Table Of ContentTHE POPULATION
OF ATHENS IN THE
FIFTH AND FOURTH
CENTURIES B.C.
A. W. GOMME
Lecturer in Greek in the U~ersity of Glasgow
BASIL BLACKWELL· OXFORD
1933
CONTENTS
I. TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION
IMPORTANCOEF THE PROBLEM I
Six groups of evidence :-
A. General statements 3
B. Army strength: actual or estimated strength? 3
Thucydides' figures for the Peloponnesian War 4
The years 4u-403, and the fourth century 7
c.
The evidence of inscriptions-the ephebeia 8
The diaitetai 10
The evidence is consistent if the epheboi were
drawn from the hoplite class only II
D. The thetes-no good evidence 12
The Peloponnesian War 13, 15 ·1
The fourth century 15
E. Total population figures: the corn-distribution
of 446 B.C. 16
The oligarchy of 322 B.c. 17
The census taken by Demetrius of Phalerum 18
Metics and foreigners-metics in 431 and at
the end of the fourth century 19
Considerable number of non-resident foreigners 20
Slaves-Thucydides' figure for the Decelean War 20
Hypereides' and Ctesicles' figures 21
Unsatisfactory nature of the evidence ; the
slaves' numbers might vary greatly from
one generation to another 22
Table of results so far obtained 26
Relation of these to the number of epheboi and
of bouleutai required annually 28
F. Com-consumption-the production of Attica 28
Amount of corn imported 32
A useful check on the other figures 33
Conclusion - on the value of the figures' we
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BY THE VINCENT WORKS, OXFORD have, and the possibility of further evidence 33
V
. ..
Vl Contents Oontents Vil
II. COUNTRY AND TOWN POPULATION No need to suppose Athenian birth-rate to have been
low, or families small ; nor that infanticide by
No statistics, but some useful evidence of the increase
exposure was a practice common enough to affect
in the town population 37
movement of population 79
Demes of nobles and politicians in the fifth and fourth
centuries 37
Demes of skilled workers and merchants, citizen and LIST OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES REFERRED TO
metic ; evidence of law-court speeches, and of
building and manumission inscriptions 39
Evidence of tombstones found in Athens and Peiraeus 44 INDEX OF PASSAGES IN ANCIENT AUTHORI
The evidence illustrates a considerable movement TIES DISCUSSED OR QUOTED 86
from the country to the town 46
Approximate figures 47
INDEX OF INSCRIPTIONS QUOTED
NOTE A
MAP OF ATTICA, at end
THE VALUE OF ATHENIAN STATISTICS. THE BoULEUTAI
LISTS
Approximate equality of the ten phylae would hold
good for the fifth and fourth centuries 49
The demes might not all retain their relative positions;
impossibility uf judging from our evidence 50
The bouleutai inscriptions 51
Figures for Acharnae and Halimus 54
Tables of demes and their bouleutai, epheboi, and
diaitetai 56
NOTE B
THE EPHEBOI AND DIAITETAI INSCRIPTIONS
Detailed examination of some of the inscriptions 67
NOTE C
THE SIZE OF ATHENIAN FAMILIES, AND THE EXPOSURE
OF CHILDREN
Figures of age-groups for a number of modem
countries 75
These justify the assumption that in Athens we can
multiply the number of men between 18 and 59
by four to get the approximate total population 78
THE POPULATION OF ATHENS
I
TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION
THERE is no subject of the first importance in ancient
scholarship in which our thoughts are vaguer, in which
we almost refuse to think (because the evidence is un
satisfactory), than that of population. That it is of
great importance we cannot deny: not only because it
would be of value to know the resources in man-power
of the Greek states in comparison with each other, with
Persia, with Rome, or with modern states; but chiefly
because it would, obviously, add so much to the vivid
ness and truth of our picture of Greece, and of Athens
in particular, if we could give even approximate answers
to three questions: (r) how was the population distri
buted ? that is, into rich and poor, into citizen -and
foreigner, into free and slave, and into town-dwellers
-and country-dwellers. (2) How did it fluctuate ? for
example, how much was it affected by war and emigra
tion in cleruchies between 480 and 430 ? What was the
net loss due to the Peloponnesian War? Did the popu
lation increase again during the fourth century, between
400 and 322, and how quickly did it decline after that ?
