ABSTRACT
This chapter examines and analyses Greek ideas of ‘character’ (ethos). In the light of these, some of the original causes of the wide use of character evidence in Athenian courts will be discovered. Current research consists of periodic treatments and lacks a complete and in-depth account of this issue. Examination of Greek conceptions and assumptions regarding ‘character’ are sporadic and usually of limited focus. Ethos thus is typically discussed in relation to other issues, such as the concept of ‘will’ or the depiction of ‘character’ in literature. This fact impedes the current study which, although it concerns character evidence in the courts of classical Athens, nevertheless has to rely on a more general analysis of Greek approaches to ‘character’.
