BARATHRON
BARATHRON (
βάραθρον,
ὄρυγμα) was a deep pit at Athens into which
criminals, and the dead bodies of executed criminals, were cast. (Plat.
Rep. iv. p. 439 E; Plut.
Themist. 22;
Xen. Hell. 1.7,
20.) It was situated in the demus
Κειριάδαι (Bekker,
Anecd. p.
219), probably a N.W. suburb of Athens. (Hanriot,
Recherches sur la
topographie des dèmes de l'Attique, pp. 15, 17.) It
is mentioned as early as the Persian wars, and continued to be employed as a
mode of punishment in the time of the orators. The executioner was called
ὁ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀρύγματι. (Schol.
ad
Aristoph. Pl. 431; Harpocrat.
s. vv.;
Hdt. 7.133 ;
Xen. Hell.
1.7,
21; Lycurg.
c.
Leocrat. § 121; Dinarch.
c. Dem.
§ 62.) It corresponded to the Spartan Ceadas. [CEADAS.]
[
W.S] [
W.M.L]
