Draco (lawgiver)

Draco (/ˈdreɪkoʊ/; Greek: Δράκων, Drakōn; fl. c. 625-600 BC), also called Drako or Drakon, was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by the Draconian constitution, a written code to be enforced only by a court of law.

His name may be a metaphor (δράκων literally means "sharp-sighted"),^[1] not the name of an actual person, since there are reasons to believe that he is also a fiction, entirely or in part. This is supported by the lack of a patronymic and any biographical information.^[2]

Since the 19th century, the adjective draconian (Greek: δρακόντειος drakónteios) refers to similarly unforgiving rules or laws, in Greek, English, and other European languages.