Episode 45. From Sumer To Sparta: How Money, Slavery, And Sea Trade Shaped Greece

Forget the tidy tale of Athens inventing everything. We follow the harder, richer path: who counted as a citizen, who powered the mines and fleets, and how alphabets, temples, and trade shaped a world that learned to finance risk before it learned to praise democracy. We trace the consonants of Phoenicia becoming Greek vowels, the spread of colonies from Sicily to Anatolia, and the Etruscan bridge that carried scripts to Rome. Along the way, temples act like strongrooms and lenders, interest rates settle into durable norms, and the agora grows into a marketplace where politics and commerce intertwine.

We put Greece beside Sumer and Babylon to see what truly came first: ledgers, codes, and credit in Mesopotamia long predate coinage in the Aegean. Yet scarcity on rocky soils forced Greek ingenuity. Olives and vines fed exports, ships fetched grain from Egypt and the Black Sea, and specialization in pottery and metalwork built surplus. Hoplites rose from independent farms, tying armor to representation. Slavery, however, scaled the economy—across fields, workshops, and the Laurion silver mines that bankrolled triremes—while Solon’s reforms curbed debt bondage to stabilize the citizen body.

Risk shaped finance. Maritime loans repaid only on safe arrival, a pragmatic hedge against shipwrecks and piracy that unlocked longer trade routes. Coinage standardized value, courts and contracts slowly enabled impersonal exchange, and private bankers extended credit for grain and commerce. Greece didn’t start ahead; it adapted fast, borrowed smart, and turned sea lanes into power. By the Hellenistic era, coin-rich markets, naval strength, and shared institutions propelled a cultural reach that still frames our world.

Join us to reconsider where “Western” really begins, how wealth and labor built states, and why trade—more than myth—powered Greek ascendancy. If this journey challenged your assumptions, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find it.

Chapters

• 0:00 Greece’s Myth And Reality
• 2:45 Who Counted As Athenian “Citizens”
• 5:20 Fractured City-States And Constant Wars
• 7:55 Tribes, Lineages, And Sicily Colonies
• 12:20 From Phoenician Script To Greek Alphabet
• 16:40 Greek Tribes Across Anatolia And Myth
• 20:30 Religion, Wealth, And Temple “Banks”
• 26:10 Athens, Slavery, And Silver Power
• 29:40 Trojan War: Myth, Trade, And Evidence
• 34:50 Indo-European Roots And Mycenae
• 38:40 Primitive Exchange Before Markets
• 43:30 Why Finance Needed Law And Money
• 47:00 Coinage, Credit, And Early Banking
• 50:40 Was Sumer The Real Foundation
• 54:20 Collapse, Dark Age, And Soil Limits

