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[German version] (Χαρώνδας; Charṓndas). From Catana; was regarded with  Zaleucus as the greatest lawgiver of the western Greek colonies, and compared to  Lycurgus and  Solon (Pl. Resp. 599d-e; Cic. Leg. 1,57). His dates cannot be exactly determined (mid-7th cent. to end of the 6th cent. BC). There is also no authentic documentation on C. as a person; like many lawgivers he is surrounded in legend [1]. C.'s laws, which were introduced in  Catana,  Rhegium and the other Chalcidi…

[German version] (Ἐπιμένης; Epiménēs) from  Miletus. After the fall of the Neleids in the 7th cent. BC, he was supposedly elected by the deme as   aisymnḗtēs with authority over life and death (Nic. Damasc. FGrH 90 F 53). The purges attributed to him there ─ proscription, exile, confiscation of property ─ correspond to the rules of a decree from the 5th cent. (ML 43), which states that the office of the ἐπιμήνιοι ( epimḗnioi) is to carry out such measures which are common in coups d'états. This is probably the basis for the later, possibly Peripatetic construction of the aesymneteia of E. Hölkeskamp, Karl-Joachim (Cologne) Bibliography H.-J. Gehrke, Zur Gesch. Milets in der Mitte des 5. Jh., in: Historia 29, 1980, 17-31.

[German version] (Νικόδωρος/ Nikódōros) from Mantinea; he was of noble birth and a successful athlete who was on the one hand compared as a great ‘legislator’ to Solon, and on the other hand connected with the notorious atheist Diagoras [2] of Melos (Ael. VH. 2,23; Eust. ad Hom. Od. p. 1860,52ff.). We do not know whether he was the originator of a moderately democratic constitution initiated in 425 or 423 BC in Mantinea (Aristot. Pol. 6,2,1318b 21ff.) [1. 101ff.].…

(Δράκων; Drákōn) [German version] [1] see Dragon slayers see  Dragon slayers …

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(Βίας; Bías). [German version] [1] Mythical son of Amythaon Mythical son of  Amythaon and Idomene or Aglaea; brother of the seer  Melampus. The latter assisted B. in his c…

(Διαγόρας; Diagóras). [German version] [1] of Eretria Politician 6th cent. BC Towards the end of the 6th cent. BC (between 539 and 510?), D. overturned the ‘oligarchy of the knights’, allegedly for personal motives (Aristot. Pol. 5,5, 1306a 35-37) [1]. In posthumous tribute, a statue of D. was erected (Heraclides Lembus fr. 40 Dilts). Whether D. as nomothetes introduced a ‘democratic constitution’ [2], has to remain a moot point. Hölkeskamp, Karl-Joachim (Cologne) Bibliography 1 F. Geyer, Topographie und Gesch. der Insel Euboia 1, 1903, 66f. 2 H.-J. Gehrke, Stasis, 1985, 63f. …

(Φείδων; Pheídōn). [German version] [1] Ph. the Corinthian From Corinth, legislator, early 7th cent. BC According to Aristot. Pol. 1265b 12-16, he was one of the 'oldest legislators' who is said to have been the originator of a law in which the number of houses had to equal the number of citizens; it appears therefore to have served to protect t…

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(Λυκοῦργος/ Lykoûrgos, ep. Λυκόοργος/ Lykóorgos, Lat. Lucurgus, Lycurgus). [German version] [1] Son of Dryas Son of Dryas, in Nonnus also son of Ares (Nonnus, Dion. 20,149 et passim), opponent of Dionysus, who driv…