Dictionary
POLEMARCH	100.00%
The third among the Athenian archons (q.v.).
ARCHON	100.00%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 (=ruler), the Athenian name for the supreme authority established on the abolition of royalty. On the death of the last king, Codrus, B.C. 1068, the headship of the state for life was bestowed on his son Medon and his descendants under the title of Archon. In 752 B.C. their term of office was cut down to ten years, in 714 their exclusive privilege was abolished, and the right to hold the office thrown open to all the nobility, while its duration was diminished to one year; finally in B.C. 683 the power was divided among nine archons. By Solon's legislation, his wealthiest class, the pentacosio-medimni, became eligible to the office; and by Aristides' arrangement after the Persian Wars it was thrown open to all the citizens, Cleisthenes having previously, in the interests of the democracy, substituted the drawing of lots for election by vote. [See Note on p. 706.] The political power of the office, having steadily decreased with time, sank to nothing when democracy was established; its holders had no longer even the right to deliberate and originate motions, their action being limited to certain priestly and judicial functions, relies of their once regal power. The titles and duties of the several Archons are as follows: (1) Their president, named emphatically Archon, or Archon Eponymos, because the civil year was named after him. He had charge of the Great Dionysia, the Thargelia, the embassies to festivals (theoriae), the nomination of choregi; also the position of guardian in chief, and the power to appoint guardians, the presidency in all suits about family rights (such as questions of divorce or inheritance), and in disputes among the choregi. (2) The Archon Basileus (king), called so because on him devolved certain sacred rites inseparably connected with the name of king. He had the care of the Eleusinian Mysteries (and was obliged therefore to be an initiated person), of the Lencae and Anthesteria, of gymnastic contests, to which he appointed a superintendent, and of a number of antiquated sacrifices, some of which fell to the share of his wife, the Basilissa (queen); and lastly, the position of president in all suits touching religious law, including those trials for murder that came within the jurisdiction of the Ephetae (q.v.). (3) The Archon Polemarchos (leader in war) was originally entrusted with the war-department, and, as late as the battle of Marathon, had the right of voting with the ten generals, and the old royal privilege of commanding the right wing. Afterwards he only had charge of the state sacrifices offered to the gods of war and to the shade of Harm6dius, the public funerals of those who fell in war and the annual feasts in honour of them; finally, the jurisdiction in all questions concerning the personal and family rights of resident aliens (metaeci) and strangers. All this rested on the old assumption that foreigner meant enemy. Each of these three superior Archons had two assessors chosen by himself, but responsible. (4) The Six Thesmothetae (literally law-givers) administered justice in all cases not pertaining to the senior Archons or some other authority, revised the laws once a year, and superintended the apportioning of public offices by lot. The several Archons exercised their jurisdiction at different spots in the city; that of the Polemarch alone lay outside the walls. Duties common to all nine were: the yearly appointment by lot of the Heliastae (q.v.), the choice of umpires in the Panathenaae, the holding of elections of the generals and other military officers, jurisdiction in the case of officials suspended or deposed by the people, and latterly even in suits which had previously been subject to the nautodicae. (See NAUTODICAe.) If they had discharged their office without blame, they entered the Areopagus as members for life. The office of Archon lasted even under the Roman rule.
THESMOTHETAE	83.39%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The six junior archons at Athens, on whom devolved, specially, the administration of certain branches of the law. For further details, see ARCHON.
EPONYMOS	53.40%
Properly the person after whom anything is named. This was in various Greek states the unofficial title of the magistrates after whom (in default of a generally received standard of chronology) the year was designated. In Athens this would be the first Archon, in Sparta the first Ephor, in Argos the priestess of Hera. When the ephebi, at Athens, were enrolled in the list of the citizens who could be called out for military service, the name of the first archon of the year was attached. And when the citizens of various ages were summoned to military service, a reference was made to the archon eponymos, under whom they had been originally enrolled. The ancient heroes who gave their name to the ten tribes of Clisthenes, and the heroes worshipped by the demes, were also called eponymoi. The statues of the former were in the market place, and it was near them that official notices were put up [Aristotle, Const. of Athens, 53].
BASILEUS	41.46%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The Greek word for king. On the Archon Basileus see ARCHONTES. The name was also given to the toast-master in a drinking-bout. (See MEALS.)
