Ego et ses trois sœurs (germaine, utérine, consanguine). Athènes et Sparte, vie siècle-ive siècle av. J.-C.

Abstract

Philo of Alexandria’s De specialibus legibus is considered as a transcription of the Athenian and Spartan legislations regarding the prohibition of horizontal incest, very explicitly opposing the prescriptions of Solon the Athenian legislator and those of a Spartan nomothethis. As a matter of fact, if Sparta and Athens formed dramatically opposite views on the prohibition of marriage between brothers and sisters from different beds, the point is indeed to inquire into the matrimonial devices established by the cities of Sparta and Athens. By combining the answers proposed by the “anthropologists of the alliance” and those of a close reading of the antique sources, the enigma of Philo’s text reveals its secrets.