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There are comparatively few references to ἐκκλησία in Plato,192 and a similar pattern emerges from them.193 Two points of interests emerge. First, the use of ἐκκλησιασταί for assembly-men, which remains a very rare occurrence in the literature,194 and second, the plural used for assemblies conceived of in general.195
I will consider the ten Attic Orators together for convenience.196 Unsurprisingly, they have a particular focus on the Athenian assembly.197 As in Thucydides, the assembly is a place of decision-making and dispute,198 the place where laws are made,199 taxes raised,200 and where people come or are brought to explain their actions.201 They are concerned with the right operation of the assembly, and distinguish between the role of the ἐκκλησία and the βουλή. Arguably, Demosthenes provides one of the clearest distinctions between the two when he quotes the decree of Callisthenes: “In the archonship of Mnesiphilus, at an extraordinary assembly convened by the Generals and the Presidents, with the approval of the Council.”202 Demosthenes also appears at times to use ἐκκλησία and δῆμος interchangeably: the δῆμος has given authority to the βουλή, in the ἐκκλησία.203
The ten Attic Orators are also concerned with the following of due process and right conduct, particularly the failure of opponents to observe due process,204 such as when Aeschines accuses Ctesiphon of passing legislation when the assembly was on the point of adjourning, most people having left,205 or of calling the assembly on the day of the sacrifice to Asclepius, against previous custom.206
There are times when decrees and proceedings of previous assemblies are quoted,207 a notable example of this being the discussion of the role of the assembly in the crowning of Ctesiphon.208 They note how the assembly can become bored,209 corrupted by wicked orators,210 and otherwise wrongly influenced.211 It is a place of decision, but also of indecision and inconsistent decision, as Isocrates writes: “we are behaving so illogically that we do not have the same opinion about the same situation even on the same day. Rather, we condemn something before we get to the Assembly, and then once we get there, we vote for it; then a little later, after we leave the Assembly, we complain about the decisions we made there.”212 It is a political body, but nevertheless has “religious” content.213 The plural is used for consecutive assemblies.214
Aristotle215 shows some similarities with the Attic Orators. In Athenian Constitution, he is concerned with attendance, offices, location, payments, and other rules for the assembly,216 as well as deception in the assembly.217 Politics gives further insights into the potential workings of the assembly: the responsibility of the richer citizens to attend,218 the designation of assembly members as officials,219 how the assembly works differently in oligarchy and democracy,220 how the assembly should be sovereign in democracy,221 as well as more examples of various practices in various places.222 Perhaps most interesting here is Aristotle’s discussion of the relationship between the individual “base” members of the assembly and collective sovereignty. In discussing the right of the assembly, despite being made up of common people, to judge, he argues that “although each individual separately will be a worse judge than the experts, the whole of them assembled together will be better or at least as good judges,”223 and “it is not the individual juryman or councilor or member of the assembly in whom authority rests, but the court, the council and the people,”224 indicating that the assembly has a corporate existence, and that the whole is greater than the individual parts. Theophrastus225 deals with behavior in the assembly.226
Polybius227 uses ἐκκλησία in similar ways to those noted here; however, some differences of emphasis emerge: ἐκκλησία is used for an assembly of soldiers,228 and it is used for assemblies in various places.229 Notably, it is used for the Achaean or Aetolian general assembly or congress suggesting a representative function.230 In discussing the Roman state, ἐκκλησία is used for the popular assembly, as distinct from the Senate, a similar distinction to the ἐκκλησία and the βουλή distinction noted before.231
Diodorus of Sicily, probably writing between 56 and 30 BC,232 writes of assemblies in various places, and the number of times that assembly is used here (and the wide variety of places where assemblies are noted, well beyond the traditional Athenian orbit) should be noted.233 He also refers to assemblies of soldiers,234 and to the Second Panhellenic congress of 194 BC as an assembly.235 Still, the assembly does what it has always done: being summoned,236 listening to speeches and making decisions,237 responding to kings and rulers,238 and occasionally being rebellious,239 even when the historical context is not that of the Classical period.
