Los Thetes Y la flota ateniense en el s.V¿Una cuestión retórica?

Abstract

There is a long tradition that sees the Athenian citizens of the lowest census class in classical Athens (the thetikon class) as the bulk of the rowers of the Athenian fleet, which for some who consider military aspects as factors for political change, has clear implications in the emergence of radical democracy. There are two issues, however, that have been criticized more recently: first, the real incidence of the thetes as rowers in the fleet along with the consideration of the participation of allies, foreigner residents in Athens (metics) and slaves in the fleet; secondly, the hypothesis that the relationship of the fleet with the demos (and specifically, the poorest among the people: the thetes) is a rhetorical construction, without a real base. In this paper I address both questions through the analysis of the classical sources, and specially through the population estimates of the thetikon class. I try to show the high incidence of thetes, and specially of the young people among them, in the composition of the fleet until the Peloponnesian war which significantly altered recruitment in ships (especially from the expedition to Sicily). The conclusions I reach reinforce the idea of a real link between the lower classes of Athens and the fleet in the fifth century and the importance of naval developments for the constructions of the social identity of the Athenian demos in the framework of the imperialist democracy in fifth century Athens.