MĔTALLUM (μέταλλον), a _mine_ and _metal_. The metals which have been
known from the earliest period of which we have any information are
those which were long distinguished as the seven principal metals,
namely, gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, lead, and mercury. If to
this list we add the compound of gold and silver called _electrum_,
the compound of copper and tin called χαλκός and _aes_ (bronze), and
steel, we have, in all probability, a complete list of the metals
known to the Greeks and Romans, with the exception of zinc, which
they do not seem to have known as a metal, but only in its ores, and
of brass, which, they regarded as a sort of bronze. The early Greeks
were no doubt chiefly indebted for a supply of the various metals to
the commerce of the Phoenicians, who procured them principally from
Arabia and Spain, and tin from our own island and the East. They were
perfectly acquainted with the processes of smelting the metal from
the ore, and of forging heated masses into the required shapes, by
the aid of the hammer and tongs. The smith’s instruments were the
anvil (ἄκμων) with the block on which it rested (ἀκμόθετον), the
tongs (πυράγρη) and the hammer (ῥαιστήρ, σφῦρα). The advances made in
the art of metallurgy in subsequent times are chiefly connected with
the improvements in the art of statuary. The method of working, as
described in Homer, seems to have long prevailed, namely by beating
out lumps of the material into the form proposed, and afterwards
fitting the pieces together by means of pins or keys. It was called
σφυρήλατον, from σφῦρα, a hammer. The next mode, among the Greeks, of
executing metal works seems to have been by plating upon a nucleus,
or general form, of wood--a practice which was employed also by the
Egyptians. It is extremely difficult to determine at what date the
casting of metal was introduced. According to the statements of
Pausanias and Pliny, the art of casting in bronze and in iron was
invented by Rhoecus and Theodorus of Samos, who probably lived in the
sixth and fifth centuries before our era.
MĔTOICI (μέτοικοι), the name by which, at Athens and in other
Greek states, the _resident aliens_ were designated. They must be
distinguished from such strangers as made only a transitory stay
in a place, for it was a characteristic of a _metoicus_, that he
resided permanently in the city. No city of Greece perhaps had
such a number of resident aliens as Athens, since none afforded to
strangers so many facilities for carrying on mercantile business,
or a more agreeable mode of living. In the census instituted by
Demetrius Phalereus (B.C. 309), the number of resident aliens at
Athens was 10,000, in which number women and children were probably
not included. The jealousy with which the citizens of the ancient
Greek republics kept their body clear of intruders, is also manifest
in their regulations concerning aliens. However long they might
have resided in Athens, they were always regarded as strangers,
whence they are sometimes called ξένοι, and to remind them of their
position, they had on some occasions to perform certain degrading
services for the Athenian citizens [HYDRIAPHORIA]. These services
were, however, in all probability not intended to hurt the feelings
of the aliens, but were simply acts symbolical of their relation to
the citizens. Aliens were not allowed to acquire landed property in
the state they had chosen for their residence, and were consequently
obliged to live in hired houses or apartments. As they did not
constitute a part of the state, and were yet in constant intercourse
and commerce with its members, every alien was obliged to select a
citizen for his patron (προστάτης), who was not only the mediator
between them and the state, through whom alone they could transact
any legal business, whether private or public, but was at the same
time answerable (ἐγγυητής) to the state for the conduct of his
client. On the other hand, however, the state allowed the aliens to
carry on all kinds of industry and commerce under the protection of
the law; in fact, at Athens nearly all business was in the hands
of aliens, who on this account lived for the most part in the
Peiraeeus. Each family of aliens, whether they availed themselves of
the privilege of carrying on any mercantile business or not, had to
pay an annual tax (μετοίκιον or ξενικά) of twelve drachmae, or if
the head of the family was a widow, of only six drachmae. If aliens
did not pay this tax, or if they assumed the right of citizens,
and probably also in case they refused to select a patron, they
not only forfeited the protection of the state, but were sold as
slaves. Extraordinary taxes and liturgies (εἰσφοραί and λειτουργίαι)
devolved upon aliens no less than upon citizens. The aliens were also
obliged, like citizens, to serve in the regular armies and in the
fleet, both abroad and at home, for the defence of the city. Those
aliens who were exempt from the burthens peculiar to their class were
called _isoteles_ (ἰσοτελεῖς). They had not to pay the μετοίκιον
(ἀτέλια μετοικίου), were not obliged to choose a προστάτης, and in
fact enjoyed all the rights of citizens, except those of a political
nature. Their condition was termed ἰσοτέλεια and ἰσοπολιτεία.
MĔTOPA or MĔTŎPE (μετόπη), the name applied to each of the spaces
between the triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric order, and by
metonymy to the sculptured ornament with which those spaces were
filled up. In the original significance of the parts the triglyphs
represent the ends of the cross-beams or joists which rested on the
architrave; the beds of these beams were called ὀπαί, and hence the
spaces between them μετόπαι. Originally they were left open; next
they were filled up with plain slabs, as in the propylaea at Eleusis,
and many other buildings, and lastly, but still at an early period,
they were adorned with sculptures either in low or high relief. The
metopes from the Parthenon in the British Museum are adorned with
sculptures in high relief.
MĔTRĒTES (μετρητής), the principal Greek liquid measure. The Attic
metretes was equal in capacity to the amphora, containing 8 galls.
7·365 pints, English. See the Tables. [CHOUS; CHOENIX; XESTES;
COTYLA.]