Spartan Assembly

Not to be confused with Apellai.

The Spartan Assembly, was the assembly of full citizens in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Its principal role was to ratify the proposals brought to it by the gerousia and the ephors. Unlike its more famous counterpart the Assembly of ancient Athens, the Spartan Assembly had more limited powers. It voted by acclamation, and whether it debated is unclear. Its official name is generally considered to have been 'the Ekklesia', ^[1] rather than 'the Apella' as once commonly thought.

Description

The Spartan Assembly, one of the three institutions involved with decision-making at Sparta, ^[2] consisted of the entire adult male citizenry, the Spartiates. ^[3] Its principal function 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. ^[4] In contrast to its Athenian counterpart, very little is known for certain about the Spartan Assembly. It could not, unlike the Athenian assembly, introduce legislation; it could only vote on legislation brought before it by the gerousia or ephors. Whether ordinary members of the Assembly had the right to speak is unclear. ^[5]

History

Archaic period

The Spartan Assembly probably existed, as an official Spartan institution, at least by the seventh century BC, and at first presumably met only when summoned. The earliest source for the Spartan Assembly is the Great Rhetra (c. 700 BC?), quoted by the first-century historian Plutarch, and attributed to the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus. ^[6] The Rhetra documents the decision-making procedures at Sparta, during the Archaic period. ^[7] It describes decision-making as being divided among the archagetai ('kings'), the gerousia ('elders'), and the damos ^[8] ('people', i.e. the Assembly), that the Assembly had regular meetings, at a fixed place, during which the two kings and the gerousia could put proposals for approval before the Assembly, and finally, that the kings and gerousia could veto any enactment passed by the Assembly. ^[9]

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 the assembly's consent was required before public action could be taken. ^[10] In Sparta's case, according to the Rhetra, the Assembly could also pass proposals of its own, subject to the possibility of their being vetoed by the geruosia. ^[11]

A fragment of the mid-seventh-century BC Spartan poet Tyrtaeus —using the terms "men of the people" (dēmotes andras) and "mass of the people" (dēmou plēthei)—seems also to refer to the Spartan Assembly during the Archaic period, saying that, after the kings and elders, then:

the men of the people, responding with straight utterances, are to speak fair words, act justly in everything, and not give the city (crooked) counsel. Victory and power are to accompany the mass of the people. ^[12]

As reported by Herodotus, in the mid-sixth century BC, the Assembly had enough power such that the threat of action by it could force the Spartan king Anaxandridas II to give in to the demands of the ephors and geruosia and take a second wife. ^[13]

Classical period

Other than the Great Rhetra and the Tyrtaeus fragment, no general statements concerning the Spartan Assembly are found until the fourth century BC, in book two of Aristotle's Politics , where Aristotle seems to dismiss the Assembly as weak. Although, as noted above, the Rhetra implies that the Assembly could, at least during the Archaic period, pass proposals of its own, albeit subject to veto, Aristotle descries the Spartan Assembly as having "no powers except the function of confirming by vote the resolutions already formed by the Elders [gerousia]". ^[14] In a following passage Aristotle says that, unlike "in the Carthaginian system", where "anybody who wishes may speak against the proposals introduced", at Sparta (and Crete), the "people" must "merely ... sit and listen to the decisions that have been taken by their rulers". ^[15]

However, Aristotle's view of the Spartan Assembly as powerless, seems not only to conflict with the evidence concerning the Assembly from the Archaic period, but also with other reports from the fifth century, through the time Aristotle is writing the Politics, in the fourth. ^[16] According to Diodorus Siculus, a debate was held in the Assembly, in the early fifth century BC, concerning the issue of whether Sparta should go to War with Athens for control of the sea, during which "the younger men and the majority of the others were [at first] eager" to do so. Thucydides describes the debate in the Assembly in 432 BC in which "the opinions of the majority all led to the same conclusion; the Athenians were open aggressors", and ended with the Assembly voting, by division, to declare war on Athens. ^[17] There are several other meetings of the Assembly during this period where matters "of major importance" were decided after "considerable debate". ^[18]

Meetings

Although prior to the Great Rhetra the Assembly had presumably met only when summoned (by the kings or gerousia?), the Rhetra established (as Plutarch apparently believed) regular meetings of the Assembly at a fixed time and place. ^[19] However exactly when and where these regular meetings took place is unknown. ^[20]

According to the Rhetra, the Spartans shall apellazein (ἀπελλάζειν), horas ex horas (ὥρας ἐξ ὥρας). Plutarch explains apellazein as meaning the same as ekklesiazein (ἐκκλησιάζειν) 'to conduct an assembly', and is thought to be a denominal verb deriving from the noun Apellai, the name of an annual festival celebrated at Delphi. ^[21] The phrase horas ex horas is a vague expression implying continual repetition of some specific time period, ^[22] which could be used to mean 'every year', 'every month', 'every day' (or the like), ^[23] or, more vaguely still, 'from time to time'. ^[24] Although the festival of the Apellai is only attested for Delphi, based upon the widespread presence of the related month name Apellaios in Doric calendars, it was apparently a common festival among the Dorians, ^[25] and from the use of word apellazein, it has been concluded that the meetings of the Assembly, as specified in the Rhetra, were to be held at the same time as the Spartan festival of the Apellai was celebrated. ^[26] However, while the Delphic Apellai was celebrated yearly, the meetings of the Spartan Assembly were probably held monthly. ^[27] Plutarch connects the word apellazein with Apollo, ^[28] and the Apellai is widely thought to have been a festival of Apollo. ^[29] According to Herodotus the Spartan kings sacrificed to Apollo "at each new moon and each seventh day of the first part of the month, ... from the public store". If one of these dates marked the Spartan Apellai, this would then imply that the festival was monthly, and so too perhaps the meetings of the Assembly. ^[30] Alternativily, a late scholion to Thucydides (1.67.3), says the Assembly met at each full moon. ^[31]

As quoted by Plutarch the Rhetra specified that the meetings were to be held "between Babyca and Cnakion". ^[32] Plutarch goes on to explain that: "The Babyca is now called Cheimarrus, and the Cnacion Oenus; but Aristotle says that Cnacion is a river, and Babyca a bridge. Between these they held their assemblies, having neither halls nor any other kind of building for the purpose." ^[33] However these names are otherwise unknown, and where Babyca and Cnakion "actually were is a complete mystery". ^[34] According to the second-century AD geographer Pausanias, the Spartan Assembly met "even at the present day" in a structure called the Scias ('Canopy') ^[35] located on a road leading from Sparta's market-place, and built by Theodorus of Samos (fl. c. 540 BC). ^[36]

Name

The official name for the popular assembly at Sparta—either 'the Ekklesia' or 'the Apella'—is disputed. ^[37] Scholarly consensus had thought that its official name was 'the Apella'. As recently as 1972, Ste Croix could declare that the "Spartan Assembly is still commonly referred to as 'the Apella'". ^[38] However following Wade-Gery 1958, Andrewes 1970, and Ste. Croix 1972, consensus shifted in favor of 'Ekklesia'. ^[39] More recently, Welwei 1997, 2000, and 2004 has revived the dispute, advocating in favor of 'Apella'. ^[40] Nevertheless, according to Nafissi 2010, current consensus "based on ancient evidence" still favors 'Ekklesia'. ^[41]

