Latest / Ancient Greece: Philosophy, Democracy, and Endless War — Fexingo History / The Ekklesia and the Kleroterion: Random Selection in Athenian Democracy
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Athenian democracy in previous episodes — the assemblies, the ostracism, the reforms of Cleisthenes. But I want to zoom in on a specific mechanism today that's often overlooked: the use of random selection, or sortition, to fill most public offices. Luna: Random selection? You mean like a lottery? Lucas: Exactly. The Athenians believed that choosing officials by lot was more democratic than elections, because elections tend to favor the rich and famous. So for most positions — except generals and a few others requiring special expertise — they used allotment. Lucas: They even invented a device for it: the kleroterion. It was a stone slab with rows of slots where citizens inserted their name tokens. Then they'd drop bronze dice into a tube, and based on the dice, certain rows were selected. It was a randomization machine, essentially. Luna: That's incredible. So how many offices were filled this way? Lucas: Hundreds. The boule, the council of 500, was chosen by lot. The jurors for the law courts — the dikasteria — were selected by lot each day. Even most magistrates, like the archons, were chosen by lot after a basic eligibility check. Lucas: The idea was that every citizen — at least every male citizen over 30 — had an equal chance to serve. And serving on the boule or as a juror came with a small payment, introduced by Pericles, so poorer citizens could afford to participate. Luna: But wouldn't that mean incompetence? What if someone with no experience became a magistrate? Lucas: That was a concern. But they had safeguards. Before taking office, every selected official underwent a scrutiny called dokimasia, where their fitness and background were examined. And after their term, they had to submit to an audit — euthynai — where any citizen could challenge their conduct. Lucas: Also, the system wasn't purely random for everything. Generals were elected, not allotted, because military command required skill. And the most powerful deliberative body, the Ekklesia — the assembly of all citizens — was open to anyone, but decisions were made by show of hands, not lottery. Luna: So the lottery was mainly for administrative and judicial roles. That makes sense. Lucas: Right. And it was remarkably effective at preventing corruption. Since you couldn't predict who would serve, it was harder to bribe or influence officials. The system also distributed power widely — most citizens would serve at least once in their lifetime. Lucas: Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle had mixed feelings about sortition. Plato, in particular, was skeptical. He thought it could put unqualified people in charge. But Aristotle acknowledged that it was a key feature of radical democracy. Lucas: In fact, Aristotle in his 'Athenian Constitution' describes the process in detail: how the nine archons were chosen by lot from a pool of 500 previously selected candidates, and how the kleroterion was used for jury selection. Luna: I've heard that the kleroterion was discovered in the Agora. Do we have actual examples? Lucas: Yes! Several kleroteria have been excavated in the Athenian Agora. They're large marble slabs with carved slots. You can see them in the Agora Museum. They're a tangible piece of democratic machinery. And we also have surviving bronze allotment tokens — pinakia — with the citizen's name and his demotic. Lucas: The whole system was designed to make democracy work in a face to face society. Athens had maybe 30,000 to 50,000 adult male citizens, so sortition was practical. But it also reflected a deep conviction: that any citizen could rule, and that ruling was a duty, not a privilege. Luna: It's fascinating how different that is from modern representative democracy. We elect almost everyone. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why the Athenian model is so interesting to political theorists today. Some modern experiments in citizen assemblies — like in Ireland or British Columbia — have used random selection to bring ordinary people into decision-making on constitutional issues. The idea is still alive. Lucas: Of course, Athenian democracy had huge exclusions: women, slaves, metics — they couldn't participate. But within the citizen body, sortition was a radical equalizer. It prevented the emergence of a permanent political class. Luna: So it was a way to keep democracy from becoming an oligarchy in disguise. Lucas: Precisely. And that's something worth reflecting on. We keep these conversations ad-free because we believe in making history accessible without commercial breaks. If you'd like to support that mission, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep the podcast independent. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep this content free and focused on the stories. Lucas: So, back to the kleroterion: it's a reminder that the Athenians were constantly innovating to make their democracy work. They weren't naive — they knew the risks of lottery, but they also knew the risks of elections. Sortition was their answer to a problem we still wrestle with: how to make governance fair. Luna: I love that there's an archaeological artifact that embodies a political idea. Lucas: Exactly. The kleroterion is like a fossil of democratic thought. And it shows that the Athenians thought deeply about institutions, not just ideals. They built machines to make their values real. Luna: Well, thanks for walking us through that. I'll never look at a lottery the same way. Lucas: Glad to hear it. Next time, we'll look at another overlooked institution — the Athenian navy and how it shaped democracy. But that's for another conversation.