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. 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. ^[1] It's official name is generally thought to have been 'the Ekkelsia', ^[2] rather than 'the Apella' as once commonly thought. ^[3]

Name

The official name for the popular assembly at Sparta—either 'the Ekklesia' or 'the Apella'—is disputed. ^[4] 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'". ^[5] However following Wade-Gery 1958, Andrewes 1970, and Ste. Croix 1972, scholarly consensus shifted in favor of 'Ekklesia'. ^[6] More recently, Welwei 1997, 2000, and 2004 has revived the dispute, advocating in favor of 'Apella'. ^[7]

Function

The Spartan Assembly consisted of the adult male citizenry, ^[8] and was one of the three institutions involved with decision-making at Sparta. ^[9] 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. ^[10] In contrast to it's Athenian counterpart, very little is known for certain about the Spartan Assembly. ^[11]

The earliest source for the role of the Spartan Assembly is the Great Rhetra (c. 700 BC?) attributed to the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus. ^[12] The Rhetra documents the decision-making procedures at Sparta, during the Archaic period. ^[13] It describes decision-making as being divided among the archagetai ('kings'), the gerousia ('elders'), and the damos ^[14] ('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. ^[15]

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 the geruosia. ^[16]

See also

• Apellai
• Great Rhetra

Notes

1. 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.
2. The same name used by the Athenians for their popular assembly.
3. Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1).
4. Schulz 2009, p. 335 n. 9: "Ob die Volksversammlung in Sparta Apella oder Ekklesia hieß, ist umstritten".
5. Ste Croix 1972, p. 346. See for example Ehrenberg 1968, pp. 31–33, 46, 383 n. 14.
6. 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."
7. Luther 2006, p. 74; Nafissi 2010, p. 95.
8. Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2015, s.v. ekklēsia; Cartledge 2015, s.v. Apellai (1), which adds the qualifier "in good standing".
9. Esu 2024, p. 125.
10. 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.
11. Kennell 2010, pp. 111–112.
12. 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 2006, pp. 37–40; Ehrenberg 1968 pp. 32–36.
13. As opposed to having established such procedures, 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."
14. The Doric spelling of the more familiar demos, see LSJ , s.v. δῆμος.
15. Esu 2024, p. 137. A fragment of the mid-seventh-century BC Spartan poet Tyrtaeus (fr. 3, b) seems to provide a paraphrase of the Rhetra saying that power in Sparta belonged first to the "princes / ... / Second to them are the elders, and next come the men of the people / Duly confirming by vote unperverted decrees", see: Ehrenberg, 1968, p. 32; Plutarch, Lycurgus 6.4.
16. Andrewes 1967, p. 2.

Bibliography

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