Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication

[Links: Demos | External Source | Citation to Evidence]

A Summary of: The Council

Christopher W. Blackwell, edition of January 23, 2003

· 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.

 

This is a summary of, or introduction to, a longer article that is part of Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy. You can also read the whole article.

 

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

Christopher W. Blackwell, Summary of “The Council” (A. Mahoney and R. Scaife, edd., The Stoa: a consortium for scholarly publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]) edition of January 23, 2003.

© January 23, 2003, Christopher W. Blackwell.

Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication