The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.
The word "ephors" (Ancient Greek , plural form of ) comes from the Ancient Greek , "on" or "over", and , "to see", i.e., "one who oversees" or "overseer". "ephor, n.". Oxford English Dictionary. March 2021. Oxford University Press. Accessed April 4, 2021. The ephors were a council of five Spartan men elected annually who swore an oath monthly on the behalf of the state. The Spartan kings, however, would swear on behalf of themselves.Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta. 15.7.
The ephors did not have to kneel before the Kings of Sparta, and were held in high esteem by the citizens because of the importance of their powers and because of the holy role that they earned throughout their functions.Donald Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. p. 29. Ithaca/New York 1969, .
Several other Greek city-states with a Spartan ancestry also had ephors, such as Taras or Cyrene.
History
Creation Two different accounts of the origins of the ephorate exist in ancient sources. The earliest account is found in the Histories of Herodotus, who traces its origins to the mythical Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus—a version followed by Xenophon, Plato, or Isocrates.Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, 8, 11.Plato, Epistles, viii. 354b.Isocrates, Panathenaicus, 153, 154.Richer, , pp. 21–24. A diverging version first appears in the Politics, written in the middle of the 4th century BC by Aristotle, who tells that the ephorate was created by the Spartan king Theopompos.Aristotle, Politics, v. 11, 1313a. This version is then more prevalent in subsequent authors, such as Cicero, and especially Plutarch.Cicero, , ii. 33, 58; De Legibus, iii. 7, 15, 16.Plutarch, Cleomenes, 10; Lycurgus, 7, 29; Moralia, 779E. Modern scholars have identified the source of the second version in a lost work written by the Agiad king Pausanias after he had been forced to abdicate and go into exile in 394 BC. In this logos, Pausanias likely published Lycurgus' laws, including the Rhetra, which details the different elements of the Spartan constitution (kings, , and Assembly), but does not mention the ephors. It has therefore been suggested that Pausanias was hostile to the ephors, to whom he possibly attributed his banishment, and published the Rhetra to discredit their office.Richer, , pp. 34, 35, 42, 43. Although the contents of this and Pausanias' motivations remain disputed, most modern scholars think the ephors were created at the time of Theopompos, during the Messenian Wars.Huxley, Early Sparta, pp. 38, 39, "It is most unlikely that the Ephorate was introduced before the twenties of the eighth century."Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia, p. 115; though he writes p. 117 that the absence of the ephors in the Rhetra could be the result of their unimportance at the time. However, since Ancient Thera had ephors despite having been settled by the Dorians as early as the 9th century, this could indicate that the officials had already existed by then in some form.Yuriy Andreyev, , Part I Chapter III.
According to Plutarch, the ephorate was born out of the necessity for leaders while the kings of Sparta were absent for long periods during the Messenian Wars. The ephors were elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were eligible. The position of ephor was the only political office open to the whole (populace) of men between the ages of 30 and 60, so eligible Spartans highly sought after the position. They were forbidden to be re-elected and provided a balance for the two kings, who rarely co-operated. Plato called the ephors tyrants, who ran Sparta as despots while the kings were little more than generals. Up to two ephors would accompany a king on extended military campaigns as a sign of control, and they held the authority to declare war during some periods in Spartan history.
Since political and economic decisions were made by majority vote, Sparta's policy could change quickly, when the vote of one ephor changed. For example, in 403 BC, Pausanias convinced three of the ephors to send an army to Attica, a complete reversal of the policy of Lysander. According to Aristotle, the ephors frequently came from poverty because any Spartan citizen could hold the position, and it was not exclusive to the upper-class. Aristotle stated that because of this they were often liable to corruption.Pol. 1270b 7–10 There were times when the legal power of an ephor was taken advantage of, such as with Alcibiades's use of Endius, who persuaded the Spartans to allow Alcibiades to take control of Sparta's peace mission to Athens in 420 BC.
Cleomenes III abolished the position of ephor in 227 BC, and replaced them with a position called the . Cleomenes's coup resulted in the death of four of the five ephors, along with ten other citizens. His abolition of the ephorship allowed him to cement his role as king and prevent anyone from stopping his political reforms. However, the ephorate was restored by the Macedonian King Antigonus III Doson after the Battle of Sellasia in 222 BC. Although Sparta fell under Roman rule in 146 BC, the position existed into the 2nd century AD, when it was likely abolished by Roman Emperor Hadrian and superseded by imperial governance as part of the province of Achaea.
Election The ephorate elections took place close to the Autumn equinox, because the term of the ephors matched the Spartan year, which started with the first full moon after the equinox, therefore the end of September or October.
There was probably an age requirement of at least 30 years old to be elected ephor, the age from which a Spartan citizen was no longer considered eromenos.Richer, , pp. 252, 253, 291.
