Staff profile

Edward Harris is Professor of Ancient History; he has published extensively on Athenian political history and institutions, Greek law and the economy of Ancient Greece. He has published Aeschines and Athenian Politics (New York and Oxford 1995) and Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens (Cambridge and New York 2006). He has co-edited with R. W. Wallace, Transitions to Empire, Essays in Greco-Roman History 360-146 B.C. (Norman OK 1996) and with Lene Rubinstein, The Law and the Courts in Ancient Greece (London 2004). He is also translating Demosthenes 20-26 for the series The Oratory of Classical Greece edited by Michael Gagarin (Texas). He has been a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and NEH Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

• Greek History
• Greek Law
• Economic History

Authored book

• Harris, Edward (2013). The Rule of Law in Action in Democratic Athens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Harris, Edward (2008). Demosthenes: Speeches 20-22. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.
• Harris, Edward (2006). Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens: Essays on Law, Society, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Harris, Edward (1995). Aeschines and Athenian Politics. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chapter in book

• Harris, Edward (2007). Did the Athenian Courts Attempt to Achieve Consistency? Oral Tradition and Written Records in the Athenian Administration of Justice. In Politics of Orality. Cooper, Craig Leiden: Brill. 343-370.
• Cantarella, E. (2007). Who Enforced the Law in Classical Athens? In Symposion 2005: Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte (Salerno, 14-18 September 2005). Vienna: Verlag der Oesterreichen Akademie der Wissenschaft. 159-176.
• Harris, Edward (2006). Was all Criticism of Athenian Democracy Anti-Democratic? In Democrazia e Anti-Democrazia. Bultrighini, U. Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso. 11-24.
• Harris, Edward (2006). Antigone the Lawyer or the Ambiguities of Nomos. In The Law and the Courts in Ancient Greece. Harris, Edward & Rubinstein, Lene London: Duckworth. 19-56.
• Harris, Edward (2005). Feuding or the Rule of Law? The Nature of Litigation in Classical Athens. An Essay in Legal Sociology. In Symposion 2001: Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte (Evanston, Illinois, 5.-8. September, 2001) = Papers on Greek and Hellenistic legal history (Evanston, Illinois, September 5-8, 2001). Gargarin, M. & Wallace, R.W. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 125-142.
• Harris, Edward (2004). More Thoughts on Open Texture in Athenian Law. In Nomos estudos sobre direito antigo. Leao, D., Rosetti, D. & Fialho, M. Coimbra: 241-263.
• Harris, Edward (2002). Workshop, Marketplace and Household The Nature of Technical Specialization in Classical Athens and its Influence on Economy and Society. In Money, Labour and Land: Approaches to the Economies of Ancient Greece. Cartledge, Paul, Cohen, Edward E. & Foxhall, Lin London: Routledge. 67-99.
• Harris, Edward (2001). Lycurgus. In Deinarchos, Hypereides, and Lycurgus. Gagarin, Michael Austin Texas: University of Texas Press. 153-218.
• Harris, Edward (2001). How to Kill in Attic Greek. The Semantics of the Verb apokteinein and their implications for Athenian Homicide Law. In Symposion 1997. Vortraege zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte. Cantarella, E. & Thuer, G Cologne, Weimar and Vienna: 75-87.
• Harris, Edward (2000). The Authenticity of Andocides De Pace. A Subversive Essay. In Polis and Politics: Studies in Greek HistoryPolitics: Studies in Ancient Greek History,. Flensted-Jensen, Penilla, Nielsen, Thomas & Rubinstein, Lene Copenhagen: 479-506.
• Harris, Edward (1994). Law and Oratory. In Persuasion. Greek Rhetoric in Action. Worthington, Iam London: Routledge. 130-150.

Edited book

• Harris, E., Leao, Delfim & Rhodes, Peter J. (2010). Law and Drama in Ancient Greece. London: Duckworth.
• Harris, Edward M. & Thür, G. (2009). Symposion 2007: Akten der Gesellschaft für griechische und hellenistisch Rechtsgeschichte (Durham, 2-6 September 2007). Vienna.
• Harris, Edward & Rubinstein, Lene (2004). The Law and the Courts in Ancient Greece. London: Duckworth.

Journal Article

• Harris, Edward M. (2022). Law and Economic Growth in Ancient Athens. Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought 39(1): 203-212.
• Harris, Edward (2021). The Work of Craterus and the Documents in the Attic Orators and in the “Lives of the Ten Orators”. Klio 103(2): 463-504.
• Harris, Edward (2013). How to Address the Athenian Assembly: Rhetoric and Political Tactics in the Debate About Mytilene (Thuc. 3.37–50). The Classical Quarterly 63(1): 94-109.
• Canevaro, Mirko & Harris, Edward (2012). The Documents in Andocides' On the Mysteries. Classical Quarterly 62(1): 98-129.
• Harris, E. (2004). Le rôle de l'epieikeia dans les tribunaux athéniens. Revue historique de droit français et étranger 82(1): 1-14.
• Harris, Edward (2004). Notes on a Lead Letter from the Athenian Agora. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 104.
• Harris, Edward (2002). Did Solon Abolish Debt-Bondage? Classical Quarterly 52(2): 415-30.
• (2002). Pheidippides the Legislator. A Note on Aristophanes Clouds. Zeitschrift fuer Papyrologie und Epigraphik 140: 3-5.
• Harris, Edward (2000). Open Texture in Athenian Law. Dike 3: 27-79.
• (1999). Notes on the New Grain-Tax Law. Zeitschrift fuer Papyrologie und Epigraphik 128: 269-272.
• Harris, Edward (1999). IG ii3 227 and the So-Called Peace of Epilycus. Zeitschrift fuer Papyrologie und Epigraphik 126: 123-128.
• Harris, Edward (1997). A Note on the Constitution of the Five Thousand. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 116: 300.
• (1994). Demosthenes Loses a Friend and Nausicles Gains a Position. A Prosopographical Note on Athenian Politics after Chaironea. Historia 43: 378-384.
• (1986). How Often Did he Athenian Assembly Meet? Classical Quarterly 36: 363-377.