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aidesis · Because homicide in Athenian law was a matter for private prosecution, the relatives of the dead man, as prosecutors, were under certain circumstances permitted or expected to grant pardon (aidesis) to his killer. Once this had been done, the killer was immune from further prosecution. (The derivation of the term is unclear: it is certainly connected with the verb aideomai “to feel shame, awe or respect;” LSJ notes that the verb can be used to mean “to respect another’s misfortune” and thus “to be reconciled to him;” but unlike English “reconciliation,” aidesis is only used to denote the action of the wronged party.)

Greek: αἴδεσις.

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