And (3), perhaps the most interesting question, because
,of the peculiarities of the Athenian constitution : if the
assertion of the oligarchs in 4II that no more than 5000
citizens ever attended the ecclesia was not wildly untrue,
what proportion was that of the whole number? And
what proportion of the whole were the dicasts ? Again,
in the Boule of 500 a member served for a year, and
could only be reelected once-could not therefore serve
for more than two years in all. Therefore, even assuming
that everyone who was elected once served also a second
time (and we know this was not so), 250 new men were
I
THE POPULATION OF ATHENS
2 TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION 3
required every year. They had to be over 30; suppose
We have six kinds or groups of evidence:
40 was the average age at election-how many citizens
in Athens reached the age of 40 every year, what pro (-A-)V ague, gene:al statements, such as the 30,000
portion of this number was 250 ? At least 250 again citizens in 500 B.C. given by Herodotus; but the figure
would finally retire from membership of the Boule every soon became so completely conventional that it is not
year: on the same assumptions, that every member worth discussion, even though it may have been based
served twice and 40 was the average age of election, and originally on a fairly accurate estimate. 1
supposing 65 to be the average age at death,1 there were
at all times over 6000 men who had had two years' (B) Precise statements, by many authorities, com
experience of political affairs as members of the highest petent and incompetent, of army strengths. Thucydides
council of the state-the executive committee, as it were, and, to a less degree, Xenophon, and Polybius for a later
of Athens, who did all the day-to-day business of the age, are among the former; Herodotus, and expecially
city, who received foreign ambassadors, who worked Plutarch and Diodorus (whose value varies according
with the strategoi, the treasurers, and other officials, and to the authorities he is following) among the latter.
prepared the business for the ecclesia. What proportion But, in the first place, manuscript figures are peculiarly
was 6000 of the whole ?-or of that active part of the liable to corruption; and secondly, we can seldom be
citizen-body who attended the ecclesia and the law certain whether the figure given represents effective
courts? Clearly these crowded, jostling, mass-meetings, strength (those actually taking part in a campaign
which decided important political or judicial questions, given in round numbers), or estimated strength, the
did not consist only of the ignorant and the inexperienced strength, that is, of the classes called up, including
-the cuckoos who were easily gulled by a Pericles or therefore many who, through temporary absence or
a Cleophon. illness, through exemption in consequence of other duty,
All of these are highly interesting and important or by malingering, escaped service. (I do not propose
questions, which cry out for answers. It is true that to discuss the supposition of Beloch and others that the
no certain or exact answer can be given to anyone of figures represent paper-strength in the full sense of the
them, owing to the paucity and weakness of the evidence. word-that is, every one of the relevant ages living.
We have few direct statements on the matter, and many This paper strength was known, and easily ascertainable
even of these are exasperatingly disputable. But we by a historian, from the 1eaTaAoryoio f hoplites, and from
cannot simply ignore the whole problem: we must make the A7Jgiapxi1ea rypaµµaT€'ia kept by the demes. 2 But
what we can of the evidence at our disposal. The object since every hoplite served in the ranks as a fighting unit,
of this paper is an analysis of that evidence. Such an among the front-line troops, was, as we should say, on
analysis, systematically done, has already been attempted the "bayonet-strength" of the army, none in any
by Beloch, to whom all honour is due ; and no fresh auxiliary force, and moreover marched and fought in
evidence has come to light since he last wrote. But I 1 llow conv~ntional it became is seen from the 30,000 audience in
differ from him often in method and sometimes in result ; the t!1<•atrc of Dwnysus that held not more than 13,000, an audieucc
that mcluded women and children am! foreigners (Flato, Symp. 175 E),
and a new analysis is wanted. 2 an<l the3 0,000 average po-Jndat101o1f states in ?.fonander, Epitr. 653 fL.
u.ia~1 s all m_,-,nw, omen and children, citizen an<l foreign, slave and free.
1 ln ,vcstern European countlics the expectation of life of u man
of• 402 h~aasv aiignncracca'.ss< :dw forrokm, t2h6o ugtoh 30i t yceoanrtsa inws ithmina nyth ej ntlearset stihnaglf -cecnatlucuryla. - oSf1 np1re1"h la1Tr~hlyteo wnmc_ ictAthict htshe en asl 2s0oi,0n 0 w0P elaretoo ,f r eCPgis.s:.t-·eDrriectidma 1s. 1 2i nx xnvt.h e5i0r: clecrfn. ctsh ea n2d0, 00s0o cociutlidze nbst ·
tions, is so wantmg in system that his results arc mostly guesswork. countctl.
