Obol = the smallest silver coin, equal to one cooking spit Ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended about 1200 BCE, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BCE. I’m delighted to hear it. [Source: Megan Gannon, Live Science, October 10, 2013]. The thumb-nail-size coins were struck from lumps of electrum, a pale yellow alloy of gold and silver, that had washed down streams from nearby limestone mountains. Houses, slaves, flocks, and herds were all subject to taxation. "The men engaged in these mining operations produce unbelievably large revenues for their masters, but as a result of their underground excavations they become physical wrecks...they are not allowed to give up working or have a rest, but are forced by the beatings of their supervisors to stay at their places and throw away their wretched lives...Some of them survive to endure their misery for a long time because of their physical stamina or sheer will power; but because of the extent of their suffering they prefer dying to surviving." This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Most people work in the services sector and are affected strongly by the Covid-19 pandemic. 11th Brittanica: History of Ancient Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ;Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu;Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu. Then traders carried this cloth on their boats to sell in other countries. Oxford Classical Art Research Center: The Beazley Archive beazley.ox.ac.uk ; Ancient Greek Jobs (People in the Past Series-Greece), by Haydn Middleton (2002). Molds were only rarely used. nearly two fifths of Laconia belonged to women. Learn how your comment data is processed. So the economy was the way a household ran. Prior to the introduction of coinage virtually all of Greece used these 3 ft (1m) lengths of iron as currency but Sparta was the only state to continue that usage while other states were using more precious metals. Your comment totally made my day! If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. what they could to remedy this by law: certain penalties were imposed upon those who remained unmarried or who married too late in life. it is not to long is is just the right amount. Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/greek-and-roman-art; The Ancient City of Athens stoa.org/athens; Coinage was introduced to Asia Minor by the Lydians and was used by several Greek city-states on Asia Minor within a few decades after it first appeared. Greek city-states also made money with taxes on trade. The Ancient Economy by Walter Scheidel, Sitta Von Reden (2002). In front of the Bouleuterion there were statues of the Eponymous Heroes (ten tribal namesakes chosen by the oracle of Delphi). It was where people shopped, voted, socialized and discussed the issues of the day. 1. Sign me up! Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History historymuseum.ca; Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; ; Gutenberg.org gutenberg.org; Coins were the primary means of exchange (paper money was first used by the Mongols and the Chinese around A.D.1000). Some of them were fishermen. Sorry. Coming soon: free lesson plans and a first-rate resource area. I was just curious. 4-9]. :). Mark Anthony is recorded to have stolen from the deposits of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus on an occasion. One talent equaled 6000 drachmas. Good question! While on trial for insulting the gods, he was kept in the prison annex outside the angora. The cooking spit, which was about 3 ft. (1m) long, did have a long history as a unit of currency dating back to Homer. At the time five of the seven storerooms that make up the portico had been excavated. 60 minas = 1 talent Visitors today still find hobnails and bone eyelets in an ancient cobbler' shop. Morris , I. Oh, you mean what was the favorite food of ancient Greece? Economy and Society in Ancient Greece, by Moses Finley (revised edition 1983), Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction by M.M. Located between ancient Athen's main gates and the Acropolis, it was filled with workshops, markets, and law courts and was huge area, covering about 30 acres. in what are called the Archaic (776-480), Classical (480-323), and Hellenistic (323-30) periods.2 During this time, Greek civilization was very different from our own in a variety of ways. These only remotely resembled the handsome coins that eventually would be distributed by any Greek city-state of significant size, the coins proudly bearing the city's emblem on one side and, perhaps, the head of its patron god or goddess on the other. Good luck with your project! A single talent could pay a month’s wages for a 170 oarsmen on a Greek warship. This was great! i think it should include if they traded or used money more. They made and sold a lot of cloth. This information is great, I am very grateful for your time to make this, it is a great advantage for school work, THANK YOU! Ancient Greek and Roman Religion and Myths (35 articles) factsanddetails.com; But the~decay was too deep-rooted to be eradicated by such means, and we shall see that at a late period in Sparta's history an attempt was made without success to deal with the evil by much rnore drastic measures.”. “VII. What all had in common is that, for some period of time, they were recognized by the society in which they were used as an acceptable medium of exchange and as a means of paying debt. But Greek men were also raiders and mercenaries. There were also taxes to be paid, tribute that was expected, the need to fulfill religious obligations, opportunities to trade with foreign merchants – all demands which could be easily satisfied via a portable and widely-accepted currency. This article does not name one main source, because there wasn’t one. Social, Political and Intellectual Life in Athens’s Agora, Heather Whipps wrote in Live Science: Athens’ agora “was the heart of the city – where ordinary citizens bought and sold goods, politics were discussed and ideas were passed among great minds like Aristotle and Plato. i love your story and thanks for the info but how did you know all that. Nearby is the Tholos, where the 50 members of the executive committee of the Boule met. Ancient Greece relied heavily on imported goods. [Source: Canadian Museum of History historymuseum.ca *|*], “There were various occasions in the lives of the early Greeks when they were called upon to make payments. The minters responded by putting extensive designs on the coins and by impressing a raised circle around the rim. [Source: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, 1911 Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece, Fordham University], “Later we find the soil coming more and more into the possession of large landholders, and by the middle of the 3rd century B.C. In fact the drachma coin seems to have derived its name from drax which means “handful” referring to the half-dozen iron spits one could hold in one hand. Greece is a country of southeastern Europe.The birthplace of Western civilization, the small country has had a long and eventful history. What were you looking for? 1 stater = equaled two ( or sometimes three) drachmas Thank you, Ace! From Lydia, coinage spread throughout the Greek realm and soon cities such as Aegina, Corinth, Rhodes and Athens were minting their own coins, according to their own standards.The Greeks made coins of various denominations in unalloyed gold and silver and the stamped them with images of gods and goddesses. The economy of ancient Greece: A Greek man doing carpentry (Athens, 400s BC).