Metics, slaves and citizens in classical Athens

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which a history of classical Athenian society from below could be made, focusing on the agency of Athenian metics and slaves beyond the economic spheres. After a critique of the gap between approaches of classical Athens either as a polis or a slave society, the chapter discusses the issue of the integration of non-citizens both in the concept of polis and Athenian society, emphasising the tensions created by the mismatch between civic ideology and everyday life. The chapter then discusses two instances when the ‘citizen’s polis’ was deeply questioned: the debates over citizenship after the democratic restoration of 403 BC and a judicial accusation of religious offence of a metic by his slaves. The chapter concludes discussing the structural conditions democracy created for metics, slaves and citizens.