4 THE}POPULATION OF ATHENS TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION 5.
heavy armour, it is clear that between the ages of 20 need here only observe that Beloch's emendation, to
and 50 there must have been many men unfit for active read 6,000 for 16,000 in the reserve, involves two assump
service. In modern countries, in war-time, men between tions, (1) that when Thucydides says 13,000 hoplites
40 and 50 are not, normally, placed among the front-line invaded the Megarid in 431, he meant 8 or 9,000, and
troops, but in the auxiliary services (when called up at (2) that he either includes unfit men in the effective
all) ; and in antiquity-in Rome for example-men over strength or ignores them altogether, even in the reserve ;
40 were not normally called up for foreign service ; it or else that there were no men in Athens of 50 and under
was only because the population of Athens was too small (even after the pla~ue) who were not fit for active se~vice
for the fulfilment of her imperial ambitions, that so in the infantry. This remarkable result I refuse to believe;
exacting a call was made on her citizens. Whether the the more readily as it is only attained by the alteration
names of men permanently unfit were kept on the of a particularly well-attested reading.
,ca-ra"J\,oryoof;r not, we do not know ; but in any case there Thucydides' figures then, tell us that in 431 Athens
must have been a large discrepancy between the paper had 14-15,000 active troops of hoplite census or over
strength of the hoplite army (as defined above-the (13,000 infantry, rnoo cavalry, and the troops in frontier
total of men between 20 and 50) and the estimated or forts whose number is not given), and 16,000 in the re
the effective strength when a mobilization in full force serve, including the metic hoplites; and that 13,000
{1ravo7Jµ,el,1 ravu-rpantj) took place. If Beloch's con citizen infantry were in fact in the field later in the same
tention were true, none of the figures given us, even by year. The total of metics is not given (o ur first difficulty);
Thucydides, would be worth much more than the con but since 3000 of them took part in a small sector of the
ventional figures of Herodotus. But though there is active operations, with the citizen army, and they were,
indeed a certain conventionality about all ancient figures in all probability, not so thoroughly organized as the
of armies, quite apart from the use of round numbers citizens (this was their first campaign abroad, many of
-only : for example Thucydides often ignores all casualties them will have been but recently settled in Athens, and
-of a campaign except those actually recorded for a they were, technically, all in the reserve), we may
battlefield; yet this only means that we are not dealing assume that there were at least 2000 or 2500 more
with exact figures : in everything, even the least un unorganised, unfit and old---of hoplite census : say 5,500
certain element, a margin of error of at least 5 % either in all.1 This leaves us with about 14,500 citizens in the
way is understood; and that being so, we may go on active army and rn,500 (16,000 less 5,500) in the reserve
-our way.) -25,000 citizens of hoplite and cavalry rank between
the ages of 20 and 60.2 The active army consists of fit
r. Our most precise figures for the hoplite force, both
men between 20 and 50, the reserve of men of 18-19 .
.active and reserve, are those given by Thucydides (ii 13,
and 50-60, and of the unfit (all other men on the regis
6-9) for 431 B.c. These have indeed been disputed, and
ter). 3
emended by many scholars, including Beloch ; but I have
defended the MS. tradition at length elsewhere, 1 and 1 It is generally assumed that the 3000 wl10 took part in the Megara
campaign are the total number of meHcs of hoplite census between
1 C.Q. xxi (1927) 1,12-151. It has been conjectured as well (e.g. 20 and 50 (or even between 20 and 6o). This is both unnecessary and
by Cava:ignac) that the 16,000 reserve included some 8-10,000 cleruchs, improbable.
settled in different parts of the empire. But this view, besides being open 2 For the summary of all the figures, sec the table below, p. 26.
to most of the criticism brought against Beloch's emendation, is directly 3 Thucyclides calls all the reserve " the oldest and youngest," a
contradictory to Thucydides' words; who says that the 16,000 were loose expression. That he did not really suppose that the numbers of
available for defence of the walls of Athens and Piraeus. men of 18-19 and 50-6o were equal or nearly equal to those between
6 THE POPULATION OF ATHENS TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBITION 7
s
For the period before the Peloponnesian War we have c1·t .·1 zens o f 1 - 60 , o. f hoplite and cavalry census, in 425,
only Herodotus' statement (ix 28) that there were 8000 and s·1y 4000 met1cs. 1 .
Athenian hoplites at Plataea (when the thetes, and • The< siory in Lysias (xx 13)_a bo~t the well-~1eanm_g
doubtless also many of hoplite rank, were serving in the oli arch Polystratus perhaps 1m1_lhest hat_, thcr~ we1e
fleet), and that of Thucydides (i 107. 5) that the hoplites gl 000 citizens of this rank m 41r. lhat IS only
on Y 9, L · b t ·t ·
in the Athenian army at Tanagra numbered 14,000, of an ora t 01.• s sta' t»~1-11·c nt• and tha. t orator ·y sms ; u, . 1 1s
whom 1000 were Argives, and an indefinite number uot u· npos·.s i'IJlyi nc·o nsis·t en· t with the abov. e figure. I here
" other allies." had been further heavy and recent losses m war, the nu~-
ber of men reaching the age of 20 every year was strll
2. In the plague of the years 430-29 and 426-5 Athens greatly affected by the losses of the plague ; and n~mbers
lost more than one-quarter of her first-line troops (300 of men of hoplite census may have been mu~h 1e~luced
cavalry and 4,400 hoplites "from the regiments" by the impoverishment brought about, especially m the
o!
Thuc. iii 87) ; there were other losses in battle (which agricultural population, by the long ?'ears warfa~e.
would not all be made up by new recruits, for the losses It is, however, a very probable suggestion of l•erguson s,
in the plague among boys of 14-18 will have been that these 9000 are men over 30.2
equally severe) and by emigration, but not more than
1500 in all. This would leave less than n,500 first line 3, The years 4u-403 saw more impov~rishmcnt '\nd
troops, citizen and metic, out of the 17,500 (14,500 and heavy losses in battle and in the revolut10n (for ~vlu~h
3000 metics of 431) ; in fact, when Athens put forth our figures are not well attested) ; and the <leclme m
her full strength in 424 she could muster not more than the birth-rate due to the losses between 431 and 423 was
9,500-ro,ooo men.1 The plague had left many men further affecting the number of new recruits. Athens
enfeebled and disabled, and the proportion of the unfit made a remarkable and rapid recovery in material
among the men of military age must have been excep prosperity in the fourth century. She wa~ able to put
tionally large. On the basis of the figures of 431 B.C., 6000 hoplites and 600 cavalry m the field m ~94 (Xen
n,500 first-line troops would imply a total of c. 20,000 phon, Hell. iv 2. 17), and again in 368 and 362 m support
men between 18 and 60, of whom c. 4,000 will be metics: of Sparta (Diodorus, xv 68. 2, 84. 2). But 110,v thc_figurcs
a figures however which should be increased somewhat, are less nseful : Diodorus is not a good aut.honty (he
for though the plague must have been more often fatal gives 12,000 for the campaign of 369-xv 63.2-~vhere
to the old than to the young (as to Pericles, and not to Xenophon says only that the Athenians sent !he1r f?ll
Thucydides), yet the older men were not reduced in force) ; we do not know the proportion of met1cs (qu_1te
number by fighting and emigration. So some 16,500 possibly there were none ; they did not often se1~vew ~th
20 and 50 (as some have foolishly thought) is shown by v 64. 3, where the regular army abroad) ; nor how many_ hrst-lme
he estimaks the oldest and youngest of the Spartan army in the field troops were kept in Attica at a time when Bocotra, though
to be one-sixth of the whole. \Ve may perhaps compare also v 72. 4,
Twv 'Ap')'•i•w .,..,, -:rpf<T/3vT<puu, cal rriVT• ,\oxois ,:, v op. a <Tp . • v o, s (contrasted 1 Diodorus (xii 58. 1), that is, Ephorus, had slightly different
with o/ xl,\w, ,\oy&3•s just above). And certainly the "oldest and
figures for the losses from the plague, as ho l1a<l for the army-st~cn~~
youngest" Athenians who defeated the Corinthians in ·f.58 (Thuc. i
of 431 (cf. C.Q. 1927, pp. 143-4); hut they appear to he conveut1onal.
105. 4) were not exclusively men of 18-19 and .50-60. .
1 C.Q. 1927, p. 149 f. (there were troops elsewhere, besides those over .1000 .,.;;,., <TTpa.,.,.,.,..,.,, 400 cavalry, and of the rest, slave a_n~~ rec,
at Delion). Thucydides, in Thrace at the tii:tte of the battle, had 0~1ly more than ro ooo. There must have been far more than 10,000 1{ slaves
arc included.' even if males only arc considered. Thucydides says the
Bocotian ~ources for his figures for Delion (1v 90, 9,1): the i\themau
numbers dead of the rest were not counted.
hoplitcs were equal to the enemy, their irregular levies, light-armed
and unarmed, were considerably larger. a In Camb. Anc. Hist. V. 338.
8 THE POPULATION OF ATHENS TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION 9
not openly at war, was hostile and at war with the allies giving the number of the epheboi from each deme. (It
of Athens. But for 323-2 we are more fortunate : Dio is part of the irony of things that we have far more
dorus (xviii ro. 2, II. 3-now following a good source) says evidence of this kind for later centuries, from the third
that 5000 foot and 500 horse were sent out in the cam century down to Imperial times, when not only was
paign against Antipater of Macedon; these were men Athens of less importance, but the evidence is of no value
of 21-40 only, not 21-50, and from only seven of the for an enquiry into population, for only a small propor
ten Athenian regiments, the other three being kept at tion of those available was then recruited.) One such
home to guard Attica. This means about 7000 foot and list gives us about 45 names from Kekropis in 334 B.C.,
700 cavalry for the whole army up to 40; and there that is those who were entered as epheboi on reaching
would not be many men between 41-50 fit for active the age of 18 in that year; another gives us 63 names
service·, not more than a thousand ; a total of first line from Leontis in 327 or 326; a third about 33 names
troops therefore of about 8,500, giving, on the basis from Erechtheis in 305 (when there were 12 phylae). 1
of the figures for 43-...B.c.,s ome 14,500 hoplites of 18-60. If the phylae had each an equal number of hoplites, or
Or, by a different route, 7,700 men in the field implies if these phylae had an average number, we should have
at least 9,000 men living between 20 and 40 (allowing to assume 450 epheboi in all in 334, 630 in 327-6, c. 400
for the unfit and the exempt-trierarchs, office-holders in 305. We can believe that a reorganized institution
and others). On modern analogy of age-distribution,1 worked better in 327 than in 334 ; it is almost certain
this should mean 14,000-15,000 men between 18 and that in the confused years after 322 there was a fall in
60, of hoplite and cavalry census.2 population (particularly of the young and active who
would go off to Asia), and in all probability a decline
(C) The evidence of inscriptions. About 335 B.c. in efficiency and in enthusiasm. 2 It is possible as well
was carried the reform providing for a more thorough
on garrison duty of some kind, under Athenian officers. Thucydides' use
organisation and training for the recruits of 18 and 19 of oi v,C:,npo, for a particular class of soldiers not normally sent on ser
vice abroad points to a similar arrangement in the fifth century. (.Mlle.
years old, now perhaps for the first time officially styled
Brenot, pp. 5-7, has some remarkable ideas about the Athenian army
epheboi.3 We have a few, very few, official figures organisation, before 335-the soldiers got no training at all ; that is
why the Athenians early gave up the practice of carrying arms on all
1 See below, pp. 75 ff. occasions). That Thucydides could use 1r,pl..-ol\osi n a different sense
2 Diodorus implies that the whole force at Lamia consisted of (iv 67. 2, viii 92, 2), and that a 1rfpt1rol\apxos at the end of the tourth
citizen troops ; this may well be true ; but we cannot be certain that century was probably in command of mercenary troops (I.G. ii2 u93},
it did not include metics. proves nothing against taking Aeschines' words in their natural sense.
8 Sec A. Brenot, Recherchcs s14r l't!p/11!bia1tJti que. I cannot agree (In 352/1 B.c. the peripolarchos, with the strategos l1rl ·dw <t>v/1.a.,c¾,v
that the institution was first established in this year, as Mlle Brenot, and other officials, had the duty of guarding sacred lands-J.G. ii2,
following \Vilamowitz and others, believes. The language of Aeschincs, 20420; he may have commanded the citizen recruits.)
