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Gerousia

The Gerousia (Γερουσία), (also called the Spartan Senate) was the council of elders in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. It was a prestigious body, holding important judicial, legislative, and supervisory powers. During the Archaic and Classical periods, the Gerousia consisted of the two Spartan kings, plus twenty-eight adult male citizens (Spartiates) called gerontes (γέροντες, singular: γέροντ, geront). The gerontes were required to be at least sixty years old, were elected by acclamation, and held office for life. Following the Classical period, its membership, minimum age, and tenure were all reduced.

Power and importance

At Sparta, political power was divided between three deliberative bodies, the Gerousia, the ephors, and the Spartan Assembly. Although the relative power and importance of the Gerousia with respect to these other two bodies is a matter of scholarly debate, the Gerousia was, apparently, the most prestigious. Since membership in the Gerousia was for life, being a geront was particularly prestigious within a Spartan society that accorded great respect to old age, and within the Gerousia, the votes of the "ordinary" geront carried as much weight as that of each of the kings.

Newly elected gerontes received considerable institutionalized honors. According to Plutarch a new geront wore a crown, and visited each of the city's temples, leading a large procession of young men and women singing his praise. After which he was feted at a series of private banquets. At the common mess he received two portions of food, one of which he set aside. At the end of the meal, his female relatives would gather at the mess hall doorway, and he would give his second portion to the one he most esteemed. She would then be lauded and escorted home by the others.

The Gerousia performed important judicial, legislative, and supervisory functions.

Judicial

The Gerousia was the highest court of law in Sparta, serving as the court in charge of capital cases. Both Xenophon and Aristotle report on the kinds of cases the Gerousia had jurisdiction over. According to Xenophon, the Gerousia was in charge of offenses subject to the death penalty (τοὺς γέροντας κυρίους τοῦ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγῶνος), while according to Aristotle, the Gerousia presided over cases of homicide (while the ephors took cases of breach of contract, and other magistrates handled other kinds of cases), and in another passage (presumably referring to the Gerousia) says that a "few persons have the power to sentence to death and exile, and a number of other such matters". As Plutarch describes it, the gerontes were "lord[s] ... of life and death, honour and dishonour, and all the greatest issues of life."

Even the Spartan kings could be subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Gerousia (sometimes at least in conjunction with the ephors). According to the second-century travel writer Pausanias, the court (δικαστήριον) responsible for the trial of a Spartan king consisted of the twenty-eight gerontes, the ephors, and the other king, and that, in the trial of king Pausanias, in 403 BC, fourteen gernotes and king Agis voted guilty, and rest of the gerontes and ephors voted for acquittal. Although this is the only trial of a king for which the Gerousia is explicitly mentioned as having been involved, Pausanias' description of the makeup of such a tribunal is generally accepted as having been the established practice. The Gerousia's judicial authority could entail political power as well, as the threat of prosecution could exert considerable influence over the conduct of Spartan foreign policy. Pausanias' statement concerning the makeup of a royal tribunal, is general accepted as having been usually the case.

Legislative

The Gerousia and the ephors shaped state policy through their shared powers of probouleusis and nomophulakia. Probouleusis (preliminary deliberation) was a common feature of most Ancient Greek decision-making procedures, whereby a select council or group of officials drafted motions and submitted them to a popular assembly for ratification. At Sparta the probouleutic institutions were the Gerousia and ephors.

The Gerousia and ephors also held the power of nomophulakia (guardianship of the law) designed to protect Spartan nomos (practice, custom, and law), a power meant to insure both the legality of the enactments passed by the Assembly, as well as their conformity with traditional Spartan norms. An explicit example of this power of nomophulakia is found in the Great Rhetra, according to which, the Gerousia could not only submit proposals to the Assembly, but could also veto any action of the Assembly.

Membership

The Archaic and Classical Gerousia consisted of thirty members, twenty-eight elected members (called gerontes) and the two kings, who were members by right, entering the chamber upon their accession. Unlike the kings, the gerontes had to be at least sixty years old—the age when Spartan citizens were no longer required to serve in the army. The gerontes were elected by acclamation and held office for life.

The electoral procedure is known thanks to the biographer Plutarch, who wrote c. 100 AD, but whose source was probably the lost Aristotelian Constitution of the Lakedaimonians (Lakedaimoniōn Politeia). There were no ballots: the Spartan Assembly elected the gerontes by acclamation, their usual voting method. The candidates passed one by one before the Assembly, who then shouted according to their preference. The loudness of the shouts was assessed by a jury confined into a windowless building, who then declared the winner to be the candidate receiving what they judged to be the loudest shouts. Aristotle called the election procedure for the Gerousia "childish" (παιδαριώδης), probably referring to the method of voting by shouting (boa) described by Plutarch.

According to Aristotle, the Gerousia was the element of Sparta's mixed constitution which represented the kaloi kāgathoi (the 'fine and noble'). The gerontes were likely drawn from a limited aristocracy composed of only a few families. While there is no explicit proof of any legal restriction on eligibility, it is generally assumed that these families enjoyed a de facto monopoly. G. E. M. de Ste. Croix compared the situation in Sparta with that of the Roman Republic, where a few gentes monopolised senior magistracies, notably thanks to their patronage network—a practice likely prevalent in Spartan politics.

Although, as noted above, each of the members of the Gerousia had an equal vote, the two kings, who were members ex officio, could acquire power exceeding that of the ordinary geront. The kings usually entered the chamber well before the age of sixty and thus served much longer terms than the other gerontes, enabling them to exert considerable influence over the rest of the Gerousia, and thus over Spartan policy. The kings enormous wealth could also be used to exert influence. According to Plutarch, Agesilaus II sent an ox and a cloak to each newly elected geront. The kings also enjoyed the prerogative of voting by proxy.

The Gerousia was reformed by the king Cleomenes III (r.235–222), who made the gerontes elected annually. No longer elected for life, the major source of the gerontes<nowiki>'</nowiki> prestige was removed, and the Gerousia became a more pliable chamber as a result.

Legacy

In the Parliament of modern Greece, the name of the upper house was Gerousia between 1844–1864 and 1927–1935.

Possible gerontes of pre-Roman Sparta

Very few names of gerontes have been preserved before the Roman conquest.

  • Hetoimaridas, an Heraclid and influential geront who convinced the Spartans not to go to war against Athens in 475.
  • Lichas was perhaps a geront at the end of the 5th century. He was an Olympic victor and played a significant role in shaping Spartan diplomacy. He died in Miletus c.396.
  • Etymokles, a friend of king Agesilaus II; while a geront, he was also a member of an embassy to Athens when Sphodrias attempted to capture Piraeus in 378.
  • Prothöos, perhaps a geront in 371, he argued for the recall of king Cleombrotus, who was leading an army against Thebes. His call was dismissed, and Sparta was defeated at the subsequent battle of Leuctra.
  • Aineidas, a geront from the middle of the 4th century, only known from an inscription.
  • Agasisthenes, a geront c.150, who made a motion in the Gerousia to send into exile 24 citizens to avoid war with the Achaean League.

Notes

References