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IN SEARCH OF DRAKON

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2013

Chris Carey
Chris Carey*
Affiliation:
University College London, UK
*
*Email: c.carey@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper takes issue with two widely held views on Drakon. The first is the claim made at least as early as the fourth century BC that only the homicide laws survived the subsequent intervention of Solon; the second is the repeated assertion that Drakon's laws were uniformly harsh. It argues that more of Drakon's work survived into the Classical period, both in substance and in procedure, than the Athenians realised or admitted, and that the harshness has been exaggerated.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 59 , December 2013 , pp. 29 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2013. Published by Cambridge University Press 

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