Nicodorus (fl. 425 BC) was an ancient Greek statesman of

Mantineia Mantineia (also Mantinea ; el, Μαντίνεια; also Koine Greek ''Antigoneia'') was a city in ancient Arcadia, Greece, which was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. In modern times it is a former municipality i ...

. He was a notable lawgiver in his hometown and praised for his work by the controversial

sophist A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ...

Diagoras of Melos Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos ( el, Διαγόρας ὁ Μήλιος) was a Greek poet and sophist of the 5th century BC. Throughout antiquity, he was regarded as an atheist, but very little is known for certain about what he actually believed. ...

. Diagoras, who was later condemned as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

by the Athenians, reportedly assisted Nicodorus in his legislation. Both men wrote a constitution for Mantineia which was described by Aristotle and

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

as a rare example of democratic moderation and equilibrium. When the Spartan conqueror

Cleomenes III Cleomenes III ( grc, Κλεομένης) was one of the two kings of Sparta from 235 to 222 BC. He was a member of the Agiad dynasty and succeeded his father, Leonidas II. He is known for his attempts to reform the Spartan state. From 229 to 2 ...

restored the ancient laws of the Mantineians in 226 BC, this probably referred to the constitution of Nicodorus.Plutarch, ''Cleomenes'', 35 (14).

References

Ancient Mantineans Ancient Greek law Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Ancient legislators {{AncientGreece-bio-stub