View source for Gerousia

{{Short description|Senate of ancient Sparta}}
{{redirect|Gerusia|the village in Iran|Gerusia, Iran|the moth genus|Gerusia (moth)}}
[[Image:SpartaGreatRhetra.png|thumb|The Spartan Constitution]]
{{Spartan Constitution|width=300}}
The '''Gerousia''' (γερουσία) was the council of elders in ancient Sparta. Sometimes called '''Spartan senate''' in the literature, it was made up of the two [[List of kings of Sparta|Spartan kings]], plus 28 [[Spartiate|Spartiates]] over the age of sixty, known as '''gerontes'''. The Gerousia was a prestigious body, holding extensive judicial and legislative powers, which shaped Sparta's policies. 

Ancient Greeks considered that the Gerousia was created by the mythical Spartan lawgiver [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] in his [[Great Rhetra]], the constitution of Sparta.   

The gerontes were elected through peculiar shouting elections, which were open to manipulation, especially from the kings.  

== Membership ==

The ''Gerousia'' consisted of thirty members in total. Twenty-eight elected members (called gerontes) and the two [[List of kings of Sparta|kings]], who were members by right, entering the chamber upon their accession. Unlike the kings, the 28 gerontes had to be at least 60 years old—the age when [[Spartiate|Spartan citizens]] were no longer required to serve in the [[Spartan army|army]]. Membership of the Gerousia was for life, which made the gerontes' position very prestigious within Spartan society.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 121.</ref>

The electoral procedure is known thanks to [[Plutarch]], who wrote in the 2nd century AD, but whose source was a lost study on the [[Spartan Constitution|Spartan constitution]] by [[Aristotle]].<ref>Plutarch, ''Lycurgus'', 26.</ref><ref name=":0">Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 122.</ref> There were no ballots: the gerontes were elected by [[Voice vote|shouting]]. The candidates passed one by one before the [[Spartiate|Spartan citizens]], who therefore shouted according to their preference. The loudness of the shouts was assessed by a jury confined into a windowless building, who then declared winner the candidate with the loudest shouts.<ref name=":0" /> Aristotle considered this system "childish", probably because influential people (such as the kings) could easily manipulate the elections.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', pp. 122, 123, even hints of a cooptation system.</ref>

The gerontes were likely drawn from a limited aristocracy composed of only a few families, sometimes called the ''[[Kalos kagathos|kaloi kagatoi]]''. Modern scholars have debated since the 19th century on whether these families had a legal privilege on Gerousia membership,<ref>Forrest, ''History of Sparta'', pp. 46, 63, 113.</ref> or just a ''de facto'' monopoly.<ref>Hicks, "Supposed Qualification", p. 23.</ref><ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', pp. 18, 122 ("so it is probably safest to assert only that in practice, ''de facto'' rather than ''de iure'', the Gerontes were drawn from a restricted social group").</ref> Of the latter opinion, [[G. E. M. de Ste. Croix]] compared the situation in Sparta with that of the [[Roman Republic]], where a few ''[[Gens|gentes]]'' monopolised senior magistracies, notably thanks to their patronage network—a practice likely prevalent in Spartan politics.<ref>Ste. Croix, ''Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', pp. 353, 354.</ref>

As the kings were by right members of the Gerousia, they usually entered the chamber well before the age of sixty and served much longer terms than the ordinary gerontes, which they could use to build their influence there. Several shrewd kings, such as [[Cleomenes I]] or [[Agesilaus II]], developed over the years such a network of supporters among the gerontes that they ''de facto'' controlled the Gerousia, therefore Sparta's external and internal policies. This patronage of the gerontes by a king is illustrated by the story reported by Plutarch of Agesilaus II offering an ox and cloak to every new member of the Gerousia.<ref>Ellen G. Millender, "Kingship: The History, Power, and Prerogatives of the Spartans' 'Divine' Dyarchy", in Powell (ed.), ''A Companion to Sparta'', p. 467.</ref>

[[Paul Cartledge]] notes that when a king was absent, his nearest relative could cast a vote for him in the Gerousia, which means that at least two gerontes besides the kings were of royal stock (one for each dynasty) and further shows the influence that the kings had on the electoral procedure, as they could engineer the elections of their relatives.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', pp. 109, 122.</ref>

The Gerousia was probably reformed by the king [[Cleomenes III]] (r.235–222), who made the gerontes elected annually. No longer elected for life, the source of the gerontes' prestige was removed and the Gerousia became a more pliable chamber as a result.<ref>Cartledge, ''Hellenistic and Roman Sparta'', p. 47.</ref><ref>Daniel Stewart, "From Leuktra to Nabis, 371–192", in Powell (ed.), A Companion to Sparta, p. 393.</ref>

== Functions ==

=== Supreme court ===
The Gerousia served as the court in charge of capital cases. A king could even be prosecuted before a special court of 34 members, made of the Gerousia and the five [[Ephor|ephors]] (the defendant king could not sit in the Gerousia during the trial).<ref name=":1">Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 123.</ref> A famous case was the trial of king [[Pausanias (king of Sparta)|Pausanias]] in 403; accused of betrayal for having restored democracy in [[Classical Athens|Athens]], he was nonetheless acquitted by a 19-15 decision, in which the other king [[Agis II]] had cast his vote against him.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 351.</ref> Thanks to this judicial power, the gerontes were able to significantly influence foreign policy, although they had no constitutional power in that field, because the fear of prosecution before the Gerousia compelled Spartan officials to follow the gerontes' opinion.<ref>Ste. Croix, ''Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', pp. 124–126.</ref> For example, in 371 the king [[Cleombrotus I|Cleombrotus]] was advised by his friends to energetically wage war against [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] to avoid a later trial.<ref name=":1" />

