a complex of courts; cf. First and Middle of the New Courts, p. 93 above, and "Structures," p. 15 above.
Metiocheion or Temenos ofMetiochos (2, 149-151). Possibly alternate designations of the Heliaia; see
"Nomenclature," pp. 5-6 above.
Middle Stoa. Designed perhaps as early as 183 B.C.E. and built ten or twenty years after, this great stoa (146.63 m. long x 16.96 m. deep) does not, as it might seem, sequester the southern quarter of the Agora, since it opens south and north. Virginia R. Grace (1985, pp. 26-30) sees the building as a municipal granary, with the whole complex of buildings that make up the South Square serving attendant functions. Homer Thompson (Agora XIV, pp. 65-71), on the other hand, interprets the Square as a complex of courts; see South Square, p. 96 below, on the date; see also S. Rotroff, "The Long-Petal Bowl from the Pithos Settling Basin," Hesperia 57, 1988, pp. 87-93.
Odeion (139-141, 168-170). The Periclean Odeion has been identified as a considerable building that stood at the foot of the southeastern slope of the Akropolis, just east of the Theater of Dionysos. Only partially uncovered by excavators, its exterior dimensions have been calculated to be ca. 62.40 x 68.60 m. (Travlos 1971, p. 387). The roof was supported by a great number of columns. Although the building's original intended function was to serve as a hall for musical entertainments, it is generally agreed that the Odeion cited in Aristophanes' Wasps, lines 1008-1009 as a lawcourt by Philokleon's fellow heliasts (139) is this Periclean Odeion. It is likely, moreover, that the Archon's Court, mentioned in the same lines of Aristophanes and elsewhere, was also situated in the Periclean Odeion. In the 4th century, diaitetai used the building for formal hearings, and dikastic panels convened by the archon heard trials for support there; see "Nomenclature," p. 6 above.
Palladion (1, 2, 40-53). See Stoa on Makri Street, pp. 97-98 below, for a proposed identification of the Palladion and the lawcourt at Palladion.
Parabyston (62, 139, 144, 152-161). See Eleven, Court of the and Buildings under the Square Peris_ple, pp. 92-93 above, and "Nomenclature," pp. 6-8 above.
Peiraieus, Court in. There are references to nTo StxacoTptov in a few inscriptions from Peiraieus, but it is not clear whether the references are generic or specific; see IG II2 244, line 36, and IG II2 1669, lines 18, 21, and 38. The notion of a court in Peiraieus offered in an ancient lexicon (85) need have no substantive basis. While no remains of building can be identified as a dikasterion, there
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is nevertheless cause to assume the existence of dikastic activity in Peiraieus. A deposit often bronze ballots, recovered in the 19th century from a well near Zea, points to a court in use nearby. Since, moreover, there was need for a court in a busy port town like Peiraieus, we can suppose that at least one lawcourt was working there in the 4th century. Note also that Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 39.6) may be assuming the existence of such a court when he describes measures for rehabilitating oligarchs in 402. The relevant phrase can be translated: "to a court comprising men who can show their taxable property is in Peiraieus" (cf. Rhodes 1981, pp. 470-471 ad loc.). Such a dikastic panel could have convened in a building called "the lawcourt in Zea", but in the lexicographical tradition the phrase
"in Zea" appears as an alternate way of referring to the court in Phreatto; see Boegehold 1974, pp. 7-19.
Peisianakteios Stoa. Another way of referring to the Stoa Poikile (p. 98 below).
Phoinikioun (1). See Buildings under the Square Peristyle, p. 92 above.
Phreatos' or Phreatto, Court in (1-8, 54, 55). This homicide court may also have been called "the Court in Zea", but there is reason to argue that the Court in Zea was not a homicide court but in fact a regularly functioning popular lawcourt in Peiraieus; see Peiraieus, p. 94 above, and Zea, p. 98 below.
Pnyx, Court in. In a scholion to Aristophanes (Acharnians, line 683 [234]), the notion of a court in the Pnyx is perhaps a mistaken inference.
Poros benches. Sometime after the middle of the 5th century, four benches, made of cut poros blocks and deep enough for comfortable seating, were set into the east slope of Kolonos Agoraios (PI. 1).
