The Torture of Slaves in Athenian Law

Abstract

ONE OF THE MOST criticized features of classical Athenian law is the bizarre institution of ia'cavoq, usually translated torture or interrogation under torture. A well-known rule held that in cases1 the testimony of slaves was only admissible in court if it had been taken under torture, and in the surviving forensic speeches the orators frequently describe the rules governing ,adiavog and praise the practice as effective and even most democratic (Lycurg. 1.29). It was a topos that information from a a'cyavog was preferable to the testimony of free witnesses; as one speaker puts it (Dem. 30.37):