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1 results

  • 14 - The Non-Agricultural Economy: Artisans, Traders, Women, and Slaves

  • from Part III - Structures and Processes
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
    Published online:
    21 July 2022
    Print publication:
    04 August 2022, pp 202-220

  • Summary

    The non-agricultural economy of the ancient Greek world included crafts, trade, and services. Evidence for such, heavily biased towards Athens, is found via philosophical writing, comedy, forensic speeches, inscriptions, and archaeological finds. Elite attitudes, in which farming was the idealised citizen occupation, also impact the evidence. Nevertheless, at least 230 different terms for non-agricultural roles and occupations can be found in the sources (with many overlaps). Of these, fifty-three are for women. Workshops were generally small, with up to five or six craftsmen of low status, predominantly resident aliens (metics), freedmen or slaves. At least some rich citizens at Athens owned workshops, with a number of slaves perhaps able to live and work independently. Notable trades such as mining, marble-, bronze-, and metalwork, ceramics, and tanning seem to have clustered in common locations within cities and territories. Women’s non-agricultural economic roles seem to have been related mainly to textiles, retail of simple products, and provision of personal services.