Il giuramento di Platea: aspetti storici e storiografici

The discussion of the oath of Plataea is mainly focused on the problem of authenticity, which can hardly be solved on current evidence. Some of the clauses of this text – the one concerning the tithing of the medizers and the one about not rebuilding the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians – need to be treated separately, and the issue of their authenticity is not the same as the one of the Oath as we have it. In general terms, it is also useful to distinguish the problem of what has been actually sworn before the battle of Plataea from the study of the tradition about the Persian Wars during the 5th century BC, the origin of a written version of the Oath as well as of other documents concerning the Persian Wars and the Pentaecontetia, and the use of the attested versions of the oath during the 4th century BC.