Xenias graphē
The lawsuit xenias graphs ( Greek ξενίας γραφή , literally "(An) action for the (status) Tourist") was, in classical Athens the popular action against a supposedly foreign person without Athenian citizenship , which arrogated this right.
Strangers (ξένοι) had freedom of personal rights in a Greek polis , but they had no share in the family and citizen status or in the legal protection of the society constituted on the basis of associations of persons. A full-fledged Athens citizen was only the man who was entered on the citizen lists of his demos . If persons were registered there without a legal basis, any innocent citizen could file a lawsuit against it. This affected people who
- descended from foreign parents;
- since a law passed under Pericles (451 BC) also persons, one of whose parents was not a citizen of Athens; this law was relaxed again due to the war, but later renewed;
- were not born in valid marriages;
- descended from slaves .
Initially, the nautodíkai ( ναυτοδίκαι ) were responsible for such complaints , since the middle of the 5th century BC. Chr. Own xenodíkai ( ξενοδίκαι ). Then the nautodíkai were again the responsible body, before finally in the 4th century BC. The thesmothétai ( θεσμοθέται ) were responsible. The prosecutor could apply to the polémarchos ( ἂρχων πολέμαρχος ) either for the accused to be arrested or at least for a surety for him. Such a lawsuit had to be brought on the last day of the month. The sentences ranged from the death penalty to sale into slavery and property deterioration. If a lawsuit was lost due to a false statement, it was possible to reopen.
literature
- Gerhard Thür : Xenias graph. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 , Sp. 613.