L’accusa pubblica di hybris contro gli schiavi: L’onore della vittima e l’onore dell’hybristes

This article discusses the rationale and the implications of the inclusion of slaves as victims of punishable hybris in the law about the graphe hybreos. It argues that hybris against slaves was a punishable offence in Athens not because slaves had institutionally and legally recognized rights or a modicum of honour, but rather because it was hybris, as a disposition to overstep and overestimate one’s claims to honour (although manifested in concrete acts), that was deemed unacceptable. The article also investigates the implications of the law for our understanding of the connectedness of ‘legal’ and allegedly ‘extra-legal’ spaces, as well as advocating an understanding of honour that is not necessarily competitive and zero- sum, but also cooperative and aimed at securing smooth social interaction in all spheres of social life.