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I. Public Power in Europe: Studies in Historical Transformations
II. Power and Culture: Hegemony, Interaction and Dissent
III. Religion, Ritual and Mythology. Aspects of Identity Formation in Europe
IV. Professions and Social Identity. New European Historical Research on Work, Gender and Society
V. Frontiers and Identities: Exploring the Research Area
VI. Europe and the World in European Historiography
II. Transversal Teme
I. Citizenship in Historical Perspective
III. Doctoral Dissertations
I. F. Peyrou, La Comunidad de Ciudadanos. El Discurso Democrtico-Republicano en Espaa, 1840-1868
Cover: Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1285-1348 ca.), Te Efects of Good Government in the City and the Countryside, fresco
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Citizenship in historical perspective / edited by Steven G. Ellis, Gumundur
Hlfdanarson and Ann Katherine Isaacs
(Transversal theme ; 1)
323.6 (21.)
1. Cittadinanza 2. Individuo e societ I. Ellis, Steven II. Hlfdanarson, Gumundur III.
Isaacs, Ann Katherine
CIP a cura del Sistema bibliotecario dellUniversit di Pisa
Power and Culture
Citizenship in Ancient Greece
Athens and Sparta:Terms and Sources
Ifigenija Radulovi
University of Novi Sad
,
, : ,
, e ,
.
.
: politeiva, polivth~, povli~, gevno~,
fratrivai, fulaiv, dh'mo~, ijshgoriva, ijsonomiva, ajtimiva, mevtoikoi, ajpeleuvqeroi,
filoxeniva proxeniva, o{moioi, perivoikoi, ei{lwte~ ,
, ,
, , . ,
: , ,
, , , ,
.
, ,
, . ,
,
, .
, .
, .
The notion and problem of citizenship in ancient Greece is very complex and it con-
tinues, in different contexts, to be the object of scientific research even very recently,
as we can evince from new book titles. If we look up the word in the second edition
of the Oxford Classical Dictionary from the year 1972 and the third from 1996, and
compare the definitions authored respectively by V. Ehrenberg and J. Kenyon Davis,
it is evident that there is new knowledge on citizenship and a new approach to it, as
a fusion of the state and its relations with the inhabitants right to participate in life
of the state and its decisions. Different ancient sources over a long period have left
us much information about citizenship in Greece, mostly in Athens. Thus, in this
chapter we will present, through historiography, philosophy, rhetorics and poetry,
different social relationships such as those between the state and its subjects, regard-
ing state and the citizen, power, legislation, rights and obligations, loss and gain of
citizenship, exile, social, economic and gender stratification, foreigners, settlers etc.,
and we will exam the following terms: politeia, polites, polis, genos, phratria, phyle,
26 IfgenijaRadulovi
demos, isonomia, isegoria, atimia, metoikoi, apeleutheroi, philoxenia and proxenia, ho-
moioi, perioikoi and heilotes.
Te Greek term for citizenship is [politeia]. Politeia is the right of citizenship. It
means that one could be called a citizen [polites] only as a member of a com-
munity who is ft to govern. Tat brings us to the notion of the state. Te word politeia
is not only etymologically related to [polis], the city-state: it is essential. Te polis
was a political unity among its settlements, made by the partnership of citizens-polites.
Diferent sorts of partnership made diferent constitutions. Te Greek term for constitu-
tion is also politeia. Tose two terms are so closely bound together because, depending on
the constitution, diferent social classes had the right of citizenship, and diferent social
classes who gained political power determined the states constitution and form of gov-
ernment, which is another meaning for politeia.
Aristotle, the philosopher of the 4th century B.C., made systematic and theoretical re-
search on this very complex problem in his Politics [Source 1, Arist. Pol. 1.1252a].
Te lawyer and orator Lysias (5-4th century B.C.) in his courtroom speech Against Era-
tosthenes, one of the Tirty oligarchs who ruled in Athens in 404 B.C., testifes what hap-
pened afer democracy was abolished, and how the citizens of Athens, who numbered
about 40,000 men, had lost their right of citizenship with the change of the constitution:
Te Tirty sent many of the citizens into exile many who had full civic rights they ex-
cluded from the citizenship
1
[Lys. 12.21]. In another courtroom speech, Defense against
a Charge of Subverting the Democracy, he also says that under the oligarchy the rest of
the citizens had been publicly banned from the city [Lys. 25.22]. Aristotle in Te Con-
stitution of the Athenians gives the number of citizens under the oligarchy of the Tirty
they enrolled three thousand of the citizens with the intention of giving them a share in
the government. [Ath. Pol. 36]. Te same fgure is given by Xenophon in Hellenica saying
that Teramenes, one of the Tirty, said that unless they admitted an adequate number
of citizens into partnership it would be impossible for the oligarchy to endure and
the Tirty enrolled a body of three thousand, who were to share in the government
2
[Hell. 2. 3, 17-22].
