The Business Life of Ancient Athens

Significant reading that makes a distinct contribution to the evolution of business practices and fills an enormous gap in history.

This book provides interesting insight into the individuals who conducted business in a great civilization of antiquity. Describing how business and finance were carried out in Athens in the fourth century before Christ, it enhances our appreciation of what the Greeks contributed to standards and ideals that set the stage for modern commercial activities. With a pleasant lightness, the author examines the sort of men who controlled trade and finance, their aims and ideals, their standards of honesty, and their methods of doing business.

This book provides an interesting insight into the individuals who conducted business in a great civilization of antiquity. It describes the way business and finance were carried on in Athens in the fourth century before Christ. To gain an appreciation of what the Greeks have contributed to the slow building of the standards and ideas which serve as a background to more modern commercial activities, one learns what sort of men controlled trade and finance in those times and places, what were their aims and ideals, their standards of honesty, and their methods of doing business. The story of business personalities reveals a continuity in social and economic progress as well as dealing with the timeless problems of human nature.

From The World, October 24, 1926 and The Times Literary Supplement, September 30, 1926
The book makes a distinct contribution to economic evolution...The volume is evidently a by-product of classical scholarship. But to the business man it is even more interesting than the main product of archeological research.

From the New York Times Book Review, December 12, 1926
The author carries us along to the usually dry matter of banks and mining with a pleasant lightness which proves him perfect master of his subject. He is an artist in words. Seldom does one come across so small a volume containing so much wealth.

From Literary Review of the NY Evening Post, October 2, 1926
The books...is a successful attempt to fill one of the cavernous omissions of history...[T]he result is satisfying, and Dr. Calhoun deserves the thanks of every student of history.

George Miller Calhoun, 1886-1942, received an A.B. degree from Stetson University in 1906 and a Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 1911. This was followed by an extensive academic career as a lecturer and then as a professor of Greek at a number of universities in the United States and abroad. He belonged to numerous professional associations, and served as President of the American Philological Association, 1940-1941. He was an author of a number of books on Greece, and a contributor of many articles to philological and history journals, as well as to law reviews.

	Introduction by Wigginton E. Creed	1

PART I. THE COURSE OF ECONOMIC EVOLUTION IN GREECE
I.	Pre-Hellenic and Homeric Times	7
II.	Industry and Finance under the Aristocracy	17
III.	The Industrial Revolution and the Tyrants	27
IV.	The Fifth and Fourth Centuries	36

PART II. THE ATHENIAN GRAIN TRADE
I.	Introduction	43
II.	The Capitalist	50
III.	The Merchant Adventurer	54
IV.	The Ship Captain	62
V.	The Distributors	68

PART III. BANKS AND BANKERS
I.	Introduction	81
II.	From Money-Changer to Banker	88
III.	Bank Equipment and Personnel	95
IV.	Functions and Clientele	99
V.	Resources -- Capital, Surplus, Credit	107
VI.	The Banker and the Courts	113
VII.	The Banker's Character and Standing	116
VIII.	Greek Banking in Hellenistic and Roman Times	129

PART IV. MINES AND MINING
I.	Introduction	135
II.	Apparatus and Workings	141
III.	Extraction and Dressing of the Ore	147
IV.	Ore Reduction and Separation of Silver	153
V.	Labor and Working Conditions	157
VI.	The Products of the Mines	160
VII.	The Attic Law of Mines	162
VIII.	A Famous Mining Case	167
	Index	173