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Summary.

Introduction.

The 4th c..

Composition in the 4th c..

Meeting Places in the 4th c..

Procedure in the 4th c..

The 4th c.: Intentional Homicide.

The 4th c.: Impiety and Olives.

The 4th c.: Other Powers.

History: Myth.

History: Before the 5th c..

History: Reforms of the early 5th c..

History: Cimon and Themistocles.

History: Areopagus and the Demos.

History: Ephialtes’ Reforms.

History: The Later 5th c..

History: After the Thirty Tyrants.

A Rock in Times of Trouble.

A Check on the Assembly in the 4th c..

→ Investigations.

Secondary Works Cited.

Index of Citations

General Index

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The Council of the Areopagus 

Christopher W. Blackwell, edition of January 26, 2003

page 20 of 21

· Investigations ·

Read about the evidence
Aeschines (Aeschin. 1).
Dinarchus (Din. 1).

In the 4th century we also find evidence for the Areopagus conducting special investigations. For example, Aeschines mentions the Areopagus appearing before the Assembly to report on some dwelling houses on the Pnyx (Aeschin. 1.81). This may have been a function of the Council of the Areopagus for some time, since according to a speech by Dinarchus (delivered in 323 BCE), Demosthenes had requested that the Areopagus investigate a matter of bribery "as was its traditional right" (ὡς αὐτῇ πάτριόν ἐστι) (Din. 1.4; source for date: Hansen, p. 292). But after the 340s BCE, the evidence starts to refer to a specific kind of investigation, one that involved the Assembly, the Areopagus, and the People’s Court; evidence for this kind of investigation, known as “apophasis” (ἀπόφασις; for example at Din. 1.62) is described in a separate article (see Apophasis; source for date: Hansen, p.292).

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