View source for Priene

=== Government ===
[[File:Priene Bouleuterion 2009 04 28.jpg|thumb|Bouleuterion]]
Although the [[stereotype]]d equation of wealth with [[aristocracy]] may have applied early in Priene's history, in the 4th century BCE the city-state was a [[democracy]]. State authority resided in a body called the Πριηνείς (Priēneis), "the Prieneian people", who issued all decrees and other public documents in their name. The coins minted at Priene featured the helmeted head of [[Athena]] on the [[obverse]] and a [[Meander (art)|meander]] pattern on the reverse; one coin also displayed a [[dolphin]] and the legend ΠΡΙΗ for ΠΡΙΗΝΕΩΝ (Priēneōn), "of the Prieneians."<ref>Rubinstein (2004), pages 1091–1093.</ref> These symbols express the Prieneians identification as a maritime democracy aligned with [[Athens]] but located in Asia.

The mechanism of democracy was similar to but simpler than that of the Athenians (whose population was much larger.) An assembly of citizens met periodically to render major decisions placed before them. The day-to-day legislative and executive business was conducted by a ''[[Boule (ancient Greece)|boulē]]'', or city council, which met in a ''[[bouleuterion]]'', a space like a small theatre with a wooden roof. The official head of state was a ''prytane''. He and more specialized [[magistrate]]s were elected periodically. As at Athens, not all the population was franchised. For example, the property rights and tax responsibilities of a non-Prieneian section of the population living in the countryside, the ''pedieis'', "plainsmen", were defined by law. They were perhaps, an inheritance from the days when Priene was in the valley.