Death to Tyrants! (40 page)

Side IV

Side I

(1)
Whoever kills a tyrant, a leader of an oligarchy, or someone overthrowing the democracy, if he is a citizen (
enarchos
), he shall receive a talent of silver from the polis on that day or the next, and the
dēmos
shall erect a bronze statue in his likeness. And he shall have free meals (
sitēsis
) in the prytaneion as long as he lives, and will be called by name to the front seat (
eis proedrian
) in the competitions, and two drachmas shall be given to him every day for as long as he lives. If the killer is a free foreigner (
xenos
), the same things shall be given to him, and let him be a citizen, and he shall be allowed to enroll in whatever tribe he wants. If the killer is a slave (
doulos
), let him be in possession of his rights (
epitimos
) and let him participate in the regime (
politeia
) according to the law, and let him receive thirty minae from the
polis on that day or the next, and for as long as he lives let him receive a drachma each day …
¹²

(2)
… of office … they shall receive a talent of silver … thirty minae … let him be a citizen.

Side II

(3)
… and the rest belongs to the polis. And if someone was somehow injured by them, he shall receive [compensation] from there.

(4)
And if one of the fellow soldiers kills a tyrant, a leader of an oligarchy, or someone overthrowing the democracy and [subsequently] establishes democracy in the city, he shall not be punished for what he did with them, and he shall receive a talent of silver from the
dēmos
.

(5)
Whoever—during a tyranny or oligarchy—holds the office of
strategos
or holds any office whatsoever which must provide an account of its finances, or registers the property of an Ilian or a metic for a tax, [it is forbidden] to buy from any of them or be entrusted with land, a house, flocks, slaves, or anything else and [it is forbidden] to accept a dowry [from them]. Whoever buys something from one of them, or in entrusted with [it], or accepts a dowry, or somehow else acquires [something], the acquisition is invalid and the victim shall take compensation from the offender's possessions without an appraisal, whenever he wants.

(6)
If someone holds the office of
strategos
a second time or holds another office [sc., for a second time], he owes all the money he managed, since it belongs to the
dēmos
. And anyone who wishes—since the matter concerns the
dēmos
's property—may plead the case in the law court whenever he wants until a trial concludes while the Ilians are governed democratically.

(7)
Whoever—during a tyranny or oligarchy—gives or receives the
dēmos
's money [acquired] from those [individuals], he may be judged [sc., in a law court],
¹³
and let him be liable to be tried….

Side III

(8)
… they are born from a defiled man. And half of their property shall belong to the polis and half to the children of the deceased; if there are no children, the money shall be given to his rightful heir. There may be a trial concerning
those matters at anytime, until a trial concludes while the Ilians are governed democratically. And if someone is bound, or confined, or is a defendant facing imprisonment, [the accuser] owes twice the penalties and twice as much as the damage he caused. If he [i.e., the victim] paid money, the accuser must pay back double. And there shall be a trial concerning those matters at any time until a trial concludes while the Ilians are governed democratically.

(9)
If—during a tyranny or oligarchy—someone, while serving as an office holder, kills someone, all of those who voted [sc., for the execution] are murderers, and one may prosecute [them] at anytime, until a trial concludes while the Ilians are governed democratically. And if someone goes into exile to escape a trial, since he voted to kill, he and his children shall be without rights and shall go into exile. And the murder shall not be atoned for either by intermarriage or money. If it is, he shall be beholden to the same penalty.

(10)
If some tyrant or leader of an oligarchy, or whoever appoints the Ilians' magistrates with them, or someone else on their behalf buys land, or a house, or flocks, or slaves, or anything else whatsoever, the purchase is invalid and [the purchased items] shall be returned to the sellers.

(11)
If, during an oligarchy, someone is selected to the
boulē
or the other magistracies by misusing the laws, desiring—by his contrivance—to accomplish it as though [he were selected] in a democracy, [the selection] is invalid and the contriver shall suffer as though he were a leader of an oligarchy.

