Editing Draco (legislator)

{{Short description|First legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Draco
| image              = Draco.webp
| caption            = 
| native_name        = Δράκων
| native_name_lang   = grc
| birth_date         = Before 620 BC
| death_date         = 600 BC
| death_place        = [[Athens]], [[Greece]]
| occupation         = Legislator
| known_for          = [[Draconian constitution]]
| successor          = [[Solon]]
}}

'''Draco''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|r|eɪ|k|oʊ}}; {{langx|grc|Δράκων|Drakōn}}, {{floruit|{{circa|625|600 BC}}}}), also called '''Drako''' or '''Drakon''', according to [[Athens|Athenian]] tradition, was the first [[legislator]] of Athens in [[Ancient Greece]]. He replaced the system of [[oral law]] and [[blood feud]] by the [[Draconian constitution]], a written [[Code (law)|code]] to be enforced only by a [[court of law]]. His laws were supposed to have been very harsh, establishing the [[death penalty]] for most offenses. Tradition held that all of his laws were repealed by [[Solon]], save for those on [[homicide]]. An inscription from 409/8 BC contains part of the current law and refers to it as "the law of Draco about homicide". Nothing is known about the specifics of other laws established by Draco.

According to some scholars, Draco may have been a fictional figure, entirely or in part. Biographical information about him is almost entirely lacking; he was held to have established his legal code in the year 621/620 BC. Since the 19th century, the adjective ''draconian'' (Greek: {{lang|grc|δρακόντειος}}, {{translit|grc|drakónteios}}) refers to similarly unforgiving rules or laws in Greek, English, and other European languages.

== History ==
Nothing is known about Draco's life except that he established his legal code during the reign of the [[Eponymous archon|archon]] Aristaechmus in the year 621/620 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sealey |first=Raphael |author-link=Raphael Sealey |title=A History of the Greek City States, 700–338 B.C. |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |isbn=0-520-03177-6 |location=Berkeley |pages=99-101}} Reprinted with corrections and additions 1985.</ref> The ''[[Suda]]'', the 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, records a [[folklore|folkloric]] story about Draco's death: he went to [[Aegina]] to establish laws and was suffocated in the theater when his supporters honored him by throwing many hats, shirts and cloaks on him.<ref>Suidas. "[http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=delta,1495&filter=CD-Unicode {{lang|grc|Δράκων}}] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103215841/http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=delta,1495&filter=CD-Unicode |date=2015-11-03 }}".  ''Suda On Line''. Adler number delta, 1495.</ref> Some scholars question whether Draco was a real historical figure<ref>{{Cite web |last=MacDowell |first=D. M. |date=22 December 2015 |title=Draco |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2299 |url-access=subscription |access-date=16 October 2024 |website=Oxford Classical Dictionary |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2299}}</ref> or consider that he may have been partially fictional.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carey |first=Chris |date=2013 |title=In Search of Drakon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26430992 |journal=The Cambridge Classical Journal |volume=59 |pages=29 |doi=10.2307/26430992 |issn=1750-2705}}</ref> [[Karl Julius Beloch]] hypothesized that Draco was not a person; ''drakon'' means 'serpent' in Greek, and a sacred serpent on the acropolis was worshipped in the Athenian religion. Therefore, the "laws of Draco" may have been laws issued in the name of the sacred serpent by its priests; later, this origin was forgotten and Draco was reinterpreted as a lawgiver. [[Raphael Sealey]] notes that this hypothesis helps explain how the seemingly protracted development of Athenian homicide law could be attributed to a single source.{{Sfn|Sealey|1976|p=104}} However, most scholars believe that Draco really did establish laws on homicide and other offenses, and some accept the attribution to him of the inscription partially recording the homicide law.{{Sfn|MacDowell|2015}}

