Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication
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S.C. Todd, selections by Michael de Brauw, edition of March 16, 2003
page 15 of 50
boule · Lit. “council.” The democratic council of 500 men, appointed annually by lot from among citizens aged at least thirty, and with severe restrictions on repeated membership. Its chief function was to prepare the agenda for meetings of the ekklesia, and to undertake certain routine administrative duties, in particular that of co-ordinating the activities of numerous boards of minor officials; but it had also certain independent judicial powers, mainly but not only in cases of limited importance: in some cases of eisangelia, the boule could decide whether to refer the trial to the ekklesia or to a dikasterion.
Greek: βουλή.
page 15 of 50
When using this article as a resource, cite it thus:
S.C. Todd, selections by Michael de Brauw, “A Glossary of Athenian Legal Terms,” in Adriaan Lanni, ed., “Athenian Law in its Democratic Context” (Center for Hellenic Studies On-line Discussion Series). Republished 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 March 16, 2003. Contact: cwb@stoa.org.
© March 16, 2003, S.C. Todd, selections by Michael de Brauw. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication