Latest / The History of Greece: Philosophy, Empire, and Endless Reinvention — Fexingo History / Pericles' Citizenship Law: When Athens Closed Its Doors
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Athenian democracy — Cleisthenes, the reforms, the assemblies. But there's a law that's less famous, yet it changed the entire character of Athens. I'm talking about Pericles' citizenship law of 451 BCE. Luna: I think I've heard of that — the one that said you had to have two Athenian parents? Lucas: Exactly. Before that, citizenship in Athens was a bit more fluid. If you were a free man, and you performed some service to the city, you could be granted citizenship. The tyrant Peisistratus, for instance, gave citizenship to lots of foreigners who helped him. Even as late as the 460s, Cimon, Pericles' rival, was pretty generous with grants. Lucas: But Pericles changed all that. In 451, he pushed through a law that said: from now on, to be an Athenian citizen, you needed both a mother and a father who were Athenians. Not just the father — both parents. That was a radical shift. Luna: Wait, so what about people who were already citizens but had one non-Athenian parent? Did they lose their status? Lucas: Good question. The law was not retroactive — it applied to those born after the law was passed. So if you were already a citizen, you kept your status. But your children, if you married a foreigner, would not be citizens. And that had huge implications. Lucas: Think about the political context. Athens was at its peak — the Delian League was turning into an empire, and there were lots of foreigners living in Athens, contributing to the economy, serving in the navy. The metics — the resident aliens — were a huge part of Athenian life. Pericles' law drew a hard line between them and the citizens. Luna: Why did he do it? Was it about keeping power in the hands of a select few? Lucas: Partly. Pericles was from the Alcmaeonid family, and he had political rivals who were building support among the poorer citizens and the metics. By restricting citizenship, he made the citizen body smaller and more exclusive — which meant each citizen's vote mattered more, and the democratic assembly became a more elite club. But there was also a sense of defining Athenian identity against the Persian threat. Lucas: You know, the historian Aristotle later wrote about this law. He said it was passed because the number of citizens had grown too large, and they wanted to control the distribution of grain. That might be part of it, but it's probably not the whole story. Luna: So what happened to people like Aspasia? She was from Miletus, and she was Pericles' partner. Their son — he couldn't be a citizen, right? Lucas: That's the irony. Pericles himself had a son, also named Pericles, with Aspasia. Under his own law, that son was a nothos — a bastard — and not a citizen. But later, during the plague that killed Pericles and many others, the law was relaxed. Pericles the younger was granted citizenship, and he even became a general later on. Lucas: The law had a lasting impact. It made Athenian citizenship a closed club — you had to be born into it. That was very different from, say, Rome, which eventually extended citizenship to conquered peoples. Athens remained fiercely exclusive. Luna: It sounds like it also affected women's status. If a woman had a foreign mother, she couldn't be a citizen, and that meant she couldn't marry a citizen — or at least her children wouldn't be citizens. Lucas: Exactly. The law made women's lineage crucial. It elevated the importance of Athenian mothers, but it also restricted the pool of marriageable partners. And it meant that Athenian men who wanted to marry for love or political alliance with a foreign woman had to weigh the consequences for their children. Lucas: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture that keeps the show going, and it's deeply appreciated. Luna: Yeah, it's because of listeners like that we can dive into these obscure but fascinating details. Lucas: So, back to the law. It's interesting to see how it played out during the Peloponnesian War. There was a famous case where a man named Aristophanes — no, not the playwright, but a citizen — challenged someone's citizenship because his mother was supposedly a foreigner. The courts got involved. Luna: That sounds like a witch hunt. Lucas: It could be. The law gave a tool for political attacks. If you could prove someone's mother was not Athenian, you could strip them of citizenship. That must have created a lot of anxiety. And it also meant that the city kept close records of births and marriages — we have surviving inscriptions listing citizens by deme. Lucas: The law was revived after the Peloponnesian War, and it remained in force for decades. It wasn't until the rise of Macedon that it started to break down. Under pressure, Athens occasionally granted citizenship to foreigners who helped them, like the Plataeans after the siege of Plataea. Luna: So it was a flexible rule when needed. Lucas: Absolutely. But the principle of double descent — that both parents had to be citizens — became a hallmark of Athenian identity. It's a reminder that democracy and exclusivity often went hand in hand in ancient Greece. The demos, the people, was a very narrowly defined group. Lucas: And it had consequences for the empire. Athens' allies, who contributed tribute and fought alongside Athenians, could never become citizens. That bred resentment. It's one of the reasons the allies revolted — they saw themselves as subjects, not partners. Luna: So in a way, the law helped create the conditions for the Peloponnesian War. Lucas: I think that's a fair argument. By making citizenship exclusive, Athens alienated its allies and made empire feel more like exploitation. The Melian Dialogue we covered earlier — that's the logical extreme of that mindset: we're Athenians, you're not, so we can do what we want. Lucas: There's a personal dimension too. Pericles' own family was affected. His legitimate sons from his first wife died in the plague, leaving only the son by Aspasia. So the law was bent for him. But for ordinary Athenians, it was rigid. Luna: It's a fascinating window into how societies define belonging. Lucas: Exactly. And it's something we still grapple with today. Who gets to be a citizen? What does it mean? The Athenians gave one answer — a very specific, blood-based answer — but they also showed that laws can be bent when needed.