The most important democratic institutions were the Assembly of Citizens, the Council of Five Hundred, the archons and the ten strategoi (tribal commanders). Office holders were selected by lot, except for military and some financial positions.

In 462/1 B.C. Ephialtes stripped the Areopagus (until then the main regulator of the constitution) of much its political and legal power. The function of the Areopagus was to bring charges of treason or abuse (impeachment), to conduct detailed inquiries into nominated archons (dokimasia) and an examination of their financial conduct (euthyna). Ephialtes initially transferred these functions to the Council of Five Hundred and later to the Assembly. Thus the Areopagus until 404 B.C., functioned as a court judging only homicide cases. In the 4thcentury B.C. its powers were gradually restored in the effort to revive Solon’s Patrio Politeia.

From the beginning of the 5thcentury, every law passed was voted through the Assembly. The Assembly decided on the external and internal affairs of Athens, exercised its power directly over the Athenian state through the laws which were passed, and through the courts, and had political control over the archons who implemented its decisions.

The Council of Five Hundred was a representative body that was not based on political parties (as in contemporary democracies), but on the geographic position of the citizens’ place of residence. It participated indirectly in the legislative process as a committee, which examined closely the cases that were sent to the Assembly before it convened.

Executive power was allocated to the archons, who were usually selected by lot and controlled by the Council. They were liable either to the Council or to the Assembly. In cases of criminal responsibility the archons were tried by Heliaia (the popular assembly organised into a court of 6,001 men).


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