The Spartan constitution is principally known through the work of Aristotle, who describes in detail the elections of the gerontes (the members of the Gerousia), but not the ephors. It is still assumed that the election procedure was similar.Richer, , p. 296. Candidates passed one by one before the assembled citizens, who shouted according to their preference, while several assessors who were confined into a windowless building declared winners the five candidates with the loudest shouts. As with the gerontes, this system of voice voting was considered "childish" by Aristotle, because influential men could easily manipulate the results by pressuring the jury.Richer, , pp. 296, 297.
The kings played a prominent role during election campaigns by favouring their candidates, even though only one instance of such practice is known, when in 243/242 Lysander was elected ephor with the help of the king Agis IV. The fact that influential kings such as Cleomenes I or Agesilaus II had no reported conflict with the ephors support the view that they could decide who would be the ephors.Richer, , pp. 298, 299. Some ephors were elected thanks to a famous deed that made them known among voters. For example, Leon, ephor in 419/418, had won the quadriga race at the Olympic Games in 440, while his son Antalkidas had concluded a treaty with Persia in 387 before becoming ephor in 370/369.Richer, , pp. 277, 278, 300. The famous general Brasidas was elected in 431 just after his victory against Athens at Methone.Richer, , pp. 275–277, 300.
Eponymous ephor One of the ephors was eponymous, i.e. he gave his name to the year, like the eponymous archon in Athens. He was probably designated during the elections as the candidate with the loudest shouts overall.Richer, , pp. 320–322. The eponymous ephor did not have any additional power compared to his colleagues; it was only a prestigious position.Richer, , pp. 313–320. In 413/2, the ordinary ephor Endios is thus described by Thucydides as wielding a lot of influence within the college, even though the eponymous was Onomantios.Richer, , p. 317.
As the eponymous ephors were used as dates, a list compiling their names existed in Sparta, and is mentioned by Polybius. This list was perhaps published by Apollodoros and Sosicrates, whose lost works were used by Diogenes Laertius. The list went at least as far as 556 (the year of Chilon's ephorate) and possibly up to 754 (during the reign of Theopompos as ancient authors believed). However, Diogenes lived in the 3rd century AD, and even his sources dated from the Hellenistic era, long after the events.Richer, , pp. 72, 73.
Legal power
The ephors held numerous duties in legislative, judicial, financial, and executive matters. Following Lycurgus's "Asteropus" in 620 BC (increase in the power of the ephorate), the ephors became the ambassadors of Sparta. They handled all matters associated with foreign relations, including the creation of treaties with foreign powersMillender, E. (2001). "Spartan Literacy Revisited". Classical Antiquity, 20(1), 121–164. and meeting with emissaries to discuss foreign politics. They held power within Sparta by also acting as the Presidents of the assembly and the justices of the supreme civil court as well as controlling army composition. The ephors needed a majority vote to make decisions binding and minority or dissenting decisions were not accepted by the assembly.Xenophon, Hellenica. 2.3.34
According to Plutarch,Life of Lycurgus, 28, 3–7. every autumn at the crypteia, the ephors would pro forma declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood guilt. This was done to keep the large helot population in check.Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta 15.6; Xenophon, Hellenica 2.3.9–10; Plutarch, Agis 12.1, 16.2; Plato, Laws 3.692; Aristotle, The Politics 2.6.14–16; A. H. M. Jones, Sparta Plutarch also stated that every eight years the ephors would watch the skies on a moonless night. If shooting stars occurred, it was up to the ephors to decide whether one or both of the kings had transgressed in his dealings with the gods. A transgression could include any behavior that dishonored the Greek pantheon. Unless the oracle from Delphi or Olympia stated otherwise, the ephors had the ability to depose the offending king or kings. Plutarch also stated that the ephors tried cases involving contracts among citizens. He further reported that each ephor specialized in a different type of disputed contract.
According to Pausanias, the ephors served with the Gerousia on the Supreme criminal court of Sparta. This included presiding over treason, homicide, and other offenses that carried serious punishments. These punishments included exile, death, and disfranchisement.Pausanias. Description of Greece. 3.5.2
Ephors had the authority to summon and preside over the assembly's regular meetings in the fifth century BC.Thucydides 1.67.3 Initially this power was only assigned to kings in early years. However, with the passing of the Great Rhetra regular meetings became mandated. By the late sixth century BC, the ephors had acquired this authority to oversee the assembly and could use this power against the kings of Sparta. For example, they used this authority to force King Anaxandridas II to change his conjugal arrangements to their advantage. King Anaxandridas' wife was barren but he refused to divorce her so the ephors forced him to marry a second wife to provide heirs.Herodotus 5.40.1
Two ephors were always sent on military expeditions to ensure the king acted in line, and if not, could put the king on trial. Many kings were put on trial by the ephors, including Leotychidas, who was found to have accepted a bribe from the Thessalians during his military expedition to Thessaly.