303:, literally 'one who stands on behalf of'). The Athenians took this last requirement very seriously. A metic without a sponsor was vulnerable to a special prosecution. If convicted, his property would be confiscated and he himself sold as a slave. For a freed slave the sponsor was automatically his former owner. This arrangement exacted some extra duties on the part of the metic, yet the child of an ex-slave metic apparently had the same status as a freeborn metic. Citizenship was very rarely granted to metics. More common was the special status of "equal rights" (
219:, a metic could be either an immigrant or the descendant of one. Regardless of how many generations of the family had lived in the city, metics did not become citizens unless the city chose to bestow citizenship on them as a gift. This was rarely done. From a cultural viewpoint such a resident could be completely "local" and indistinguishable from citizens. They had no role in the political community but might be completely integrated into the social and economic life of the city. In the urbane scene that opens
242:) and tax services ("liturgies", for example, paying for a warship or funding a tragic chorus) contributed by wealthy Athenians. Citizenship at Athens brought eligibility for numerous state payments such as jury and assembly pay, which could be significant to working people. During emergencies the city could distribute rations to citizens. None of these rights were available to metics. They were not permitted to own real estate in
325:" as citizens. On a number of occasions there were purges of the citizen lists, effectively changing people who had been living as citizens into metics. In typical Athenian fashion, a person so demoted could mount a challenge in court. If however the court decided the ejected citizen was in fact a metic, he would be sent down one further rung and sold into slavery.
344:
must have given them a sense of involvement in the city, and of their value to it. Though notably, while
Athenians tended to refer to metics by their name and deme of residence (the same democratic scheme used for citizens), on their tombstones freeborn metics who died in Athens preferred to name the
109:
in 508 BC. However, the rate of the increase in the
Athenian population in the years following 480 BC is difficult to explain by purely natural growth – suggesting that immigrants to Athens could still become Athenians citizens at this point, and metic status did not yet exist. The first known use
328:
In studying the status of the metics, it is easy to gain the impression they were an oppressed minority. But by and large those who were Greek and freeborn had at least chosen to come to Athens, attracted by the prosperity of the large, dynamic, cosmopolitan city and the opportunities not available
312:
The status divide between metic and citizen was not always clear. In the street no physical signs distinguished citizen from metic or slave. Sometimes the actual status a person had attained became a contested matter. Although local registers of citizens were kept, if one's claim to citizenship was
279:
and exempted from jury service, they did have the same access to the courts as citizens. They could both prosecute others and be prosecuted themselves. A great many migrants came to Athens to do business and were in fact essential to the
Athenian economy. It would have been a severe disincentive if
207:. As slaves were almost always of foreign origin they can be thought of as involuntary immigrants, drawn almost exclusively from non-Greek speaking areas, while free metics were usually of Greek origin. Mostly they came from mainland Greece rather than the remote parts of the Greek world.
152:
in 431 BC found the male metic population to be ~25,000, roughly a third of the total. The majority of metics probably came to Athens from nearby cities, seeking economic opportunities or fleeing from persecution, although there are records of immigrants from non-Greek places such as
317:
23, a law court speech, a man presumed to be a metic claims to be a citizen, but upon investigation—not by consulting official records but by questions asked at the cheese market—it transpires that he may well be a runaway slave, so the hostile account attests.)
