Lesis Explained

Lesis was an Ancient Greek slave from Classical Athens.

In 1972, during an excavation in the Ancient Agora of Athens, near Stoa Basileios, a lead tablet from the 4th century BC was discovered. The tablet was a letter by Lesis, who wrote:^[1]

The letter was written for Xenokles, his master, and his mother. He is one of few recorded literate slaves in Ancient Greece.^[2] Scholar David R. Jordan placed doubts that Lesis was actually a slave; arguing that he was an apprentice, and his mother put him under supervision of the foundry owner to teach metalworking.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Harris . Edward M. . 2004 . Notes on a Lead Letter from the Athenian Agora . Harvard Studies in Classical Philology . 102 . 157–170 . 10.2307/4150036 . 0073-0688.
2. Book: Riess, Werner . The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World . Fagan . Garrett . 2016 . University of Michigan Press . 978-0-472-11982-0 . Ann Arbor, MI.
3. Jordan . David R. . 2000 . A Personal Letter Found in the Athenian Agora . Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens . 69 . 1 . 91–103 . 10.2307/148366 . 0018-098X.