For the use of the title in modern Greek archaeology, see Ephor (archaeology).
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The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.
The word "ephors" (Ancient Greek ἔφοροιéphoroi, plural form of ἔφοροςéphoros) comes from the Ancient Greek ἐπίepi, "on" or "over", and ὁράωhoraō, "to see", i.e., "one who oversees" or "overseer".[1] The ephors were a council of five Spartan men elected annually who swore an oath monthly on the behalf of the state. The Spartan kings, however, would swear on behalf of themselves.[2]
The ephors did not have to kneel before the Kings of Sparta, and were held in high esteem by the citizens because of the importance of their powers and because of the holy role that they earned throughout their functions.[3]
Several other Greek city-states with a Spartan ancestry also had ephors, such as Taras or Cyrene.
^"ephor, n.". OED Online. March 2021. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/63224?redirectedFrom=ephor (accessed April 04, 2021).
^Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta. 15.7.[1]
^Donald Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. page 29. Ithaca/New York 1969, ISBN 0-8014-9556-3.
The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and...
were eligible both to vote and to hold public office, date back to the Ephors of Sparta in 754 BC, under the mixed government of the Spartan Constitution...
was an old man in the 52nd Olympiad (572 BC), and that he was elected an ephor (overseer) in Sparta in the 56th Olympiad (556/5 BC). Alcidamas states that...
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Leonidas I and grandfather of Pleistarchus. Under the leadership of the ephor Chilon, in office during the middle of the 6th century, Sparta ended its...
The Society of Ephors, or Société des Ephores, was a late 19th-century French political group established in the aftermath of the defeat of the Second...
early years of archaeology in the independent Kingdom of Greece, serving as Ephor General of Antiquities between 1834 and 1836. As a representative of the...
to declare war and was accompanied in the field by two ephors. He was supplanted by the ephors also in the control of foreign policy. Over time, the kings...
proposed it.). Civil cases were decided by the ephors, and criminal jurisdiction had been passed to the ephors, as well as to a council of elders. By 500...
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Cleomenes III (235–222 BC) staged a military coup against the conservative ephors and pushed through radical social and land reforms in order to increase...
well as archaeological discoveries on his native island of Kephallonia. As Ephor General (the head of the Greek Archaeological Service) from 1885 until 1909...
Sparta, a political system with two kings, a council of elders, and five ephors developed over the course of the eighth and seventh century. According to...
Pausanias' intentions) to the Spartan ephors. Diodorus adds further detail to Thucydides' account. After the ephors were loath to believe the letter provided...
the referees and the game director bore the same names as in antiquity (Ephor, Helanodic and Alitarc). Prince George acted as final referee; according...
– 7 August [O.S. 26 July] 1888) was a Greek archaeologist. He served as Ephor General of Antiquities, the head of the Greek Archaeological Service, between...
Athenian police forces were supervised by the Areopagus. In Sparta, the Ephors were in charge of maintaining public order as judges, and they used Sparta's...
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father did not have a son from his first wife (who was also his niece), the ephors forced him to marry another woman, without divorcing his first wife—an unprecedented...
2009 Ratko: The Dictator's Son Chris 2011 The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Ephor 1 2012 Pitch Perfect Bumper Allen Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain...
Hundred and Four (𐤌𐤀𐤕 or miat). Although he compares this body to the ephors of Sparta, a council of elders that held considerable political power, its...
many governments in the Aegean world. Chilon, the ambitious and capable ephor of Sparta, built a strong alliance amongst neighboring states by making...
Supranational En Sumerian Ceremonial/ executive Hereditary? Local/ national Ephor Greek Executive Elected National Epihipparch Greek Executive Appointed Divisional...
Schliemann's work (after the issues at Troy), sending Panagiotis Stamatakis as ephor, or director, of the excavation, who kept a close eye on Schliemann. Proponents...
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