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Epigrapheis

(46 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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.

Epistatai

(291 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 epistatai existed to oversee several of the public building projects of the Periclean era (e.g. ML 59 regarding the Parthenon), to supervise the treasure of the goddesses of Eleusis (IG I3 32; II2 1672), as well as other sacred funds. Epistatai of this nature were also found in other locations, suc…

Syntaxis

(227 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (σύνταξις/ sýntaxis, pl. syntáxeis; from táttein 'to arrange' and syn- 'together'). Term devised by Callistratus [I 2] in the 4th cent. BC for financial contributions to the (Second) Athenian League (Theopomp. FGrH 115 f 98) purposely concealing the compulsion behind it, after the Athenians had promised not to collect phoros ('tribute') as they had done in the hated Delian League of the 5th. cent. BC (e.g. IG II2 43 = Tod 123,23): the syntaxeis were at any rate to some extent under the control of the synhedrion of the allies (e.g. IG II2 123 = Tod 156). The term was used by…

Katoikos

(147 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 technical term for citizens who were earlier called klerouchoi , to whom plots of land were allocated in settlements so that they then became eligible for military service. The expression is first found in the phrase kátoikoi híppeis in Egypt in the year 257 BC. (PMich. 1, 9, 6-7). Katoikíai (settlements of katoikoi) are particularly attested in Egypt (e.g. PTeb(t). 30,7; Corpu…

Apostoleis

(83 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 responsible together with the   epimeletai of the docks for bringing disputes among the trierarchs to court (De. Or. 47,26). In 325/4 10 apostoleis were elected, whose activities were supposed to be under the council's supervision (IG II/III2 II 1, 1629 = Tod, 200, 251-58). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography P. J. Rhodes, The Athenian Boule, 1972, 119-120.

Trittyes

(655 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Astynomoi

(156 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Triakonta

(358 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (οἱ τριάκοντα/ hoi triákonta, 'the Thirty'). In Athens, the oligarchic body of thirty men who ruled in 404/3 BC after the Peloponnesian War (Oligarchia). They were appointed at the urging of the Spartan Lysander [1], with a double commission, to make proposals for constitutional reform, and to rule the state until the reform was accomplished. They began a process of legal revision, aiming to purge the excesses of the demokratia ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 35,2-3), but before long they obtained the support of a garrison from Sparta and…

Grammateis

(479 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (γραμματεῖς; grammateîs). In the Greek world, grammateis were protocolists, secretaries with a wide range of tasks. Generally, they are distinguished from the árchontes (‘officials’), but like them, they were appointed by the citizenry for a set period of time, either by election or by lot. In Athens, the chief secretary of the state was referred to as the ‘council secretary’ or ‘secretary at the prytany’. He was responsible for the publication of documents resulting from the activities of the council or the citizens' assemb…

Probole

(94 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 brought; Demosthenes' [2] attack on Meidias [2] (Dem.. Or. 21) began with a probolḗ. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography A. R. H. Harrison, The Law of Athens, vol. 2, 1971, 59-64  J. H. Lipsius, Das attische Recht, 1905-1915, 211-219  D. M. MacDowell, The Classical Law in Athens, 1978, 194-197.

Nautodikai

(207 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 …

Kyrbeis

(212 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 same objects [1] (ML 86 = IG I3 84; [Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 7,1; Plut. Solon 25,1f.). The assumption that a kýrbis was a stele, pyramid-shaped and/or equipped with a cover, and the appropriate designation for a stele from Chios from the 6th cent. BC …

Isoteleia

(197 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 subject, the same status could be called either isoteleia or   atéleia (freedom from duties) (for example in Athens: IG II2 53: atéleia, 287: isotéleia). In Athens, isotelḗs could be added to a man's name as a designatio…

Poletai

(173 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 connection with Solon ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 7,3); in the classical period they were a board of ten, appointed annually one from each phyle ([Aristot.] Ath. P…

Agyrrhius

(137 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 Athenian fleet in the Aegean (Xen. Hell. 4,8,31). He spent several years in prison as debt…

Demosioi

(143 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Prohedros

(315 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
(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…

Peloponnesian League

(646 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 …

Scythians

(173 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Hendeka, hoi

(194 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Parabyston

(73 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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) Bibliography A.L. Boegehold, The Lawcourts at Athens (Agora 28), 1995, 6-8; 11-15; 111-113; 178f.

