Spartan Assembly

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Spartan Constitution The Spartan Assembly, was the assembly of full citizens in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Unlike its more famous counterpart the Assembly of ancient Athens, the Spartan Assembly had limited powers. It did not debate, and ordinary citizens could only vote, by shouting, for or against proposals.<ref>Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2015, s.v. ekklēsia; Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1); Rhodes (2006), s.v. Ekklesia; Welwei 2006, s.v. Apella, Apellai.</ref> It's official name is generally thought to have been 'the Ekkelsia',<ref>The same name used by the Athenians for their popular assembly.</ref> rather than 'the Apella' as once commonly thought.<ref>Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1).</ref>

Name

The official name for the popular assembly at Sparta—either 'the Ekklesia' or 'the Apella'—is disputed.<ref>Schulz 2009, p. 335 n. 9: "Ob die Volksversammlung in Sparta Apella oder Ekklesia hieß, ist umstritten".</ref> Modern scholarly consensus had favored the name 'Apella'; as recently as 1972, Ste Croix could declare that the "Spartan Assembly is still commonly referred to as 'the Apella'".<ref>Ste Croix 1972, p. 346. See for example Ehrenberg 1968, pp. 31–33, 46, 383 n. 14.</ref> However following Wade-Gery 1958, Andrewes 1970, and Ste. Croix 1972, scholarly consensus shifted in favor of 'Ekklesia'.<ref>See for example: Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1): "At Sparta, the festival was monthly, on the seventh, and it was on this day that the stated meetings of the Spartan assembly were held. From this coincidence has arisen the erroneous modern notion that the assembly was called the apella. Actually, its name was the ekklēsia, as is corroborated by the existence of a ‘little ekklesia’ (mikra ekklēsia: Xen. Hell. 3. 3. 8)"; Kennell 2010, p. 111: "The fourth main pillar of the Classical Spartan constitution was the popular Assembly, called the Ekklesia, not the Apella as once thought."</ref> More recently, Welwei 1997, 2000, and 2004 has revived the dispute, advocating in favor of 'Apella'.<ref>Luther 2006, p. 74; Nafissi 2010, p. 95.</ref>

Function

The Spartan Assembly consisted of the adult male citizenry,<ref>Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2015, s.v. ekklēsia; Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1), which adds the qualifier "in good standing".</ref> and was one of the three institutions involved with decision-making at Sparta.<ref>Esu 2024, p. 125.</ref> It's principal role was to ratify the proposals of the other two decision-making bodies, the gerousia (the council of elders, including the two Spartan kings), and the ephors.<ref>Esu 2024, p. 127. For discussions of the government of Sparta, see: Esu 2024, pp. 125–151; Kennell 2010, pp. 93–114; Ehrenberg 1968, pp. 31–47; Andrewes 1967, pp. 1–20.</ref> In contrast to it's Athenian counterpart, very little is known for certain about the Spartan Assembly.<ref>Kennell 2010, pp. 111–112.</ref>

The earliest source for the role of the Spartan Assembly is the Great Rhetra (c. 700 BC?) attributed to the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus.<ref>Ehrenberg 1968, p. 32; Welwei 2006, s.v. Apella, Apellai; Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2015, s.v. ekklēsia; Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.1–7.1. For translations and discussions of the Great Rhetra, see: Kennell 2010, pp. 45–50; Ehrenberg 1968 pp. 32–36; Esu 2024, pp. 136–137.</ref> The Rhetra established that the power of decision-making at Sparta, during the Archaic period, be divided among the archagetai ('kings'), the gerousia ('elders'), and the damos<ref>The Doric spelling of the more familiar demos, see LSJ, s.v. δῆμος.</ref> ('people', i.e. the Assembly). It specified that the Assembly should have regular meetings, at a fixed place, during which the two kings and the gerousia could put proposals for approval before the Assembly, and that the kings and gerousia could veto any enactment passed by the Assembly.<ref>Esu 2024, p. 137.</ref>

