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→ Summary.

General Principles.

Eligibility and Selection.

Scrutiny of Councilors.

The Bouleutic Oath.

Presidents and Chairman.

Rewards for Service.

Times and Places of Meetings.

Agenda for Meetings.

Procedure for Meetings.

Council Decrees.

Independent Action.

Introduction to Probouleumata.

Exceptional Decrees.

Probouleumata Voted Down.

Open and Closed Probouleumata.

Expiration of Probouleumata.

Legislation.

Jurisdiction.

Powers to Punish.

Administration of Attica.

Public Finance.

Foreign Policy.

Secondary Works Cited.

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Index of Citations

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The Council 

Christopher W. Blackwell, edition of January 23, 2003

page 1 of 24

· Summary ·

Plot on a Map
Athens.

The Council of 500 (ἡ βουλὴ οἱ πεντακόσιοι) represented the full-time government of Athens. It consisted of 500 citizens, 50 from each of the ten tribes, who served for one year. The Council could issue decrees on its own regarding certain matters, but its main function was to prepare the agenda for meetings of the Assembly. The Council would meet to discuss and vote on “Preliminary decrees” (προβουλεύματα), and any of these that passed the Council’s vote went on for discussion and voting in the Assembly.

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When using this article as a resource, cite it thus:

Christopher W. Blackwell, “The Council,” in C.W. Blackwell, ed., Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy (A. Mahoney and R. Scaife, edd., The Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]) edition of January 23, 2003. Contact: cwb@stoa.org.

© January 23, 2003, Christopher W. Blackwell. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication