A trading world
Greece is a land of mountains, islands and long coastlines, with limited farmland. For much of its history, sea transport was the easiest way to move goods between communities. This article looks at the commercial side of Greek seafaring in the classical period, roughly the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, with Athens as the best documented example. The colonising voyages that spread Greek cities across the Mediterranean are dealt with separately.
Grain and the problem of supply
Attica, the territory of Athens, could not grow enough grain for its population, especially in the fourth century BCE, when estimates, which are uncertain, suggest a substantial part of its supply was imported. Grain came from several regions, including the Black Sea area, Egypt and Sicily. Athenian sources, particularly the speeches of the orators, show concern over the grain route, and laws were passed to protect the supply. These measures included rules against carrying grain to other ports and the appointment of officials to supervise the market.
The route through the Hellespont and Bosporus was seen as strategically important. If an enemy blocked it, Athens could face shortages, and a number of the city’s military decisions were tied to this concern.
Wine, oil and the amphora
Many goods were carried in pottery jars known as amphorae. Wine and olive oil were common contents, but fish products and other foodstuffs were also shipped. Amphorae from different places have distinctive shapes, and some carry stamps, so archaeologists can trace the origin of the contents. Wine from islands such as Chios, Thasos and Rhodes is particularly well documented. Amphorae found in wrecks and at distant sites show how far these products travelled.
The Kyrenia ship, which sank around the end of the fourth century BCE, carried a cargo of amphorae from Rhodes, as well as almonds, which gives a snapshot of a typical load. Pottery, metalwork and textiles also moved by sea, but those leave less evidence.
Merchants and ships
Greek trade was carried out by a mix of owners, captains and merchants. A merchant, or emporos, might travel with his goods or hire space on another person’s ship, while the ship’s owner and captain, the naukleros, might be a different person. Foreigners and resident non-citizens, called metics in Athens, played a large part. Slaves also worked as sailors and sometimes as agents. The scale of ships varied, and surviving wrecks suggest that most merchant vessels were relatively small by later standards, though some larger ones existed.
The term Greek merchant fleets is somewhat misleading, since there were rarely organised fleets in the modern sense. Trade was done by individual ships and small groups, with cities offering protection through their navies when they could.
Maritime loans
Sea voyages were risky, and financing them was a challenge. Athenian speeches from the fourth century BCE describe maritime loans, in which a lender advanced money for a voyage, and the borrower pledged the ship or cargo as security. If the ship was lost, the borrower did not have to repay the loan, so the lender took part of the risk. In return, the interest was higher than on ordinary loans. This arrangement is often described as an early form of marine insurance, though that is a comparison and not an exact equivalent.
The speeches that discuss these loans were written for legal disputes, so they present one side of the story, and some contain accusations of fraud, such as scuttling a ship to avoid repayment. They are valuable sources but should be read with caution.
The Piraeus
The Piraeus was the main harbour of Athens, about 8 kilometres from the city. In the early fifth century BCE it was developed as a naval and commercial port, and it was later linked to Athens by the Long Walls. It had several harbours, including the large Kantharos harbour used for trade, and the smaller Zea and Mounichia used for warships. A marketplace for foreign traders, called the emporion, stood at the port, and officials collected a tax on imports and exports.
The port drew merchants from across the Mediterranean, and it hosted foreign cults and communities. Its importance as both a commercial and naval centre is a reason Athenian power at sea and its trading interests were so closely linked. It is one of the best-known examples of historic harbours in the ancient world, and it can be compared to the Phoenician harbours of Tyre and Carthage.
Greek trade beyond Greece
Greek merchants dealt with Egypt, the Levant, Italy, the Black Sea and, via Massalia, the western Mediterranean. Metals such as silver, tin and copper were important, and Athens had its own silver mines at Laurion. Black Sea ports supplied grain, fish, timber and slaves. Coinage became widespread, which made payments easier, but barter and credit continued.
Reading the evidence
Information on Greek trade comes mainly from Athens, because that is where most legal speeches and inscriptions survive, so the picture of the wider Greek world is thinner. Wrecks and amphorae supplement the texts but are uneven. Numbers for trade volume and the proportion of imported grain are estimates and should be treated as such. The best summary is that sea trade was central to Greek life and that its institutions, from loans to port officials, were highly developed for their time.