The ecclesia or ekklesia (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ἐκκλησία) was the citizens' assembly in the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

. Unlike its more famous counterpart in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, the Spartan assembly had limited powers, as it did not debate; citizens could only vote for or against proposals. In the pre-War literature, the assembly was often called the apella ( el, Ἀπέλλα), but this word refers to a festival of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, the Apellai, during which the ekklesia originally met.

Name

The pre-War academic literature often refers to the Spartan ekklesia as the apella. However, this word is never found in ancient sources in the singular, and never in a political context.Ste. Croix, ''Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', p. 347. The Apellai were a festival of

where the ekklesia originally met. They were organised once a month, with perhaps one more important feast once a year (called Apellaios), during which elections were presumably organised. In later times, the two events (religious and political) were possibly split. Ancient sources use instead the word ecclesia to designate the political assembly of the Spartans, like in any other Greek

. The most important mention comes from

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scient ...

, who reproduces a verbatim sentence of a decree between Sparta and Argos concluded in 418 or 417, which uses "ecclesia" for the Spartan assembly. The confusion arose from the Rhetra cited by

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...

, mentioning ''apellazein'', which Plutarch tells it means "to assemble the people", but only in reference to Apollo, the god at the origins of the Rhetra.

Structure

The meetings had in all probability taken place originally in the Agora but were later transferred to the neighbouring building, known as the Skias. According to

, a Great Rhetra was given by

Pythia Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythone ...

to Lycurgus. The old aristocratic council was substituted by the gerousia (thirty elders, including the two kings). Meetings of the ekklesia should take place from time to time, and citizens should have the power to debate and take decisions.C. Mosse, p. 168-171 That right of the citizens was very soon limited. Kings Theopompus and Polydorus, probably during the 7th century BC, added to the "rhetra" that the kings and the elders ( gerousia) could set aside any "crooked" decision of the people. The presiding officers were at first the kings but in historical times the

ephor The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs. The word "''ephors''" (Ancient Greek ''ép ...

s, and the voting was conducted by assessing the loudness of shouting in the crowd. If the president was doubtful as to the majority of voices, a division was taken, and the votes were counted. The ekklesia simply accepted or rejected the proposals submitted to it. In later times, too, the actual debate was almost, if not wholly, confined to the kings, elders, ephors and perhaps the other magistrates. The apella voted on peace and war, treaties and foreign policy in general. It decided the king who should conduct a campaign and settled questions of disputed succession to the throne. It elected elders, ephors and other magistrates, emancipated helots and perhaps voted on legal proposals. There is a single reference to a "small assembly" () at Sparta, but nothing is known as to its nature or competence. Xen. '' Hell.'' iii. 3. 8 The ekklesia was responsible for electing men to the gerousia for life. Candidates were selected from the aristocrats and presented before the apella. The candidate who received the loudest applause became a member of the gerousia. The ekklesia also elected the five ephors annually. Ephors presided over meetings of the gerousia and the apella. They could not run for re-election. The ephorate presented motions before the ekklesia. The ekklesia then voted on the motions. However, unlike the

ecclesia Ecclesia (Greek: ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') may refer to: Organizations * Ecclesia (ancient Greece) or Ekklēsia, the principal assembly of ancient Greece during its Golden Age * Ecclesia (Sparta), the citizens' assembly of Sparta, often w ...

, the ekklesia did not debate; it merely approved or disapproved of measures. Moreover, the gerousia always had the power to veto the decision of the ekklesia.

Notes

Bibliography

Ancient sources

* Plutarch, ''

Parallel Lives Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...

'' (''Lycurgus)''. *

, ''

History of the Peloponnesian War The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). It was written by Thucydides, an ...

'' (

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

Richard Crawley Richard Crawley (26 December 1840 – 30 March 1893) was a Welsh writer and academic, best known for his translation of Thucydides's ''History of the Peloponnesian War''. Life Crawley was born at a Bryngwyn rectory on 26 December 1840, the ...

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Modern sources

G. E. M. de Ste. Croix Geoffrey Ernest Maurice de Ste. Croix, (; 8 February 1910 – 5 February 2000), known informally as Croicks, was a British historian who specialised in examining Ancient Greece from a Marxism, Marxist perspective. He was Fellow and Tutor in Anci ...