<Articles>Religious Procedures and the Process of Identification of Civic Status in Classical Athens

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Other Title
  • <論説>古典期アテナイの宗教儀礼における「市民身分」承認過程
  • 古典期アテナイの宗教儀礼における「市民身分」承認過程
  • コテンキ アテナイ ノ シュウキョウ ギレイ ニ オケル シミン ミブン ショ

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In classical Athens, citizenship was restricted to the narrower group under the democracy which demanded the sovereignty of a small and homogeneous citizen body. Perikles' citizenship law of 451/0 B.C. defined that only children of two Athenians could be citizens (πολίτη) and thereafter citizenship became more legally fixed status. Though the law clearly required that a citizen's mother should be an Athenian (αστη), be of civic birth(πολίτη), female civic status had been never juridically attested in Athenian society. The author examines religious rites which served as pseudo-legal acts and reveals that the procedure of 'introduction (εισαγωγη)' to the phratry members, as described in the law court speeches, could effectively prove the civic status of both male and female Athenians by means of oaths and sacrifices. Furthermore, female civic status could also be testdied in a sequence of rituals for the members of phratry or demesmen's wives, which was, conceptually, much the same process as for male citizens. Identfication of Athenian civic status was achieved in the religious domain, and thus the contradicton within the legal system was solved by means of religious rituals.

Journal

  • 史林

    史林 81 (2), 133-166, 1998-03-01

    THE SHIGAKU KENKYUKAI (The Society of Historical Research), Kyoto University

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