The Solonian Amnesty Law (Plu. Sol. 19.3–4) and the Athenian Law on Homicide

Abstract:Ever since Ruschenbusch published his seminal study of the laws of Solon, the near universal assumption in scholarship has been that the Solonian ‘amnesty law’, quoted by Plutarch, is a genuine document. Yet, scholars have found no convincing route around the problem identified by Plutarch, that the law as cited cannot combine with the silence of Draco about the Areopagus. This paper argues that the text which Plutarch quoted at Sol. 19.3, Solon’s ‘amnesty law’, was authentic, but for none of the reasons conventionally given. A fresh consideration of the law on homicide will lead to the conclusion that its original purpose was to limit the power of the magistrate to inflict punishment, and to protect the rights of the killer by taking account of extenuating circumstances such as involuntary or lawful killing. Draco did not need to refer to the Areopagus because, by unwritten tradition, this was the court before which all homicide cases had previously been tried, without possibility of appeal. The first written law on homicide transferred jurisdiction from the Areopagus to other courts in the event of extenuating circumstances, such as justifiable or involuntary killing, which explains Draco’s silence.