Where Were Solon’s Laws Placed?

Surikov Igor E.

It seems that Aristotle’s evidence (Ath. pol. 7. 1), according to which Solon’s laws inscribed on the kyrbeis were placed by him in the “Royal Stoa”, does not correspond to the facts. It is Dracon’s homicide laws inscribed on similar kyrbeis (axones) that might have been placed in that building (or in front of it) with a great degree of probability. The most probable original location of Solon’s laws is likely to have been the ancient Athenian prytaneion situated on the eastern slope of the Acropolis, in the region of the “Old Agora”.

Keywords: Archaic Athens, Solon, laws, kyrbeis, axones, Agora, Acropolis, prytaneion, bouleuterion
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