A New Interpretation of Slaves’ Isēgoria

Abstract

The precise meaning of isēgoria within an Athenian context is disputed. The traditional account is that it refers to the right to speak in the assembly, yet slaves and metics are also said to have isēgoria. This article offers the interpretation that the -ēgoria element refers not to speech as such but to general activity in the agora: slaves doing business, either independently—paying a fee to their owner—or as their owners’ business agents. The isēgoria is therefore, in a sense, that of the owners.