Expert: Maria - 10/23/2007

Question
what social classes existed in ancient Greece?

Answer
Hello,

In spite of the apparent simplicity, this question is  too long and would take too much time, since we should consider the  several transformations of the social classes we see in ancient Greece over the centuries.

Generally  speaking in fact, we can say that only free, land owning, native-born men could have citizenship, i.e. the status of a citizen with its attendant duties, rights, and privileges, in the city-states of Greece, i.e. in the “poleis “(literally, “cities”), as the city-states were called in ancient Greece.

Anyway, if we consider the two most important poleis of ancient Greece, i.e. Athens and Sparta, we see that, while in Athens social classes changed according to some reforms from Solon in 594 BC. to Cleisthenes in 508 BC, in Sparta social classes were always the same as there were three classes: 1)the Spartiates who were the elite warrior class; 2)the the Perioikoi, literally "dwellers around," inhabitants of outlying towns who carried out most of the trade and commerce of the city; 3) the  helots, enslaved populations tied to the land and owned by the Spartan state.

I should tell you now how the Athenian population was divided as the years went by, according to early monarchic period and then Solon's and Cleisthenes reforms,  but this matter is too long and it would take too much time, as I've already said.

Bye,
Maria