Note 4: — I.—POLITICAL INSCRIPTIONS AND SLAVERY. (Table-Case K.)

Law-courts at Athens.—One of the most striking features of democratic Athens was its elaborate machinery for the administration of justice. The system of popular control began in the fifth century B.C., and reached its full development in the fourth. For petty offences the various magistrates had the power of inflicting a small fine, but graver charges were usually decided by a jury court. Those who composed these jury courts were called dikastae. They were chosen at first up to the number of six thousand from the entire body of citizens over thirty years of age, but later on apparently any citizen over thirty years of age was a qualified juryman. From the time of Perikles each juryman received three obols (about 5d.) a day for his services. The whole body of jurymen was divided into ten sections, each of which was distinguished by one of the first ten letters of the Greek alphabet (A to K). Each dikast received a ticket (πινάκιον), at first of bronze, but in Aristotle's day of boxwood, inscribed with his name, his parish, and the number of his section. In Aristotle's day the father's name was always given as well.4 Four of these dikasts' tickets (in bronze) are exhibited in this case, together with a fragment of a fifth. Upwards of eighty are known, all apparently belonging to the fourth century B.C. The tickets shown are: