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(Εὐκλείδης; Eukleídēs). [German version] [1] Athenian archon in 403/2 BC Athen…

[German version] (ψήφισμα, Pl. ψηφίσματα/ psēphísmata), literally a decision made by voting using 'voting stones' ( psêphoi) as opposed to voting by show of hands ( cheirotonía ). But in normal Greek usage, psephisma was applied to decrees and cheirotonía to elections, irrespective of the method of voting.  Psephisma is the most widespread word for 'decree'; dógma is fairly frequent; gnṓmē usually means 'proposal' but is sometimes used for 'decree', especially in north-western Asia Minor and in the adjacent islands (e.g. IK Ilion 1 = Syll.…

[German version] (χειροτονία; cheirotonía, ‘raising the hand’). Method of voting in popular assemblies and other Greek committees. In large assemblies votes thus given we…

[German version] (ζητηταί/ zētētaí, 'investigators') were appointed ad hoc in Athens to enquire into breaches of law; the lexicographers (e.g. Harpocration [2], s. v. Ζ.) attribute an 'office' ( archḗ) to them, which was constructed in Athens from time to time. …

[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)

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[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)

[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 …

[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…

[German version] …

(νομοφύλακες / nomophýlakes, ‘guardians of the law’)…

[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  …

[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…

(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 …

(πόλις, πτόλις/ pólis, ptólis; pl. πόλεις/ póleis; 'city state'). [German version] I. Topographical background and early development Depending on the particular context, …

[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…

[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…

[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 …

[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 [ …