The Plataians in Athens: Citizens in an Enclave

summary: The status of the Plataian exiles in Athens has been debated as a result of the terms of their naturalization and their identifiable ethnic community. I argue that the enfranchised Plataians gained full Athenian citizenship, equal to all other enfranchised persons. Through comparison to a modern migrant group—twentieth-century c.e. Cuban Americans—I will show that their migratory situation generated an ethnic enclave and that misunderstandings of their status hinge partly on a narrow view of migrant adaptation. The broader goal of this article is to demonstrate the efficacy of comparison between ancient and modern migrant groups and membership regimes based on their formal features.