Amnesty and Reconciliation in Late Fifth-Century Athens: The Rule of Law under Restored Democracy

The Athenian Reconciliation of 403 BCE was the pinnacle of amnesty agreements in Greek antiquity. It guaranteed lasting peace in a political community torn apart by civil conflict, because it recognised that for society to cohere, vindictive action over crimes which predated the exchange of oaths was legally inadmissible.
This study analyses the historical circumstances which led to the fall of democracy at Athens in 404 BCE, the civil conflict which followed under the Thirty Tyrants and the...