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

‘VITA hUMANIOR SINE SALE NON QUIT DEGERE’ 339

per capita per annum, equal to ca. 8.7 liters (ca. 1/6 of an Attic medimnos).^4

Even if the difference between contemporary and ancient consumption – ca.

2.5 liters (corresponding to ca. 3.2 kg) against ca. 8.7 liters – appears excessive

in view of unchanging biological needs, the fundamental differences between

contemporary and ancient diets is a sufficient factor to account for such differ-

ent levels of consumption.^5 This is why, in order to assess the demand for salt

in an ancient community, Cato’s ration is far more reliable than any other data

extrapolated from the consumption of salt in contemporary societies.^6

If we combine Cato’s ration with the estimated population sizes of some

Greek cities of the Classical age, we can try to assess, for a given community,

the demand for salt generated by dietary needs. For convenience’s sake, the fig-

ures in Table 15.1 consider dietary consumption as including all culinary uses

of salt, such as flavoring, cooking, and preserving food (within the household),

regardless of the amount of salt actually consumed. As is always the case when

estimates are made with so many unknown variables, the numbers presented

here are meant to give nothing more than a rough approximation of the actual

level of demand.^7

One should bear in mind that Athens must be considered an unusual city

because the size of its population was far greater than any other contemporary

Greek city. In fact, it has been calculated that out of approximately 1,000 poleis

in existence in the fourth century, only 10 percent had a population larger than

27,000 inhabitants.^8 In this respect, only 100 cities or so would have generated

a demand for dietary needs higher than ca. 235 m³ (ca. 4,500 medimnoi).

Unfortunately, it is much more difficult  – if not impossible  – to estimate

the demand for salt generated by other productive activities. As far as animal

husbandry is concerned, for example, the unknown variables do not involve

the dietary needs of the animals, which can be extrapolated from modern data,

but the overall scale of livestock bred in a given community. In the most recent

Table 15.1. Salt Consumption in the Greek City-States

Estimated

population size

Estimated salt consumption

Athens, 5th c. over 300,000 2,600 m³, ca. 50,000 medimnoi
Athens, 4th c. 200,000–250,000 1,750–2,170 m³, ca. 33,600–41,700
medimnoi
Argos, 4th c. 70,000 600 m³, ca. 11,500 medimnoi
Megara, 5th c. 30,000 260 m³, ca. 5,000 medimnoi
Ambracia, 5th c. 30,000 260 m³, ca. 5,000 medimnoi
Corcyra, 5th c. 55,000 480 m³, ca. 9,200 medimnoi
Eretria, 4th c. 15,500 135 m³, ca. 2,600 medimnoi