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[German version] [1] Greek official The lexical meaning of epískopos equates to ‘supervisor’. In the Greek world, episkopos habitually referred to an official, similar to   epimelētaí and   epistátai , but used less frequently. The Delian League sent epískopoi, who were Athenian officials, into allied cities, e.g. in order to set up a democratic constitution (Erythrae: ML 40; cf. Aristoph. Av. 1021-1034). Rhodian officials also included episkopoi (Syll.3 619), Massilia appointed an episkopos for its colony of Nicaea (ILS 6761), and Mithridates VI sent one to Ephesus …

(πρόβουλος/ próboulos). [German version] [1] Member of a preliminary deliberative body Member of a small body with the function of preliminary deliberation, e.g. in Corcyra (IG IX 1, 682; 686 = [1. 319, 320]). In Athens a board of ten próbouloi was appointed in 413 BC after the military disaster in Sicily in the Peloponnesian War (Thuc. 8,1,3), seems to have taken over some functions of the council ( Boulḗ ) and the prytáneis , and in 411 helped to bring the oligarchy of the 'Four Hundred' ( Tetrakósioi ) to power ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 29,2). Aristotle regarded próbouloi as characteristical…

[German version] (λογισταί/ logistaí, ‘calculators’, tax officials). In 5th cent. BC. Athens, a collegium of 30 logistai is mentioned in the first three tribute lists of the Delian League (IG I3 259-261) and the first financial decree of Callias (ML 58 = IG I3 52, A. 7-9). It is presumably identical with the collegium which appears (without membership numbers) in the list of loans from the Sacred Money (ML 72 = IG I3 369) and in a document from Eleusis (IG I3 32,22-28). In the 4th cent. the authorities had an interim account (Lys. 30,5; [Aristot.] Ath. pol. 48,3) presented t…

[German version] (συγγραφαί; syngraphaí). Documents which form the basis of a contract, for instance for public works (e.g. ML 44 = IG I3 35, Athens; IG VII 3073 = Syll.3 972, Lebadea) or leases (e.g. Syll.3 93 = IG I3 84, Athen; IG XII 7, 62 = Syll.3 963, Arcesine) or loans (e.g. IG XII 7, 67 B = Syll.3 955, Arcesine). [1: 620, 623, 628]; more on this syngraphe. In Athens in the 5th cent. BC, proposals drafted for the assembly (ekklesia) by a specially commissioned board of syngrapheis (e.g. ML 73 = IG I3 78). These boards were discredited by their involvement in setting up the oligarchi…

[German version] (τιμοκρατία/ timokratía). The modern term 'timocracy' denotes a form of constitution in which people's political rights depend on their wealth (cf. τίμημα, tímēma, 'assessment'), similar to 'plutocracy'. In general, a constitution in which this principle was applied to a significant extent would be called oligarchia by the Greeks, but ploutokratia is also found (Xen. Mem. 4,6,12). In Aristot. Eth. Nic. 8,1160a-b timokratia is used to denote the good form of demokratia ), which Aristotle otherwise calls politeia . Among the subdivisions of demokratia and oligarchi…

(Ἐφιάλτης; Ephiáltēs). Mythology  Aloads. [German version] [1] Son of Eurydemus of Malis Son of Eurydemus of Malis, he is supposed to have shown  Xerxes the path over the mountains at  Thermopylae, in the hope of a large reward. This enabled the Persians to circumvent the Greek army under Leonidas and attack it from the rear. E. himself is said to have led the elite corps of Hydarnes along this path, and so contributed to the defeat of the Spartans. Herodotus was already aware of another version, thought by…

(Αὐτοκράτωρ; Autokrátōr). [German version] A. Greek The meaning ‘exercising control over oneself’ expresses the opposite of subjugation to the will of another. The Thebans used this argument to claim that their support of the Persians in 480 was attributable to a ruling   dynasteia , not to the whole city, which acted as its own autocrator (Thuc. 3,62,3-4). Envoys and officials are often described as autokratores when entitled to more power than is usual in these positions. This background is evident, for example, when the Athenians declare the leaders of th…

[German version] (κωλακρέται; kōlakrétai). The etymological meaning of kolaketrai (from κωλᾶς and ἀγρεῖν) might be ‘thigh collector’ (for sacrificial purposes?). In Athens, kolaketrai were a group of ten financial officials. Kolaketrai existed already in Solon's time ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 7,3) and are attested in the 5th cent. BC as officials who issued payments from the central state treasury. Since access to the treasury implied a particularly great danger of corruption, they did not serve for a full year but only for the duration of one prytany (IG I3 73,224; also [3]; Prytane…

[German version] (κατόπται; katóptai, ‘observer’, ‘inspector’). Katoptai was generally used as a title in Boeotia as the name for a committee which supervised the expenses of officials, and indeed in the Boeotian League ( Boeotia with map; cf. the allusion to the katoptikòs nómos, IG VII 3073 = Syll.3 972, 88) as well as in the individual cities (e.g. Acraephia: IG VII 4131; Orchomenus: IG VII 3171-73); according to IG VII 3202, Orchomenus had two katoptai. The katoptai were also responsible for public works (e.g. Oropus: IG VII 303, 22; Acraephia: IG VII 3073). The city…

(συνέδριον/ syn(h)édrion, lit. 'sitting together'). [German version] I. Greek Term used for various kinds of meetings and of bodies capable of holding meetings. Thus in Athens it can be used of the Areopagus and the Council (Boule) of Five Hundred (Aeschin. In Ctes. 19–20), of the archons (Archontes) and their paredroi (Dem. Or. 59,83), or of any official doing business in his place of business (Lys. 9,6; 9,9). There are several particular uses of the term. Many individual states called their council synhedrion (e.g. Corinth 4th cent., Diod. Sic.16,65,6–8; Elate…

