Equality and Inequality

Abstract

This chapter examines land ownership and average farm sizes in Athens, noting the low levels of inequality in resource ownership, while highlighting the small differentials between “rich” and “poor” which are contrasted with the vast disparities in wealth typical of contemporary capitalist societies. It then surveys the three major taxes—the eisphora, the trierarchia, and the funding of religious and cultural festivals—which were paid for almost exclusively by the richest men. The chapter ends by noting that women and slaves were both excluded from citizenship, but concludes that, despite its failure to achieve “the true realization of the democratic ideal” (Marilyn Arthur), Athens still has much to tell us about how to create and extend democracy.