"Geronte" was the name given to the elders who were part of the Council of Elders (Conseil des Anciens), who were present in classical antiquity and at the time of the French Revolution. In Greece, they were closely related to the cities in which the Dorians settled, one of the four main Hellenic tribes of the time, which had traditions and a language of their own as well; it was here where the small meetings were held, in order to advise the current kings on the decisions that had to be taken with respect to the nation. In the French Revolution, the gerontes were in charge of approving or rejecting the bills presented, sharing power with the Council of five hundred.
The word originates from the Greek word "geron", which can be translated as "old man." In classical antiquity, these had to have a minimum age of 60 years, this council had to be made up of at least 28 elders. they had to meet, annually, with the two kings who were fulfilling their mandate; In the event that these could not appear, they would meet with the Ephors, the magistrates of the Dorian states, those of the highest rank or importance being those of Sparta, and who were entrusted with the task of supporting the kings in the decisions that take.
The Conseil des Anciens, for its part, can be defined as one of the components of the French assembly, at the time of the Revolution. These, in conjunction with the men of the Council of Five Hundred. Here, men had to be at least 40 years old, married or, at least, widowed and have around 15 years living in the nation. The group was dissolved in the year 1799, with the coup that Napoleon Bonaparte gave.
