PRO´STATES TOU DEMOU
PRO´STATES TOU DEMOU (
προστάτης
τοῦ δήμου) “denotes the leader of a popular party, as
opposed to an oligarchical party (see
Thuc.
3.70 [82], 4.66, 6.35), in a form of government either entirely
democratical, or at least in which the public assembly is frequently
convoked and decides on many matters of importance.” (Grote,
Hist. of Gr. vii. p. 304n.) Its meaning is practically
the same as
δημαγωγός (Stephan. Byz.
δῆμος: δημαγωγός: δ προεστηκὼς
δήμου: cf. Plat.
Rep. viii. p. 565 C,
οὐκοῦν ἕνα τινὰ ἀεὶ ὁ δῆμος εἴωθε διαφερόντως
[p. 2.505]προίστασθαι
ἑαυτοῦ: thus Pericles, whom Thucydides (
1.127) describes as
δυνατώτατος τῶν καθ᾽
ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἄγων τὴν πολιτείαν, is called
δημαγωγὸς by Isocrates (
de
Pace, § 126;
de Permut. §
234), and
προστάτης τῆς πόλεως by
Xenophon (
Memor. 1.2, 40). Thucydides applies
the word to Theramenes (8.89; cf. 8.65,
Ἀνδροκλέα--τοῦ δήμου μάλιστα προεστῶτα, and 6.28,
Ἀλκιβιάδῃ ἐμποδὼν ὔντι σφίσι μὴ αὐτοῖς
τοῦ δήμου βεβαίως προεστάναι), Xenophon to Archidemus
(
Hellen. 1.7, 2; cf.
Aristoph. Frogs 417), Aristophanes (
Aristoph. Frogs 569) to Cleon, Plutarcy
(
Cim. 15) to Ephialtes, Aeschines (
F. L.
§ 176) to Thrasybulus and Archinus, etc. And just as the person who
had placed himself at the head of the people was called
προστάτης τοῦ δήμου, the most influential
member of the senate might be said to be
προστάτης
τῆς βουλῆς (Dem.
c. Androt. p. 591,
argum.).--In O. Müller's opinion
(
Dorians, ii. p. 149)
προστάτης was also the title of a particular magistracy which
existed in all the Dorian states in which the government was democratical,
and G. C. Müller (
de Corcyr. Rep. p. 49 ff.)
considers as public officers the
προστάται τοῦ
δήμου in Corcyra (
Thuc. 3.70,
75;
4.46), in
Megara (
Thuc. 4.66), in Elis (
Xen. Hell. 3.2,
27,
30), in Mantineia (
ibid. 5.2, 3), in Argos and Heraclea (Aen.
Pol. 11), in Syracuse (
Thuc.
6.35). Wachsmuth (
Hell. Altert. 1.2, p. 435 ff.),
on the other hand, thinks that the term is a general one, sometimes implying
a particular office and sometimes not, but that even in the former case the
title of the magistrate was not
δήμου
προστάτης, but something else, such e. g. as
δημιουργός, which is lost to us in the general
appellation. Wachsmuth is no doubt right in denying that the term always
denoted a particular officer; thus Athenagoras was evidently not one, as the
connexion shows:
ἐν τῷ παρόντι πιθανώτατος τοῖς
πολλοῖς (
Thuc. 6.35); but he goes
too far in saying that
προστάτης τοῦ
δήμου was not the official title where a magistrate was denoted.
That this was the case is evident from inscriptions; thus in a Tegean decree
conferring proxenia there occur
προστάται τοῦ
δάμον, three in number,
στραταγοί (eleven),
῾λππαρχος,
γραμματεύς, and
ἱερεὺς τῆς
Ἀθηνᾶς (Dittenberger,
Syll. I. Gr. No. 317), and
Sauppe (
Comm. de Tit. Tegeat. p. 4) expresses an opinion that
in Argos too it was the title of a magistrate.
Προστάτης was the official title of functionaries of the
most different kinds. The Chaonians, whom Herodotus (
2.56,
5.127) considers as Hellenic,
whilst Thucydides (
2.80) calls them
βάρβαροι, had in the time of the Peloponnesian
war two presidents (
ὧν ἡγοῦντο ἐπ̓ ἐπτησίῳ
προστασίᾳ ἐκ τοῦ ἀρχικοῦ γένους Φ. καὶ N., Thuc.
l.c.), whilst other tribes of Epirus, such as the
Molossians, had kings; when afterwards these tribes were united probably by
Tharypas ( “primus leges et senatum annuosque magistratus et rei
publicae formam composuit,”
Just. 17,
3; cf.
Plut. Pyrrh. 1),
προστάται were the annual magistrates of the single tribes
under the king, e. g. of the Molossians:
ἐπὶ
προστάτα Λευχάρου . . . . ἔδοξε τοῖς Μολοσσοῖς
(Dittenberger, No. 322);
ἐπὶ βασιλέος Νεοπτολέμου
Ἀλεξάνδρου, ἐπὶ προστάτα Δέρκα Μολοσσῶν (
l.c. No. 324), and these
προστάται continued even after the abolition of royalty, e.
g.
