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Although small by modern standards, Athens was the most populous of the classical Greek city-states, with a total population numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Athens’ territory of approximately 900 square miles included rural villages, small towns, a cosmopolitan port known as the Piraeus, and, of course, the teeming city that served as the political, commercial, social, and religious center of the polis. What united this diverse collection of human settlements was citizenship, a hereditary status3that conferred (on men) the right to own land and to participate in the democracy as well as the duty of military service.
But citizens accounted for only a small portion of the total population of Athens. Metics were either manumitted slaves or freeborn foreigners living in Athens,4 generally as craftsmen, traders, or businessmen. Athens relied on trade to bring in vital items such as grain and timber, and also to generate import and export taxes, yet the majority of those involved in trade were metics and
2 These reforms are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.
3 Pericles’ citizenship law of 451b.c.e.limited citizenship to those with two citizen parents. In practice,
entry into the citizenship rolls may have been more fluid and flexible (Scafuro 1994; E. Cohen 2000:79–
103). In the fourth century, the Assembly could grant citizenship rights to particular individuals, though
this seems to have been rare. We know of only 64 such grants of citizenship, and many were merely
honorary statements of gratitude to foreign dignitaries who had no plans to exercise their newly granted
citizenship rights (Hansen 1999:94–95).
4 It seems likely that a foreigner was obliged to register as a metic (and pay the metic tax) once he
had spent a short time – perhaps one month – living in Athens. For discussion of the evidence, see
Whitehead 1977:7–10; Hansen 1999:117.
foreigners.5Despite their importance to the Athenian economy, metic status was not a privilege. Metics were required to have an Athenian citizen as a sponsor (prostatˆes), to pay a monthly tax, and to serve in the military, but were not permitted to exercise political rights, to own real property, or to marry a citizen, and had more limited legal rights than citizens.6 Despite the legal and political liabilities of metics, not all these men were considered to be of a lower class or status than citizens.7 One of the richest men in Athens was Pasion the banker, an ex- slave who spent much of his life as a metic before being granted citizenship.8
Moreover, Athens’ exclusive aristocratic clubs (hetaireiai) were known to admit metics.9
Slaves occupied the bottom rung of Athenian society. Regarded as the property of their masters, Athenian slaves were generally not bred locally but were captives of war or victims of piracy sold to Athenians by slave traders.10 Prices were low enough that slaveholding was widespread even among citizens with small plots of land. Slaves’ lifestyles could vary considerably. The majority worked the land or in their master’s house or workshop. The least fortunate toiled in the silver mines and the most fortunate worked as skilled craftsmen or bankers and enjoyed de facto independence.
The numbers of citizens, metics, and slaves in classical Athens can only be guessed at from a census taken in 317 b.c.e., after the fall of the democracy, and from sporadic statements in our earlier sources providing estimates of troop strengths or the adult male citizen population. In the fourth century, the adult male
5 Although metics and aliens comprised the majority of those involved in foreign trade, wealthy citizens did finance trade on occasion (e.g., Isoc. 7.32), and there are examples of citizen emporoi (“traders”) and nauklˆeroi (“ship owners” or “ship captains”) (e.g., Xen. Mem. 3.7.6; Lys. 6.19,49). For discussion, see Isager & Hansen 1975:70–74.
6 The role of the prostatˆes is unclear (see, e.g., Whitehead 1977:90–91; Hansen 1999:117–118). On metic military service, see Thuc. 2.13.7; Whitehead 1977:82–86. Individual metics could be granted a special exemption from the ban on owning land through enktˆesis, or could be relieved from the requirement of the monthly tax through isotelia (Hansen 1999:97, 118–119). The legal rights of metics are discussed later on in this chapter.
7 Hansen 1999:86–87.
8 Dem. 36.48; 59.2. On Pasion’s banking career, see E. Cohen 1992:81–82;Isager& Hansen 1975:177–191.
9 Pl. Resp., 328b, discussed in Hansen 1999:87.
10 On the import of slaves, see Isager & Hansen 1975:31–33;Garlan 1988:45–55;Hansen 1999:122–123.Alan
Boegehold points out to me that a significant number of slaves may have been exposed (Athenian)
babies.
citizen population was perhaps 30,000, the total citizen population approximately
100,000.11The numbers of metics and slaves are much less certain and are likely
to have fluctuated at different times over the course of our period depending
on the economic and political circumstances. Hansen’s estimate of 40,000 metics, somewhere in the range of 150,000 slaves, and a total population of close to 300,000 seems reasonable.12
Farming was the occupation of choice for Athenian citizens. Other pursuits such as trade or manufacture were considered dishonorable, at least in the elite circles represented by our literary sources. For any citizen, however poor, to work for another man was distasteful, and far inferior to struggling to support oneself on a tiny plot of land. Perhaps for this reason, there were, in addition to large estates that produced olives, wine, and barley for sale, a significant number of small plots aimed primarily at feeding the owner’s household.13Due to the dry climate, true self-sufficiency was rarely attainable, and it seems likely that even small farmers would often have to go to the city (or one of the smaller regional markets) to exchange their wine and olives for grain and other necessities. Of course, not all Athenians lived up to the agrarian ideal. Some citizens operated small craft workshops. Poor citizens without any land could eke out a living from a combination of seasonal farm work, off-season building projects in the city, wages for jury duty or attendance in the assembly, and wages for serving as a rower in the navy. Social security, in the form of a small daily payment, was available for the infirm and utterly destitute.14
Thus despite the political equality of all citizens, there were vast differences in economic wealth and social status. Ancient sources usually speak in terms of two economic classes: the rich (plousioi or, without the negative connotation often carried by that term, hoi chrˆemata echontes, “those with [substantial] property”), which in most cases denoted men in the leisure class, and, second, the much larger class of “the poor” (penˆetes), which had a broader meaning than the modern term and included anyone who had to work for a living.15Although any notion of
