Learning objectives
Conoscenza approfondita dell'economia greca di età classica, in particolare del commercio marittimo.
Prerequisites
A good preparation on the political history of ancient Greece and a good level of knowledge of the ancient Greek language.
Course unit content
Title of the Course: Economy, Law, and Society in Fourth-Century Athens. An investigation of some Greek orations dealing with commercial suits.
Some of the orations of the ‘corpus Demosthenicum’ (especially those numbered as 32, 34, 35, 56 of the corpus) are among the most important sources about the history and the organization of maritime trade in the ancient Greek world. The course will investigate in depth these orations, or some sections of them. It aims at explaining the legal and institutional contexts of the trade activity, its economic dynamics (role of the market, mechanism of price formation and so on), the legal status and the social positions of the traders, the intervention of the polis in the sphere of private trade, the food-supply of Athens warranted by this trade.
Full programme
Students must study some articles and monographs chosen among those in the following list:
1. L. Migeotte, L’economia delle città greche: dall’età arcaica all’alto impero romano, Italian edition by U. Fantasia, Roma, 2003
2. M. Faraguna, Alle origini dell’oikonomia: dall’Anonimo di Giamblico ad Aristotele, in “Rendiconti dell’Accademia dei Lincei”, 1994, pp. 551-589
3. Demostene, Il porto dei ladri. Contro Lacrito, ed. by U. Albini & S. Aprosio, Venezia 1987.
4. A. Moreno, Feeding the Democracy. The Athenian Grain Supply in the Fifth and Fourth Century BC, Oxford 2007
4. V. J. ROSIVACH, Some Economic Aspects of the Fourth-Century Athenian Market in Grain, in «Chiron», XXX, 2000, pp. 31-64.
5. G. E. M. DE STE. CROIX, Ancient Greek and Roman Maritime Loans, in Debits, Credits, Finance and Profits: essays in honour of W.T.Baxter, ed. H.Edey and B.S.Yamey, London 1974, pp. 41-59
6. P. MILLETT, Maritime Loans and the Structure of Credit in Fourth-Century Athens, in P. GARNSEY-K. HOPKINS-C.R. WHITTAKER (eds.), Trade in the Ancient Economy, London 1983, pp. 36-52.
7. R.S. STROUD, The Athenian Tax Law of 374/3 B.C., «Hesperia Supplement» 29, Princeton, NJ, 1998.
Bibliography
Literary and epigraphic texts concerning the maritime trade in the Fourth-Century Greek world.
Teaching methods
Front lectures, with an active participation of the students, and the investigation of a specific topics agreed with the Professor.
Assessment methods and criteria
Final oral examination on the subjects treated during the front lectures of the course and seminars with general debate about the papers presented by students on the topics agreed with the Professor.
