Greek Justice: Trial and Punishment

The first written laws, which have been credited to Draco, appeared in Athens at about 621 B.C. His laws (Draconian laws) were very cruel and harsh and his basic rule was that every crime warranted the death penalty. The earliest known laws in Athens and the one that remained unchanged for the longest time concerned homicide. As the Greeks believed that murder offended the gods, there were religious sanctions against homicide and anyone who killed another person (outside of wartime) was considered polluted.
The Solonian laws were developed at the time the Athenians realized they needed to…