Extradition et saisie de la personne des réfugiés athéniens à l’époque des Trente Tyrans

Abstract

The imposing phenomenon of the exiles of Athenian citizens under the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants poses various problems. Alongside the chronological questions, it is necessary to face the problems of the number of exiles, of the causes of exiles, of the places where the exiles took refuge, etc. After studying these issues in 1994 (Exiles, deportations and forced emigration to Athens under non-democratic regimes, in Emigration and immigration in the ancient world, CISA 20, p. 141-167), I would now like to focus on the sources, which inform us about the extradition request and about the summary arrest of the exiles. The evidences provided by Lysias, Demosthenes, Diodorus, Plutarch (Life of Lysander and Life of Pelopidas) and Justin inform us about the initiative of the Spartans in support of the thirty Tyrants about the exiles (a decree addressed to the Greeks asking for collaboration for the extradition and the arrest of the Athenian refugees), on the extent of the claim (“all of Greece”), on the threats to the Greeks (fine, exclusion from the treaties), on their reaction. On the one hand, they highlight the legal position of refugees and their daily difficulties, on the other hand, the close relations between Sparta and the Thirty Tyrants and the sometimes controversial relations between Sparta and the rest of the Greek world, over which it claimed hegemony in this period.

Keywords

• extradition
• summary arrest
• refugees
• Athens
• Thirty Tyrants