Abstract
The paper examines the state support of war-orphans at Athens. Its connection with the development of Athenian democracy suggests itself, although some ancient authors say that public care for various categories of the population in need of protection and assistance was an old Athenian tradition, the origins of which went back to the Archaic era. It is possible that some kind of state charity in relation to some vulnerable social strata did exist during the time of Solon and Peisistratus, but it was of a random and selective nature. We can only speculate about the time of appearance at Athens public aid to the orphans of war-dead, but by the time of Pericles’ funeral oration, it was already an established practice. The sources defi nitely indicate that the care of orphans continued until they reached adulthood, and on coming of age the orphans at Athens and some other Greek cities were supplied with panoplies (a suit of armor) at the state expense. Some scholars, referring to Aeschines (III. 154–155), believe that after the middle of the 4th century B.C. the program of public support for orphans was curtailed, but this conclusion seems too radical to us. The article touches upon the plot related to the decree and the trial of Theozotides and rejects S. Pomeroy’s hypothesis that girls could also be mentioned in the Theozotides’ psephisma, following the example of the Thasos and Rhodes decrees granting dowries at the expense of the state to unmarried daughters of those who died in battles. The conclusion is made: we have no evidence that public support in Athens was provided to all orphans, our sources unequivocally point specifi cally to boys whose fathers died fi ghting for the state; charity at the public expense in relation to the daughters of certain prominent Athenians was of an isolated and accidental nature. However, given the numerous wars that Athens waged in the 5th century BC, a signifi cant number of Athenian fatherless children felt the care of the polis.
Keywords
Ancient Greece, Athens, orphans, state support, panoply, Lysias, Theozotides, trial.
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