Boule (redirected from Council of the Four Hundred)

boule

Deliberative council in the city-states of ancient Greece. It existed in almost all constitutional city-states, especially from the late 6th century BC. In Athens the boule was created as an aristocratic body by Solon in 594 BC; later, under Cleisthenes, 500 members were elected to represent the 10 tribes (50 each). A certain number, in rough proportion to size, were allotted to each deme. Complementing the work of the ecclesia and areopagus, the boule controlled finances, managed the fleet and cavalry, evaluated officials, received foreign ambassadors, and advised the strategus. The boule model largely influenced the organization of councils of other cities in the Hellenic period.

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boule [bül]

(crystallography)

A pure crystal, such as silicon, having the atomic structure of a single crystal, formed synthetically by rotating a small seed crystal while pulling it slowly out of molten material in a special furnace.

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boule

A plain-sawn log which has been reassembled in the original log form, but with spacers between adjacent slabs.

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Boule 

(from the Greek word for council), in ancient Greece:

(1) In Homer’s narrative poems, the tribal council of nobles under the basileus.

(2) In the aristocratic and oligarchic poleis (until the beginning of the fifth century B.C.), the ruling council of the nobility or primarily wealthy citizens; membership was for life (the Gerousia in Sparta, the Areopagus in Athens, and others).

(3) In the democratic poleis, the supreme agency of executive power and state control, elected for a specific term; it prepared the agenda for the assembly. The boule at Athens was the best known. It was established by Solon in 594 B.C. and known as the council of400. It became the council of 500 under Cleisthenes (509 B.C.), and from 307 B.C. it was the council of 600. It was elected from the phylae, and from the middle of the fifth century B.C. members were chosen by lots. The boule was divided into ten committees, known as prytaneis, which operated on a rotation basis (each prytane performing its duties for a tenth of a year). From the fifth century B.C. the members of the boule (bouleutai)began to receive payment of one drachma a day.