Athens
A “Golden Age” for Athens?
The 5th century BCE was a period of great development in
Ancient Greece, and specifically in Athens. The development
of so many cultural achievements within Athens and the
Athenian Empire has led scholars to deem this period a
“Golden Age.” It is true that his period had many
achievements, but in the light of the Athenians treatment of
women, metics (non-Athenians living in Athens), and slaves
it is given to question whether or not the period can truly
be called “Golden.”
The 5th century and the Athenian Empire gave birth to
an amazing amount of accomplishments. One such
accomplishment was the minting of standard Athenian coins
that were used throughout the Athenian holdings as valid for
trade. The use of standard Athenian-minted coins helped the
Athenians establish and maintain control over their empire
by helping to control trade and the economy of the area to
the Athenians’ benefit.
Since Athens regularly received tribute from the states
it controlled, Pericles, the leader of Athens, began a
building project in Athens that was legendary. Athens had
been sacked by the Persians during the Persian Wars and
Pericles set out to rebuild the city. The city’s walls had
already been rebuilt right after the end of the second
Persian War so Pericles rebuilt temples, public grounds, and
other impressive structures. One of the most famous
structures to result from Pericles’ building project was the
Parthenon. The Parthenon and other such structures re-
established Athens’s glory and while some Athenians
criticized the projects as too lavish, most Athenians
enjoyed the benefits of the program. A major benefit to the
Athenian people was that there was an abundance of work in
the polis.
The 5th century BCE was also an important time for
Athenian thought. “Sophists,” paid teachers, taught rhetoric
amongst other subjects to wealthy Athenian citizens.
The Sophists were criticized by Athenians who thought that
Sophists were destroying Greek tradition by emphasizing
rationalism over a belief in superstition, however it was
this rationalism that became so important to Greek
philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, both who belonged
to the 5th century BCE. The Sophists high regard for
rhetoric was later of great use to citizen addressing the
Assembly in the developing Athenian democracy.
Athenian democracy is perhaps considered the crowning
achievement of the 5th century BCE. Democracy grew out of
the status that poorer Athenians were gaining as rowers for
the ships of the large Athenian fleet. Since these poorer
Athenians now played a large part in the Athenian military,
they ga8ined more say in the Athenian government. This
led to a democratic government where “every male citizen
over 18 years was eligible to attend and vote in the
Assembly, which made all the important decisions of Athens
in the 5th century BC_” (Demand 223). This democratic
government is considered by some scholars to show the full
enlightenment of the Athenians in the 5th century BCE.
This glorious enlightenment seems somehow less
enlightening, however, when one views this period from other
than a male Athenian’s eyes. Athenian enlightenment and
democracy was by and for male citizens. The underprivileged
of Athens included women, metics and slaves. The position of
Athenian wives in Athenian society is clearly stated by
Xenephon in his Oeconomicus. Ischomacus, a young husband, is
conversing with Socrates about the duties of husband and
wife. Ischomacus relates how he explained to his wife that
the duties needed to support a household consisted of
“indoor” and “outdoor” activities. He then explains to his
wife, “And since labor and diligence are required both
indoors and outdoors_it seems to me that the god prepared
the woman’s nature especially for indoor jobs and cares and
the man’s nature for outdoor jobs and concerns.” (Spyridakis
206). This is the general attitude that Athenians held
toward their wives. The Athenian wife was expected to marry
and bring a dowry into her husband’s house. Although this
dowry was attached to the woman, she was in no way allowed
to control the lands and moneys she might bring to her
husband.. Similarly, women were not allowed to vote or take
any part in the Assembly, being seen as unfit for this
privilege. The primary function of a citizen’s wife was to
take care of domestic affairs and provide the citizen with
an heir. Athenian wives were rarely seen outside of their
houses, for respectable wives had at least one slave who
would purchase needed items at market. Poorer Athenian women
were seen at market because they lacked slaves to run their
errands. Women were considered intellectual non-entities
and were treated as such in the Athenian Empire.
Metics also had a low status in Athenian society.
Metics were not allowed voting privileges in the Athenian
democracy, but were compulsed to serve a specified time in
the Athenian military and were taxed by the Athenians.
Metics usually were lower-class tradesmen or craftsmen.
Although some metics families eventually gained wealth, the
vast majority of the metics remained second-class
inhabitants of Athens, even though they performed some of
the polis’ most activities, such as military service and
trade.
Slavery was also matter-of-fact in 5th century Athenian
life. Slaves were the property of specific owners and
subject to the wishes of their owners. Like women and
metics, slaves had no citizenship rights. It was possible
for a slave to save enough money to buy his freedom, but a
freed slave had only as much status as a metic. Aristotle
defended slavery as necessary and a law of nature, saying in
his Politics, “That some should rule and others should be
ruled is not only necessary but expedient; indeed, from the
very moment of birth some are set apart to obey and others
to command.” (Spyridakis 62) and also stating that, “He is
by nature a slave who is capable of belonging to another
(and therefore does belong to another) and who has access to
reason in that he senses it and understands it but does not
possess it.” (Spyridakis 63). Many Athenians viewed slavery
as necessary to society in order to give a citizen more time
to participate in government affairs and other matters that
were viewed as more important than a slave’s work. Although
some lower-class Athenians may have been forced to share
labor with slaves, most Athenians did not participate in
slave’s work. Male slaves did harder labor such as
construction and agriculture. Female slaves ran their
mistress’ errands and generally took care of domestic
affairs under the watchful eye of their mistress. Slaves
also acted as State scribes. In short, slaves did much of
the work that allowed Athens to prosper in a period of
“enlightenment.”
In light of the unrecognized people who helped to build
the foundations for the Athenian Empire, this “Golden Age”
seem far less golden. However, many major accomplishments
grew out of this period as well. Before one can or cannot
place a “Golden Age” label on 5th century Athens, one must
consider other times when the ends of man’s accomplishments
may not have justified the means. Athens could be compared
to post- Revolutionary America, where a “democratic”
government was only available to white male citizens. Yet
Americans tend to view this time with much patriotism and
pride. Likewise the Industrial Revolution is said to be a
great accomplishment of mankind, but little recognition is
given to the horrible factory conditions that employees,
many women and children, endured. I would say that the 5th
century BCE was as much a “Golden Age” for man as either of
the above mentioned time periods. I think that most of our
accomplishments as humans rest on the shoulders of invisible
and overlooked peoples.
Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Spyridakis, Stylianos V. and Bradley P. Nystrom,
eds., trans. Ancient Greece: Documantary Perspectives.
Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt,
1985.