ecclesia

1. The political assembly of citizens of an ancient Greek state.
2. A church or congregation.

[Latin ecclēsia, from Greek ekklēsiā, from ekkalein, to summon forth : ek-, out; see ecto- + kalein, klē-, to call.]

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ecclēsia, assembly and sovereign body at Athens, comprising all the adult male citizens over the age of 18, all equally entitled to address the assembly and to vote. It normally met forty times a year on the Pnyx, with extra sessions as required, and was presided over by the chairman of the boulē (executive council) who had been chosen by lot for the day. Voting was by simple majority and generally by show of hands. The assembly elected the strategoi (military commanders) and served as a law court in the matter of grave crimes threatening the safety of the state, but its chief work was the passing of decrees (psephismata) dealing in detail with every sphere of government, including foreign affairs, finance, naval and military operations, and the corn supply. The agenda for meetings were prepared by the boule and any citizen might submit a matter for inclusion. No motion might be debated unless it appeared on the agenda and had been duly advertised: snap decisions were thus avoided. The only restraint on the powers of the assembly was that of the laws. If a motion proposed was illegal or even inexpedient, the proposer was liable to prosecution. The normal peacetime attendance was well over 5, 000, a good proportion of the male citizen-body. From perhaps 403 BC, to ensure that every citizen could exercise his political rights, payment of one obol to those attending was introduced, the rate becoming more liberal in the course of time. During the fifth and most of the fourth centuries the assembly functioned in a fully democratic way (given that women, slaves, and metics were excluded). The boule exercised no control, and the initiation of policy lay entirely in the hands of the citizens. Continuous policy was achieved only when one man, or a group of men, holding the confidence of the people over a period of time, was repeatedly elected to the office of strategos. These semi-professional politicians were sometimes aristocrats, sometimes men of no family who were skilled orators, occasionally accepting fees from others in return for promoting certain measures in the assembly. They were the men who by and large proposed motions, and they wielded considerable influence in the assembly. See also DEMOCRACY, DEMAGOGUE, SOLON, CLEISTHENES, PERICLES, CLEON, DEMOSTHENES, and EUBULUS.