Bryn Mawr College

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Browsing Bryn Mawr College by Author "Germany, Robert"

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    Educatio et alimenta puellis: Munificence or political tricks of emperors?
    (2009) Derbew, Sarah; Germany, Robert
    I aim to explore Trajan's motive for providing grand munificence to poor girls by examining depictions of poor girls on coins and his arch in Beneventum. I also explore the use of education as part of this political agenda of emperors to create this debt. Through my examinations, I suggest that Trajan used his munificence to create an obligatory debt to reduce the possibility of poor girls gaining freedom and autonomy. Emperors depended on these poor girls because when they became older, they had the ability to populate the Empire with their children. Their children then could become laborers and soldiers, or future vessels of more children for the Roman Empire.
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    The Charge of φάσις in Lysias 19
    (2015) Rajamani, Kiran; Germany, Robert
    Modern scholars on Lysias 19 “On The Property Of Aristophanes” have been divided about whether the plaintiffs who prosecuted the politician Aristophanes’ brother-in-law charged him by γραφή or πογραφή. This paper argues that they charged him by neither of these procedures, but rather charged him by φάσις. The argument that he faced γραφή is unsupportable because none of the extant γραφαί could have been used against him, even those which, at first glance, seem as if they plausibly could have been used. The plausible γραφαί are γραφὴ γραφίου to force registration as a debtor, γραφὴ κλοπῆς for theft of private property, and γραφὴ κλοπῆς for theft of public property. Although he would have owed a debt if found guilty, the text of the speech provides no evidence that he could have faced γραφὴ γραφίου. γραφὴ κλοπῆς for theft of private property was not used to prosecute theft of public property, so the plaintiffs could not have used it to prosecute the defendant, who was on trial for theft of public property. γραφὴ κλοπῆς for private property could not have been used because, based upon the interpretation of Athenaion Politeia 48.4-5 by Cohen 1983, that charge could only be used at a public official’s εὔθυνα, and Aristophanes’ brother-in-law was not a public official. The theory that he was charged by πογραφή has so far been the most widely accepted, but because Aristophanes’ brother-in-law probably did not face disfranchisement, the plaintiffs probably did not charge him by πογραφή. That the charge was φάσις is the most plausible theory. There are two arguments in favor of this: it was the only other procedure that could be used to confiscate property, and a defendant found guilty by φάσις probably did not faced the penalty of disfranchisement.