Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome

Sophia Papaioannou, Andreas Serafim, Kyriakos Demetriou, Sophia Papaioannou, Andreas Serafim, Kyriakos Demetriou

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9783111262703
• eBook ISBN: 9783110699708
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Religioni antiche

It is perhaps a truism to note that ancient religion and rhetoric were closely intertwined in Greek and Roman antiquity. Religion is embedded in socio-political, legal and cultural institutions and structures, while also being influenced, or even determined, by them. Rhetoric is used to address the divine, to invoke the gods, to talk about the sacred, to express piety and to articulate, refer to, recite or explain the meaning of hymns, oaths, prayers, oracles and other religious matters and processes. The 13 contributions to this volume explore themes and topics that most succinctly describe the firm interrelation between religion and rhetoric mostly in, but not exclusively focused on, Greek and Roman antiquity, offering new, interdisciplinary insights into a great variety of aspects, from identity construction and performance to legal/political practices and a broad analytical approach to transcultural ritualistic customs. The volume also offers perceptive insights into oriental (i.e. Egyptian magic) texts and Christian literature.

Part I: Religion, Rhetoric and Law

Religion and the Rule of Law in the Greek Polis

Edward M. Harris

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between religion and the rule of law. Some scholars believe that in Sophocles’ Antigone there is a conflict between the laws of the city championed by Creon and the laws of the gods championed by Antigone, but Antigone opposes Creon because he is a tyrant whose orders (kērygmata) violate both the laws of the gods and the will of the people. The Greeks saw no conflict between the two and believed that the laws of the city were based on the laws of the gods. On the other hand, the ideals of the rule of law can be seen in the law enacted by the Greek polis about religious matters (accountability of officials, equality before the law). One can find the same principles at work in private religious associations.

In 1992 Roy Moore was appointed as Etowah County Circuit Judge in the state of Alabama in the United States of America.¹ While serving as Circuit Judge, he placed a plaque containing the Ten Commandments on the wall behind his bench. When asked by a reporter from the Montgomery Advertiser why he did this, he replied that he wished to “establish the moral foundation of our law”. He also started his sessions in court with a prayer asking that the jurors receive divine guidance. In June 1993 the American Civil Liberties Union sent Judge Moore a letter threatening a lawsuit if the prayers did not stop. On 20 June 1994, the ACLU sent a representative to observe and record Judge Moore’s prayer in court and held a press conference after the session to criticize the practice as unconstitutional. Moore brushed off the objections and ran for election to the judgeship later that year. He won with 62% of the vote.

In March 1995 the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Judge Moore. The case was tried before Circuit Judge Charles Price, who ruled that the prayers in court must stop, but allowed the Ten Commandments to remain on the wall of the courtroom. Moore then ran for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000 and defeated three other candidates in the Republican primary (including one heavily backed by the party hierarchy and the business community). He won the election with over 60% of the vote. After being sworn into office, he stated that “my mind had been opened to the spiritual war occurring in our state and our nation that was slowly removing the knowledge of that relationship between God and law”. He declared “I pledged to support not only the U.S. Constitution, but the Alabama Constitution as well, which provided in its preamble that the state ‘established justice’ by ‘invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God’. The connection between God and our law could not be clearer”.

Acting on these convictions, Judge Moore made plans for a larger monument to the Ten Commandments to be placed in the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building. The monument was installed on 31 July 2001 and was three feet deep and four feet tall, weighing 2,400 kilograms. On the top were two large tablets with the Ten Commandments. The day after Judge Moore announced: “today a cry has gone out across our land for the acknowledgment of that God upon whom this nation and our laws were founded... May this day mark the restoration of the moral foundation of law to our people and the return to the knowledge of God in our land”.

The American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups filed a lawsuit on 30 October 2001, and on 18 November 2002 Federal District Judge Myron Thompson issued his ruling that the monument violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “if all Chief Justice Moore had done were to emphasize the Ten Commandments’ historical and educational importance... or their importance as a model code for good citizenship... this court would have a much different case before it. But the Chief Justice did not limit himself to this; he went far, far beyond. He installed a two-and-a-half-ton monument in the most prominent place in a government building, managed with dollars from all state taxpayers, with the specific purpose and effect of establishing a permanent recognition of the ‘sovereignty of God’, the Judeo-Christian God, over all citizens in this country, regardless of each taxpaying citizen’s individual personal beliefs or lack thereof. To this, the Establishment Clause says no”.

Judge Moore attempted to defy the order, but he was overruled by the eight other members of the Alabama Supreme Court and was later suspended from office. In November 2012 he was re-elected to the position of Chief Justice by a decisive majority. Yet on 6 May 2016, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry forwarded six ethics charges against Judge Moore. Despite legal challenges, Moore was found guilty of all six charges on 30 September 2016 and removed from office. This is not the place to discuss his campaign for a Senate seat in a special election that took place in 2017.

I begin with this story because it illustrates both the continuity and the differences between ancient and modern attitudes about religion and the rule of law. To start with continuity. If Judge Moore could have converted to the religion of the ancient Greeks and started to pray to Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite (rather appropriate in his case given the later charges against him) instead of Jesus Christ the Lord and been transported to Classical Athens, he would have felt right at home. And if a time-machine could be constructed to transport Roy Moore back to Greece in this period, I am sure that the majority of those who voted in the special election in 2017 would have been glad to contribute generously to a one-way ticket for Roy Moore on such a journey. Roy Moore would have found Athenian attitudes about religion and the law very congenial. The Greeks believed that the gods were the authors of their laws and were not afraid to say so.² And they certainly did not have to worry about the American Civil Liberties Union. On the other hand, the ancient Greeks would have found the objections brought by the eight other members of the Alabama Supreme Court rather strange. The Athenians and other Greeks had no problem with placing the words “the gods” at the beginning of their decrees.³ The Athenians also placed reliefs of the gods above their public decrees in the 4th century.⁴ The Spartans consulted the oracle at Delphi to gain divine approval for their laws (X. Lac. Pol. 8.5). Cleisthenes also did so when he created the ten Attic tribes ([Arist.] Ath. Pol. 21.6). In the Constitution of the Un...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Tables
• Religion and Rhetoric in Ancient Graeco-Roman Texts and Contexts
• Part I: Religion, Rhetoric and Law
• Part II: Magic and Religion
• Part III: Religion and Rhetorical Performance
• Part IV: The Rulers’ Religion
• Part V: Rhetoric and Religion in Verse Style
• Notes on Editors and Contributors
• General Index
• Index Locorum