During much of the fifth century, Pnyx Hill was used as the meeting place of the ekklesia, or Athenian Assembly. Located about a quarter mile (500m) southwest of the Agora, the slope of the Pnyx was used as a natural theater. At the base of this semi-circular terrace, a speaker's platform (or bema) was set up facing the sea, and seats for approximately 6,000 citizens were placed in front of the platform, facing in towards the Agora. A retaining wall was set up to support the pnyx on the north face; the meeting area could be reached by two stairways, each 3.9 meters in width. In the later part of the century, a curved retaining wall and an embankment were built on the southern end to shelter the gathering from the elements; to accomodate the new arrangment, the placement of the speaker's platform and the seating area was reversed.

A view of Pnyx Hill, with the Bema (speakers platform) at the base facing the audience [link]

It was at the Pnyx that famous speakers such as Demosthenes, Aristides, Themistocles, and Pericles addressed the assembly, and is considered one of the birthplaces of democracy. It was at the assembly that the citizens discussed the proceeds of the Council (boule). Any citizen could speak at the meetings of the ekklesia and once the deliberation had been completed, the council measures were put to vote. A quorum of 6,000 citizens was necessary to satisfy the majority vote. At the very beginning of the Athenian polis, when it was still moderately sized, citizens would journey from all around to attend meetings at the Pnyx. As Athens grew, however, it became more difficult for citizens to travel from the far reaches of the territory to the Pnyx; thus assembly attendance probably declined. It was due to this dwindling attendance that Pericles instituted his juror payment program--he established a payment of 2 obols a day (1 drachma=6 obols) for every citizen who attended the assembly. It is thought that by later in the 5th century, the assembly may have met as many as forty times in one year, with important issues sometimes taking several days to resolve.

References

Camp, John M. The Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens. Thames and Hudson, London; 1992

Camp, John M. The Archaeology of Athens. Yale University Press, New Haven; 2001

O'Neil, James L. The Origins and Development of Ancient Greek Democracy. Rowman and Littlefield, Boston; 1995

Roberts, J.W. City of Sokrates: An Introduction to Classical Athens. Routledge, London; 1998

Thorley, John. Athenian Democracy. Routledge, London; 1996

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Greek Archaeology