### q3 Athens was cruel to the descendants of immigrants > Here, Goldstein paints a glowing veneer over the exploitative nature of Athens’ empire and its attempts to restrict access to the wealth and benefits that it brought. For example, Athenian citizens paid no real taxes. It was the “allies” in the empire and the immigrants in the city who paid taxes to fund Athenian citizen benefits like participation in the public assembly, on juries, and in public festivals. Also, about five years after the law was passed, a shipment of grain was brought into the city to be distributed free to citizens. Investigations were done into who was and who wasn’t a citizen and many, some of whom grew up believing they were citizens, were purged from the citizen roles and sold into slavery in order to ensure that only true Athenians received the benefits of their empire. Useful for teaching Athenian democracy if I'm allowed to include this. But also some interesting potential conflict things for storywriting. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgynjfaenep4h11ntymd9pg2) - [[We Condone It by Our Silence by Rebecca Futo Kennedy#q3 Athens was cruel to the descendants of immigrants|View in Vault]]