electronic by Alain BRESSON
Chapitre IX. Prix officiels et commerce de gros à Athènes
La cité marchande, 2000
A Athènes, deux sources littéraires et une inscription font référence à une καθεστηκυῖα τιμή. Pou... more A Athènes, deux sources littéraires et une inscription font référence à une καθεστηκυῖα τιμή. Pour ce qui est des mentions littéraires, il s'agit de deux plaidoyers du corpus démosthénien, C. Phormion, 39 et C. Dionysodoros, 8 et 10. Or, l’expression a reçu des explications fort différentes, comme l’a récemment souligné L. Migeotte. Böckh y avait vu un “prix habituel”, un “prix d’usage”, par opposition aux prix démesurés que la spéculation pouvait faire naître, et au contraire Fränkel un “pri..
L’écriture publique du pouvoir
La rencontre entre les recherches sur l’écriture et sur le pouvoir n’a rien de fortuit. On peut c... more La rencontre entre les recherches sur l’écriture et sur le pouvoir n’a rien de fortuit. On peut considérer que la naissance de l’État, en tout cas de l’État complexe, est liée à la naissance et à l’usage de l’écriture. Cependant, ce n’est pas l’écriture “interne”, “utilitaire”, “administrative” qui est ici en question, mais l’écriture comme moyen de pouvoir. Si l’on suit Max Weber, la légitimité est l’élément clé de toute domination. Pour l’établir et la maintenir, l'État peut utiliser des moyens variés, parmi lesquels la communication écrite, ce qui peut étonner quand on sait que dans la plupart des sociétés du passé la majorité de la population était illettrée. C’est sur ce paradoxe que s’interrogent les quinze communications de ce recueil. Elles couvrent un horizon chronologique large, qui va de l’Égypte et la Mésopotamie anciennes à nos jours, mais toujours dans le cadre de sociétés qui n’ont pas encore connu le “désenchantement du monde” et la rationalité de l’État moderne.It is perfectly natural for interaction to take place between research on literacy and research on power, given that it is possible to argue that the birth of the State, or at least of complex States, is linked to the use of writing. But this volume is not concerned with writing used for utilitarian and administrative purposes, it is concerned with literacy as a kind of power. According to Max Weber, legitimacy is the key to all forms of control. In order to establish and maintain its power, the State uses various strategies, among them writing, a fact which may surprise, when one considers that in most ancient societies the majority of people were illiterate. The fifteen papers published in this volume deal with this paradox, across a wide chronological range, from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to modern times, but always in relation to societies untouched by the “disenchantment of the world” and the rationality of modem States
Chapitre XI. Prosodoi publics, prosodoi privés : le paradoxe de l'économie civique
La cité marchande
A Cultural History of Work, 2018
2.4 Athenian red-figure kylix by the Foundry Painter depicting the production of two bronze statu... more 2.4 Athenian red-figure kylix by the Foundry Painter depicting the production of two bronze statues. From Vulci, 490-480 BCE. Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, inv. F 2294. Photo: bpk Bildagentur / Staatliche Museen / Johannes Laurentius / Art Resource, New York. 2.5 Vase painters on the shoulder of the Caputi Hydria, an Attic red-vase attributed to the Leningrad Painter, 470-460 BCE. Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, inv. F.G-00002A-E/IS.
City-States, Taxes, and Trade
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter examines the taxation system for trade and commerce in ancient Greece. It first cons... more This chapter examines the taxation system for trade and commerce in ancient Greece. It first considers how foreign trade and customs duties were supervised before discussing the system of taxation for maritime trade. Citing documents concerning tax exemptions, the chapter shows that traders were constantly seeking privileges in an effort to avoid paying taxes. Maritime shipping was the quickest and least expensive way to move goods, and ports were levied the highest amount of taxes. Cities situated on the coastline benefited from an economic rent related to their location, and they exploited their natural advantage to the maximum. A city had the right to levy transit fees on its own territory, but not if these fees were levied on a maritime channel. The chapter also emphasizes the importance of economic information in maritime commerce, especially with regard to ensuring the security of international trade.
Strategies of International Trade
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter examines the strategies employed in international trade in ancient Greece. It explai... more This chapter examines the strategies employed in international trade in ancient Greece. It explains how the rules of trade and the distribution of “natural advantages” played the role of a system of constraints within which genuine strategies of foreign trade could be constructed. To better understand the specificity of these trade strategies, the chapter first considers the two institutional logics that prevailed in the international market: the first consisted in setting up a “surpluses for surpluses” trade strategy; the second allowed trade partners to act freely. The notions of mutual trade and nondirectional trade are discussed, along with the case of grain. The chapter also looks at the strategies used by cities to control grain trade, such as laws prohibiting grain exports, before concluding with an analysis of the grain policy of Athens as well as food production and supply in Aegean cities.
