Diocles of Syracuse ( el, Διοκλῆς) was a legislator, orator, and political and military leader in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

of Syracuse toward the end of the 5th century BC. Only a few years of his life have an historical account, from 413 to 408 BC.

Orator

The historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

presents Diocles as a famous and respected orator, when he proposed, on the day following the victory over the Athenians in 413 BC, a punishment of the greatest severity against the vanquished: execution of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

and

Nicias Nicias (; Νικίας ''Nikias''; c. 470–413 BC) was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy and had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was inve ...

, the two Athenian generals, condemnation to slavery in the stone quarries for the Athenian soldiers, and the fate of being sold into slavery for the soldiers of the allies of Athens. Reinforced by the speech of

Gylippus Gylippus (; el, Γύλιππος) was a Spartan general ( strategos) of the 5th century BC; he was the son of Cleandridas, who was the adviser of King Pleistoanax and had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athenian bribes in 446 BC and fled t ...

, that emphasized that a fate so cruel was intended for the Syracusans in case of Athenian victory, the suggestion was adopted against the opinion of those favoring clemency backed by the strategist

Hermocrates Hermocrates (; grc-gre, Ἑρμοκράτης, c. 5th century – 407 BC) was an ancient Syracusan general during the Athenians' Sicilian Expedition in the midst of the Peloponnesian War. He is also remembered as a character in the '' Timaeus'' ...

. (According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

and

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

, Gylippus wanted to take the two Athenian generals back to Sparta as proof of his own military success.)

Democratic legislator

After the victory of 413 BC, the Syracusans that actively participated in the defense of the city were in a position to demand democratic reforms,Aristotle ''Politics'
Book VIII (ordinarily fifth placed), chapter 3, §6
/ref> following the example of the favor given to political democracy in Athens following the

Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...

that was won by an Athenian navy principally composed from the common people.Aristotle, ''Politics'
Book VIII (ordinarily fifth placed), chapter 3, §5
/ref> Diocles first put into practice two measures: *; The term limit for the exit of the magistrates: This limitation by designation method, already practiced to Athens, is for

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

a characteristic of the democracies. *; The nomination of a group of experts in charge of composing laws: Then, having been named in this group of experts, Diocles there takes a preponderant role, so well that the laws created carry his name. The justice and accuracy of his system of penalties and of rewards won him the admiration of its fellow countrymen, and beyond the city-state of Syracuse, with numerous Greek cities of Sicily that adopted and preserved the laws down to the time of the domination of Roman laws.

Legal changes

In 412 BC, a committee, led by Diocles, erected a law which (among other things) forbade the people to bear weapons in the ''

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

'' under pain of the death penalty. This law was met with popularity, as it began to be adopted outside of Syracuse in many other city-states in Sicily.

Military leader in failure

In 410 BC, Hermocrates was forced into exile and historians believe this event gave Diocles undisputed control of Syracuse. In 409 BC, Diocles was named at the head of an army of 4000 armed men to bring relief to

Himera Himera (Greek: ), was a large and important ancient Greek city, situated on the north coast of Sicily at the mouth of the river of the same name (the modern Imera Settentrionale), between Panormus (modern Palermo) and Cephaloedium (modern Cef ...

, which was being besieged by the Carthaginians led by

Hannibal Mago __NOTOC__ Hannibal Mago ( xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 , ) was a grandson of Hamilcar Mago. He predates the more famous Carthaginian general Hannibal by about 200 years. Career He was shofet (judge) of Carthage in 410 BC and in 409 BC commanded a Ca ...

, who had landed in Sicily with Iberian troops and won a first victory at the Battle of Selinus. The Syracusan expedition was a failure: after the first battle at Himera, the Syracusan army was forced to turn back in fear of a Carthaginian attack against Syracuse. Himera then fell and was razed, leaving to the Syracusans the only consolation of rescuing some Himeran women and children who fled with the Syracusan army.Diod. Sic., Book XIII, chapters LIX-LXI In 408 BC, some time after the Battle of Himera, Hermocrates returned to Sicily and had some military successes against the Carthaginians, turning Syracusan public opinion against Diocles. It is known that Diocles himself was forced into exile in 408 BC and seems to vanish from the historical record. It is believed that he died shortly afterwards, and there is a legend about his death, similar to those surrounding the deaths of

Zaleucus Zaleucus ( grc, Ζάλευκος; fl. 7th century BC) was the Greek lawgiver of Epizephyrian Locri, in Italy. According to the Suda, he was previously a slave and a shepherd, and after having been educated he gave laws to his fellow-citizens. Some ...

and

Charondas Charondas ( grc-gre, Χαρώνδας) was a celebrated lawgiver of Catania in Sicily. It is uncertain when he lived; some identify him as a pupil of Pythagoras (c. 580 – 504 BC), but all that can be said is that he lived earlier tha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diocles Of Syracuse Ancient Greek law 5th-century BC Syracusans Ancient legislators