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Papers by Matthew Kears

Talks by Matthew Kears

The naturalised Athenian Apollodorus, son of the freedman banker Pasion, has attracted considerab... more The naturalised Athenian Apollodorus, son of the freedman banker Pasion, has attracted considerable scholarly attention, most recently in Marloes Deene’s 2011 article on naturalised citizens and social mobility (G&R 58.2, 159-75). The standard interpretation is that his speeches show him attempting to be ‘more Athenian than the Athenians’, as Jeremy Trevett put it in his book Apollodoros the Son of Pasion, as a result of anxiety about his own status. In this paper, I argue that this is an oversimplification, and that in fact Apollodorus carefully positions himself in his speeches as an outsider, ensuring that he does not claim to be more than a citizen in name only. The courtroom setting obliged him to present himself in a light that would appeal to the jurors, and to this end he performs the role of a grateful recipient of an honour who remains at a lower level than the ‘citizens by birth’ (genei politai) who make up his audience. When he attacks the former slave Phormion, he does so on the basis of a master-slave division in which he is allied with what he characterises as the class position and interests of the citizens, while making it clear that he is still not part of the real citizen group. In this way, he deals with his own problematic and contradictory identity as a naturalised citizen through a performance, which is intended to reassure the jurors that he is not a threat to the citizen/non-citizen divide, which underpinned their own Athenian identities.

A key element in the construction and affirmation of citizen identity in democratic Athens was th... more A key element in the construction and affirmation of citizen identity in democratic Athens was the maintenance of social, legal and ideological boundaries between citizens and foreigners. These boundaries were not, however, impermeable. One obvious way in which they could be crossed was through the naturalisation of non-citizens. This paper, however, will focus on how the Athenians dealt with movement in the other direction, and examine the cases of Athenians who lost or apparently chose to compromise their Athenian identity.

The evidence I draw on comes from forensic oratory, and can thus be understood as individual attempts to appeal to the ideology and values of a jury of ordinary Athenian men in order to win their sympathy and persuade them of a case. This enables us to see the prejudices, assumptions and fears of Athenians. In the cases I examine the Athenians were faced with individuals who had in some sense failed to live up to the citizen ideal; one set of cases concerns citizens who chose to emigrate and take on the status of metics in other poleis, and the other those who were legally disfranchised, losing their citizen status. Through exploring them we can see the tension between identity as a constructed ideal and the prosaic and imperfect reality which intruded upon it. The paper will first demonstrate how speakers in court cases questioned and marginalised the ‘Athenian-ness’ of these individuals, and then how a disfranchised Athenian citizen could manipulate ideas of identity with the aim of winning his case and regaining his citizenship. This naturally raises questions over what identity is for, how it can be manipulated, and how it is reconciled with a reality that can appear to contradict it. During the conference these questions will hopefully be raised in papers concerning other periods and identities, and the Athenian example will be a valuable contribution to the debate.

Citizenship in democratic (fourth- and fifth-century BC) Athens was closely bound up with ideas o... more Citizenship in democratic (fourth- and fifth-century BC) Athens was closely bound up with ideas of gender, and masculinity in particular. When addressing the democratic assembly or law courts, for example, speakers would refer to their citizen audience as andres Athênaioi (‘men of Athens’) or andres dikastai (‘men of the jury’), and on the rare occasions when they granted citizenship to a foreigner they insisted that the recipient had shown andragathia (‘manly virtue’) towards the Athenian people. Participation in the democracy and its institutions was likewise seen as an essential part of a man’s andreia (‘manliness’), in contrast to the seclusion and anonymity that were the ideal qualities of a woman, according to our male-written sources.

In this paper I examine how free non-citizens of both sexes were excluded from ways of asserting gender identities and conforming to gender roles through the restrictions and responsibilities which were placed on them. Even when the practical impact of these restrictions was small, they had significant ideological meaning. Non-citizen men were compelled to acknowledge publicly their inferior and dependent status, for example through paying a special poll tax, and seem to have responded by stressing their own positive ethnic identities. Non-citizen women were excluded from religious activities and could be subject to the same poll tax as men; they were thus removed from the ‘feminine’ sphere of female cult activity and placed in the ‘masculine’ public arena. Marriage between a citizen and a non-citizen was forbidden, putting any relationship between them on an informal level which denied them the respect and acknowledgement they would traditionally have been accorded. These legal restrictions may, however, have had the ironic effect of freeing non-citizens from some of the limitations of gender roles, enabling them to subvert or avoid social expectations to conform for their own advantage.

My research focuses on free non-citizens living in democratic Athens. Known as metoikoi (angliciz... more My research focuses on free non-citizens living in democratic Athens. Known as metoikoi (anglicized as ‘metics’), they were a disparate group made up of immigrants, former slaves, and those who were descended from them. I am looking at how and why the Athenians dealt with them on practical and ideological levels. In this paper I examine one way in which the citizens established and maintained a status boundary between themselves and the metics – the metoikion, a poll tax which metics had to pay. I describe how it was collected, the penalties exacted from those who failed to pay, its likely practical impact on individuals, the financial contribution which it made to the Athenian treasury, and its meaning as a symbol and reminder of the metics’ inferior status. This will be illustrated by examples from Athenian legal speeches, references in the works of later lexicographers, and inscriptions erected by both citizens and metics. Drawing on modern theories of social identity, I will demonstrate why it was an especially important status marker and interpret the methods which metics used to escape its stigma.

PhD Thesis by Matthew Kears

This thesis investigates the metics, or resident aliens, in democratic Athens and how they affec... more This thesis investigates the metics, or resident aliens, in democratic Athens and how they
affected ideas of identity, with a particular focus on the fourth century BC. It looks at
definitions of the metics and how the restrictions and obligations which marked their status
operated; how these affected their lives and their image, in their own eyes and those of the
Athenians; how the Athenians erected and maintained a boundary of status and identity
between themselves and the metics, in theory and in practice; and how individuals who
crossed this boundary could present themselves and be characterised, especially in the public
context of the lawcourts.
The argument is that the metics served as a contradiction of and challenge to Athenian ideas
about who they were and what made them different from others. This challenge was met with
responses which demonstrate the flexibility of identity in Athens, and its capacity for variety,
reinvention and contradiction.