Introduction

Throughout Antiquity, poverty was a ubiquitous feature in social life. Ancient – like modern – societies were built on and defined by poverty, at the same time that they generated it. Ancient Greek intellectuals also seem to be aware that poverty is not just one and the same. In Aristophanes' fourth-century comedy Plutus, the personified character of poverty reminds the public that there are two different types of poor, and they must not be confounded: one is the ptochos and the other is the penes. Romans too were aware of the different types and degrees of poverty, and recognized that there was a significant gap between those who had little but could participate in social life and those who were completely destitute: poverty was not the subject of a “unified Roman discourse”.