The procedure set forth in the Rhetra, was probouleutic, a practice common in Ancient Greece, by which proposals were first discussed in a council, and then voted on by a general assembly. Thus such an assembly was sovereign, in the sense that, although it could only vote on only what was brought to it, the assembly's consent was nevertheless required before public action could be taken. However the Spartan Assembly's power was further limited by the veto power given by the Rhetra to the kings and geruosia.<ref>Andrewes 1967, p. 2.</ref>

See also

• Apellai
• Great Rhetra

Bibliography

• Andrewes, A. (1967), "The Government of Classical Sparta", in Ancient Society and Institutions: Studies Presented to Victor Ehrenberg on his 75th Birthday, Barnes & Noble, 1967. Internet Archive.

• Andrewes, A. (1970), p. 134 in A Historical Commentary on Thucydides. Vol. 4: Books V25-VII A. W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, and K. J. Dover (eds.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1970. Template:Isbn.

• Cartledge, Paul, s.v. Apellai (2), published online 22 December 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.

• Ehrenberg, Victor (1968), From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilization During the Sixth and Fifth Centuries B.C., London, Methuen, 1968. Internet Archive.

• Esu, Alberto (2024), Divided Power in Ancient Greece: Decision-Making and Institutions in the Classical and Hellenistic Polis, Oxford University Press, 2024. Template:Isbn. {{#invoke:CS1 identifiers|main|_template=doi}}.

• Gomme, Arnold Wycombe, Theodore John Cadoux, and P. J. Rhodes (2015), s.v. ekklēsia, published online 22 December 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.

• Kennell, Nigel M. (2010), Spartans: A New History, Wiley Blackwell, 2010. Template:Isbn.

• Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Luther, Andreas, (2006), "Der Name der Volksversammlung in Sparta", in Das frühe Sparta, Andrew Luther, Mischa Meier, and Lukas Thommen (eds.), Franz Steiner Verlag, Munich, 2006, pp. 73-88.

• Nafissi, Massimo (2010), "The Great Rhetra (Plut. Lyc. 6): A Retrospective and Intentional Construct?", in Intentional History: Spinning Time in Ancient Greece, Lin Foxhall, Hans-Joachim Gehrke, and Nino Luraghi (eds.), Franz Steiner Verlag, 2010.

• Ogden, Daniel, "Crooked Speech: The Genesis of the Spartan Rhetra," Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 114 (1994) pp. 85–102. Template:Jstor.

• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Plutarch, Lycurgus, in Plutarch: Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus, Lycurgus and Numa, Solon and Publicola, translated by Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library No. 46, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1914. Template:ISBN. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Rhodes (2006), s.v. Ekklesia, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.

• Schulz, Fabian (2009), "Lykurgs Reform ohne Demokratie ? Zwei Konjekturen der Rhetra", in Ktèma : civilisations de l'Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques, N°34, 2009. pp. 333-349.

• Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de (1972), The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, Duckworth, London, 2001 (1972). Template:Isbn.

• Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Wade-Gery (1958), Essays in Greek History Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1958. Internet Archive

• Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (1997), "Apella oder Ekklesia? Zur Bezeichnung der spartanischen Volksversammlung", in Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 140 (1997), H. 3/4, 242-249. Template:Jstor.

• Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (2000), Polis und Arché: kleine Schriften zu Gesellschafts- und Herrschaftsstrukturen in der griechischen Welt, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000. Template:Isbn, Template:Isbn.

• Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (2004), Sparta. Aufstieg und Niedergang einer antiken Großmacht, Stuttgart 2004.

• Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (2006), s.v. Apella, Apellai, in Brill's New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.

• Xenophon, Hellenica, Volume I: Books 1-4, translated by Carleton L. Brownson, Loeb Classical Library No. 88, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1918. Template:ISBN. Online version at Harvard University Press.