[German version] I. General The term bureaucracy has no roots in the political terminology of antiquity, but is a modern French-Greek hybrid formation (Old Fr. ‘bure’, ‘burrel’ from Lat. burra). Bureaucracy refers -- also in a critical sense -- to specific organizational structures of modern states [1]. As an ‘ideal type’ in Max Weber's definition, bureaucracy in general terms refers to a special form of legal rulership: its rulers employ officials in their administration, who -- in full-time salaried positions with a clear…

[German version] (νομοθέται; nomothétai, ‘lawmakers’). Officials responsible for compiling or enacting legislation. A text from Corcyra seemingly indicates that the nomothétai there compiled and recorded the final version of a decision taken in principle by the popular assembly (IMagn 44). In Cyme [3], a decision by the popular assembly had to be submitted by the law's proponent ( eisagōgeús ) to a ‘tribunal of nomothetai ’( nomothetikòn dikastḗrion (IK 5,12). If it is assumed that Thucydides (8,97,2) used the term correctly, then nomothétai were appointed in Athens in the p…

(οἱ τετρακόσιοι/ hoi tetrakósioi, 'the four hundred'). A group of 400 Athenians, assigned to political tasks as a council (see 1), or usurping those same tasks (see 2). [German version] [1] Under Solon A 'probouleutic' council in Athens consisting of 100 members from each of the four (Ionian) tribes (Phyle[1]), created by Solon in 594/3 BC to advise the ekklesia (Ath. Pol. 8,4, Plut. Sol. 19,1 f.). Its existence has been doubted, but probably mistakenly [5. 92-96]. It was replaced after 508/7 BC by Cleisthenes' council of five hundred [1; 2. 153-156]. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) …

(κοινόν; koinón). [German version] I. General In the Greek world, koinon may refer to any type of ‘community’. As a political term, koinon is used, on the one hand, for small units (such as the interior divisions of a polis or of a community dependent on a polis) (e.g. Mycenae, referred to as a kṓmē of Argus, SEG 3,312; in Rhodes, demes or parts of demes may be called koiná, e.g. IK RhodPer [IK, inscription of the Rhodian Peraea] 201; IG XII 3,1270), and on the other hand, for extensive political units in non-urban regions as well as urban areas with poleis (e.g.…

[German version] (συντέλεια/ syntéleia), 'joint contribution', in particular to the costs of liturgies in Athens; after 357, used of groups of men contributing to the costs of a trireme (in a strict sense, of the men who contributed to the costs but were not trierarchs, but used sometimes of all contributors including trierarchs) [1], and recommended by Demosthenes for festival liturgies (Demosth. 20. Lept. 23). The word is used also for membership of federal bodies such as the Boeotian federation (e.g. Diod. Sic 15,38,4; cf. télein ind Hdt. 6,108,5) and the Achaean League (e.g.…

[German version] (συμπολιτεία/ sympoliteía, 'joint citizenship'). The verb sympoliteúein is used from the late fifth cent. onwards to denote the merging of separate communities in a single state, similar to synoikismos; e.g. Thuc. 6,4,1; Xen. Hell. 5,2, where the states threatened with incorporation in the Chalcidian koinon contrast sympoliteúein (5,2,12) with autopolítai eînai, ‘being autonomous’ (5,2,14). In inscriptions the verb and the noun are used of the merging of two or more communities in one, esp. when a greater state politically absorbs bu…

[German version] (δημοκρατία; dēmokratía, ‘people-power’) the standard Greek term for a form of government in which power resides with the many rather than with the few ( oligarchía) or with a single man ( monarchía). That threefold classification is first found in Pindar's Pythia (2,86-88), perhaps of 468 BC; it is used by Herodotus, in his debate about constitutions, set at the 6th-cent. Persian court (3,80-84) and is a commonplace thereafter. Aeschylus mentions the dḗmou kratoûsa cheîr, ‘powerful hand of the people’, (Suppl. 604; perhaps of 463 BC) and the power of t…

(κοσμητής; kosmētḗs, ‘steward’). [German version] [1] Athenian official responsible for the training of the ephebes In Athens, the official responsible for the training of the ephebes after the reorganization of the ephēbeía around 335/334 BC. The kosmētes was chosen by the people, presumably from those citizens over 40 years of age ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 42,2). During the two-year training period, a kosmētes was probably responsible for a contingent of ephebes for both years. He is named in many lists of ephebes from the 4th cent. BC to the 3rd cent. AD; …

[German version] (ἀντίδοσις; antídosis, exchange). In Athens someone designated to discharge a leitourgia ( Liturgy) could take measures to avoid it by naming somebody richer who was not exempt from it, but who had escaped it. He could ask him to assume the leitourgia or, if the other man denied, insist on an exchange of their respective fortunes. Such an exchange was in practice fully possible [1; 3], although this is contested [2]. If the person so named wanted neither the leitourgia nor an exchange, then the plaintiff was forced to assume the leitourgia or seek a   diadikasia …

[German version] (ζευγῖται, literally 'yoke-men', from ζεῦγος/ zeûgos = 'yoke', 'team'), the third of Solon's [1] four property-classes in Athens ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 7,3 f.). The name indicates either that they were the men rich enough to serve in the army as hoplîtai , 'yoked together' in a phálanx [2. 135-140; 5], or, less probably, the men rich enough to own a yoke of oxen [1. 822 f.]. According to Ath. Pol. (loc.cit.), they were the men whose land yielded between 200 and 300 médimnoi ('bushels'), best interpreted as barley or the equivalent value in other crops [3. 14…