(12)
Whoever becomes tyrant or leader of an oligarchy, or sets up a tyrant, or joins in a revolt, or overthrows the democracy, wherever their names are [engraved]—if it is in the list of the priests, if it is on a votive offering, if it is on a tombstone—chisel them out from everywhere. After they have chiseled out [the names] from the priests lists, sell [sc., the space]. And the buyer shall engrave whatever name he wishes from those who are eligible. And with respect to the votive offerings dedicated privately, after they have struck out the dedicator's inscription, the
dēmos
shall deliberate about the votive offering so that it shall not stand as their [offering] and there will be no record. And wherever there is a public votive offering also inscribed [with the names] of others, make that individual's name invisible, after they have struck it out.

(13)
If someone—during a tyranny or oligarchy—…

Side IV

(14)
And if the archons do not announce the crown in the Great Dionysia, or do not provide funds to engrave a public record according to the law, each of the archons shall owe thirty staters, each member of the
boulē
ten staters, and the treasurer one hundred staters. And if an accusation concerning compensation is brought against any of those [magistrates] just mentioned,
they shall be without rights until those making the accusation receive the money in full. And there shall be access always to the magistrates and the standing
boulē
—and this shall be [permissible] during the present year—and the penalty shall be the same for the members of the standing special boards (
archeioi
) until those making the accusation receive the money in full and the crown, and a public record is made.

(15)
If someone receives compensation although he did not contribute or spend money to establish the democracy, or recovered what was not owed or more [sc., that what was owed], he must pay back double if he is convicted in court.

(16)
And whoever receives [sc., money] from them and does not spend it so that democracy is established, or whoever holding [money acquired] from them does not reveal the expenditures for those matters, he shall pay back double of what he received if convicted in court.

(17)
Against whomever an accusation and indictment is made that he did not contribute or spend money according to the law, or recovered what was not owed or more [sc., than what was owed], he shall neither be crowned nor shall [his deeds] be recorded on a stele….

The Ilian tyrant-killing law is long and complex, its extant portions alone containing roughly twice the number of words as the Eretrian tyrant-killing law and four and one-half times as many words as the law of Eukrates (Ilion: 1,078; Eretria: 534; Eukrates: 227). This chapter's first section thus focuses solely on the law's provisions in order to ensure that we know what the Ilian pro-democrats actually promulgated. The second section of this chapter then presents the law's likely historical context. Therein we will consider both the circumstances within which the law was promulgated and the nature of tyrannical threat that confronted the Ilians at that time. And the chapter's third and final section will determine whether or not the law was effective.

Analysis of the Law's Provisions

This section has two complementary objectives. The first objective is simply to ensure that we understand what each provision of the Ilian tyrant-killing law actually says. For a few of the provisions that is not too much of a problem. But in several places the law's language is vague and thus quite confusing. The second objective is to determine the rationale behind each provision—that is, to explain what the Ilians hoped to accomplish by including it in their law.

To assist in this analysis, I have divided the law's extant provisions into three large sections. It is perhaps unlikely that the Ilians thought of the law in such a way. Indeed, in my scheme, provision 11 is interpreted in conjunction
with provisions 5–7 and provision 4 is tied to provision 1.
¹⁴
And one must not forget that no sense can be made of the law's first nineteen lines, roughly 15 percent of the original Greek text.
¹⁵
Nevertheless, the extant provisions seem to fall roughly into three sections, and imposing some sort of macro structure will help one acquire a synoptic view of a rather long and initially quite baffling law.

FIRST SECTION

The first extant section of the Ilian anti-tyranny law (provisions 1–4) specifically addresses “tyrant killing.” The section has three parts.

The first part (provisions 1 and 4) of this section lists the rewards that will be given to an individual who kills a tyrant, a leader of an oligarchy, or someone overthrowing the democracy. The nature of the reward depends on the assassin's status.

•  Citizen (
enarchos
):
¹⁶
he will receive a talent of silver, free meals in the prytaneion for life, heralding to a front-row seat in civic competitions, and a daily stipend of two drachmas, and a statue in his likeness will be erected.