il had further a complete system of scribes or
secretaries (_grammateis_), private treasury officials, and a paid
herald who summoned the Boule and the Ecclesia. The meetings took place
generally in the council hall (_Bouleuterion_), but on special occasions
in the theatre, the stadium, the dockyards, the Acropolis or the
Theseum. They were normally public, the audience being separated by a
barrier, but on occasions of peculiar importance the public was
excluded.

Prytaneis.

The Ecclesia, owing to its size and constitution, was unable to meet
more than three or four times a month; the council, on the other hand,
was in continuous session, except on feast days. It was impossible that
the Five Hundred should all sit every day, and, therefore, to facilitate
the despatch of business, the system of Prytaneis was introduced,
probably by Cleisthenes. By this system the year was divided into ten
equal periods. During each of these periods the council was represented
by the fifty councillors of one of the ten tribes, who acted as a
committee for carrying on business for a tenth of the year. Each of
these committees was led by a president (_Epistates_), who acted as
chairman of the Boule and the Ecclesia also, and a third of its numbers
lived permanently during their period of office in the Tholos (Dome) or
Skias, a round building where they (with certain other officials and
honoured citizens) dined at the public expense. In 378-377 B.C. (or
perhaps in the archonship of Eucleides, 403) the presidency of the
Ecclesia was transferred to the _Epistates of the Proedri_, the
_Proedri_ being a body of nine chosen by lot by the Epistates of the
Prytaneis from the remaining nine tribes. It was the duty of the Boule
(i.e. the Prytany which was for the time in session) to prepare all
business for the consideration of the Ecclesia. Their recommendation
([Greek: probouleuma]) was presented to the popular assembly (for
procedure, see ECCLESIA), which either passed it as it stood or made
amendments subject to certain conditions. It must be clearly understood
that the recommendation of the council had no intrinsic force until by
the votes of the Ecclesia it passed into law as a psephism. But in
addition to this function, the Council of the Five Hundred had large
administrative and judicial control. (1) It was before the council that
the Poletae arranged the farming of public revenues, the receipt of
tenders for public works and the sale