στραταγοῦντος Ἀπειρωτᾶν Λυσυνία Καρώπου
προσστατεύοντος Μολοσσῶν Ἐχελάου Παρώρου (
l.c. No. 442; cf. No. 443).--The symmories of Teos
(which were analogous rather to the
gentes than
to the phratries of Athens, as Grote suggests,
Hist. of Gr.
iii. p. 186) had each four
προστάται, who
held office one year (
C. I. G. No. 306).--In some states the
προστάται seem to have been a kind of
executive of the
βουλή, analogous to the
Athenian
πρυτάνεις, who drew up the
decrees: thus in Calymna the decrees of politeia are usually headed,
ἔδοξε τᾷ βουλᾷ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ, γνώμα
προστατᾶν (
Brit. Mus. Gk. Inscr. ii. No. 232,
233, 235, etc.); a decree of the people of Cnidus which appears to relate to
the purification of a temple of Dionysus begins,
ἔδοξε Κνιδίοι[ς γν]ώμα προστατ[ᾶν] (Newton,
Halicarn., Cnid. and Branch., p. 753, No. 36);
γνώμα προστατᾶν stands in the heading of a
decree of Cos about the public proclamation of a crown, etc. (Cauer,2 No. 165). In Calymna the
προστάται were charged with inscribing decrees and setting
them up (
Brit. Mus. Inscr. ii. No. 242); they had to assign
by lot the new citizens to the phylae and demi (
ibid. No. 242, 253), and kept the public seal (
ibid. No. 299). just as the
ἐπιστάτης τῶν
πρυτανέων at Athens. In the decree of Iulis concerning the
export of red ochre, denunciations of those contravening were to be made to
the
προστάται (
C. I. A. ii.
No. 546=Hicks,
Manual, No. 108), just as the impeachment
against the corn-dealers was in the first instance laid before the
πρυτάνεις at Athens (Lys.
adv.
Frument.). In other states, however, the
προστάται had apparently different functions. Thus in Iasus,
where
πρυτάνεις were the executive of the
senate, they were in Hicks' opinion “a board concerned with the
admission of strangers to the citizenship, and the keeping of a register
of citizens” (
Journ. Hell. Soc. viii. p. 107).
Hence the
προστάται were enjoined in a
decree (
γνώμη πρυτανέων) to bring a
proposal before the
βουλὴ for the admission
of certain strangers of Priene to citizenship (
Brit. Mus.
3.1, No. 420; cf. the Iasian decree in
Journ. Hell. Soc.
viii. p. 112, where the
προστάται and
στρατηγοὶ together propose the grant of
honours to Teleutias), and were charged in another decree (
C. I.
G. No. 2676) to select the place where a decree of politeia should
be inscribed (cf.
C. I. G. No. 2008=Hicks,
Manual, No. 98, Amphipolis); hence they had to seal the boxes
supplied to the six
νεωποῖαι (one from each
tribe), who collected the vouchers of those who, attended the popular
assembly, the
προστάται at the close of the
meeting examining the vouchers and authorising the payment of the
ecclesiasticon. In a Thasian decree, too, a
προστάτης is mentioned, who is evidently
concerned with the restoration of outlawed members of the oligarchical party
to civic rights upon their return (
Journ. Hell. Soc. viii. p.
401 ff.), and, Newton (
Brit. Mus. ii. p. 114) sees in the
προστάται τοὶ σὺν Χαρίνῳ in a
Rhodian inscription a board “whose function was to take care of
strangers and of those who had no civic rights,” and similarly
explains the fifteen
προστάται in the
epigram on the base of a statue of Hermes found by him at Cnidus
(
Halicavn., Cnid. and Branch., p. 749, No. 31), though
the Cnidian inscription No. 36 (referred to above) would rather point to
προστάται having had the
[p. 2.506]function of the Athenian
πρυτάνεις.--A decree of Dyme conferring citizenship mentions
a
βούλαρχος, a
προστάτας, and a
γραμματιστὰς
δαμοσιοφυλάκων (Dittenberger, No. 316=Cauer,2 No. 267): here
προστάτας seems to
denote the president of the popular assembly, just as two
προστατεύοντες τῆς ἐκκλησίας occur in an
inscription from Hypata (Rhangabé, No. 748). Two
προστάται presided over the council (
συνέδριον) of the Aetolian league
(Rhangabé, No. 692=Cauer,2 No. 239
sub fin.). (Gilbert,
Staatsalterth.
ii.
passim.) [
H.H]
(Appendix). In the
Ἀθ. πολ. the term
προστάτης τοῦ δήμου (or
τοῦ
πλήθους) is constantly used in the sense of “leader of
the popular party” : e. g. Solon (
πρῶτος
ἐγέν[ετο τοῦ δήμου] προστάτης, cc. 2, 28), Pisistratus
(
δεύτερος, 100.28), Cleisthenes (cc.
21, 28), Xanthippus, Themistoles and Aristides (cc. 23, 28), Ephialtes (cc.
25, 28), Pericles, Cleon, Cleophon. These are opposed to the leaders for the
time being of the other party (
προστ. τῶν ἑτέρων,
τῶν εὐπόρων, τῶν γνωρίμων. Hipparchus, the son of
Charmus, is called
ἡγεμὼν καὶ προστάτης
of the
φίλοι τῶν τυράννων, 100.22).
