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Epidosis

(53 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἐπίδοσις; epídosis). Voluntary tax requested by Greek states during special emergencies to supplement the revenue from regular taxes and contributions furnished through public office. In Athens, epidóseis are documented since the 4th cent. (see for example Dem. Or. 21,161); they were probably introduced by Eubulus. Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

Nesiotai

(273 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(νησιῶται/ nēsiôtai). [German version] [1] See Hecatonnesi See Hecatonnesi Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) [German version] [2] Aegean league of islanders, with Delos as its centre, c. 315 BC League ( k oinon ) of islanders in the Aegean with Delos as its centre, probably founded by Antigonus [1] Monophthalmus in 315/4 BC rather than by Ptolemaeus in 308 BC. After the defeat of Demetrius [2] Poliorcetes 286 BC, the league was taken over by Ptolemaeus. It served as a political alliance and celebrated festivities in honour of its patron. Under the Ptolemies, there were a nēsíarchos (‘island ruler…

Decate

(231 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (δεκάτη; dekátē), ‘the tenth (part)’, primarily refers to various forms of tithe: 1. Crop yield taxation, e.g. in Athens under  Peisistratus (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 16,4; but perhaps it is a ‘twentieth’, eikostḗ, in Thuc. 6,54,5, and decate is a generic term in the Ath. Pol.), in Crannon (Polyaenus, Strat. 2,34), in Delos (IG XI 2, 161, 27) and in Pergamum (IPergamon 158, 17-18; a twentieth on wine and a tenth on other field crops). The lex Hieronica for Sicily, too, includes a decate (Cic. Verr. 2,3,20). 2. Building taxation, e.g. in Delos (IG XI 2, 161, 26) and Egypt…

Epicheirotonia

(84 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἐπιχειροτονία; epicheirotonía). Epicheirotonia generally means voting (literally: ‘raising one's hand’). In particular epicheirotonia was used in the 4th cent. in Athens to mean a vote of confidence in officials that was cast in every prytany ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 43,5; 61,2; but epicheirotonia used in connection with an ostracism in 43,5 is probably an error for diacheirotonía) and a vote of confidence conducted annually for each of the four different subject areas of law (Dem. Or. 24,20-23). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

Isonomia

(250 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἰσονομία; isonomía). The concept of isonomia, (equality before the law) - along with other compounds formed with the element iso- (‘equal’) - seems to have played a significant role in political discourse in Greece during the late 6th and early 5th cents. BC. In the constitutional debate at the Persian Court, Herodotus uses isonomia to refer to democracy (3,80,6; 83,1), and in other places (3,142,3; 5,37,2) he employs isonomia to designate a constitutional government in contrast to one that is tyrannical ( Tyrannis); in the latter sense he also uses the words isēgoría

Tettarakonta

(191 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (οἱ τετταράκοντα/ hoi tettarákonta, 'the Forty'). In Athens, a college of forty judges appointed by lot, four each out of the ten phylai ( phyle [1]) after 404/3 BC. They were assigned to a phyle other than their own and handled cases concerning defendants of that phyle. They decided private suits for sums up to 10 drachmae on their own, and referred private suits ( dike [2]) for larger sums to the diaitetai [2]. However, it was possible to appeal against the decision of the diaitetes to a dikasterion presided over by one of the Forty. The college succeeded the dikastai kata de…

Athenian League (Second)

(475 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (4th cent. BC). The  Delian League had broken up in 404 at the end of the Peloponnesian War. One could remember the power which Athens had had over its allies, but Sparta's behaviour with respect to the Greeks in the early 4th cent. also led to dissatisfaction. In the King's Peace of 386, the Greeks in Asia Minor were given over to the Persians and all other Greeks were declared independent. In 384, Athens formed, explicitly in the context of this peace, an alliance with Chios (IG II2 34 = Tod 118). In 378, Athens established, after the liberation of Thebes from Spa…

Epimachia

(105 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἐπιμαχία; epimachía). Thucydides (1,44,1; 5,48,2) uses the term epimachia for a purely defensive alliance, which obliges the participants to give assistance only in the case of an attack, as opposed to the symmachía, which is an offensive as well as defensive alliance to the full extent, wherein the participants have ‘the same friends and enemies’. The Greeks, however, failed to always make a clear distinction between the two terms: the  Athenian League of the 4th cent. was a defensive alliance, but the treatise which promoted it consistently uses symmáchein and rel…

States, confederation of

(621 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] In Greece federal states were regional units composed of separate poleis (Polis) and organised in such a way that at any rate foreign policy was in the hands of the federal organisation (Synhedrion), but the individual poleis retained their own citizenship and a greater degree of autonomy than was enjoyed by each of the demes (Demos [2]) of Attica. 'Tribal states' in the less urbanised parts of Greece were similar, with a federal organisation and smaller local units which had a degree of autonomy: as poleis were established these tended to develop into federal sta…

