In ancient Sparta, each of the five annually elected magistrates who supervised the kings was an ephor.
The ephors formed Sparta’s most powerful annual magistracy. Their number was traditionally five, and they were chosen from among the citizen body. They presided over the assembly, supervised education and public discipline, and could bring charges against kings. Their authority helped balance Sparta’s two hereditary royal houses.
The word ephor means “overseer.” The office was not simply clerical: ephors handled diplomacy, declared war against the helots in a ritualized practice, and represented the civilian state in important decisions. Their exact origins are debated, because ancient accounts disagree about when the institution began.
A common mix-up is confusing ephors with the gerousia. The gerousia was Sparta’s council of elders, while ephors were annual magistrates. Together with the kings, gerousia, and assembly, they formed Sparta’s distinctive mixed constitution.