PARIAN CHRONICLE	30.40%
A marble tablet found at Paros in 1627, now [among the Arundel Marbles in the University Galleries] at Oxford. It is written chiefly in the Attic, but partly in the Ionian dialect, and consists of ninety-three lines, some of which are no longer complete. It originally contained a number of dates of the political, but chiefly of the religious and literary, history of the Greeks, from the Athenian king Cecrops to the Athenian archon Diognetus, 264 B.C.; in its present condition, however, it only goes down to 354 B.C. All the dates are given according to Attic kings and archons, and the historical authorities on which it depends must have been Attic authors. The origin and aim of the tablet are unknown. [It was first published by Selden in 1628; it has since been printed by Boeckh (Corpus Inscr. Groec. ii, no. 2374), who considers that the leading authority followed is Phanias of Eresos, and also by C. Muller, Frag. Hist.
SOLONIAN CONSTITUTION	26.30%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 At the time of Solon the Athenian State was almost falling to pieces in consequence of dissensions between the parties into which the population was divided. Of these the Diacrii, the inhabitants of the northern mountainous region of Attica, the poorest and most oppressed section of the population, demanded that the privileges of the nobility, which had till then obtained, should be utterly set aside. Another party, prepared to be contented by moderate concessions, was composed of the Parali, the inhabitants of the stretch of coast called Paralia. The third was formed by the nobles, called Pedieis or Pediaci, because their property lay for the most part in the pedion, the level and most fruitful part of the country. Solon, who enjoyed the confidence of all parties on account of his tried insight and sound judgment, was chosen archon by a compromise, with full power to put an end to the difficulties, and to restore peace by means of legislation. One of the primary measures of Solon was the Seisachtheia (disburdening ordinance). This gave an immediate relief by cancelling all debts, public and private. At the same time he made it illegal for the future to secure debts upon the person of the debtor (Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 6]. He also altered the standard of coinage [and of weights and measures, by introducing the Euboic standard in place of the Pheidonian or Aeginetan, ib. 10]. 100 new drachmae were thus made to contain the same amount of silver as 73 old drachmae. He further instituted a timocracy (q.v.), by which the exclusive rights which the nobles had till then possessed were set aside, and those who did not belong to the nobility received a share in the rights of citizens, according to a scale determined by their property and their corresponaing services to the State. For this purpose he divided the population into four classes, founded on the possession of land. (1) Pentacosiomedimni, who had at least 500 medimni (750 bushels) of corn or metretoe of wine or oil as yearly income. (2) Hippeis, or knights, with at least 300 medimni. (3) Zeugitoe (possessors of a yoke of oxen), with at least 150 medimni. (4) Thetes (workers for wages), with less than 150 medimni of yearly income. Solon's legislation only granted to the first three of these four classes a vote in the election of responsible officers, and only to the first class the power of election to the highest offices; as, for instance, that of archon. The fourth class was excluded from all official positions, but possessed the right of voting in the general public assemblies which chose officials and passed laws. They bad also the right of taking part in the trials by jury which Solon had instituted. The first three classes were bound to serve as hoplites; the cavalry was raised out of the first two, while the fourth class was only employed as light-armed troops or on the fleet, and apparently for pay. The others served without pay. The holders of office in the State were also unpaid. Solon established as the chief consultative body the Council of the Four Hundred (see BOULE), in which only the first three classes took part, and as chief administrative body the Areopagus (q.v.) which was to be filled up by those who had been archons. Besides this, he promulgated a code of laws embracing the whole of public and private life, the salutary effects of which lasted long after the end of his constitution. [According to Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, 4, a Council of 401 members was part of Dracon's constitution (about 621 B.C.). The members were selected by lot from the whole body of citizens. Solon (who was archon in 594) reduced the Council to 400, one hundred from each of the four tribes; and extended in some particulars the powers already possessed by the Areopagus, (ib. 8).]
INHERITANCE	24.56%
Greek (Athens). If a person died intestate, leaving sons, all of equal birthright, and none of them disinherited, the sons inherited the property in equal parts, the eldest probably receiving the same share as the rest. If there were daughters, they were provided for by dowries, which, in case they were divorced or childless after marriage, went back to the remaining heirs. If a man had no sons of his own, be usually adopted a son to continue the family and the religious worship connected with it. If he had daughters he would marry one of them to, the adopted son; in this case the chief share of the inheritance would fall to this married daughter and her husband, the rest receiving dowries. If there were only daughters surviving, the succession passed to them. In such a case the next of kin had a legal right to one of the heiresses, (epicleros) and could claim to marry her, even if she had married some one else before receiving the inheritance. And poor heiresses, on the other hand, had a legal claim on their nearest of kin either for marriage, or for a provision suitable to their circumstances. If a man had married an heiress, be was bound by custom and tradition, if he had sons, to name one as heir to the property which had come with is wife, and thus to restore the house of the maternal grandfather. Children born out of wedlock were illegitimate, and had no claim on the father's estate. If a man died intestate, leaving no heirs either, of his body or adopted, his nearest relations in the male line inherited, and in default of these, those in the female line as far as the children of first cousins. Any one thinking he had a legal claim to the inheritance made an application to the archon to hand it over to him. The application was posted up in public, and read out in the following, ecclesia. The question was then asked whether any one disputed the claim, or raised a counter-claim. If not, the archon assigned the inheritance to the claimant; otherwise the matter was decided by a law-suit. Even after the assignment of an inheritance, it might be disputed in the lifetime of the holder, and for five years, after his death. The claim of the nearest relation to an heiress was in the same way lodged with the archon and ratified before the assembly.