Ten, Aristotle tries to defne a citizen in the absolute sense the one who has the right
to participate in deliberative or judicial ofce is a citizen of the state in which he has that
right, and a state is a collection of such persons [Pol. 1275b].
For inasmuch as a state is a kind of partnership, in fact a partnership of citizens in a govern-
ment, when the form of the government has been altered and is diferent it would appear to
follow that the state is no longer the same state [Pol. 1276b] As there are several forms of
constitution, it follows that there are several kinds of citizen, and that a citizen in the fullest
sense means the man who shares in the honors of the state [] [Pol. 1278a].
Te next step is to consider how many forms of constitution there were: Constitution/
politei means the same as government/politeia and the government is the supreme power
in the state, and this must be either a single ruler (this refers to kingship), or a few (this
refers to oligarchy), or the mass of the citizens (this refers to politeia or constitutional
government in cases when the one or the few or the many govern with an eye to the
CitizenshipinAncientGreece-AthensandSparta
27
Power and Culture
common interest [Pol. 1279a]. Aristotle then explains that Deviations from the consti-
tutions mentioned are tyranny corresponding to kingship, oligarchy to aristocracy, and
democracy to constitutional government and none of these forms governs with regard
to the proft of the community [Pol. 1279b].
At this point we have to give a short history of social clashes in Athens so that it will be
clearer who during various periods and under diferent state constitutions had the right of
citizenship and in what relations the other social classes were with respect to the state.
Professor Brook Manville in Te Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens disagrees with
those who see polis and polites as ancient institutions, and argues forcefully that the con-
cept of polites did not achieve a truly recognizable form until Solon
3
and that consist-
ent concept of Athenian citizenship did not exist before his reforms.
Te city-state of Athens was called the polis of the Athenians, [hoi Athen-
aioi]. It is estimated that in classical Athens there lived approximately 200,000 inhabit-
ants. Te great majority of them did not have the status of citizen, which meant that they
did not have full political rights. Among those inhabitants there were diferent kinds of
status and diferent social classes: aristocrats, demos, the people, foreigners-settlers called
metics, foreigners from other states with the right of proxenia, polites from other polei [pl.
of polis] which had received Athenian citizenship, slaves, freedmen, and women and chil-
dren. About 100,000 were free, and 40,000 adult men had Athenian citizenship.
Before the polis was constituted in the 8th century B.C., the aristocrats, who believed
that they were autochthonous indigenous sons of Attica, had formed social units such
as [gene] made up of families. Several genes formed [brotherhoods] and
fnally [tribes]. Te members of those communities were related not only by blood
but also through religion, practicing the same cults and having rights and obligations one
to another as freemen. In Homers Iliad and Odyssey we clearly see the strong bonds and
obligation of kinsmen, members of the same community, when Hector calls for Melanip-
pos saying Why, Melanippos, are we thus remiss? Do you take no note of the death of
your kinsman
4
or even in days to come shall we be disgraced forever if we shall
not take vengeance on the slayers of our sons and our brothers
5
. Tis is the obligation
of kinsmen to revenge the relatives death. We also can fnd in Homer how aliens were
treated like people with no roots and honors, and nobody was to blame for their murder.
Achilles says that Agamemnon treated him like some alien settler without honor [Il.
9.648; 16.59].
Belonging to a phratria was a privilege since only an injured member of a phratria could
bring charges and seek justice. Te phratria held in its hands all juridical power. Te land
of a deceased member was also given to relatives of the phratria. Tat is why it was impor-
tant to be included as a member of the community, because the community was obliged
to fulfll the rights of its member. Tis was the case until the beginning of the 6th cen-
tury when Solon established individual rights of property
6
. He allowed the landowner
to choose his own heirs [Plutarch, Sol. 21]. Before frst laws were written in the late 7th
century B.C., the juridical power was in aristocrats hand. Tey judged as they wished. Te
demos achieved its frst political victory by persuading the aristocrats to write down the
28 IfgenijaRadulovi
common law, known as Dracons law. Now justice was served according to the law, and the
judges of a court were honorable members of the society, kaloi kai agathoi.
