Learned assembly
The Learned assembly (in Greek Ἄρειος πάγος / Áreios págos ) was with Athens the “hill of Arès”, located at the west of the Acropole; it was also the name of the council which met there.
According to a legend, one called it thus because Arès there had been considered by the gods and had been discharged murder of Halirhotios, wire of Poséidon, which had raped the girl of Ares at this place. In addition, still according to the legend, it is there that Oreste was judged for the murder of his/her mother Clytemnestre.
In the beginning, the council of the Learned assembly was to advise the king, and it was only composed of Eupatrides. Its influence grows as the royalty decreased until seventh century BC, where it was almost the government.
After the reforms of Solon, its members were recruited among all old the Archonte S, who became about it members with life, and who represented the rich person in opposition to the simple aristocrats, so that it became a less exclusive organization. Its political powers were perhaps redefined, and to a certain extent limited by Clisthène, but there remained powerful until the medic Guerres. With the fast progress of the democratic institutions, its wide capacities seemed incongruous. Perhaps it lost its prestige and of its political power after 487, when the Archonte S were drawn with the fate, and that it was not any more of the men of great competences that one chose.
The Learned assembly sat during the night: one allowed no artifice oratory it to move or tenderize the judges. Also the Learned assembly enjoys a long time it a great reputation of impartiality, which it lost at fifth century BC
In 462, Éphialtès withdrew the guard of the laws to him and decreased its competence. It preserved its role of court for the businesses of murder, but it lost all its political importance. There still existed at fourth century BC
learned assembly|learned assembly
Today, it is a synonym of assembly, meeting of qualified and selected people.
Thus, the Aréopage is, in Franc-maçonnerie, with the Scottish Rite Old and Accepted ( R.E.A.A. ) the grouping of the ranks of the 19° to the 30° degree.
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