Dracon

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Drakon ( ancient Greek Δράκων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος Drákōn ho Athēnaíos 'Drakon the Athenian'; * around 650 BC ) was an Athenian law reformer who lived around the year 621 BC. Recorded all criminal provisions known at that time in Athens. He also introduced two major innovations in criminal law in his work : the distinction between intentional and unintentional killing and the referral of the respective criminal cases to courts specializing in the offense.

So no one overlooked or could ignore the laws (were θεσμοί thesmoi ) written on wooden tablets ( οἱ ἄξονες hoi axones , tablets of law that can be rotated about an axis') and on rotatable part triangular stelae ( αἱ κύρβεις hai kýrbeis , rotating pyramidal Pillars for announcing laws') or pillars ( αἱ στῆλαι hai stēlai 'pillars of the law') that were erected in the market (the agora ), where they remained for almost two hundred years. Dracon's laws were superseded by Solonian legislation while maintaining the distinction between intentional and accidental killing .

The draconian legislation ( Δρακόντειοι νόμοι Drakónteioi Laws , laws of Draco 'or Δρακόντεια μέτρα Drakónteia Métra , measures of Drakon') was in the classical period of Greece ( "written in blood") to be extraordinarily cruel viewed and is also in the German language literally for an exaggerated harsh, just "draconian" punishment. However, it was mostly overlooked that Drakon himself merely codified the existing laws and regulations of his time and thus, above all, abolished the harsher, arbitrary and often excessive punishments of the past. In addition, he made efforts to replace the blood revenge practiced up to then with the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts for the atonement of crimes. The draconian legislation was an important step towards the state monopoly on the use of force .

With regard to the often prescribed use of the death penalty, Plutarch writes about Drakon:

"Αὐτὸς δ ἐκεῖνος, φασιν ὥς, ἐρωτώμενος διὰ τί τοῖς πλείστοις ἀδικήμασι ζημίαν ἔταξε θάνατον, ἀπεκρίνατο τὰ μὲν μικρὰ ταύτης ἄξια νομίζειν, τοῖς δὲ μεγάλοις οὐκ ἔχειν μείζονα."
"But that himself, it is said, responded to questions about why he had intended death as a punishment for most crimes, that he was of the opinion that it (death) should be used for the minor crimes, but for the great (crimes) have no major (penalties). "

The laws of Drakon from a 409/408 BC are known. Inscribed new publication of the laws.

See also

Wiktionary: draconian  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Pape: Concise dictionary of the Greek language . Braunschweig 1914, vol. 1, p. 1535
  2. ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag Verlag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965.
  3. ↑ Plutarch: Solon
  4. ↑ Gehrke, Hans-Joachim and Helmuth Schneider (eds.): History of antiquity. A study book. Stuttgart / Weimar: J. B. Metzler 2000, p. 66
personal data
SURNAME Dracon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Athenian law reformer
DATE OF BIRTH around 650 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 7th century BC BC or 6th century BC Chr.