What was society like in Athens?

Answer 1

Although Athens has been called the 'birthpace of democracy', a phrase first coined by 19th-century poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the reality was that Athens always was an oligarchy, a city-State run by a small group of powerful families. Occasionally the freeborn men of Athens were collected to vote yes or no to proposals of war or peace or to the appointment of a general to lead a war. But that was mostly a way of getting popular support for a war in which these citizens had to volunteer as soldiers and sailors. Athens never had democratic institutions, nor elected officials with any form of real power.

So the top layer of society consisted of these all-powerful families. Then came the families that were doing well in trading and shipping, then the artisans and shop keepers and then everyone else. But although there was no democracy, there was freedom of expression, and the class of philosophers and mathematicians was highly regarded and free to think, speak and write and their schools were very much sought-after by the best families for the education of their children.

Women in Athens were seen as mere posessions, first of their fathers and then of their husbands. They had no rights at all and were usually kept cooped up in their father's/husband's womens' quarters.

Slavery was a standard fixture of Athens society. Most slaves were bought from other countries around the Mediterranean. They worked the fields, did the household jobs and worked in the workshops.