[German version] (συμμορία/ symmoría, 'company'). In Athens in the fourth cent. BC, a group of men liable for payment of the property tax called eisphora or for the leitourgía (Liturgy I) of the trierarchy (Trierarchia). In 378/7 all payers of eisphorá were organised in 100 symmoriai for administrative convenience (Cleidemus FGrH 323 F 8): each member continued to be taxed on his own property, but later the liturgy of proeisphorá was created, by which the three richest members of each symmoria had to advance the whole sum due from their symmoria. There were addit…

[German version] (ἑλληνοταμίαι). The title Hellenotamiai (‘Stewards of Greece’) was borne by the treasurers of the  Delian League. The exchequer they managed, originally located on Delos, was probably transferred to Athens in the year 454/3 BC (Thuc. 1,96,2; Plut. Aristides 25,3; Pericles 12,1; cf. IG I3 259 = ATL List 1), because the annually elected boards were numbered in a continuous sequence starting in 454/3. From the beginning, however, the Hellenotamiai were Athenians, were appointed by Athens (Thuc. ibid., cf. [1. 44f., 235-237]),…

[German version] (θεσμοθέται/ thesmothétai 'establishers of law'). In Athens, a college of six men who were added to the archon, the basileus and the polemarchos to form the college of nine archons. In the fifth or fourth cent. a tenth official was created, known as the 'secretary' (Grammateis) to the thesmothetai, after which one archon was appointed from each of Cleisthenes’ ten tribes (Phyle). Their place of work, the thesmotheteion, became the working-place and eating-place for all the archons (Ath. Pol. 3. 5, schol. Plat. Phaid. 235 d). The thesmothetai were responsible not for…

(Greek κλῆρος/ klêros , Lat. sors). I. Political [German version] A. Greece The lot was used especially in democracies, but not only in such, as a means to distribute office among those who were equally eligible, rather than appointing the best candidate under the circumstances. For Athens, the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia states that Solon introduced the selection of the archons by lot from a short list of pre-selected candidates ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 8,1; but differing: Aristot. Pol. 2,1273b 35-1274a 3; 1274a 16-17; 3,1281b 25-34). In the…

[German version] (σίτησις/ sítēsis). Provision of food at public expense, on a particular occasion or regularly. There were three categories of recipients [5.308f.]: (a) Officials had the right of sitesis during their term of office; in Athens the prytáneis ate in the tholos (Ath. Pol. 43,3), and secretaries ( grammateîs ) and other officials ate with them [1.7-20] (these officials are called aeísitoi , 'regular eaters'; [1.86,84]). The archons (árchontes) ate in the thesmotheteîon (Schol. Plat. Phd. 235d; location unknown). (b) Recipients of major honours were given…

[German version] (διοικητής; dioikētḗs). In Ptolemaic Egypt as well as in other parts of the Greek world, the word dioíkēsis was used to designate the administration in general and the financial administration in particular. The title of dioiketes was held by the official in charge of the king's financial administration (see, for instance, OGIS 59; Cic. Rab. Post. 28). Local financial officials may also have held this title (Pol. 27,13,2 with Walbank, Commentary on Polybius, ad. loc.).  Dioikesis Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

(Δήμαρχος; Dḗmarchos). Holder of office with political and/or religious duties in Greek communities. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] I. Greece until late antiquity (1) In Athens the demarchos was the highest office-holder in each of the 139 demes ( Demos [2]), into which Cleisthenes had divided the polis ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 54,8). By no later than the 4th cent. BC the demarchos was elected by lot in each   dḗmos for one year; the demarchos for Piraeus on the other hand was appointed by the polis (Ath. Pol. 54,8). He convened and chaired the assembly of th…

[German version] (εὔθυναι; eúthynai). The term euthynai (‘straightening out’) was used specifically in reference to the audits of the official conduct of administrators after their departure from office. In Athens, this procedure was split into two parts: on the one hand, there was the lógos (‘statement of accounts’), which looked into the way officials handled public funds, carried out by a committee of ten logistaí (‘auditors’) plus one synḗgoros each (‘legal advisor’) ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 54,2), and on the other the euthynae in a stricter sense, offering the opportunity …

(ἐκκλησία; ekklēsía). Assembly of the adult male citizens, which was entitled to the ultimate decision-making authority in the Greek states. At times also called (h)ēliaía (with differences due to dialect) or agorá. The frequency of meetings, the areas of authority, the degree to which independent actions were restricted by the officials' and/or the council's realm of authority, and the number of members of the ekklesia varied depending on the type of the political organisation; thus, oligarchies can exclude the poor from the ekklesia by requiring a minimum of wealth. In the Homeric…

[German version] (προεδρία/ pro(h)edría). The right to occupy a place in the front row in institutions of various kinds; it was conferred by the state on prominent fellow citizens and visitors and is recorded for many poleis. In the 6th cent. BC pro(h)edría was bestowed by Delphi on Croesus of Lydia (Hdt. 1,54,2), and Olympia gave it to a Spartan próxenos (SEG 11, 1180a). In Athens among the recipients of pro(h)edría were the oldest living descendents of Harmodius and Aristogiton (Isaeus 5,47); Demosthenes [2] provided the ambassadors of Philip [4] II of Macedonia with pro(h)edría at the…

(φόρος/ phóros, plural phóroi, 'tribute', 'contribution', from phérein, 'carry', 'take', 'bring'). [German version] A. Definition Phóroi were payments by states to a superior power or to an organization to which they belonged. In particular phoros was the term for the financial contributions made by the members of the Delian League. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] B. Size and administration At the foundation of the Delian League in 478/7 BC, the contributions of members were assessed by Aristides [1] from Athens; they were either to provide sh…

