Boule. Detailed history

The boule was the executive council for Greek city-states. Most cities had some type of boule, which was often quite large, to run the day-to-day operations of the city. In Mycenaean times, it probably consisted of nobles who advised the king on important matters. During the Archaic Age, when a small group of elites or an oligarch might rule, the boule was often composed of other elites in a hereditary system to advise the leading council. It was in democracies where the boule fully developed into a system of a governing body that served for one year so that individual members would not become too powerful.

Although little is known of the boule in most cities, for Athens a considerable amount of detail and workings are known from literary and epigraphic (inscriptions) sources. In Athens, the original boule was the Areopagus, a council staffed by 400 ex-archons or magistrates. These individuals came from the upper classes and held exclusive power. This council would hear court appeals on the most important decisions. Under Cleisthenes’s reforms, the boule was increased to 500, where 50 members were selected by lot from each tribe.

They were selected at the local or deme level (with 139 demes), with more coming from the larger, more populated demes. At this time, boule membership was restricted to citizens over thirty years old from the top three (out of four) property classes. The property restriction was probably dropped in the fourth century (although perhaps not legally or formally) so that the lowest class could serve due to the decline in population. Under Cleisthenes’s reforms, an individual could serve on the boule only once in his lifetime.

This appears to have been altered sometime in the fourth century so that one could serve twice, but no more than that, during his lifetime, but the second time had to occur after a considerable period of time, perhaps as much as a decade. Since the boule had 500 members, it meant that by twenty years, 10,000 citizens would have served.

For each of the ten months of the boule’s term, one tribe would be in charge of the executive council or prytany. The determination of which tribe would be in charge was made by lot. The prytany would call to order the business of the boule and the general assembly, or ecclesia. During the month, on each day one of its members was chosen by lot to be in charge of the prytany, an office known as the epistates.

He was given the state seal and keys to the treasuries. No one could be an epistates more than once, and this person was required to be in attendance in the boule for the twenty-four-hour period he was chairman. He presided over the boule, as well as the ecclesia if it was held during the day that he was serving.

By 411, the boule members were paid at a rate of 5 obols per day (6 or 1 drachma for prytany), but presumably only for those who showed up at the meetings. From evidence, especially orators, it is clear that not all members of the boule showed up every day. Some members of the council lived away from the center of the city and had farms and businesses to run, so they may not have been able or willing to attend each day.

The boule met in the bouleterion. Since the prytany was required to be present every day, the members were fed and housed next to the bouleterion in the tholos during their month of service. The prytany received the official delegations and messengers for the city and prepared the agenda.

Matters could be debated by the boule, but anything requiring approval by the Athenians had to be sent to the ecclesia. The boule would draft the proposal or resolution, which was put before the ecclesia. The boule had immense power since it could determine what the agenda was. Officers of the state or any member of the boule could bring a matter before the ecclesia through the boule.

With the rise of the Athenian Empire (i.e., the Delian League), the boule became involved in diplomatic and financial affairs more often. Since the ecclesia was too large to meet every day about every matter, it fell to the boule to handle many of the day-to-day functions of running an empire. It is clear that the boule became the agent of carrying out the ideas of the ecclesia.

The boule also ensured that the state ran its affairs in an honest manner. It was in charge of overseeing the financial regulations and books of the various treasurers and officials. It would audit the account books both before and after an individual took office, and if a problem was found, it would investigate and even bring charges when appropriate. Since Athens did not have individuals in charge of these affairs who held office for more than a year, it was the boule as an institution that had the expertise and continuity to oversee the various complexities of Athenian finances.

At first, it appears that individuals would come to the boule to request monies for any necessary expenditures. This was probably to ensure that the state could keep an eye on all expenses to prevent corruption. By the end of the fifth century, doing this became too cumbersome, and instead the boule would authorize expenses to a body as part of its regular fiscal operations. In addition, the boule selected a board of auditors from its own members by lot to examine the books of these bodies and treasurers to prevent corruption.

This process was changed in the mid-fourth century, where officers were elected who oversaw the spending of accounts in an effort to create a more professional system. Even in this system, though, the boule retained control over oversight and auditing. Although this change took place in law, this situation had already existed in reality, as men such as Pericles had acquired a great amount of knowledge about the state and its functions in order to determine exactly how much could be spent on projects.

The boule, then, was one of the key components of the Athenian democracy, ensuring that the people retained complete control of their destiny. As its members were selected by lot from the whole population, the boule ensured that it was by the people, from the people, and for the people.