Ninos [lower-alpha 1] was an ancient woman executed in Athens at some point in the classical period. Her case is known through mentions in three speeches by Demosthenes; further information about her case is supplied by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and possibly Josephus.
Ninos' case is known through three mentions in speeches by Demosthenes – Against Boeotus I and II, and On the False Embassy . [2] Further information is supplied by two scholia on On the False Embassy, [3] and Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his discussion of the speech Against Menecles which was wrongly attributed to Deinarchus. [4] She may also be mentioned in a passage of Josephus, though this relies on an emendation of the preserved text and is not certain. [5] [3]
A scholion on a speech by Demosthenes describe her as a hieria ('priestess'). [6] Konstantinos Kapparis argues that as she was described as a priestess she was probably an Athenian citizen. [7] However, her unusual name and the fact that none of the sources mention a kurios ('guardian') might suggest that she was a metic (a non-citizen long-term resident in Athens) instead. [7] [8]
Both of Demosthenes' speeches against Boeotus describe Menecles as the prosecutor of Ninos. [9] The date of the prosecution is uncertain: Against Boeotus I was delivered in 348, which provides a terminus ante quem; Esther Eidinow suggests a date of between 362 and 358 BC. [10] The case was apparently well known in the mid-fourth century, as Demosthenes refers to it in his speeches as if the jury are expected to be familiar with the case. [11] Menecles would go on to be prosecuted in turn by Ninos' son. [12]
In On the False Embassy, Demosthenes mentions a priestess who was charged with bringing together thiasoi ; one of the scholia on this passage names this priestess as Ninos. [13] The scholia provide two different explanations for Ninos' crime: one says that her crime was mocking the Dionysian Mysteries; another says that she made love potions. [14] It is unclear where the scholiast's information about love potions comes from – Eidinow suggests that it is a misinterpretation of Demosthenes' text, [1] while Matthew Dickie says that the comment "does not emerge from anything in the text of Demosthenes" and may have been derived from an Atthidographer or another speech. [12] Whatever its derivation, Derek Collins is skeptical of the scholiast's report, arguing that manufacturing love potions was not a criminal offence. [15]
Finally, Josephus lists Ninos as one of five Athenians put to death for asebeia (impiety). [12]
Demosthenes was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by studying the speeches of previous great orators. He delivered his first judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he successfully argued that he should gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speechwriter (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.
A hetaira, Latinized as hetaera, was a type of courtesan or prostitute in ancient Greece, who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist in addition to providing sexual service. Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from the symposium, but this prohibition did not extend to hetairai, who were often foreign born and could be highly educated. Other female entertainers made appearances in the otherwise male domain, but hetairai joined the male guests in their sexual joking, sometimes evidencing a wide knowledge of literature in their contributions.
Lysias was a logographer in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.
Isaeus was one of the ten Attic orators according to the Alexandrian canon. He was a student of Isocrates in Athens, and later taught Demosthenes while working as a metic logographer (speechwriter) for others. Only eleven of his speeches survive, with fragments of a twelfth. They are mostly concerned with inheritance, with one on civil rights. Dionysius of Halicarnassus compared his style to Lysias, although Isaeus was more given to employing sophistry.
Phryne was an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan). Born Mnesarete, she was from Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived most of her life in Athens. Though she apparently grew up poor, she became one of the wealthiest women in Greece.
"On the Liberty of the Rhodians" is one of the first political orations of the prominent Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes. It is generally dated to 351/0 BC, shortly after the First Philippic, and constitutes one of the initial political interventions of Demosthenes.
Demosthenes's "Funeral Oration" was delivered between August and September of 338 BC, just after the Battle of Chaeronea. It and the Erotic Essay are the only two surviving epideictic orations of Demosthenes.
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute the last significant expression of Athenian intellectual prowess and provide a thorough insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece. The Alexandrian Canon compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace recognized Demosthenes as one of the ten greatest Attic orators and logographers. Cicero acclaimed him as "the perfect orator" and the one who "has pre-eminence over all others", while Quintilian extolled him as lex orandi.
Neaira, also Neaera, was a hetaera who lived in the 4th century BC in ancient Greece. She was brought to trial between 343 and 340 BC, accused of marrying an Athenian citizen illegally and misrepresenting her daughter as an Athenian citizen.
