Ancient Greek Social Structure Essay

Social Structure of the Polis The best way to describe a Greek polis is a structure of a community that was used back in time. Not only was the polis a city or center for the ancient Greeks, but it also held the social structure of the people from that era. The Greeks had switched from living in small farm communities to living in the city. Not only had their location changed, but also their social structure. Men, women, slaves, and foreigners all played a different role in the ancient Greek society. These people made up the social hierarchy and men were placed at the top. Before other groups came along, Greece was mainly broken up between free people and slaves, however the slaves were owned by the free people. Although, the society in Athens evolved, and freemen were divided into citizens and metics. Citizens were at the top of the social status and were also the most powerful group. This class handled all the government

They were not permitted to be a part of any political decisions or own land, houses, and other similar things. On the other hand, slaves lived with their owners, and some were skilled craftsmen and others were not even paid. Slaves were mainly used as servants and laborers, and they did not have any legal rights. But some slaves were not even from Greece. In fact, some slaves were rescued from war or criminals, or even bought by the people. Slaves had to pay a lot of money to buy their freedom, which meant that they could get themselves free if they had the money to do so. Another group that made up the lower classes were freedmen. Freedmen were people who were once slaves, but were freed by the owner in someway. These people had very little privileges, but still had more than slaves did. Whatever money freedmen earned, they were not to be granted citizenship. Even though the lower classes did not have much respect, they still played a role in the social structure of the