http://agathe.gr/democracy/solon_the_lawgiver.html
Solon the Lawgiver By the early 6th century B.C. social tensions in Athens had become acute, pitting the poorer citizens against rich and powerful landowners. Many citizens were reduced to the status of ... As early as the time of Homer, to be a thete was regarded as only just above a slave: "I would rather follow the plow as thete to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be King over all the perished dead" (Odyssey 2.489-491).