This book is an English version of the book originally published in French under the title of Economies et societes en Grece ancienne. The opportunity has been taken to correct some errors, update bibliographical references, add a few passage to the selection of ancient sources, and improve the material presentation in several respects. But otherwise this remains substantially the same book as the original French version.
The book is aimed in the first place at an undergraduate audience, though it is hoped that it will also be of interest to a wiser, non-specialist readership interested in the history and civilization of Ancient Greece. It attempts to meet a need well-known to all those who have to teach Greek history in universities. Students, long dissatisfied with a purely political approach to Greek history, ask for more 'economic and social' history. One then has to answer--tand this book is a very modest attempt at an answer--that neither the 'economic' nor the 'social' category had in the Greek city the same independent status they now enjoy. The book takes its starting-point in this ambiguity; it accepts the challenge, but rejects the formulation of the question. Anyone who has been asked to explain once and for all the role played by slaves in social conflicts in the Greek world will understand what we mean.
Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece
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Reviews
"To the ancient Greeks, 'economics' meant household management; their economic theory, such as it was, was inextricably entangled with moral, social and political ideas; few statistics were recorded. . . Greek economic history is thus as alien to us as are many aspects of Greek society. We need to clear our heads of a lot of presuppositions to understand the subject, and that is precisely what the authors of this excellent and stimulating book help us to do. . . .It is aimed in the first place at undergraduates . . . but it can also be warmly recommended to anyone interested in the ancient Greeks, or in social and economic history generally. They will find here a generous collection of material, succinctly presented and lucidly discussed; an enlightened and enlightening piece of work." --Times Literary Supplement"This work is a translation and revision by Austin of Vidal-Naquet's 1972 French edition. The book includes over 130 passages, some of several pages in length, from the ancient sources, some more detailed than others. This compilation of evidence is the most valuable contribution of the book, although the commentary and analysis which precede the collection of sources offers many helpful insights. The authors intend that the two parts be complementary and interdependent. Their approach is conceptual and institutional rather than a mere compilation of factual material. . . .All teachers of the classics will find [this volume] helpful in explaining the ancient world to students in terms of which are meaningful. For one of the best ways to refute the charge of irrelevancy in the study of Latin or Greek civilization is to relate it to contemporary issues in social studies." --Classical Outlook
"A work that permits us to see antiquity with a broader field of vision." --Historian
"An excellent introduction to Greek social and economic history . . . The writing is lucid, and there is abundant bibliographic annotation that has been brought up-to-date for the English translation." --Choice
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"An excellent introduction to Greek social and economic history . . . The writing is lucid, and there is abundant bibliographic annotation that has been brought up-to-date for the English translation." --Choice