11 Hansen 1999:90–93.
12 Hansen 1999:90–94.
13 On the prevalence of small farmers and their importance to the city as hoplite warriors, see Hanson
1998:206.
14 Lys. 24.
15 Fora fuller discussion of these terms, see Ober 1990:194–196; Boegehold 1999:88–90. The wretchedly
poor, those close to starvation, were termed ptˆochoi. In most cases the penˆes was a self-employed farmer
class interest or solidarity was most probably limited to these two groups,16 there were myriad finer distinctions in Athenian society. Particularly prominent was the division used to distinguish between citizens’ roles in the military. The poorest citizens served in the navy or as light-armed troops, whereas men with enough money to buy a suit of heavy armor and a slave to accompany them into battle served as hoplite infantrymen. The wealthiest citizens rode in the cavalry. Within the upper class, additional distinction was reserved for those wealthy enough to be subject to the property tax and to be required to perform public services known as liturgies, such as personally paying for the upkeep of a naval ship or for the performance of a drama at a public festival. Although elite Athenian writers expressed concern that the non-elite majority would use its political power to effect a radical redistribution of wealth, these fears never came to fruition and the direct democracy remained remarkably stable despite the economic diversity among its voting citizens.17
Athenian life revolved around a complex network of overlapping relationships and obligations. The fundamental unit was the oikos (“household”). The oldest man in the family (or, in some cases, his adult son) acted as head of the household (kurios), controlling all the household property and serving as guardian for the women and minor males in the family.18 Although the kurios had the power to dispose of the family wealth as he wished, there was a strong ideological preference for preserving the ancestral property intact for future generations,19 and it seems that the kurios could even be prosecuted for dissipating his patrimony.20 Male children, in turn, were obliged to support their elderly parents, give them a proper burial, and maintain the family cult.21 In addition to members of one’s oikos and larger kin group, neighbors played an important role in an Athenian’s social life, particularly in rural areas. Because villages or small towns were far more common
or craftsman. For this reason, traditional Marxist categories cannot be easily applied to the Athenian situation.
16 On the absence of a notion of a “middle class” in Athens, see Ober 1990:27–30.
17 Aside from the two very brief oligarchic revolutions in 411 and 404 b.c.e.,the democracy remained
intact from the beginning of the fifth century until the city was defeated by the Macedonians. For
discussion of how class tensions were mediated in the Athenian democracy, see Ober 1990:192–247.
18 Hunter 1994:9–42; Foxhall 1989; MacDowell 1989a.
19 E.g. Aesch. 1.95–105.For discussion, see Todd 1993:246.
20 We know of no examples of cases where these procedures – the graphˆe argias and graphˆe paranoias – were
used (Todd 1993:245).
21 Aesch. 1.28–32;Andoc. 1.74.
than isolated farmsteads,22 frequent interaction with neighbors was unavoidable. Reciprocal kindnesses and aid in times of shortage and emergencies were expected, and, indeed, neighbors often sought out and obtained no-interest friendly loans (eranos loans) from each other rather than approaching formal money lenders.23
Perhaps the most important site of political and social identity was the deme, the basic unit in the classical political system. Each of the 139 demes of Attica was a local community – often a village, though some were much larger than that – from which representatives for the Council, the executive body for the popular Assembly, were chosen.24 Each deme had its own local assembly, magistrates, religious cults, and festivals, and handled the enrollment of local youths into citizenship. Isaeus Against the Demesman suggests that a special bond existed between demesmen:
The most distressful thing of all has happened to me. I have been wronged by fellow demesmen, whose theft is not easy to overlook, but on the other hand it is unpleasant to hate them – men with whom I must sacrifice and share in social interactions.25
Indeed, an Athenian citizen’s full name included not only his own name and the name of his father, but also the name of his deme. Because deme membership was hereditary, those who had moved away probably did not have quite the same level of deme identity and loyalty that those who lived in the close-knit deme community would have. Even for these citizens, however, polis-wide activities were arranged through their original deme: in addition to representation in the Council, military units were organized by deme,26 as were the tickets and seating for city-wide religious festivals.27
22 Osborne 1985b:190–195; cf. Roy 1988.
23 For example, neighbors relied on each other for help in emergencies (Ar. Nub. 1322; Thesm. 241; Dem.
53.6–7),loans of household goods (Dem. 53.4;Theophr. Char., passim), and testimony in legal cases
(e.g., Dem. 47.60–1;Is. 3.13–15;Lyc. 1.19–20).For discussion of neighborly relations, including the
practice of eranos loans, see Millett 1991:109–26,139–148.On the complementary support functions
served by kin and neighbors, see Osborne 1985b:127–153.
