ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, an asylum was a place where people facing persecution could seek refuge. These locations were largely religious in nature, such as temples and other religious sites. A similar concept, the

Cities of Refuge The cities of refuge ( ''‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ'') were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Maimonides, invoking talmudic ...

, existed in the

ancient Levant The Levant is the area in Southwest Asia, south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Arabian Desert in the south, and Mesopotamia in the east. It stretches roughly north to south, from the Taurus Mountains to ...

Ancient Israel and Judah

The Cities of Refuge were certain Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

in which the perpetrators of accidental

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

could claim the

right of asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, such as a second country or another enti ...

, though he would still have to stand trial. Outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Bible names six cities as being cities of refuge:

Golan Golan (; ) is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village eas ...

, Ramoth, and

Bosor Bosor () was an ancient Biblical Levitical city and one of the three Trans-Jordanian Cities of Refuge named in the Mosaic Law. It was located in Gilead, and was conquered by Judas Maccabeus. 1 Maccabees 5:26, 36 It is sometimes identified with mode ...

, on the

east East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

, and

Kedesh Kedesh (alternate spellings: Qedesh, Cadesh, Cydessa) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite settlement in Upper Galilee, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Its remains are located in Tel Kedesh, northeast of the modern Kibbut ...

Shechem Shechem ( ; , ; ), also spelled Sichem ( ; ) and other variants, was an ancient city in the southern Levant. Mentioned as a Canaanite city in the Amarna Letters, it later appears in the Hebrew Bible as the first capital of the Kingdom of Israe ...

, and

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

on the western side. There is also an instance of Adonijah, after a failed coup, seeking refuge from the newly anointed Solomon by grasping the horns of a sacrificial altar.

Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece the temples, altars,

sacred groves Sacred groves, sacred woods, or sacred forests are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. These are forest areas that are, for the most ...

, and statues of the gods generally possessed the privileges of protecting slaves, debtors, and criminals, who fled to them for refuge. The laws, however, do not appear to have recognised the right of all such sacred places to afford the protection which was claimed, but to have confined it to a certain number of temples, or altars, which were considered in a more especial manner to have the ''asylia'' (Servius ad Virg. Aen. ii. 761.). There were several places in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

which possessed this privilege, of which the best known was the

Theseum The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum"; , , and formerly called in error the Theseion or "Theseum"; , ), is a well-preserved Greek temple dedicated to Hephaestus; it remains standing largely intact today. I ...

, or temple of

Theseus Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes desc ...

, in the city, which was chiefly intended for the protection of the ill-treated slaves, who could take refuge in this place, and compel their masters to sell them to some other person ( Plut. Theseus, 36; Schol. ad Aristoph. Equit. 1309; Hesych. and Suidas, s.v.). The other places in Athens which possessed the

jus asyli Jus or JUS may refer to: Language * Jussive mood, in grammar * Yus, two early Cyrillic letters * Jumla Sign Language, of Nepal (ISO 639-3:jus) Law * Jus (law), a right afforded to ancient Romans * Jus (canon law), a Roman Catholic custom ...

("right of asylum") were: the

Altar of Pity An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

, in the

Agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

, the altar of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Ayopcuos, the

Altar of the Twelve Gods The Altar of the Twelve Gods (also called the Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods), was an important altar and sanctuary at Athens, located in the northwest corner of the Classical Agora. The Altar was set up by Pisistratus the Younger, (the grandson o ...

, the altar of the Eumenides on the

Areopagus The Areopagus () is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" (). The name ''Areopagus'' also r ...

, the Theseum in the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, and the altar of

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

, at

Munichia Munichia or Munychia (; ) is the ancient Greek name for a steep hill ( high) in Piraeus, Greece, known today as Kastella (Καστέλλα). This is a fashionable neighborhood in Piraeus. On the top of the hill is a Greek Orthodox church name ...

(Meier, Alt. Proc. p. 404). Among the most celebrated places of asylum in other parts of Greece, there are the temple of Poseidon in Laconia, on Mount Taenarus (Time. i. 128, 133; Corn. Nep. Pans. c. 4); the temple of Poseidon in

Calauria Kalaureia () or Calauria or Kalavria () is an island close to the coast of Troezen in the Peloponnesus of mainland Greece, part of the modern island-pair Poros. Strabo describes the coastwise journey along the Hermionic Gulf: :The gulf begins at ...

(Pint. Demosth. 29); and the temple of Athena Alea in

Tegea Tegea (; ) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit with an area o ...

