"Twisted Transfers": Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Greece and Rome

什么是腐败？就像信任一样，腐败是生活中我们自以为了解的东西之一，我们经常讨论，但却难以定义。这是因为这个概念适用于人类（相互）行为的各个领域，但也因为纯粹的法律主义，因此本质主义的定义往往不足以捕捉其复杂性。既有符合法律规范的行为，但在其社会环境中被视为腐败的形式，也有在特定群体和环境中可能被社会接受的非法行为。腐败需要至少两个人的参与。它涉及物质或非物质事物的转移，被不信任的观察者认定为法律或道德上的错误。本项目将使用来自社会科学和人类学的标识符来分析不同形式的转移：礼物、商业和第三类转移（t3t）。根据Alain Testart（2007）创造的术语，T3t描述了一种给予者和接受者之间的不对称权力关系。该项目的目的是理解为什么以及如何将这些形式的转移在话语中呈现为“扭曲”，因此是腐败行为。臭名昭著的腐败的西西里罗马总督盖尤斯·维尔斯，真的配得上这个称号吗？当西塞罗试图证明他是，维雷斯声称他“只是”制作和接收礼物。话语结构允许我们超越腐败在法律上的定义，以调查其与特定文化，政治和经济背景的相互作用。作为话语，“扭曲的转移”被嵌入规范的价值观和正确行为的理想，以及对特定社会阶层或专业群体的刻板印象中。在这个框架内，我们将集中于古希腊罗马时代，从古典雅典的法庭到拜占庭外交的伦理，并引出一些案例研究，这些案例研究仍然强烈地影响着今天西方社会后来话语的形成。保存下来的相对丰富和不同类型的资源提供了一个独特的材料语料库，使得彻底审查塑造古希腊和罗马文化，心态和话语的“扭曲转移”成为可能。“扭曲的转移”从传统的法律主义视角出发，提出了一种创新的、建构主义的方法，这种方法在腐败的历史研究中尚未得到充分的探索。讨论古代和现代腐败的话题性也使我们能够制定相关的外展计划，以促进更广泛的公众参与。所需的各种专业知识，不同学术文化的独特方法，以及当今德国和英国在公共话语中解决腐败问题的极其多样化的方式，使得国际合作成为该项目成功的必要条件。

What is corruption? Like trust, corruption is one of those things in life that we think we know, we steadily discuss, yet we struggle to define. This is so because the concept is applied to various fields of human (inter)action, but also because purely legalistic, and thus essentialist, definitions are often insufficient to capture its complexity. There are both actions that conform to legal norms but are perceived within their societal context as forms of corruption, and illegal actions which may be socially acceptable within specific groups and contexts. Corruption requires the participation of at least two people. It involves a transfer of material or immaterial things, which is identified as legally or morally wrong by a mistrusting observer. This project will analyse the different forms of transfer using identifiers from the social sciences and anthropology: gift, commerce, and transfers of the third type (t3t). T3t describe a form of asymmetric power relationship between a giver and a receiver, following the terminology coined by Alain Testart (2007). The project's aim is to understand why and how these forms of transfer could be (and are) presented in discourse as "twisted" and, therefore, as acts of corruption. Was the notorious corrupt Roman governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, really deserving of this label? While Cicero tried to prove he was, Verres claimed that he was "just" making and receiving gifts. Discursive constructions allow us to move beyond the definition of corruption in law in order to investigate their interaction with specific cultural, political and economic contexts. As discourse, the "twisted transfer" is embedded in normative values and ideals of correct behaviour, as well as in stereotypes about specific social classes or professional groups. Within this frame, we will concentrate on Graeco-Roman Antiquity, from the law courts of classical Athens to the ethics of Byzantine diplomacy, drawing out case studies that still strongly influence the formation of later discourses in Western societies today. The relative abundance and heterogeneous types of sources preserved provide a unique corpus of material that makes it possible to scrutinise thoroughly the "twisted transfers" that shaped ancient Greek and Roman cultures, mentalities and discourses. Moving away from the traditional legalistic perspectives, "Twisted Transfers" proposes an innovative, constructivist approach not yet fully explored in historical studies of corruption. The topicality of discussions on ancient and modern corruption will also allow us to develop a relevant outreach programme with the aim of promoting wider public engagement. The numerous kinds of expertise required, the distinctive approaches of different academic cultures, and the extremely varied ways in which corruption is addressed in public discourse today both in Germany and in the UK make international cooperation mandatory for the success of the project.