WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Below the metics were the freedmen or commoners of society. This group was made up of former slaves who had won their freedom and gained some basic legal and social privileges. At the very bottom of society were the slaves.

Detailed explanation-2: -The lower class of people were just one step above the slaves. In fact, many were once slaves that had gained their freedom. They had even fewer rights than the middle class. And finally, slaves were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

Detailed explanation-3: -Slaves were the lowest class in Athenian society, but according to many contemporary accounts they were far less harshly treated than in most other Greek cities. Indeed, one of the criticisms of Athens was that its slaves and freemen were difficult to tell apart.

Detailed explanation-4: -The helots were an enslaved group living in the Spartan regions of Laconia and Messenia. Being collectively owned by the state rather than the possessions of individual masters, to what extent helots were subjugated rather than enslaved is disputed.

Detailed explanation-5: -Even lower in the social hierarchy were the peasants, and at the bottom of the social scale were the slaves, most likely originating as war captives or ruined debtors. The social structure in Classical Greece and Rome followed these lines.