The Appointment of Priests in Attic Gene

Abstract

Since the practice of religion was central to the life of the Greek polis, the attempt to discern and understand the method used by the polis to appoint its priests and any changes in that method that occurred over time is a topic of great interest in the history not only of ancient Greek religion, but of the polis more broadly. No single model of priestly appointment is applicable to the whole of Greece and various methods are attested in different places at different times, including election, inheritance, and purchase. In Attica polis priesthoods feil broadly into two categories depending on the group from which appointment was made: most common, found throughout antiquity, were priesthoods appointed from the descent groups known as gene; but in the classical period from ca. 450, when the polis had occasion to create new priesthoods, they were appointed from the whole citizen body or the Cleisthenic tribes or demes. An important question is the extent to which gene were exclusive or "aristocratie" groups.