Te aristocracy, the old Athenian families and the wealthy families who held the most ex-
tensive and fertile lands in all of Attica, for centuries held all the political power as well, or
as we would say today, the juridical, legislative and executive power. Tey were the judges,
they decided on matters of state and they held public ofce. In Solons time, in the early
6th century, Athens was losing battles with its enemies. Te aristocrats were to blame for
it. Te enemies were getting stronger. Attica was getting weaker, because people of Attica
were becoming poorer and poorer, even becoming slaves. Te body of the people was also
composed of diferent social strata. Tere were poor countrymen, diakrioi, who owned
infertile land; then there were paralioi, those who lived by the sea, sailors, diferent labour
workers, traders, artisans and ship-owners. Tey were all free, but had no political rights.
Some of them were wealthier, due to trading and sailing. Tose who had lost land wanted a
new land distribution. All together they created a body which demanded political rights.
Solon, once a poor aristocrat who had recovered his estate by trading, wrote and brought
a new constitution which was based on wealth and not on origin. Now all politai had
some political rights. Laws and the application of justice became a matter of public con-
cern and control, and all Athenians could expect the same justice
7
. Any member of the
community could now bring charges, whereas previously this right had been limited to
the injured party or his family. Tis still was not democracy. Te wealthiest had the rights
to elect and be elected and the lower politai, zeugitai
8
and thetes
9
, had the right to vote.
Tis was the beginning of a series of reforms during the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. that
led eventually to the aristocrats losing their power over and infuence on the political in-
stitutions. Kleisthenes played a key role in that process. At the end of the 6th century the
aristocrats who seized power afer tyranny was abolished, attacked the demos, demand-
ing a review of who was and was not a citizen. Since the tyrant Peisistrates stood for the
interests of the small land owners, they found their positions threatened by the aristocrats,
who were striving for their former political power and privileges. Kleisthenes then ex-
ploited this fear of the demos, instituting a new, consistent criterion for citizenship.
10
He
introduced into the body of citizens many poor men, foreigners and slaves, banishing the
old blood related distinctions based on genos, phratia and phyle, and replacing them with
new ones based on territorial divisions, in which were included diferent social classes.
Now all the members of that new territorial units called [demoi] were written in the
lists of each community and became Athenians. Te system of demoi fnally unifed town
and country, and made the polis a centralized state.
Te aristocracy was not willing to give all the rights to the people. Tey still held the high-
est public ofces and juridical power. Tat was changed afer the Greek-Persian Wars, due
to the demos glorious victory over the mighty Persian Empire. With Efaltes in 462 B.C.,
the aristocrats had lost all their privileges. He limited their infuence in the public insti-
tutions and gave all the rights to the demos in the Ecclesia [Assembly], where every man
who was enrolled as an Athenian of any economic and social class had the same rights and
obligations. Now every Athenian citizen had the right to elect and be elected. Tis equal-
ity of power between rulers and ruled is called [isonomia]. Every citizen had the
CitizenshipinAncientGreece-AthensandSparta
29
Power and Culture
right to practice politics, to vote, to sue and be defended, to propose laws and to oppose
them and to speak freely in the Ecclesia. Tis freedom to speak in the Assembly is called
[isegoria]. Of course, one had to be responsible in his actions and suggestions
otherwise he had to pay the consequences of [graphe paranomon].
Tus, the citizen could be defned as one who has isonomia and isegoria, i.e. have a share
in polity [metehein tes politeias].
Te Athenians had methods for limiting the insolent behaviour of the citizens. Te frst
was loss of citizenship, called [atimia], and the others were [ostracism]
and [exile]. Te citizen did not loose his citizenship by ostracism and exile, but had
to fee for a period of time and live elsewhere as foreigner. Afer the period of exile was
over, one would come back and demand all his previous rights. Te rhetor Andocides
(5th-4th century BC), who was exiled, returned to Athens and was readmitted to the
employments and honours of an active citizen. He marked his public engagement with
the speech On the Peace with Lacedaemonians.
We have to take in consideration other inhabitants of a polis as well. Vast trade networks
brought many foreigners to Athens. More and more people from other states were coming
to look for better opportunities for earning a living and for better living conditions. Athens
was crowded with foreigners: sailors, traders, artisans and manufacturers. Many of them had
settled there. Athens was growing, and Athenians married non Athenians. Until 451 B.C.,
an Athenian was considered to be anyone who had one Athenian parent. Aristotle in his
Politics also testifes to that [Source 2, Arist. Pol.3.1278a]. Pericles brought the law through
the Ecclesia to restrict the Athenian citizenship to those whose parents were both Atheni-
ans. It is interesting that Pericles suggested this law, since he had a son with a foreigner.
