In cities ofancient Greece, theboule (Ancient Greek:βουλή;pl.:boulai,βουλαί) was a council (βουλευταί,bouleutai) appointed to run daily affairs of the city. Originally a council of nobles advising a king,boulai evolved according to the constitution of thecity: Inoligarchiesboule positions might have been hereditary, while indemocracies members were typicallychosen by lot and served for one year. Little is known about the workings of manyboulai, except in the case ofAthens, for which extensive material has survived.
The original council ofAthens was theAreopagus. It consisted of ex-archons and was aristocratic in character.
The Athenianboule underSolon heard appeals from the most important decisions of the courts. Those in the poorest class could not serve on theboule of 400. The higher governmental posts, archons (magistrates), were reserved for citizens of the top two income groups.[1]
Following theAthenian Revolution in 508 BCCleisthenes formed a new government of Athens through a series of reforms. In strengthening the common Athenian identity Cleisthenes devised an artificial political division of Athens into tentribes. The tribes would each include localdemes from three different types of areas; the citytrittys, the coastal trittys and inland trittys.[2] The institution of theboule was reformed accordingly and would now be a council of 500 male citizens. Each of the ten tribes supplied 50 men to the council with each of the 50 adhering from its constituting demes and distributed according to the size of their population. Under Cleisthenes, theboule attained renewed political power as responsible for the agenda-setting of the legislative body of the Assembly (ekklesia) as well as the formal execution of the political decisions taken in the Assembly.[2] The council was responsible for about half of the decrees ratified by the Assembly.[3] Theboule met every day except for festival days and ill-omened days. According toAristotle, Cleisthenes introduced thebouleutic oath.[4]
Members of the Council under Cleisthenes were selected by lot. Not all citizens, however, were in the selection pool when selecting members by lot from each deme. Only male citizens age 30 or above and with no criminal charges, who had put themselves forward would be available for selection.[3] Membership was restricted at this time to the top three of the original four property classes (thepentacosiomedimni,hippeis andzeugitae, but not thethetes) and to citizens over the age of thirty. The former restriction, though never officially changed, fell out of practice by the middle of the 5th century BC.
Theboule had a number of safeguarding principles that secured the accountability and responsiveness of the council to the larger public. Three of the main mechanisms in place were; monitoring by other governing institutions including the assembly (ekklesia) and the courts, the required rendering of a full account of the work undertaken upon leaving the council and not least the ability of the general citizenry and fellow council members to charge individual members with a vote of no confidence.[3]
Members served for one year and no man could serve more than twice in his life, nor more than once a decade. The leadership of theboule (theprytany) rotated between the tribe delegations and a newprytany was chosen every month by lot. The man in charge ofprytany was replaced every day from among the 50 members again chosen by lot.[2][5]
After the reforms ofEphialtes andPericles in the mid-5th century BC, theboule took on many of the administrative and judicial functions of the Areopagus, which retained its traditional right to try homicide cases. It supervised the state's finances, navy, cavalry, sacred matters, building and shipping matters and care for invalids and orphans. Its own members staffed many boards that oversaw the finer points of these many administrative duties. It undertook the examination of public officials both before and after leaving office (most offices lasting one year) to ensure honest accounting and loyalty to the state. It heard some cases of impeachment of public officials for high crimes and mismanagement or serious dereliction of duties.[5] At some point in the late 5th century, pay was instituted for those serving in theboule; this may have been a way to encourage poorer citizens to volunteer, who would otherwise be reluctant to serve. Theboule was considered the cornerstone of the democratic constitution, providing a locus for day-to-day activities and holding together the many disparate administrative functions of the government. Because of the rotation of members, it was assumed that theboule was free from the domination of factions of any kind, although there is some evidence that richer citizens served out of proportion to poorer citizens. This may be due to the heavy investment of time required, time that poorer citizens would not have had to spare.[6]
In theMacedonian Kingdom, and later theMacedonian Empire, the body that assisted theking with running thekingdom was called thesynedrion, literally translated as "The Congress". This tradition continued to be in use in the years ofAlexander the Great and its members were hereditary. Although not democratic, the members of the Synedrion, including theking, were considered equal to one another and had the right of thefreedom of speech.
TheLeague of Corinth was afederation ofGreek states created by kingPhilip II of Macedon during the winter of 338/337 BC to facilitate his use of unifiedGreek military forces in his war againstAchaemenid Persia. The league guaranteed, among other things, that member states'constitutions in force at the time of joining were guaranteed and that a Synedrion, or congress of representatives, was to meet atCorinth.
TheEpirus, which became afederal republic in 231 BC, was ruled by the "Synedrion", or "The Congress". The Synedrion was dissolved when theEpirote federation fell apart due to internal upheaval during theThird Macedonian War.
The name "boule", pronounced asVouli in Modern Greek, is preserved in theParliament of modern Greece; either as the name of the lower house of a bicameral parliament in 1844–1864 and 1927–1935, or the name of the unicameral Parliament in 1864–1927, 1935–1941, 1944–1967, and 1974–today.
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