How Did the Athenian "Ecclesia" Vote? Hansen, Mogens Herman Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1977; 18, 2; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 123

How Did the Athenian Ecclesia Vote? 
Mogens Herman Hansen 

I 

I N CLASSICAL ATHENS two kinds of voting were employed: the 
assembly voted by a show of hands and the popular court by 
ballot. The vote by ballot is known in every detail thanks to the 

account given by Aristotle in the Constitution of Athens 68-69 and to 
the discovery of several bronze psephoi of the classical period. The 
cheirotonia, however, is described neither by Aristotle nor by any 
other contemporary author and, although in this case archaeological 
evidence seems to be ruled out, it is in fact the excavations of the Pnyx 
which constitute the basis of the two most recent discussions of the 
subject by A. L. Boegehold and E. S. Staveley.l In discussing the Athen­
ian voting procedure we are once more faced with the curious fact 
that the working of the people's court is abundantly attested, whereas 
the ecclesia is shrouded in mystery because of the silence of our sources. 

1 References in this article, hereafter cited by author's name and page number, are to: 
A. L. BOEGEHOLD, "Toward a Study of Athenian Voting Procedure," Hesperia 32 (1963) 
366-74. C. G. BRANDIS, ·"EKKA."IcLa. ... RE 5 (1905) 2163-2200. G. BUSOLT and H. SWOBODA. 
Griechische Staatskunde I-II (MUnchen 1920-26). J. DELZ, Lukians Kenntnis der athenischen 
Antiquitiiten (Freiburg 1950). E. B. ENGLAND, The Laws of Plato I-II (London 1921). K. VON 
FRITZ and E. KAPP, Aristotle's Constitution of Athens and Related Texts (New York 1950). D. J. 
GEAGAN. The Athenian Constitution after Sulla (Hesperia Supp1.12, 1967). G. GILBERT, Hand­
buch der griechischen Staatsalterthumer I (Leipzig 1893). M. H. HANSEN, "How Many Athenians 
Attended the Ecclesia?," GRBS 17 (1976) 115-34. Idem, "The Dura.tion of a Meeting of the 
Athenian Ecclesia." CP 74 (1979). Idem, The Sovereignty of the People's Court in Athens in 
the Fourth Century B.C. and the Public Action against Unconstitutional Proposals (Odense 1974). 
E. KOCH, .. X~'PO'Tov~tv," RE 3 (1899) 2225-26. K. KOUROUNIOTES and H. A. THOMPSON, "The 
Pnyx in Athens," Hesperia 1 (1932) 90-217. J. H. LIPslUs. Das attische Recht und Rechtsverfahren 
I-III (Leipzig 1905-15). W. A. McDONALD, The Political Meeting Places of the Greeks (Balti­
more 1943). G. R. MORROW, Plato's Cretan City (Princeton 1960). D. J. MOSLEY, Envoys and 
Diplomacy in Ancient Greece (Historia Einzelschr. 22. 1973). J. E. NEALE, The Elizabethan House 
of Commons (London 1949). J. H. OLIVER, The Sacred Gerousia (Hesperia Supp1.6, 1947). H. 
RYFFEL. Die schweizerischen Landsgemeinden (ZUrich 1903). J. F. SLY, Town Government in 
Massachusetts 1620-1930 (Cambridge [Mass.] 1930). E. S. STAVELEY, Greek and Roman Voting 
and Elections (London 1972). W. STAUFFACHER, Die Versammlungsdemokratie im Kanton Glarus 
(ZUrich 1963). A. WILHELM, "Neue Beitrage zur griechischen Inschriftenkunde," SBWien 
183 (1921) 1-79. Idem "Zu griechischen Inschriften," AEM 20 (1897) 79-82. The scattered 
publications of the bronze psephoi are collected by Boegehold 366 n.1. All the psephoi are 
dated by letter forms to the fourth century B.C. 

123 



124 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

If the scanty evidence, however, is combined with an a priori argu­
ment, it should be possible to reconstruct a fairly reliable picture of 
how the Athenians passed their decrees and elected their officials. 

In the orators the vote taken by the people is described either with 
the verb ~"1cp{~€cOa£ or with the verb X€LPO-rOV€LV. Whereas ~"1cp{~€COaL. 
in the fourth century at least, must be interpreted metaphorically,2 
we have sufficient evidence that X€LPO-rOV€LV has to be taken in the 
literal sense of the word. In Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae (262-65) the 
women are reminded that on the Pnyx they have to raise their arms 
instead of (as usual) their legs; and Xenophon (Hell. 1.7.7) provides us 
with the valuable information that the majority was assessed by 
surveying the assembly: he tells us that the first ecclesia hearing the 
trial of the generals was adjourned because it was too late to see the 
hands. Several sources state that the X€Lpo-rov{a took the form of a 
fjLaX£Lpo-rov{a. When the people voted on a single proposal, first the 
ayes and then the nays were asked to raise their hands;3 and similarly, 
when the choice was between two proposals, the chairman asked first 
for those supporting proposal A and then for those supporting 
proposal B.' So the voting was conducted by stages, and this is suffi­
cient proof that the citizens raised their hands while seated and that 
no kind of division was applied. It is apparent from Lysias 12.75 that a 
citizen might abstain from voting, but the number of abstentions was 
probably not assessed, since all sources dealing with fj£aX€Lpo-rov{a 

mention only two successive stages. 
So far we are on safe ground. The difficulties ·accumulate when we 

seek to know the officials in charge of the cheirotonia and the method of 
assessing the majority. Concerning the fifth century we are (as usual) 
almost ignorant of the procedure. The only relevant source is Arist. 
Ath.Pol. 30.5, a paper constitution of 411 B.C. prescribing that a board 
of five councillors chosen by lot be entrusted with the cheirotoniai. 
Under the democratic constitution it may be assumed that the pry­
taneis were responsible for deciding the outcome of the vote, but the 
assumption is no more than an argument from analogy with the 
following period./) The fourth-century evidence is more satisfactory: 

