AUTOCHTHONES, sons of the soil, the original inhabit ants of a country as opposed to settlers (Gr. abros, self, and Xec;v, earth; Lat. terrigenae) . The idea that they were autocli thones was a great source of pride to the Athenians, who wore golden grasshoppers (unless tettiges means pins for fastening it) in their hair in token that they were born from the soil and had always lived in Attica (Thucydides i. 6). So also, in Thebes, the race of Spartoi were believed to have sprung from a field sown with dragons' teeth (see ABORIGINES).