Xenokleides was an Athenian poet of the 4th century BC. None of his works have survived. He was one of the hetaera Neaira's lovers. According to Apollodorus of Acharnae, 369 BC, he spoke out against Callistratus's request to support Sparta over Thebes. He was prosecuted for avoiding military service, though as a tax-collector for the year he was exempt from military duties, convicted, and disenfranchised. This prosecution, brought by one Stephanos on behalf of Callistratus, was probably intended to remove Xenokleides as a political opponent. In 343, Xenokleides was living in Macedonia, and was banished by Philip II; he appears to have been once again living in Athens by the time the speech Against Neaira was delivered.
Ophryneion or Ophrynium was an ancient Greek city in the northern Troad region of Anatolia. Its territory was bounded to the west by Rhoiteion and to the east by Dardanus. It was located about 1.5 km north-east of the village of Erenköy in Çanakkale Province, Turkey. The city was situated on the steep brow of a hill overlooking the Dardanelles, hence the origin of its Ancient Greek name ὀφρῦς (ophrus), meaning 'brow of a hill', 'crag'.
The Pandia was an ancient state festival attested as having been held annually at Athens as early as the time of Demosthenes. Although little that is known of the Pandia is certain, it was probably a festival for Zeus, and was celebrated in the spring after the City Dionysia in the middle of the month of Elaphebolion.
"Against Neaera" was a prosecution speech delivered by Apollodoros of Acharnae against the freedwoman Neaera. It was preserved as part of the Demosthenic corpus, though it is widely considered to be pseudo-Demosthenic, possibly written by Apollodoros himself. The speech was part of the prosecution of Neaera, a hetaera who was accused of unlawfully marrying an Athenian citizen. Though the speech claims that the case was brought for personal reasons, the date of the prosecution has led scholars to believe that it was in fact politically motivated. In common with most legal cases from ancient Athens, the outcome is unknown.
In Classical Athens, there was no exact equivalent of the English term "adultery", but the similar moicheia was a criminal offence often translated as adultery by scholars. Athenian moicheia was restricted to illicit sex with free women, and so men could legally have extra-marital sex with slaves and prostitutes. Famously, Athenian culture and adultery laws considered seduction of a citizen woman a worse crime than rape.
"Against Spudias" was an oration composed by Demosthenes which concerned the division of the estate of Polyeuctes. It is the forty-first in the corpus of Demosthenic speeches which have been preserved. Modern commentators have sometimes considered that this was one of Demosthenes' earlier speeches, based on its simplicity and similarity to the speeches he made on his own inheritance.
"Against the Stepmother for Poisoning" is one of fifteen extant speeches by the Athenian orator Antiphon. It is a speech for the prosecution in the case of a woman accused by her stepson of arranging for the murder of his father, her husband. The speech for the defence, apparently made by the sons of the accused woman, does not survive.
Theoris of Lemnos was an ancient Greek woman from Lemnos who lived in Athens in the fourth century BC, and worked as a witch or folk-healer. At some point before 323, she was tried and executed along with her children. The precise details of Theoris' offence are unclear: modern scholars have variously suggested that she was convicted of intentional homicide, planning to commit homicide, or asebeia (impiety). Three ancient accounts survive of her prosecution, which constitute the most detailed account of a witch trial to survive from Classical Greece.
Two speeches "Against Aristogeiton" are preserved in the corpus of Demosthenes, as speeches 25 and 26. Both purport to come from a prosecution of Aristogeiton initiated by Lycurgus on the grounds that Aristogeiton had initiated prosecutions and made speeches in the assembly when he was disenfranchised. Since the 19th century, the authenticity of both speeches has been doubted.
Pisindelis, ruled c.460–450 BCE, was a tyrant of Caria, from its capital Halicarnassus, under the Achaemenid Empire. He was the son of Artemisia I of Caria, and part of the Lygdamid dynasty.
Asebeia was a criminal charge in ancient Greece for the "desecration and mockery of divine objects", for "irreverence towards the state gods" and disrespect towards parents and dead ancestors. In English, the word is typically translated as 'impiety' or 'ungodliness'. Most evidence for it comes from ancient Athens.
