The economy of ancient Greece was defined
largely by the region's dependence on imported
goods.
As a result of the poor quality of Greece's
soil, agricultural trade was of particular
importance.
The impact of limited crop production was
somewhat offset by Greece's paramount location,
as its position in the Mediterranean gave
its provinces control over some of Egypt's
most crucial seaports and trade routes.
Beginning in the 6th century BC, trade craftsmanship
and commerce, principally maritime, became
pivotal aspects of Greek economic output.
Greece lacked a consolidated, centralized
economy in the modern sense of the word.
There was a relative absence of contemporary
phrases to describe overarching systems of
commerce and trade organization, and economics
was primarily understood in terms of the localized
management of necessary goods.
However, economist Murray Rothbard notes that
ancient Greek philosophers were concerned
with questions that would today fall under
the discipline of economic theory.
== Agriculture ==
Greek soil has been likened to "stinginess"
or "tightness" (Ancient Greek: stenokhôría,
στενοχωρία) which helps explain
Greek colonialism and the importance of the
cleruchies of Asia Minor in controlling the
supply of wheat.
The olive tree and grapevine as well as orchards
were complemented by the cultivation of herbs,
vegetables, and oil-producing plants.
Husbandry was badly developed due to a lack
of available land.
Sheep and goats were the most common types
of livestock.
Woods were heavily exploited, first for domestic
use and eventually to build triremes.
Bees were kept to produce honey, the only
source of sugar known to the ancient Greeks.
Since it was so labor-intensive, up to 80%
of the Greek population were employed in the
agricultural industry.
Agricultural work followed the rhythm of the
seasons: harvesting olives and trimming grapevines
at the beginning of autumn and the end of
winter; setting aside fallow land in the spring;
harvesting cereals in the summer; cutting
wood, sowing seeds, and harvesting grapes
in autumn.
In the ancient era, most land was held by
the aristocracy.
During the 7th century BC, demographic expansion
and the distribution of successions created
tensions between these landowners and the
peasants.
In Athens, this was changed by Solon's reforms,
which eliminated debt bondage and protected
the peasant class.
Nonetheless, a Greek aristocrat's domains
remained small compared with the Roman latifundia.
The Greeks would also have animals like cows,
goats and chickens.
== Crafts ==
Much of the craftsmanship of ancient Greece
was part of the domestic sphere.
However, the situation gradually changed between
the 8th and 4th centuries BC, with the increased
commercialization of the Greek economy.
Thus, weaving and baking, activities so important
to the Western late medieval economy, were
done only by women before the 6th century
BC.
After the growth of commerce, slaves started
to be used widely in workshops.
Only fine dyed tissues, like those made with
Tyrian purple, were created in workshops.
On the other hand, working with metal, leather,
wood, or clay was a specialized activity that
was looked down upon by most Greeks.
The basic workshop was often family-operated.
Lysias's shield manufacture employed 120 slaves;
Demosthenes' father, a maker of swords, used
32.
After the death of Pericles in 429 BC, a new
class emerged: that of the wealthy owners
and managers of workshops.
Examples include Cleon and Anytus, noted tannery
owners, and Kleophon, whose factory produced
lyres.
Non-slave workers were paid by assignment,
since the workshops could not guarantee regular
work.
In Athens, those who worked on state projects
were paid one drachma per day, no matter what
craft they practiced.
The workday generally began at sunrise and
ended in the afternoon.
=== Pottery ===
The potter's work consisted of selecting the
clay, fashioning the vase, drying and painting
and baking it, and applying varnish.
Part of the production went to domestic usage
(dishes, containers, oil lamps) or for commercial
purposes, and the rest served religious or
artistic functions.
Techniques for working with clay have been
known since the Bronze Age; the potter's wheel
is a very ancient invention.
The ancient Greeks did not add any innovations
to these processes.
The creation of artistically decorated vases
in Greece had strong foreign influences.
For instance, the famed black-figure style
of Corinthian potters was most likely derived
from the Syrian style of metalworking.
The heights to which the Greeks brought the
art of ceramics is therefore due entirely
to their artistic sensibilities and not to
technical ingenuity.
Pottery in ancient Greece was most often the
work of slaves.
Many of the potters of Athens assembled between
the agora and the Dipylon, in the Kerameikon.
They most often operated as small workshops,
consisting of a master, several paid artisans,
and slaves.
=== Metalworking ===
Deposits of metal ore are common in Greece.
Of these, the best known are the silver mines
of Laurium.
