FREE ESSAY ON ATHENS

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. 
Works Cited 
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.