ABSTRACT
Athens’ achievement of social peace may be played down for a further reason. The internal conflict which most threatened Greek communities was one between rich and poor, and many scholars of recent times have found analysis in those terms uncongenial, probably because it recalls modern social tensions. The rich in reality had great power in Athens. On the size of the adult male citizen population of Athens, and on the distribution of wealth within the citizen body, our information is imprecise and unsatisfactory, but it does in some respects give a roughly consistent picture. During the oligarchic revolution of 411 it was decided to restrict full rights of citizenship to those who could afford hoplite equipment. The tragedian Euripides has the character Theseus condemn as subversive both the very rich and the very poor, the rich as useless and greedy for more, the poor as enviously provoking the rich.
