Prytaneum

Prytaneum, the town-hall of a Greek city, where the fire was kept perpetually burning, where ambassadors were received, where citizens who had deserved especially well of the state were sometimes allowed to live at the public expense; it was in fact the headquarters of the executive of the state. In Athens this body, the prytaneis, fifty in number, were chosen from the 500 members of the great council, five for each of the ten tribes. The five representatives of each tribe held office in rotation, one month at a time.