I When describing decisions made by the ecclesia the verb ifn/q,l,£c8«, is often used 
synonymously with X£'poTOJl€'iv, e.g., Isoc. 8.52. 

a Oem. 22.5 and 9, 24.20,59.4-5; Aeschin. 3.39. The councillors: Arist. Ath.Pol. 49.2; IG III 
223 A 5. 

'IG II 57.5ff; Xen. Hell. 1.7.34; Oem. 24.33 (the nomothetai); Oem. 47.43 (the councillors). 
6 We know that in the fourth century the proedroi were responsible for (a) putting a 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 125 

from about 380 the ecclesiai were presided over by the nine proedroi, and 
two sources state that the vote was conducted and the show of hands 
assessed by this board of councillors (Aeschin. 3.3; Arist. Ath.Pol. 44.3). 

In most treatments of the Athenian voting procedure it is cautiously 
suggested without any discussion of the problem that an exact count 
of the votes might possibly be omitted in a procheirotonia or when a 
proposal was passed by an overwhelming majority.6 But it is taken 
for granted that usually the votes were counted with precision, and 
the main source olrrpb£Spo£ ••• 'T<Xc X£Lpo'Tovlac KplvoVCLV (Ath.Pol. 44.3) 
is unhesitatingly rendered by the phrase Hthe proedroi ... count the 
votes" (von Fritz/Kapp 118; Boegehold 373). It is admitted that the 
count of s"everal thousands of hands is no simple task, but the in­
ference has been that the Athenians attending the ecclesia must have 
been ordered into groups on the Pnyx and that each of the tellers 
must have been responsible for the count of one of the sections of the 
auditorium. This has led to the further inference that the citizens 
were grouped according to their tribes. So there must have been ten 
tellers and, faced with the problem that the proedroi numbered only 
nine, the solution has been to call in the ETTlC'TcX.TYJC 'TWV rrpv'TcX.v€WV as 
the tenth enumerator.7 Only slight evidence can be produced in 
support of this elaborate reconstruction: 

1. The assumption that the citizens were ordered into groups (the 
ten phylae) is based entirely on archaeological evidence which is 
difficult to interpret. Describing the Pnyx of the first period (ca 50Q-ca 
404), the excavators state that H a number of stele beddings cut in the 
rock surface suggest that the seating area was divided in some manner" 
(Kourouniotes/Thompson 104) ... HIt is uncertain whether we have 
to do with a formal arrangement according to which the citizens 
were required to seat themselves" (p.105). In addition to the a priori 
assumption that the votes must have been counted, these cuttings 
are in fact the principal evidence for the theory proposed by Beogehold 
and Staveley. In my opinion too much has been based on the exca­
vators' cautious statements and, even supposing that the auditorium 

proposal to the vote and (b) assessing the majority. We have ample evidence that the pry­
taneis in the fifth century were responsible for putting the proposals to the vote (e.g., 
Xen. Hell. 1.7.14-15), and by analogy we may assume that they were entrusted with the 
decision on the outcome of the vote. 

e Gilbert 332; BusoltjSwoboda 1002; Koch 2226; Boegehold 373; Staveley 86. 
7 Staveley 86; cf Boegehold 374. 



126 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

was subdivided in some way or another, we need not draw the con­
clusion that this arrangement was based on the phylae and introduced 
in order to facilitate the count of the votes. 

2. The evidence of the count of votes is even more doubtful. The 
only source which can be cited is a note on the lemma Ka'TEXE£pO-

, , ~ 8 ' ,~ .1 ...... .1.. ' , - , I:' , , 
'TOV'Y/CEV av'TOv: av'T£ 'TOV Ka'TE'f"I'f'£ca'TO av'TOv. Ka'TaXEtp0'TOv(,a OE Ka(' 
, , I:' .1..' , , , " " It\ 

a7TOXE£p0'TOv(,a o£a'f'EpH. Ka'TaXE£pO'TOV£a p'EV yap EyEVE'TO OV'TWC. E/\EyEV 

• - /:." M 1:" I:' -, I:' - " , - ., • 8 '\ o KTJpV",· O'Ttp EWLac oOKEt aO£KEtV, apa'TW T7JV XEtpa' Et'Ta 0(, E/\OV'TEC 

'I: ' '""'. \, \..... ..... A , 

ES E'TE£VOV 'Tac XELpac, Ka£ EKaI\EL'TO 'TOV'TO 7Tpw'TOV Ka'TaXE£pO'TOV£a. 