[German version] (γυναικονόμοι; gynaikonómoi). The officials who were responsible in various Greek towns for compliance with laws regarding the behaviour of women, especially at festivals and at funerals, were called gynaikonomoi (‘Women's overseers’). Aristotle regarded this office as neither democratic nor oligarchical but as aristocratic (Pol. 4, 1300a4-8; 6, 1323a3-6). Actually gynaikonomoi are however found in states in varying ways, for instance in Thasos ([2. no. 141, 154-155]; 4th-3rd cents. BC), Gambrea (Syll.3 1219; 3rd cent. BC) or Sparta (IG V 1, 170; 3…

(λειτουργία; Leitourgía). I. Political [German version] A. Definition In the ancient Greek world leitourgía signified a ‘benefit/service for the people’, especially a benefit for the state or a part of the state, which was provided by rich citizens from their own means. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] B. Athens The two main forms of liturgy in Athens were the ‘encyclical’, recurring festive liturgy with the responsibility to endow the performers and the celebrations themselves, and the trierarchia with the task of fitting out a shi…

[German version] (ἄγραφοι νόμοι; ágraphoi nómoi, ‘unwritten laws’). The earliest laws of the Greek states were unwritten and lived on in the memory of the leading families. Already in archaic times, people began to write them down as in the laws of  Dracon and  Solon in Athens (621/20 and 594/93 BC, respectively) or in a constitutional law in Dreros on Crete (ML 2). Because not all valid laws were written down right away, unwritten laws existed alongside the written ones (e.g. Andoc. 1,115-6, where i…

[German version] (συμμαχία; symmachía). An alliance, literally an agreement between two or more states to fight (Gr. máchesthai) together ( syn-). Such alliances might be made either for a limited period or for all time. Thuc. 1,44,1; 5,48,2, distinguishes between a symmachia, as a full offensive and defensive alliance, and an epimachia, as a purely defensive alliance; but that use of the two terms is not widespread, and, for instance, the 'prospectus' of the (Second) Athenian League, which was a defensive alliance, consistently uses symmacheîn and cognate words (Tod 123). In a full …

(Κλεισθένης; Kleisthénōs). [German version] [1] Tyrant of Sicyon c. 600-570 BC Tyrant of Sicyon ( c. 600-570 BC), son of Aristonymus, from the family of Orthagoras, whose tyranny lasted about 100 years ( c. 665-565 BC.; Aristot. Pol. 1315b 11ff.; cf. Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F 61). During the war with Argus C. pursued an anti-Argive domestic ideology, including prohibition of the presentation of the Homeric epics because they favoured Argos. The Argive hero  Adrastus [1] was replaced by the Theban hero  Melanippus (Hdt. 5,6…

[German version] (προστάτης/ prostátēs, pl. προστάται/ prostátai), a person 'standing at the fore', either as leader (e.g. Aesch. Supp. 963 f.) or protector (e.g. Aesch. Sept. 408). Both aspects converged when Cyrus [2] became the prostates who freed the Persians from the yoke of the Medes (Hdt. 1,127,1), or Megabazus [1] what Myrcinus may do with Histiaeus [1] as prostates (Hdt. 5,23,2). When the Spartans were regarded as the prostatai of Greece at the time of Croesus (mid-6th cent. BC) (Hdt. 1,69,2), this was no expression of a leading position; when they were t…

(διοίκησις ; dioíkēsis, Lat. dioecesis). [German version] I. Greece ‘Housekeeping’ in the sense of administration, especially in the financial realm. Dioikesis is used for the administration of the state in general (for example, Pl. Prt. 319d; [Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 43,1), also for the financial administration (for example, Xen. Hell. 6,1,2; Dem. Or. 24,96f.), and, in an extended sense by the author of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, for maintenance payments made by the state (24,3). In later 4th-cen…

[German version] I. General The states of antiquity had no executive PA independent of government and legislature in the sense of the modern separation of powers. The triple division of constitutions, indicated in Aristot. Pol. 1297b 35-1301a 15 ( tría mória, 1297b 37), into a decision-making, legislating organ ( tò bouleuómenon), an executive element ('on the offices': tò perì tàs archás) and judicature ( tò dikázon) owes more to the schematically working mind of the author than to a political concept as such, especially since the fields defined show conside…

[German version] (ἀτέλεια; atéleia). Freedom from obligations, especially from taxes and other financial obligations, was regarded as a privilege, which the state could bestow in order to honour someone. This term and the adjective atelḗs were us…

[German version] (διωβελία; diōbelía). A payment of two   oboloí in Athens. According to the author of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (28,3), the diobelia was introduced by Cleophon whereupon a certain Callicrates promised to increase the sum but in fact abolished the diobelia. The diobelia is attested from 410 to 406/5 BC from inscriptions (in …

[German version] (ἐπιγαμία; epigamía). In the Greek world, epigamia refers to the right of entering into a legal marriage with a person from a different state. It also granted legitimacy and citizenship to the children of such a marriage. It was possible to be granted this right in cases when such a marriage would not have been recognized according to the prevailing laws of the respective states. Examples can be found in international treaties (for instance between Aetolia and Acarnania: SIG3 421; Messenia and Phigalia: SIG3 472). Epigamia could also be one of the special rights g…

(τοξόται/ toxótai, 'archers'). [German version] [1] Archers in general The Bow …

[German version] (ἄξωνες; áxōnes; axes). In Athens the laws of  Dracon and  Solon were recorded on numbered axones. The term   kýrbeis , the origin of which is unknown, was another name for axones (ML 86; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 7,1; Plut. Solon 25). Probably they were three- or four-sided wooden pillars that were mounted vertically on axes in such a way that a person looking at them could turn them. In the 4th cent. BC it was probably still possible to read and study them, at the time of Plutarch sm…

