Euphiletus A Husband Speaks In His Own Defense Summary

For many decades the issue on men and the way they treat their wife’s can be thought of as an interesting topic. Something in particular is the story of “Euphiletus, A Husband Speaks in His Own Defense”, and “North Slope of the Areopagus” which symbolizes the way Ancient Athenian men acted towards their wife. To add, in a way, how much women can have a major impact on men’s lives. Taking place around 400 B.C.E, the ancient Athenian murder trial rationalizes around the speculations of marriage, the roles women took part in ancient Greece, and the fears a husband faces after failing to closely monitor his wife.

Euphiletus is being accused of the murder of Eratosthenes, his wife’s secret lover, who she is having an affair with. Euphiletus’s testimony is a sensitive document, considering, first-hand life in Classical Greece. As stated in Athenian law, “if a husband finds his wife in bed with another man, it is the husband’s right to determine what penalty the male adulterer will face”. The Husband could demand he pay a fine, or even justifiably kill him. Euphiletus justifies the murder by admitting he was wrong, and that rather than facing the consequence of being

Eratosthenes family is pursuing to get Euphiletus prosecuted for premeditated murder; leaving Euphiletus to convince a jury that the reasons for the murder was justified. Euphiletus, after killing the man who seduced his wife made the case to the court that his actions were confirmed by Athenian law. In “Rape and the Politics of Consent in Classical Athens” Rosanna Omitowoju states “Euphiletus is able to claim that the law commanded that Eratosthenes be killed” (Omitowoju, 106). This assertion supports the fact that Euphiletus defense is that the murder was justified by the law. In a way, it seems that during 400 B.C.E only the wealthy would have been granted access to the laws of the