1
Apellai
IRIS SAMOTTA
Apellai (only in the plural form) refers to the
religious Apellai festival of Apollo (“Apellon”
in the Dorian dialect) held every year in the
month of Apellaios in DELPHI (Burkert 1975:
9–11) and probably in Lakonia (Luther 2006:
81), or to the Spartan political assembly of the
people as exposed in the Great Rhetra of ca. 700
BCE, the constitutional document ascribed to
the mythical lawgiver Lycurgus (see LYCURGUS,
SPARTAN LEGISLATOR). Considering the sacrifices,
it may be assumed that the Apellai in Delphi
were held to introduce young men to the body
of citizens (CID I 9). The worship of the
Pythian Apollo connects the religious festival
to the meetings of the Spartan citizen
assembly, as does the meaning of apellazein
(“to hold/conduct apellai”), which is explained
by the Alexandrian scholar Hesychios (Hesych.
s.v. apellai, fifth/sixth century CE) with regard
to gathering places (sekoi), assemblies of the
people (ekklesiai), and voting assemblies
(ephairesiai). In his explanation of the Great
Rhetra Plutarch also points to the identity of
the terms apellazein and ekklesiazein (Plut.
Lyc. 6). Although apellai as a term is never
used to describe the Spartan people’s assembly
by ancient (mainly non-Lakonian) sources
(only ekklesia is used, e.g., Thuc. 5.77.1; see
De Ste. Croix 1972: 346–7; Luther 2006:
74–9), modern authors use apella (singular
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 516–517.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah04032
form) instead of ekklesia in reference to the
Spartan political body of the people (damos)
in Archaic and early Classical times (Welwei
1997: 179). Recent discussions attach the term
apellai only to a special yearly voting assembly
of the damos as opposed to the regular ekklesia,
which was held monthly (Luther 2006: 86).
Chaired by the kings and gerontes, and since
550–500 by the eponymous ephor, the Spartan
people’s assembly usually voted by acclamation
(for an exception, see, e.g., Thuc. 1.87) on
proposals put before them by the GEROUSIA:
elections, statutes, treaties, and war or peace
resolutions. On the other hand, the apellai did
not have the right to make proposals and could
be dissolved by the chair.
SEE ALSO: Apollo; Ephors; Rhetra; Sparta.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Burkert, W. (1975) “Apellai und Apollon.”
Rheinisches Museum 118: 1–21.
De Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1972) The origins of the
Peloponnesian War. London.
Kelly, D. H. (1981) “Policy-making in the
Spartan assembly.” Antichthon 15: 47–61.
Luther, A. (2006) “Der Name der
Volksversammlung in Sparta.” In A. Luther,
M. Meier, and L. Thommen, eds., Das frühe
Sparta: 73–88. Stuttgart.
Welwei, K.-W. (1997) “Apella oder Ekklesia? Zur
Bezeichnung der spartanischen
Volksversammlung.” Rheinisches Museum 140:
243–9.