Foreigners who had settled in Athens were called [metics]. Tere were about
10,000 in the middle of the 5th century B.C.
11
. Tey did not have citizenship, so they
did not have the same rights as citizens, but they had some of the same obligations, like
serving the army and paying fees and taxes. Tey also had to pay a fee for settlement.
Metics did not have the right to possess land and they had to have an Athenian to guar-
antee for them. In court they did not have the same rights, and had to be represented by
another person. Te law foresaw diferent punishment for Athenians and metics. Tere
were also diferences between metics. Some metics were very wealthy, with highly edu-
cated, and respected by the Athenians. Tat was the case with Lysias family. His family
was invited to come to Athens by Pericles. Tey supported Athenian democracy and
trade expansion and infuence to the west. Some metics received the right to possess
land but not political rights. Tese metics were called isoteles. One could deserve and
gain Athenian citizenship on very special occasion, for some exceptional good deed for
the state. Diodorus says that the Athenians who had sufered a continued series of re-
verses, conferred citizenship upon the metics and any other aliens who were willing to
fght with them
12
[Diod. 13. 97, 1]. Te above-mentioned rhetor Lysias almost received
Athenian citizenship for his help and fnancial support to the democrats who were fght-
ing against the regime of the Tirty oligarchs. When democracy was restored it was
suggested that Lysias should be granted citizenship. It did not happen because of some
formal irregularity.
30 IfgenijaRadulovi
Tere were about 100,000 slaves in Athens. Some were able to earn or buy their freedom.
Tose freed were called [apeleutheroi]. Tat did not mean that they had citi-
zenship. Still, we fnd in Lysias testimonies that a slave could gain Athenian citizenship
[Source 3, Lys. 30.27].
Tere are also some other interesting relations between states and citizenship. One state
could give its citizenship to another. We have an example of Athenian citizenship being
granted to citizens of other states. Athenian citizenship was given to the citizens of Pla-
taea for their support in the Peloponnesian War and to Samos for helping the Athenian
democrats afer democracy was abolished and the war with Sparta was lost in 404 B.C..
Te restored democrats gave them Athenian citizenship as testifed in IG I, 126; II, 1.
In the early periods, the aristocrats of one state with the aristocratic families of the other
had the custom of [philoxenia], hospitality by which the safety and honour of
a visitor from the other state was guaranteed. Tis custom later became the institution
of [proxenia], by which a citizen of a local state was chosen by the other state to
represent the interests of its citizens.
It is interesting to note the existence of something that we would call today a passport or
a visa, that is a guarantee for a traveller that he would not be robed, hurt or killed. Lysias
says that Demus, son of Pyrilampes, had received a gold cup as a credential from the
Great King [Lys. 18.25] for travelling though Persia.
In a short overview I will now discuss the terms concerning citizenship of the polis of Spar-
ta. Te citizens of Sparta were considered to be a Doric tribe, the descendents of Heracles
known as the Heraclides. Tey had mixed with the previous inhabitants, the Achaeans.
Tere were two Spartan kings, one from each of those two tribes. Only a small part of the
inhabitants were citizens. About 9,000 men were full Spartiates, all equal amongst them-
selves, and they were called [homoioi]. From that number were elected the state
ofcials and organs: the eforoi, gerousia and apella, the parliament. Te other inhabitants
were inferior subjects of diferent status and I will not discuss in detail their position.
[perioikoi] was a term for the free inhabitants who lived on the borders of Lako-
nia, on the coast and mountains and who were subjects of Sparta. Tey are mentioned in
Herodotus [6.58], Tucydides [1.101] and Platos Republic [547c]. In Sparta they did not
have political rights, but they had the right of possession. Tey owned land, and they were
the only ones who had the right to trade and own manufactories. Te perioikoi had the
obligation to serve in the Spartan army [Hdt. 9.11] and to pay taxes. Tey were counted
as Lacedaemonians, thus we could call them Spartan citizens but enjoying fewer and more
limited rights.
In Spartan society certain persons known as [helots] had a special status.
13
Tey
lived mostly in Messenia which was fnally occupied by Sparta in the 7th century, afer the
Second Messenian war. Ten the inhabitants of Messenia became helots, or subjects of
the Spartans [Tuc. 1.101]. Tey were considered to have a status between that of slaves
and of free men [Poll. Onom. 3.83]. Tey were bound to the land and had to give part of
the products as tribute to the state. Tey did not belong to individual Spartans, but were
in the possession of the state, and could not be sold.
