Genos Dikanikon: Amateur and Professional Speech in the Courtrooms of Classical Athens

by Victor Bers

Under the Athenian democracy, litigants were expected to speak for themselves, though they could memorize a speech written for them. The texts of about one hundred judicial speeches of the genos dikanikon (the forensic genre) have survived, all attributed to Demosthenes or another of the ten writers of canonical status. These professionals wrote either for themselves or members of a small elite. Victor Bers argues that men too poor to afford...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674032039
• ISBN13: 9780674032033
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"