Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T03:10:58.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Classical Greece: Distribution

from Part III - Classical Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Astrid Möller
Edited by
Walter Scheidel ,
Ian Morris  and
Richard P. Saller
Astrid Möller
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
Walter Scheidel
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Ian Morris
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Richard P. Saller
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Get access

Summary

introduction

All regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea make use of the relatively easy connectivity it provides. People and goods move around fairly easily, but not without the risk of wreckage or piracy. This condition allows both for the growth of refined demand and at the same time for its corollary – specialization of production. Distribution refers to the circulation and allocation of products and services, providing for both basic needs and luxuries. We consider the motors of distribution from two complementary sides: production and demand. Production is a result of environmental factors and sociopolitical forces, depending on opportunity as much as on limitations. Demand grows from need and desire, which arises when goods are known and available. Social constraints and chance shape consumption; hence demand follows value-rational decisions. A distribution system’s success or failure in supplying needs and desires depends on institutions, the formal and informal rules a society employs. Institutions, however, result from negotiations within a society, guided by social norms and values. They are both realities and cultural creations, changing their meanings and causing conflict. Thus, a society’s ability to adapt to changing outside parameters and to adjust its institutions determine the performance of its distribution system.

objects

The image of classical Greece as an essentially self-supporting agricultural system, creating little surplus and low aggregate demand (with just a few exceptions, such as the urban agglomeration of Athens) is increasingly being questioned. The growing number of shipwrecks suggests expanding seaborne trade, although in quantifying these data we must be wary of the impact of patterns of archaeological research and post-depositional transformations of the record.

Keywords

public revenuesclassical Greecedistribution systemrevenue redistributionsecured grain supply
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World , pp. 362 - 384
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armstrong, P., Cavanagh, W. G., and Shipley, G. (1992) “Crossing the river: observations on routes and bridges in Laconia from the Archaic to Byzantine periods,” BSA 87.Google Scholar
Austin, M. M. (1986) “Hellenistic kings, war, and the economy,” CQ 80 n.s. 36.Google Scholar
Bintliff, J. L. (1997a) “Further considerations on the population of ancient Boeotia,” in Bintliff, J. L., ed., Recent Developments in the History and Archaeology of Central Greece.Oxford.Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (1988a) “Trade in Greek decorated pottery,” OJA 7.Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (1988b) “The trade figures,” OJA 7.Google Scholar
Boeckh, A. (1886) Die Staatshaushaltung der Athener, 3rd edn. Berlin.
Bohannan, P. and Dalton, G., eds. (1962) Markets in Africa. Evanston, IL.
Braund, D. (1995) “Fish from the Black Sea: Classical Byzantium and the Greekness of trade,” in Wilkins, , Harvey, , and Dobson, , eds. (1995).
Bresson, A. (2000) La cité marchande. Paris.
Bresson, A. and Rouillard, P., eds. (1993) L’Emporion. Paris.
Briant, P. and Descat, R. (1998) “Un registre douanier de la satrapie d’Egypte à l’époque archéménide (TAD C3, 7),” in Grimal, N. and Menu, B., eds., Le commerce en Egypte ancienne.Cairo.Google Scholar
Buttrey, T. V. (1979) “The Athenian currency law of 375/4 bc,” in Mørkholm, O. and Waggoner, N. M., eds., Greek Numismatics and Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Margaret Thompson.Wetteren.Google Scholar
Carlson, D. N. (2003) “The classical Greek shipwreck at Tekkas Burnu, Turkey,” AJA 107.Google Scholar
Cartledge, P. (1988) “Serfdom in classical Greece,” in Archer, , ed. (1988).