Notes

1. The same name used by the Athenians for their popular assembly.
2. Esu 2024, p. 125.
3. Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2015, s.v. ekklēsia; Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1), which adds the qualifier "in good standing".
4. 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.
5. Kennell 2010, pp. 111–112.
6. 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: Esu 2024, pp. 126–127, 136–137; Nafissi 2010; Kennell 2010, pp. 45–50; Raaflaub and Wallace 2007, pp. 37–40; Ehrenberg 1968 pp. 32–36; Wade-Gery 1958.
7. According to modern scholarship, the Rhetra did not, as Plutarch thought, establish Sparta's form of government, see: Nafissi 2010; Esu 2024, p. 127: "Nafissi has demonstrated that the rhētra does not, in fact, outline the original foundation of the Spartan constitution; rather it is a piece of retrospective history elaborated and accepted by Archaic Spartan society".
8. The Doric spelling of the more familiar demos, see LSJ , s.v. δῆμος.
9. Esu 2024, p. 137.
10. Andrewes 1967, p. 2.
11. Esu 2024, p. 137.
12. Tyrtaeus fr. 4.5–9 Gerber; Raaflaub and Wallace 2007, p. 38; West 1974, pp. 184–186; West 1972, pp. 151–152; Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.4 (vv. 5–6); 7.12.6 (vv. 5–9). The text translated here is five verses of a ten verse fragment of Tyrtaeus, with vv. 5–6 coming from Plutarch (with minor substitutions from Diodorus) and vv. 7–9 coming from Diodorus, see van Hilten-Rutten 2020, pp. 72–73 with n. 3.
13. Kennell 2010, p. 104; Andrewes 1967, pp. 3–4; Herodotus, 5.39.2–40.1.
14. Andrewes 1967, pp. 2–3; Aristotle, Politics 1272a. Andrewes notes that "Logically the power to ratify should include a power to refuse to ratify, but Aristotle's phrasing and the verb he uses (συνεπιψηίσαι) rather suggest that he thought the assembly was a mere rubber stamp", while according to Wade-Gery 1958, p. 39, it is "evident" that "Plutarch conceived the Rhetra as leaving to the Ekklesia wide powers of amendment".
15. Andrewes 1967, p. 3; Aristotle, Politics 1273a. For a discussion of this problematic passage see Wade-Gery, pp. 51–54.
16. Andrewes 1967, p. 6, with calls this conflict "irremediable".
17. Andrewes 1967, p. 4; Wade-Gery 1958, p. 65; Diodorus Siculus, 11.50; Thucydides, 1.79-87. Concerning these and other debates Wade-Gery remarks that: "there seems to be plenty of talk", and while the reported speakers are all officials, "it is gratuitous to suppose that they had to be", while Kennell 2010, p. 112, writes that: "who the possessors of various 'opinions' mentioned by the historians were and whether they might have expressed them in debates remains unknown".
18. Andrewes 1967, p. 6. See: Thucydides, 5.77.1, 6.88.10; Xenophon, Hellenica 2.2.19, 2.4.38, 3.2.23, 4.6.3, 5.2.11, 20, 5.2.33, 6.3.3, 6.4.3. Kennell 2010, p. 111, concludes that the Classical Assembly: "far from being a cockpit of free-wheeling debate and legislative initiative like the Athenian Assembly, the Spartan model was no mere rubber stamp for decisions of the magistrates."
19. As Kennell 2010, p. 48, describes it, meetings of the Assembly would "no longer [be] at the whim of the kings – an important advance from Homeric practice".
20. Kennell 2010, p. 112.
21. Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai; The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. ἀπελλάζω (p. 168); LSJ , s.v. ἀπελλάζω; Beekes 2009, s.v. ἀπέλλαι (p. 115); Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.2.
22. The word horas refers to any fixed but unspecified period of time such as an hour, day, month, year (etc.), see LSJ , s.v. ὥρα.
23. Nafissi 2010, pp. 94–95. The translation of horas ex horas used by Nafissi (and adopted by Esu 2024) is "regularly". See also: Kennell 2010, p. 46 ("from month to month"); Raaflaub and Wallace 2007, p. 37 ("from season to season"); Ehrenberg 1968, p. 32 ("from season to season").
24. So Perrin 1914's translation of Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.1.
25. Burkert 1975, p. 8; Nilsson 1967, p. 556; Nilsson 1906, pp. 464–465.
26. Kennel 2010, p. 48; Nafissi 2010, pp. 94–95; Ste. Croix 1972, p. 347.
27. Wade-Gery 1958, pp. 45–46; Burkert 1975, p. 10; Luther 2006, pp. 81, 86; Nafissi 2010, p. 94 n. 28; Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1).
28. Wade-Gery, p. 46; Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.2.
29. E.g. Cartledge s.v. Apellai (1), s.v. Apellai (2); Welwei, s.v. Apella, Apellai.
30. Wade-Gery, p. 46; Herodotus, 6.57.2.
31. Kennell 2010, p. 112; Luther 2006, pp. 81, 86; Ste, Croix 1972, p. 347; Wade-Gery, p. 46. Although Wade-Gery says that the "meetings were surely monthly", he concludes, p. 47: "Whether the day of apellai was the New Moon or Full Moon or the Seventh, I see little hope of deciding."
32. Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.1.
33. Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.3–4.
34. Kennell, p. 112.
35. LSJ , s.v. σκιάς.
36. Pausanias, 3.12.10 with note.
37. Schulz 2009, p. 335 n. 9: "Ob die Volksversammlung in Sparta Apella oder Ekklesia hieß, ist umstritten".
38. Ste Croix 1972, p. 346. See for example Ehrenberg 1968, pp. 31–33, 46, 383 n. 14.
39. 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."
40. Luther 2006, p. 74; Nafissi 2010, p. 95 n. 28.
41. Nafissi 2010, p. 95 n. 28.

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