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

AEGEAN-LEVANTINE TRADE, 600–300 BCE 289

limitation of our sources these dates are, for the most part, only rough approxi-

mations;^13 also approximate are the numbers of commodities appearing for the

first time within a certain era. Nevertheless, with this in mind, there seem to

be certain impressions of chronological patterns and development discernible.^14

First, about 40 percent of the commodities from all regions found in Persian

period Levantine-Aegean trade are known from the Bronze Age trade.^15 Given

the quality of the evidence for and the seemingly large scale of Bronze Age

exchange, this should come as no surprise.^16 Of these the ‘ubiquitous’ com-

modities, those originating from both the Levant and Aegean simultaneously

are the largest group, followed by those from the Levant and Aegean respec-

tively. Arabia and the Middle East seem to have supplied only sesame, marine

shells, myrrh, and calamus, while the Far East provided ebony, indigo (?), ivory,

lapis lazuli, and tin. Through the course of the Iron Age era immediately after,

fourteen commodities are added to the Bronze Age roster,^17 including items

from Arabia (e.g., frankincense) and more spices from the Far East (eaglewood,

sandalwood, nard). Furthermore, certain metals (e.g., iron, silver, lead) begin to

make more of an appearance in trade.

When we turn to the Persian period, however, we see an appreciable jump

in the numbers of ‘new’ items: a total of forty-two. Once again the Far East and

Levant provide major new additions to the total number of commodities in

trade,^18 the Middle East and Arabia only a handful, with the rest coming from

the Aegean, Asia Minor, Egypt/North Africa, and the ‘ubiquitous’ category.^19

While this impression of an increase in the number of commodities in gen-

eral circulation likely reflects one aspect of late Archaic–early Classical eco-

nomic expansion in the Aegean and Mediterranean generally, some caution

must certainly be exercised. The source material for the Persian period is far

richer than it is for earlier periods and so might distort our perceptions. For

example, one apparent pattern for Persian period additions is the increase in

the numbers of pigments and chemicals, which might reflect an actual increase

in the trade of these industrial items,^20 but could also mean that later scien-

tific writers, like Theophrastus, were more apt to mention the commodities

than was, say, Homer. Even so, for a fair number of these commodities – cats,

cotton, peacocks, rice, silk  – there is little doubt that they were introduced

to Levantine-Aegean trade during the Persian period.^21 Furthermore, at least

one heavy and bulky item, marble, appears for the first time in the east-bound

trade; the few Lebanese cedar baulks that made it to the Aegean also appeared

no earlier than the Persian period.

Greater precision in the chronology of Levantine-Aegean commodity

movements within the Persian period is more difficult to discern. A  small

number of items  – amomon, cardamom, camel’s thorn, costum, lykion, and

nutmeg  – may not have appeared until the very end of the period. Other

commodities, mostly manufactured items subject to the whims of fashion like