The Internal Conflict in Late Fifth Century BC Athens and Amnesties as a Means of its Settlement

Athens suffered a very profound internal conflict in the late 5th century B.C. It went on between supporters of democracy and its adversaries (oligarchs), reached high degree of tension, and eventually (in 404–403 B.C.) took the form of a full-scale civil war. In the context of the conflict, the State resorted to amnesty several times. However, amnesty can be not only a means of settlement of a conflict, but also a means of its escalation; that depends on the set of specific conditions. Such a situation took place in the Athenian polis of the period in question: the 404 B.C. amnesty only intensified the struggle, but of quite a different effect was the 403 amnesty, after which there came a very long (till the very elimination of democracy by the Macedonians in 322 B.C.) period of stability and absence of disturbances. It is this amnesty that is analyzed in the article in most detail; in particular, a question is posed whether it was dictated by legal or political reasons. The latter of the two answers seems to be more probable. The article cites data on some court trials, which took place immediately after the amnesty and presented attempts to circumvent it. Among such trials there was a well-known trial of Socrates; although in recent historiography a trend is noticeable to deny its latent connection with politics (formally, the philosopher was accused of religious crimes), in fact the source evidence gives good cause to assert that Socrates’ enemies prosecuted him first and foremost as a political opponent, for he criticized strongly the democracy of his time. In conclusion, an idea is expressed that an amnesty which is pressed on by an external power and does not grow out of internal needs (such was the case of the 404 amnesty) does not relieve tension but leads to its aggravation.