(Paus. iii. 5. § 6). It would appear, however, that all sacred places were supposed to protect an individual to a certain extent, even if their right to do so was not recognised by the laws of the state, in which they were situated. In such cases, however, as the law gave no protection, it seems to have been considered lawful to use any means in order to compel the individuals who had taken refuge to leave the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

, except dragging them out by personal violence. Thus it was not uncommon to force a person from an altar or a statue of a god, by the application of fire. (Eurip. Androm. 256, with Schol.; Plant. Mostett. v. 1. 65.) Incidents of violation of asylum include the deaths of

Cylon of Athens Cylon (also Kylon; ) was an Athenian of the archaic period in Ancient Greece, primarily known for the events of the Cylonian Affair, an attempted seizure of power in the city. Cylon, one of the Athenian nobles and a previous victor of the Olympic ...

and

Pausanias of Sparta Pausanias () was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 427 BC and again from 409 BC to 395 BC. He was the leader of the faction in Sparta that opposed the imperialist policy conducted by Lysander. Pa ...

. The

464 BC Sparta earthquake The 464 BC Spartan earthquake occurred along the Sparta fault in the year 464 BC destroying much of what was Sparta and many other city-states in ancient Greece. Historical sources suggest that the death toll may have been as high as 20,000, alth ...

has been viewed by the contemporaries as divine vengeance for the Spartan ephors' murder of helots in violation of the asylum in the Tainaron temple. In ancient Greece the term ''asylia'' was also applied to the security from plunder and piracy (''asylia'' on land and sea), which was sometimes granted by one state to another, or even to single individuals (See Bb'ckh, Corp. Inscrip. i. p. 725.).

Ancient Rome

The asylum (temple of the god Asylaeus) that

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

is said to have opened at Rome on the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

, between its two summits, in order to increase the population of the city was, according to the legend, a place of refuge for the inhabitants of other states, rather than a sanctuary for those who had violated the laws of the city. In the republican and early imperial times, a right of asylum, such as existed in the Greek states, does not appear to have been recognised by

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

. Livy seems to speak of the right of asylum as peculiar to the Greeks. By a ''constitutio'' of

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

, it was decreed that if a slave in a province fled to the temples of the gods or the statues of the emperors to avoid the ill-usage of his master, the ''praeses'' could compel the master to sell the slave, and the slave was not regarded by the law as a runaway ''( fugitivus)''. This ''constitutio'' of Antoninus is quoted in

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

's ''Institutes'' (1. tit. 8. s. 2), with a slight alteration; the words ''ad aedem sacram'' are substituted for ''ad fana deorum'', since the ''jus asyli'' was in his time extended to churches. Those slaves who took refuge at the statue of an emperor were considered to inflict disgrace on their master, as it was reasonably supposed that no slave would take such a step, unless he had received very bad usage from his master. If it could be proved that any individual had instigated the slave of another to flee to the statue of an emperor, he was liable to an action ''corrupti servi''. The right of asylum seems to have been generally, but not entirely, confined to slaves. In the time of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

, the number of places possessing the ''jus asyli'' in the cities in Greece and Asia Minor became so numerous as to seriously impede the administration of justice. In consequence of this, the

Roman senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...

, by the command of the emperor, limited the ''jus asyli'' to a few cities, but did not entirely abolish it, as

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

(''Tiberius'' 37) has erroneously stated.See also

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, Ann. iii. 60—63, iv. 14 and Ernesti's Ex cursus to Suet. Tib. 37.

Ancient Hawai'i

In the culture of ancient

Hawai'i Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...

, certain places were designated ''pu'uhonua'', which has been translated "place of refuge". A ''pu'uhonua'' was a sanctuary; a criminal who had violated the strict '' kapu'' code, or a defeated warrior or a

non-combatant Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities. People such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent arm ...

in a war could take shelter in a ''pu'uhonua'', free from reprisal. Anyone, no matter their social status or crime, was free to enter, if they could reach the site before being overtaken by their pursuers. The resident priests would put to death anyone who pursued someone into the sanctuary. After being purified by a priest, the person was then free to leave, absolved of any crime. One of the best preserved ''pu'uhonua'' is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau on the island of

. It was the largest walled ''pu'uhonua'' in Hawai'i and was used for the longest period of time. Here a

heiau A ''heiau'' () is a Hawaiian temple. Made in different architectural styles depending upon their purpose and location, they range from simple earth terraces, to elaborately constructed stone platforms. There are heiau to treat the sick (''heia ...

(temple) preserved the bones of Keawe, a great chief who died and was later believed to be a god. His

mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

(spiritual power) was believed to protect the area. Each ''pu'uhonua'' was similarly protected by a deified ancestor. After unifying the islands in 1810,

Kamehameha the Great Kamehameha I (; Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea; to May 8 or 14, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the conqueror and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii ...

abolished most of the ''pu'uhonua'' and established new ones, although the one at Honaunau was untouched. The kapu system itself was officially abolished in a taboo-breaking ceremony by

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kala ...

and his court in 1819, after which the importance of ''pu'uhonua'' declined, since there was no longer a need for their powers of absolution.

References

* {{refend Ancient Athens Ancient Greek law Roman law Culture of ancient Rome Society of ancient Greece Ancient Greek religion Ancient Roman religion Safe houses Right of asylum

Ancient Israel and Judah

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

Ancient Hawai'i

See also

Further reading

References