Draco established this legal system during the 39th Olympiad, in about 622 or 621 BC. The laws ( - "thesmoi") he set formed the first written constitution of Athens. They were displayed in public, so that nobody would be unaware of them. The death penalty was the punishment for most crimes, even minor ones. Plutarch states: "It was a lot for himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones."