Illustration of the death of Charondas from 1787

Charondas () was a celebrated lawgiver of

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. It is uncertain when he lived; some identify him as a pupil of

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

(c. 580 – 504 BC), but all that can be said is that he lived earlier than Anaxilas of Rhegium (494 – 476 BC), as his laws were in use by the Rhegians until they were abolished by Anaxilas. His laws, originally written in verse, were adopted by the other Chalcidic colonies in Sicily and Italy. According to

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, there was nothing special about these laws except that Charondas introduced actions for

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

, but he speaks highly of the precision with which they were devised, while

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

speaks of him positively in '' The Republic''. The story that Charondas killed himself because he entered the public assembly wearing a sword, which was a violation of his own law, is also told of Diocles of Syracuse and

Zaleucus Zaleucus (; fl. 7th century BC) was the Ancient Greece, Greek lawgiver of Epizephyrian Locris, in Magna Graecia. According to the Suda, he was previously a slave and a shepherd, and after having been educated he gave laws to his fellow-citizens. ...

. cites ''Diod. Sic.'' xii. 11-19. The fragments of laws attributed to him by

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; ; 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each. The tw ...

and

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, b ...

are of late ( Neo-Pythagorean) origin. Charondas is said to have commanded that if the nearest relative of an ''

epikleros An ''epikleros'' (; : ''epikleroi'') was an heiress in ancient Athens and other ancient Greek city states, specifically a daughter of a man who had no sons. In Sparta, they were called ''patrouchoi'' (), as they were in Gortyn. Athenian women wer ...

'' (something close to an heiress) did not wish to marry her, he was required to provide a

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

Notes

References

Attribution

* Endnotes: ** R. Bentley, ''On Phalaris'', which (according to Benedikt Niese s.v. in Pauly, ''Realencyclopädie'') contains what is even now the best account of Charondas ** A. Holm, ''Geschichte Siciliens'', i. ** F. D. Gerlach, ''Zaleukos, Charondas, und Pythagoras'' (1858) {{Authority control Jurists from Sicily People from Catania 6th-century BC Greek politicians Ancient legislators Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Legendary Greek people