These mines contributed to the development
of Athens in the 5th century BC, when the
Athenians learned to prospect, treat, and
refine the ore.
Fortuitously, the composition of the earth
below the mines rendered drainage unnecessary,
an important provision given that ancient
mine drainage techniques did not allow for
excavation below the level of subsoil waters.
The passageways and steps of Greek mines were
dug out with the same concern for proportion
and harmony found in their temples.
The work was extremely difficult, due to the
tunnels' depth—they were sometimes more
than 100 metres (110 yd) deep.
The miner, armed with his pick and iron hammer
and hunched over in two, labored to extract
lead ore.
The Laurium mines were worked by a large slave
population, originating for the most part
from Black Sea regions such as Thrace and
Paphlagonia.
Weapons, armor tools, and a variety of other
goods were created with these metals.
Other Greek mines include:
Gold: Sifnos, Thasos
Silver: Cyprus, Sifnos
Iron: Euboea, Rhodes
Copper: Chalcis, Euboea, and Cyprus
=== Maritime commerce ===
The main participants in Greek commerce were
the class of traders known as emporoi (ἕμποροι).
The state collected a duty on their cargo.
At Piraeus (the main port of Athens), this
tax was set initially at 1%, then at 2%.
By the end of the 5th century, the tax had
been raised to 33 talents (Andocides, I, 133-134).
In 413, Athens ended the collection of tribute
from the Delian League and imposed a 5% duty
on all the ports of her empire (Thucydides,
VII, 28, 4) in the hope (unrealized) of increasing
revenues.
These duties were never protectionist, but
were merely intended to raise money for the
public treasury.
The growth of trade in Greece led to the development
of financial techniques.
Most merchants, lacking sufficient cash assets,
resorted to borrowing to finance all or part
of their expeditions.
A typical loan for a large venture in 4th
century BC Athens, was generally a large sum
of cash (usually less than 2,000 drachmas),
lent for a short time (the length of the voyage,
a matter of several weeks or months), at a
high rate of interest (often 12% but reaching
levels as high as 100%).
The terms of the contract were always laid
out in writing, differing from loans between
friends (eranoi).
The lender bore all the risks of the journey,
in exchange for which the borrower committed
his cargo and his entire fleet, which were
precautionarily seized upon their arrival
at the port of Piraeus.
Trade in ancient Greece was free: the state
controlled only the supply of grain.
In Athens, following the first meeting of
the new Prytaneis, trade regulations were
reviewed, with a specialized committee overseeing
the trade in wheat, flour, and bread.
The number of shipwrecks found in the Mediterranean
Sea provides valuable evidence of the development
of trade in the ancient world.
Only two shipwrecks were found that dated
from the 8th century BC.
However, archeologists have found forty-six
shipwrecks dated from the 4th century BC,
which would appear to indicate that there
occurred a very large increase in the volume
of trade between these centuries.
Considering that the average ship tonnage
also increased in the same period, the total
volume of trade increased probably by a factor
of 30.
== Trade ==
Greece's main exports were olive oil, wine,
pottery, and metalwork.
Imports included grains and pork from Sicily,
Arabia, Egypt, Ancient Carthage, Bosporan
Kingdom.
=== Retail ===
While peasants and artisans often sold their
own wares, there were also retail merchants
known as kápêloi (κάπηλοι).
Grouped into guilds, they sold fish, olive
oil, and vegetables.
Women sold perfume or ribbons.
Merchants were required to pay a fee for their
space in the marketplace.
They were viewed poorly by the general population,
and Aristotle labeled their activities as:
"a kind of exchange which is justly censured,
for it is unnatural, and a mode by which men
gain from one another."Parallel to the "professional"
merchants were those who sold the surplus
of their household production such as vegetables,
olive oil, or bread.
This was the case for many of the small-scale
farmers of Attica.
Among townsfolk, this task often fell to the
women.
For instance, Euripides' mother sold chervil
from her garden (cf.
Aristophanes, The Acharnians, v. 477-478).
== Taxation ==
Direct taxation was not well-developed in
ancient Greece.
The eisphorá (εἰσφορά) was a tax
on the wealth of the very rich, but it was
levied only when needed — usually in times
of war.
Large fortunes were also subject to liturgies
which was the support of public works.
Liturgies could consist of, for instance,
the maintenance of a trireme, a chorus during
a theatre festival, or a gymnasium.
In some cases, the prestige of the undertaking
could attract volunteers (analogous in modern
terminology to endowment, sponsorship, or
donation).
