2009/10/01 by Renaud Gagné · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Byzantine Studies and History #Persecution #Faith #Narrative #History of religions #History #Sociology #Law #Political science #Theology #Literature #Art #Archaeology #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1525/ca.2009.28.2.211
openalex publication_date 2009/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The master narrative of a profound crisis in traditional faith leading to a hardening of authority and religious persecution in late fifth-century Athens has a long scholarly history, one that maintains a persistent presence in current research. This paper proposes to reexamine some aspects of religious authority in late fifth-century Athens through one case-study: the trial of Andocides in 400 BCE. Instead of proposing a new reconstruction of the events that led to this trial, it will compare and contrast the rival rhetorics of authority deployed by Andocides in De mysteriis and Ps.-Lysias in In Andocidem and attempt to locate them in their respective social and cultural contexts.