That there was a reorganisation in or about 335 is not denied ; the
ii 167 (l,c ,..• ., -yap ..-al3oivl urn,\,\c,i,,ls 1rtpi1rol\os., -;;sx wpa.s 'TO.vr'1)lS-y ,voµ.'1)1316 '
precise duties of the epheboi in each of their two years of service and
~,.,o..µ,,.,« 1,c·c ,r,lp .,,.-:o,.{,.r,r,.1l,l ,'1 uv1µ ~.i,v,\ 0-r~ovl ,s, ,<.T.,u.vP•<"t">'/'iK"/3.T",oc.,•u\a.)l• -roisl, sd elicpixsoivv-er,« st o-1g,eµt.hiielµvr. dpw-rivtph« sA 1rr«isp i· tdheef inreedla, tioannsdh, ipt o ojfu dthgee sftrroatmeg oPi lattoo, thReemp,. 5w3e7rAe -Bth,e nL epgrgo.b a7b5l5yc , b7e6ttoecr ,
totle's use of ,upnro,\iiv .,-¾,x.,w p«11( Const. At/1. 42. 4) as one of the duties
772A, the offices of kosmetes and sophronistes to the epheboi established.
of the epheboi, and references to the oath taken by them in the temple
of Aglaurus in Lycurgus, c. Leocr. 76 (vµ.i11- yo.p r,,..,.o,.p,, cos, &v l,µ.v6ou,n - 1 For a discussion of these inscriptions, especially the second, and
1rd11-roul ,ro.>..i'Tc,1, ,. ... aa.. ,Is TOl \'1)~1apx1,cb-yvp aµ.µ.a-riiovh ·-ypa<f>iilt,rc,a l (<f>.,,{Jo, a few other doubtful fragments, see below, Note B. It should however
,,,.,..,.,.,.aD,)e, rn. xix 303, and Plut. A lcib. 15. 4. Mlle. Brcnot argues that be stated here that most scholars believe the Lcontis epheboi to be
o-uv•</>'11i1n3 0A1 eschincs does not mean "fcllow-cpheboi," but only men those of both years (18 and 19), which would considerably affect the
of the same age, and that Aeschines was in some mercenary corps (of figures.
which we hear nothing from other sources of this period). But it matters 2 The population, in the census of Demetrius of Phaleron, was
nothing that o-uv•<f>'11i/s3 op, erhaps not a technical term. All we need to less by a third than the probable population of 322 (below, p. 18).
know is that Aeschincs and other Athenians of the age 18 and 19 served This suits the cphcboi-figure for 305 well enough, except that we would
IO THE POPULATION OF ATHENS TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION II
that Leontis was somewhat larger than Kekropis, 1 or are dealing with low figures where normal variation has
had a larger proportion of citizens of hoplite census. a disproportionate effect on the mean. But the figures
It would be unsafe to assume a yearly average of less we have are consistent enough with those of Diodorus;
than 500 recruits, or rather boys reaching their I8th and it is possible that the margin of error, one way or
year, for the period 334-323 ; the figure should probably the other, is not very wide. There is of course no pre
be a little higher. On modern analogy, 500 of the age tension to exactness : a possible error of 500 or even
of I8 would give c. I3,ooo hoplites between I8 and 60, I000 either way in a suggested total of I5,ooo is under
to which have to be added a small number, moo or so, stood.
for the cavalry, who were trained separately. This gives It must however be emphasized that this comparatively
a figure sufficiently near the estimate based on Diodorus' satisfactory result is attained by assuming that only
figures for the Lamian War to encourage us. Since men of the hoplite census were enrolled as epheboi (and
500 appears to fe the minimum number, I would prefer diaitetai). This is almost certainly right 1 ; but Aris
to put the figure of all those of hoplite and cavalry census totle, our chief authority for the details of the ephebeia,
of I8-6o at c. I5,ooo.2 .and writing just at this time, implies that all citizens
On the other hand, a complete list of diaitetai, men who were enrolled (Const. of Ath. c. 42) 2 just as he implies
;
served as arbitrators in their 60th year, for 325-4 B.C. that all citizens on reaching their 60th year were liable
(the only complete and only certain list we have 3) gives to service as arbitrators (c. 53). This would not greatly
us rn3 names. If this were all or nearly all the men of .affect the credibility of Diodorus' figures, for the army
60 in that year, it would mean not more than 7,000 men of 323 would include I2-I4 classes of men recruited
between I8-6o; this is obviously too low, and we must since the reform ; but the ephebic and arbitrators' lists
suppose a number of exemptions from service as arbi would give an impossibly small total for the whole citizen
trators, as likely as not because not more than a certain population; and in addition Athens still had a con
number was required; and therefore ignore this evidence siderable fleet, some 200 vessels, in which the citizens
in our calculations. -0f the poorest class (as well as metics and foreigners)
It is clear that we have nothing like enough evidence served-the fleet which was finally defeated at Amorgos
for the epheboi to give us confidence; we have not in 322. The thetes then did not actually form part of
enough that is to justify an average, especially as we the army of Lamia, and had probably not been trained
as hoplites ; and we must assume that Aristotle forgot
suppose a greater proportionate decline in the thetes than in the to state that they were excluded from the ranks of the
hoplite class.
