The Business Life of Ancient Athens
The Business Life of Ancient Athens is an informative book about different aspects of Ancient businesses and Ancient ways of dealing with money.
This book first starts out by explaining the agricultural aspects of Ancient
Athens. Agriculture was not well for Athens, so they had to trade a lot. It is recorded as early as the 6th century BC that grain was a very big part of an average Athenian's diet. Therefore; much grain trade was necessary because
Greece land was very bad for agricultural purposes. Athens had grown industrially and commercially within time, and this was also a problem: overpopulation. Also, many Spartan tribes over and over attacked Greece and destroyed any crops that might grow in the soil. Peasants were also sent to work at farms but they lost care in their farms and found it better to live in the city, living off small amounts of money that came from doing state services.
During this time, many people learned ways of math because they needed to know how much grain is needed per person. Although these calculations are not totally accurate, they are a start in banking and maybe even other ways of mathematics. The Peloponnesian War also occurred- leaving Greece(Attica) with nothing. Attica was forced by famine to go under Peloponnesian rule. By now, trade had come in an uproar. Many people had found it easy to trade by sea. So many merchants with not enough money would borrow money from rich people and then buy cargo space on a ship. In most cases the merchant went on the ship to get the goods to sell. Then on returning, the merchant would sell the goods, and then pay off the lender, with a 22.5 percent interest rate. In many cases, problems occurred, sometimes a merchant returned late, could not pay all of the money back, or something or other. Therefore the idea of a collateral was invented. Also, courts were established to rule these sorts of fights amongst the people. These courts weren't used in the winter because of stormy weather and so not to interrupt commercial business. Courts were required to solve a case within 30 days, this procedure only applies to cases where and actual legal documented agreement was made between the lender and the merchant. Many merchants did not return, therefore the collateral was the lender's to keep.
But often the merchant didn't have anything good to start with so many lenders lost money.
Next, the book talked about Banking and Bankers. Early banking dates back all the way to Sumer and Akkad where many specialized in weighing things
defer their loans. Whether the decision is made because it seemed like a sound idea, or whether it
Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.
Across the Indian Ocean, from 650- 1750 C.E., commerce had many changes and continuities. Trade along this route stayed the same with its spread of goods from one place to another, but changed because of the ways goods were traded along this trade route. Ships were still the main mode of transportation however they were made differently. However, countries that traded in the Indian Ocean expanded while African countries still traded heavily. The Islamic Empire and some European counties controlled much of the trade.
When the Capsian culture began to travel by sea, it did not start out with the concept of trade, but as a necessity to collect raw materials required for tools. At that time, no one claimed ownership of the materials, so trade was not an issue. It was not until the Neolithic period when evidence of trade could be seen where Neolithic cultures eventually had obsidian brought in from Anatolian area. This happened around the 8th millennium and was the start of actual trade in the Mediterranean.
Athens’ governmental shift in 501 BC was unprecedented and innovative, being the first notable implementation of democracy in an ancient world inundated in monarchy. This form of government, founded by Cleisthenes, has been instrumental in Western Civilization, especially since the modern age. Democracy gave Athens life, providing not only a well functioning governing system, but also enabling the city-state to grow and survive multiple Persian invasions. However, at the dawn of the Athenian empire and the rise of Pericles, democracy began to die, and Greeks lost their love of freedom when they sought power and glory through their military conquests. I argue that Athenian’s rejection of democracy can be seen through their mistreatment of other states and their lust for power and glory.
In the “Protagoras,” Socrates and Protagoras debate why participation in government is open to all citizens, but technical matters, such as health, works of art, and the construction of buildings require qualified individuals. The argument presupposes that integrity and acumen are the necessary virtues that citizens must lean and apply for a properly functioning democracy.
McCormick concurs that there was a drop in trade in the beginning of the seventh century but by the second half of the seventh century trading in places like the North Sea was a bustling place of trade. He continues to support his theory on the quick reemergence of trade through a series of documents that show by the middle of the eight-century there were at least six new ways to reach the Middle East. If trade is stagnated by Islam why is there a development of new trade routes? For McCormick the answer is simple, trade is booming.
Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities is a concise and surprisingly refined assessment of the Ancient Greek world, from the early dark ages to late Antiquity, told uniquely through the history of eleven city-states or “polis”. Paul Cartledge’s Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities, details the cultural traditions, trade, and politics that laid the foundation of the sprawling Aegean civilization. By examples of the successful polis Cnossos on the island of Crete, and continuing through to the rise of iconic Sparta, it is easy to trace the development of Greek civilization. The emergence of Classical Greece is examined in the accounts of Athens, Syracuse, and Thebes while the descriptions of Alexandria are symbolic of the transition into the Hellenistic age. A final discussion of the rise of Byzantium notes the decline of city-state independence. Arguably, Cartledge’s paradoxical title of the book surprisingly captures the key events detailing the history of the Greek civilization.
With the possibility of converting new Christians curtailed in the Ottoman neighbors to the East, and a mounting trade deficit with Asia, the kings of Portugal, Spain and England – amongst others – started looking for alternatives to the trade status quo. At first the Dutch and Portuguese sought direct access to Chinese and Indian suppliers by staying along the African coast all the way around the continent in order to reach the source of silk and spice. However, in order for European trade ships to reach their goal, they had to sail through waters that were controlled by Muslim traders that were not willing to release their monopoly without a fight. Therefore, it wasn’t long before the process of rounding Africa was brought into question and it was believed a more direct route to Asia could be found by crossing the Atlantic.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.
The river that connected the West with the East allowed the quick and cheap exportation of natural resources from the fertile middle region of the nation to the industrialized East, in which they would be manufactured into finished goods and shipped to other countries. For example, the costs of the shipment of goodsfrom Additionally, the Erie Canal provided a trade route extending to the Atlantic ocean, which allowed the and thus making New York the “Atlantic port of choice” for many merchants. Had the Erie Canal not been constructed, trade today would solely go south down the Mississippi River, through the ports of New
city far ahead of its time and possibly the time in which people now live. Down
1. In the fifteenth century, Europeans had taken a liking to Asian goods. A merchant named Marco Polo had found a route to the new Far East, however, due to the new restriction by the countries he was passing through, and the skyrocketing taxes that had to be payed to be passed through them, the trail was unable to be used. The merchants then sought a sea route to get to their precious Asian goods. Sailing down the Atlantic Ocean, and moving past the tip of Africa and back up to land in Asia. A myriad of other routes had been hypothesized and tried. This voyage was very long because of the ships having to doge an entire
In the early 1800's, seaboard ports were the largest centers of commerce. These were small towns, with basic transportation systems. Most of the goods exported were either simple products or seafood from the nearby ocean. Many farms surrounded the seaboard ports. The growing conditions were not too favorable, as the fields were muddy most of the time. Seaboard ports were an essential part of the local trade.
The Daily Life of Ancient Greeks Life in Greece in ancient times will remind you of your own life in many ways. There were school, family, athletic competitions, and social gatherings. Knowing that participants in their sporting events competed nude or that you rarely knew your husband/wife until the wedding day does however, make you grateful for the society that you live in today. Babies Life for the Greeks in Athens began in their home. Babies were delivered by the women of the family, and only in cases of serious complications was a mid-wife called.