EISANGELIA	23.48%
EPHETAE	18.89%
HERODES ATTICUS	12.75%
(the name in full is Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes). A celebrated Greek rhetorician, born about A.D. 101, at Marathon. He belonged to a very ancient family, and received a careful education in rhetoric and philosophy from the leading teachers of his day. His talents and his eloquence won him the favour of the emperor Hadrian, who, in A.D. 125, appointed him prefect over the free towns of the Province of Asia. On his return to Athens, about 129, he attained a most exalted position, not only as a teacher of oratory, but also as the owner of immense wealth, which he had inherited from his father. This he most liberally devoted to the support of his fellow citizens, and to the erection of splendid public buildings in various parts of Greece. He had just been archon, when in 140 he was summoned to Rome by Antoninus Pius, to instruct the imperial princes, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, in Greek oratory. Amongst other marks of distinction given him for this was the consulship in 143. His old age was saddened by misunderstandings with his fellow citizens and heavy family calamities. He died at Marathon in 177. His pre-eminence as an orator was universally acknowledged by his contemporaries; he was called the king of orators, and was placed on a level with the great masters of antiquity. His reputation is hardly borne out by an unimportant rhetorical exercise (On the Constitution) calling on the Thebans to join the Peloponnesians against Archelaus, king of Macedonia. This has come down to us under his name, but its genuineness is not free from doubt. Numerous inscriptions still remain to attest his ancient renown; and out of the number of his public buildings, there is still standing at Athens the Odeum, a theatre erected in memory of his wife Regilla.
PROBOLE	12.74%
A motion for a judicial prosecution. In Attic legal procedure it was a particular kind of public indictment. In the first assembly of every prytany, on the archon's inquiring whether the people were satisfied with the conduct of the magistrates, any citizen might accuse a magistrate of official misconduct. If the assembly considered there was foundation for the charge, the magistrate was temporarily suspended or even absolutely deposed from his office, and a judicial prosecution was instituted. Even against a private citizen, especially for doing an injury to magistrates, or to sacred persons or things, for interrupting a festival, embezzling public money, or instituting a, vexatious prosecution, a complaint could be brought before the people in order to see whether they considered the case suitable for a judicial trial. [The most celebrated example of this procedure is the case of Demosthenes against Meidias for assaulting him in the discharge of public functions at the Dionysia.] However, this neither bound the man who laid the plaint to bring forward an actual indictment, nor the jury to follow in the formal trial the preliminary verdict of the people, although it would always influence them.
TUTELA	12.22%
The office of guardian among the ROMANS. It affected not only minors, but also widows and grown up daughters up to the time of their marriage, with the exception of the Vestals. In the case of impuberes or pupilli, ordinary minors, the guardian (tutor) managed their property until the time of their majority, which with girls began at twelve, with boys at fourteen. At this age the guardianship determined, and girls became, like widows, possessed of independent power over their property, but still remained so far under guardianship, that they were unable to take legal proceedings without the consent of their guardians. Three kinds of tutores have been distinguished: (1) tutor testamentarius, who was named in the will. By a provision in the will women were sometimes allowed the choice of their guardian, who was then called tutor optivus (" chosen guardian "), to distinguish him from the tutor dativus (or " specified guardian "). If no guardian was named in the will, or the guardian named declined the office, or subsequently resigned it, the next of kin stopped in as (2) tutor legitimus. In the case of a widow, this was the son, if of age, or the husband's brother, and so on. In the case of a daughter, the brother, if of age, the uncle on the father's side, and so on. Among the patricians, if there were no kinsmen, the gentiles undertook the duties. (3) If there were neither a tutor testamentarius nor a tutor legitimus, then the praetor appointed a tutor Atilianus, so called because the lex Atilia (about 188 B.C.) had introduced this kind of guardian. Under the Empire these guardians were named by the consuls, from the time of Marcus Aurelius by a regular proetor tutelaris. Women having three children were exempted from all guardianship by Augustus. Then Claudius abolished guardianship on the part of the agnati in the case of all women. Diocletian extended this abolition to the case of minors. After the time of Diocletian, guardianship over women fell into disuse, and afterwards women were themselves allowed to act as guardians. A guardian found guilty of betraying his trust was punished by infamia (q.v.). (Cp. CURA.) Among the ATHENIANS the guardian (epitropos), if not named by the father in the will, was generally appointed by the archon from the nearest relations. The archon was also the proper authority in suits relating to guardianship, which, during the minority of the ward, could be brought forward in the form of a public prosecution; and, after the ward had attained his majority, in that of a private lawsuit.
