Rights and Duties of Ancient Citizens
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsRights and Duties of Ancient Citizens
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsEDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
POLITICAL PREROGATIVES
Political prerogatives correspond to the right of the citizen to participate in the
management of public affairs:
• Gathering at the People's Assembly
(Ekklesía in Athens or Apella in Sparta) or in the councils (Athenian
Boulé or Spartan Gerousía).
• Exercising the magistracies or other offices that the people have
entrusted to him (functions of archon, strategist, treasurer, epimeleta,
etc.)
• Dispensing justice in the courts.
These prerogatives go far beyond politics in the strict sense of the term, since the
citizen participates in the deliberative power, the executive power and the judicial
power of the federation.
LEGAL PREROGATIVES
• The right to property
One of the essential privileges of the citizen is the right to property, more
specifically the right to own a piece of land within the city. This is what official
documents translate as the expression enktésis gès kai oikias, the right to own land
and a house. This privilege inherent to citizenship is lost when a citizen who has
committed a serious offense has his property confiscated,
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
while their religious and judicial privileges were withdrawn. In Athens this civic
degradation was called atimia.
• Access to courts and judicial guarantees
Identification tablets of Athenian citizens (name, father's name, demo) for the
drawing of jurors. Museum of the Agora of Athens.
The quality of citizen guaranteed a man the power to take action as a plaintiff or to
act as a defender before the ordinary courts, without intermediary or guarantor.
RELIGIOUS PREROGATIVES
The citizen is not only the one who participates in the arkhé, but the one who has
the privilege of participating fully in all the manifestations of civic religion. He has
the right to participate in sacrifices, to take an active part in religious festivals and to
exercise a priesthood.
• Participate in the sacrifices
It is an essential privilege of the citizen. Sacrifice is the religious act par excellence,
the one by which the entire city communicates with its gods. The sacrificed animal
was divided into two parts: the fat and the thigh bones were burned as an offering
to the gods, the meat was distributed among the participants and consumed by
them. Foreigners were not generally admitted to this act of commensality, except in
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
some cases for resident foreigners.
• Take an active part in religious festivals
It is a right reserved to the citizen. In Athens, foreigners are not allowed to take part
in competitions organised during civic festivals, except those which take the form of
a Panhellenic festival.
• To exercise a priesthood
The citizen is the only one who can claim to exercise a priesthood.1 He must,
however, meet certain requirements: be physically whole, not have committed any
crime, belong to a blameless family, be of legitimate birth. 2 In Athens, those who
have recently gained citizenship cannot exercise the priesthood.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudadano_en_la_Antigua_Grecia%23cite_note-:2-33Only
boys were allowed, provided that their mother was Athenian and had married their
father in a legitimate marriage.4 Citizens who had been punished with the atomic
bombhttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudadano_en_la_Antigua_Grecia%23cite_note-:3-5
were excluded from the priesthood.5
TAX OBLIGATIONS
The citizen had to participate in the tax burdens that the community demanded
from each of its members in proportion to their resources. In Athens, for the
assessment of these obligations, citizens were divided into four census classes
according to their fortune: the first class, that of
The pentacosiomedimni were those citizens who had earned an income of at least
500 medimnos of grain or 500 metretas of oil; the second class, the hippeis,
included citizens whose income was equal to or greater than 300 medimnos or 300
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
metretas; the third class, the zeugites, were those with 200 medimnos or more; the
fourth class, the thetes, were those with an income of less than 200 medimnos.
In Athens, tax burdens took two main forms: the eisphora and the liturgies.
• The eisphora was not a regular tax, but an extraordinary tax levied in case of
need to meet exceptional expenses, for example for military needs.
Originally, the eisphora was based solely on real estate and was distributed
among the first three classes, the tetes being excluded. In 378-377 BC. C. a
major reform was carried out, all assets, real estate and furniture were taken
into account. On the basis of each taxpayer's declaration, the State
established a global estimate of the citizens' fortune and, based on this
estimate, fixed the total amount of income that affected the eisphora. The
citizens were so
distributed in synories or groups of contributors. Each sinmoria
contributed an equal share to the total amount of the tax: in each case, the
distribution was made internally according to the fortune of each person
based on their declaration. In order to receive the deducted sum more
quickly, the State later created the proeisphora paid by the 300 richest
citizens who advanced the entire eisphora, which had to be reimbursed by
the other taxpayers, which was not always easy and caused much friction.
• The principle of the liturgy was based on the wealthiest citizens being
responsible for public utility expenses. In Athens several liturgies were
known: choregy, organization of choirs for performances
(dithyrambs, comedy, tragedies that took place during the great religious
festivals; the gymnastics), which was the responsibility of a citizen to cover
the training and participation expenses of his tribe in some sporting events;
the hestiasis, organization of a public meal offered to the members of the
tribe; the architeoria, responsibility of the religious delegation to announce
the great festivals of the city abroad or to represent it at festivals organized
by other cities; the trierarchy, equipment and command of a trireme.
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP
MILITARY OBLIGATIONS
The citizen was obliged to perform military service, and this obligation seemed, in
some respects, a privilege reserved for him. In principle, the city only cut non-
citizens (resident foreigners or slaves) in exceptional cases, and when necessary,
enrolled them in different units. Not all citizens were equal in terms of military
obligations, because in most cities they fulfilled them according to their fortune.
In Sparta, all citizens between 20 and 49 years of age could be called up to go on
military campaigns. Before the age of 20, young Athenian citizens completed a
period of civic and military training during which they were quartered in various
fortified points and patrolled the chora. From the age of 50 to 59, citizens could be
required to secure the walls in times of war. But the membership of citizens was
based on their resources, since they had to arm and equip themselves at their own
expense.
