The Apella/Assembly

 Membership

• This was the most democratic organ of the Spartan government
• All adult male Spartiartes over thirty were eligible to sit in the assembly
• Those who had lost their citizenship rights could not attend

Functions

• They met once a month at the full moon, in the open air, under the chairmanship of the Ephor
• Unlike the Athenian assembly, the Spartan assembly did not debate, discuss or amend proposals
• The members listened to a proposal made by the Gerousia, delivered by the presiding Ephor
• They would them either vote for or against the proposal

Spartan Ideal

• A Spartan was trained to obey and conform - NOT to take sides In public debates
• Lycurgus - was said to have outlawed rhetoric teachers
• This ethos is said to have given rise to the term Laconic - a word used to describe someone who talks very little

Limitations

• There was one undemocratic aspect of the Apella
• If the Ephors disapproved of a motion passed by the assembly they could refuse to proclaim it

Source Activity

Plutarch

• The Apella met in the open "for in his opinion these were not conducive to sound deliberations, but were harmful, they made them silly and gave them mindless notions" ' suggests Lycurgus was concerned that the assembly could be easily distracted and not very intelligent ' they lack importance as a result - and also suggests they were not important because they had no government building to meet in. Describing them as being childish, and saying it's pointless for them to meet
• "if the people should make a crooked choice, the elders and kings should set it aside" - suggests the assembly lack the power of the other government because the choice seems to be made for them by the other positions in government
• "Lycurgus permitted no-one else to make a proposal except the the kings and elders, and the authority to decide upon did matter to the people" - suggests they do have some importance as they do have the final say in decision making, but because they cannot propose laws themselves they lack the decision making capabilities that assemblies in other states would have. Shows the lack of trust that Lycurgus placed with the assembly
• After Lycurgus the assembly began to change and annul laws, so the kings Polydorus and Theopompus supplemented the Rhetra with this addition that the elders and kinds could set aside the decision of the assembly - suggesting they used to have more power under the Lycurgan reform but that power was diminished - "the people will vote with a straight rhetra"
• They met under the full moon, which isn't a regular occurence
• The fact that Lycurgus tries to avoid them being distracted suggests their views and decisions may be more important than the sources are suggesting
• Quotes Aristotle as a source
• Quotes Tyrtaeus on the Spartan Rhetra - Spartan source around the time of Lycurgus' reforms
• Increases the value of Plutarch's account because he is using contemporary sources to support his points - including a Spartan source
• He is using Aristotle's critical account - Plutarch not being a contemporary source means his views are shaped by the earlier writings