Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

804' NOMOS. NOMOS.
to the advice of their counsellors, or the chief men tinct ordinances, and afterwards publicly exhibited,
of the state ('ypo'res, avICTaES, &c.), and also to engraved on tablets, or hewn on columns. (Lyc. c.
administer justice, Aitas,;etto-Tas, eb&KLas. (II. Leoc. p. 165, ed. Steph.; Arist. Pol. v. 9. ~ 22; Plato,
ii. 660, xvi. 542, Od. xix. 3, iv. 689.) Leg. v. p. 738.) The first written laws we hear of
These notions of law and justice were neces- are those of Zalencus. (WVachsm. vol. i. pt. i. p. 208.)
sarily vague. The regal power, though limited in The first at Athens were those of Draco, called
practice, appears to have been absolute in theory, aeo-soli, and by that name distinguished from the
and, as such, was easily liable to be abused. We vcydot of Solon. (Andoc. de Myst. p. 11, ed. Steph.)
find complaints of the.abuse of power in Hesiod From the origin of this word one would suppose
(Op. et Dies, 39. 258); and Wachsmuth (Hell. Alt. that it signified ordained or statute law,'reiSde
vol. i. pt. i. c. 18) remarks that the Odyssey contains 7voyos: but it is frequently used like aSEtrs, in the
indications of a struggle of the nobility against sense of natural right or social usage. (Hon. H.
the sovereign. That many beneficial concessions ix. 134, xi. 778, Od. xxiii. 296.) The six inferior
were made by the kings to their people before the archons were called. aSeoeOETat, because a great
age of authentic history, is not improbable. The variety of causes fell under their cognizance, and,
changes introduced by Theseus may be considered in the absence of a written code, those who declare
in this light. But the first great step towards the and interpret the laws may be properly said to
establishment of constitudional law appears to have make them. (Thirlwall, Gfi. Hist. vol. ii. p. 17.)
been taken by the Athenians, when they abridged The laws of Lycurgus were not written. He
the power of the Medontidae, and rendered govern- enjoined that they should never be inscribed on any
mient'esponsi6le, T'i1 1oXEiaV terT77rsoeav Eds other tablelt than the hearts of Nis countrymen,
apX 6.srev0svov. (Pans. iv. 5. ~ 10.) (Thirlwall, vol. i. p. 336.) Those of Solon were
The transition from customary or traditionary inscribed on wooden tablets, arranged in pyramidal
law to fixed civil ordinances must have taken place blocks turning on an axis, called 6'OYEs and ic'eGEls.
gradually. When people came to unite in cities (JIarpocration and Suidas, s.v.; Plut. Solon. 25.)
(cruwv.oiov'ro), and form compact societies, they They were first hung in the Acropolis, but afterbegan to feel the necessity of having permanent wards brought down to the Prytaneum. (Harpocr.
lawvs to define and secure their civil rights. The s..'O KdcrwOev s'dos: Pausan. i. 18. ~ 3.) Arnotion soon sprang up that society was formed for chives were established for the custody of Athenian
the good of all classes. The expression trb corvOV, laws in the temple of the mother of the gods (E'd
formerly applied to national leagues and confede- TI.P r7rp6,w) with a public servant (srl~tdo-ros) to
racies (Herod. v. 109), came to denote a united take care of them. (Demosth. dle Bals. Leg. 38 1,
body of citizens; and equal laws were claimed for c. Aristog. 799.) Others were hung up in various
all. From this body indeed were excluded all public places, so that any citizen might have access
such persons as came under the definition of 7rept- to them, to read or take extracts. For instance,
OcKOL, provincials (Herod. vi. 58, ix. 11), or serfs, laws which concerned the jurisdiction of the archon
like the Helots; and all slaves of every kind. It were hung up in his office; those which concerned
was only the townsman (,irol'r/s) and the free- the senate (iouvAeVTKolc y'po0L) in their councilman who could enjoy the privileges of a citizen. room, and so on. (Demosth. c. Arisloc. 627, 643,
The emigrant (&riptkVlos,e'uf avori'Ts) though, ift' he c. Tisroc. 706; Wachsm. vol. i. pt. i. p. 266; Meier
became a resident (&roUrcos), he was upon certain and Scheiin. Att. Proc. pp. 170, 660.) After the
conditions admitted to the protection of the law, expulsion of the thirty tyrants, in the archonship
was never placed on the same footing as the of Euclides, a decree was passed by the assembly to
native. restore the anicient laws, and appoint a committee
Before any written codes appeared, law was pro- to revise them, and propose any alterations or admulgated by the poets or wise men, who sang the ditions that might seem necessary. The new and
great deeds of their ancestors, and delivered their old larws were all to be written out in the enlarged
moral and political lessons in verse. Such was the Ionianl alphabet, which had not come into use in
P;l~pa (declared law) of Sparta and Tarentum. Solon's time; anid the whole code thus revised was
The laws of Charondas were sung as cedNA;a at transcribed on the walls of the portico (eis T-'lv
Athens. (Aelian, ii. 39; Arist. Probl. xix. 28; o'ro&a' &,'vEypatav). At the same it was enacted
Athenaeus, xiv. p. 619; Wachsm. Hell. Alt. vol. i. that no magistrate should be allowed to use an
pt.i. pp. 201,208.) The influence exercised by these nnwritten law (aypdciqp bed v/,us T-&as apXy as y
men arose in a great measure from the belief that XpdS-Oat yzsq arEpi e,'s, Anldoc. de Mlryst. 11-13,
they were divinely inspired; a power which was ed. Steph.)
ascribed to most of the ancient law-makers. Thus, According to these statutes of Solon, and those
the laws of Minos were said to be a revelation froin which were subsequently enacted at various times,
Jupiter (Pausan. iii. 2. ~ 4); Lycurgus was the the magistrates and the judges at Athens were
confidant of the Delphic god; Zaleucus of Pallas. bound to administer the law, executive and judi(Wachsm. vol. i. pt. i. p. 204.) Some have supposed cial. The Heliastic body, acting in their capacity
that the use of vdCLos, in the sense of law, was derived of judges or jurors (as to their legislative see
*from the circumstance of laws having first been in NOMOTHETES), were sworn 7repl iE', c', visco,
verse, as the same word denotes measuere or tune. Edol, KarT TOV's,oyuobs oiE6-6eoOatm, aspil 8E' r, IA
But this is not surprising, when we consider that eial, 3yVYmlp 7i6 JrCnato6'vCt. (Meier and Schim..principles of harmony are necessary not only to Att.'rloc. p. 128.) In all causes, whether civil or
music and poetry, but to the adjustment of the criminal, the parties procured copies or extracts of
various relations of civil society; and both mean- such laws as were material to the questions to be
ings may well be derived from PydetIV (distribuere tried, and brought them before the )yse/&v aricasuusm cuique). TrpiLov at the."ducpiots, by whom they were conAs civilisation advanced, laws were reduced to signed to the eXpvos, and produced at the trial, to
writing, in the shape either of regular codes or dis- be read to the Lao-Tali by the?ypa/ceuare's. If