Deliberation in Classical Athens: Not Talking, but Thinking (and Voting)

Abstract

Classical Athenian democracy is often described as “deliberative,” suggesting that political decisions were reached following group discussion. Yet of the three Greek verbs associated with “deliberation” in English, only two, “dēmēgoreō” and “symbouleuō,” actually indicate speaking. The third, “bouleuō,” could suggest speaking when used in the active voice, but was most commonly used in the middle voice (“bouleuomai”) to signify internal reflection. This is the voice invariably used to describe the activity of the Athenian assembly, and careful examination suggests that it also indicated internal reflection in this context. This has profound implications for our conception of classical Athenian politics. Athenian assemblygoers did not speak with each other: rather, they were spoken to by a small number of self-selected rhētores, “politicians” or “advisors,” who by the very act of speaking marked their distinctness from ordinary citizens, whose tasks were to listen, judge and vote