Poristae

(74 words)

Author(s): 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 attested in inscriptions. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

Dikastai kata demous

(185 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 revived in 453/2 BC (Ath. Pol. 26,3) to relieve the increasingly overburdened jury courts of minor cases. Their number then totalled 30, perhaps one judge per trittys. In the last years of the Peloponnesian War they were probably unable to visit a…

Aristokratia

(364 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Areopagus

(700 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (Ἄρειος πάγος; Áreios págos). The ‘Ares Hill’ in Athens north-west of the Acropolis. It gave the old council, which met there, its name (‘Areopagus’). There are no noteworthy remains on the hill, the place of the sessions was probably located on its north-east side. Probably, the council was initially simply called the boule and only named after the hill when  Solon had created another council. In Solon's time the council consisted of all former   archontes , who joined at the end of their office term (not so in [1]). It probably had about 150 members. Presumably, the counci…

Politeia

(402 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(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…

Archontes

(1,619 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) | Makris, Georgios (Bochum)
[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. Archontes in this sense of the term are found in most states of central Greece, including Athens, and states dependent on or influenced by Athens. According to Aristot. Ath. Pol. 3, the kings were initially replaced by archons who were initially elected for life, later for a period of ten years, and finally for …

Autonomia

(364 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (αὐτονομία; autonomía). In the sense of ‘having (one's) own laws’, and not, therefore, being required to obey the laws of others, autonomia can be used as a synonym for eleuthería ( Freedom). This referred in particular to the freedom in the internal matters of an alliance, the structure of which was hegemonic and whose members hoped that the aforementioned freedom would be maintained whilst they assigned decisions regarding matters external to the alliance. The word autonomia was perhaps therefore supposed to have been coined as the expression of this …

Ekklesiasterion

(156 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 oppo…

Cleonymus

(376 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Cobet, Justus (Essen)
(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…

Nomographos

(377 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ameling, Walter (Jena)
(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 practice as well as creating new laws. Known nomográphoi are, for example, Zaleucus in Locri Epizephyrii, Charondas in Catane, Draco [2] and later Solon in Athens. At times, but not always, this commission was associated with a regular office of state. Thus, Solon was at the same time an árchōn (Archontes [1]) in Athens but D…

Diapsephismos, diapsephisis

(166 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (διαψηφισμός, διαψήφισις; diapsēphismós, diapsḗphisis). Literally, a ballot using pebbles to select alternatives. Both terms were occasionally used to designate votes in legal proceedtings (e.g. Xen. Hell. 1,7,14; cf. the verb diapsēphízesthai e.g. in Antiph. 5,8). In Athens, however, they refer specifically to ballots with the purpose of confirming or refuting the citizenship of people who at a certain time laid claim to that right. That happened in 510 BC, when the tyranny of the Peisistratids ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 13,5: diapsēphismós) was overthrown, agai…

Panhellenes, Panhellenism

(618 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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 Archaic …

Katacheirotonia

(108 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (καταχειροτονία; katacheirotonía) denotes the delivery of a verdict of guilty in a Greek court by means of raising the hand ( cheir). Sentencing by ballot ( psḗphos) is called katapsḗphisis. In Athens the word katacheirotonia was used for the people's verdict of guilty in cases of eisangelía (e.g. Lys. 29, 2; Dem. Or. 51,8), and also for negative votes of the public assembly after a probolḗ (complaint against a person; e.g. Dem. Or. 21,2), or after an apóphasis (recommendation) of the Areios pagos (e.g. Din. 2,20; it is probably referred to by [Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 59,2). Rho…

Hyperbolus

(225 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (Ὑπέρβολος; Hypérbolos). Athenian statesman (411 BC) from the deme Perithoedae. Contrary to the accusations levelled against him he was Athenian by birth. He seems to have acquired his wealth from the fabrication or sale of lamps (cf. Aristoph. Equ. 1315). Both Aristophanes (e.g. Equ. 1304) and Thucydides (8,73,3) describe him as ‘common’ ( mochthērós). As a  demagogue in the style of Cleon he strove for a leading position after Cleon's death in 422 BC and was a member of the council in 421/420 (Plato Comicus 166f. CAF = 182 PCG; cf. IG I3 82). According to Plutarch, in …

Demiourgos

(1,214 words)