, , 1:" II ., 'I:' - 'I:' - M 1:" " , -
a7TOXE£p0'TOVLa OE OV'TWC' O'Ttp p'TJ OOKEL ao£KE£V EWLac, apa'TW T7JV XEtpa' 

, '/:." " \ -, , \ , , , '0 
Ka(' E!) E'TEtvOV 'T£VEC, Ka£ EKa/\Et'TO a7TQXEtp0'TOVLa. /\O(,7TOV 7Tacac TJP(, p,OVV 

,- '0" - /:. - \' ", ~.I..' 'Tac XE£pac Ka(' Ewpa 0 KTJpVs 7To('a£ 7TI\E£OVC ELCL, 7TO'TEPOV 'TWV 'f'aCKOV'TWV 
,\ ,~ .... '-' I \ II '" II \. , t' Ll _ " t' 

aV'TOV ao£KEtV TJ p'TJ' Ka£ oca£ av E£TJcav 7TI\ELOVC EVpEUE£ca£, EKEtV'Y/ TJ 
yvwp,TJ lKpa'TEt. In this comment on Demothenes' speech Against 
Meidias it is unequivocally stated that the votes were counted, but it is 
worth noting that the official responsible for the count is the keryx. 
This is inconsistent with the fact that, in the fourth century, the 
proedroi were entrusted with the assessment of the cheirotoniai. We 
know, however, that the keryx of the boule and the demos, who in the 
classical period was an insignificant official, rose to prominence in the 
Roman perio,d and that he then ranked as one of the three most 
important officials in Athens.9 The scholion is a comment on a passage 
in Demosthenes, but it cannot be adduced as reliable evidence for the 
conditions of the fourth century B.C. since it refers to institutions of 
the Roman period. Moreover, it is apparent from a decree preserved 
on stone that a proposal was put to the vote by the proedroi even in 
the third century.IO So I conclude that the note found in the scholia 
and the lexica has no value at all even for the Roman period.ll 

• Schol. Dem. 21.2 (Baiter and Sauppe). The same note is reproduced by several other 
scholiasts and lexicographers, if. Photius, Suda, Etym.Magn., s.v. KaT£X£LpoT0"'1eaV awov, 
and schol. Plat. Axiochus 368B. 

• Geagan 104-06. 
10 Geagan 89; Oliver, nos. 31 and 32. 
11 In Hermotimus 16 Lucian suggests that a cheirotonia was decided either by estimating or 

by counting votes: AYK: .".oeo/ T'V~ .".).£love TWV • E.".LKOVp€lwv ~ II).aTwvLKwV ~ II£p'''''arrrrLKwv; 
~pl9p.TJeae yap awove 8TJ)'a81} Ka9a1T£p £V TaLC XfLpoTovlme. EPM: ill' O~K ~pl9p.TJca eywy£, 
£i'Ka'ovai. Lucian's information. however. hardly has any value as a source for this prob­
lem. First, it is not stated whether the reference is to an ecclesia or a boule. Second, assuming 
that Lucian has an ecclesia in mind, we do not know whether he refers to the Athenian 
ecclesia attended by several thousand citizens or to an ecclesia in a small polis. Third. Lucian's 
casual references to the Athenian ecclesia in the classical period bristle with misunder­
standings and anachronisms. Cf. Delz 115-50. 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 127 

3. Aristotle's famous comment on the Spartan voting procedure 
may indirectly shed some light on the Athenian cheirotonia. The 
Spartan voting floil is described as childish (7Ta,oap,c.f,o7JC Pol. 1271al0). 
The implication seems to be that the Athenian form of voting by a 
show of hands was the 'adult' procedure. But on this assumption 
Aristotle's comment may be interpreted as an indication that the 
hands were counted: the Spartan way of voting is childish when com­
pared with a cheirotonia because it is impossible to count the votes. In 
my opinion, however, there is an important difference between the 
Spartan and the Athenian voting procedure even when the majority 
in a cheirotonia was assessed on a rough estimate only. The right 
explanation of Aristotle's scornful remark may be that by voting 
viva voce a person may assume more than one vote by shouting loudly. 
If, for example, a proposal is supported by 1,000 citizens moderately 
in favour of the scheme, but vehemently opposed by 800, the 'nays' 
may have it simply by shouting more energetically than the 'ayes'. 
Accepting the principle 'one man, one vote', one can describe the 
Spartan system as childish compared with the Athenian, although 
neither of the voting procedures entails a count of the votes. 

II 
Thus we are left with an a priori argument as the principal basis for 

the assumption that a cheirotonia in Athens entailed a count of the 
hands. But this argument is contradicted by another a priori argu­
ment based on a careful consideration of how the Athenian ecclesia 
worked. I have argued elsewhere12 that the meetings of the Athenian 
ecclesia were usually attended by 6000 citizens. In Boegehold's and 
Staveley's reconstruction each of the tellers must have counted a 
total of ca 600 hands by two stages, first the ayes and then the nays, 
and afterwards the board must have had a short conference to add up 
the figures obtained by each of the proedroi and the epistates. Such a 
procedure must have consumed at least a quarter of an hour. It is 
apparent from Aristotle's Constitution of Athens that the agenda for a 
simple meeting of the ecclesia comprised at least nine items,l3 More-

12 Hansen, GRBS 17.129-30. 

13 Arist. Ath.Pol. 43.6: three items on religious matters, three on foreign policy and three 
on domestic policy. This minimum program was fixed for two of the four ecc/esiai held 
every prytany. The agenda for the 'KKATJcla Kvp{a was considerably longer. 



