Ephor | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-10-03

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephor


00:01:56 Legal power
00:02:24 Etymology
00:02:50 Contemporary Uses



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SUMMARY
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The ephors were leaders of ancient Sparta and shared power with the two Spartan kings. The ephors were a council of five elected annually who swore "on behalf of the city" while the kings swore for themselves.Herodotus claimed that the institution was created by Lycurgus, while Plutarch considers it a later institution. It may have arisen from the need for governors while the kings were leading armies in battle. The ephors were elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were eligible. 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. There were a total of seven ephors, consisting of the two kings and the five who were elected.
According to Plutarch, 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. That was done to keep the large helot population in check.
The ephors did not have to kneel down 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. Since 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.)
Cleomenes III abolished the ephors in 227 BC, but they were 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in 146 BC, the position existed into the 2nd century AD, when it was probably abolished by Roman Emperor Hadrian and superseded by imperial governance as part of the province of Achaea.