The
assembly was held in the open air on the Pnyx; the citizens sat on
stone benches arranged in an amphitheatre; the magistrates before them
on a platform opened the session with a religious ceremony and a
prayer, then a herald proclaimed in a loud voice the business which
was to occupy the assembly, and said, "Who wishes to speak?" Every
citizen had the right to this privilege; the orators mounted the
tribune according to age. When all had spoken, the president put the
question; the assembly voted by a show of hands, and then dissolved.
=The Courts.=--The people itself, being sovereign, passed judgment in
the courts. Every citizen of thirty years of age could participate in
the judicial assembly (the Heliaea). The heliasts sat in the great
halls in sections of five hundred; the tribunal was, then, composed of
one thousand to fifteen hundred judges. The Athenians had no
prosecuting officer as we have; a citizen took upon himself to make
the accusation. The accused and the accuser appeared before the court;
each delivered a plea which was not to exceed the time marked off by a
water-clock.
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