Cartledge, P. (1998) “The economies of ancient Greece,” Dialogus 5.Google Scholar
Chankowski, V. and Domaradzka, L. (1999) “Réédition de l’inscription de Pistiros et problèmes d’interprétation,” BCH 123.Google Scholar
Christien, J. (1989) “Les liaisons entre Sparte et son territoire malgré l’encadrement montagneux,” in Bergier, J.-F., ed., Montagnes, fleuves, forêts dans l’histoire. Barrières ou lignes de convergence?.St. Katharinen.Google Scholar
Cohen, E. E. (1973) Ancient Athenian Maritime Courts. Princeton.
Cook, R. M. (1959) “Die Bedeutung der bemalten Keramik für den griechischen Handel,” JdAI 74.Google Scholar
Dalton, G. (1975) “Karl Polanyi’s analysis of long distance trade and his wider paradigm,” in Sabloff, J. A. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., eds., Ancient Civilization and Trade.Albuquerque, NM.Google Scholar
Davies, J. K. (1992) “Society and economy,” in Lewis, et al., eds. (1992).
Davies, J. K. (2001a) “Hellenistic economies in the post-Finley era,” in Archibald, et al., eds. (2001).
De Angelis, F. (2000) “Estimating the agricultural base of Greek Sicily,” PBSR 68.Google Scholar
De Ligt, L. and Neeve, P. W. (1988) “Ancient periodic markets, festivals, and fairs,” Athenaeum 66.Google Scholar
De Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1972) The Origins of the Peloponnesian War. London.
De Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1981) The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World. London and Ithaca, NY.
Descat, R. (1998) “Public et privé dans l’économie de la cité grecque,” Ktêma 23.Google Scholar
Dreher, M. (1995) Hegemon und Symmachoi: Untersuchungen zum Zweiten Athenischen Seebund. Berlin.
Engels, J. (2000) “Das Athenische Getreidesteuer-Gesetz des Agyrrhios und angebliche ‘sozialstaatliche’ Ziele in den Maßnahmen zur Getreideversorgung spätklassischer und hellenistischer Poleis,” ZPE 132.Google Scholar
Engen, D. T. (2001) “Trade, traders, and the economy of Athens in the fourth century BCE,” in Tandy, D. W., ed., Prehistory and History: Ethnicity, Class and Political Economy.Montreal.Google Scholar
Faraguna, M. (1999) “Intorno alla nuova legge ateniese sulla tassazione del grano,” Dike 2.Google Scholar
Figueira, T. J. (1986) “Sitopolai and sitophylakes in Lysias’ ‘Against the graindealers’: Governmental intervention in the Athenian economy,” Phoenix 40.Google Scholar
Figueira, T. J. (1998) The Power of Money: Coinage and Politics in the Athenian Empire. Philadelphia.
Finley, M. I. (1965a) “Classical Greece,” in Second International Conference of Economic History, Aix-en-Provence 1962.Paris.Google Scholar
Finley, M. I. (1973a) The Ancient Economy. 1st edn. Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Foxhall, L. (1998) “Cargoes of the heart’s desire: the character of trade in the archaic Mediterranean world,” in Fisher, and Wees, , eds. (1998)
Gabrielsen, V. (1994) Financing the Athenian Fleet: Public Taxation and Social Relations. Baltimore and London.
Garland, R. (1987) The Piraeus from the Fifth to the First Century BC. London.
Garnsey, P. (1988) Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World: Responses to Risk and Crisis. Cambridge.
Gauthier, P. (1972) Symbola. Les étrangers et la justice dans les cités grecques. Nancy.
Gauthier, P. (1981) “De Lysias à Aristote (Ath. pol. 51, 4): Le commerce du grain à Athènes et les fonctions des sitophylakes,” RD 59.Google Scholar
Gernet, L. (1909) “L’approvisionnement d’Athènes en blé,” Melanges d’histoire ancienne 25.Google Scholar
Gibbins, D. (2001) “Shipwrecks and Hellenistic trade,” in Archibald, et al., eds. (2001).
Gill, D. W. J. (1991) “Pots and trade: spacefillers or objets d’art?” JHS III.Google Scholar
Gill, D. W. J. (1994) “Positivism, pots, and long-distance trade,” in Morris, , ed. (1994d).