14

CitizenshipinAncientGreece-AthensandSparta
31
Power and Culture
Herodotus gives us an example of the only foreigner that gained Spartan citizenship:
Tisamenus, whom the Spartans asked to take the command together with their kings
of Heracles line, since the prophecy said that Tisamenus would win in fve victories
15
[Source 4, Hdt. 9.33-35].
In this chapter we have not considered women and children. Tey will be considered
elsewhere as part of another transversal theme. Women and children were considered
citizens but did not have full rights. Also, it is clear that here I can not discuss the social
structure of the Hellenistic period, which is even more complicated.
16

In conclusion, I would like to summarize thus: the citizen is a free man [
] practicing politics. He had every right to decide about matters of state, which
means having legislative power; to judge and be judged equally, which means juridical
power; and to hold public ofce, which means executive power. All those who were called
citizens had the same rights and obligations. Finally citizenship became a privilege that
stood at the centre of Athenian culture.
16

Modern societies have inherited some concepts of the citizenship from ancient Greece,
such as belonging to the same state, respecting the same laws, having the same rights and
obligations, having the right to choose and be chosen, to live together and create common
culture and society, etc. I think that the analysis of ancient times is not just an academic
one, because modern events in Europe and elsewhere show the need for redefnition of
citizenship and national integrity.
Notes
1
Lysias with an English, transl. by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London 1930.
2
Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 1 and 2, Cambridge London vol. 1:1985; vol. 2, 1986.
3
G. Crane in his Review of Te Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens by Ph. B. Manville, Bryn Mawr Classical Review,
2.1, 1991, pp. 31-35.
4
Id., Te Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes, Cambridge MA, London 1924, 15.558
5
Homer, Te Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes, Cambridge MA, London 1919,
24.432-435.
6
Ph. B.Manville, Te Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens, Princeton 1990, p.126.
7
Ibid., p. 150.
8
- citizens of the third census class with the annual income of 200 medimnoi, i.e. of moderate substance.
9
- citizens of the fourth, lowest census class with the annual income less than 200 medimnoi.
10
Ibid, p. 180.
11
Te Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic world, Serbian translation, Belgrade 1999.
12
Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather, vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass., London
1989.
13
Cf. Hdt. 9.10, 29; Strab. 8.5.4; Tuc. 4.80.
14
Tey outnumbered the inhabitants of Sparta and ofen rebelled against the Lacedaemonians, who were threatened by that
and from time to time practice kryptia, a secret killing of the strongest helots in order to limit their number. Tis measure
could be ordered only by the state, not by a private person.
15
Te fve victories were at Plataea; next, at Tegea over the Tegeans and Argives; afer that, over all the Arcadians at Dipaea;
next, over the Messenians at Ithome; and last, the victory at Tanagra over the Athenians and Argives.
32 IfgenijaRadulovi
16
In this regard I wish to cite the work of the eminent professor of the University of Belgrade, Fanula Papazoglu, Laoi
et paroikoi, Recherches sur la stricture de la socit hellnistique, Belgrade 1997.
17
P. B. Manville Te Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens cit., p. 209.
18
In writing this chapter I used some relevant books; my professor Ksenija Maricki Gadjanski kindly gave me
some more and I thank her for her help and support. Many others cannot be found in our University Library
in Novi Sad. Tat is why I turned to the sources, as professor Maricki Gadjanski suggested. I would like to use
this opportunity to ask those interested in the Cliohres.net project to exchange and send books, if possible, so
that the students of the growing European society can read and study the latest scientifc research and approa-
ches as is not now possible in my country.
sources
Source I
...o ccc| .| ,..| -.|.|.c| t.|c ucc| -c. ccc| -.|.|.c| c,c-u t.|,
.|.-.| cu|.ct-u.c| tu ,c, ..|c. o-u|t, c,c-u c,.| c|tc ,cttuc. c|t.,,
o| ., ccc. .| c,c-u t.|, ctc|tc., c.ctc o. -c. tu -u,..tctu c|t.|
cc.| -u,..tct -c. ccc, .,..ucc tc, cc,. cut o'.ct.| -cu.| .,
-c. -.|.|.c .t.-.
o. .t..c t.| t| .| .-u|t.| .ct. tc., t.,. ... o' ., t.| cu,-...|.|,
-c-c., c t. t.| .| .| cu|.ct.t.| o' .- .| ,..|, o| t. ,t.,|
.t, tt., ,c, ., .t.| t. -, .ct.|. .ct. t.|c , -c..|
.t| -c. t., .t, .ct. c-.t.|. -c. ,c, .t, c.ct..tc. c-.,
u ,c, t| cut| ,uc. c|t., ..|c. .t| .ct. ,c, ct., .| o-,ct.c
.t, .| .| .,c,.c c-., u- .ct. .t,.
