boule

boule, deliberative council in ancient Greece. It probably derived from an advisory body of nobles, as reflected in the Homeric poems. A boule existed in virtually every constitutional city-state and is recorded from the end of the 6th century bce at Corinth, Argos, Athens, Chios, and Cyrene. It appeared during a transition to democracy when the aristocratic gerousia was either modified, replaced, or opposed by a new council (the boule). Thus in Athens in 594...