Delian League

(858 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (5th cent. BC). The Persian offensive on Greece was repelled in 480-79 BC, but nobody could know at the end of 479 that the Persians would never return. In 478 the Greeks continued the war under the leadership of Sparta, but the Spartan commander  Pausanias soon made himself so unpopular that Athens, either of its own record (Aristot., Ath. Pol. 23,4) or at the urging of its allies, decided to take over leadership (Thuc. 1,94-5). At this point, Athens established a standing allian…

Katalogeis

(200 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (καταλογεῖς; katalogeîs) are known as Athenian Commissioners of Enrolment. During the oligarchical overthrow of 411 BC, 100 men no younger than 40 years of age were chosen as katalogeis - ten from each phyle - in order to draw up a register of 5,000 Athenians intended to have full citizenship ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 29,5). The speech by Lysias for Polystratus (Lys. 20) was aimed at defending one of these katalogeis, who was also a member of the Four Hundred. The latter claimed to have served the initiators of the 5,000 only reluctantly, to have propo…

Dokimasia

(411 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (Δοκιμασία; Dokimasía). In the Greek world it means the procedure of determining whether certain conditions have been met. In Athens the following dokimasíai are attested: 1. The dokimasía of young men who at the end of their eighteenth year were presented to the father's dḗmos to be recognized as a member of the deme and a citizen. The dḗmos, a college of judges and the council took part in this procedure. 2. The dokimasía of the   bouleutaí (council members) in the council and before a college of judges, that of the archontes likewise …

Epoikia

(119 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἐποικία; epoikía). Epoikia was occasionally used instead of apoikía for Greek colonies, e.g. the early 5th-cent. BC Locrian colony near Naupactus (ML 20). The Athenian decree of 325/4 BC regarding the foundation of a colony on the Adriatic coast contains the reconstructed [ apoi] kía as well as époi[ koi]. It has been claimed that strictly speaking epoikia and époikoi did not refer to the original settlement, but to its later reinforcement with additional settlers [1]. This special meaning may occasionally have been intended, but it is u…

Ostrakismos

(836 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ὀστρακισμός, 'trial by sherds' from óstrakon , pl. óstraka, 'pottery sherd'). A procedure in Athens that permitted expulsion of a man from the country for ten years without having been convicted of an offence, but without confiscating his property. According to the (Pseudo-) Aristotelian Athēnaíōn Politeía (22,1; 22,3), ostracism was introduced by Cleisthenes [2] (508/7 BC), but not applied until 488/7. A fragment by Androtion (FGrH 324 F 6) reports that ostracism had been established immediately before its first applicatio…

Apodektai

(87 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (ἀποδέκται; apodéktai, ‘receivers’). A ten-man board of officials in Athens, with members chosen by lot from each of the ten phylai. They were charged by the boule with receiving state funds and remitting them to the central treasury in the 5th cent. BC, and apportioning them to various spending authorities ( merizein) in the 4th, following routine procedures. They had their own powers of jurisdiction towards tax farmers in cases of up to 10 drachmae (Arist. Ath. Pol. 47,5-48,2; 52,3). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)

Mastroi

(148 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (μαστροί/ mastroí, ‘searchers’, ‘trackers’) is the name given in some Greek towns to official accountants with functions similar to those of the eúthynoi ( eúthynai ) or logistaí (e.g. Delphi: Syll.3 672; Pallene: Aristot. fr. 657 Rose). The accounting process is called mastráa/mastreía, e.g. in Elis (IvOl 2 = Buck 61) and Messenia (IG V 1, 1433,15-16), the person liable to account, hypómastros, e.g. in Messenia (IG V 1, 1390 = Syll.3 736,51,58). After the synoikismos of Rhodes, the councils of the three original towns of Ialysus, Camirus and Lindus …

Antidosis

(152 words)

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

Zeugitai

(274 words)

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

Symmoria

(314 words)

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

Hellenotamiai

(236 words)

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

Thesmothetai

(440 words)

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

Synhedrion

(598 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ego, Beate (Osnabrück)
(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…

Bureaucracy

(1,086 words)

Author(s): Gizewski, Christian (Berlin) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[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…

Koinon

(996 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Behrwald, Ralf (Chemnitz)
(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.…

Kosmetes

(335 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(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; …

Demarchos

(417 words)

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

Ekklesia

(1,051 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Gerber, Simon (Kiel)
(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…

Cleisthenes

(764 words)

Author(s): Patzek, Barbara (Wiesbaden) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(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…

Dioikesis

(730 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Bleckmann, Bruno (Strasbourg)
(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-cent. BC Athens, an office for the upper financial administr…

