artynoi

ARTYNOIor ARTYNAI(ἄρτυνοιor ἀρτῦναι), a sort of council at Argos and Epidaurus inside the governing aristocracy. This latter consisted of 180 at Epidaurus (Plut. Quaest. Graec. init. = 2.291) and 80 for Argos (Thuc. 5.47). The artynoi were a deliberative (βουλευταί, Plut. l. c.) and, as their name indicates, an executive body. They swear to the peace between Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis in 420 B.C. (Thuc. l. c.). Arnold on this passage quotes Müller, Dorier, 2.140, who supposes that the ἀρτῦναι succeeded to the civil powers of the kings as the στρατηγοὶ succeeded to their military authority. The ἀρτυτήρ at Thera (C. I, G. 2448, iv. fin.) seems to have been a financial magistrate--πράκτωρ καὶ ταμίας, says Boeckh. (See on the ἄρτυνοι, Schömann, Ant. 1. p. 136, E. T.)