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How did Homer and Hesiod refer to the idea of law in ancient Greece?

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The Greek philosopher Plato — Philosophy of law Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

In the context of the philosophy of law, the poems of Homer and Hesiod from the 8th–7th century BCE acknowledge the abstract concept of law, though they do not provide a formal discussion of it.1

During this period, the idea of law was often intertwined with divine custom and social order rather than the later, more structured legal systems of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. For example, the concept of xenia—the sacred custom of hospitality—was believed to be enforced by Zeus as a form of divine law. Similarly, Themis, a goddess in Greek religion, served as a personification of justice and the interpreter of the gods' will, maintaining order on Olympus.1234

While Hesiod’s Works and Days strongly affirms a belief in justice against the brutality and injustice of his contemporaries, these early works lack the later articulation of law as a command accompanied by state-enforced punishment. It was not until the 6th and 5th centuries BCE that Greek literature began to define law as a master that subjects are obligated to obey.51