Traditionally, the understanding of the Greek notion of νόμος, especially concerning the notion as it was conceived in Athens, has been hindered by a tendency to project modern interpretations of the law onto the ancient mentality and praxis. The first confusion comes from the exclusive identification of νόμος with the modern concept of law, which originates in the Roman tradition and has substantial semantic and practical differences with the Greek notion. The paper presents a diachronic consideration of the concept of nomos and explains how the word acquired the different meanings that led to its classical function, especially in the Athenian democracy, as 1. order that organizes the behaviour of the individual and the society, 2. the democratic notion of “rule of law”, 3. the notion of “the law of nature” and its relationship with our concept of “natural law”, and 4. the democratic and Platonic notions of rule of law, their differences and similarities. The central hypothesis of the paper is that the semantic kernel of nomos is not only linked to the concept of “distribution”, or rather “just distribution”, but also to the notions of “order” and “repetition” in the different fields of human action through the idea of the hierarchic distribution of values in human society. Finally, the paper points to Plato’s concept of “rule of law” and its value for us, underlining the danger of some philosophical positions, such as perfectionism, as involving a revival of totalitarian ideas.