Such was the case for the choragus, who organized
and financed choruses for a drama festival.
In other instances, like the burden of outfitting
and commanding a trireme, the liturgy functioned
more like a mandatory donation (what we would
today call a one-time tax).
In some cities, like Miletus and Teos, heavy
taxation was imposed on citizens.
On the other hand, indirect taxes were quite
important.
Taxes were levied on houses, slaves, herds
and flocks, wines, and hay, among other things.
The right to collect many of these taxes was
often transferred to publicans, or telônai
(τελῶναι).
However, this was not true of all cities.
Thasos' gold mines and Athens' taxes on business
allowed them to eliminate these indirect taxes.
Dependent groups such as the Penestae of Thessaly
and the Helots of Sparta were taxed by the
city-states to which they were subject.
== Currency ==
Coinage probably began in Lydia around 600
BC, and circulated in the cities of Asia Minor
under its control.
Early electrum coins have been found at the
Temple of Diana at Ephesus.
The technique of minting coins arrived in
mainland Greece around 550 BC, beginning with
coastal trading cities like Aegina and Athens.
Their use spread, and the city-states quickly
secured a monopoly on their creation.
The very first coins were made from electrum
(an alloy of gold and silver), followed by
pure silver, the most commonly found valuable
metal in the region.
The mines of the Pangaeon hills allowed the
cities of Thrace and Macedon to mint a large
quantity of coins.
Laurium's silver mines provided the raw materials
for the "Athenian owls", the most famous coins
of the ancient Greek world.
Less-valuable bronze coins appeared at the
end of the 5th century.
Coins played several roles in the Greek world.
They provided a medium of exchange, mostly
used by city-states to hire mercenaries and
compensate citizens.
They were also a source of revenue as foreigners
had to change their money into the local currency
at an exchange rate favorable to the State.
They served as a mobile form of metal resources,
which explains discoveries of Athenian coins
with high levels of silver at great distances
from their home city.
Finally, the minting of coins lent an air
of undeniable prestige to any Greek city or
city state.
== Shopping ==
The shopping centers in Ancient Greece were
called agoras.
The literal meaning of the word is "gathering
place" or "assembly".
The agora was the center of the athletic,
artistic, spiritual and political life of
the city.
The Ancient Agora of Athens was the best-known
example.
Early in Greek history (18th century–8th
century BC), free-born citizens would gather
in the agora for military duty or to hear
statements of the ruling king or council.
Every city had its own agora where merchants
could sell their products.
There was linen from Egypt, Ivory from Africa,
Spices from Syria, and more.
Prices were rarely fixed, so bargaining was
a common practice.
== See also ==
Agriculture of Ancient Greece
Slavery in Ancient Greece
Roman economy
Economy of Greece
== Notes ==
== Sources ==
Bresson, Alain.
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy: Institutions,
Markets, and Growth In the City-States.
Expanded and updated English edition.
Translated by Steven Rendall.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.
Donlan, Walter.
"The Homeric economy."
In A new companion to Homer, edited by Ian
Morris and Barry B. Powell, 649-67.
New York: E.J.
Brill, 1997.
Finley, Moses I.
The ancient economy.
2d ed.
Sather Classical Lectures 48.
Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1985.
Foraboschi, Daniele.
"The Hellenistic economy: indirect intervention
by the state."
In Production and Public Powers In Classical
Antiquity, edited by Elio Lo Cascio and Dominic
Rathbone, 37-43.
Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society,
2000.
Meikle, Scott.
Aristotle’s economic thought.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1995.
Migeotte, Léopold.
The economy of the Greek cities: From the
Archaic period to the early Roman Empire.
Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2009.
Morris, Ian.
"The Athenian economy twenty years after The
ancient economy."
Classical Philology 89, no.
4 (1994): 351–66.
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Xenophon’s Oeconomicus:
A social and historical commentary.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.
Scheidel, Walter, Ian Morris, and Richard
Saller, eds.
The Cambridge economic history of the Greco-Roman
world.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ.
Press, 2007.
Scheidel, Walter, and Sitta von Reden.
The Ancient Economy.
Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2012.
== Bibliography ==
Scheidel, Walter, Ian Morris, and Richard
P. Saller, eds.
The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman
World (2008) 958pp
"Sideris, Athanasios, Principles and Practice
in Classical World's Economy".
Masaryk University.
2015.
Retrieved 2015-01-20.
(45 pp., a concise overview for students)