Every state is a sort of partnership, and every partnership is formed with a view to some
good... It is therefore evident that, while all partnerships aim at some good the partnership that
is the most supreme of all aims at the most supreme of all goods; and this is the partnership
entitled the state, the political association.
But a state is a composite thing therefore we must frst inquire into the nature of a citizen;
for a state is a collection of citizens, so that we have to consider who is entitled to the name of
citizen, and what the essential nature of a citizen is. Ofen somebody who would be a citizen
in a democracy is not a citizen under an oligarchy.*
[Arist. Pol.1.1252a; 3.1274b-1275a]
*
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 21, transl. by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, London 1944.
Source II
.| c., o. .t..c., ,c..-.. t.|c, -c. t.| .|.| |, ,c, .- .t.o,
.| t.c. o-,ct.c., .t, .ct.|, t| cut| o. t,| ... -c. tc .,. tu, |-u,
c,c .,. u | c' ... o.' .|o..c| t.| ,|c..| .t.| .u|tc. .tc,
tu, t.utu, o.c ,c, .,c|-,..c| ut. ,.|tc. t., |.,, .u,u|t., o
u -ctc .-,| c,c.,u|tc. tu, .- ouu ,.t| ou,, ..tc tu, c
,u|c.-.|, t., o. || tu, . c.| cct.| .tc, .uc.|.
under many constitutions the law draws recruits even from foreigners; for in some
democracies the son of a citizen-mother is a citizen, and the same rule holds good as to base-
born sons in many places. Nevertheless, inasmuch as such persons are adopted as citizens
owing to a lack of citizens of legitimate birth (for legislation of this kind is resorted to because
of under-population), when a state becomes well of for numbers it gradually divests itself frst
CitizenshipinAncientGreece-AthensandSparta
33
Power and Culture
of the sons of a slave father or mother, then of those whose mothers only were citizens, and
fnally only allows citizenship to the children of citizens on both sides.
[Arist. Pol. 3.1278a]
Source III
kaivtoi ajnti; me;n douvlou polivth gegevnhtai.
nd yet from a slave he has become a citizen.
[Lys. 30.27 ]
Source IV
t| .|tc H..| -c. ,.|., tu lc.o..| Kut.co|| Ac-.oc.|.. ..cc|t
..c.t.,|. ... o. ,..| .,. u ..u.|u, Ec,t.tc, .| cut|
,c-.c-c., c-.| tut c|.t.c, cc.|.| c. ., | .| .t| c.t.,|
.c.|tc. t.| c|t.| .tco.o|t.,, .c.. tcutc, .'c. .c-. o'u. Ec,t.tc.
o. ,.tc .| c-ucc|t., o..|c ...u|t -c. .t..cc| t, ,ccu|, t c,cc|,
t., o. o..ct, .,cu ..-,.c.|u tu H.,c.-u tutu ct,ct.uct,
-ctc.|.| .t.|t.,. o. ,|u, t.t,c.|u, c.c, uo'ut. .t. . c,-..c-c.
tut.c. u|.c., cc o..| .t. t| co..| ..utu H,.| ,.|.c-c. Ec,t.t|
.. t.c. cut.c. ,.c. t.c. -c. cut, ,.|.tc.. ... T.cc.|, H..,, ,.|.|,
Ec,t.t,, cu,-ctc.,.... u|. o. o c|t.| c|-,..| .,.||t ut. Ec,t.t
c. .tc..
He was an Elean by birth ...and the Lacedaemonians gave him the freedom of their city.
When he saw that the Spartans set great store by his friendship, he set his price higher, and
made it known to them that he would do what they wanted only in exchange for the gif of
full citizenship and all of the citizens rights.Te Spartans at frst were angry but when
the dreadful menace of this Persian host hung over them, they consented and granted his
demand. When he saw their purpose changed, he said that he would not be content with that
alone; his brother Hegias too must be made a Spartan. No one on earth save Tisamenus and
his brother ever became citizens of Sparta.**
[Hdt. 9.33-35]
** Herodotus, with an English translation by A.D. Godley, Cambridge 1920.