…

[German version] (ῥαβδοφόροι/ rhabdophóroi, 'staff-bearers', also referred to as ῥαβδοῦχοι/ rhabdoûchoi, 'staff-holders'). A term applied to various officials who carried a staff of office, in particular to officials at contests and other festivals, whether judges (Plat. Prot. 338a 8…

[German version] (ἡγεμονία, ‘leading position’). An important basic feature of international relations in Greece was the formation of alliances in which one of the members took up a prominent position as hēgemṓn (‘leader’). The earliest example was a group of alliance agreements through which Sparta secured its position in the 6th cent. BC in the Peloponnese and which solidified into the  Peloponnesian League: therefore, Cleomenes I was therefore able ‘to collect an army from the entire Peloponnese’ in 506 (Hdt. 5,74,1), and in 432 the Spartans decide…

[German version] (ἀμφικτυονία; amphiktyonía). Probably arose from amphi-ktiones = ‘living in the environs’ (Androt. FGrH 324 F 58), although the Greek usually derived it from an eponymous hero Amphictyon (e.g. Hdt. 7,200; Theopomp. FGrH 115 F 63). Amphictyony designates a group of people who congregate around a sanctuary and tend its cult. As a rule,…

(Ἀριστοτέλης; Aristotélēs). [German version] [1] Athenian oligarch Athenian oligarch who, in 404 BC, was banned from Athens and sent to Sparta by  Lysander (Xen. Hell. 2,2,118). Later, he was one of the 30 Tyrants in Athens (Xen. Hell. 2,3,2;  Triakonta), who sent him to Sparta with the request for a Spartan occupational force (Xen. Hell. 2,3,13). Traill, PAA, 174765. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Rhodian envoy, 166/5 BC Rhodian envoy to Rome who, in 166/5 BC, failed in his request for a renewal of the amicitia by the Senate (Pol. 30,23,2-4) [1. 167,2; 2. 208]. Günther, …

(οἱ τριακόσιοι/ hoi triakósioi, 'the Three Hundred'). Collective name in ancient Athens for a group of 300 men, with various functions: [German version] [1] Group of the wealthiest Athenian citizens, 4th cent. BC A group of the 300 wealthiest citizens in 4th cent. BC Athens, made up of the three richest members of each of the 100 tax groups (Symmoria), created in order to raise the eisphora , a property tax. They were liable for the liturgy (I) of the proeisphora , by which they had to advance the whole sum due from their tax group, and then recover fo…

[German version] (ὁδοποιοί; hodopoioí). The hodopoioi (‘road masters’) in Athens in the 4th cent. BC were an authority made up of 5 persons (perhaps appointed from phyles grouped as pairs) who were in charge of public slaves to keep the roads in a good condition ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 54,1). The assertion of Aeschines (Ctes. 25) that in the time of  Eubulus [1] the administrators of the theorika were hodopoioí can only mean that these officials supervised the hodopoioi or supplied them with the means but not that the authority had been abolished [2. 237f.]. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliog…

[German version] (νεωροί/ neōroí). Public officials in Greek states who bore responsibility for shipyards ( neṓria). Athenian inscriptions from the 5th cent. BC mention neōroí (IG I3 154; IG I3 127 = ML 94) and hoi epimeloménoi tōi neōríōi (‘those who care for the shipyard’; IG I3 153); epimelētaí are found at the end of the 5th cent. (IG I3 236); in the 4th cent. the title epimelētaí tōn neōríōn was frequently used. These epimelētaí of the 4th cent. were responsible for the ships and the entire contents of the shipyards. They distributed materials to the trierarchs (…

[German version] (ἐπιγραφεῖς; epigrapheîs). In the 390s BC in Athens, the epigrapheis kept registers of people whom they obliged to pay a special wealth tax, the eisphora (Isoc. Or. 17, 41; Lys. fr. 92 Sauppe).  Eisphora Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography R. Thomsen, Eisphora, 1964, 187-189.

[German version] (ἐπιστάται; epistátai, ‘chairmen’, ‘superiors’). Title for various officials of the Greek world; see also epimelētaí, epískopoi. 1. Epistatai are most frequently found within the administration of both sacred treasures and public works. In Athens, committees of …

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[German version] (κάτοικος; kátoikos). Katoikos (pl.: kátoikoi) denotes usually the ‘inhabitant(s)’ (e.g. [Aristot.] Oec. 2, 1352a 33; Welles 47). In the Hellenistic period katoikos developed into a…

[German version] (ἀποστολεῖς; apostoleîs). Athenian government office responsible for sending out naval expeditions and apparently formed ad hoc when special occasions arose. In 357/6 BC they were responsibl…

[German version] (τριττύες/ trittýes, sing. τριττύς/ trittýs, 'a third'). At Athens, name for the subdivisions both of the four ancient phylaí (Phyle [1]) and of the ten new phylaí of Cleisthenes [2]. Little is known of the twelve old trittyes. An ancient identification with the phatríai (Phratria; [Aristot.] Ath. pol. Fr. 3 Kenyon = Fr. 2 Chambers) seems to be incorrect. The trittýes may have comprised four naukraríai (Naukraria, naukraros) each, but this is not attested. One of the trittýes was called Leukotaínioi ('white-ribboned'). In the territorial organization of Attic…

[German version] (ἀστυνόμοι, ‘municipal administration’). This office is mostly found in Ionian communities. In his survey of officials required by a town, Aristotle mentioned the astynomoi immediately with market supervisors, the agoranómoi (Pol. 6,1321b 18-27), as responsible for the proper state of public and private buildings, the repair and maintenance of buildings and roads and for boundary disputes. There could also be special officials for the walls, wells and ports. In Athens 10 astynomoi, who were annually determined by lot, officiated in the 4th cent. B…

