For documentation, the author draws primarily on Attic court proceedings, which allowed for a wide range of evidence, including common rumors about a defendant's character and testimony of slaves against their masters, typically obtained under torture. Athenian policing is described as a form of social control that occurred across a range of private and public levels. Not only does policing appear to have been a collective enterprise, but its methods were based in a variety of social institutions, which resulted in the blurring of the line between state and society. The inquiry into topics such as household authority, disputes among kin, the presence of slaves in the house, gossip in the home and neighborhood, and forms of public punishment shows a continuum that extended from self-regulation among kin to punitive actions enforced by the state. Recognizing the bias of legal documents toward the wealthy, the author focuses on identifying the voices of the less powerful and less privileged members of society, including women and slaves. This focus encompasses such topics as the authority of women, self- help, and corporal punishment. Extensive notes, a 380-item select bibliography, an index of ancient sources and authors, and a general subject index