The hektemoroi were dependent farmers who cultivated the land of the privileged on condition that they would yield 1/6 of the produce instead of a rent. Aristotle informs us that the hektemoroi or the legally dependent could be sold as slaves, should they not pay the agreed proportion (Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia 2 & 10).

The position of the hektemoros was rather stable everywhere in Attica during the Archaic period. It is most likely that everyone paid as rent the same percentage of the produce. However scholars' opinions on this subject are divergent.

This category of farmers gradually ceases to exist. Since the middle of the 6th century BC there are no more references to hektemoroi. Apart from Solon's seisachtheia, other reasons which contributed to this turn, was the lack of significant economic structures -especially in wine and olive production- and the prevalence of independent farming enterprises.