# What was the Ancient Greek term for the practice of 'casting lots' to fill vital positions in the Athenian government?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 2, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578 "2022-06-02T16:09:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578/1 "2022-06-02T16:09:17Z")

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Ancient Greek allotment machines were known as Kleroterion(plural. Kleroteria). What was the pracice of alloting positions to Greek citizens to fill government positions in the Athenian government . Could it be klḗros ?

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578/2 "2022-06-02T16:50:11Z")

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[This](https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=107594) scholarly article uses the term klerosis.

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**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578/3 "2022-06-02T17:58:06Z")

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I think you may be looking for

> **[Sortition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition)**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
> 
> Multi-round voting
> Ranked / preferential systems
> Cardinal / graded systems

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578/4 "2022-06-02T18:06:50Z")

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That’s the word, but it’s not Ancient Greek.

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-ancient-greek-term-for-the-practice-of-casting-lots-to-fill-vital-positions-in-the-athenian-government/965578/5 "2022-06-03T02:50:29Z")

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Thanks Schnitte