==Draconian constitution==
{{main|Draconian constitution}}
The [[law]]s ({{lang|grc|θεσμοί}} – {{lang|grc-Latn|thesmoi}}) that he laid were the first written [[Draconian constitution|constitution of Athens]]. So that no one would be unaware of them, they were posted on wooden tablets ({{lang|grc|ἄξονες}} – {{lang|grc-Latn|axones}}), where they were preserved for almost two centuries on [[stele]]s of the shape of [[Tetrahedron|four-sided pyramids]] ({{lang|grc|κύρβεις}} – {{lang|grc-Latn|kyrbeis}}).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Holland|first=Leicester B.|date=1941|title=Axones|jstor=499024|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=45|issue=3|pages=346–362|doi=10.2307/499024|s2cid=245265199 }}</ref> The tablets were called {{lang|grc-Latn|axones}}, perhaps because they could be pivoted along the pyramid's axis to read any side.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Edward M. |title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2012 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S. |language=English |chapter=Axones |editor-last2=Brodersen |editor-first2=Kai |editor-last3=Champion |editor-first3=Craige B. |editor-last4=Erskine |editor-first4=Andrew |editor-last5=Huebner |editor-first5=Sabine R. |editor-link5=Sabine R. Huebner }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Gil |date=2011 |title=Axones and Kurbeis: A New Answer to an Old Problem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29777246 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.25162/historia-2011-0001 |jstor=29777246 |s2cid=166210547 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref>

The constitution featured several major innovations:
*Instead of oral laws known to a special class, arbitrarily applied and interpreted, all laws were written, thus being made known to all literate citizens (who could appeal to the [[Areopagus]] for injustices): "the constitution formed under Draco, when the first code of laws was drawn up". ([[Aristotle]]: [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/athemain.asp Athenian Constitution], [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/athe5.asp Part 5, Section 41])
*The laws distinguish between [[murder]] and [[involuntary homicide]], a novel concept at that time.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Boardman|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Hammond|editor2-first=N. G. L|title=The Cambridge Ancient History Volume III, Part 3: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C.|author-last=Andrewes|author-first=A.|chapter=The Growth of the Athenian State|isbn=0-521-23447-6|page=371|year=1970}}</ref>

The laws were particularly harsh. For example, any [[debt]]or whose status was lower than that of his [[credit (finance)|credit]]or was forced into slavery.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2GbgfLmCR-YC&pg=PA117 Morris Silver. ''Economic Structures of Antiquity'']. Ed. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. {{ISBN|9780313293801}}. P. 117</ref> The punishment was more lenient for those owing a debt to a member of a lower class. The [[capital punishment|death penalty]] was the punishment for even minor [[offence (law)|offences]], such as stealing a cabbage.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=RTOx0OMpEfYC&pg=PA160 J. David Hirschel,&nbsp;William O. Wakefield. ''Criminal Justice in England and the United States'']. Ed. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. {{ISBN|9780275941338}}. p.160.</ref> Concerning the liberal use of the death penalty in the Draconic code, [[Plutarch]] states:

{{Blockquote|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.<ref>Plutarch (translation by Stewart; Long, George). He also wrote: "Draco's code was written not in ink but in blood."[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14033/14033-h/14033-h.htm#LIFE_OF_SOLON ''Life of Solon''], XVII.  [[gutenberg.org]].</ref>}}

All Draco's laws were repealed by [[Solon]] in the early 6th century BC, with the exception of the [[homicide]] law.<ref>Aristotle, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aristot.+Ath.+Pol.+7.1 ''Athenian Constitution''], 7.1.</ref>

==Homicide law==
After much debate, the Athenians decided to revise the laws, including the homicide law, in 409 BC. The text of the homicide law is partially preserved in a fragmentary inscription. It states that it is up to the victim's relatives to prosecute a killer.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Volonaki |first=Eleni |year=2000 |title="Apagoge" in Homicide Cases |url=http://www.ledonline.it/Dike/allegati/Dike3_Volonakis.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Dike |volume=3 |page=147 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507062857/http://www.ledonline.it/Dike/allegati/Dike3_Volonakis.pdf |archive-date=2006-05-07}}</ref>

According to the preserved part of the inscription, unintentional homicides received a sentence of [[exile]]. It is not clear whether Draco's law specified the punishment for intentional homicide. In 409 BC, intentional homicide was punished by death, but Draco's law begins: "{{Lang|grc|καὶ ἐὰμ μὲ ‘κ [π]ρονοί[α]ς [κ]τ[ένει τίς τινα, φεύγ]ε[ν]}}." Although ambiguous and difficult to translate, one suggested translation is: "Even if a man not intentionally kills another, he is exiled."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gagarin|first1=Michael|title=Drakon and early Athenian homicide law|date=1981|publisher=Yale U.P.|location=New York|isbn=0300026277|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/drakonearlyathen0000gaga}}</ref>