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[German version] (γραμματεῖς; grammateîs). In the Greek world, grammateis were protocolists, secretaries with a wide range of tasks. …

[German version] (προβολή/ probolḗ). Generally a 'putting forward', e.g. of candidates for an office (Plat. Leg. 6,765 b1). In Athens, name of a procedure by which the assembly ( Ekklēsía ) could be asked to vote on certain kinds of accusation before a lawsuit was b…

[German version] (ναυτοδίκαι/ nautodíkai, ‘Overseers of trials involving seafarers’). Officials in Athens responsible for court cases between seafarers, whether traders or klēroûchoi . N autodíkai were documented for the first time around 445 BC (IG I3 41, 90-91) when they brought cases to court within a specific month. For the year AD 397, a complaint can be found in Lysias [1] (17,5) that the nautodíkai had failed to complete a court case about businessmen ( émporoi ) in a specific month, but it was not a matter concerning trade. The nautodíkai were also responsible for complaints in matters concerning…

[German version] (κύρβεις; kýrbeis). In Athens, name of the medium on which the Laws of Dracon [2] and Solon were written. The word áxōnes , was also used. The origin of the word is unknown. Contrary to the opinion that kyrbeis should be differentiated from the áxōnes, they are more probably only different descriptions of the sam…

[German version] (ἰσοτέλεια; isotéleia (equality of duties), i.e. of civic duties) was a privilege that a Greek state could bestow on non-citizens, if it wanted to raise them above the normal status of metics (  métoikoi ), but did not wish to grant them full citizenship. Since the isoteleia normally freed one from taxes and other burdens to which non-citizens were sub…

[German version] (πωληταί/ pōlētaí), 'sellers'. In Athens, the officials responsible for selling public contracts (e.g. for collecting taxes, and for working sacred land and the silver mines) and confiscated property. The contracts were made in the presence of the council ( boulḗ ), which kept a record until payment was made; the sales of confiscated property were ratified by the nine árchontes [1]. The pōlētaí are mentioned in con…

[German version] (Ἀγύῤῥιος; Agýrrhios). Athenian politician from the deme Collytus, active from c. 405-373 BC. He introduced between the end of the Peloponnesian War and c. 392 the payment of an obol for visiting the assembly and later raised the sum from two to three oboles (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 41,3). Therefore probably in error, the introduction of the   theorikon was ascribed to him (Harpocr. s. v. θεωρικά; theōriká). In 389 he succeeded  Thrasyboulus as commander of the …

[German version] (δημόσιοι; dēmósioi, amplified with ὑπηρέται; hypērétai, ‘servants’). Public slaves who were used by Greek states for a variety of lowly administrative tasks. In Athens they looked after the official records (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 47,5; 48,1), helping the astynómoi in keeping the city clean (Ath. Pol. 50,2) and the hodopoioí in road maintenance (Ath. Pol. 54,1), as well as working in the courts (Ath. Pol. 63-65; 69,1). In the 4th cent. they were used to check coins in silver mints (Hesperia 43, 1974, 157-88); in the 2nd cent., and undoubtedly even earlier, they are said to have been supervisors of official we…

(πρόεδρος/ pró(h)edros, pl. πρόεδροι/ pró(h)edroi) denotes that person who (in a leading position) 'sits in front' ('chairman' or 'president'). [German version] I. Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods In early 4th cent. BC Athens, the duty of the chairman of the council ( boulḗ ) and the people's assembly ( ekklēsía ) was passed from the prytaneis to a newly created collegium of nine pró(h)edroi. The pró(h)edroi were summoned each for one day, one from each phyle of the council, excepting the prytany conducting business at just that time. One could be pró(h)edros only once du…

[German version] Modern term for a group of allied states led by Sparta, which existed from the 6th cent. until 365 BC. The alliance never encompassed the whole of the Peloponnese (Argos [II 1] always refused to acknowledge Sparta's leadership), but did at times include states outside the Peloponnese (e.g. Boeotia in 421 BC: Thuc. 5,17,2). It began to form in the middle of the 6th cent., when Sparta gave up its policy of expansion through conquest and direct annexation and made neighbouring Tegea …

[German version] [1] See Scythae See Scythae. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] [2] Group of slaves in Athens, c. 400 BC In late 5th and early 4th cent. BC Athens used a body of Scythian archers as public slaves (Demosioi) who were to keep order at the meetings of the Council and Assembly (e.g. Aristoph. Ach. 54; Equ. 665). They were also called Speusínioi after their alleged founder Speusinus (Suda, s.v. τoξóται; Poll. 8,132). A force of 300 was bought in the mid 5th cent. (And. Or. 3,5 = Aeschin. Leg. 173). According to the lexica they lived on th…

[German version] (οἱ ἕνδεκα; hoi héndeka). The ‘Eleven’, an office of eleven men, were in charge of the prison in Athens and of the execution of prisoners who had been sentenced to death. They executed ordinary criminals ( kakoûrgoi) or exiles who were apprehended in Athens and turned over to them by means of the   apagōgḗ , without a trial if the prisoner confessed, or they presided over the trial if the prisoner denied his guilt. They also presided over trials that were instituted by means of   éndeixis and over cases that were meant to force the confiscation of…

[German version] (παράβυστον/ parábyston, literally 'pushed aside') referred to an Athenian law court held in an enclosed space, apparently on the Agora (perhaps next to the route of the Panathenaea procession; s. Athens with map). This court dealt with matters that fell within the jurisdiction of the Eleven ( héndeka ) (Paus. 1,28,8; Harpocration, s.v.). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)…

