Economy of the Greek Cities: From the Archaic Period to the Early Roman Empire

by Léopold Migeotte, Janet Lloyd (Translator)

The Economy of the Greek Cities offers readers a clear and concise overview of ancient Greek economies from the archaic to the Roman period. L�opold Migeotte approaches Greek economic activities from the perspective of the ancient sources, situating them within the context of the city-state (polis). He illuminates the ways citizens intervened in the economy and considers such important sectors as agriculture, craft industries, public works, and trade. Focusing on how the private and public spheres impinged on each other, this book provides a broad understanding of the political and economic changes affecting life in the Greek city-states over a thousand-year period.

Genres: History

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Athan Tolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book ia a marvelous catalog of activities my ancestors undertook. It cuts the economy down to three sectors, Agriculture, Crafts and Trade. What it does not do, however, is attempt any synthesis. I did not have a model of an economy in my head when I finished this book, basically, and the author kind of abdicates any responsibility for doing so; his excuse is that it would be far too speculative.

So you find out that there were a good 100 crafts practiced by artisans in Ancient Greece and the book has a good go at naming all of them! You find out what crops people grew and when. What food they ate, who did the work and under what conditions. You get a less sharp sense for what periods were good for business and what periods weren't, but an attempt is made to cover that ground as well.

My two biggest takeaways from the book are the following:

1. All business was personal. You couldn't incorporate or anything.
2. The principal economic agents were the landowners.

The book also provides passages from original sources, which are quite awesome. They do bring things alive. Also, it was marvelous for me as a Greek to read the original Greek words that accompany all terms and descriptions in parentheses.

Overall, it could be that I came to this book with expectations that were impossible to meet, but I was hoping that after breaking down the economy in its parts, the author would attempt to sketch how the parts come together. I kept my hopes up till the end, because the last chapter was on trade, but it was not to be.

So three stars from me.

One final note: the book keeps quoting a single source all the time. It's Austin and Vidal Naquet. That's probably a pretty important book in this field and probably worth a read.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent survey that provides an overview - and some challenges to the various schools of thought surrounding the ancient Greek economy. The many levels and motivations for production and trade are covered in quite a bit of detail and I think the takeaway at the end of the book is compelling primarily because it highlights the limitation of coming to the subject with some sort of anachronistic view. The book is accessible yet still quite rich in detail and citation. The translation is very crisp.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would have been very easy to write a dry book on ancient economics, but the author instead chose to write a book that is both incredibly throughout and well-structured while still being clear, accessible, and fun (well, as fun as an economics book can be) to a non-specialist.

The book is pretty much what it says in the title, but I really liked how it was structured into several complementary chapters. The first chapter introduces the reader to the relationship between cities and country, the constraints and opportunities for scholars of ancient economics, and how the ancient Greeks themselves thought of the economy and economics. The second chapter focuses on agriculture, self-sufficiency and markets - I did not realize how deeply ancient cities prized self-sufficiency, or how land and agriculture were seen as fundamental to being a citizen of a city. Chapter 3 focuses on crafts and businesses, discussing the roles of owners, free workers, foreigners, and slaves, the size of businesses (large businesses vs. network of workshops vs. mom-and-pop shop), public works, temple economies (which apparently rented out lots of their properties), and business laws and regulations. Finally, Chapter 4 focuses on trade - local, regional, and international, how trading actually worked, government interventions, and the nature of lending and borrowing.

The author emphasizes continuity and commonality - geographic and time variations are certainly addressed in each chapter (with abundant examples on every page), but the focus is on giving the reader a broad sense of how these different economic sectors functioned in ancient Greece. In addition, I really appreciate that the author not only focuses on the material realities of ancient economics, but also on the ideologies and worldviews of the people involved. The author addresses how economics was viewed by ancient Greeks, the huge value placed on landownership and citizenship, views on money, on commerce, on foreigners. These ideologies are backed by primary sources included at the end of each chapter as well as by numerous examples and cases cited throughout the text.

My only complaint is that the author flipped between using transliterations of Greek words/names and Romanized versions of Greek words/names. I would have preferred the Greek transliterations, but at the very least the author should have picked one system or another! In addition, I wish there were more footnotes in the text so that I could know where to go for more information. However, these are only minor complaints - I still loved the book. If your eyes glaze over when reading the title, then skip it. But if you think the economy of ancient Greek cities is even remotely interesting, then pick up this book - you will probably enjoy it.

[Errol Orhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and quite accessible, the book does not completely succeed in what it sets out to do, as it mostly deals with the Classic period. Nonetheless, the parts on trade are simply fascinating and provided me with a new conceptual framework of looking at Western diplomacy.