Las profesiones de los metecos en el texto y en la imagen

The texts and the iconography of funerary monuments are a partial source of information on the professions of metics in Athens. Their references show that these professions did not correspond to a single pattern, but both prestige professions and lowly jobs are mentioned. Common to all of them is the pride manifested by the dead’s family (sometimes in a simulated speech of the dead) on the excellence in his/her profession. Such excellence is often the main topic in the epigrams. The epitaphs for nurses form a special group: their involvement in the familiar sphere and the close relation to the family they had served arise from the fact that the dedication comes from this family and not from their own’s.