Hansen, M. H. (1979) “Misthos for magistrates in classical Athens,” SO 54.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. H. (1991) The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. Oxford.
Hansen, M. H. (1997) “Emporion: a study of the use and meaning of the term in the archaic and classical periods,” in Nielsen, T. H., ed., Yet More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis.Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Harris, E. M. (1999) “Notes on the new grain-tax law,” ZPE 128.Google Scholar
Harris, E. M. (2002) “Workshop, marketplace, and household: the nature of technical specialization in classical Athens and its influence on economy and society,” in Cartledge, et al., eds. (2002).
Hasebroek, J. (1928) Staat und Handel im alten Griechenland: Untersuchungen zur antiken Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Tübingen; reprint 1966.
Herman, G. (1987) Ritualised Friendship and the Greek City. Cambridge.
Horden, P. and Purcell, N. (2000) The Corrupting Sea. A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford.
Howgego, C. (1995) Ancient History from Coins. London and New York.
Isager, S. and Hansen, M. H. (1975) Aspects of Athenian Society in the Fourth Century BC. Odense.
Jameson, M. H. (1989) “Mountains and the Greek city states,” in Bergier, J.-F., ed., Montagnes, fleuves, forêts dans l’histoire.St. Katharinen.Google Scholar
Johnston, A. W. (1990) “The vase trade: a point of order,” Acta Hyperborea 3.Google Scholar
Jones, A. H. M. (1957) Athenian Democracy. Oxford.
Kallet-Marx, L. (1993) Money, Expense, and Naval Power in Thucydides’ History 1–5.24. Berkeley.
Kallet-Marx, L. (1994) “Money talks: rhetor, demos, and the resources of the Athenian Empire,” in Osborne, and Hornblower, , eds. (1994).
Kallet-Marx, L. (1998) “Accounting for culture in fifth-century Athens,” in Boedeker, D. and Raaflaub, K. A., eds., Democracy, Empire, and the Arts in Fifth-Century Athens.Cambridge, MA. Google Scholar
Kase, E.W. and Szemler, G. J. (1991) The Great Isthmus Corridor Route. Explorations of the Phokis-Doris Expedition 1. Dubuque, IA.
Knorringa, H. (1926) Emporos: Data on Trade and Traders in Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle. Amsterdam.
Kohns, H. P. (1964) “Die staatliche Lenkung des Getreidehandels in Athen (zu Lysias or. 22),” in Braunert, H., ed., Studien zur Papyrologie und antiken Wirtschaftsgeschichte.Bonn.Google Scholar
Kurke, L. (2002) “Money and mythic history: the contestation of transactional orders in the fifth century BC,” in Scheidel, and Reden, , eds. (2002).
Lawall, M. (1998) “Ceramics and positivism revisited: Greek transport amphoras and history,” in Parkins, and Smith, , eds. (1998).London.
Lewis, D. M. (1987) “The Athenian coinage decree,” in Carradice, I., ed., Coinage and Administration in the Athenian and Persian Empires.Oxford.Google Scholar
Lo Cascio, E. ed. (2000c) Mercati permanenti e mercati periodici nel mondo romano. Bari.
Lohmann, H. (1993) Atene. Forschungen zu Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsstruktur des klassischen Attica. Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna.
Loomis, W. T. (1992) The Spartan War Fund: IG V 1, 1 and a New Fragment. Stuttgart: Historia Einzelschrift 74.
Loukopoulo, L. (1999) “Sur le statut et l’importance de l’emporion de Pistiros,” BCH 123.Google Scholar
Möller, A. (2000) Naukratis. Trade in Archaic Greece. Oxford.
