Topic One (1.1): Athenian Men
Introduction
In this topic you will be looking at what it meant to be an Athenian man in the 5th century BCE. In general, men in Athens had much more freedom than their women, though we do tend to look at the higher status inhabitants of the city as their lives are better documented. Poorer men and women would have been able to go about the city with greater freedom but, of course, a worse standard of living and life expectancy.
Top Tip
To begin with, study the following map so that you are familiar with the geographical location of both Athens and Sparta:
EXPLORE – Map of Greece Showing Locations of Major Cities Download EXPLORE – Map of Greece Showing Locations of Major Cities
Read and Make Notes
- Look at Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution:
N.B. The prescribed sections you need to know for the exam are: 21-28.
- Section 1 part 6 details how Solon prohibited debt-bondage in Attica (the area surrounding Athens). Section 1 part 7 also tells you about the different property classes that Solon laid down.
- Make notes on the following types of property class that there were in Athens at this time:
- Pentacosiomedimni;
- Hippeis (knights);
- Zeugitae;
- Thetes.
- What were the rights and responsibilities of each of these classes? Make notes so that you could explain this if necessary.
- As well as Athenian citizens you would also find metics (metoikoi) who were non-Athenian citizens, though male, from a variety of places in the Athenian empire. Research metics and find out what their rights and responsibilities were.
- What advantages or disadvantages would a metic living in Athens have?
- See the Chalcis Decree, Cleonymus Decree and Thoudippus Decree below for cases that needed to be heard in Athens even if they came from allies/subjects:
READ – Material Source: ML52 Chalcis Decree (Attic Inscriptions Online) Links to an external site.
READ – Material Source: ML68 Cleonymus Decree (Attic Inscriptions Online) Links to an external site.
READ – Material Source: ML69 Thoudippus Decree Links to an external site.
- What kind of trials needed to be heard in Athens?
Watch
- Watch these short films from Warwick University about the symposium, the all-male drinking party beloved of Athenian men:
- As you will be aware, ancient Greece was a slave-owning society. Slaves came from all over the Greek world and beyond and there were public slaves in relatively important roles as well as domestic or agricultural slaves. In the 6th century BC, the law-giver, Solon, had made it illegal to enslave an Athenian for debt but slavery was a large part of the civilisation.
- Here you can listen to Dr David Lewis of Edinburgh University talk about slavery in Classical Athens:
Terminology
Make sure you understand any new terminology covered in this topic. You may like to make flashcards of key terms now, to help you with revision later on.