Athens' first written lawgiver, byword for 'harsh law'
The first lawgiver of ancient Athens to write the laws down and make them public. Before him Athens was governed by unwritten custom, recited and interpreted at will by the nobility, leaving commoners without protection. Draco carved the laws onto tablets and displayed them to all citizens — itself a great step. But his penalties were so extreme that almost every crime, even stealing a cabbage, was punished by death, and posterity came to use 'draconian' for any law or measure harsh to the point of inhumanity. He proved that writing rules down is the first step of civilization, but whether the rules themselves are just is another matter.
Asked why nearly every crime carried death, Draco is said to have answered that small offenses deserved death, and for the great ones he could find no heavier penalty than death. Posterity said his laws were "written not in ink but in blood." "Draconian" became the English word for the utterly severe.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.