=== ''Probouleusis'' ===
The Gerousia debated motions which were to be put before the [[Apella|citizen assembly]], with the power to prevent any motion from being passed on.<ref>{{harvnb|Holland|2009|p=81}}</ref><ref name="Cartledge03-61">{{harvnb|Cartledge|2003|p=61}}</ref> The [[Great Rhetra]] suggests that it had the power to overturn decisions made by the Spartan assembly.<ref>{{harvnb|Cartledge|2003|p=62}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
The name Gerousia continued to be known in Laconia in the Deep or Mesa Mani known as the "Gerontikoi" until recent times.<ref name="Cartledge03-60">{{harvnb|Cartledge|2003|p=60}}</ref>

In the [[Hellenic Parliament|Parliament of modern Greece]], the name of the [[Greek Senate|upper house]] was Gerousia between 1844–1864 and 1927–1935.

== List of known gerontes of pre-Roman Sparta ==
Very few names of gerontes have been preserved before the Roman conquest.
* Hetoimaridas, an [[Heracleidae|Heraclid]] and influential geronte who convinced the Spartans not to go to war against Athens in 475.<ref>Poralla & Bradford, ''Prosopographie'', p. 54.</ref><ref>Ste. Croix, ''Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', pp. 143, 170.</ref>
* [[Lichas]] was likely a geronte at the end of the 5th century. He was an Olympic victor and played a significant role in shaping Spartan diplomacy.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 188.</ref> He died in Miletus c.396.<ref>Pouilloux & Salviat, ''Lichas, Lacédémonien'', p. 390.</ref>
* Etymokles, a friend of king [[Agesilaus II]]; while a geronte, he was also a member of an embassy to Athens when [[Sphodrias]] attempted to capture [[Piraeus]] in 378.<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 136.</ref>
* Prothöos, perhaps a geronte in 371, he argued for the recall of king [[Cleombrotus I|Cleombrotus]], who was leading an army against Thebes. His call was dismissed, and Sparta was defeated at the subsequent [[battle of Leuctra]].<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', pp. 307, 308.</ref>
* Aineidas, a geronte from the middle of the 4th century, only known from an inscription.<ref>Poralla & Bradford, Prosopographie, p. 192.</ref>
* Agasisthenes, a geronte c.150, who made a motion in the Gerousia to send into exile 24 citizens to avoid war with the [[Achaean League]].<ref>Bradford, ''Prosopography'', p. 10.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==

=== Ancient sources ===
* [[Plutarch]], ''[[Parallel Lives]]'' (Lycurgus, Agesilaus).

=== Modern sources ===
* {{Citation|last=Cartledge|first=Paul|title=The Spartans: An Epic History|year=2003|location=London|publisher=Pan Books|isbn=978-1-4472-3720-4}}
* Alfred S. Bradford, ''A Prosopography of Lacedaemonians from the Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B. C., to the Sack of Sparta by Alaric, A. D. 396'', Munich, Beck, 1977. {{ISBN|3-406-04797-1}}
* [[Paul Cartledge]], ''Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta'', Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. {{ISBN|978-0-7156-3032-7}}
* —— & Antony Spawforth, ''Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, A tale of two cities'', London and New York, Routledge, 2002 (originally published in 1989). {{ISBN|0-415-26277-1}}
* [[G. E. M. de Ste. Croix]], ''The Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', London, Duckworth, 1972. {{ISBN|0-7156-0640-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Forrest |first=W. G. |date=1968 |title=A history of Sparta, 950-192 B.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsparta90000forr_m3k9 |url-access=registration |publication-place=New York |publisher=Norton |isbn=9780393004816 |sbn=393-00481-3}}
* R. D. Hicks, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/694869 A Supposed Qualification for Election to the Spartan Senate]", ''The Classical Review'', Vol. 20, No. 1 (Feb., 1906), pp. 23-27.
* {{Citation |last=Holland |first=Tom |title=Persian Fire |year=2009 |location=London |publisher=Abacus |isbn=978-0-349-11717-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/persianfirefirst00tomh}}
* Paul Poralla & Alfred S. Bradford, ''Prosopographie der Lakedaimonier, bis auf die Zeit Alexanders des Grossen'', Chicago, 1985 (originally published in 1913). {{OCLC|1151065049}}
* J. Pouilloux & F. Salviat, "[https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1983_num_127_2_14058 Lichas, Lacédémonien, archonte à Thasos, et le livre viii de Thucydide]", ''Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres'', 127-2, 1983, pp. 376–403
* Anton Powell (editor), ''A Companion to Sparta'', Hoboken, Wiley, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-8869-2}}
* [[G. E. M. de Ste. Croix]], ''The Origins of the Peloponnesian War'', London, Duckworth, 1972. {{ISBN|0-7156-0640-9}}
* {{Citation|last=Schulz|first=Fabian|title=Die homerischen Räte und die spartanische Gerusie|year=2011|location=Düsseldorf|publisher=Wellem Verlag}}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Gerousia |volume=11 |page=903 |first=Marcus Niebuhr |last=Tod}}

{{Ancient Greece topics}}

[[Category: Government of Sparta]]
[[Category: Ancient Greek titles]]
[[Category:Defunct unicameral legislatures]]