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The introduction to Alexander's Rhetoric showed the importance of references to tradition, piety and economy in the management of cults and the sacrifices that are an essential part of them. This time, it's not just a question of testing this rhetoric, but in the concrete context of Athenian life. To this end, the lesson covers the period from 415 to 403, i.e. the final stage of the Peloponnesian War, with successive crises leading to the establishment of oligarchic regimes in 411 and 404.
Two files are chosen as touchstones for analysis: the mutilation of dozens of Hermaitic pillars one night in spring 415, shortly before the departure of the highly controversial Sicilian expedition, and the codification of the city's laws, which stretched from 411 to 399. The first episode is reread in the light of the god Hermes' skills in terms of communication and passage, particularly as part of the sacrificial process. As for the codification associated with the name of Nikomachos, one of the transcribers of the laws who was brought to justice at the end of his mission, it relates in particular to the city's sacrificial calendar and testifies to the fact that good sacrificial order was part of the objectives to be achieved to repair the torn fabric of the city.
