Greek society was based on the oikos, which included property, individuals, rites. Greek poleis
showed great interest in regulating the most important moments of oikos’ life by means of legal
provisions. Athenian laws included a large number of rules on marriage, adultery, succession,
and so forth, defining precisely rights and duties of the kyrios heading an oikos. However, law
was meant to function together with social control: the Attic judicial procedure in trials gave a
major role to popular juries, which controlled the concrete effectiveness of the laws.
