Constitution of the Athenians

​LVII. And [while the archon supervises these matters,] the King first supervises the Mysteries together with the supervisors elected by the People—two from among all Athenians, one from the Eumolpidae, and one from the Kerykes. Next, the Dionysia at the Lenaeum; these consist of a procession and a contest. Now, the procession they send off in common, both the King and the supervisors, but the contest the King arranges. He also institutes all the torch races; and, so to speak, he manages all the ancestral sacrifices. Public indictments for impiety are brought before him, and if anyone disputes with someone over a priesthood. He also adjudicates for the clans and the priests all disputes concerning sacred matters. All homicide suits are also brought before him, and he is the one who proclaims that [the accused] be excluded from customary rights. There are suits for homicide and wounding: if someone kills or wounds with premeditation, [they are tried] on the Areopagus, as well as for poisoning, if someone kills by administering poison, and for arson; for the Council alone tries these. For unintentional homicide, planning, and if someone kills a household slave, a metic, or a foreigner, the judges at the Palladion [try the case]. But if someone admits to having killed, but claims to have done so lawfully—such as catching an adulterer, or in war by mistake, or competing in an athletic contest—they try him at the Delphinion. But if an exile for a homicide for which pardon is possible is charged with killing or wounding someone, they try him at Phreatto; and he makes his defense anchored in a boat off shore. Those chosen by lot as judges—the ephetae—try these cases, except those occurring on the Areopagus; and the King introduces the case, and they hold trial in a sacred precinct in the open air, and the King, whenever he holds trial, takes off his crown. The accused person for the rest of the time is excluded from sacred places, and the law does not allow him even to set foot in the Agora; but at that time he enters into the sacred precinct and makes his defense. When he does not know the perpetrator, he brings a suit against the perpetrator. The King and the tribe-kings also try the suits concerning inanimate objects and other animals.

​LVIII. The Polemarch performs sacrifices to Artemis Agrotera and to Enyalius, arranges the funeral contest for those who have died in war, and performs funeral offerings for Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Private lawsuits only are brought before him, namely those involving metics, isoteleis, and proxenoi. And he must take these cases, divide them into ten parts, assign each tribe the part allotted to it, and those who judge for the tribe hand them over to the arbitrators. He himself introduces lawsuits for desertion of patron and lack of patron, and concerning inheritances and heiresses for metics; and in general, whatever the Archon does for citizens, the Polemarch does for metics.