128 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

over, some of the proposals must have entailed several cheirotoniai: 
first a procheirotonia,14 then a vote on the main proposal and finally a 
vote on one or more amendments. Suppose that one of the decrees 
was an alliance prescribing that ten envoys be forthwith elected from 
among all the Athenians.16 Such a decree would require a minimum 
of eleven successive cheirotoniai. A total of twenty-five cheirotoniai is 
in my opinion a moderate estimate of the votes that had to be taken 
during a single session. In the electoral ecclesia, for example, the 
Athenians must have voted at least sixty times. If all or most of the 
cheirotoniai resulted in an exact count of the hands, the time con­
sumed by the voting procedure itself would amount to something 
between five and ten hours, which is impossible even on the assump­
tion that a session of the ecclesia occupied an entire day. I have argued 
elsewhere that a meeting of the assembly did not usually fill more 
than a part of the day.16 The necessary implications are that the 
majority was assessed on a rough estimate of the hands raised and 
that an exact count of the votes was carried out either exceptionally 
or never at all. 

This conclusion is supported by an argument from analogy. From 
various places and various periods we have examples of votes taken in 
large assemblies resembling the Athenian ecclesia: the decisions are 
always made, in the first instance, on a rough estimate of the majority, 
and if an exact count is required in cases of doubt, the procedure 
employed seems invariably to have been either a poll or some form 
of division.17 To count the hands of several thousand seated attendants 
is unparalleled and presumably impracticable. 

Admittedly, counting and estimating are different only in degree 

U Harp. s.v.; Oem. 24.11; Aeschin. 1.23; Arist. Ath.Pol. 43.6. 
15 Mosley 56. 
1& Hansen, CP 74 (1979). 
17 A few examples may serve. (a) In the Swiss Landsgemeinden (attended by several 

thousand citizens) the vote is taken by a show of hands and the votes are not counted 
(Ryffell07-10, 314-15). The majority is assessed by the Landamman (Glarus, cf Stauffacher 
311-13) or by a board of Weibel (Obwalden, cf. Ryffel 315). In cases of doubt the show of 
hands is repeated, and continued doubt may result in a count of the votes after a division 
of the assembly. (b) In the New England town meeting (attended by a few hundred 
citizens) the voting is usually viva voce and the majority is assessed by the moderator (Sly 
152-53). (c) The election of representatives to the House of Commons in the Tudor period 
was conducted by the sheriff. The vote was taken by voice; and only when competition was 
dose, the election proceeded to assessment implying a division of the electors (ca. 1000-
2000) but not any count of votes-or to the poll (Neale 87-88). 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 129 

and not in kind, but a distinction is nevertheless apparent in several 
important respects. Counting the votes is a slow procedure, but in a 
close vote it inspires more confidence than a rough estimate, and the 
line between a fair and a crooked assessment of the majority can be 
sharply drawn, at least by the tellers themselves. An estimate of the 
majority can be made in a moment, but in cases of doubt the show 
of hands has to be repeated, perhaps several times; a biased teller 
may easily persuade himself that the ayes or the nays have it, and 
protests against the assessment are much more likely to be made, 
especially in Athens where the proedroi were chosen by lot and served 
for one day only; they were barred from reappointment until the 
next prytany (Arist. Ath.Pol. 44.3), and so it must have been impossible 
for them to acquire any particular ability in estimating the majority. 

III 
After this preliminary investigation we must return to the sources. 

Whereas the assumption that the votes were counted is unwarranted 
by the literary evidence, it is in fact possible to adduce some important 
passages in favour of the opposite view, viz:. , that the majority was 
estimated. 

1. Most important is Aristotle's statement in the Constitution of 
Athens 44.3 that the proedroi were responsible for the cheirotoniai. The 
text runs as follows: o{ oJ (Evvbl, 7Tp6€8pOL) 7TapaAaf36vT€c ('1'0 7Tp6-

) 
A " , , \ A \ ,\ '" ~ A 'Y 

ypaJ-LJ-La r7Jc '1' €VKocJ-LLac €1TLJ-L€/lOVVraL KaL V1TEP WV DEL XP7JJ-Lan':,€LV 
e ' \ \ " \ \ "\ \ ' ~ A 7Tpon Eanv KaL rac X€LpOrOVLac KpLVOVCLV KaL ra a/l/la 1Tavra uWLKOVCLV 

Kal rov[[r']] &~eLvaL K.,)PWt elnv. As mentioned above the Greek is 
usually rendered "the proedroi count the votes," but 'to count' is a 
mistranslation of KptV€LV. This verb implies some decision made by 
the proedroi, and the correct translation is "the proedroi judge the 
cheirotoniai."18 Now the show of hands can only have involved a 
decision on the part of the proedroi if they had to estimate the majority 
instead of counting the votes. 

2. Next comes a curious passage in the sixth book of the Laws where 
Plato prescribes that the officers of the army be elected by cheirotonia 
and that the vote be taken by the whole army (ca 5000 men) under 

18 Kp{V£tV is the verb used by Aristotle to describe the assessment of the majority, not 
only in this passage but also in his account of the constitution of 411 (Arh.Pol. 30.5; cf 
supra p.12.4). 



