Forvm Romanvm: The Simulation of the Trial of Alcibiades (in absentia) Held under the Guidance of Prof. Victor Castellani

Forvm Romanvm: The Simulation of the Trial of Alcibiades (in absentia) Held under the Guidance of Prof. Victor Castellani

On Friday, the 10th of December 2021, the Forvm Romanvm was turned into an Athenian courtroom and tasked with deciding the fate of the famous Alcibiades, the ambitious Athenian general and intelligent politician. The year is 415 BCE, the Peloponnesian War is still raging, and Athens has just suffered defeat in the Sicilian expedition, after which the scale tipped in favour of Sparta, her enemy. In the period leading to the expedition to Sicily, i.e. its most important town, Syracuse, one night a group of unknown men had desecrated all the statues of the god Hermes in Athens, causing an uproar at the polis. Alicibiades’s political opponents used this opportunity to lay serious charges at his feet while he was still away from Athens, and they sent a ship to Sicily tasked with bringing him back to the polis to stand trial. He was charged with sacrilege (desecrating the statues of Hermes, as well as profaning the cult of Eleusinian Mysteries, revealing its secret rituals), treason and undermining democracy (sabotaging the Sicilian expedition by revealing Athenian strategy to Syracuse – the town that was under Athenian siege, as well as cooperating with Sparta and acting as her spy). These were all serious charges, for which the penalty was death. Sensing what his opponents had in store for him, Alcibiades refused to board the Athenian ship and fled to Sparta, with whom he always had good relations an which provided him sanctuary. The enraged Athenians, however, decided to go through with the trial, and so it was held in his absence.

The entire procedure unfolded under the watchful eye of the magistrate, Dimitrije Parezanović, who was handed the difficult task of keeping the passions from running too high in the courtroom, and keeping the jury and the parties in order. Speaking for the accusers were Nađa Zarić, Nikolina Janjić, Milica Šaranović and Sonja Simonović, and for the accused Andrija Jakovljević, Miloš Boćanin, Sergej Cvrkušić and Uroš Šujdović. In the end, Socrates, who was of the Heliaia, asked permission to speak, appealing to the jury to show mercy and allow Alcibiades to return to Athens. The jurors, however, paid no heed to Socrates and condemned Alcibiades – the famous general would have to stay out of Athens, or lose his head.

All the participants in the trial were first year students at the Faculty of Law, with TA Una Divac helping them with the preparations. At the very end of this gathering, Prof. Dr Victor Castellani, an old friend and regular guest at the Forvm, addressed the attendees (both online and those physically present). Prof. Castellani, who traditionally comes up with the subject for the trial each year, teaches Classics at the University of Denver.