Author(s): Degani, Enzo (Bologna) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Baltes, Matthias (Münster)
[German version] [1] Poet of epigrams of unknown dating Epigram poet of an unknown period (with a peculiar, otherwise undocumented name), author of an insignificant distich on Hesiod (Anth. Pal. 7,52). Degani, Enzo (Bologna) Bibliography FGE 38. [German version] [2] Union of craftsmen and officials Dēmiourgoí (δημιουργοί, ‘public workers’) were occupied with public matters at various levels, depending on time and place. 1. In the Linear B tablets from Pylos dḗmos is found but not demiourgoi; it has been suggested [2] but not universally accepted that in the Mycenaean world demiourgoi…

Episkopos, Episkopoi

(1,802 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Proboulos

(167 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(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…

Logistai

(197 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Syngraphai

(160 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Timokratia

(155 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Ephialtes

(540 words)

Author(s): Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Engels, Johannes (Cologne)
(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…

Autokrator

(333 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
(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…

Kome

(894 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Mehl, Andreas (Halle/Saale)
(κώμη; kṓmē, plural κῶμαι; kômai). [German version] A. Greece in the 5th and 4th cents. BC With the meaning ‘village’, kome signified in the Greek world a small community. Thucydides regarded life in scattered, unfortified kômai as the older and more primitive form of communal living in a political unit (Thuc. 1,5,1; on Sparta: 1,10,1; on the Aetolians: 3,94,4). Under the Aristotelian model of pólis formation, families first group together in a kṓmē, and then the kômai group together in a pólis (Aristot. Pol. 1,1252b 15-28; cf. 3,1280b 40-1281a 1). Scattered living in a kome is typical f…

Archairesia

(76 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἀρχαιρεσία; archairesía). Appointment of officials ( archai). In the Greek world an official was usually appointed for a year either by election ( hairesis in the proper meaning, but the term can be used for any method of appointing officials) or by casting lots ( klerosis). Many states annually convened for an electoral meeting in which honours were conferred and for which a particularly large attendance was desired (e.g. IPriene, 7). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography Busolt/Swoboda.

Polemarchos

(334 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (πολέμαρχος/ polémarchos, plural polémarchoi, 'leader in war') was the title of military officialsin various Greek states. In the stories of the rise of tyrants, Cypselus [2] in Corinth (Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F 57,5) and Orthagoras [1] in Sicyon (POxy. XI 1365 = FGrH 105 F 2) are said to have been polémarchoi. But it is unlikely that men outside the ruling aristocracy would be appointed to such an office or that the polémarchos of archaic Corinth would have civilian judicial duties like that of classical Athens. In the Spartan army of the fifth-f…

Aeisitoi

(100 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἀείσιτοι; aeísitoi). Aeisitoi are entitled, not just occasionally but regularly, to participate in the banquets prepared by the Greek states (cf. Poll. 9,40). In Athens one so honoured was accorded   sitesis in the  Prytaneion (e.g. IG II/III2 I 1,450b) [2; 3]; as aeisitoi were designated also the officials who were assigned to the council and who ate with the   prytaneis (e.g. Agora XV 86) [1]. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography 1 Agora XV, 1974, 7-8 2 A. S. Henry, Honours and Privileges in Athenian Decrees, 1983, 275-78 archontes 3 M. J. Osborne, Entertainmen…

Deka

(286 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (οἱ δέκα; hoi déka) ‘the Ten’; a committee of ten men, elected after the overthrow of the Thirty in 403 BC to rule the oligarchy of Athens. According to Lysias (12,58) and some other sources, they were to work towards a peace settlement (accepted by [2]), but there is no hint of this in Xenophon (Hell. 2,4,23f.) and it is probably not so (cf. [1]), although the democrats around  Thrasybulus may have hoped that the change of regime in Athens would be followed by a change in direction.…

Ephodion

(65 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἐφόδιον; ephódion, ‘travel money’). In Greece, ephodion denotes the allowance for travel expenses paid to an ambassador (e.g. in Athens: Tod 129; cf. the parody in Aristoph. Ach. 65-67; in Chios: SIG3 402). In the Hellenistic and Roman periods a rich citizen could aid his city by declining such a payment due to him (e.g. IPriene 108). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

Petalismos

(113 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (πεταλισμός; petalismós). Petalismos was the name for a ballot using the leaves (πέταλα/ pétala) of the olive tree. At Syracusae, the petalismos was the equivalent of the Athenian ostrakismós , i.e. a procedure for sentencing a leading individual to a period of banishment without finding him guilty of a misdemeanour. Diodorus Siculus (11,87) mentions the petalismos for the year 454/3 BC: it was introduced in the wake of a failed attempt to set up a tyrannis; its consequence was a five-year exile, but it was soon abolished again, as the fear of falling victim to the petalismo…
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