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[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.…

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[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 att…

[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…

[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 …

[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.…

[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).…

[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…

[German version] Modern term for the union of Greek states brought into being in 338/7 BC at an assembly in Corinth by  Philippus II of Macedonia after the battle of  Chaeronea (338 BC). The league evidently included all Greek states with the exception of Sparta, and was associated with a treaty establishing a ‘general peace’ (  koinḕ eirḗnē ). The members' oath and list of league members have survived in part in the form of an inscription (IG II2 236 = Tod 177; further information in Dem. Or. 17). The customary obligations of the treaty among its co-signatories also incl…

(Βουλή; Boulḗ) . [German version] A. General In Greek communities the boule was a council assembly, usually that responsible for current public duties, which also had to prepare the work of the public assembly (  ekklēsía ). Composition and responsibilities could change according to the respective form of constitution. In Homeric times the council consisted of nobl…

[German version] (συνοικισμός/ synoikismós, lit. 'living together'). In the Greek world, the combination of several smaller communities to form a single larger community. Sometimes the union was purely political and did not affect the pattern of settlement or the physical existence of the separate communities: this is what the Athenians supposed to have happened when they attributed the Attic synoikismos to Theseus, commemorated by a festival in classical times, the Synoikia (Thuc. 2,15) — whereas …

[German version] (ἀρχαί; archaí, ‘office holder’). In most Greek states the powers of hereditary kings were divided in the  Dark Ages and the archaic period and distributed among a series of officials ( archai or   archontes ), who were usually appointed for a year, often withou…

[German version] (αἰσυμνήτης; aisymnḗtēs). Formed from aísa (‘fate’) and   mna (‘to have in mind’): ‘one who has fate in mind (and announces it to the one it affects)’. The Phaeacians (Hom. Od. 8,258-9) name nine aisymnetai, who are resp…

[German version] (ἐπιμεληταί; epiméletai). Functionaries, who ‘take care of something’ ( epimeleîsthai). The word is used as the title for several Greek officials; see also epískopoi, epistátai. 1. The author of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia mentions for Athens the epimeletai of wells (43,1), of the market (51,4), of the festival of Dionysia (56,4), and of the Eleusinian Mysteries (57,1). Also documented are epimeletai as court officials who deal with the tributes in the Delian-Athenian League (ML 68), epimeletai of shipyards (such as IG II2 1629, 178-179; Dem. Or. 22,63…

[German version] (πυλαγόρας/ pylagóras; also πυλαγόρος/ pylagóros, Hdt. 7,213 f,. or πυλάγορος/ pylágoras). literally a participant in the Pýlaia [2] meetings, i.e. the meetings of the  amphiktyonía of Anthela (near Thermopylae) and Delphi. Each of the 12 éthnē of the amphiktyonía was represented in the Council by two hieromnḗmones , who could both speak and vote, and they could send further representatives who could speak but not vote. The latter were called pylágoroi in literary texts and a fe…

[German version] (δημαγωγός, dēmagōgós, ‘leader of the people’). Aristophanes uses demagogue to mean a political leader i…

[German version] (ναυκραρία/ naukraría, ναύκραρος/ naúkraros). In ancient times, naukraría (pl. naukraríai) denoted a subdivision of the Athenian citizenry; naúkraros (pl. naúkraroi) were the leaders of such subdivisions. The meaning of the terms is controversial. Generally, the naúkraros was traditionally interpreted as ‘ship's captain’ (deriving from naûs, ‘ship’), but other derivations are proposed, e.g. from naós (‘temple’; [4. 56-72]; cf. [3. 153-175], [1. 11-16]) or from naíein (‘live’); [5. 10]). However, none of these more recent interpretations is …

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[German version] (χειροτονία; cheirotonía, ‘raising the hand’). Method of voting in popular assemblies and other Greek committees. In large assemblies votes thus given were probably not counted: the chairman would have to decide where the majority voice lay. Distinct from cheirotonía is voting by psēphophoría (‘throwing-in of ballot stones’), which made possible the precise counting of votes in a secret ballot. Notwith…

[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. Z. are recorded in three instances: in 415 BC z. were assigned to look into the Mutilation of the Herms (Herms, Mutilation of the) and related religious offences (And. 1,40;  cf.…