This essay examines the ways the introduction of writing affected legal process in Greek society
from the end of the 8th century B.C. onwards. Part 1 focuses on the transition from oral
to written law, starting from the assumption that they coexisted and interacted for a long
time. By comparative analysis of Homeric «rules», Draco’ s and Solon’s laws and some sections
of the Gortyn code, it shows that the use of the new «technology» of writing resulted in
significant changes both in procedure and substance, and, at least in some cases, in an effort
towards «codification». Part 2 deals with judicial procedures at Athens in the 4th century B.C.
It is argued that these were complex and entailed a three-stage process. Contrary to what is
generally assumed, the written documents drawn by the magistrate or prepared by the litigants
during the first two stages – the preliminary hearing and the anakrisis – heavily conditioned
the third, «rhetoric» phase that took place in front of the judges in court.
