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The 5th century BCE was a period of great development in Ancient Greece, and
specifically in Athens. The development of so many cultural achievements
within Athens and the Athenian Empire has led scholars to deem this period a
"Golden Age." It is true that his period had many achievements, but in the
light of the Athenians treatment of women, metics (non-Athenians living in
Athens), and slaves it is given to question whether or not the period can
truly be called "Golden."
The 5th century and the Athenian Empire gave birth to an amazing amount of
accomplishments. One such accomplishment was the minting of standard Athenian
coins that were used throughout the Athenian holdings as valid for trade. The
use of standard Athenian-minted coins helped the Athenians establish and
maintain control over their empire by helping to control trade and the economy
of the area to the Athenians' benefit.
Since Athens regularly received tribute from the states it controlled,
Pericles, the leader of Athens, began a building project in Athens that was
legendary. Athens had been sacked by the Persians during the Persian Wars and
Pericles set out to rebuild the city. The city's walls had already been
rebuilt right after the end of the second Persian War so Pericles rebuilt
temples, public grounds, and other impressive structures. One of the most
famous structures to result from Pericles' building project was the Parthenon.
The Parthenon and other such structures re- established Athens's glory and
while some Athenians criticized the projects as too lavish, most Athenians
enjoyed the benefits of the program. A major benefit to the Athenian people
was that there was an abundance of work in the polis.
The 5th century BCE was also an important time for Athenian thought.
"Sophists," paid teachers, taught rhetoric amongst other subjects to wealthy
Athenian citizens. The Sophists were criticized by Athenians who thought that
Sophists were destroying Greek tradition by emphasizing rationalism over a
belief in superstition, however it was this rationalism that became so
important to Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, both who belonged
to the 5th century BCE. The Sophists high regard for rhetoric was later of
great use to citizen addressing the Assembly in the developing Athenian
democracy.
Athenian democracy is perhaps considered the crowning achievement of the 5th
century BCE. Democracy grew out of the status that poorer Athenians were
gaining as rowers for the ships of the large Athenian fleet. Since these
poorer Athenians now played a large part in the Athenian military, they
ga8ined more say in the Athenian government. This led to a democratic
government where "every male citizen over 18 years was eligible to attend and
vote in the Assembly, which made all the important decisions of Athens in the
5th century BC_" (Demand 223). This democratic government is considered by
some scholars to show the full enlightenment of the Athenians in the 5th
century BCE.
This glorious enlightenment seems somehow less enlightening, however, when one
views this period from other than a male Athenian's eyes. Athenian
enlightenment and democracy was by and for male citizens. The underprivileged
of Athens included women, metics and slaves. The position of Athenian wives in
Athenian society is clearly stated by Xenephon in his Oeconomicus. Ischomacus,
a young husband, is conversing with Socrates about the duties of husband and
wife. Ischomacus relates how he explained to his wife that the duties needed
to support a household consisted of "indoor" and "outdoor" activities. He then
explains to his wife, "And since labor and diligence are required both indoors
and outdoors_it seems to me that the god prepared the woman's nature
especially for indoor jobs and cares and the man's nature for outdoor jobs and
concerns." (Spyridakis 206). This is the general attitude that Athenians held
toward their wives. The Athenian wife was expected to marry and bring a dowry
into her husband's house. Although this dowry was attached to the woman, she
was in no way allowed to control the lands and moneys she might bring to her
husband.. Similarly, women were not allowed to vote or take any part in the
Assembly, being seen as unfit for this privilege. The primary function of a
citizen's wife was to take care of domestic affairs and provide the citizen
with an heir. Athenian wives were rarely seen outside of their houses, for
respectable wives had at least one slave who would purchase needed items at
market. Poorer Athenian women were seen at market because they lacked slaves
to run their errands. Women were considered intellectual non-entities and were
treated as such in the Athenian Empire.
Metics also had a low status in Athenian society. Metics were not allowed
voting privileges in the Athenian democracy, but were compulsed to serve a
specified time in the Athenian military and were taxed by the Athenians.
Metics usually were lower-class tradesmen or craftsmen. Although some metics
families eventually gained wealth, the vast majority of the metics remained
second-class inhabitants of Athens, even though they performed some of the
polis' most activities, such as military service and trade.
Slavery was also matter-of-fact in 5th century Athenian life. Slaves were the
property of specific owners and subject to the wishes of their owners. Like
women and metics, slaves had no citizenship rights. It was possible for a
slave to save enough money to buy his freedom, but a freed slave had only as
much status as a metic. Aristotle defended slavery as necessary and a law of
nature, saying in his Politics, "That some should rule and others should be
ruled is not only necessary but expedient; indeed, from the very moment of
birth some are set apart to obey and others to command." (Spyridakis 62) and
also stating that, "He is by nature a slave who is capable of belonging to
another (and therefore does belong to another) and who has access to reason in
that he senses it and understands it but does not possess it." (Spyridakis
63). Many Athenians viewed slavery as necessary to society in order to give a
citizen more time to participate in government affairs and other matters that
were viewed as more important than a slave's work. Although some lower-class
Athenians may have been forced to share labor with slaves, most Athenians did
not participate in slave's work. Male slaves did harder labor such as
construction and agriculture. Female slaves ran their mistress' errands and
generally took care of domestic affairs under the watchful eye of their
mistress. Slaves also acted as State scribes. In short, slaves did much of the
work that allowed Athens to prosper in a period of "enlightenment."
In light of the unrecognized people who helped to build the foundations for
the Athenian Empire, this "Golden Age" seem far less golden. However, many
major accomplishments grew out of this period as well. Before one can or
cannot place a "Golden Age" label on 5th century Athens, one must consider
other times when the ends of man's accomplishments may not have justified the
means. Athens could be compared to post- Revolutionary America, where a
"democratic" government was only available to white male citizens. Yet
Americans tend to view this time with much patriotism and pride. Likewise the
Industrial Revolution is said to be a great accomplishment of mankind, but
little recognition is given to the horrible factory conditions that employees,
many women and children, endured. I would say that the 5th century BCE was as
much a "Golden Age" for man as either of the above mentioned time periods. I
think that most of our accomplishments as humans rest on the shoulders of
invisible and overlooked peoples.
History Essays
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