The Greek concept of Amnesty is very heartwarming.
I believe that every man wants to believe that his past crimes are forgiven, that he can face the next day without being dragged down by the mistakes, the wrongdoings, and the sins of his past.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to live in the present, the gift that you have allowed me to enjoy today.
It is astonishing to me, however, that people forget the past.
People who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, some charge. Then again, Hegel made the point that we have all learned from history tat people do not learn from history.
Then, what can we expect from studying history?
Hope! Hope that a community can move beyond the painful ruptures which would have destroyed its very fabric.
And that is what happened in 403 B.C. in Athens. The citizens agreed to let bygones be bygones. They even went so far as to strip the day from the calendar. They celebrated the day when they would NOT remember the Civil War and the harm that it caused to the citizens of Athens.
Amnesty is not only possible, but it worked (for the most part) in a community that did not possess the technological resources that modern society enjoys.
The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes by Mogens Hansen
In 403 BC, Democracy was restored. . .and deified Demokratia. Her feast day was celebrated on 12 Boedromion. The amnesty which prevented the mass prosecution and execution of the Thirty Tyrants and their sympathizers required a divine element, probably an attempt by the democratic populace to make the peace permanent and unassailable. I would like to learn more about the deification of Demokratia.
The amnesty that succeeded was the second amnesty declared. After the first amnesty, a number of democrats had pursued and executed some of the oligarchs.
Direct Sources on the Amnesty:
The Life of Greece Will Durant
Thrasybulous showed unwonted moderation in his leadership and amnesty. He sentenced the oligarchs to death, but many of them survived in exile instead. Exile was a means frequently used to purge the polis of political subversives who would undermine the state.
Constitution of Athens, Aristotle
Hellinica, Books One and Two, Xenophon
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