race and citizen identity in the classical athenian democracy examines how social actors identified as citizens during the fifth and fourth centuries bce. From the mid fifth century onward, citizens increasingly appealed to a language of birth and ancestry to develop narratives about who they were as citizens. Citizens assumed that having the right birth and ancestry not only qualified them for citizenship but also endowed them with capacities and characteristics associated with citizenship, including an inherited love for democracy. In this study, I argue that these narratives articulate a vision of racial citizenship.

Since there is no current consensus on the issue of whether the concepts of race and/or racialism can be used to analyze ancient identities, I thought it might be helpful to clarify why I am using the term “racial” and what I mean by it. In this study, the term “racial” describes one component or narrative of citizen identity (citizen identity was composed of several narratives). I treat this narrative, racial citizenship, as a form of social identity, and investigate the causes and conditions that encouraged the Athenians to formulate and embrace it as well as the way this narrative worked in practice. The study is roughly divided between an examination of why and how racial citizenship emerged and an investigation of its consequences for citizenship practices, historiography, and policy decisions (inter alia). What must be stressed is that nothing in this project hangs on the use of the term “racial” per se.