Making Money in Ancient Athens

Description

Given their cultural, intellectual, and scientific achievements, surely the Greeks were able to approach their economic affairs in a rational manner like modern individuals? Since the nineteenth century, many scholars have argued that premodern people did not behave like modern businesspeople, and that the “stagnation” that characterized the economy prior to the Industrial Revolution can be explained by a prevailing noneconomic mentality throughout premodern (and nonwestern) societies. This view, which simultaneously extols the “sophistication” of the modern West, relegates all other civilizations to the status of economic backwardness. But the evidence from ancient Athens, which is one of the best-documented societies in the premodern world, tells a very different story: one of progress, innovation, and rational economic strategies. Making Money in Ancient Athens examines in the most comprehensive manner possible the voluminous source material that has survived from Athens in inscriptions, private lawsuit speeches, and the works of philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. Inheritance cases that detail estate composition and investment choices, and maritime trade deals gone wrong, provide unparalleled glimpses into the specific factors that influenced Athenians at the level of the economic decision-making process itself, and the motivations that guided the specific economic transactions attested in the source material. Armed with some of the most thoroughly documented case studies and the richest variety of source material from the ancient Greek world, Michael Leese argues that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that ancient Athenians achieved the type of long-term profit and wealth maximization and continuous reinvestment of profits into additional productive enterprise that have been argued as unique to (and therefore responsible for) the modern industrial-capitalist system. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Hunger in Their Souls: Profit and Wealth Maximization in Athenian Thought Introduction: Aristotle on Chrêmatistikê Oikonomia as Chrêmatistikê The Good Moneymaker: A Character Sketch Frugality and Calculation Risk, Safety, and Profit in Economic Decision-Making The Insatiable Hunger for Wealth Conclusions Chapter 2. Making Money in the Oikos: Strategies for Diversification and Profit Timarchus’ Father Arizelos: A Strategy of Short- and Long-Term Profit Demosthenes the Elder: Profitable Choices for Long-Term Growth Ciron: A Diversified Estate Geared toward Long-Term Growth Stratocles: A Balanced Estate of High- and Low-Risk Properties Euktemon: The Acquisition of Cash-Generating Enterprises Adeimantos’ Estate: Craft Production and Cash Crops General Patterns of Diversification in Ancient Greece Conclusions Chapter 3. Moneymaking Strategies on Specialized Estates Introduction: All Your Eggs in One Basket Nicias, Kallias, and Long-Term Profit Maximization in Silver Mining The Silver Rush in Fourth-Century BCE Athens Lysias’ Father Kephalos: Manufacturing, Wartime Profiteering, and an Economy of Scale? Bankers: High-Risk Specialization and Attempts to Diversify Diodotus: Specialization in High-Risk, High-Profit Moneylending Conclusions Chapter 4. Profit, Trust, and Deception in Ancient Greek Maritime Trade Price Sensitivity, Flexibility, and Versatility in an Uncertain Trading World Information Networks to Secure the Greatest Profits A Race against the Clock: Maximizing Transactions to Maximize Profits Crime Does Pay: Breaking Contracts and Laws to Make More Money Weak Inter-Polis Contract Enforcement: Take the Money and Run Contracts, Friends, and Family: Protecting Oneself on the Open Market Conclusions Chapter 5. Maximization in the Ancient Greek Economy Psychological Impulses to Maximize Wealth in Greek Thought Broader Patterns of Wealth Acquisition: Unjust Seizure of Wealth Diversity of Personality Types Safety, Honor, and Social Mobility: The Benefits of Wealth Conclusions Bibliography General Index Index Locorum