Volume 1

Herodotus : the fourth, fifth, and sixth books / With introduction, notes, appendices, indices, maps by Reginald Walter Macan.

Herodotus

Date:: 1895

Credit: Herodotus : the fourth, fifth, and sixth books / With introduction, notes, appendices, indices, maps by Reginald Walter Macan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

514/528 (page 386)

$VI 10 l\XKfM€03vo<; yieyaKXeL iyjua) TratSa r^v 'Ayaplo-Trjv vofioun Tolai 'AdrjvaLcov” ^afMevov Be eyyvaaQai Me7a/cXeo? eKeKvpwro 0 ydpLo<: KXeLo-devei. 131 Apj(j)l fxev Kpi(TLO<; rcav pbvrjarijpcdv rocravra eyevero koX ovtco A\K/jL€(oviBaL i^Q>a6r)aav dvd r^v 'EXXa3a. tovtcov Be avvoLKTj- advTcov yiveraL l^XeLaOev7j<i re 6 rd<; (f)vXd<; koX r^v Br}fioKpaTLr]v How many talents the successful suitor received from the tyrant is unfortun- ately not stated, 10. vonouri Tolo-L ’A0i]vattov. It is not quite clear what were the marriage laws of the Athenians in the year 570 B.c. or thereabouts. The Solonian legislation may have been just enacted : but our knowledge of the domestic institutions of Athens is mainly for the fourth century, when much was ascribed to Solon which was of later institution, dating even after the Archonship of Eukleides. It is pos- sible that at the date of the wedding of Agariste kinship through the mother was still strongly recognised at Athens (cp. c. 103 supra). M'Lennan even argues acutely that at Athens the system of female kinship regulated to some extent marriage after it had lost importance in regard to succession {Studies in Ancient History, New Ed. p. 223). It is remarkable that the name of Kleisthenes is transferred from the (lyTpoircLTwp to the 6vyarpi8^os (5. 67, supra, cp. next chapter). By the strict letter of the later law Kleisthenes him- self would have been vbdos. (Cp. ’Adyv. 7To\. cc. 26, 42, Aristot. Pol. 3. 5, 8, 1278®.) On the other hand it can hardly be doubted that the Solonian legislation tended in the direction of the patria potestas, and probably to some extent damnified the position of women at Athens. In that case, per- haps, Kleisthenes was making some concession, on his daughter’s behalf, in conforming to the Attic marriage law of the day. He performs the iyyvyarLi, and he no doubt gave, with his daughter’s hand, the indispensable dowry (wpoi^). As, however, this speech is scarcely historic, but may be taken to represent Alkmaionid tradition about the middle of the fifth century B.C., the formula would necessarily suggest conformity to the growing strictness of the domestic institutions, though it practically proves that the strict law above cited cannot have been in force at the time of the wedding, Cp. Duncker, Pin angebliches Gesetz des Perilcles, in his Abhandlungen, 1887, On Attic marriage and family law gener- ally : Texts—Petitus, Leges Atticae, Liber sextus (Parisiis 1635), Meursius, Themis Attica (ap. Gronov. Thesaur. v. ed. 1699), Tdlfy, Corpus Juris Attici, Lib. ii. (1868). For further Literature cp. Hermann’s Lehrbuch, ii. i.^ pp. 1, 2. See also Smith, Diet. Antiq. articles Matkimonium in second and in third edd. (an interesting contrast). 11, €K«Kijpa)To 6 ydfios. N.B. the tense. Cp. 5. 78 supra. E. Hruza, Die Ehebegrundung nach attischem Reckt (1892), proves that the terms iyyvav, iyyvacrdaL denote acts constituting a legitimate marriage-contract (§ 3), and argues, from their occurrence in this story, that they date back to Solon {ib. p. 44). Cp. further, op. cit. § 6. The iyyiyais is a conlract between the father (or other Kipios) and the bride- groom : for the yayos the presence of the bride is necessary. The formulae used by Kleisthenes and Megakles are observable. 131. 2. iptoo-Oqo-av, ‘ the name of Alk- maion’s sons was noised abroad wher- ever Hellenes inhabited.’ 'EWds, c. 106 supra. 3. KXeicrO^vqs, 5. 69 supra. Did Kleisthenes die without issue ? Cp. next note. Whether he was the elder of the two sons it is not easy to determine. The pedigree of the Alkmaionids as given by &iwlinson, note 7., is so far misleading as it exhibits Perikles, Alki- biades, et al. as members of the clan. The proper genealogy of Perikles would of course be reckoned irarphOev. Cp. c, 14 supra. He and his ancestors be- longed to the family of the Buzygai, a priestly house, connected with Eleusis. See Petersen, Historia gent. Attic, pp. 131 ff., Toepffer, Attisdi. Ocneal. pp. 136 f. On Xanthippos see further c. 136 infra. That he was among the friends of Kleisthenes and the Alk- maionid party seems obvious. The birth$