Draco
Draco was an ancient Athenian lawmaker known for creating one of the earliest written legal codes in 621 BCE. His emergence came at a time when Athens was struggling with a lack of formal legal structures, leading to blood feuds and arbitrary justice. Before Draco's code, victims and their families were responsible for seeking retribution, often resulting in prolonged cycles of violence. Responding to the growing demand for reform, Draco aimed to establish a written set of laws that would provide consistency and clarity in legal proceedings, notably emphasizing the role of the state in prosecuting crimes.
Draco's code included severe penalties for various offenses, with many punishments culminating in death, which led to the phrase "draconian" to describe excessively harsh laws. Despite the severity of his regulations, he was respected by many Athenians, and his efforts laid the groundwork for future legal advancements. Other influential figures, like Solon, would later revise Draco's laws, but the framework he established sparked significant progress toward a more organized legal system in Athens. His work is recognized as a pivotal step toward the development of an independent judiciary and the principle of justice as a state responsibility.
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Draco
Athenian statesman and lawgiver
- Born: fl. seventh century b.c.e.
- Birthplace: Perhaps Athens, Greece
- Died: 600
Draco produced the first written codification of law for the ancient city-state of Athens. His effort is remembered primarily for the harshness of its penalties and for its differentiation among various homicidal acts. Draco was the first to assert that the state should be responsible for the punishment of homicide.
Early Life
Little is known about Draco (DRAY-koh) the individual. He is clearly an example of a man who was made a leader by the context of the historical moment in which he found himself. It is important to understand, therefore, what was happening in ancient Greece just prior to Draco’s arrival on the historical scene.
Justice has not always been dispensed by judges operating under a written or common law equally applicable to all. In early Athens, justice was not a matter of applying a written standard to any situation or dispute. There were no explicitly written sentencing guides or judicial precedents on which to call. Rather, the victims themselves were responsible for exacting retribution or compensation for any crime. If the victim was dead, the family was left to take revenge or seek compensation. These blood feuds could last for generations as families sought to avenge a loss, rarely admitting fault and always seeking absolution.
As time wore on, groups of citizens came together to consider en masse how to prevent transgressions or punish criminals from other areas and thus avoid protracted wars based on blood feuds. Popular assemblies were called for this purpose in instances where the action affected the community as a whole. Over the years, leaders within the aristocracy of Athens began issuing the rulings. This system was not without its problems, as these “chiefs” were often the recipients of bribes.
Ten years before Draco would be called on to serve his fellow Athenians, Cylon, a member of a noble Athenian family, married the daughter of Theagenes. Theagenes was the tyrant of Megara, and his power soon infected his son-in-law. With his help, Cylon attempted to make himself the ruler of Athens. He plotted to seize the Acropolis on the greatest festival day of Zeus, as he had been instructed by the oracle at Delphi. His first effort failed. A second attempt, aided by select young nobles and members of the Megarian military, was successful. However, Cylon quickly lost any sympathy he might have mustered when the Athenian people witnessed the taking of the Acropolis by these foreigners.
After being blockaded in the citadel, Cylon escaped with his brother, and the remaining conspirators were forced to seek shelter in the temple of Athena Polias. In exchange for their surrender, these conspirators were promised that their lives would be spared. For whatever reason, Megacles, who was in charge at the time, betrayed the promises and ordered the conspirators killed. In line with beliefs surrounding the act of murder and in the tradition of blood feuds, Athenians deemed this act a great pollution to their city. Those who killed the surrendering conspirators were ordered into exile, and their property was confiscated.
As a result of these actions and the ensuing war with Megara, conditions for the lower economic classes deteriorated over the next ten years. In the context of an increasingly complex society, the people began to call for written laws so that they might be protected from the corruption seeping into the courts. In 621 b.c.e., Draco (also known historically as Dracon) was charged with the unenviable task of sorting through traditions and “laws” to produce a written code of law.
Life’s Work
Draco, as a citizen and lawyer of the city-state of Athens, was thus selected to draft a comprehensive written code of law for the people of Athens. While his work did not change the Greek constitution, this extraordinary legislator did bring some semblance of organization to the laws and prescribe punishments for their violation. His written code was built on the premise that the state should be the primary entity responsible for the prosecution and punishment of crimes.
Draco’s code mixed religious, civil, and moral ordinances. His code made no attempt to separate religion from law or morality from law. In fact, Draco emphasized in certain cases the link between human action and the glorification of the Greek deities. Particularly in the area of homicide, Draco pointed to the defiling nature of murder to the gods and to the Athenian community. Murder was a crime not only against the victim but also against all things of religious significance to the early Greeks. Draco thus introduced the Ephetae, a council of fifty-one judges that was convened to hear cases of bloodshed. Depending on the charge in question, the court was held in one of three places: Delphinian Apollo, Palladion of Phaleron, and Phreatto, which was reserved for the consideration of manslaughter cases originating outside Athens.
Draco also gave considerable attention to the relationship between the debtor and the creditor. Again, his sentences against debtors in default were severe. A creditor could go so far as to lay claim to the person of an insolvent debtor. Nevertheless, establishing the expectations of this relationship was of tremendous benefit to the Athenian poor.
A conviction for many of the crimes enumerated in Draco’s written code meant death for the accused. It was said by Athenians at the time that Draco’s laws were so harsh that they were written not in ink but in blood. So severe were the penalties for crimes ranging from murder to the theft of vegetables that a word based on Draco’s name, “draconian,” is still used to denote unreasonably harsh laws or regimes.
Despite the harshness of his code, Draco was apparently admired by his fellow Athenians. In fact, he may have been “loved to death.” According to one account, a reception was held to honor Draco; as he entered the facility, the shower of hats and cloaks thrown in appreciation of his work buried him. Draco smothered before he could be rescued from the pile of clothes.
Much of Draco’s work was undone by Solon, who succeeded him. Solon did, however, incorporate Draco’s laws regarding homicide or murder into his own decisions. In an effort to prevent a return to the blood feuds of the previous decades, Solon left the responsibility for punishing murderers in the hands of the state.
Significance
Although only a few portions of Draco’s code are extant, it is recognized for being progressive in one important aspect. Draco, for the first time, defined homicide and introduced definitions of various shades of this crime, ranging from murder with intent to accidental and justifiable homicide.
Many Western concepts of law and order originated with the efforts of Draco and his contemporaries. By establishing regular processes of law and government, the ancient Athenians contributed to the creation of a tradition to which modern governments still look for guidance in the equitable distribution of justice before the law. With the writing of this first comprehensive code of law, civilization took another step forward. Moving away from the arbitrary dispersal of justice, Athens set the stage for the creation of an independent judiciary and a state responsible for the safety and well-being of its citizens.
Bibliography
Bury, J. B. A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. Useful for understanding the historical context into which Draco’s code was introduced.
Carawan, Edwin. Rhetoric and the Law of Draco. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. A scholarly examination of the treatment of homicide in Greek legal tradition, with particular reference to Draco’s code. Includes bibliography and index.
Gagarin, Michael. Drakon and Early Athenian Homicide Law. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981. Provides a thorough discussion of Draco and his role in the evolution of homicide laws in early Greece. Includes bibliography and index.
Maine, Sir Henry Sumner. Ancient Law. Reprint. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2002. Examines the legal traditions of the ancient world, including those of Athens and Draco.
Stroud, Ronald S. Drakon’s Law on Homicide. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. A transcription, with English translation and commentary, of a fifth century b.c.e. version of Draconian precepts. Taken from the inscription found on a marble stele now in the collection of the Epigraphical Musuem in Athens. Includes bibliography.