AREOPAGUS	11.39%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 An ancient criminal court at Athens, so named because it sat on Ares' Hill beside the Acropolis, where the god of war was said to have been tried for the murder of Halirrothius the son of Poseidon. (See ABES.) Solon's legislation raised the Areopagus into one of the most powerful bodies by transferring to it the greater part of the jurisdiction of the Ephetae (q.v.), as well as the supervision of the entire public administration, the conduct of magistrates, the transactions of the popular assembly, religion, laws, morals and discipline, and giving it power to call even private people to account for offensive behaviour. The "Court of Areopagus," as its full name ran, consisted of life-members (Areopagites), who supplemented their number by the addition of such archons as had discharged their duties without reproach. Not only their age, but their sacred character tended to increase the influence of the Areopagites. They were regarded as in a measure ministers of the Erinyes or Eumenides (Furies), who under the name of Semnae (venerable) had their cave immediately beneath the Areopagus, and whose worship came under their care. The Areopagus proving too conservative for the headlong pace of the Athenian democracy, its general right of supervising the administration was taken from it by the law of Ephialtes, in 462 B.C., and transferred to a new authority, the Nomophylakes (guardians of the laws); but it recovered this right on the fall of the Thirty. Its political powers seem never to have been clearly defined; it often acted in the name of, and with full powers from, the people, which also accepted its decisions on all possible subjects. Under the Roman rule it was still regarded as the supreme authority. Then, as formerly, it exercised a most minute vigilance over foreigners.
DOKIMASIA	11.13%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The name used at Athens to denote the process of ascertaining the capacity of the citizens for the exercise of public rights and duties. If, for instance a young citizen was to be admitted among the Ephebi (see EPHEBI), he was examined in an assembly of his district, to find out whether he was descended on both sides from Athenian citizens, and whether he possessed the physical capacity for military service. All officials too, even the members of the senate, had to submit to an examination before entering upon their office. The purpose of this was to ascertain, not their actual capacity for the post, which was pre-supposed in all candidates, but their descent from Athenian citizens, their life and character, and (in the case of some offices which involved the administration of large sums) even the amount of their property. The examination was carried on in public by the archons in the presence of the senate, and any one present had the right to raise objections. If such objections were held to be valid, the candidate was rejected; but he had the right of appeal to the decision of a court, which would take cognizance of the matter in judicial form. On the other hand, if be were accepted, any one who thought his claims insufficient had the right of instituting judicial proceedings against him. If the decision was adverse, he would lose his office, and was further liable to punishment varying according to the offence charged against him, which might be, for instance, that of unlawfully assuming the rights of a citizen. A speaker in a public assembly might thus be brought before a court by any citizen, for no one not possessed of the full right of citizenship could legally address the people. The question might thus be raised whether the orator were not actually atimos, or guilty of an offence which involved atimia.
EISPHORA	11.01%
REX SACRORUM	10.87%
the "king of sacrifice." The name given by the Romans to a priest who, after the abolition of the royal power, had to perform certain religious rites connected with the name of king. He resembles the archon basileus of the Athenian constitution. He was always a patrician, was elected for life by the pontifex maximus with the assistance of the whole pontifical college (of which he became a member), and was inaugurated by the augurs. Although he was externally of high rank and, like the pontifex maximus, had an official residence in the Regia, the royal castle of Numa, and took the chair at the feasts and other festivities of the pontifices, yet in his religious authority he ranked below the pontifex maximus, and was not allowed to hold any public office, or even to address the people in public. His wife (like the wives of the flamens) participated in the priesthood. Our information as to the details of the office is imperfect. Before the knowledge of the calendar became public property, it was the duty of the rex sacrorum to summon the people to the Capitol on the calends and nones of each month, and to announce the festivals for the month. On the calends he and the regina sacrificed, and at the same time invoked Janus. Of the other sacrifices known to us we may mention the regifugium on Feb. 24th, when the rex sacrorum sacrificed at the comitium, and then fled in haste. This has been erroneously explained as a commemoration of the fight of Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Roman kings; but it is much more probably one of the customs handed down from the time of the kings themselves, and perhaps connected with the purificatory sacrifice from which the month of February derived its name. At the end of the Republic the office, owing to the political disability attaching to the holder, proved unattractive, and was sometimes left unfilled: but under Augustus it appears to have been restored to fresh dignity, and in imperial times it continued to exist, at any rate, as late as the 3rd century.
