Who Could Be A Citizen In Athens?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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The Athenian definition of “citizens” was also different from modern-day citizens:

only free men were considered citizens in Athens

. Women, children, and slaves were not considered citizens and therefore could not vote. Each year 500 names were chosen from all the citizens of ancient Athens.

Who could be an Athenian citizen?

To be classed as a citizen in fifth-century Athens you had to be male, born from two Athenian parents, over eighteen years old, and complete your military service. Women, slaves, metics and children under the age of 20 were not allowed to become citizens.

Who could be citizens in Athens and Sparta?


All free Athenian men over 18 years old

were considered citizens, and only citizens could hold government positions. Women, children, foreigners, and slaves were not allowed government positions.

Could non citizens become citizens in Athens?

At Athens, the largest city in the Greek world at the time, they amounted to roughly half the free population. … Regardless of how many generations of the family had lived in the city,

metics did not become citizens unless the city chose to bestow on them as a gift

.

What were citizens roles in ancient Athens?

Citizens were free men who were born in Athens and had an Athenian-born mother and an Athenian-born father. Only men could be citizens. Citizens were expected to serve in government positions,

to vote and to perform military service

.

What was not a right given to Athenian citizens?

In ancient Athens, only free, adult men enjoyed the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Only about 20 percent of the population of Athens were citizens.

Women could not

be citizens and therefore were not allowed to vote.

How were slaves treated in Athens?

Q: How were slaves in Athens treated? Slaves in ancient Greece were

treated like pieces of property

. For Aristotle they were ‘a piece of property that breathes'. They enjoyed different degrees of freedom and were treated kindly or cruelly depending on the personality of the owner.

Is Athens or Sparta better?


Sparta is far superior to Athens

because their army was fierce and protective, girls received some education and women had more freedom than in other poleis. First, the army of Sparta was the strongest fighting force in Greece. … The Spartans believed this made them strong and better mothers.

What's the difference between Sparta and Athens?

The main difference between Athens and Sparta is that

Athens was a form of democracy

, whereas Sparta was a form of oligarchy. Athens and Sparta are two prominent Greek rival city-states. … Athens was the centre for arts, learning and philosophy while Sparta was a warrior state.

Did Athens have a jury system?

The jury consisted of 500 male citizens over the age of thirty, chosen by lot from among volunteers.

Athens used very large numbers of jurors

, from 500 to as many as 1501, in part as a protection against bribes: who could afford to bribe 500 people?

What was the role of slaves in Athens?

Slaves in ancient Greece played various roles. They performed all the tasks that were degrading to the Greeks. They did

all the domestic chores

, acted as travel companions, and even delivered messages. Agricultural slaves worked on farms, and industrial slaves worked in mines and quarries.

What qualifications did a person need to become a citizen?

To apply for U.S. citizenship, you must have

physically lived in the United States for at least half of five years

(more specifically, 913 days, or roughly 2.5 years) or at least half of three years (more specifically, 548 days, or a little over 1.5 years) if you're married to a U.S. citizen.

Why did Metics not have the full rights of citizens?

Metics Weren't Given the Rights of Citizens

Among these disadvantages was that

they had to pay a military duty as well as additional taxes called “eisphora”

and, if they were wealthy, contributing to special civil projects such as helping other wealthy Athenians pay for a warship.

Why were metics attracted to Athens?

Culturally why did Metics want to move to Athens? Athens during its golden age began to present itself as a city where science, art and philosophy was well ahead of the rest of the classical world. This attracted

many philosophers, architects and artists

.

Why was Athens not a full democracy?

Athens was not a full democracy because

most people were not considered citizens and, therefore, could not vote

.

Who was not allowed to participate in the Athenian democracy?

The percentage of the population that actually participated in the government was 10% to 20% of the total number of inhabitants, but this varied from the fifth to the fourth century BC. This excluded a majority of the population: slaves, freed slaves, children, women and metics (foreign residents in Athens).

Maria LaPaige
Author
Maria LaPaige
Maria is a parenting expert and mother of three. She has written several books on parenting and child development, and has been featured in various parenting magazines. Maria's practical approach to family life has helped many parents navigate the ups and downs of raising children.