Οικονομία και κοινωνία στην αρχαία Ελλάδα

by Moses I. Finley, Μίνα Καρδαμίτσα-Ψυχογιού (Translator), Δημήτρης Ι. Κυρτάτας (Translator)

Μπορούμε προκαταρκτικά να διατυπώσουμε δύο γενικεύσεις. Πρώτον: Για την αντιμετώπιση των αναγκών του, δημόσιων και ιδιωτικών, ο ελληνικός κόσμος βασίστηκε, πάντοτε και παντού, σε κάποια μορφή (ή κάποιες μορφές) εξαρτημένης εργασίας. Μ' αυτό εννοώ, ότι η εξαρτημένη εργασία ήταν σε σημαντικό βαθμό ουσιαστική για τις ανάγκες της γεωργίας, του εμπορίου, της βιοτεχνίας, των δημόσιων έργων και της πολεμικής παραγωγής. Κι όταν λέω εξαρτημένη εργασία, εννοώ την εργασία που επιτελείται με καταναγκασμούς διαφορετικούς από εκείνους που επιβάλλουν οι συγγενικές ή οι κοινοτικές υποχρεώσεις. Δεύτερον: Υπήρχαν πάντα, εκτός από ελάχιστες εξαιρέσεις, υπολογίσιμοι αριθμοί ελεύθερων ανθρώπων που απασχολούνταν σε παραγωγική εργασία. Μ' αυτό εννοώ, πρωταρχικά, όχι τη μισθωτή ελεύθερη εργασία, αλλά τους ελεύθερους ανθρώπους που δούλευαν στη δική τους (ή ενοικιαζόμενη) γη ή στα δικά τους εργαστήρια ή σπίτια ως μαγαζάτορες ή τεχνίτες. [...] (Από την έκδοση)

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Economics

357 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1982

About the author

Sir Moses I. Finley was an American and English classical scholar. His most notable work is The Ancient Economy (1973), where he argued that status and civic ideology governed the economy in antiquity rather than rational economic motivations.

He was born in 1912 in New York City as Moses Israel Finkelstein to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen; died in 1986 as a British subject. He was educated at Syracuse University and Columbia University. Although his M.A. was in public law, most of his published work was in the field of ancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.

He taught at Columbia University and City College of New York, where he was influenced by members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. In 1952, during the Red Scare, Finley was fired from his teaching job at Rutgers University; in 1954, he was summoned by the United States Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party USA. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer.

Unable subsequently to find work in the United States, Finley moved to England, where he taught classical studies for many years at Cambridge University, first as a Reader in Ancient Social and Economic History at Jesus College (1964–1970), then as Professor of Ancient History (1970–1979) and eventually as Master of Darwin College (1976–1982). He broadened the scope of classical studies from philology to culture, economics, and society. He became a British subject in 1962 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1971, and was knighted in 1979.

Among his works, The World of Odysseus (1954) proved seminal. In it, he applied the findings of ethnologists and anthropologists like Marcel Mauss to illuminate Homer, a radical approach that was thought by his publishers to require a reassuring introduction by an established classicist, Maurice Bowra. Paul Cartledge asserted in 1995, "... in retrospect Finley's little masterpiece can be seen as the seed of the present flowering of anthropologically-related studies of ancient Greek culture and society".[1] Finley's most influential work remains The Ancient Economy (1973), based on his Sather Lectures at Berkeley the year before. In The Ancient Economy, Finley launched an all-out attack on the modernist tradition within the discipline of ancient economic history. Following the example of Karl Polanyi, Finley argued that the ancient economy should not be analysed using the concepts of modern economic science, because ancient man had no notion of the economy as a separate sphere of society, and because economic actions in antiquity were determined not primarily by economic, but by social concerns.

Reviews

[Keith Karr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a series of essays about ancient Greece. However, it should more properly be titled Society and Economy in Ancient Greece, as pure economic issues do not form the core for majority of the essays. However, since social issues such as the slavery or the place of women in society have economic repercussions, their combination is apt. Two early essays frame the discussion by examining aspects of the major Greek powers, Sparta and Athens. While the two city-states are prominent in the historical recounting of ancient Greece, Finley is consistent in reminding his reader that these represent a small portion of ancient Greece. Essays also occasionally stray from the Hellenic region to compare other adjacent societies, or, in the case of slavery, compare the Hellenistic institution to the American system. Perhaps the most interesting discussion involves the consequences of slavery in particular on the technical development of Greek society.

While there is a desire to gain more concrete data to understand how the ancient Greek economy functioned, the scarcity of the evidence leaves this desire unfulfilled. The interests of a modern student do not correspond to the concerns of the ancient writer. The questions posed must be answered by indirect references in a wide variety of written material and gleaned from the fragments of material culture. While studying other social questions, such as political structure, the place of women and slaves in Greek society obliquely answers questions about the Greek economy. While all historical reconstruction involves a degree of imagination steeped in the material, Finley's skill lies in making his reconstructions appear to be both reasonable and grounded in the material available.

As a collection of essays drawn throughout Finley's academic career, there is a loose thematic cohesion and a greater amount of repetition than would be expected of a work written at once. Since the majority of the essays were intended for publication in academic publications, a large amount of background knowledge is assumed. Familiarity with ancient Greek history and literature are required to really appreciate and benefit from this work. The editor has ensured that the text is fully translated, allowing for full engagement for those unfamiliar with the original languages.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ancient Greek world revolved around their slaves and the desire to become a Free-person. We connect democracy to the Greeks, but this desire to be free is the heart of their world. Excellent source and commentary on this subject.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Economy and Society in Ancient Greece (Hardcover)
by Moses I. Finley (1981)

Contents:
Part 1
The ancient city : from Fustel de Coulanges to Max Weber and beyond --
Sparta and Spartan society --
The Athenian empire : a balance sheet --
Land, debt and the man of property in classical Athens --
The freedom of the citizen in the Greek world --
Part 2
Was Greek civilisation based on slave labour? --
Between slavery and freedom --
The servile statuses of ancient Greece --
Debt-bondage and the problem of slavery --
The slave trade in antiquity : the Black Sea and Danubian regions --
Technical innovation and economic progress in the ancient world --

Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology also by Finley

Part 3
Mycenaen palace archives and economic history --
Homer and Mycenae : property and tenure --
Marriage, sale and gift in the Homeric world.

[Hiéroglyphe · Rating 2 out of 5]

« Pour un Grec de l'âge de Périclès ou un Romain du temps de Cicéron, la liberté était devenue un concept qu'on pouvait définir, et le couple d'opposés esclave/libre, une distinction tranchée et pleine de sens. Nous sommes leurs héritiers et aussi leurs victimes. Parfois, les résultats sont plaisants : ainsi les premières tentatives faites en Extrême-Orient au XIXè siècle pour venir à bout du mot « liberté », pour lequel il n'y avait pas d'équivalent et qui jusque-là était « à peine possible » en chinois par exemple. »