24 On all aspects of deme life and identity, see Osborne, 1985b; Whitehead 1986.
25 Is. fr. 4 (Thalheim). Deme loyalty is further suggested by the statement in the Ath. Pol. (27.3)that Cimon
offered free meals not to all Athenian citizens but only to his fellow demesmen.
26 E.g., Lys. 16.14; Theophr. Char. 25.
27 Moreover, Osborne (1985b:147–153)points out that citizens who moved to the city or who owned
property in demes other than their own usually also retained property in their original deme and thus
some ties to that community.
Although residents (and perhaps even non-resident members) of rural demes likely identified first and foremost with the members of their local deme com- munity, many Athenians probably also had regular contact with the city center. Athenians were accustomed to traveling long distances in a single day,28 and even members of demes several miles away from Athens likely visited the city often to serve on a jury, attend the Assembly or theater, participate in religious fes- tivals, or sell their produce and buy grain and other goods. In Theophrastus’ sketch of a rural man (the agroikos) in the Characters, for example, the agroikos travels from his rural deme to the city on one occasion to attend the Assembly, and on another to get his hair cut, go to the baths, get his shoes fixed, and buy some fish.29
Athenian religion30 differed from most modern religions in that it was not
associated with a creed or fixed belief system. The gods demanded recognition through sacrifice and other ritual acts, but did not provide commandments or a moral code of conduct. Perhaps because Athenian religion focused on deeds rather than beliefs or morality, most priests were chosen by lot or through membership in certain aristocratic families and had no special vocation. The state, at the level of both the polis and the deme, sponsored regular sacrifices and large public festivals in honor of the gods. Major public festivals involved women, metics, and slaves as well as male citizens and included, over the course of several days, sacrifices, long processions, and musical and dramatic contests. Phratries, which were traditional kinship groups, also carried out religious functions and hosted festivals. Families had their own cults as well, and private sacrifice and ritual played an important role in everyday life.
In the classical period, Athenian moral values derived not from religious teach- ings per se but from tradition. The practices and moral beliefs of the ancestors were given deference and respect. The archonship of Solon in 594/3 b.c.e. stood out as a defining moment in the definition of Athenian values; Solon’s laws and poetry were often used in the classical period as a source of moral and eth- ical precepts. This is not to say that Athenian moral values were completely static. Orators in the Assembly or law courts advancing new moral or policy arguments shamelessly cloaked their ideas in the mantle of the ancestors, Solon,
28 Hansen 1999:60.
29 Theophr. Char. 4.
30 Fora recent treatment see Parker 1996b.
the “ancestral constitution,” or a fictional archaic lawgiver.31 And, we will see below that the gradual shift from an emphasis on heroic values to cooperative values that accompanied the creation of the polis continued during the classical period.
How were society’s values expressed and communicated? There was no state educational system, and boys who could afford private education typically received instruction limited to literacy,32 music, and physical training. In the classical period, young men could take lessons more directly related to moral and political phi- losophy, most notoriously from the sophists, but these courses and their often iconoclastic teachings were limited to the elite and had little effect on popular morality.33Athenian popular values were communicated and reinforced primarily through political and cultural gatherings. When Athens was at war – which, in our period, was most of the time – a politician delivered an annual funeral oration in honor of the war dead. These orations normally incorporated references to Athenian cultural values, often contrasted with those of other city-states.34 Some symbolic features of state festivals, public architecture, and dedications communi- cated important values. The honoring of war orphans as part of the introductory ceremony at the dramatic festival of Dionysia, for example, emphasized the city’s gratitude for those who showed courage in war and sacrificed themselves for the state.35Tragic theater, of course, had much to say on the moral issues of the day, though gleaning a straightforward and consistent ethical message from these plays was probably just as difficult for the Athenian audience as it is for us. Finally, pop- ular values were publicly contested and negotiated in debates before the Assembly and speeches before the law courts.36
31 Thomas 1994:119–133; Hansen 1999:296–300.
32 Reading was not without its moral teachings, of course, as advanced boys would memorize and recite
Homer and other poetry.
33 Absent popular misconceptions of sophistic teaching, the caricature of Socrates in Aristophanes’ Clouds would not have worked as comedic material. In his Apology of Socrates, Plato argues that the stereotype of an intellectual was an important, perhaps crucial, element in the vote to convict.
34 For discussion, see Loraux 1986.
35 Goldhill 1990:97–129.
36 For a discussion of how popular values were constructed and negotiated through public speech, see Ober
1990. Although the moral views expressed in surviving Assembly and law court speeches are designed to support the speaker’s position, these self-serving arguments are nevertheless revealing because speakers presumably would not appeal to moral values not shared by the majority of the audience. For discussion of the use of oratory as a source for popular morality, see Dover 1974:13–14.
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