They extended north-south for at least the 37 meters that are preserved today, and so each of them could seat 100 adults in a line. While there is no evidence for a fifth bench that would assure seating for a total of 500, there was room for such a bench between the lowest preserved blocks and the 5th-century ground level to the east in front. On this level ground, there was ample room for all speakers who might appear in the course of a dikastic trial. The existence of a nearby shrine of Apollo and some hints in Aristophanes, Wasps, lines 387-394, have led to a suggestion that this area could have been the site of the court that scholars of the 3rd century B.C.E. and after dubbed HiL AUxL (176-185); see Boegehold 1967, pp. 111-120. Thompson and Wycherley (Agora XIV, p. 71) object that no arrangements to insure privacy are evident. What needs for privacy there were, however, could have been supplied by temporary fences or yeppot (cf. Agora III, p. 191, Wycherley
1978, p. 58). MacDowell (1979, pp. 184-185) objects that Athenians would not have confused
"Lykos" and "Lykeios" in Philokleon's prayer (cf. J. Rusten, F'Tetrv "Hpco: Pindar's Prayer to Herakles [N.7.86-101] and Greek Popular Religion," HSCP94, 1983 [pp. 287-297], pp. 295-296).
Note, however, that the reference TOVXpWLOLOL OeotaCl immediately preceding Philokleon's prayer creates an expectation in the audience that they are going to hear AUxeLe, an epiklesis of Apollo, rather than Auxe, which comes Tcapa npoaSoxlov; cf. Sophokles, Elektra, lines 1374-1379 for the sort of sequence an appeal to paternal gods at Athens might initiate. Note also a proverbial saying at Athens, namely, iTt lIuOWL xpeirov iv atonaTiaoal (it would have been better to defecate in the Pythion), based on the nuisance Philokleon promises at line 394 not to commit. Explanations of the proverbial saying have Athenians urinating and defecating at the Athenian sanctuary of Pythian Apollo; seeJ. P. Lynch, "Hipparchos' Wall in the Academy at Athens," in Dow Studies, pp. 173-179.
Poros Building. A complex structure built south of the southwest corner of the Agora in the mid-5th century has its name from poros blocks found in its scanty foundations. Margaret Crosby (1951, pp. 179-180) notes that the building was used by marble workers in the 4th century B.C.E. She also
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speculates briefly on the possibility that this complex of rooms, associated with a courtyard and an annex, might accommodate a number of dikasteria such as Aristotle describes in Ath. Pol. 63-69.
Eugene Vanderpool subsequently argued that the ground plan of the sizable complex (37.56 m.
long on its north-south axis and 16.50 m. wide at the south) is compatible with the sorts of activity Andokides (On the Mysteries) and Plato (Phaedo) note circumstantially as going on in Athens' place of confinement; see Vanderpool 1980, pp. 17-21 and Camp 1986, pp. 113-116, 182. Cf., however, S. N. Koumanoudes, "Perhaps>Usually>Certainly," Horos 2, 1984, pp. 71-81.
Proton (148). See First and Middle of the New Courts, p. 93 above.
Prytaneion (1-3, 5-7, 14, 27, 57-60). No remains are currently recognized as belonging to the Prytaneion. It may be helpful, however, to note here, in view of sporadic yet persistent confusions in modern literature, that at Athens the Prytaneion and the Tholos are separate and distinct structures;
see, e.g., Miller 1978, pp. 38-66. The Tholos is located toward the southern extremity of the west side of the Agora, whereas the Prytaneion, which Pausanias described as near the sanctuary of the Dioskouroi, may have been at the eastern foot of the Akropolis; see Dontas 1983, pp. 48-63.
Epalxeis (59-60), mentioned as a homicide court in connection with the Prytaneion, may be an alternate name for the Prytaneion qua lawcourt, or it may be, as Miller (1978, pp. 18-19) suggests, an annex.
Rectangular Peribolos. See the essay by John McK. Camp, pp. 99-103 below.
South Square. Four structures define the "South Square". They are the Middle Stoa, East Building, South Stoa II, and Rectangular Peribolos. From some time after 183 until 86 B.C.E., they formed an architectural complex in the southernmost quarter of the Agora, which Homer Thompson interprets as serving the needs of courts; see Agora XIV, pp. 65-71.
Two lines of reasoning make this an attractive interpretation. First, Athens continued in the 3rd century to need space for panels of 500 dikasts. Once provision had been made (as presumably it had been with the erection of the Square Peristyle) to seat such panels in a complex of buildings, Athenians continued to provide similar appointments after the Square Peristyle had been razed.
South Square is the only complex in the Agora that appears able to serve such needs at this period.
The second line of reasoning is that the South Square was created roughly at the same time as the
The second line of reasoning is that the South Square was created roughly at the same time as the