Gr. Antiq. [ad. Gr. θής, θητ-, orig. a villein, slave.] In ancient Athens, by the constitution of Solon, a free man of the lowest class, whose property in land was assessed at less than 150 medimni.
1652. L. S., People’s Liberty, ix. 17. Such whose revenue amounted not to so much as 200 measures of aride and liquide fruicts (who were called Thetes).
1835. Keightley, Hist. Greece, vii. 61. But birth ceased to be a thing needful, and even a Thete might now look forward to attaining to importance in the state.
1846. Grote, Greece, I. xx. II. 131. Poor freemen called Thetes, working for hire. Ibid., 132. The condition of a slave under an average master may have been as good as that of the free Thête.