130 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

the supervision of the thirty-seven nomophylakes. The last section of 
the passage runs as follows: T<XC 0; aJL1>Lcf1'YJ'T~CELC 'TWV X€LP0'TOVLWV 

, ~ ~ l \ ~, , • , 'A.. Q ~ ~ .1. A..' r II , JL€XpL OVOLV € l'aL" 'TO O€ 'TpL'TOV €av aJL'f'LCfJ'YJT'{} 'TLC, OLa'f''YJ'f'L<:.€CUaL 'TOV'TOVC 

olcTT'€p 'Tfjc X€Lp0'TOVLaC JLhpov €KaC'TOLC €KaC'TOV 1jv (756B). It is usually 
taken for granted that the votes had to be counted and that any protest 
against the cheirotonia would result in a recount, perhaps even in two 
recounts of all the hands.19 Against this it can be objected, first that 
plato nowhere says that the votes were counted, second that it is 
grotesque to provide for a double recount of all the hands, and third 
that it makes no sense to transfer the powers to the presiding board 
of officials (either the thirty-seven nomophylakes or the prytaneis) after 
no less than three cheirotoniai all involving an exact count of ca 5000 
votes. On the other hand, if we assume that the majority was esti­
mated by the presiding board, the elaborate procedure in cases of 
doubt is only natural, and we have in fact an exact parallel to the 
voting procedure adopted by some of the Swiss Landsgemeinden (n.17). 

Now the ideal state described in the Laws is certainly not Athens, 
but it is worth noting that Plato, especially concerning procedural 
details, has often modelled his Utopia on Athenian institutions. 
Plato's vocabulary for military officers shows that in this section of 
the Laws he has Athens in mind, and so his provisions for electing 
military officers are probably a more or less modified copy of the 
Athenian procedure. 

3. One more indication that the votes were not counted can be ob­
tained by comparing the cheirotoniai in the ecclesia with the psepho­
phoriai in the dikasteria. In the courts the votes were always counted 
with precision, and accordingly we have some information on the 
exact number of votes cast by the jurors: Socrates, for example, was 
found guilty by a majority of sixty votes (Plat. Ap. 36A) whereas 
Aeschines was acquitted by thirty votes (Plut. Mor. 840c). Cephisodo­
tus escaped capital punishment by three votes only (Dem. 23.167), 
and Hyperides (3.28) states that Aristophon was acquitted €V 'TOV'TCP 'Tep 

OLKaC'T'YJptcp TTapa OVO "'~1>ovc. Only a tie saved Leocrates from a 
sentence of death (Aeschin. 3.252), and even in inscriptions the exact 
number of votes cast is sometimes recorded (IG II2 1641B). Although 
the preserved speeches contain references to hundreds of decrees 
passed by the people in the assembly, we have not a single piece of 

18 England 557; Morrow 160. 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 131 

information of the same kind concerning cheirotoniai. which points to 
the conclusion that exact figures were unknown. The only source 
where numbers are mentioned is Demosthenes' statement that 
Aeschines was elected pylagorus by three or four votes: 7rpo(3AT]{h,k 

11'VAayopoc OVTOC Kat TP£OlJI ~ TETTapWJI X(£POTOJl1]caJlTWJI athol' cXJI(PP~01J 
(Dem. 18.149); but this scornful remark must be grossly exaggerated 
and is useless as a source whether we assume that the votes were 
counted or not. Conversely, Thucydides reports that after the debate 
between Cleon and Diodotus the people overruled their former 
decision by a close vote: Kat ~ylJloJITO ~J/ Tfj XEtPOTOJ/{Cf- Ct.yxcfJp.aAOt, 
~Kp&T1JCE OE ~ TOV LJtOOaToV (Thuc. 3.49.1). The vague statement is in 
conformity with my theory, but no conclusion can be drawn since it 
is most unlikely that Thucydides would have informed us of the 
exact figures even if they were known. 

4. So far I have dealt only with cheirotoniai. We have in fact some 
evidence of the counting of votes cast by the people in the assembly. 
Citizenship decrees had to be ratified by a vote taken among 6000 
citizens (Dem. 59.89), and similarly a quorum of 6000 was required in 
order to grant an adeia (Dem. 24.45) or to allow the nomothetai to pass 
a vap.oc ~7r' Ct.vop{ (An doc. 1.87). Here an exact count of the votes was 
necessary, and the crucial point is that cheirotonia in these cases was 
replaced by a vote taken by ballot. 20 N~v p.~ ltaKtCXtA{OtC oat'll KpV(30T]V 
tP'YJept'op.lvotc is the statutory requirement of all the laws prescribing 
a quorum. The reason may be that voting by ballot is secret whereas 
the voters reveal their position in a cheirotonia. But we must not 
forget that citizenship decrees in the first instance were passed by a 
show of hands and only ratified by the psephophoria.21 So a citizen 
would in any case have revealed his stand in the first vote, and 
accordingly secrecy cannot have been the primary concern. It is 
tempting to suggest that psephophoria was prescribed because it was 
the only possible way of counting the votes. 

Additional evidence of this view can be found in some decrees 
published on stone in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In a few 
decrees of the first century B.C. passed by ballot a count of the votes is 
recorded towards the end of the inscription: 'TOlV ~~epwv at 7rA~pE]'C 

10 In addition to the nomoi prescribing psephophoria we have one example of a decree 
ordering that an ecc/esia take the vote by ballot instead of by a show of hands, viZ' 
Callixenus' decree ordering the execution of the generals in 406 (Xen. Hell. 1.7.9). 

