When Beatrice Rehl at Cambridge University Press first approached me with the idea of editing a Companion to Ancient Greek Law, I thought it would be a large undertaking. Now, as I look back over the five years it has taken to bring the project to completion, I see that the work has far outgrown my initial idea, just as in recent years the study of Greek law itself has grown well beyond its traditional boundaries. My co-editor, David Cohen, and I have enlisted the help of eighteen other authors from different countries and different schools of thought, and yet, even with the very generous amount of space Cambridge has allowed us, there are many fine scholars and worthy subjects that we have had to omit. Nonetheless, we hope readers will find the ensuing chapters as rich and interesting as it has been a rewarding experience for us to assemble them.
After our initial work together on the conception and composition of the volume, David and I took on separate tasks. In addition to writing two chapters, David’s main contribution was the Introduction to the volume – a fascinating and quite personal account of the changing nature of scholarship on Greek law during the last quarter century. My own contribution, in addition to my two chapters, has been the more mundane editorial work of compiling bibliographies, copyediting, and nagging contributors to meet deadlines. All important decisions, however, have been made by David and me together.
Through all of this Beatrice Rehl has provided exceptionally useful advice, unfailing encouragement, and strong support. Her firm but always reasonable hand has guided our work throughout. She and her entire staff at Cambridge have been a pleasure to work with. I would also like to thank Jess Miner for her help translating two chapters from German. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the help of research funds from the University of Texas at Austin that enabled me to hire Luis Salas to compile the Index Locorum.