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AREOPAGUS ("Apews Ilayos)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 454 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AREOPAGUS ("Apews Ilayos) , a See also:bare, rocky See also:hill, 370 ft. high, immediately See also:west of the See also:northern rim of the See also:acropolis of See also:Athens. The ancients interpreted the name as " Hill of See also:Ares." Though accepted by some See also:modern scholars, this derivation of the word is rendered improbable by the fact that Ares was not worshipped on the Areopagus. A more reasonable explanation connects the name with Arae, " Curses," commonly known as Semnae, " Awful Goddesses," whose See also:shrine was a See also:cave at the See also:foot of the hill, of which they were the See also:guardian deities (Aeschyl. Eumen. 417, 804; Schol. on See also:Lucian, vol. iii. p. 68, ed. Jacobitz; Paus. i. 28. 6). The See also:Boule, or See also:Council, of the Areopagus (i fv 'Apeiw, IIaycp flovXii), named after the hill, is to be compared in origin and fundamental See also:character with the council of chiefs or elders which we find among the earliest Germans, Celts, See also:Romans, and other See also:primitive peoples. Under the See also:kings of Athens it must have closely resembled the Boule of elders described by See also:Homer; and there can be no doubt that it was the See also:chief See also:factor in the See also:work of transforming the kingship into an See also:aristocracy, in which it was to be supreme. It was composed of ex-archons.

See also:

Aristotle attributes to it for the See also:period of aristocracy the See also:appointment to all offices (See also:Ath. Pol. viii. 2), the chief work of See also:administration, and the right to See also:fine or otherwise punish in cases, not only of violation of See also:laws, but also of immorality (ibid. iii. 6; cf. Isoc. vii. 46; See also:Androtion and See also:Philochorus, in See also:Muller, See also:Frog. Hist. See also:Graft.. 1. 387. 17, 394 6o).1 This See also:evidence is corroborated by the remnants of See also:political See also:power See also:left to it in later See also:time, after its importance had been greatly curtailed, and by the designation Boule, which in itself indicates that the See also:body so termed was once a See also:state council. In a passage bearing incidentally upon the See also:early constitution of Athens, See also:Thucydides (i.

126. 8) informs us that at the time of the Cylonian insurrection the Athenians, we may suppose in their See also:

assembly ('EKK)trlvia), commissioned the archons with See also:absolute power to See also:deal with the trouble at their discretion. From this passage, if we accept the Aristotelian view as to the early supremacy of the Areopagitic council, we must infer that a modification of the aristocracy in a popular direction had at that time already taken See also:place. In addition to its political functions, the council from the time of See also:Draco, if not earlier, exercised See also:jurisdiction in certain cases of See also:homicide (see below, ad fin.). The See also:assumption that in their criminal jurisdiction the Areopagites were called Ephetae till after the legislation of Draco (cf. Philoch. 58, in Muller, ibid. 394) would explain the otherwise obscure circumstances that, according to See also:Plutarch (Sol. 19), Draco (q.v.) in his laws mentioned only the Ephetae, and that See also:Pollux (viii. 125) included the Areopagus among the localities in which sat the Ephetae.2 The same assumption would See also:supply a See also:reason for 1 Neither See also:Herodotus nor Thucydides tells us anything as to its See also:powers; but their silence on this point need not surprise us, as they had no especial occasion for referring to the subject. and in See also:general it may be said that before the 4th See also:century inc. writers took little See also:interest in the constitutional See also:history of the remote past. The statement of Thucydides (i. 126.

8) that at the time of the Cylonian insurrection the nine archons attended to a See also:

great See also:part of the business of See also:government does not contradict the Aristotelian view, for their administration may well have been under Areopagitic supervision (see also See also:ARCHON); and, as is stated in the See also:text, the supremacy of the council may have already suffered considerable See also:limitation. The See also:Eumenides of See also:Aeschylus is a glorification of the institution, though for obvious reasons it is there represented as an essentially judicial body. Zit is possible also to explain the alleged See also:absence of reference tothe notion entertained by many writers of later time that the Areopagitic council was instituted by See also:Solon (q.v.)—a notion partly explained also by the See also:desire of political thinkers to ascribe to Solon the making of a See also:complete constitution. Conformably with the view here presented we may suppose that the name " Boule of the Areopagus " See also:developed from the See also:simple See also:term " Boule " in See also:order to distinguish it from the new Bernie (q.v.), or Council of Four See also:Hundred. The popular reforms of Solon (594 B.c.), so far as they were carried into effect, tended practically to limit the Council of the Areopagus, though constitutionally it retained all its earlier powers and functions, augmented by the right to try persons accused of See also:conspiracy against the state (Arist. Ath. Pol. viii. 4). In the exercise of its See also:duty as the See also:protector of the laws it must have had power to inhibit in the Four Hundred, or in the See also:Ecclesia, a measure which it judged unconstitutional or in any way prejudicial to the state, and in the See also:levy of fines for violation of See also:law or moral usage it remained irresponsible. As See also:censor of the conduct of citizens it inquired into every See also:man's source of income and punished the idle (Plut. Sol. 22).

