This chapter considers the various usages of the ethnic, the expression essentially of the foreigner in both public and private life, from the fifth century bc onwards. It shows that after the fifth century bc the use of the ethnic in entries in public records, which were recognised to have international validity, might vary, even within a single document, without good cause, or at least without an evident cause. This substantiates the view expressed concerning other types of evidence, that Greek protocol — the use of the criteria treated in this and the preceding chapters — was consistent only with regard to matters within the traditional framework of the individual poleis themselves, and to publicly proclaimed honours such as proxeny-decrees, while still conforming in the broadest terms to certain inherited practices. At the same time allowance must be made for a considerable amount of variation, due to causes which frequently remain unknown.
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