Laws of the Dragon in Athens. General description of the laws of the Dragon

The dragon, or Dragon, is an Athenian legislator whose extremely harsh laws have contributed to the emergence of such a winged expression as the "draconian measures," which refers to overly severe punishments that help to some extent strengthen the state by more clearly articulating its basic legal principles.

Archaic judiciary system

As you know, the inhabitants of Attica (the area where Athens was located) in the VII century. BC. E. Still continued to act in accordance with the oldest patrimonial laws. Their norms for modern man may seem too cruel. By that time, the tsarist government had long ago disappeared, so the polis was ruled by chiefs or archons, who were chosen from among the most notable people.

In fact, Athens was then run by only 9 people. Chief among them was the archon-eponomy - the first person in the policy, the archon-basiley dealt with issues relating to religion, the archon-polemarch was in charge of military affairs, and the remaining six arch-fessofetov supervised the city magistrates and monitored the implementation of the norms of law and the activities of the court.

The Cilon Troubles

Already at the end of the 7th century. BC. E. The population of Athens began to understand that jurisprudence in the form in which it existed must be changed urgently. The first reason that prompted the government to such a judicial reform was a troubled time that demanded a more severe punishment for encroachment on private property, and the second - the growing discontent of the people, caused by the arbitrariness created by aristocratic judges who interpreted the laws as they pleased.

Historians believe that one of the factors that significantly accelerated the writing of new judicial rules was the so-called Kilonovskaya Troubles. It is believed that somewhere between 636 and 624 BC. E. An aristocrat Colon attempted to seize power in the policy by force, but nothing came of it, since he was prevented by people belonging to the aristocratic family of the Alkmeonids. Their punishment was so cruel that the rebels, even hiding behind the altars of the gods, were immediately killed. Such arbitrariness of aristocrats and desecration of relics so angered the Athenians that they cursed all the Alkmeonids.

New legislation

After the Cilon conspiracy, which in case of victory could lead to the power of tyrants, the Eupatridians were obliged at least somehow to demonstrate their state activities. That is why the Athenian law was decided to improve. This work was assigned to one of the six arch-fessofetov archons. The choice fell on Drakont, as he enjoyed great respect in society and was a conscientious and energetic person. He completed all the necessary work during 621 BC. E. And as a result, the laws of the Dragon appeared.

Until now, it is believed that this document was the first written judicial law operating in the territory of Athens. Although this statement is very controversial. It would be more correct to say about the first written legislation that has survived to this day, since usually any rules are just a reworking of the norms that once existed before. An example in this case can serve as the assertion of Aristotle, that back in the 80s of the same century the archon-fetmophytes already engaged in similar work.

General description of the laws of the Dragon

The main achievement of the updated norms was the more clearly articulated duties of officials, as well as the principles and procedure for their election to the posts. Although the code of the Dragon laws contained some articles on the political structure of the state, they were not the main ones in this collection, which is also indicated by its name - "Customs".

The basis of the new rules were more clearly defined penalties for various kinds of offenses. Some laws of the Dragon, no doubt, look unnecessarily cruel. Take at least such an innocent misdemeanor as stealing fruit or vegetables, and in fact for him was the death penalty! But the murder of a thief, committed for the purpose of self-defense or the return of his property, was not considered a crime at all. The death penalty relied on murder, arson and the desecration of the shrine. The dragon even provided for such a rule, which seems completely meaningless, - punishment for the murder of inanimate objects.

The present innovations in the criminal law

As you know, the laws of the Dragon reflected the progress in development that was taking place at that time in the Athenian society. For the first time, there was a clear division of murders into manslaughter, premeditated and committed in the process of defense. Separately, crimes related to the deprivation of life of the seducers of sisters, wives, daughters and mothers were considered. In the same category, there were also murders committed during sports competitions, as well as as a result of various accidents.

The prerogative of the archeopagus was the consideration of exclusively intentional crimes, which entailed human sacrifices. The penalty for committing such murders was the death penalty. Unintentional special colleges, consisting of efetes, whose age exceeded 50 years, were engaged. Unintentional murders were usually punishable by the expulsion of the perpetrator. Various kinds of fines, for example bulls, were applied to citizens who committed a number of other crimes.

It must be said that the laws of the Dragon in Athens were effective and were largely aimed at overcoming the usual at that time blood feud, since it was strictly forbidden to repair lynchings. In this case, the responsibility for the murder rested solely on the one who committed it, and not on the whole family, as before. In addition, the person who incited to murder was also being punished.

Value

Approved by the Athenian society, the laws of the Dragon, the characteristics of which were given above, clearly indicated that it sought to get rid of the outdated patrimonial customs and introduce into its life an updated model of state and class relations.

Despite these rather stringent legislative acts, the development of Greek law has nevertheless progressed a step further. Since the writing of the new rules, aristocrats sitting in the courts were limited in their actions by clearly prescribed rules, the execution of which could be easily verified.

Cancel

Most historians argue that all the laws of the Dragon operated in the territory of the policy until 594 BC. E., until his reforms were not carried out by Solon - an Athenian aristocrat and a prosperous merchant. He abolished most of the rules established in 621 BC. However, he left those that concerned self-defense and manslaughter. It is worth noting that the Dragon himself, despite his strict laws, was highly respected in antiquity, and his name now stands alongside the best world legislators.