==Council of Four Hundred==
Draco introduced the lot-chosen Council of Four Hundred,<ref>Aristotle. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0046%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D3 ''The Athenian Constitution'', 4.3].</ref> distinct from the [[Areopagus]], which evolved in later constitutions to play a large role in [[Athenian democracy]]. [[Aristotle]] notes that Draco, while having the laws written, merely legislated for an existing unwritten Athenian constitution<ref>Aristotle. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058&query=section%3D%2347&layout=&loc=2.1274a ''Politics'', 1274a].</ref> such as setting exact qualifications for eligibility for office.

According to Aristotle, Draco extended the [[suffrage|franchise]] to all free men who could furnish themselves with a set of military equipment. However, this claim is not based on the authentic tradition, thus untrue as claimed by Welwei in 1998.<ref>Welwei, Die Griechische Polis, S. 157</ref> They elected the Council of Four Hundred from among their number; nine [[archon]]s and the treasurers were drawn from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not less than ten ''[[Mina (unit)|minas]]'', the generals (''[[Strategos|strategoi]]'') and commanders of cavalry (''[[Hipparchus (cavalry officer)|hipparchoi]]'') from those who could show an unencumbered property of not less than a hundred ''minas'' and had children born in lawful wedlock over ten years of age. Thus, in the event of their death, their estate could pass to a competent heir. These officers were required to hold to account the ''[[Prytaneis|prytanes]]'' (councillors), ''strategoi'' (generals) and ''hipparchoi'' (cavalry officers) of the preceding year until their accounts had been audited. "The Council of Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept watch over the magistrates to see that they executed their offices in accordance with the laws. Any person who felt himself wronged might lay an information before the Council of Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken by the wrong done to him. But, as has been said before, loans were secured upon the persons of the debtors, and the land was in the hands of a few."<ref>Aristotle, ''Constitution'', §4.</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Biography|Law}}
* [[Ancient Greek law]]
* [[Hammurabi]], a Babylonian who wrote some of the earliest codes of law
* [[Cruel and unusual punishment]]
* [[Retributive justice]]
* [[List of Ancient Greeks]]
* [[List of eponymous laws]] (those named after their inventor)

==References==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |author =Carawan, Edwin |title=Rhetoric and the Law of Draco |url =https://archive.org/details/rhetoriclawofdra0000cara |url-access =registration |publisher= [[Oxford]]: [[Clarendon Press]]; [[New York City]]: [[Oxford University Press]]|year=1998 |isbn= 978-0-19-815086-2}}
* {{cite book |author=Gagarin, Michael |title=Drakon and Early Athenian Homicide Law |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-300-02627-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drakonearlyathen0000gaga }}
* {{cite book |editor =Gagarin, Michael |editor2 =Cohen, David |title=The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-81840-7 }}
* {{cite book | author = Maine, Sir Henry Sumner |author-link=Henry James Sumner Maine  |chapter=Ancient Law&nbsp;&ndash; Its Connection with the Early History of Society and Its Relativid |title=Avengers of Blood: Homicide in Athenian Law and Custom from Draco to Demosthenes |location=[[Stuttgart]] |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag|Steiner]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-515-09123-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schmitz|first1=Winfried |title=Leges Draconis et Solonis (LegDrSol). Eine neue Edition der Gesetze Drakons und Solons mit Übersetzung und historischer Einordnung |date=2023|publisher=Franz Steiner|location=Stuttgart|isbn=978-3-515-13361-6 }}
* {{cite book |author = Stroud, Ronald S. |title=Drakon's Law on Homicide |url = https://archive.org/details/dessokrateslebe00lasagoog |location=[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1968 |oclc = 463502977}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|draconian}}
* [https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/IGI3/104 Decree to republish Draco’s law on homicide]—Translation of original inscription
* {{cite EB1911|author=Mitchell, John Malcolm|wstitle=Draco (statesman)|volume=8|page=464}}

{{Ancient Athenian statesmen}}
{{Greek lawgivers|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Draco}}
[[Category:7th-century BC Athenians]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek law]]
[[Category:Ancient legislators]]
[[Category:Archaic Athens]]
[[Category:Government of ancient Athens]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]