Demostene e arpocrazione a proposito dei choris oikountes

The status of choris oikountes mentioned in the First Philippic by Demosthenes has always been a subject of discussion among those who see them as slaves and those who, on the basis of Harpokration, consider them as freedmen. The analysis of the classical sources and of the lexicographic ones seems to show that by this expression the orator meant to indicate slaves, moreover in an ironic context, and that the lexicographer has misunderstood the meaning adapting it to his contemporary legal categories.