1 Cf. below, p. 50. epheboi (and of the arbitrators) because such a fact was
2 In Greece in 1918-22, with a population of a little over 5,000,000, well-known and obvious to his readers 3 : an assumption
there was a yearly r"cruitmcnt of c. 35,000 (Tim,is, April 18, 1927; in itself unsatisfactory.
letter on the population of Turkey). On this basis a rccruitnwnt of
500 woul,l mean a population of 72-75,000 and a total of males of 18-6o If however it is correct, we have fairly consistent (and
of c. 19,000. Doubtless the hoplite population of ancient Athens was therefore, as they are drawn from many sources, credible)
healthier and more thoroughly recruited than the total population of
modern Greece. The Statesman's Yearbook for 1931 gives 60,000, with .figures for the hoplite population of Athens; from which
a population of over 6,000,000-doubtless a paper figure of those we conclude a rapid growth between 480 and 431
reaching the age of 18.
(Tarn, in Camb. Anc. Hist. vi. 442, and vii. 78-this latter for the
year 300 B.c.-, gives 800 as the annual recruitment. I do not know on 1 So Busolt, Beloch, Sundwall and others.
what evidence he bases this figure.) 2 So does Lycurgus, c. Leocr. 76 (see above, p. 8, n. 3).
• See below, Note B, p. 70. 3 Beloch, Gr. Gesch, 402.
I2 THE POPULATION OF ATHENS TOTAL FIGURES AND CLASS DISTRIBUTION I3
(whether due in the main to natural increase or to in -0£ the rowers were non-citizens in prosperous times cer
crease of prosperity by which large numbers of thetes tainly, as between 431 and 413 ; there was a larger pro
joined the hoplite ranks, we do not know), very severe portion of citizens between 4I3 and 405, and probably
losses (in the plague, in fighting and from impoverish in the fourth century than in the fifth (cf. Dern. ~lvii
ment) between 43I and 403, and a slower increase from and 1). But we cannot get even approximate figures.
that date to 323-2, perhaps chiefly due to a greater All we can say is that in the fifth century a considerable
prosperity. 1 We may perhaps connect with this reck number of rowers were citizens (Arist. Ach. I62, Equit.
oning the fact that marriage between Athenians and 551 ff.; Thuc. vi 31; cf. Ar. Pol. iv. 4. r, 1291 b1), many
foreigners was legal until 45I (how common, we do not were metics (Ps.-Xen. Resp. Ath. r. r2; Thuc. vii 63. 3),
lrnow) and the chjJdren of such marriages full citizens; a very few slaves (Ps.-Xen. r. 19 ; cf. Thuc. viii 73. 5
after 451 it was not recognized and the children were and i 55)-mostly the servants, probably, of the ship's
metics, the change, being due, according to Aristotle, -0fficers,-and a large number, probably the majority,
to the rapid growth of the population (Const. Ath. 26. 4) ; foreigners (generally from the subject allies in the days
the law was relaxed during the Peloponnesian War, but •Of the empire) attracted by Athenian rates of pay, till
re-enacted in all its rigour in 403-2 and remained there higher pay was offered by the enemy.2
after in force : only children both of whose parents were r. In the autumn of 428, when Athens was suffering
Athenian became citizens. severely from the plague, the Peloponnesians planned a
.sudden attack by sea on the Piraeus. Seventy Athenian
(D) These approximate figures, however, are of vessels were elsewhere, doubtless also some others, ten
citizens of the hoplite census only; we have no similar .at least, on routine duties ; but by enrolling citizen and
figures for the poorest class of citizens, the thetes. We metic hoplites, the Athenians were able to put to sea
know that their military duty was to serve as rowers (and with roo ships and make a demonstration sufficiently
probably also as epibatai) in the fleet; we know the imposing to discourage the enemy. It was only a de
numbers of ships at sea on various occasions, especially monstration; but even so, sufficiently remarkable, for
during the Peloponnesian war, and the size of the cr.ews. the hoplites could not have been trained oarsmen. 3
But metics and foreigners also served as rowers ; and we bers of voters was ascertainable from the deme-lists ; and the fleet was
do not know in what proportion. 2 A large number well-organised then, and tl1e names of those who served known ; of those
who fell recorded equally with the hoplites. It is because citizens,
metics and foreigners all served togetller as light-armed and in the fleet,
1 Beloch (Gesch., 402 f.) accounts for the increase in the field army
that Thucydides gives no fignres.
