In 478 the walls erected around Athens enclosed an area of 3.5 square kilometers, including the Piraeus, or harbor district. The full population of the city was over 140,000, but only 40,000 of these were full (male) citizens.

Athenian society was composed of four main social classes - slaves, metics (non-citizen freepersons), women, and citizens, but within each of these broad classes were several sub-classes (such as the difference between common citizens and aristocratic citizens).