1. There is abundant information about the oath of office of members of the Athens Parliament. After the age of 30, citizens can elect members of the Committee. Aristotle said? In the fifth year after Cleisthenes's legislation, that is, the year when Hermon became consul, the oath of office of the 500-member parliament was formally established, which has been in use ever since. ? Accordingly, the date of the oath can be traced back to about 50 BC1year. According to Rhodes and Vedgery's research, Berris reconstructed the oath as follows:
1, I will express my opinions according to the law and regulations;
2. I will contribute my best opinion to the people of the polis/Athens;
3. I won't send three citizens who belong to the same class and are guarantors of paying taxes to the polis to prison, unless he is found to be plotting against the polis or subverting democracy, or any taxpayer or his guarantor or tax collector fails to appear in court;
4. I will not exile, detain and execute anyone without trial;
5. I will expose those who were selected and appointed by lottery, but as far as I know, they are not suitable for serving the parliament (increased in 403/402 BC);
6. I will sit in the designated position marked with letters (added to 410/409 BC);
7. If someone casts silver coins in the polis instead of using Athenian coins or weights and measures, I should sue him according to the law proposed by Clerkus before (supplemented in about 448 BC);
8. I am not less than 30 years old;
9. I don't allow any report or arrest caused by past events, except those cases of escape (added in 403/402 BC);
10, I won't vote for anything that violates the law.
When executing the laws and resolutions of the polis, members of parliament need to consider the security and well-being of the polis, and then contribute their best opinions. This is the most important content in the oath of office of members of parliament, and it is obviously the core and basic content of the oath at the beginning of its establishment. In Anti-Philon, Lucius expressed his reasons for reporting Philon as follows. Before I entered the parliament, I vowed to make suggestions for the best interests of the city-state. According to the oath, when a person realized that any winner was unfit to serve the parliament, he would expose him. ?
Xenophon said this about Socrates when he defended him. When he takes the oath as a member of parliament, he will refrain from making legal suggestions? . Other contents in the oath should be an extension of this point, and some are newly added according to the needs of different periods. In addition to what has been clearly marked, it may also include the third point. It should be that the city-state democracy is threatened, that is, it joined the parliamentary oath during the two oligarchic coups at the end of the 5 th century BC, or it may have joined later.
Second, jurors or judges also need to take an oath. When it comes to the judicial field of mediating city-state disputes and practicing justice, the oath of Athenian jurors is particularly important. It is said that the jury oath can be traced back to Solon, and Hansen thinks it is unnecessary to take this statement too seriously. Because in the 4th century BC, everything related to the people's court belonged to Solon. ?
According to the Constitution of Athens, in the 6th century BC, the alcmaeon family was prosecuted and tried by a group of jury officers. Jury officers are all selected from the nobility and can only take office after solemn oath.
If so, this oath should have existed before 630 BC, when Solon was a child. In the mythological context, the oath of the judge of the God of War Mountain Court originated from the case of Orestes's mother-killing. Judges participating in the trial, whether it is the God of War Mountain Court, the People's Court or other Athens courts, need to take an oath, and the content is roughly the same.
Mehdi believes that the jury oath mainly includes two key elements: first, they should make a verdict according to the law; Secondly, they judge according to their fairest understanding.
19th century German classicist Maxi? Frankl rewrote the oath as follows:
I will vote according to the law, according to the votes of the people of Athens and the 500-member parliament of Athens, and according to my fairest understanding of what can't be followed, whether he is an enemy or a friend. Regarding the crux of the case, I want to listen to the opinions of both the prosecution and the defense equally, and then vote accordingly. I made an oath in the name of Zeus, Apollo and Demeter. If I keep them, I will have good luck. If I make a false oath, my family and I will perish.
Although there are defects in the material, the overall structure and content have been recognized. Judging from the court speeches of the speakers, in order to win the support of jurors, they called for the punishment of defendants, and often reminded jurors to remember their vows and cast a fair vote according to law.
Third, the consul also needs to take an oath when he takes office. The Athenian political system refers to the oath of the archon of Athens. They need to swear twice in the square and the acropolis:
After being examined by the jury court, the official who held the post of consul went to the stone where the sacrifice was offered, boarded the stone and swore that he would be fair and legal in politics and would never accept gifts from his position. If they accept something, they will build a golden statue. After taking the oath, they came down from this stone to the Acropolis, where they took the oath again and took office.
"Athens Political System" also said that the archons swore an oath in Barcelona's colonnade, and the stone should refer to the altar located in it. This oath has been used until Aristotle's time.
The consul swore an oath in the square and the altar of the Acropolis, which reflected the sacredness of the oath. Therefore, if the consul breaks his oath, he needs to erect a golden statue and offer it to God for atonement. Justice and law-abiding are not only the morals of Athenian citizens, they need to show these virtues after officials take office. Bribery, a bad means, often undermines the fairness and law-abiding spirit of officials, so the oath emphasizes opposing this kind of behavior.
In addition, Plutarch also mentioned general Athens? An ancient oath? It can be seen that Athens generals also have a tradition of swearing. Plutarch said that because of Athens' hatred of Megara, some people in Perikles proposed to add a general oath, that is, to invade Megara's territory twice a year.
Although there is no specific information, the general oath should be similar to the consul oath, and its content must also include the content of observing laws and customs. Military duties should be emphasized and bribes should not be accepted. The place where the oath was taken was a temple of Athena in the Acropolis. Attica inscriptions show that officials of Demo in Athens also need to take an oath. Even the ten drama judges in Athens swore that they would judge fairly.