Explores how ancient Athenians made economic decisions

The papers in this volume re-assess the role of coined money in the ancient Greek world. Using new approaches, the book makes the results of numismatic as well as historical research accessible to students and scholars of ancient history. The chapters provide a wide-ranging account of thepolitical, social, and economic contexts within which coined money was used. In Part One the book focuses on the theme of monetization and the politics of coinage, while Part Two provides a series of case studies relating to the production and use of coined money in different areas of theGreek-speaking world, including Asia Minor, Egypt, and Rhodes as well as Greece itself. The individual chapters cover a broad chronological range from Archaic Greece to Roman Egypt. The book as a whole offers fresh insights into an important aspect of the ancient Greek economy.

This book is a comprehensive introduction to ancient Athens, its topography, monuments, inhabitants, cultural institutions, religious rituals, and politics. Drawing from the newest scholarship on the city, this volume examines how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman urbs.

The invention of coinage was a conceptual revolution, not a technological one. Only with the invention of Greek coinage does the concept "money" clearly materialize in history. Coinage appeared at a moment when it fulfilled an essential need in Greek society, bringing with it rationalization and social leveling in some respects, while simultaneously producing new illusions, paradoxes, and elites. In an argument of interest to scholars of ancient history and archaeology as well as to modern economists, David M. Schaps addresses a range of issues pertaining to major shifts in ancient economies, including money, exchange, and economic organization in the Near East and Greece before the introduction of coinage; the invention of coinage and the reasons for its adoption; and the development of using money to generate greater wealth.

Originally published in 1940, this book provides an overview of the economy of ancient Greece, with a particular focus on the economy of Athens and its eventual empire. Michell uses literary and epigraphic evidence to detail the main types of revenue generation prevalent in mainland Greece and the Greek islands, such as mining and foreign trade, and provides an introduction discussing the impact of other factors on the Greek economy, including infanticide and Greek economic thought. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in ancient economics and money-making in ancient Greece.

Reveals how the concept of money did not materialize until the invention of Greek coinage