Terms of the Semantic Sphere of dike and themis in the Early Greek Epic (Studies of the Commission on Classical Philology, Vol. 30)

The aim of this study is to analyse the history of [Themis] and [Dike] in the early Greek literature, i.e. Homer and Hesiod. The subject has been discussed for a very long time and our survey is supposed to continue the debate. The interpretation of a term is always difficult and it is especially so when the sources are of strictly literary character. Works of literature are not supposed to define abstract notions, neither are they expected to describe in detail the ways in which the terms were used by the contemporary people. The study is based on the analysis of almost all passages where the terms [Themis], [Dike] and their derivatives appear. The aim of this procedure is to demonstrate the development of the abstract ideas of justice and order which, in the following centuries, will stand in the centre of Greek ethical thought. These terms are of particular interest because of their significance for the concept of a state and a society. [Themis], as well as [Dike], denoted norms, then laws and, eventually, the principle of justice, which ruled the human community and made social life possible.