Toxotai

(277 words)

Author(s): Burckhardt, Leonhard (Basle) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(τοξόται/ toxótai, 'archers'). [German version] [1] Archers in general The Bow and arrow were very ancient weapons. Widespread in Greece since Mycenaean times, they were not the normal weapons of an aristocratic hero, and were held in lower esteem than the sword or the spear. Homer mentions archers and their weapons several times (for instance, Hom. Il. 4,93-126; 11,385-395; Philoctetes on Lemnos: Soph. Phil. 287-292; 707-711; 1146-1162). Near the end of the Archaic Period, Polycrates [1] of Samos relied…

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…

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…

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 …

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…

Demos

(1,287 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
(δῆμος; dêmos). [German version] [1] The entire citizenry Demos, meaning ‘people’, could refer to either the entire citizenry of a community or only the ‘common people’ as distinct from its more privileged members. As an extension of the first meaning it also served to designate the popular assembly, so that political decisions in many states were seen as being ‘issued by the council and the people’ (ἔδοξεν τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ). Adjectives such as dēmotikós and the description of a democratic leader as προστάτης τοῦ δήμου (‘champion of the people’; e.g. in Thuc. 3,82,…

Logographos

(255 words)

Author(s): Thür, Gerhard (Graz) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
[German version] (λογογράφος; logográphos). Writer of Greek court speeches. The ten classical Attic rhetors were called logográphoi. The word was, however, also frequently used in a derogatory sense (e.g. Aeschin. 1,94; 3,173). As in principle the parties in the proceedings in Athens had to represent the matter themselves before the court, the ‘orator’, if he was not appearing on his own matter, remained undetected in the background: he was not a representative of a party or an attorney ( syndikos ), but a ‘speech writer’ (which is how logographos should be literally translated). H…

Liturgy

(1,615 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Feulner, Hans-Jürgen (Tübingen)
(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…

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…

Strategos

(1,303 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
(στρατηγός/ stratēgós, 'army leader'; pl. strategoi). In many Greek states the formal title for a military commander. [German version] I. Classical Greece In Athens, strategoi are occasionally mentioned earlier (e.g. Peisistratus [4] as strategos; Hdt. 1,59,4; [Aristot.] Ath. pol. 17,2), but it was only after the tribal reorganization of Cleisthenes [2], probably first in 501/0 BC, that a regular board of strategoi was appointed: one from each of the 10 phylai, elected annually by the assembly (but candidates may have been pre-selected in the phylai, see [2]), and eligible for …

Nomophylakes

(473 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
(νομοφύλακες / nomophýlakes, ‘guardians of the law’) [German version] I. Classical Period In the Classical Period, nomophýlakes were officials responsible for ensuring compliance with the laws ( nómoi). In Athens, the Areopagus (Areios Pagos) was said to have performed the function of the nomophylakía  until the reforms of Ephialtes [2] (462 BC) ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 3,6; [4,4]; 8,4; 25,2). According to one version in a fragment of Philochorus (FGrH 328 F 64), Ephialtes appointed a college of seven nomophýlakes, who also held some religious offices, but it is more likely…

Polis

(1,781 words)

Author(s): Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham)
(πόλις, πτόλις/ pólis, ptólis; pl. πόλεις/ póleis; 'city state'). [German version] I. Topographical background and early development Depending on the particular context, p olis may have topographical, personal or legal-political connotations: a) a fortified settlement on a height, Homeric pólis akrḗ or akrotátē (Hom. Il. 6,88; 20,52), synonymous with the Acropolis in Athens until the late 5th cent. (Thuc. 2,15,3-6); b) an urban settlement; c) an urban settlement including environs, 'state territory'; d) municipal community, community of polîtai (see below II.). In the sense …

Lot, election by

(2,381 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne) | Nollé, Johannes (Munich) | Heimgartner, Martin (Halle)
(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…

Political administration

(4,328 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Renger, Johannes (Berlin) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
[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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

Aristoteles

(5,596 words)

Author(s): Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) | Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) | Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Frede, Dorothea (Hamburg) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Et al.
(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, …

Euclides

(2,633 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin) | Di Marco, Massimo (Fondi Latina) | Et al.
(Εὐκλείδης; Eukleídēs). [German version] [1] Athenian archon in 403/2 BC Athenian archon in 403/2 BC. During his year in office Athens made a new start following the Oligarchy of the Thirty (e.g., see And. 1,87-94) and, among others, officially adopted the Ionian alphabet (Theopomp. FGrH 115 F 155). Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) Bibliography Develin 199 LGPN 2, Εὐκλείδης (9). [German version] [2] of Megara Student of Socrates Student of Socrates, founder of the  Megarian School; born between 450 and 435, probably died early in the 360s. In Plato's Phaedon (59c) E. is named among those …
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