a few words on the Draconian constitution (plus some test info)

The 100-point test on Ancient Greece (part one) will be given on Thursday, February 27.

Also, I have posted a video (found here, and listed to the right) that you may find interesting and useful in learning about ancient Greece, as well as helping you do well on the next test.

Ahem...

This information can be found on the Wikipedia page for Draco (lawgiver), under a section entitled "Draconian constitution." All internal links preserved for your convenience. Boldface added by your teacher/blogger.

The laws (θεσμοί - thesmoi) that he laid were the first written constitution of Athens. So that no one would be unaware of them, they were posted on wooden tablets (ἄξονες - axones), where they were preserved for almost two centuries on steles of the shape of three-sided pyramids (κύρβεις - kyrbeis).^[7] 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 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: Athenian Constitution, Part 5, Section 41)
• The laws distinguish between murder and involuntary homicide.^[8]

The laws were particularly harsh. For example, any debtor whose status was lower than that of his creditor was forced into slavery.^[9] The punishment was more lenient for those owing a debt to a member of a lower class. The death penalty was the punishment for even minor offences, such as stealing a cabbage.^[10] Concerning the liberal use of the death penalty in the Draconic code, Plutarch 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".^[11]

All his laws were repealed by Solon in the early 6th century BC, with the exception of the homicide law.^[12]