METOECI, 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 πολίται and ξένοι; because the polita 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 whither they had removed.