Council House

View looking down on the Bouleuterion (Council House) at Sagalassos.  It was probably erected in the first century B.C. on the west side of the Upper Agora.

It was square in shape with seats on three sides.  Note the seats on the right and far sides of the structure (there were also seats on the left side but they were destroyed by later structures).   Note the three doorways in the foreground that led from a plaza (where there is grass in the lower right of the image) into the Bouleuterion.  Later, this plaza area was turned into a Christian Church.

The Council House was where the boule of the city met—thus the name of the structure where they met—the bouleuterion.  The boule was the elected representatives of the citizens of a city (the ekklesia) that governed the city.  The number of boule varied from city to city.  In a large city like Athens there were 500 on this council.

To view a similarly designed bouleuterion at Priene Click Here.