21 Hansen, GRBS 17.125-27. 



132 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

lc ,~, \. .I.. ' , r.. ' 1 ]' a EOOKE£ TTJV ey.,.Epop.EVTJV yvwlPTJv Kvp,av E vaL TpLaKOVTa 
7TI.VTE. al TETpV7TTJp.l.va[L alc OUK ~SdKEL oUSEp.la.22 The usual form of 
voting in the ecclesia was still cheirotonia, but in this case the vote is 
described in the following way: [<> 7TPdESpOC' OT~ SOKEL KvpLa E tvaL T<X 
aVEYvw] cp.l.va apaTw T1Jv XELpa. 7TavTEc ~7Tfjpav. Kai OTcjJ Ut~ SOKEL 

KvpLa ElvaL apaTw T1Jv XELpa. ouSEk ~7TfjPEV.]23 The difference is signifi­
cant: although in both cases all voted for the proposal and none 
against, the exact number of ayes is only recorded in connection with 
the vote taken by ballot. So it is most unlikely that the hands were 
ever counted in a vote taken by a show of hands. 

This conclusion is confirmed by a study of inscriptions from other 
parts of Greece, especially from the cities of Asia Minor: Colophon, 
Magnesia, Miletus, Iasus, Halicarnassus, Theangela and Cnidus. 
Whenever exact figures are recorded, the vote is invariably by ballot.24 

The only problematical example is an inscription from Cnidus where 
the form of voting is described as XELpoTovla. but the votes cast are 
called .p&c/JOL.25 The passage is discussed by Brandis (2194), who, rightly 
in my opinion, suggests that XELpoTovla in this context does not mean 
more than 'vote' whereas .p&c/Joc is the significant word showing that 
the vote was taken by ballot. Two inscriptions from Halicarnassus 
record the respective numbers of 4000 and 1200 .pfjc/JOL. These figures 
are probably rounded. By way of contrast it is worth noting that the 
Athenian decrees discussed above seem to record exact numbers. 
Moreover, Aristotle's description of the table for counting pebbles 
(the &f1ag TpV7T'7]p.aTa lxwv, Ath.Pol. 69.1) indicates that when the 

II IG III 1053 lines 11-13. Cf. IG III 1051 and 1353; '&/ntp..'ApX' 1884, 167-68 line 3, where the 
exact figures are preserved: 3461 voted for and 155 against the proposal. Cf. further IG III 
1343 line 44. 

II Oliver, no.31 lines 30-32. The restorations proposed are secured by SIGI 1109.20-24 
and by IG III 2090. 

II DELPHI: Fouilles de Delphes III. 1 no.294 lines 2-3 (454 r/sw(n); BCH 19 (1895) 7 lines 21-23 
(=Michel 995) (182 "nit/xn). ANAPHE: IG XII.3 249 line 39 (95 r/sWot). COLOPHON: Inschriften von 
Priene, ed. Hiller von Gaertringen (1906), 57 lines 20-21 (1023 [?] r/sWot [?]) restored by 
Wilhelm, SBWien 183.7. MAGNESIA: Inschriften von Magnesia, ed. O. Kern (1900) 92a (4678 
r/s#ot); 92b (2113 r/s#o,); 94 (3580 r/s#ot). MILETUS: SIGa 683 line 66 (r/s#m for: 584; against: 
16).lAsus: REG 6 (1893) 170 line 23 (r/s#ot [7] for: 7; against: 4). HALICARNASSUS: Michel 455 
(4000 r/sWo'); BCH 14 (1890) 95 line 4 (1200 r/sWot). THEANGELA: IG XI.4 1054 b lines 21-22 
(620 r/s#ot). CmDUS: Inscr.Brit.Mus. 783 line 22 (r/s#ot for: 7; against: 0); SIGa 953 line 86 
(r/sWo, for conviction: 78; for acqUittal: 126). Cf. Brandis 2193-96; Busolt 446 and 454; Wil­
helm, SBWien 183.4-9, AEM 20.79-82. 

16 Inscr.Brit.Mus. 788; ~KVpW8TJ X~tpoTOvt~ b f3ov>'~' ~KVpW8TJ Kat ~v T~ [S]ap.cp XtPOTOV{~' 
r/s&tPcx alc E&t~ KVpofiv •••• alc Sf p..q, o{Kj~p.la.. 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 133 

Athenians had to take a vote by ballot, they practised an exact count 
of all votes cast. 

5. If I am right in maintaining that a cheirotonia was decided by the 
proedroi (and before ca 380 B.C. by the pry taneis) , it is unbelievable that 
their decisions were always allowed to pass unchallenged, and it would 
indeed be strange if objections against the result of the voting had 
left no traces in our sources. Now three passages can be adduced which 
are, in my opinion, best explained as protests against the presidency's 
assessment of the majority in a show of hands. 

a. When the eight generals were put on trial in 406, Euryptolemus 
tried as a last resort to prevent the passing of Callixenus' probouleuma 
by making a counterproposal, but without success. Xenophon gives 
the following account of the incident: 7"OV7"WV S~ S£(XX€£P07"OVOVJL'vwv 7"0 

, A" 'E' A" ,~, M A' JL€V 7TpW7"OV €KptVaV 7"T)V VPV7T7"O €JLOV' V7TOJLocaJL€VOV O€ €V€K €DVC 

Kat 7T(xAw S£aXHpo7"ovlac y€voJL'V7Jc €Kp£VaV 7"~V rilc fJovMjc (Hell. 
1.7.34). The crucial word V7TOJLOcaJL'vov may be interpreted as a hypo­
mosia in a graphe paranomon raised by Menecles against Euryptole­
mus,26 but in this case it would be unconstitutional to pass immedi­
ately to a second vote on Callixenus' probouleuma instead of awaiting 
the jurors' hearing of the graphe paranomon. It is of course possible 
that we are faced with one more unconstitutionality committed 
during this notorious session of the ecclesia, but we must not forget 
that v7TwJLocla is the technical term for various types of demurrer.27 
A more likely interpretation of V7TOJLOcaJL'voV is that the enemies of 
the eight generals, because of the prytaneis' earlier attempt to stop the 
trial, were suspicious of their assessment of the majority and, quite 
constitutionally, demanded a second cheirotonia. 

