Democracy in Athens

The Boule was made up of 500 men chosen by lot—a total of 50 from each of the 10 demes (districts of Athens). The men had to be over the age of 31 and have served for two years in the military. Originally, a member had to own a certain amount of property, but, eventually, they were paid for serving on the boule and did not have to have property.

The term of office was a year, and an Athenian citizen could only be a member twice in his lifetime. The boule met every day. Members drafted proposals, decrees, and laws, which were then sent to the ecclesia for approval.

Boule members also supervised the magistrates. The boule brought proposals before the ecclesia, the citizen assembly.

The citizen assembly included all male members of Athens above 18 who had served two years in the military. It excluded women, slaves, and foreigners. The men met at the Pnyx, a hill in central Athens that could accommodate around 6,000 people. The assembly saw themselves as members of one body, the polis. The polis or ecclesia was more important than family ties.

Anyone could speak although the oldest (over 51) spoke first. A speaker stood on a raised stone platform (bema) to make a speech to persuade people. So, public speaking became the most valued skill in Athens.

One of the words for public speaking was “logos” meaning free speech, logic, wisdom, and rational thought. This was symbolized by Athena’s wise owl which represented the wisdom from above whereas the snake of Apollo or Asclepius represented the wisdom from beneath.

Logographos (graph- write), or persuasive speech writers, could be hired to write speeches for citizens. Sophists, or teachers could be hired to train men to think and speak in persuasive ways. The time limit for a persuasive speech was about seven minutes.

A jury in a court case could consist of anywhere between 201 citizens to 1,501. The large numbers of jurers were impossible to bribe or threaten. An organizing official known as the hegemon began the proceedings and the prosecutor and the defendant each spoke for himself. There were no lawyers or representatives. Within a specific amount of time that was marked by a water clock (the hole at the bottom allowed the water to escape slowly or to be stopped from flowing if there was a pause in the court case). The prosecutor and defendant read aloud the laws that were important in his case, and called the witnesses who supported his argument. Once the water clock ran out, the court case was over.