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AGE CLASS SOCIETIES (Sexuality and Gender Module).

AGE CLASSES

A construct that was relied upon by the whole of Athenian Society. It was also a big factor in making possible the same-sex eros system.

Despite not knowing specific ages and birthdays, every single male citizen would have been distinguished by the age class he was put in once he had come of age. The system is somewhat like the year groups we have in our schools.

In Athens setting occurred around the age of 18 years old but it was based more on how old the person looked than their actual age; firstly they would be judged in their parish (or deme). It was up to the deme to then put a boy forward for judgement by the council (or polis) led by an archon. The archon would make the final decision on whether the boy was the right age to be put into his age class. If a deme put a boy forward too early, they would be fined.

Each age class/year group would have had an associated hero. Once you had been designated your hero you kept it with you from the age of 18 to about 60. Once you turned 60, that hero would be designated to the next group of 18 year olds. There were thought to be around 42 heroes on constant cycle. This information has been taken from Ath.Pol. This text was probably written by a student of Aristotle.

Age classes can be broadly viewed like this: - Full grown bearded male (erastes)

- Full grown beardless male (ephebe)

- Half grown beardless male (eromanos)

AGE GRADES

There were different stages that a male would work towards in terms of age progression, including the first step of changing from boy to man. If a male was considered to look under 18 by the deme and archon, he would go back to being a boy.

Once a male was no longer a boy, he was an andron, but there were still stages of being an andron:

The first age grade once a boy became an andron was for neaniskoi or meirakia, 18 to 19 year olds. These men could attend the assembly but they were expected to keep quiet. They could train as a solider but could not go on any foreign expeditions. They could not serve on a jury. They were often considered a 'danger' in that they were considered the most likely age to get drunk or commit adultery because they would be nearer the age of the wives. Lysias' speech describes Eratosthenes as 'neaniskos'. There was a hero called Neaniskos and we still have pictures of him; he is fully grown but without a beard and so was probably quite close in age to the meirakia and neaniskoi age grade.

20 to 29 year old men would be known as neoi. Treated much the same as the neaniskoi in terms of what they were and weren't allowed to do ie. couldn't serve on a jury.

30+ men would be known as presbutai. This was the age grade when you could finally take a full part in society. You were allowed to serve on a jury, fight in battles abroad, speak at the assembly etc.

Aristophanes' Wasps is a good thing to think about because the 'Wasps' (old men led by Procleon) considered themselves far more able to run the state successfully while the younger men led by Anticleon considered themselves far more in touch with modern Athenian democracy and affairs.

We know that there was actually a civil war between two age grades in Athens in which the young men took control of the State for a short time.

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