Abstract
Citizenship has two components: membership of the group of citizens (the citizen body) and the rights, duties, and obligations the citizens have towards the community and the state. Each of these components, as well as the connection between them, is shaped by formal rules (laws) and informal conventions and values. In classical Greece membership of the citizen body formally depended on descent, while the community as such consisted in their shared heritage (ta patroia), the total of their material and immaterial goods, founded on the common cult of the gods. In classical Athens, this communal religious foundation was called ta hiera kai ta hosia, all the gifts to the gods and all obligations of humans towards each other and towards the gods that were pleasing to the gods. In my contribution to the seminar I will clarify this element of Greek citizenship in more detail and discuss some of the critical responses by colleagues to my viewpoints.
