Ancient Greece Hierarchy

Ancient Greece was fully equipped with Social Class Hierarchy System which divided people on the basis of the Classes. The Ancient Greece Hierarchy includes four classes namely Upper Class or the Athens, the Middle Class or the Metics, the Lower Class or Freemen and the last ones as Slaves. The following explains in detail these above Ancient Greece Hierarchy:

Ancient Greece Hierarchy
Ancient Greece Hierarchy
  • The Upper Class/ Athens: The first and the topmost class in Ancient Greece Hierarchy was the Upper Class which was also symbolized as the Leisure Class. They possessed the maximum power and topmost position in the society. One has to be born in Athens to be a part of the Upper Class. The Upper Class handled the government work, literature as well as the philosophy department and also the war. Athens or the Upper Class used to get slaves to perform their materialistic tasks so as to save their precious time which they can utilize for administrative purposes. Being the Superior Class they had to be totally free and away from inferior tasks such as economical trading. Being Superior from others they were not allowed to do minor tasks. Being the Upper Class was a symbol of good artistic taste, being civilized and socialized.
  • The Middle Class/Metics: The people who were not born in Athens but came in Athens and settled there for earning their livelihood and spent their entire life were eligible to be a part of the Middle Class means become a Metics and this was also the next class in Ancient Greece Hierarchy. They were free men means they were not slaves but they possessed very little rights as compared to the Upper Class. They were not even allowed to vote or to buy a land or to marry someone in the family of citizens. Mostly they used to work as: contractors, merchants, managers, manufacturers, tradesmen, artists and craftsmen. The ceramic work was entirely handled by the Middle Class. The Middle Class was not allowed to get a citizenship.
  • The Lower Class/Freedmen: The next class in Ancient Greece Hierarchy was Lower Class. Lower Class included those people who were once slaves in their past and were somehow freed by his/her owner. They were also referred as Freedmen. They were not considered as citizens of Athens and were never allowed to gain a citizenship. The freedom could be gained by any reason like by paying off the ransom by a friend, known or relative or if the slave had got sufficient money, he/she could get his/her freedom or a slave could also get freedom by winning a fight or sometimes even the owners let them free.
  • The Slaves: The lowermost class in Ancient Greece Hierarchy was of Slaves. Very little number of Greeks were Slaves and the majority of Slaves were Non-Greeks mostly people rescued from wars or even some criminals were made Slaves. Slaves had no right, not even to defend themselves when their owner would beat them. They had to pay a ransom amount to buy their freedom and to get free.

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