Was Dracon really draconian?
A Wild West style of justice prevailed in Athens before the aristocrat Dracon took the first steps toward a rational legal system by making the administration of justice uniform. This progressive measure has been overshadowed, however, by Dracon’s prescribed penalty of death for all crimes. • When exactly did the Classical period begin? Many historians date the beginning of the Classical period with the start of the Persian Wars. Professor Worthington reveals, however, that Classical Greeks looked back on their victory in the Persian Wars as part of a bygone golden age, not as the prelude to their own strife-filled era. • Was Cleon a bad strategist? The reputation of the politician and military leader Cleon has suffered at the hands of the historian Thucydides and the playwright Aristophanes. Professor Worthington argues that instead of being such a disaster for Athens during the Peloponnesian War, Cleon was correct in many of his assessments and acted in the city’s best interest. • Ju