[German version] (πορισταί/ poristaí, 'providers', from πορίζειν/ porízein, 'provide, supply'), officials in Athens in the last years of the  Peloponnesian War, whose duty was presumably to find sources of money for the city. They are mentioned for the first time in 419 BC, before Athens was in serious financial difficulty (Antiph. Or. 6, 49), and for the last time in 405 (Aristoph. Ran. 1505). Poristai are not attes…

[German version] ( dikastaì katà dḗmous) are itinerant judges who in Athens visited the demes to resolve minor matters of litigation. Appointed first by Peisistratus ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 16,5) to counteract the power of the nobles in their places of residence, they were probably abolished after the fall of the tyrants. They were r…

[German version] (ἀριστοκρατία; aristokratía, ‘power in the hands of the best’). In the Greek states there was no institution to ennoble families but in the archaic period the families that were most successful after the  Dark Ages and stood out by wealth and status considered themselves the best ( aristoi). The place of a governing king was taken by a government of members of these leading families: some early testimonials explicitly mention that appointments were made aristíndēn, from the ranks of the best (for example, in Ozolian Locris: ML, 13; Tod, 34). In modern r…

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(πολιτεία/ politeía) can denote either the rights of citizenship exercised by one or more citizens (Hdt. 9,34,1; Thuc. 6,104,2) or a state's way of life, and esp. its formal constitution (Thuc. 2,37,2). [German version] I. Citizenship Citizenship of a Greek state was the privilege of only free, adult males of citizen parentage: commonly, a father with politeía was required; the law of Pericles [1] (451 BC) required a father and mother with politeía (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 26,4). Men not of citizen descent could be rewarded politeía for proven benefaction, but could not acquire citize…

[German version] [I] Office (ἄρχοντες, ἄρχων; árchontes, árchōn). In general, the term applied to all holders of   archai . However, the term was frequently used as the title of a particular office, originally, at least, the highest office of the state. …

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[German version] (ἐκκλησιαστήριον; ekklēsiastḗrion). Meeting-place of a Greek public assembly. Among the cities where the word ekklesiasterion is used are Olbia (SIG3 218) and Delos during the period of the Athenian klerouchoi in the 2nd cent. BC (SIG3 662). In Athens, the regular meeting-place was the Pnyx in the south-west part of the city, where three different building stages from the 5th and the 4th cent. were identified. From the late 4th cent., the theatre of Dionysus came to be used more and more as a meeting place. As opposed to the Romans, the Greeks sat during their assemblies. Thus, the use of theatres or buildings similar to theatres was common. A survey …

(Κλεώνυμος; Kleṓnymos). [German version] [1] Athenian politician, put two important proposals forward in 426/5 BC Athenian politician; in the year 426/5 BC he put forward two important proposals: one concerned  Methone in Thrace, the other the collection of tributes from the  Delian League (IG I3 61,32-56; 68). C. was probably a member of the council in that year. In 415 he was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of an investigation into the religious scandals ( Herms, mutilation of the; And. 1.27). Aristophanes derided him as a glutt…

(νομογράφος/ nomográphos, ‘law-writer’) [German version] I. Greece In some Greek cities individual, specially qualified men were entrusted during the archaic period with the task of writing laws for the pólis. This could include writing down the existing legal pra…

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[German version] The idea of Panhellenism is based on the tendency to place greater significance on the similarities that connect all Greeks as Greeks than on the perceptions of differences. 'Panhellenism' is not a term used in Antiquity, although in the Iliad (2, 530) and elsewhere in early Greek verse panhéllēnes is used to describe the Greeks (Hes. Op. 528; Archil. fr. 102 West). The Trojan War (see Troy) was presented as an untertaking in which the Greeks united in order to regain Helen [1] from the Trojans - although the latter are not described in Homer as being un-Greek. In the A…

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[German version] (Ὑπέρβολος; Hypérbolos). Athenian statesman (411 BC) from the deme Perithoedae. Contrary to the accusations levelled against him he was Athenian …

[German version] [1] Poet of epigrams of unknown dating…

[English version] (λογισταί, “Rechner”, Finanzbeamte). Im Athen des 5. Jh.v.Chr. wird in den drei ersten Tributlisten des Attisch-Delischen Seebunds (IG I3 259-261) und im ersten Finanzdekret des Kallias (ML 58 = IG I3 52, A. 7-9) ein Collegium von 30 l. erwähnt. Es ist vermutlich identisch mit dem Collegium, das (ohne Mitgliederzahl) in der Liste der Darlehen aus den Heiligen Geldern (ML 72 = IG I…

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[English version] (μαστροί, “Sucher”, “Aufspürer”) werden in einigen griech. Städten Rechnungsbeamte mit ähnlichen Funktionen wie die eúthynoi ( eúthynai ) oder logistaí genannt (z.B. Delphi: Syll.3 672; Pallene: Aristot. fr. 657 Rose). Der Rechenschaftsvorgang heißt mastráa/mastreía, z.B. in Elis (IvOl 2 = Buck 61) und Messenien (IG V 1, 1433,15-16), der Rechenschaftspflichtige hypómastros, z.B. in Messenien (IG V 1, 1390 = Syll.3 736,51,58). Nach dem Synoikismos von Rhodos blieben die Ratsgrem…

[English version] (ἀστυνόμοι, “Stadtverwaltung”). Das Amt findet sich meist in ionischen Gemeinden. In der Übersicht über die in einer Stadt benötigten Beamten erwähnt Aristoteles die A. unmittelbar neben den Marktaufsehern, den agoranómoi (pol. 6,1321b 18-27), als verantwortlich für den guten Zustand öffentlicher und privater Gebäude, die Instandhaltung und Reparatur von Gebäuden und Straßen und für Grenzstreitigkeiten. Daneben kann es noch spezielle Beamte für die Mauern, die Brunnen und die Häfen gegeben haben. In Athen amtierten im 4.Jh. v.Chr. zehn jährlich dur…

