| Source of Law Source of Government In Punitive Process: Delphi & Herakles Delphi & Orestes Sources for Orestes Delphi & Common Man Homicide & Today Bibliography |
Delphi and LawLiterary sources illustrate the role the Delphic Oracle as the drafter and validator of new law. The body of Spartan law was brought to Sparta by Lycurgus, but there is a conflict among the ancient sources in regards to whether Lycurgus received the body of Spartan law from the Delphic oracle, from Crete, or simply asked the oracle to affirm the laws he wrote independently. Xenophon writes that Lycurgus asked the oracle to approve the laws that Lycurgus himself had written in Constitution of the Lacedaimonians 8.7. Whereas Plato implies that the laws came from the oracle and were brought by Lycugus to Sparta in Plato Laws 632d. Herodotus writes that although some believe that the body of Spartan law originated from the Delphic Oracle, the Spartans themselves believe that Lycurgus brought the laws from Crete in Herodotus' Histories 1.65.4 . Even with all of these contradictions, it is clear that the Delphic Oracle must have played some role in the legislative process, if only in a role of sanctification of laws written by others. Delphi and Government The legal influence of the oracle was not limited to Sparta or to specific laws. The advice of the oracle was also sought about the form of
government as a whole. Pausanias wrote that the Megarians
consulted the oracle about which form of government would best suit them and we are told that they should take counsel with the majority, which they took to mean the dead, so they incorporated the tombs of the heroes into their meeting place (Pausanias
1.43). It is known that this is not an isolated incident, according
to Herodotus the Cyrenaeans
also sought advice about what political arrangement would best serve
them, and the oracle advised them to seek a mediator, in Herodotus 4.161.
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