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An ephor (Classical Greek ) (from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 , epi, "on" or "over", and , horao, "to see", i.e. "one who oversees") was an official of ancient Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
. There were five ephors elected annually, who swore each month to uphold the rule of the two Kings of Sparta
Kings of Sparta

Sparta was an important Ancient Greece polis in the Peloponnesus. It was unusual among Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic period in Greece....
, while the kings swore to uphold the law.

Overview
Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
 claimed that the institution was created by Lycurgus
Lycurgus (Sparta)

Lycurgus was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Pythia....
, while Plutarch
Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
 considers it a later institution.






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An ephor (Classical Greek ) (from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 , epi, "on" or "over", and , horao, "to see", i.e. "one who oversees") was an official of ancient Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
. There were five ephors elected annually, who swore each month to uphold the rule of the two Kings of Sparta
Kings of Sparta

Sparta was an important Ancient Greece polis in the Peloponnesus. It was unusual among Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic period in Greece....
, while the kings swore to uphold the law.

Overview


Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
 claimed that the institution was created by Lycurgus
Lycurgus (Sparta)

Lycurgus was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Pythia....
, while Plutarch
Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
 considers it a later institution. It may have arisen from the need for governors while the kings were leading armies in battle. The ephors were elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were eligible for election. They were forbidden to be reelected. They provided a balance for the two kings, who rarely cooperated with each other. Plato
Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
 called them tyrant
Tyrant

This article is about the political ruler. For other uses see Tyrant and Tyranny In modern usage, a tyrant is a single ruler holding absolute political power over a state or within an organization....
s who ran Sparta as despot
Despot

Despot may refer to:* Despot , Byzantine court title* Despotism, form of government where power is concentrated in the hands of an individual or a small group...
s, while the kings were little more than generals.

The ephors presided over meetings of the Gerousia
Gerousia

The Gerousia was the Spartan senate . It was created by the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in the seventh century BC, in his Great Rhetra . According to Lycurgus' biographer Plutarch, the Gerousia was the first significant constitutional innovation instituted by Lycurgus....
, the oligarchic
Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small Elitism segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family, military influence or occult spiritual hegemony....
 council of elders. They were in charge of civil trials, taxation, the calendar, foreign policy, and military training for young men. The year was named after one of them, like the eponymous archon of Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. Two ephors accompanied the army in battle, and they could arrest and imprison the kings for misconduct during war. The ephors were also considered to be personally at war with the helots
Helots

The helots were an unfree population group that formed the main population of Laconia and the whole of Messenia . Their exact status was already disputed in Antiquity: according to Critias, they were "especially Slavery in ancient Greece" whereas to Pollux, they occupied a status "between free men and slaves"....
, so that they could imprison or execute any of them for any reason at any time without having to bring them to trial or violate religious rituals. The Ephors did not have to kneel down before the Kings of Sparta and were highly considered by the citizens, because of the importance of their powers and because of the holy role they earned throughout their functions. Since decisions were made by majority vote, this could mean that Sparta's policy could change fast, when one vote of an ephor switched. E.g. in 403 BC when Pausanias
Pausanias of Sparta

Pausanias Kings of Sparta from 409 BC. In 395 BC, Pausanias failed to join forces with Lysander, and for this was condemned to death and replaced as king by his son Agesipolis I....
 convinced three of the ephors to send an army to Attica. This was a complete turnaround to the politics of Lysander
Lysander

Lysander was a Spartan General and the commander of the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which was victorious against the Ancient Athens at battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC....
.

Cleomenes III
Cleomenes III

Cleomenes III was the Kings of Sparta from 235-222 BC. He succeeded to the Agiad throne of Sparta after his father, Leonidas II in 235 BC.From 229 BC to 222 BC, Cleomenes waged war against the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon....
 abolished the ephors in 227 BC, but they were restored by the Macedonian king Antigonus III Doson
Antigonus III Doson

Antigonus III Doson was king of Macedon from 229 BC-221 BC. He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty.Antigonus was a son of Macedon prince Demetrius the Fair from his first marriage to Greek noblewoman Olympias of Larissa....
 after the Battle of Sellasia
Battle of Sellasia

The Battle of Sellasia took place in 222 BC between the armies of Antigonus III Doson, Kings of Macedon, and Cleomenes III, King of Sparta. The Spartan forces were massacred and Cleomenes fled to Egypt....
. The position existed into the 2nd century AD when it was probably abolished by the Roman emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
.

Popular culture and fiction

In the 1962 film The 300 Spartans
The 300 Spartans

The 300 Spartans is a 1962 in film film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese....
, the Spartan council is shown to be composed of five members who rule Sparta along with the Spartans co-kings Leonidas
Leonidas I

Leonidas was a king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who was believed to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the strength and bravery that made his ancestor famous....
 and Leotychidas
Leotychidas

Leotychidas [Leotychides, Latychidas] was a ruler of Sparta 491 BC-476 BC. He led Spartan forces during the Persian Wars from 490 BC to 478 BC....
. Though not explicitly named as such, the members of the council appear to be the Ephors, being five in number and being able to veto decisions by the Spartan kings.

In Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 and its film adaptation
300 (film)

300 is a 2007 in film film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller , and is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae....
, the Ephors are depicted as an apparently unelected priestly group of corrupt, diseased (leprous
Leprosy

Leprosy , or Hansen's disease , is a Chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the Peripheral nervous system and Mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external symptom....
), inbred men who secretly betray Sparta to the Persian
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 king Xerxes by counseling Leonidas against going to war, masking their betrayal as showing honor for the Carneian festival
Carneian festival

The Carneian festival was one of the most important religious festivals in ancient Sparta and other Dorians cities, held in honor of Apollo Carneios, who was worshipped in various parts of the Peloponnesus....
. Curiously, they are depicted as being keepers of an oracle that appears to at least have been inspired by the Delphic Oracle
Pythia

The Pythia was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Pythia was widely credited with giving prophecy inspired by Apollo, giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece....
 - the oracle is a young and beautiful Spartan girl who is frequently molested
Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
 by her lecherous custodians.

There is also the notion that Spartans originated from the Old Testament Israeli Tribe of Dan. After the death of Samson, some Danites left their inheritance (given to them by God). They moved and settled temporally on the northern border of Israel. They took with them a corrupt Levite (a priest’ s helper) and made him their priest.(Judges 18) This act was a violation of the Law of God in the Torah. These Danites were the first to sever their ties to God as found in the instructions given by God to Israel through Moses(Exodus 28:1). It is interesting to note that Dan is not listed as tribe in Rev. 7:4-8.

The Old Testament priest wore an “ephod” (Exodus 28) which was probably corrupted over time into “Ephor”.

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