Charondas
Caronda, Antichissimo legislatore d'Italia, istituiva in questa sua città nel settimo secolo avanti Cristo il primo celebrato ginnasio condotto da uomini liberi a spese dello Stato. Poche leggi dava e molte norme di pubblico e privato costume alla Sicilia e alla Magna Grecia e santificandole con l'esempio meritava gloria immortale qual fondatore austerissimo di civiltà. ' |
| Epigraph by Mario Rapisardi at the entrance of the Roman Amphitheatre of Catania. |
Charondas' was a celebrated lawgiver of Catania in Sicily. It is uncertain when he lived; some identify him as a pupil of Pythagoras, but all that can be said is that he lived earlier than Anaxilas of Rhegium, 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, there was nothing special about these laws except that Charondas introduced actions for perjury, but he speaks highly of the precision with which they were devised, while Plato 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. The fragments of laws attributed to him by Stobaeus and Diodorus are of late origin. Charondas is said to have commanded that if the nearest relative of an epikleros'' did not wish to marry her, he was required to provide a dowry.
Attribution
- Endnotes:
- * R. Bentley, On Phalaris, which contains what is even now the best account of Charondas
- * A. Holm, Geschichte Siciliens, i.
- * F. D. Gerlach, Zaleukos, Charondas, und Pythagoras
Category:People from Catania
Category:6th-century BC Greek politicians
Category:Ancient legislators
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Legendary Greek people