METECI, a name given by the Athenians to such as had their fixed habitations in Attica, though foreigners by birth. The meteci were admitted by the council of Areopagus, and entered in the public register. They differed both from the xeni and strangers; because the polite or "citizens" were freemen of Athens, and the xeni or "strangers" had lodgings only for a short time; whereas the meteci, though not freemen of Athens, constantly resided upon the spot whether they had removed.