between 362 and 323 by supposing that after the reform of 337-5 all
epheboi from the Athenian colonies at Lemnos, Imbros, Scyros and 1 The passage from the Politics should be quoted for the sake of
Samos came to Athens for their training, as Epicurus did, and that the those who still believe that the masses in Greek states lived as minor
cleruch hoplites were called up for the Lamian campaign, and not for state officials: t~'I) -yiip ,r/1.e(..T, o;;.,., 111,µ.o,vc o.}T ii>vA ,-yoµiv"'" -yvo,plµ01vfo Tw,
Mantineia. This is only guessing. Epicurus at 18 may have wanted ofov ll/1µov µh ol -y,wp-yol, i!npov Ii~ TO 1r,pl T(IS TiXv";, 1171.>ll.~o TO a-yop"iov .,.1,
to come to Athens. 1rtpl &ivtiv~ "l ,rpiio-w ll,aTpiffov, 1171.>ll.fo TO1 r,pl ,.~,, Od.Ao..-uv, K<ilT ou.-ov TOµ ~v
• In the fourth century at least there was a ,ca.,.J.71.o-yoosf men liable ,ro}l.0µ11<0V,- 1, ll~ XP'l)µaTuT'Tl/CO,-V1, oi ,ropB1<••T<1<TO0V B ' i.ll.«VT<l<OV( , ro}l.}l.axov
to service as rowers (Dern. 50. 5, 16). How the thetes were enrolled -yi>.ipl <aO'T"'T OUTO1,Vro l\.uvo x,l,l.," ,o fov «ll.«<Sµ ~v ,,, Td.pav.-, 1<01! Bv(av.-[<p,T P•'IIP•i<lw
ionf stheaem feinft h asc ewnteulrly as iso fu nhkonpoliwtens ;: bTuhtu co.n ev iw. o2u6l.d 2 suspupgogsees tsf ro1m<a Todtlhl.eo-ry o, 'OTOElJ' A.9,.11J,x V•P7IlOl'lW)Tiµ,1 w1o<po,ucv, a0l1 .1,.1 ,µ ,,cpA/,.lv-y lx/vopv 1<oabl oX-il<a1p1,&1 roonp 8µµt1i 11<lo6, .vv. 1 T1t0vBllla'aI,J- )x,o ,,\rdp.(o,ws .I ll! T06-
expressions of Thucydidcs that no muster-roll was kcpt--.S l!ll.Aos 8µ,ll.os 2 Thuc. i 121, 143. 1-2 ; Xen. Hell. i 5. 4 ff., 20. See Ed. Meyer,
tj,171.woi,i 11b<> .l-yos of the Mcgarid campaign (ii 31. 2) ; ,j,,>.ol U i1< ,rapa· Wehrkraft 168 ff.
0'1<tvijs 1,h w,r>,,<Tµ<voo,l i..-. TOT• (424 B.C.) 1rap11<Taovli 'Tf i-ylvovTo .-fi 1roll.o' 3 Thuc. iii 16; cf. 3. 2, 7. 1, 13. 3. Note that even at this crisis
of1rtpl if {vH0'</30.l\.otvv T<s woll.l\.a,rl\.110-,0T1w v ivani01v (iv 94. I); and of the ,slaves were not called upon, proving not only that normally they did
los~es by tl1e plague, after precise figures for the cavalry and hoplite not serve, but also that unskilled men were enrolled as spn.ringly as
regiments, .-oii ai lll\.i\ov dµ(>.ova v•{•vp<Tos &p,9µos (iii 87). Yet the num- possible.
