MĔTOICI

( μέτοικοι ), the name by which, at Athens and in other Greek states, the resident aliens were designated. They must be distinguished from such strangers as made only a transitory stay in a place, for it was a characteristic of a metoicus , that he resided permanently in the city. No city of Greece perhaps had such a number of resident aliens as Athens, since none afforded to strangers so many facilities for carrying on mercantile busine , or a more agreeable mode of living. In the census instituted by Demetrius Phalereus ( B.C. 309), the number of resident aliens at Athens was 10,000, in which number women and children were probably not included. The jealousy with which the citizens of the ancient Greek republics kept their body clear of intruders, is also manifest in their regulations concerning aliens. However long they might have resided in Athens, they were always regarded as strangers, whence they are sometimes called ξένοι , and to remind them of their position, they had on some occasions to perform certain degrading services for the A then i an citizens [ Hydria pho ria ]. These services were, however, in all probability not intended to hurt the feelings of the aliens, but were simply acts symbolical of their relation to the citizens. Aliens were not allowed to acquire landed property in the state they had chosen for their residence, and were consequently obliged to live in hired houses or apartments. As they did not constitute a part of the state, and were yet in constant intercourse and commerce with its members, every alien was obliged to select a citizen for his patron ( προστάτης ), who was not only the mediator between them and the state, through whom alone they could transact any legal busine , whether private or public, but was at the same time answerable ( ἐγγυητής ) to the state for the conduct of his client. On the other hand, however, the state allowed the aliens to carry on all kinds of industry and commerce under the protection of the law; in fact, at Athens nearly all busine was in the hands of aliens, who on this account lived for the most part in the Peiraeeus. Each family of aliens, whether they availed themselves of the privilege of carrying on any mercantile busine or not, had to pay an annual tax ( μετοίκιον or ξενικά ) of twelve drachmae, or if the head of the family was a widow, of only six drachmae. If aliens did not pay this tax, or if they a umed the right of citizens, and probably also in case they refused to select a patron, they not only forfeited the protection of the state, but were sold as slaves. Extraordinary taxes and liturgies ( εἰσφοραί and λειτουργίαι ) devolved upon aliens no le than upon citizens. The aliens were also obliged, like citizens, to serve in the regular armies and in the fleet, both abroad and at home, for the defence of the city. Those aliens who were exempt from the burthens peculiar to their cla were called isoteles ( ἰσοτελεῖς ). They had not to pay the μετοίκιον ( ἀτέλια μετοικίου ), were not obliged to choose a προστάτης , and in fact enjoyed all the rights of citizens, except those of a political nature. Their condition was termed ἰσοτέλεια and ἰσοπολιτεία .