Charondas
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Charondas: (prob. 6th Century BC). Law-giver. A native of Catana in Sicily, he was famous for creating law-codes for his own city as well as other Chalcidian settlements in Sicily and Magna Graecia. These codes were written in verse to make them easier to remember. How many cities for whom he personally created law codes, and how many were secondarily influenced by his work is disputed. It can be agreed, however, that the influence of Charondas on the legal systems of much of Magna Graecia and Greek Sicily was profound. Although it cannot be precisely determined when he lived, many scholars believe that he was a disciple of Pythagoras. He would also predate Anaxilaus, the tyrant of Rhegium from 494 to 476 BC, who abolished a law code created earlier by Charondas for that city. This date, however, would invalidate the claim of Thurii (founded 443 BC) whose law code was attributed to Charondas. Some sources even put him as early as the 7th century BC. According to a tradition, Charondas committed suicide as a matter of honor. Forgetting to remove his sword one day before entering an assembly, he was confronted by someone who pointed out that the penalty for carrying a weapon at the meeting was death, according to his own law-code. Despite the fact that it was clear that Charondas had made an honest mistake, he felt that there could be no exceptions to the law code. He then drew his sword and killed himself.