246:, whether farm or house, unless granted a special exemption. Neither could they sign contracts with the state to work in the silver mines, since the wealth beneath the earth was felt to belong to the political community. Metics were subject to a tax called the
357:
began to lose its distinctive legal status in 4th century BC, when metics were allowed to act in the court without a prostate (patron) and came to an end in
Hellenistic Athens, when the purchase of citizenship became very frequent. The census of
284:
and the penalties for killing them were not as severe as for killing a citizen. Metics were also subject to enslavement for a variety of offences. These might either be failures to abide by their status obligations, such as not paying the
202:
is most closely associated with classical Athens. At Athens, the largest city in the Greek world at the time, they amounted to roughly half the free population. The status applied to two main groups of people—immigrants and former
410:, who identified metics as one of the four primary constituents of the traitorous "Anti-France", along with Protestants, Jews, and Freemasons. This pejorative sense remains current in the French language, and has to some extent been
294:
How long a foreigner could remain in Athens without counting as a metic is not known. In some other Greek cities the period was a month, and it may well have been the same at Athens. All metics there were required to register in the
210:
Metics held lower social status primarily due to cultural rather than economic restraints. Some were poor artisans and ex-slaves, while others were some of the wealthiest inhabitants of the city. As citizenship was a matter
280:
they had been unable to pursue commercial disputes under law. At the same time they did not have exactly the same rights here as citizens. Unlike citizens, metics could be made to undergo judicial
332:
The large non-citizen community of Athens allowed ex-slave metics to become assimilated in a way not possible in more conservative and homogenised cities elsewhere. Their participation in
329:
to them in their place of origin. Metics remained citizens of their cities of birth, which, like Athens, had the exclusionary ancestral view of citizenship common to ancient Greek cities.
102:
was said to have offered
Athenian citizenship to foreigners who would relocate to his city to practice a craft. However, metic status did not exist during the time of Solon.
309:) under which they were freed from the usual liabilities. Metics, regardless of status, could participate in most religious rituals; only a few were reserved to citizens.
132:
dates the origin of metic status in Athens to the 460s, while Watson argues that the legal status of being a metic did not develop until 451 BC – the same year as
291:
tax or not nominating a citizen sponsor, or they might be "contaminations" of the citizen body like marrying a citizen or claiming to be citizens themselves.
236:
without any of its privileges. Like citizens, they had to perform military service and, if wealthy enough, were subject to the special tax contributions (
852:
803:
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857:
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591:
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366:, vi. p. 272 B). In the Greco-Roman world, free people (non-citizens) living on the territory of a polis were called
525:
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195:
862:
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229:—the dialogue takes place in a metic household—the status of the speakers as citizen or metic is never mentioned.
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322:
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per year for metic men and their households, and six for independent metic women. In addition to the
129:
472:
359:
225:
87:
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663:
628:
448:
299:(local community) where they lived. They had to nominate a citizen as their sponsor or guardian (
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253:
171:
31:
846:
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667:
632:
533:
212:
124:, first performed in 472 BC. However, James Watson argues that the word was used in
39:
198:, whose status is decided by the ruler. Due to these complications, the legal term
770:
Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity and
Citizenship in the Classical City
757:
Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity and
Citizenship in the Classical City
683:
Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity and
Citizenship in the Classical City
321:
Metics whose family had lived in Athens for generations may have been tempted to "
406:. This sense was popularized in the late 19th century by the nationalist writer
233:
106:
105:
Scholars have tended to date the development of metic status to the reforms of
709:
659:
624:
458:
433:
399:
373:
182:, as a general rule with few exceptions, foreigners were not allowed to stay (
98:
The history of foreign migration to Athens dates back to the archaic period.
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438:
363:
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challenged, the testimony of neighbours and the community was decisive. (In
183:
117:
831:
Hansen M.H. 1987, The
Athenian Democracy in the age of Demosthenes. Oxford.
186:). There are also reported immigrants to the court of tyrants and kings in
414:
by French people of immigrant background. In 1969 the Greco-French singer
368:
266:, including metics, seem to have been liable to another tax known as the
216:
133:
17:
424:, which has since been covered by several artists of immigrant descent.
443:
345:
cities from which they had come and of which they were citizens still.
281:
204:
837:
Garlan, Y 1988, Slavery in
Ancient Greek. Ithaca. (trans. Janet Lloyd)
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in ca. 317 BC gave 21,000 citizens, 10,000 metics and 400,000 slaves (
453:
314:
243:
175:
154:
145:
834:
Whitehead D. 1977, The ideology of the Athenian metic. Cambridge.
340:(for the rich of Athens a matter of public display and pride) and
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220:
179:
170:), foreign residents were few, with the exception of cosmopolitan
166:
158:
99:
83:
128:
in a non-technical sense, meaning nothing more than "immigrant".
90:, being permitted indefinite residence without political rights.
