DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0104
32
OP THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS,
that the gods be religiously worshipped. We have therefore faithful-
ly discharged this duty for you. We have sacrificed to Jupiter the
Saviour, to Minerva, to Victory ; all which oblations have been accept-
ed for your safety. We have likewise offered sacrifices to Persuasion
(nst8a>), to the mother of gods, to Apollo, which have met with the like
good success. Als••> the sacrifices offered to the rest of the gods, have
been all secure and acceptable, and salutiferous : receive, therefore,
the happiness which the gods have vouchsafed to grant you (1). The
first assembly was upon the eleventh day of the Prytanea ; the second
upon the twentieth ; the third upon the thirtieth ; the fourth upon the
thirty-third. Some there are that reckon by the month, and tell us thai;
they had three assemblies every month, upon the first, tenth, and thir-
tieth days ; or upon the tenth, twentieth, and thirtieth (2). But the
former computation seems to be more agreeable to the custom of the an-
cient Athenians, amongst whom were ten ngurctvclou, according to the
number of their tribes, each of which ruled thirty-five days in which
they had four assemblies. Afterwards, the number of the tribes being in-
creased by an accession of two new ones, the nguravsUt were also twelve
in number, each of which ruled a month, and then perhaps the latter
computation might take place.
2uyxXrjToi *ExxXi]c,i'«ei, were so called, dvo t« <fvyxaks7v, because the peo-
ple were summoned together ; whereas in theK^/ai, they met of their own
accord, without receiving any notice from the magistrates, as Ulpian ob-
serves (3). The persons that summoned the people were commonly the
XTifaT^yo/.thelloXEM.a^*!, ortheK^uxtj in their names, because the occasion
of these extraordinary assemblies, was, for the most part, the coming on
of some sudden, unexpected, and dangerous war ; sometimes the pryta-
nes, if the senate so ordered it, as they usually did when any civil affairs,
in which the Srgarriyoi were not concerned, required a quicker dispatch
than could be given them in the Ku£<ca. The crier (x^t/g) seems to have
summoned them twice at least: whence in Aristophanes it is said to be
full time to go to the assembly, because the crier had given the second
call;
'HfAuly Tr^oTiovraiv, cTsi/rsgov jc««ok»uxsv(4).
KaTSxjcXTitfiai, as Pollux, xavrnXvasis, as Ammonius. or KaraKk^<riai, as
Hesychius calls them, were assemblies held upon some very weighty and
momentous affair, to which they summoned not only those citizens that
resided in the city, but all that lived in the country, or were in the ships
then at anchor in the haven.
The places where the 'ExxX^tfieo were assembled, were several; at first,
'Aytga, or the market-place ; and there, not the Athenians only, but
most other cities, had their public meetings, because it was usually very
capacious. Hence the assemblies themselves came to be called "Ayo^ctr,
and to make a speech 'ayogsveiv, a9 Harpocration observes.
nvlg, was a place near the citadel, so called Sta to fretfuxswo'dai <ro~s X/-
<5oig, 4 raj's xaM£ga.ig, » 5ia to a-fir'uxvwo'dai h aurjj <r£$ /3«Xiu<ras, because it
was filled with stones, or seats set close together, or from the crowds of
men in the assemblies ; and therefore mmW-r^ is by the comedians taken
(1) Demosthenes, proem. 63.
(2) Ulpian» in Demosth. Aristoph, Schol.
(3) In Orat. de falsa Legat.
<4) Concionatricibus. p. 686. ed. Amstelod,
OP THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS,
that the gods be religiously worshipped. We have therefore faithful-
ly discharged this duty for you. We have sacrificed to Jupiter the
Saviour, to Minerva, to Victory ; all which oblations have been accept-
ed for your safety. We have likewise offered sacrifices to Persuasion
(nst8a>), to the mother of gods, to Apollo, which have met with the like
good success. Als••> the sacrifices offered to the rest of the gods, have
been all secure and acceptable, and salutiferous : receive, therefore,
the happiness which the gods have vouchsafed to grant you (1). The
first assembly was upon the eleventh day of the Prytanea ; the second
upon the twentieth ; the third upon the thirtieth ; the fourth upon the
thirty-third. Some there are that reckon by the month, and tell us thai;
they had three assemblies every month, upon the first, tenth, and thir-
tieth days ; or upon the tenth, twentieth, and thirtieth (2). But the
former computation seems to be more agreeable to the custom of the an-
cient Athenians, amongst whom were ten ngurctvclou, according to the
number of their tribes, each of which ruled thirty-five days in which
they had four assemblies. Afterwards, the number of the tribes being in-
creased by an accession of two new ones, the nguravsUt were also twelve
in number, each of which ruled a month, and then perhaps the latter
computation might take place.
2uyxXrjToi *ExxXi]c,i'«ei, were so called, dvo t« <fvyxaks7v, because the peo-
ple were summoned together ; whereas in theK^/ai, they met of their own
accord, without receiving any notice from the magistrates, as Ulpian ob-
serves (3). The persons that summoned the people were commonly the
XTifaT^yo/.thelloXEM.a^*!, ortheK^uxtj in their names, because the occasion
of these extraordinary assemblies, was, for the most part, the coming on
of some sudden, unexpected, and dangerous war ; sometimes the pryta-
nes, if the senate so ordered it, as they usually did when any civil affairs,
in which the Srgarriyoi were not concerned, required a quicker dispatch
than could be given them in the Ku£<ca. The crier (x^t/g) seems to have
summoned them twice at least: whence in Aristophanes it is said to be
full time to go to the assembly, because the crier had given the second
call;
'HfAuly Tr^oTiovraiv, cTsi/rsgov jc««ok»uxsv(4).
KaTSxjcXTitfiai, as Pollux, xavrnXvasis, as Ammonius. or KaraKk^<riai, as
Hesychius calls them, were assemblies held upon some very weighty and
momentous affair, to which they summoned not only those citizens that
resided in the city, but all that lived in the country, or were in the ships
then at anchor in the haven.
The places where the 'ExxX^tfieo were assembled, were several; at first,
'Aytga, or the market-place ; and there, not the Athenians only, but
most other cities, had their public meetings, because it was usually very
capacious. Hence the assemblies themselves came to be called "Ayo^ctr,
and to make a speech 'ayogsveiv, a9 Harpocration observes.
nvlg, was a place near the citadel, so called Sta to fretfuxswo'dai <ro~s X/-
<5oig, 4 raj's xaM£ga.ig, » 5ia to a-fir'uxvwo'dai h aurjj <r£$ /3«Xiu<ras, because it
was filled with stones, or seats set close together, or from the crowds of
men in the assemblies ; and therefore mmW-r^ is by the comedians taken
(1) Demosthenes, proem. 63.
(2) Ulpian» in Demosth. Aristoph, Schol.
(3) In Orat. de falsa Legat.
<4) Concionatricibus. p. 686. ed. Amstelod,