Draco
Encyclopedia
Draco (circa 7th century BC) was the first legislator
of Athens
in Ancient Greece
. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law
and blood feud
by a written code
to be enforced only by a court. Because of its harshness, this code also gave rise to the term "draconian".
, in 621 or 620 BC
, Draco established the legal code with which he is identified. Little is known about his life. He probably belonged to the Greek nobility of the Attica deme
called the Eupatridae
, with which the 10th-century Suda
text records him as contemporaneous, prior to the period of the Seven Sages of Greece
. It also relates a folkloric
story of his death in the Aeginetan
theatre. In a traditional ancient Greek show of approval, his supporters "threw so many hats and shirts and cloaks on his head that he suffocated, and was buried in that same theatre". Aristotle
specifies that Draco laid down his legal code in the archon
ship of Aristaechmus (Ἀρισταίχμος) in 620 or 621 BC.
s ( - thesmi) he laid down were the first written constitution of Athens
. So that no one would be unaware of them, they were posted on wooden tablets ( - axones), where they were preserved for almost two centuries, on stele
s of the shape of three-sided pyramids
( - kirvis). The tablets were called axones, perhaps because they could be pivoted along the pyramid's axis, to read any side.
The constitution featured several major innovations:
The laws, however, were particularly harsh. For example, any debt
or whose status was lower than that of his credit
or was forced into slavery. The punishment was more lenient for those owing debt to a member of a lower class. The death penalty
was the punishment
for even minor offences. Concerning the liberal use of the death penalty in the Draconic code, Plutarch
states:
All his laws were repealed by Solon
apart from the one dealing with homicide
.
Legislator
A legislator is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are usually politicians and are often elected by the people...
of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law
Oral law
An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted....
and blood feud
Blood Feud
"Blood Feud" is the twenty-second and final episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on July 11, 1991. In the episode, Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion. Homer discovers Bart has Burns' rare blood type and urges...
by a written code
Code (law)
A code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification. Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in common law and civil law...
to be enforced only by a court. Because of its harshness, this code also gave rise to the term "draconian".
Life
During the 39th OlympiadOlympiad
An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....
, in 621 or 620 BC
620s BC
-Events and trends:* c. 627 BC—Death of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria; he is succeeded by Assur-etel-ilani.* 626 BC—Nabopolassar revolts against Assyria, founds the Neo-Babylonian Empire....
, Draco established the legal code with which he is identified. Little is known about his life. He probably belonged to the Greek nobility of the Attica deme
Deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or demos was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in...
called the Eupatridae
Eupatridae
Eupatridae refers to the ancient nobility of the Greek region of Attica....
, with which the 10th-century Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
text records him as contemporaneous, prior to the period of the Seven Sages of Greece
Seven Sages of Greece
The Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men was the title given by ancient Greek tradition to seven early 6th century BC philosophers, statesmen and law-givers who were renowned in the following centuries for their wisdom.-The Seven Sages:Traditionally, each of the seven sages represents an aspect of worldly...
. It also relates a folkloric
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
story of his death in the Aeginetan
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
theatre. In a traditional ancient Greek show of approval, his supporters "threw so many hats and shirts and cloaks on his head that he suffocated, and was buried in that same theatre". Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
specifies that Draco laid down his legal code in the archon
Archon
Archon is a Greek word that means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ἀρχ-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy, and anarchy.- Ancient Greece :In ancient Greece the...
ship of Aristaechmus (Ἀρισταίχμος) in 620 or 621 BC.
The Draconian constitution
The lawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s ( - thesmi) he laid down were the first written constitution of Athens
Constitution of the Athenians
The Constitution of the Athenians is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon, but not by him....
. So that no one would be unaware of them, they were posted on wooden tablets ( - axones), where they were preserved for almost two centuries, on stele
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
s of the shape of three-sided pyramids
Tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. A regular tetrahedron is one in which the four triangles are regular, or "equilateral", and is one of the Platonic solids...
( - kirvis). The tablets were called axones, perhaps because they could be pivoted along the pyramid's axis, to read any side.
The constitution featured several major innovations:
- Instead of oral laws known to a special class, arbitrarily applied and interpreted, all laws were written, thus made known to all literate citizens (who could make appeal to the AreopagusAreopagusThe Areopagus or Areios Pagos is the "Rock of Ares", north-west of the Acropolis, which in classical times functioned as the high Court of Appeal for criminal and civil cases in Athens. Ares was supposed to have been tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios .The origin...
for injustices):
[...] the constitution formed under Draco, when the first code of laws was drawn up. (AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
: Athenian Constitution, Part 5, Section 41)
- The laws distinguish between murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and involuntary homicide.
The laws, however, were particularly harsh. For example, any debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
or whose status was lower than that of his credit
Credit (finance)
Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately , but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided may be financial Credit is the trust...
or was forced into slavery. The punishment was more lenient for those owing debt to a member of a lower class. The death penalty
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
was the punishment
Punishment
Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
for even minor offences. Concerning the liberal use of the death penalty in the Draconic code, Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
states:
- It is said that Drakon himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones.
All his laws were repealed by Solon
Solon
Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens...
apart from the one dealing with homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
.
See also
- Ancient Greek lawAncient Greek lawAncient Greek law is a branch of comparative jurisprudence relating to the laws and legal institutions of Ancient Greece.Greek law has been partially compared with Roman law, and has been incidentally illustrated with the aid of the primitive institutions of the Germanic nations...
- HammurabiHammurabiHammurabi Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ʻAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer", from ʻAmmu, "paternal kinsman", and Rāpi, "healer"; (died c...
- List of Ancient Greeks