John Malcolm Mitchell

“ When we consider, however, the double danger of leaving the Ecclesia in full power, and yet under the presidency of the aristocratic archons, it seems probable that the probouleutic functions were devised by Solon as a method of maintaining the balance. On this hypothesis the Solonian Boulē was from the first what it certainly was later, a committee of the Ecclesia, i.e. not a “senate.” It may be regarded as certain Cleisthenes’ council.that the system of Prytaneis was the invention of Cleisthenes, not of Solon. ”

“ Three suggestions have been made, (1) that each tribeSolon’s council. chose its representatives, (2) that they were chosen by lot from qualified citizens in rotation, (3) that the combined method of selection by lot from a larger number of elected candidates was employed. According to the passage in Plutarch’s Solon the functions of this body were from the first probouleutic (i.e. it prepared the business for the Ecclesia) . Others hold that this function was not assigned to it until the Cleisthenean reforms. ”

“ It was impossible that the Five Hundred Prytaneis. should all sit every day, and, therefore, to facilitate the despatch of business, the system of Prytaneis was introduced, probably by Cleisthenes. By this system the year was divided into ten equal periods. During each of these periods the council was represented by the fifty councillors of one of the ten tribes, who acted as a committee for carrying on business for a tenth of the year. ”

“ Perrot, Essai sur le droit public d’Athènes (1869) . It should be observed that all works published before 1891 are so far useless that they are without the information contained in the Constitution of Athens (q.v.) ”