b. The second source is a malignant joke in Aristophanes' Plutus. 
When Cario relates how Plutus was led to ASclepius' sanctuary in 
in order to recover his sight, the woman asks whether other sup­
pliants were present. Cario answers that he saw, among others, the 
purblind politician Neocleides. But the god prepared for him a 
terrible unguent which, when rubbed in his eyes, blinded the wretched 
fellow totally. In reply to Neocleides' cry of pain the god maliciously 

k d ' -0 A'O A'''''' remar e : €V7"av a vvv Ka T)co Ka7"a7T€7T aq.LEVOC, tV V7TOJLVVJL€VOV 

7Tavcw C€ 7"aC €KKAT)clac. 28 If there is a point in Aristophanes' story, 

26 The interpretation I proposed in The Sovereignty, Catalogue no.3, p.29. 
27 Lipsius 393 and 902. 
28 Ar. Pluto 724-25. ;1TO/LvV/L£vov codd. : corr. Girardus. 



134 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

it must be that Neocleides' total blindness in future will prevent 
him from lodging sworn objections against th~ decisions made 
by the ecclesia. Now even a blind man can listen to a debate and bring 
a sworn indictment against a decree which, in his opinion, is unconsti­
tutional, but only a man in possession of the faculty of vision can 
protest against the presidency's declaration of the result of a show of 
hands. So inT'Ol-'vJI-'EVOV in Plutus 725 is presumably to be taken in the 
sense suggested above for Xen. Hell. 1.7.34. I admit, however, that my 
interpretation is highly conjectural and may be questioned. 

c. In the opening of the speech Against Ctesiphon Aeschines com­
plains bitterly of the general decay of the democratic institutions due 
to the corruption of the politicians and the carelessness of the people. 
His point is that the graphe paranomon heard by the jurors is the only 
safeguard of democracy still left. One of Aeschines' complaints is 
connected with the declaration of the vote in the ecclesia ... <Xv Sl TtC 

... "\ \ Q \ ..." \ I \ I ~ I \ \ 
'TWV al\/\wv fJOVI\EV'TWV OV'TWC l\aXT/ KI\TJpOV/-,EVOC 1TPOEOPEVEtll, KaL 'Tac 

f' , ) (J-' I ..... f' \ , " 
VI-'E'TEpaC XEtpO'TOIlLaC op we allayopEV"{J, 'TOV'TOIl Ot 'TTJII 1TOl\t'TELall OVKETt 

\ ) \ \'''~ .~ I r... r I • \... • \ ... 
KOLlITJlI, al\l\ TJOTJ LOLall aV'TWII TJYOVI-'EIIOL, a1TEtI\OVCLII EtcaYYEI\ELII ••• 

(Aeschin. 3.3). This passage can be interpreted only as an accusation 
against some proedroi of having been bribed to tamper with the­
result of the cheirotonia for which they were responsible. They 
may have done so by intentionally miscounting the votes, but the 
accusation of fraud is much more understandable if the board of 
proedroi was empowered to estimate the majority. Furthermore, one 
of the reasons for the frequency of the graphe paranomon may have 
been the difference between the form of voting in the assembly and 
that in the courts. A politician may sometimes have refused to accept 
a defeat in the ecclesia because he was suspicious of the proedroi's 
assessment of the majority, and accordingly he may have found some 
reason for bringing an indictment against the decree passed and for 
having the case referred to the jurors, who voted by ballot. 

6. Finally, the theory proposed is neither proved nor disproved by 
the archaeological evidence. The stele beddings cut in the rock 
forming the seating floor of the Pnyx of the first and of the third 
period were tentatively interpreted by Kourouniotes and Thompson 
as evidence of subdivisions of the auditorium. Accepting the excavators' 
suggestion, Boegehold and Staveley assumed a division (both of Pnyx 
I, II and III) into ten sections and argued that the arrangement must 
have been adopted in order to make an exact count of the votes 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 135 

possible. I have no objection to the view that the stone beddings are 
evidence of subdivisions of the auditorium (parallels can be found in 
other Greek cities),29 but I would prefer a different interpretation. Not 
only when the votes are counted, but also when a board of officials has 
to assess the majority on a rough estimate, it is reasonable to make 
each of the members responsible for the estimate of the majority 
within a well defined section of the assembly.30 In fourth-century 
Athens the seating floor of Pnyx II and III could have been divided 
into, e.g., nine sections so that each of the proedroi was responsible for 
one section. After the cheirotonia the decision on the result of the vote 
was presumably made, in cases of doubt, by a vote taken among the 
nine proedroi themselves. On this theory there is no reason for invent­
ing a tenth vote-counter added to the nine proedroi in order to reach 
Hthe logical number for the sections" (Boegehold 374). Quite the 
contrary, the point of the whole system may have been to have an 
uneven number of members serving on the board which assessed the 
majority. 

