The Thetes of Athens: Dynamics and developments of the Athenian lower classes (seventh to fourth centuries BC)

The thetes of Athens Dynamics and developments of the Athenian lower classes (seventh to fourth centuries BC)by Miriam Valdes Guia (Author) ©2025 Monographs 628 PagesSummary The main aim of this book is to study the Athenian lower classes between the seventh and fourth centuries BC, with the emphasis on the thetes. The word thes had a double meaning in ancient Athens: a day labourer and/or wage earner (generally a pauper without land) and a member of the Solonian census class. Based on this scheme, the intention here is to examine the ways in which both meanings overlapped throughout that historical period. Within the framework of this evolution, the book addresses the different aspects that are necessary for understanding the meaning of the word thetes in relation to the social, economic, political and cultural status of those who were called as such. This involves identifying the different situations in which the thetes found themselves in ancient Athens over time. All these issues are addressed in this book diachronically, thus offering a comprehensive overview of the historical evolution of the Athenian lower classes. Table Of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Tables Prologue Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part I Contextualising the thetes: seventh-century processes of degradation and enslavement Chapter 1. A historiography of the thetes Introduction View of the thetes – “hired labourers” – in social history since the mid-twentieth century The term thetes and democracy in historiography Conclusion Chapter 2. The thetes and hektemoroi before Solon The Homeric and Hesiodic thes Thetes and hektemoroi in pre-Solonian Athens and the degradation of the peasantry Hektermoroi as sharecroppers Two situations among the peasantry Conclusion Chapter 3. Atimoi and agogimoi: Reflections on debt slavery in archaic Athens Introduction Solon’s Amnesty Law and the atimia penalty Being ‘deprived of rights’ in seventh-century Athens and the status of pre-Solonian thetes The meaning of agogimos in the pre-Solonian Athens and the Solonian restoration of atimoi Conclusion Chapter 4. Hybris in archaic Athens: the forms of exploitation and violence employed by the aristoi against the demos Introduction Economic exploitation Physical violence Ideological constraint Institutional violence: ‘justice’ Chapter 5. The cult of Zeus and the Attic peasantry: Dike and Zeus Eleutherios Zeus, the giver of justice and agricultural prosperity Zeus Eleutherios Part II The demos ‘in the middle’: integration and evolution of the lower classes in sixth-century Athens Chapter 6. The social and cultural background of hoplite development in archaic Athens: peasants, debts, zeugitai and Hoplethes Introduction Hesiod: independent farmer or member of the elite? Γῆ ἐλευθέρα (Sol. Fr. 36 W -30 G-P-, lin. 5 and 7): demos, debt and zeugitai Hoplites in the collective imagination: Hoplethes, the giants in the Panathenaic Games and Heracles Conclusion Chapter 7. A new reading of Solon’s law on stasis: the sovereignty of the demos Introduction The meaning of the expression ‘θέμενος τὰ ὅπλα’. Taking up arms on behalf of the demos, the democracy, the polis or the fatherland Solon and the assembly of the demos ‘in the middle’ Solon’s law on stasis and the Eretrian law against tyranny (and oligarchy) A possible reconstruction of the Solonian formulation of the law Conclusion Chapter 8. The Attic demos in the sixth century: between agency (and political awareness) and clientelism Introduction The demos flocked en masse (pandemei) to the Acropolis and the Damasias episode The social structure of seventh-century Athens ‘Vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ stasis The demos in the political sphere and the followers of Pisistratus The interconnection between ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ stasis: Diakrioi and Hyperakrioi The demos and the religious/cultural community of Attica under Pisistratus The leading role and political agency of the demos after the tyranny Chapter 9. Census classes, dekate and demography in sixth-century Athens Qualifications for the Solonian census classes Dekate Demography Conclusion Part III The identity of the thetes and zeugitai in fifth-century democracy: political and military involvement Chapter 10. Zeugitai in fifth-century Athens: social and economic qualification from Cleisthenes to the end of the Peloponnesian War Introduction Evidence on zeugitai in the fifth century and the scholarly debate on the use of the census classes in the military organization Hoplites and zeugitai: numbers, wealth and land ownership in fifth-century Athens Cleisthenes’ measures: monetary requirements for belonging to the zeugite census class and military reforms Conclusion Chapter 11. Thetes, the Athenian empire and demography Introduction The thetes as a population segment Colonies and cleruchies Benefits of the misthos and full employment Conclusion Chapter 12. Thetes epibatai in fifth-century Athens Introduction The epibatai as hoplites with high socioeconomic status Thetes epibatai A note on the census classes and their role in fifth-century recruitment Thetes demography Possible allusions to thetes epibatai in the sources Conclusion Chapter 13. Socrates, as poor as a thes Introduction Socrates’ poverty Socrates, the sculptor (lithourgos) Socrates: a thes or a zeugites? Conclusion Chapter 14. The ‘Five Thousand’ and the demos in the oligarchic coup of 411: eisphora and reform of the census classes Introduction The ‘Five Thousand’ in the regime of the Four Hundred and the eisphora levy during the Peloponnesian War The ‘Five Thousand’ in the government of the Five Thousand Conclusion Part IV The drift of the lower classes in the fourth century: towards the revival of dependencies Chapter 15. The resurgence of dependency in the fourth century: the spaces of thetes and misthotoi, parasitoi and beggars Introduction The resurgence of rural wage labour and the leasing of land to the poor Salaried work in the asty Ptocheia Benefits of citizenship, euergesia and parasitism Conclusion Chapter 16. Debt as a source of dependency and exploitation in classical Athens Introduction Public debtors Private debtors Charis Conclusion Chapter 17. Some brief notes on demographics, the eisphora and the diapsephismos in fourth-century Athens Demographics The Eisphora The Diapsephismos of 346 Conclusion Conclusions Tables Bibliography List of Index terms