Friday, May 19, 2023

And now for something completely different

"If some who has been a guarantor or has lost a suit or owes money given as a guarantee dies, or someone else who has similar matters to the deceased, action is to be brought against him before the end of one year. In addition, the judge is to decide according to the testimony of the witnesses."

"If an action is brought against a case won and the judge and his assistant are still alive and have full rights, they and the relatives are to testify as witnesses. ..."

If this sounds way too much like legal instructions and not like vacation shots, you'd be correct. They're from 'The Great Inscription of the Law Code of Gortyn,' written around 600-500 BC.  As wikipedia notes 

The code deals with such matters as disputed ownership of slaves, rape and adultery, the rights of a wife when divorced or a widow, the custody of children born after divorce, inheritance, sale and mortgaging of property, ransom, children of mixed (slave, free and foreign) marriages and adoption. The code makes legal distinctions between different social classes. Free, serf, slave and foreigner social statuses are recognized within the document.

We had great hopes when visiting Gortyna, but when we got there it was varying between drizzling and pouring down rain, plus large portions of the site (most specifically the Acropolis where a lot of the most impressive items were recovered) were not open to the public. However, we were able to see the Great Inscription, which almost made up for it as it's one of the oldest/most complete legal codes in Europe (Athens claims two earlier ones, the Draconian and Solon's code, but all of these from about the same time). Ultimately, we figure we didn't do the site full justice due to the rain, so it's on our list to return...  


No comments:

Post a Comment