Editing Plataea (section)

== Athenian citizenship ==
There are several references to a special relationship between Plataeans and Athenians, though the exact nature of it is disputed by scholars. [[Thucydides]] had the Thebans say in a speech: "It was in defense against us, say you, that you became allies and citizens (''politai'') of Athens."<ref>Thucydides, iii.63.2</ref>  Diodorus Siculus, in describing a later event, says: "The Plataeans with their wives and children, having fled to Athens, received equality of civic rights (''isopoliteia'') as a mark of favour from the Athenian people".<ref>Diodorus, xv.46.6.</ref> [[Aristophanes]], in his ''Frogs'' (693-4) has the Chorus opine, "For it is disgraceful for men who have fought one battle by sea to become Plataeans straightway and masters instead of slaves". A scholiast to this passage appended this: "[[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]] says that the slaves who joined in the sea battle were given their freedom and were enrolled as joint-citizens (''sympoliteysasthai'') with the Athenians on the same terms as the Plataeans".<ref>Fornara, ''Translated Documents'', p. 195.</ref>  

Perhaps the fullest explanation of their status came from [[Demosthenes]] in ''[[Against Neaera]]''.  During this oration, he had the clerk read out a previously enacted degree regarding the Plataeans that had been passed during their exile in 429 BC:<blockquote>On motion of Hippocrates it is decreed that the Plataeans shall be Athenians from this day, and shall have full rights as citizens, and that they shall share in all the privileges in which the Athenians share, both civil and religious, save any priesthood or religious office which belongs to a particular family, and that they shall not be eligible to the office of the nine archons but their descendants shall be. And the Plataeans shall be distributed among the demes and the tribes; and after they have been so distributed, it shall no longer be lawful for any Plataean to become an Athenian, unless he wins the gift from the people of Athens.<ref>Demosthenes, ''Against Neaera'', lix.104.</ref></blockquote>If this is a true representation of the decree (and its wording has been challenged in modern times<ref>Canevaro, Mirko. "The Decree Awarding Citizenship to the Plataeans ([Dem.] 59.104)." ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 50, no. 3 (2010): 337-69. https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/1481/1571 .  Canevaro suggests that the paraphrase by Demosthenes of the decree which follows its reading is a more accurate rendering of its contents.</ref>), it would seem that the status did not apply to all Plataeans forever, but only to those individuals who were specifically honored and their children.  Based on the several references to separate grants of citizenship, it is probable that these honors were bestowed multiple times over the years to succeeding generations of Plataean exiles.