Ancient Greece

Lesson 5: Athenian Society

Foreigners in Athens

We know for sure that there were large numbers of 'foreigners' in Athens. These foreigners were known as 'metics'.

The majority of 'metics' were actually Greeks from other city-states who were not entitled to Athenian citizenship.

The most famous example of these is probably the wealthy Syracusan Lysias, whose father Cephalus and brother Polemarchus appear as characters in Plato's Republic.

In addition, there would have been many non-Greeks who also lived in Athens. Many of them would have worked either as traders or craftsmen.

These 'metics' were not entitled to any of the privileges that Athenian citizens were entitled to.

For example, they were not entitled to own landed property.

  1  2  3  4  5  6  7