5th century BC Athens - SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Which social group enjoyed the highest status in 5th century Athens?

• metics

• male citizens

• female citizens

• slaves

The right of citizenship went hand in hand with the ​ (a)   to serve in the army, although ​ (b)   service was regarded as a ​ (c)   rather than a duty throughout the ​ (d)   world.

• requirement
• military
• privilege
• Greek

Metics could initiate any type of lawsuit and serve as a juror in a law-court.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Athenian citizens could initiate any type of lawsuit and serve as a juror in a law-court.

Who was born with egktēsis or the right to own land?

• metoikion

• xenos

• dēmos

• politēs

The Athenian dēmos (‘people’) believed that they shared the polis (‘city-state’) because they were direct descendants of Attica’s indigenous population.

• True

• False

Any foreigner who lived in Athens for more than a six months became a metic.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Any foreigner who lived in Athens for more than a month became a metic.

Reference: D. M. Pritchard 2020 (in press). ‘The social structure of democratic Athens’, in Morte e Vida na Grécia Antiga: Olhares interdisciplinares, eds. M. A. de Oliveira Silva and C. D. de Souza. Teresina (Editora da UFPI).

Metics could only ever be renters… they had no right to be a magistrate or councillor and to be part of an assembly-meeting or a jury.

• True

• False

In the Athenian navy citizens and metics served side by side.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

On board Athenian warships, citizens and metics did serve side by side as rowers.

But they were never thought of as regular soldiers.

Athenian citizens were divided into classes according to the economic productivity of their land. The highest property class was known as the ______.

• hippeis

• zengitai

• pentakosiomedimnoi

• thêtes

The political importance of the thêtes, the most ​ (a)   section of Athenian society, rose dramatically when Athens became a ​ (b)   power, because it was they who constituted the ​ (c)   of the sailors. Even so, members of this group were not permitted to stand for​ (d)   office, either as ​ (e)   or as members of the council, until the second half of the fourth century B.C..E.

• impoverished
• naval
• bulk
• political
• magistrates