Knowing with Oneself and Knowing with Others: The Use of ΣΥΝΕΙΔΕΝΑΙ in Antiphon's Speeches

The extant corpus of the Athenian logographer Antiphon is a richer source for the verb συνειδέναι than that of any other contemporary writer. Used self-reflexively in the expression ‘I share knowledge with myself’, συνειδέναι commonly marks an act of introspection of a guilty party. Sharing knowledge with another, on the other hand, is an activity that often distinguishes accomplices and co-conspirators. Both uses are to be found in Antiphon’s works. Though this is also the case with contemporary authors whose use of this verb has been more thoroughly investigated, Antiphon’s use of this verb is distinct in a number of ways. Antiphon more readily associates this verb with witnesses and this ‘shared knowledge’ is an obvious concern of the litigants. Moreover, the reflexive ‘guilty self-knowledge’ is characterized primarily as a dispositional attitude to be inferred from the observable actions of litigants. Both of these features, I argue, can be related to the rhetorical context of Antiphon’s speeches.