2. Though it may be mere pedantry, let us start with
some very general remarks on the classification of
political assemblies, insofar as it is relevant to the
ancient history of the Near East, of Greece, and of
Rome. First of all, we must obviously make a distinc-
tion between popular assemblies and councils of
advisers. Not every popular assembly implies a democ-
racy or indeed even the smallest amount of freedom
of speech. The chieftain or king may convene an
assembly simply to give orders. In other types of
assembly the people are asked to confer power on a
sovereign and to sanction decisions previously taken
either by the king or by the council of advisers without
being given the alternative of refusing to do so. De-
mocracy in its ancient form exists when the popular
assembly has power to elect the king or the magistrates,
to make war and peace, to enact laws, and to adminis-
ter justice.
As for the council of advisers, it presented itself in
two different forms in the Near East. In tribal societies
or in city-states it was normally a council of elders.
Membership of the council was often hereditary, less
frequently, dependent on some sort of election. In large
territorial monarchies the advisers were chosen by the
king from among the members of certain families
(including his own) and/or among the highest officers
of the State: he could dismiss them at will.
Popular assemblies are not to be found in the great
monarchies of the Near East, with the partial exception
of the Hittite Empire. In the Empires of Egypt,
Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia, the monarch ruled
despotically and by divine right with the assistance of
his officers and advisers. This does not mean that indi-
vidual cities or villages of these Empires did not have
their popular assemblies and councils of elders.