The tyrants (56o–510 B.C.) left to the council its See also:

cognizance of See also:murder cases (Demosth. See also:xxiii. 66; Arist. Ath. Pol. xvi. 8) and probably the nominal enjoyment of all its prerogatives; but their method of filling the archonship with their own kinsmen and creatures gradually converted the Areopagites into willing supporters of tyranny. Though hostile, therefore, to the policy of See also:Cleisthenes, their council seems to have suffered no See also:direct abridgment of power from his reforms. After his legislation it gradually changed character and political sentiment by the See also:annual See also:admission of ex-archons who had held See also:office under a popular constitution. In 487 B.C., however, the introduction of the See also:lot as a part of the See also:process of filling the archonship (see ARCHON) began to undermine its ability. This deterioration was necessarily slow; it could not have advanced far in 48o B.C., when on the See also:eve of the See also:battle of See also:Salamis, as we are informed (Arist. Polit. viii. 4, p. 13o4a, 17; Ath.

Pol. xxiii. 25; Plut. Them. lio; Cie. Off. i. 22, 75), the council of the Areopagus succeeded in See also:

manning the See also:fleet by providing pay for the See also:seamen, thereby regaining the confidence and respect of the See also:people: The patriotic See also:action of the council and its attendant popularity enabled it to recover considerable administrative See also:control, which it continued to exercise for the next eighteen years, although its deterioration in ability, becoming every See also:year more noticeable, as well as the rapid rise of democratic ideas, prevented it from fully re-establishing the supremacy which Aristotle, with some exaggeration, attributes to it for this period. Its See also:prestige was seriously undermined by the conduct of individual members, whose corrupt use of power was exposed and punished by Ephialtes, the democratic See also:leader. Following up this See also:advantage, Ephialtes (462 B.C.), and less prominently See also:Archestratus and See also:Pericles (q.v.), proposed and carried See also:measures for the See also:transfer of most of its functions to the Council of Five Hundred, the Ecclesia, and the popular courts of law (Arist. Ath. Pol. See also:xxv. 2, See also:xxvii. 1, See also:xxxv. 2; Plut.

Per. 9). Among these functions were probably jurisdiction in cases of impiety, the supervision of magistrates and the censorship of the morals of citizens, the See also:

inhibition of illegal and unconstitutional resolutions in the Five Hundred and the Ecclesia, the examination into the fitness of candidates for office, and the collection of rents from the sacred See also:property (cf. Wilamowitz-Mollendorff, Arist. u. Ath. ii. 186-197 Busolt, Griech. Gesch. (2nd ed.) iii. 269-294; G. See also:Gilbert, Const. Antiq. of See also:Sparta and Athens, Eng. trans., 154 f.). It retained the Areopagitic council in the Draconian laws by the supposition that Solon, while leaving untouched the Draconian laws concerned with the cases of homicide which came before the Ephetae, substituted a law of his own regarding wilful murder, which See also:fell within the jurisdiction of the Areopagites.

This view finds strong support in the circumstance that the copy of the Draconian laws (C.I.A. i. 61), made in pursuance of a See also:

decree of the people of the year 409–408 B.C., does not contain the See also:provision for cases of premeditated homicide; cf. G. de See also:Sanctis, 'Aross, 135. The relation of the Ephetae to the See also:court of the Areopagus is obscure; cf. See also:Philippi, Der Areopag and See also:die Epheten (See also:Berlin, 1874) ; Busolt, Griechische Geschichte (2nd ed.), ii. 138 if. jurisdiction in cases of homicide and the care of sacred See also:olive trees. From this time to the See also:establishment of the See also:Thirty (462–404 B.c.) the Areopagitic council, degraded still further by the opening of the archonship to the Zeugitae (457 B.c.) and by the absolute use of the lot in filling the office, was a political nullity. The first indication of a revival of its prestige is to be traced in the action attributed to it by See also:Lysias during the See also:siege of Athens (404 B.C.) (in Eratosth. 69: 7rparrobrrj pEv TCIS See also:ill 'ApELW lIaycu /3ovXT)s o-wrr)p1a). After the surrender of Athens and the appointment of the Thirty, the See also:repeal of the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus prepared the way for the rehabilitation of the council as guardian of the constitution by the restored See also:democracy (Arist. Ath.

