<P> As usual in ancient democracies, one had to physically attend a gathering in order to vote . Military service or simple distance prevented the exercise of citizenship . Voting was usually by show of hands (χειροτονία, kheirotonia, "arm stretching") with officials judging the outcome by sight . This could cause problems when it became too dark to see properly . However, "any member of the Assembly could demand a recount". For a small category of votes a quorum of 6000 was required, principally grants of citizenship, and here small coloured stones were used, white for yes and black for no . At the end of the session, each voter tossed one of these into a large clay jar which was afterwards cracked open for the counting of the ballots . Ostracism required the voters to scratch names onto pieces of broken pottery (ὄστρακα, ostraka), though this did not occur within the assembly as such . </P> <P> In the 5th century BC, there were 10 fixed assembly meetings per year, one in each of the ten state months, with other meetings called as needed . In the following century the meetings were set to forty a year, with four in each state month . One of these was now called the main meeting, kyria ekklesia . Additional meetings might still be called, especially as up until 355 BC there were still political trials that were conducted in the assembly rather than in court . The assembly meetings did not occur at fixed intervals, as they had to avoid clashing with the annual festivals that followed the lunar calendar . There was also a tendency for the four meetings to be aggregated toward the end of each state month . </P> <P> Attendance at the assembly was not always voluntary . In the 5th century public slaves forming a cordon with a red - stained rope herded citizens from the agora into the assembly meeting place (Pnyx), with a fine being imposed on those who got the red on their clothes . After the restoration of the democracy in 403 BC, pay for assembly attendance was introduced . This promoted a new enthusiasm for assembly meetings . Only the first 6000 to arrive were admitted and paid, with the red rope now used to keep latecomers at bay . </P> <P> In 594 BC Solon is said to have created a boule of 400 to guide the work of the assembly . After the reforms of Cleisthenes, the Athenian Boule was expanded to 500, and was elected by lot every year . Each of Cleisthenes's 10 tribes provided 50 councillors who were at least 30 years old . </P>

The central meeting place for government officials in ancient greece was