Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: At present we are aware of 8209 inhabitants of Attica who were of foreign origin (metoikoi), slaves, or freemen. The places of origin of 7367 are known. The foreign inhabitants of Attica were from 380 different cities or territories, but, in the 5th century B.C., the geographic horizon was largely limited to the member states of the Delian League and the states closest to Attica. Of those metoikoi whose occupations we know, comparatively few were craftsmen or traders (9.2%), and a much larger proportion practised intellectual occupations, as artists (18.4%) and orators, philosophers, poets (21%). The Athenians were encouraged to accept the metoikoi by the short-term profit expected from the poll-tax (metoikion) and the housing-rents.
Author: György Németh
Institution: Eötvös Loránd University
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2808154713