Möller, A. (2001) “Naukratis – griechisches emporion und ägyptischer ‘port of trade’,” in Höckmann, U. and Kreikenbom, D., eds., Naukratis: Die Beziehungen zu Ostgriechenland, Ägypten und Zypern in archaischer Zeit.Möhnesee.Google Scholar
MacDowell, D. M. (1976) Review of Cohen 1973, CR 90.Google Scholar
MacDowell, D. M. (1978) The Law of Classical Athens. London.
Manville, P. B. (1990) The Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens. Princeton.
Martin, T. R. (1985) Sovereignty and Coinage in Classical Greece. Princeton.
Meiggs, R. (1982) Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Oxford.
Migeotte, L. (1992) Les souscriptions publiques dans les cités grecques. Geneva and Québec.
Migeotte, L. (1997) “Le contrôle des prix dans les cités grecques,” in Andreau, et al., eds. (1997).
Migeotte, L. (1998) “Les ventes de grain public dans les cités grecques aux périodes classique et hellénistique,” in Moatti, C., ed., La mémoire perdue: Recherches sur l’administration romaine.Rome.Google Scholar
Migeotte, L. (2003) “Taxation directe en Grèce ancienne,” in Thür, G. and Fernández Nieto, F. J., eds., Symposion 1999.Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna.Google Scholar
Millett, M. (1990) The Romanization of Britain: An Essay in Archaeological Interpretation. Cambridge.
Millett, P. (1998) “Encounters in the agora,” in Cartledge, P., Millett, P., Reden, S., eds., Kosmos: Essays in Order, Conflict, and Community in Classical Athens.Cambridge.Google Scholar
Montgomery, H. (1986) “‘Merchants fond of corn’: citizens and foreigners in the Athenian grain trade,” SO 41.Google Scholar
Morgan, C. (1988) “Corinth, the Corinthian gulf, and western Greece during the eighth century BC,” BSA 83.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (1994b) “The Athenian economy twenty years after The Ancient Economy,” CPh 89.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (1994c) “The community against the market in classical Athens,” in Duncan, C. A. M. and Tandy, D. W., eds., From Political Economy to Anthropology: Situating Economic Life in Past Societies.Montreal and New York.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (2005) “Archaeology, standards of living, and Greek economic history,” in Manning, and Morris, , eds. (2005).
Mossé, C. (1983) “The ‘world of the emporium’ in the private speeches of Demosthenes,” in Garnsey, et al., eds. (1983).
Nenci, G. (1982) “L’allume di Focea,” Parola del Passato 37.Google Scholar
Noonan, T. S. (1973) “The grain trade of the northern Black Sea in antiquity,” AJPh 94.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1981) Structure and Change in Economic History. New York and London.
Ober, J. (1989) Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People. Princeton.
Oehler, J. (1893) “Agoranomoi,” in RE 1.1.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (1988) “Social and economic implications of the leasing of land and property in classical and Hellenistic Greece,” Chiron 18.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (1991a) “Pride and prejudice, sense and subsistence: exchange and society in the Greek city,” in Rich, J. and Wallace-Hadrill, A., eds., City and Country in the Ancient World.London. Reprinted in Scheidel, and Reden, , eds. (2002).Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (1996b) “Pots, trade and the archaic Greek economy,” Antiquity 70.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (2000) Review of Stroud (1998), CR 50.Google Scholar
Papadopoulos, J. K. and Paspalas, S. A. (1999) “Mendaian as Chalkidian wine,” Hesperia 68.Google Scholar
Parker, A. J. (1992) Ancient Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean and the Roman Provinces. Oxford.
Polanyi, K. (1968) “The economy as instituted process,” in Dalton, G., ed., Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi.Boston.Google Scholar
Porten, B. and Yardeni, A. (1993) Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt III: Literature, Accounts, Lists. Jerusalem.
Reed, C. (2003) Maritime Traders in the Ancient Greek World. Cambridge.
Rhodes, P. J. (1979/80) “Athenian democracy after 403 BC,” CJ 75.Google Scholar
Rhodes, P. J. (1981) A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia. Oxford.