[English version] (διαψηφισμός, διαψήφισις). Im Wortsinn Abstimmung mit Stimmsteinen, um alternative Entscheidungen zu treffen. Beide Ausdrücke werden zuweilen für Abstimmungen in Rechtsverfahren benutzt (z.B. Xen. hell. 1,7,14; vgl. das Verbum diapsēphízesthai etwa bei Antiph. 5,8). In Athen bezeichnen sie aber spezielle Abstimmungen mit dem Ziel, Ansprüche auf das Bürgerrecht von Leuten zu bestätigen oder zu verwerfen, die in einem bestimmten Moment behaupten, Bürger zu sein. Dies geschah 510 v.Chr. beim Sturz der Tyrannis der Peisistratiden ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 13,5: d…

[English version] (πεταλισμός). Als p. wurde eine Abstimmung mit Blättern (πέταλα) des Ölbaums bezeichnet. Der p. war in Syrakusai das Äquivalent zum ostrakismós in Athen, also ein Verfahren zur zeitlich begrenzten Verbannung einer herausragenden Person, ohne sie eines Vergehens für schuldig zu befinden. Diodoros (11,87) erwähnt den p. zum J. 454/3 v.Chr.: Er wurde nach einem mißglückten Versuch, eine Tyrannis zu errichten, eingerichtet, hatte ein fünfjähriges Exil zur Folge, wurde aber bald wieder abgeschafft, weil die Furcht, dem p. zum Opfer zu fallen, die führenden Bü…

[English version] Die Idee des Panhellenismus beruht auf der Neigung, den Gemeinsamkeiten, die alle Griechen als Griechen verbinden, größere Bed. zuzumessen als dem Bewußtsein von Unterschieden. “Panhellenismus” ist kein in der Ant. gebrauchter Begriff, obgleich in der ‘Ilias (2, 530) und anderswo in der frühgriech. Dichtung Panhéllēnes zur Bezeichnung der Griechen verwendet wird (Hes. erg. 528; Archil. fr. 102 West). Der Troianische Krieg (s. Troia) wurde als Unternehmen dargestellt, zu dem sich die Griechen zusammenschlossen, um Helene [1…

(Εὐκλείδης). [English version] [1] Athenischer Archon im Jahr 403/2 v.Chr. Athenischer Archon im Jahr 403/2 v.Chr. In seinem Amtsjahr machte Athen einen neuen Anfang nach der Oligarchie der Dreißig (siehe etwa And. 1,87-94) und übernahm unter anderem offiziell das Ionische Alphabet (Theop. FGrH 115 F 155). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography Develin 199 LGPN 2, Εὐκλείδης (9). [English version] [2] aus Megara Schüler des Sokrates, 5./4. Jh. v. Chr. Schüler des Sokrates, Begründer der Tradition der Megariker; geb. zwischen 450 und 435, gest. wahrscheinlich zu B…

[English version] (ἰσονομία). Der Begriff i. (“Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz”) scheint neben anderen mit iso- (“gleich”) gebildeten Komposita im späten 6. und frühen 5. Jh. v.Chr. eine bedeutende Rolle im polit. Diskurs in Griechenland gespielt zu haben. Herodot benutzt i. in der Verfassungsdebatte am Perserhof, um auf die Demokratie zu verweisen (Hdt. 3,80,6; 83,1), und bezieht an anderen Stellen (3,142,3; 5,37,2) I. auf eine verfassungsmäßige Regierung im Gegensatz zur Tyrannis; im letzteren Sinn nutzt er auch isēgoría (“Gleichheit der Rede”) und isokratía (“Gleichheit der Ma…

[English version] (ἀτέλεια). Freiheit von Verpflichtungen, speziell von Steuern und anderen finanziellen Verbindlichkeiten, galt als Privileg, das der Staat verleihen konnte, um jemanden zu ehren. Dieser Begriff und das Adjektiv atelḗs wurden in Athen in Verbindung mit der Befreiung von Liturgien (Demosth. or. 20,1 etc.), von den Beiträgen im Attisch-Delischen Seebund (ML 65) und von der Metoikensteuer (Tod, 178) verwendet. Andere Beispiele umfassen anderswo die Befreiung von Verkaufssteuern (Syll.3 330, Ilion), von Ein- und Ausfuhrsteuern (Syll.3 348, Eretria), von Ab…

[English version] (ἄγραφοι νόμοι, “ungeschriebene Gesetze”). Die frühesten Gesetze der griech. Staaten waren ungeschrieben und lebten im Gedächtnis der führenden Familien fort. Bereits in der archa. Zeit begann man, sie aufzuzeichnen, etwa in den Gesetzen des Drakon und Solon in Athen (621/20 bzw. 594/93 v. Chr.) oder in einem Verfassungsgesetz in Dreros auf Kreta (ML 2). Da aber nicht alle geltenden Gesetze sofort niedergeschrieben wurden, blieben ungeschriebene Gesetze neben den geschriebenen in…

[English version] (εὔθυναι). Als e. (“Geraderichten”) werden speziell die Prüfungen der Amtsführung von Beamten nach deren Ausscheiden aus dem Amt bezeichnet. In Athen vollzog sich die Prüfung in zwei Teilen: Zum einen der lógos (“Rechenschaftsbericht”), der dem Umgang des Beamten mit öffentlichen Geldern galt und von einem Gremium von zehn logistaí (“Rechnungsführern”) mit je einem synégoros (“Rechtsbeistand”) durchgeführt wurde ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 54,2), und zum andern die e. im engeren Sinn, die Gelegenheit boten, jede beliebige Beschwerde über das Verhalt…