Question

Who would be considered a citizen in ancient Athens?

any adult who had not been exiled from the city
a man who had been born in Athens to immigrants
an adult who had been born to citizens
any person born in the city to citizens of Athens

Answer 1

Not everyone in Athens was considered a citizen. Only free, adult men enjoyed the rights and responsibility of citizenship. Only about 20 percent of the population of Athens were citizens. Women were not citizens and therefore could not vote or have any say in the political process.

Answer 2

The ones who could be considered citizens in ancient Athens were any person born in the city to citizens of Athens.

• This was not it though as not everyone amongst the born population was considered a citizen. Back in ancient Athens, only the men who were freed enjoyed a certain amount of rights and had the responsibility of citizenship and were the only citizens of Athens.
• On the other hand, women, children, immigrants and slaves were not considered a part of Athens. This limited women from not having the right to vote or a say in the processes. Their lives were miserable as they were not permitted to go out of their house in public. They were limited to their own house only.
• The slaves were not given any heed and no efforts were made to improve their living conditions and even the immigrants were not given any say or part in the political process.
• This had made the total number of citizens out of the population to around less than 20% only as most of them were not considered citizens and were just mere population. This meant it was a male-dominated and class-prevalent society where gender discrimination prevailed wherein women had no say and only free men enjoyed their rights.

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