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[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…

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[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 Cy…

(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) [German version] [2] Oligarchic régime in Athens 411 BC An oligarchic régime set up in Athens in 411 BC, based (probably in imitation of Solon, see 1) on a council of four hundred. Alcibiades [3] approached the Athenian fleet at Samos, claiming that if the Athenians changed from democracy to oligarchy and restored him, he could persuade the Persians to support Athens instead of Sparta (Thuc. 8,47 f.; PeloponnesianWar [E]); and since Athens was short of money the prospect of abolishing stipends was attractive. Peisander [7] was sent to Athen…

(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 …

[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 t…

[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 …

[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 the people to make their own decisions is a prominent theme in that play. It is possible that the word demokratia was coined in Athens about that time, though some believe it was already used in the late 6th cent. (cf. [2] and [4]). The wo…

(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; cf. also the portrait herms from the Imperial period of Attic …

(Greek κλῆρος/ klêros , Lat. sors). I. Political [German version] A. Greece …

[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.).…

(Δήμαρχος; Dḗmarchos). Holder of office with political and/or religious duties in Greek communities. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] …

[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 lógo…

(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 world, the assemblies met occasionally in or…

[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 ad…

[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 …