Pol. xxxv. 2; decree of Tisamenus, in Andoc. i. 84; cf. Din. i. 9). Although under the new conditions the Areopagites could not See also:

hope to recover their full supremacy, they did exercise considerable political See also:influence, especially in crises. In the time of See also:Demosthenes, accordingly, we find them annulling the See also:election of individuals to offices for which they were unfit (Plut. Phoc. 16), exercising during a crisis a disciplinary power extending to See also:life and See also:death over all the Athenians " in conformity with ancestral law," procuring the banishment of one, the racking of another, and the infliction of See also:capital See also:punishment on several of the citizens. This authority seems to have been delegated to them by the assembly with reference either to individual cases or temporarily to the whole body of Athenians (Din. i. 10, 62 f.; Aeschin. iii. 252; Lyc.

Leoc. 52; Demosth. xviii. 132 f.; Plut. Demosth. 14). See also:

Religion, too, was their care (Pseud. Demosth. lix. 8o f.). See also:Lycurgus (ibid.) even goes so far as to claim chat by their action during the crisis after See also:Chaeroneia they had saved the state. After the period of the great orators their influence continued to grow. See also:Demetrius of Phalerum empowered them to assist the gynaeconomi in supervising festivals held in private houses (Philoch. in See also:Milner, ibid. i. 408.

143). Under See also:

Roman supremacy in addition to earlier functions they had jurisdiction in cases of See also:forgery, tampering with the See also:standard measures, and probably other high crimes, the supervision of buildings, and the care of religion and of See also:education (Cic. Pam. xiii. 1; All. v. 9; Tac. See also:Ann. ii. 55; Plut. Cic. 24; C.I.G. i. 123. 9; C.I.A. ii. 476; iii.

703, 714, 716; Acts xvii. 19). Their council acquired, too, in See also:

conjunction with the assembly, with or without the co-operation of the Five Hundred (or Six Hundred), the right to pass decrees and to represent their See also:city in See also:foreign relations (C.I.A. iii. Io, 31, 40, 41, 454, 457, 458). From the overthrow of the Thirty to the end of their history they enjoyed a high reputation for ability and integrity (Isoc. vii.; Demosth. xxiii. 65 f.; Val. Max. viii. 1. Amb. 2; See also:Gell. xii. 7; Lucian, Bis Acc. iv.

12. 14). About A.D. 400 their council came to an end (See also:

Theodoret, Curat. ix. 55). With regard to the jurisdiction of the council in cases of homicide, the See also:procedure, so far as it may be gathered from the orators and other See also:sources, was as follows: accusations were brought by relatives within the circle of See also:brothers' and sisters' See also:children, supported by the wider See also:kin and the phratry (Demosth. xliii. J7). On receiving the See also:accusation the See also:king-archon by See also:proclamation warned the accused to keep away from temples and other places forbidden to such persons. He made three investigations of the See also:case in the three successive months, and brought it to trial in the See also:fourth See also:month. As he was forbidden to See also:hand a case over to his successor, it resulted that in the last three months of the year no accusations of homicide could be brought (See also:Ant. vi. 42). After the examination he assigned the case to the proper court, and presided over it during the trial, which took place in the open See also:air, that the See also:judges and the accuser might not be polluted by being brought under the same roof with the offender (Ant. v.

II). The accuser and the accused, See also:

standing on two See also:white stones termed " Relentlessness " ('AvaiSeia) and " See also:Outrage " ("T13p s) respectively (Pans. i. 28. 5), See also:bound them-selves to the truth by most See also:solemn oaths (Demosth. xxiii. 68). Each was allowed two speeches, and the trial lasted three days. After the first speech the accused, unless charged with See also:parricide, was at See also:liberty to withdraw into See also:exile (See also:Poll. viii. 117). If condemned, he lost his life. and his property was confiscated. Atie See also:vote acquitted (Aeschyl. Eumen. 735; Ant. v.

5i; Aeschin. iii. 252). See further See also:

GREEK LAW.

End of Article: AREOPAGUS ("Apews Ilayos)

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