STOA	9.93%
The Greek term for a colonnade, such as those built outside or inside temples, around dwelling-houses, gymnasia, and market-places. They were also set up separately as ornaments of the streets and open places. The simplest form is that of a roofed colonnade, with a wall on one side, which was often decorated with paintings. Thus in the market-place at Athens the stoa poecile (the Painted Colonnade) was decorated with Polygnotus' representations of the destruction of Troy, the fight of the Athenians with the Amazons, and the battles of Marathon and (Enoe. The stoa basileios, also in the market-place, in which the archon basileus sat as judge, was probably divided longitudinally into three parts by two rows of column, and was the pattern for the Roman basilica (q.v.).-Zeno of Citium taught in the stoa poecile, and his adherents accordingly obtained the name of Stoics. Among the Romans similar colonnades attached to other buildings, or built out in the open, were called porticus. They were named from the neighbouring edifices (e.g. porticus Concordioe, close to the temple of Concord); from their builders (e.g. porticus Pompeia); also from the pictures set up in them (e.g. porticus Argonautarum); and from the business chiefly carried on in them, as porticus Argentaria, the hall of the money-changers. These halls were the chief places for public intercourse among the Greeks and Romans.
GRAMMATEUS	9.87%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The Greek word for a writer, secretary, or clerk. At Athens the officials had numerous clerks attached to them, who were paid by the state and belonged to the poorer class of citizens. But there were several higher officials who bore the title of Grammateus. The Boule or senate, for instance, chose one of its members by show of hands to be its clerk or secretary for one year. His duty was to keep the archives of the senate. So, too, a secretary was chosen by lot from the whole number of senators for each prytany, to draft all resolutions of the senate. (See PRYTANY.) His name is therefore generally given in the decrees next to that of the president and the proposer of the decree. The name of the grammateus of the first prytany was also given with that of the archon, as a means of marking the year with more accuracy. At the meetings of the Ecclesia a clerk, elected by the people, had to read out the necessary documents. The office of the antigrapheis, or checking clerks, was of still greater importance. The antigrapheus of the senate, elected at first by show of hands, but afterwards by lot, had to take account of all business affecting the financial administration. The antigrapheus of the administration had to make out, and lay before the public, a general statement of income and expenditure, and exercised a certain amount of control over all financial officials. In the Aetolian and Achaean federations the grammateus was the highest officer of the League after the strategi and hipparchi.
HELIAEA	9.34%
The name of the great popular Athenian law-court, instituted by Solon. The word was also applied to the locality in which the greatest number of its members, and sometimes all of them, assembled. The number of the Heliastae, or members of the court, or jurors, was, in the flourishing period of the democracy, 6,000, 600 being taken from each tribe (phyle). The choice of the Heliastae was determined by lot, under the presidency of the archons. No one was eligible who was not a fully qualified citizen, and over thirty years of age. On their election, the Heliasts took the oath of office, and were distributed into ten divisions of 500 each, corresponding respectively to the ten tribes. The remaining 1,000 served to fill up vacancies as they occurred. Every Heliast received, as the emblem of his office, a bronze tablet, stamped with the Gorgon's head [or with an owl surrounded by an olive-wreath: Hicks, Hist. Inscr. No. 119], his name, and the number of his division. The different courts were mostly situated near the agora, and distinguished by their colour and their number. On court-days the Thesmothetae assigned them by lot to the different divisions of the Heliasts. Every Heliast was then presented with a staff bearing the number of his court, and painted with its colour. On entering the room he received a ticket, which he exhibited after the sitting and thereupon received his fee. This system of paying the jurors was introduced by Pericles, and the fee, originally an obolos (about 1 1/3,d.), was afterwards increased to three obols. In some instances only a part of one division of the jurors would sit to try a case; but in important cases several divisions would sit together. Care was always taken that the number should be uneven. The jurisdiction of the Heliaea extended to all kinds of suits. In public causes it acted as a court both of first instance and of final appeal. For private causes it was originally only a court of appeal; but in later times these suits also came to be brought before it in the first instance.