Bablitz L. Actors and audience in the Roman courtroom

Routledge, 2007. — 290 p. — ISBN10: 0-415-42760-6.The main aim of my study is to investigate the physical environment of and participants in the courtrooms of Rome between approximately 31 BC and AD 166. A conscious barrier has been constructed by choosing the year of Octavian’s defeat of Antony as the terminus post quem, which thereby excludes Ciceronian period evidence. Typically, scholars who study issues connected with the courts, including such topics as rhetoric and gestures, appear comfortable with drawing inferences about first- or second-century AD Rome using evidence found in Cicero’s speeches. While the richness of Cicero’s writings makes this tendency understandable, to assume that such sources reflect the reality of the imperial period brings risks. Thus, my focus is squarely upon imperial era sources. My end date coincides with the death of Cornelius Fronto, whose letters provide a mid-century supplement to and comparison with those of his fellow advocate, Pliny the Younger.The location of legal activities in the city of Rome.
Courts of the praetors.
Court of the emperor.
Courts of other magistrates.
Overview of locations.
Reconstruction of the Roman courtroom.
Types of people present.
Physical arrangement of the participants.
Physical arrangement of the audience.
The distinction between types of courts.
The centumviral court.
The litigant.
Identity of litigants.
Motivation.
Choosing an advocate.
The litigant in the courtroom.
The judge.
An overview of judges at Rome.
Album iudicum.
Unus iudex.
The stress of judging.
Favoritism in the rulings of the judge.
Judicial service: honor or duty?
The judge in the courtroom.
The audience.
The identity of the audience.
Audience participation.
Clientelae and the claque.
The advocate.
Status, pay, the “decline of oratory”, and terminology.
The cases of advocates.
Factors in the selection of cases.
Factors in the refusal of cases.
Provincial and out-of-town advocates.
The advocate’s role outside and in the courtroom.
Time investment and workload.
The advocate in the courtroom.Index locorum.