Sviatoslav Dmitriev* Citizenship for sale? Grants of politeia for money: a reappraisal https://doi.org/10.1515/jah-2022-0018 Abstract: Reexamining inscriptional and literary sources on grants of politeia by ancient Greek cities in exchange for money allows us to rethink the commonly ac- cepted interpretation of these grants as the sale of citizenship. This article argues that such grants actually reciprocated benefactions that involved a financial expen- diture in the interests of the city. These grants could be interpreted as a sale of politeia, similar to today’s grants of citizenship offered by many countries in return for investments. However, like these modern gifts of citizenship, the grants in an- cient Greece reflected a basic norm that politeia could only be conferred on bene- factors. Keywords: “sale of citizenship”, benefactions, politeia, politai, Aristotle, De- mosthenes, citizenship by investment, Louis Robert, Philippe Gauthier Cases of Greek cities requiring monetary contributions at the time of grants of poli- teia are traditionally seen as a pan-Hellenic practice of offering franchise for sale. 1 Among other consequences, this interpretation—firmly established by Robert, who was the first to collect and examine such evidence—has served to further distin- guish grants of Greek politeia, which is traditionally identified as “citizenship,” from conferrals of Roman civitas. 2 Offering a reassessment of the relevant evidence and its interpretations, this article falls into three parts. The first collects and organizes available inscriptional and literary sources on grants of politeia that required monetary contributions, both those known to Robert and others published after- wards; the second evaluates suggested interpretations of this evidence; and, finally, *Corresponding author: Sviatoslav Dmitriev, Department of History, Burkhardt Building, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA, E-Mail: dmitriev@bsu.edu 1 E.g. Davies (1977–78), 119–120; Osborne (1983), 141; Lonis (2000), 264–265; Müller (2016). Before Ro- bert’s publication: Szanto (1892), 32–33; Wilhelm (1911), 37–42; Segre (1934), 267–268 (see n. 21 below)— all with examples. 2 Robert (1940), 37–42. On their separation, see Gauthier (1974), (1981), 177–178. Journal of Ancient History 2023; 11(1): 49–75