With a basic understanding of how Greek law developed, it is now possible to explore specific crimes that occurred outside of panhellic sites, crimes which often parallel those described at Olympia and Delphi. For example, just as bribery tainted the panhellenic sites, bribery also plagued the Athenian judiciary. Both the athletes and umpires at Olympia and Delphi vowed to uphold the Games' rules, and similarly, the jurors and witnesses in Athenian courts swore oaths to uphold the law, yet both groups violated their claims. As author Douglas MacDowell notes, "bribery seems to have been a serious problem in Athenian public life, if we may judge from the number of references to it in surviving texts...The penalty was a fine of ten times the amount of the bribe" (MacDowell, 172) In fact, bribery of Athenian jurymen often warranted the death penalty. Perhaps democratic juries, as an emerging institution, were quite susceptible to exploitation. This emergence of democracy, and the concurrent distribution of wealth throughout society, also contributed to theft's predominance, but even in the Mycenaean Age, cattle theft and piracy were common. During this earlier period, though, the community as a whole took action against such crimes (Bonner, 13). In part, such communal transactions relate to the fact that there was "no Greek noun for ownership, as distinct from possession, and other concepts and principles which are precisely defined in modern law were left undefined by the Athenians" (MacDowell, 133). Theft was classified elaborately only with regards to sacred laws, matters discussed in the subsequent section.

Many other common crimes seem to be the Greeks' responses and adjustments to new social and political conditions. Since being classified as an Athenian citizen became increasingly attractive, legislators began to enact extensive citizenship laws. Athenian law required citizens to earn a livelihood and to serve in the military, and violations of these laws often resulted in disenfranchisement. As wealth percolated through the masses, matters of inheritence also heightened in importance. Inheritance-related crimes included violations of laws governing adoption, wills, marriage, and succession by legitimate sons, crimes which were described in the speeches of the Athenian orator Isaeus. The whirlwind of societal events in the developing polis therefore promoted new types of legislation, and new types of crime when legislation insufficiently addressed novel situations.

(Marriage procession)
Next Section