Abstract for Lanni, Collective Sanctions in Classical Athens
This paper examines the use of collective sanctions in classical Athens. Collective
sanctions have been interpreted in two very different ways: for some they reflect a
distinctively primitive conception of collective guilt and responsibility; for others
collective sanctions are an instrumental method of promoting deterrence. The paper
argues that the Athenians understood collective sanctions primarily in instrumental
terms. While the long pedigree of collective sanctions in Greek literature and culture
made these punishments less morally repugnant to the Athenians than they are to
moderns, the relatively rare uses of collective sanctions in classical Athens do not
support a cultural account. At the same time, modern functional accounts only explain a
small subset of Athenian collective punishments. Most functional accounts describe
ancient collective liability as a form of indirect, delegated deterrence which encourages
group members to monitor, prevent, and punish individual wrongdoers within the group.
I argue that while this model applies to one form of collective punishment in Athens—
group punishment of boards of magistrates—in most cases Athenian collective sanctions
were aimed at direct, rather than indirect, deterrence.