The Ideology of the Athenian Metic

David Whitehead

ago 2020 · Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society Supplementary Volume Libro 4 · Cambridge Philological Society

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An essential feature of the classical Greek city-state was the presence of a large body of 'metics', more or less permanent immigrants, most of them from other Greek cities, who played a large part in the economic, social and political life of the community but were excluded from citizenship in all but the most exceptional cases. Despite the importance of the subject, there has previously been no extended account in English. Dr Whitehead's monograph, based on an exhaustive register of the ancient sources, centres on the 'ideology' of the metic in Athens. How much ambiguity was there in his position vis-à-vis the exclusive in-group of citizens? Did the metic think of himself as in some respects an outsider? What were his rights and disabilities? After answering such questions in the analytical first part of the monograph, Dr Whitehead examines the history of the institution over two centuries and offers several new hypotheses about crucial stages in its history.