The Sale of Citizenship in the Cities of Hellenistic Achaia
This publication contains a translation into Russian (with a commentary) of two inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century B. C. Ε., from Dyme and Tritaia, the cities of Achaia [Rizakis 2008, p. 44-49, no 3; p. 134-137, no 94]. Both documents represent fragments from the resolutions of local authorities, probably the people's assembly, and regulate the procedure for granting civil rights in both cities in exchange for the payment of a certain amount of money by one or another person. The buyers of citizenship were, apparently, free, but restricted in rights local residents, similar in status to Athenian metics. Their descendants also became citizens. There were certain requirements for candidates, in particular, the would-be citizens had to be adult and freeborn persons. The inscription from Dyme also allows the granting of citizenship to widows. Acquirers of citizenship were distributed to phylai and became legally equal to the native citizens of both cities. The sale of citizenship in the Hellenistic age was a new phenomenon that reflected the new quality of the «openness» of Greek poleis. Similar facts are known in a number of cities of the Hellenistic world, but it is the inscriptions from Achaia that make it possible to trace in detail the very procedure of paid naturalization during this period.