[German version]

A. General

In Greek communities the boule was a council assembly, usually that responsible for current public duties, which also had to prepare the work of the public assembly ( ekklēsía ). Composition and responsibilities could change according to the respective form of constitution. In Homeric times the council consisted of nobles convened by the king as advisors; in oligarchically organized communities the boule could become a relatively powerful body, compared with a comparativ…