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

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16

CLASSICAL GREEK TRADE IN

COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Geoffrey Kron

This chapter focuses on foreign trade and consumer demand in the ancient

Greek world, and their role in the development of a flourishing commer-

cial economy and an “industrious revolution”, to use Jan de Vries’ phrase,^1 of

increased craft specialization, trade and manufacture. In particular, it contex-

tualizes Classical Greek trade by examining the phenomenon in comparative

perspective. This will allow us to better appreciate the degree of development

attained in the economy of the Greek world, as well as living standards and

access to imports.

The greatest symbol of Classical Greek commerce was Piraeus, a sizeable

city in its own right, covering 300 ha, an area comparable to Rhodes, and sig-

nificantly more than the 211 ha of Athens itself.^2 It was the center not only

of its own agoraios ochlos, but also of the nautikos ochlos, which crewed mer-

chant vessels and warships travelling throughout the Black Sea, the Aegean, the

Adriatic and beyond, shipping goods and protecting the sea lanes from pirates.^3

Blessed with what Xenophon describes as ‘the finest and safest accommoda-

tion for shipping, since vessels can anchor here and ride safe at their moorings

in spite of bad weather,’ (Vect. 3.1; 5.2-4) and three secure deep water harbors,

it would share with its Hellenistic rivals (Rhodes, Alexandria, and, in a brief

anomaly,^4 Delos) the reputation as one of the principal ports of the Eastern

Mediterranean.^5 Aelius Aristides’ flattery of Rome’s role as the great clear-

inghouse of the products of the world (Roman Oration) is anticipated in the

tributes of Isocrates, Xenophon, and the Old Oligarch, and in Thucydides on