There were however instances of metics being given the rights of isoteleia (the privilege of paying taxes equal to those paid by Athenians) and tenure [en-ktesis] of land and home (the privilege of owning real estate). These metics were, Demosthenes informs us, particularly anxious to keep their property 'visible', in other words to let the state and their fellow citizens see what it amounted to. Most metics were successful workshop owners employing slaves. Kephalos from Syracuse and his sons Polemarchos and the orator Lysias were three metics of note. They had a shieldmaking workshop with a hundred and twenty slaves working for them. |
| introduction | landowning-farming | trade | mines | | |||
| state welfare | liturgies | private property | | |||
|