dicast

Athenian juror. Under the Athenian democracy, 6,000 jurors were chosen annually from citizens aged 30 and above, who had not been deprived of civic rights and did not owe money to the state. They served in panels called ‘dicasteries’ and payment for service was introduced in the mid-5th century by the Athenian statesman Pericles.

Originally fixed at 2 obols (6th part of a drachma) a day, the payment for service was raised to 3 obols in the 420s. The way in which dicasts could be swayed by party feeling and personal prejudice is satirized by Aristophanes in The Wasps.