Gerousia

At Sparta, political power was divided between three deliberative bodies, the Gerousia, the ephors, and the Spartan Assembly.^[3] Although the relative power and importance of the Gerousia with respect to these other two bodies is a matter of scholarly debate,^[4] the Gerousia was, apparently, the most prestigious.^[5] Since membership in the Gerousia was for life, being a geronte was particularly prestigious within a Spartan society that accorded great respect to old age,^[6] while, within the Gerousia, the votes of the "ordinary" gerontes carried as much weight as that of each of the kings.^[7] According to Aristotle, the prospect of being a geronte functioned as an incentive for the "nobility" (kaloi kāgathoi) to support Sparta's mixed form of government, just as the office of ephor did for the "common people" (dēmos).^[8]

The Gerousia performed important judicial, legislative, and supervisory functions.^[9] The Gerousia was the highest court of law in Sparta, serving as the court in charge of capital cases.^[10] Even the Spartan kings were subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Gerousia (sometimes at least in conjunction with the ephors).^[11] Verdicts of the Gerousia could not be appealed, however, a defendant found not guilty could be tried again for the same charge.^[12] Such judicial authority could entail political power as well, as the threat of prosecution could exert considerable influence over the conduct of Spartan foreign policy.^[13]

The Gerousia and the ephors shaped state policy through their shared powers of probouleusis and nomophulakia.^[14] 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.^[15]

The Gerousia and ephors also held the power of nomophulakia (guardianship of the law) designed to protect Spartan nomos (practice, custom, and law),^[16] a power meant to insure both the legality of the enactments passed by the Assembly, as well as their conformity with traditional Spartan norms.^[17] 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.^[18]

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.^[19]

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 Lacedaemonians.^[20] There were no ballots: the Spartan Assembly elected the gerontes by acclamation, their usual voting method.^[21] 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.^[22] Aristotle called the election procedure for the Gerousia "childish" (παιδαριώδης), probably referring to the method of voting by shouting (boa) described by Plutarch.^[23]

According to Aristotle, the Gerousia was the element of Sparta's mixed constitution which represented the kaloi kāgathoi (the 'fine and noble').^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26]

As the kings were by right members of the Gerousia, they usually entered the chamber well before the age of sixty and served much longer terms than the ordinary gerontes, enabling them to exert considerable influence over the rest of the Gerousia, and thus over Spartan policy.^[27] 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 geronte.^[28]

Paul Cartledge notes that, when a king was absent, his nearest relative could cast a vote for him in the Gerousia, which means that at least two gerontes besides the kings were of royal stock (one for each dynasty) and further shows the influence that the kings had on the electoral procedure, as they could engineer the elections of their relatives.^[29]

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' prestige was removed, and the Gerousia became a more pliable chamber as a result.^[30]

In the Parliament of modern Greece, the name of the upper house was Gerousia between 1844–1864 and 1927–1935.^{[citation needed]}

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

• Hetoimaridas, an Heraclid and influential geronte who convinced the Spartans not to go to war against Athens in 475.^[31][32]
• Lichas was perhaps a geronte at the end of the 5th century. He was an Olympic victor and played a significant role in shaping Spartan diplomacy.^[33] He died in Miletus c.396.^[34]
• Etymokles, a friend of king Agesilaus II; while a geronte, he was also a member of an embassy to Athens when Sphodrias attempted to capture Piraeus in 378.^[35]
• Prothöos, perhaps a geronte 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.^[36]
• Aineidas, a geronte from the middle of the 4th century, only known from an inscription.^[37]
• Agasisthenes, a geronte c.150, who made a motion in the Gerousia to send into exile 24 citizens to avoid war with the Achaean League.^[38]