Critae
（
κριταί). Judges; a name applied by the Greeks to any
person who did not judge of a thing as
δικαστής—i.
e. according to positive law— but rather according to his own personal sense of
justice and equity (
Herod.iii. 160). Specifically, the name was
applied at Athens to a number of judges chosen by ballot from a body of selected
candidates at the time of the
Dionysia (q.v.).
Their office was to judge of the merit of the different choruses and dramatic poems, and to
award the prizes to the victors. It is supposed that there were in all ten
κριταί—five for comedy and five for tragedy. See
Drama.
