The Ancient Greek Economy. Markets, Households and City-States

INTRODUCTION 19

In the Ancient Greek world there was nothing like the large loans made by

French banks to Imperial Russia for the construction of railroads at the end

of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, markets for credit did exist, albeit on

a more modest level.

Markets, Commodities and Household Demand

Let us sum up so far. Most cities had a permanent central agora; in large cit-

ies this might be subdivided into different sections, and smaller (and perhaps

occasional) markets might be found in the countryside if its chora were exten-

sive. Periodic markets and panegyreis supplemented permanent markets in most

regions, and markets brought together both local produce as well as that of

other regions. The forces of demand and supply shaped the prices of goods and

services and set the basic parameters of interest rates.

That much is clear from the evidence discussed earlier in this chapter. But

markets of this size and distribution can only exist and develop in a society

that exerts high enough levels of demand for the sorts of goods retailed in

marketplaces. On the traditional view of the economy (and one which still

has many adherents), most households were self-sufficient, aiming to satisfy

their own subsistence needs but little else. According to von Reden, the effect

of expanding needs – that is, demand – on the operation of interdependent

market-exchange was limited: ‘In no case can it be shown that it was regular,

widespread, or sustained enough to be supplied effectively by the market with-

out state interference.’^96 In other words, levels of demand were generally low,

higher levels of demand being irregular at best, and market forces by them-

selves were insufficient to guarantee supply. But does this view really reflect the

evidence we have for household requirements in the Greek world?

Attica provides us with the largest body of evidence for discussion. Few

would dissent from the view that wealthy oikoi not only created demand for a

wide variety of commodities but produced surpluses well in excess of domes-

tic needs. Good evidence for the higher income-tier households can be found

in the Attic Stelai (IG I^3 421–430), a series of fragmentary inscriptions record-

ing the auctioned household contents belonging to a variety of individuals

who were convicted following the mutilation of the herms and the parody of

the Eleusinian Mysteries in 415 BCE.^97 These records show the large stockpiles

of goods in wealthy households, particularly ceramic goods and textiles, but

also furniture, slaves, tools, livestock, building materials, weapons and other

miscellaneous items. These men were clearly avid consumers of goods bought

from markets. And they produced for the market as well: one of the most nota-

ble resources in the Stelai is the farm of Adeimantus on Thasos (IG i^3 426, lines

44–51; cf. Dem. 42.20, 24) which specialized in wine production and, when

confiscated, had some 6,000 litres of wine in store, clearly more than the most