341:
296:
696:
Watson, James (2010). "The Origin of Metic Status at Athens".
646:
Watson, James (2010). "The Origin of Metic Status at Athens".
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Watson, James (2010). "The Origin of Metic Status at Athens".
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174:, of which however we do not know their legal status. In
735:. London: Bristol Classical Press. pp. 201, 202.
795:Encyclopedia of ancient Greece By Nigel Guy Wilson
82:and some other cities who was a citizen of another
86:. They held a status broadly analogous to modern
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600:
262:, non-Athenians wishing to sell goods in the
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559:The poetics of appearance in the Attic korai
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393:
502:
232:Metics typically shared the burdens of
783:"Lysias, Against Pancleon, section 1"
275:Although metics were barred from the
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27:Free non-citizen resident of Athens
144:One estimate of the population of
25:
853:Social classes of ancient Athens
136:introduced his citizenship law.
768:Kennedy, Rebecca Futo (2014).
755:Kennedy, Rebecca Futo (2014).
698:The Cambridge Classical Journal
648:The Cambridge Classical Journal
613:The Cambridge Classical Journal
681:Kennedy, Rebecca Futo (2014).
78:'dwelling') was a resident of
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140:Metics in classical Athens
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858:Society of ancient Greece
710:10.1017/S1750270500000348
660:10.1017/S1750270500000348
625:10.1017/S1750270500000348
66:, indicating change, and
561:, Mary Clorinda Stieber
733:In Search of the Greeks
731:Renshaw, James (2008).
543:A Greek–English Lexicon
164:In other Greek cities (
420:
394:
534:Liddell, Henry George
378:), and in Asia Minor
252:, assessed at twelve
583:, Peter John Rhodes
404:immigrants to France
148:at the start of the
130:Rebecca Futo Kennedy
473:The Crown of Violet
388:Modern French usage
360:Demetrius Phalereus
88:permanent residency
816:L'Action française
581:Athenian democracy
465:In popular culture
449:Diogenes of Sinope
372:(see etymology of
863:Ancient Greek law
804:978-0-415-97334-2
742:978-1-8539-9699-3
486:History of Athens
418:recorded a song,
398:was revived as a
150:Peloponnesian War
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392:In French,
234:citizenship
215:and not of
107:Cleisthenes
847:Categories
497:References
459:Protagoras
434:Anacharsis
421:Le Métèque
400:xenophobic
772:. Page 9.
759:. Page 2.
718:170451210
668:170451210
633:170451210
491:Xenelasia
439:Aristotle
412:reclaimed
402:term for
364:Athenaeus
353:The term
349:Aftermath
306:isoteleia
301:prostates
259:metoikion
249:metoikion
184:Xenelasia
118:Aeschylus
18:Prostates
797:Page 470
563:Page 134
512:μέτοικος
480:See also
381:katoikoi
369:paroikoi
338:taxation
288:metoikon
277:assembly
254:drachmas
239:eisphora
226:Republic
192:Syracuse
188:Thessaly
134:Pericles
126:Persians
122:Persians
113:metoikos
51:métoikos
45:μέτοικος
826:Sources
704:: 266.
654:: 264.
619:: 265.
585:Page 31
546:at the
444:Aspasia
395:métèque
282:torture
196:Macedon
172:Corinth
120:' play
54:: from
806:(2006)
802:
739:
716:
666:
631:
594:(2004)
590:
568:
454:Lysias
375:parish
315:Lysias
269:xenika
244:Attica
205:slaves
176:Sparta
167:poleis
155:Thrace
146:Attica
116:is in
94:Origin
80:Athens
714:S2CID
664:S2CID
629:S2CID
528:οἶκος
355:metic
264:agora
221:Plato
200:metic
180:Crete
159:Lydia
100:Solon
84:polis
75:oîkos
69:οἶκος
36:metic
800:ISBN
737:ISBN
588:ISBN
566:ISBN
520:μετά
342:cult
323:pass
297:deme
194:and
178:and
157:and
63:metá
57:μετά
34:, a
706:doi
656:doi
621:doi
223:'s
30:In
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72:,
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38:(
20:)
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