The rhetoric of justice: strategies of reconciliation and revenge in the restoration of Athenian democracy in 403 BC

This paper examines from a comparative perspective the first historically d ocumented case of transitional justice: the restoration of the Athenian dem ocracy in 403 BC It analyzes in particular the rhetoric of amnesty, justice , reconciliation and revenge and the discursive strategies informing the pr osecutions and litigation which followed the transition. Comparison of the Athenian experience with modern situations of transitional justice helps to identify key features which made the Athenian reconciliation so successful .