The Logic of Growth
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter examines the logic of growth in the Greek city-states. It first considers the relati... more This chapter examines the logic of growth in the Greek city-states. It first considers the relationship between self-consumption and economic growth, focusing on the roles played by self-consumption and the market in agriculture and in the ancient Greek economy more generally. It then explains how the Greek cities managed to become the dominant culture in the Mediterranean between about 700 BCE and 300 BCE after experiencing negative growth at the end of the Bronze Age and probably very slow growth during the Early Iron Age. It also explores the notion that the ancient Greek economy did not manage to achieve “capitalist revolution” or “industrial revolution”; the economic impact of technological innovation; and how innovation is associated with supply and demand. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the transition to modernity, arguing that such transition makes ancient Greece's economic history part of the long history of the western world.
Les cités d’Asie mineure occidentale au iie siècle a.C
Wastewater management in Latin America faces great challenges to reach a sustainable state. Altho... more Wastewater management in Latin America faces great challenges to reach a sustainable state. Although enough infrastructure has been built to treat around 40% of wastewater, only between 15-20% is effectively treated, and abandoned or defective infrastructure is a common sight. Data about current conditions at specific sites is quite fragmented, when existing. This leads to challenges in management, decision making and planning for sustainable options. We argue that a main obstacle is the lack of a regionally relevant sustainability assessment framework that allows for a holistic understanding of wastewater management as a nexus problem. We therefore developed a comprehensive framework to (1) understand current conditions (2) involve stakeholders and (3) point to pathways to improve wastewater management in the Americas. Building on literature review and stakeholder involvement, we constructed a multi-scalar extended dataset framework that is adaptable to different study sites using specific criteria. Sustainability was assessed through a "distance-to-target" approach. Social and economic variables were the lowest ranking in both cases, with technical variables generally performing better. Although some dimensions of sustainability are performing acceptably, others, such as social and economic, are general low to very low performing. This means, when looked at in an integrated manner, neither of the wastewater management systems analysed can be considered sustainable. Here we present the approach itself, the results of its application in two pilot sites in Latin America, and our recommendation to shift waste water management into sustainability.
Chapitre II. Retour à Naucratis
La cité marchande
Chapitre VII. L’attentat d’Hiéron et le commerce grec
The Emporion and the Markets
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter examines how the emporion served as an important tool for Greek city-states to regul... more This chapter examines how the emporion served as an important tool for Greek city-states to regulate the markets. It first provides an overview of the emporion, defined as a “trading port” or “the port area,” and thus also the “business area,” along with its constraints and advantages. It then considers how foreign trade was supervised in cities and goes on to describe the function of the deigma, the place where business was transacted. It also discusses the rules of the emporion and the role of commercial courts in handling legal matters relating to international trade, citing trials concerning large-scale trade. In particular, it looks at “commercial suits,” which gives anyone the opportunity to obtain quick and impartial justice in the Athenian courts. Finally, it analyzes the ways in which the city intervened directly in the negotiation of prices in the emporion as part of a policy of supplying the domestic market, with particular emphasis on the regulation of grain sales in the...
Red fishermen from Anthedon
Imitations crétoises et monnaies rhodiennes
Revue Numismatique, 1997
Nonagricultural Production, Capital, and Innovation
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter examines the logic of capital and innovation in nonagricultural production in Classi... more This chapter examines the logic of capital and innovation in nonagricultural production in Classical and Hellenistic Greece. It begins with a discussion of fish production and consumption in ancient Greece, focusing on salt production and the preservation of food supplies by means of salt and salting, before discussing the Greek cities' exploitation of their coastal waters. It then considers the importance of fish trade and fish consumption to food supply, artisanal trades, and the distinctive character of artisanal production. In particular, it analyzes the structures of production and the kinds of constraints, both in terms of technology and capital, involved in artisanal work. It also explains how enterprises were structured and how unskilled labor was used by looking at the case of textile manufacturing. Finally, it describes technological innovation in textile manufacturing and in the artisanal trades, including the introduction of rotary movement and the watermill.
XII. The Emporion and the Markets
The Economy of Ancient Greece: A Conceptual Framework
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy, 2018
This chapter describes the conceptual framework used by the book to study the economy of ancient ... more This chapter describes the conceptual framework used by the book to study the economy of ancient Greece. It begins with a discussion of the debate between “primitivists,” represented by Karl Bücher, and “modernists,” represented by Eduard Meyer, over the nature of the ancient Greek economy. It considers Bücher's adherence to the so-called German Historical School of Political Economy and goes on to examine the views of Moses I. Finley and Max Weber regarding the ancient economy, Karl Polanyi's use of institutionalism as an approach to the study of the ancient economy, and the main assumptions of New Institutional Economics (NIE) with regard to the genesis and evolution of institutions. The chapter also analyzes the transaction costs theory and concludes with an assessment of criticisms against the classical economists' economic agent, the homo economicus, and the influence of constrained choices and limited rationality on economic performance.
Le cercle des οἰκεῖοι à Sparte