zeugitai

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: members of the third of the four property classes in Solonian Athens, below the hippeis and above the thetes

   The zeugitai could equip themselves as hoplites and later became eligible for the archonship.

A direct transliteration of Ancient Greek zeugitai, the plural of zeugites, from zeugos, 'yoke' or 'pair.' The name may have referred to men wealthy enough to own a yoke of oxen or to hoplites joined in a battle line. It became the title of the third property class in the constitution attributed to Solon.

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