7. The theory that the auditorium of the ecelesia was divided into 
ten sections is based on the assumption that the Athenians in the 
assembly were grouped according to their phylae. Staveley favours 
this view and adduces some evidence which may support his conten­
tion (81-82). Boegehold is much more cautious. He is well aware that 
the theory entails a somewhat strained interpretation of several 
passages (Ar. Ecel. 289ff; Thuc. 6.13.1; Pluto Per. 11.2). He suggests 
instead (374) a division into ten random groups, and his only argument 
for ten groups is that ten seems to be the logical number. 

In my opinion the problem is decisively settled by Aeschines 2.64-
68, where a certain Amyntor gives evidence that he, during the as­
sembly held on 19 Elaphebolion 347/6, was seated next to Demos­
thenes, who showed him a proposal drawn up in writing and dis­
cussed with him whether he should hand it over to the proedroi. Now 
Amyntor is of Erchia (Aegeis II) whereas Demosthenes is of Paeania 
(Pandionis III). It is of course possible that each phyle occupied a fixed 
section of the ecelesia following the official order of the tribes, in 
which case Pandionis was next to Aegeis; but Demonsthenes always 

IS McDonald 61-62. 
30 In Glarus, for example, when the Landammann is in doubt, he calls four members of the 

Regierungsrat, each of whom is entrusted with the assessment of roughly a fourth of the 
Ring. Cf Stauffacher 311. 



136 HOW DID THE ATHENIAN ECCLESIA VOTE? 

placed himself beneath the katatome,31 so that he must have been 
barred from speaking to any citizen from another phyle. Furthermore, 
if the phylae were placed according to their official order, the two 
phylae occupying the area beneath the eastern and western katatome 
must have been Erechteis (I) and Antiochis (X) but never Pandionis 
(III). Admittedly, Demosthenes was a councillor in 347/6 (Aeschin. 
3.62), but he was not a prytanis during Pryt. VIII (IG II2 212),32 and 
there is no evidence that a special area was reserved for the 450 
ordinary councillors. Moreover, assuming that the ordinary citizens 
were grouped according to their phyle in the assembly, we must a 
fortiori conclude that the same division applied to the councillors. 
The passage Aeschin. 2.64-68 is incompatible with the theory that the 
Athenians were grouped according to their tribes, and accordingly the 
theory must be dismissed. 

The discussion between Demosthenes and Amyntor took place late 
in the year 347/6. During the following year (346/5) the Athenians 
passed a law by which one of the ten phylae was entrusted with the 
maintenance of order during the meeting (Aeschin. 1.34). The law 
was indicted as unconstitutional, but it must have been upheld by the 
court since Aeschines fifteen years later refers to the institution as a 
fact (Aeschin. 3.4). The obligation was binding on all members of the 
phyle attending that particular meeting of the assembly, and it may 
have entailed a system by which the area around the bema was reserved 
for the members of the phyle responsible for the maintenance of 
order during the session. 

IV 
I conclude with a short outline of how the Athenian ecclesia voted in 

the fourth century B.C. Apart from the basic proposal (that the proe­
droi made a decision on the result without any exact count of the 
votes), my description is conjectural, and some details are little more 

31 Hyp. 1.9; that KaTaTOI'-r] deSignates the scarps of Pnyx II and III is convincingly sug­
gested by Colin in the Bude edition of Hyperides (250 n.l). 

81 The phyle holding the eighth prytany was Aegeis (II). This is a very strong indication that 
Amyntor cannot have been a councillor, for in that case he would have been among the 
prytaneis, for whom a special area was reserved in the ecc/esia, and could not have been 
seated beside Demosthenes. Nor does Aeschines offer any basis for assuming that Amyntor 
was a councillor. The most likely interpretation of Aeschines is that Demosthenes as a 
councillor and Amyntor as a private citizen had taken their seats where they pleased. 



MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 137 

than guesswork. I believe, however, that my reconstruction is on the 
right lines and more in accord with the evidence than earlier accounts 
of the subject. 

In the Athenian ecclesia the vote was usually taken by a show of 
hands. The board of officials responsible for the declaration of the 
result was that of the nine proedroi, who made their decision on a 
rough estimate without counting the votes. If they were in doubt, they 
probably took a vote among themselves and the majority decided the 
question. Possibly the seating floor of the Pnyx was subdivided into 
nine sections, and each of the proedroi was responsible for estimating 
the majority within a section. After the proedroi's declaration of the 
result, any citizen was entitled to lodge a sworn objection against the 
decision, whereupon a second vote was taken, once more by a show 
of hands and once more without any exact count of hands. Weare 
totally ignorant of the procedure adopted if even the second cheiro­
tonia was questioned. If the ecclesia had to vote for a third time, the 
vote was perhaps taken by ballot.33 An exact count of the hands raised 
was presumably impracticable, and no source supports the assump­
tion that any kind of division was practised in the assembly. Another 
possibility is that the decision was left to the board of proedroi or to the 
prytaneis, but nothing is known and I prefer to desist from further 
speculations. 

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN 

April, 1977 

33 If so, it probably had to be postponed until the meeting was closed or until the next 
meeting of the assembly. The description of the psephophoria in connection with citizenship 
decrees in Oem. 59.89-90 indicates that a vote by pebbles was usually taken at the beginning 
of a meeting when the Athenians ascended the Pnyx (Trpoc1t6v'n T<P 8'r/fLIP)' It would no doubt 
have been too complicated in the middle of a meeting to let the whole people pass by the 
voting urns and back again to their seats (ef Hansen, GRBS 17.127). In 406 the eeclesia hearing 
the trial of the generals probably concluded with the passing of the sentence by ballot (see 
supra, n.20).