The Greek economy was the result of the combination of slaves, citizens and metics. The Metic, however, was the driving and most important force of the Greek economy. The slave was used only when deemed appropriate. The citizen considered work inferior to the dignity of the free man. He left to others the labors that he did not want to do himself. First of all, it should be noted that among the Greeks any prejudice against manual labor had a relatively late origin. Certainly, in Homeric times, working with one's hands was not a disgrace. I am reminded of the skill of Odysseus, who was a powerful worker and built his own house and even his own bed. (Hom. Od.13, 31-34) There was no prejudice against manual labor even at the time of Solon, who decreed that a father had to ensure that his son learned a trade. (Plut. Solon, 22) To what then should we attribute the prejudice against manual labor in the latter part of the fifth and throughout the fourth century BC? Before continuing, it should be noted that most of our evidence of Greek civilization comes from literary works. Most of which come from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle. Although they cover all aspects of the Greek world, they focus more on political, military and diplomatic history, particularly that of Athens. This gives us a distorted and prejudiced view of both the author's views and those of Athenian society. Therefore, any evidence must be treated with caution, and while we cannot say with absolute certainty that what they say is true, by comparing multiple works we are able to draw valid and reasonable conclusions. He was born after the Persian Wars. , when the “Marathon Men” were glorified, and the life of the sold...... middle of paper...... part of the citizens is easy to find. Since the Metecs were granted no political rights, there was nothing to fear from them and everything to gain from having them as numerous and rich as possible, as a convenient source of income with which the citizen's life was easy and pleasant. It is naive to generalize this; “Greek civilization itself was based on and made possible by slavery.” I recognize the number of slaves, if anything preventing the creation of a union due to the prevalence of slave labor is equivalent to the number of slaves. But as I have shown, the Greek economy did not depend on them. They were an important factor, especially in low-skilled industries, but were by no means the main feature of the Greek economy. If anything, the Greek economy depended on the existence, exercise, and influence of metic trade.