Rhodes, P. J. and Osborne, R. (2003) Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404–323 BC. Oxford.
Rosivach, V. (2000) “Some economic aspects of the fourth-century Athenian market in grain,” Chiron 30.Google Scholar
Roy, J. (1998) “The threat from the Piraeus,” in Cartledge, P., Millett, P., and Reden, S., eds., Kosmos. Essays in Order, Conflict, and Community in Classical Athens.Cambridge.Google Scholar
Roy, J. (1999) “The economies of Arkadia,” in Nielsen, T. H. and Roy, J., eds., Defining Ancient Arkadia.Copenhagen: Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre 6.Google Scholar
Rubel, A. (2001) “Hellespontophylakes – Zöllner am Bosporos? Überlegungen zur Fiskalpolitik des attischen Seebundes (IG I3 61),” Klio 83.Google Scholar
Sallares, R. (1991) The Ecology of the Ancient Greek World. London.
Salmon, J. (1984) Wealthy Corinth: A History of the City to 338 B.C. Oxford.
Salmon, J. (2000) “Pots and profits,” in Tsetskhladze, G. R., Prag, A. J. N. W., and Snodgrass, A. M., eds., Periplous: Papers on Classical Art and Archaeology Presented to Sir John Boardman.London.Google Scholar
Salviat, F. (1986) “Le vin de Thasos. Amphores, vin, et sources écrites,” in Empereur, and Garlan, , eds. (1986).
Sarikakis, T. C. (1986) “Commercial relations between Chios and other Greek cities in antiquity,” in Boardman, J. and Vaphopoulou-Richardson, C. E., eds., Chios: A Conference at the Homereion in Chios 1984.Oxford.Google Scholar
Seager, R. (1966) “Lysias against the corn-dealers,” Historia 15.Google Scholar
Smelser, N. J. (1959) “A comparative view of exchange systems,” Economic Development and Cultural Change 7.Google Scholar
Stroud, R. S. (1974) “An Athenian law on silver-coinage,” Hesperia 43.Google Scholar
Stumpf, G. (1986) “Ein athenisches Münzgesetz des 4. Jh. v. Chr.,” JNG 36.Google Scholar
Szemler, G. L. (1989) “‘The pass through Trachis’ – Her. 7,176,2,” Klio 71.Google Scholar
Todd, S. C. (1993) The Shape of Athenian Law. Oxford.
Treister, M. Y. (1996) The Role of Metals in Ancient Greek History. Mnemosyne Suppl. 156. Leiden.
Trevett, J. (2001) “Coinage and democracy at Athens,” in Meadows, and Shipton, , eds. (2001).
Tsetskhladze, G. R. (1998) “Trade on the Black Sea in the archaic and classical periods: some observations,” in Parkins, and Smith, , eds. (1998).
Tuplin, C. (1986) “SYMPRIASTHAI in Lysias ‘Against the Corndealers,’” Hermes 114.Google Scholar
Van Hooff, A. J. L. (1988) “Ancient robbers: reflections behind the facts,” AncSoc 19.Google Scholar
Velissaropoulos, J. (1977) “Le monde de l’emporion,” DHA 3.Google Scholar
Velissaropoulos, J. (1980) Les nauclères grecs: Recherches sur les institutions maritimes en Grèce et dans l’Orient hellénisé. Geneva and Paris.
Von Reden, S. (1995a) Exchange in Ancient Greece. London.
Von Reden, S. (2002b) “Money in the ancient economy: a survey of recent research,” Klio 84.Google Scholar
Wagner-Hasel, B. (2000) Der Stoff der Gaben: Kultur und Politik des Schenkens und Tauschens im archaischen Griechenland. Frankfurt am Main.
Weber, M. (1972) Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie. 5th edn. Tübingen.
Wilson, J.-P. (1997–8) “The ‘illiterate trader?,’” BICS 42.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×