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Most, if not all, American kids in school learned that it was ancient Greece that was the birth of Western civilization. Most kids are taught in high school a rosy picture that they created democracy, and their version of a mixed economy with significant private enterprise and money paved the way for Western civilization due to its political, cultural, and economic developments. In addition, it was through the will of Athens that the Greeks were unified in a collective community that produced much of our core values. However, it is presumed on my end that most of the curriculum probably omitted a significant part of the real story. In the democratic city of Athens, these democratic freedoms were limited to the first forms of citizenship, which were exclusively for free men, as they were the only ones who could genuinely be called citizens. To be a free man, their parents had to be from Athens, and only then could they participate in democracy. Athenian-born men had a democratic right to speak before council and vote directly on legislation. Unlike modern nations like the United States that used a representative form of government, Athens was a direct democracy where citizens participated in decision making. In the US, elected representatives vote on behalf of their constituents, rather than direct citizens voting. However, Athens was only part of the overall Greek landscape. In fact, ancient Greece was a fragmented society, with each city-state acting independent of each other as if they were their own mini country. However, because each city-state was Greek, they shared a lot of cultural norms, including language, religion, and the arts. The unique feature was the fact that sometimes they got along with each other, and many times they were at each other's throats. Not only were these cities at war with each other, but their colonies were often at war with each other as well. Worse yet, when they were attacked by an outside force, such as the Persians, some Greeks would take the side of the Persians. The thing that may not be easily apparent was these wars, whether they were Greek versus Greek or Greek versus outsider, were ultimately made possible by wealth accumulation and slavery because all wars need adequate funding and supplies, along with an adequate workforce, to get the raw materials to make the finished goods for the army and the general population. If you ever listened to or watch any Greek stories based on their histories, you'll probably notice that some call themselves Ionian, Dorian, Achaean, or even Aeolians. The reason being is the earliest Greeks categorized themselves based upon their lineage from mighty figures of the past. For example, the Athenians were Ionian Greeks while the Spartans were Dorian Greeks. These descendants were often the heroes and sometimes demigogues of legendary tradition. It was through this ancestry that the Greeks declared themselves to be the offspring of greatness. The most popular of these patreon patriarchs is that of Helen. While the Ionian and Doric Greeks established colonies in Sicily, the Ionian Greeks, particularly those from Eubia and Samos, were among the earliest Greek settlers in Sicily, establishing colonies like Naxos around 735 BCE. Ionian colonies tended to be concentrated in the eastern and northwestern regions of Sicily, while Doric colonies were more prominent in the southern and western parts of the island. The Ionian Greek colonists from Eubia significantly influenced the Italic peoples of Italy by introducing their alphabets. That became the basis for the Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet used by the Romans was ultimately derived from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn came from the Greek alphabet from the Ionians. In other words, this transmission of the alphabet did not occur directly from Greek settlers to the Romans, but was facilitated by the Etruscans. However, it was the Phoenicians who were credited with introducing their alphabet to the Greeks, likely through Phoenician traders around 800 to 700 BCE. The major difference was the Phoenician alphabet only contained consonants. However, when it was adopted by the Greeks, they added the vowels, creating the first true alphabet. In other words, before the Greeks, the reader of the alphabetic letters would have supplied their own vowels when reading the script. This form of writing was much more conducive to reading when you compare it to ancient Canadian form writing that was developed in Sumer around 2500 years prior. So that would have been around 320-3300 BCE. This also would have occurred in modern-day southern Iraq. In other words, even illiterate people could potentially pick up on certain words, or at the very least, could learn how to read and write much easier because in ancient Sumer it could take many years to learn how to read and write their scripts, so therefore it was generally only available to the well-to-do, as only they could afford to send their kids off to school. The Ionian Greeks also colonized mainland Italy. They, along with other Greek groups like the Achaeans, established settlements in southern Italy. The Achaeans lived in northern Peloponnese's Achaea, but were also found in Argolis and Laconia. Legends say that they were displaced by the Dorians and then they migrated to Achaea. They significantly impacted Italy, founding cities like Sybaris and Croton. The Eliolians inhabited a region in ancient Greece called Eliolius, which was located on the western coast of Anatolia. They migrated there from regions like Thessaly in central Greece. Specifically, they settled in areas stretching along the Aegean Sea from the Dardanals to the Hermos River. They also established settlements on the island of Lesbos. All these Greek tribes are believed to descend from Helen, son of Deucalion, and grandson of Prometheus. In mythology, Titans were celestial beings who fought the Olympian gods. The Olympians won their struggle, resulting in the defeat of the Titans. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus remained neutral along the conflict and therefore avoided punishments. After the war, Zeus enlisted them to perform tasks on earth. It is said that Prometheus formed human beings from the very mud and brick of the earth. According to Greek myth, shortly after Prometheus forged man, he began to pity them. Like other ancients and especially modern societies, it appears that these religious belief systems may have been used as an exploitation tool by the wealthy, for they knew that they could push these religious superstitions on the masses to create certain fears, especially those that were installed in the less educated and poor, to create an atmosphere of greater security over the temples of the Greek religion and a general control of the population. The ideology of the ruling class imposed on the lesser and poorer classes has always been an effective tool for control and domination, which allowed for economic exploitation of a minority that were blessed by the gods against a majority of the unfortunate, as they were excluded from the favorable gaze of the gods. Consequently, the religious elite of the temple were able to store their valuables for safekeeping. Additionally, much of these abundant assets that were deposited by the elites were acquired through slave exploitation. While the religious temples of ancient Greece can be regarded as security vaults for precious metals and other valuables, they could also be viewed as the forerunners of contemporary foreign trade and reserve banks. However, they were established 2,500 years after the Sumerians had established a similar system, which gives you an idea that the people of Sumer were the ancients of our ancient Greeks. The priest class of Greece, like the priests of Egypt, received generous gifts for their service for safeguarding their treasures. The priest class of Greece, like the priests of Egypt, received generous gifts for safeguarding these treasures. When the wealthiest temples of Delphi and Olympia were crammed with gold, silver, and other valuables, tiny treasure houses were built within the sacred precincts to prevent overflow. Consequently, later the temples already began to safeguard the valuables of the ruling class of the slavers as a matter of business and made regular and substantial charges for their service. In other words, these ancient temples were as much a religious establishment as much as a bank. Then, on top of that, the temples leveraged this storage service to lend from their own reserves and impose high interest rates. The financiers, whether they were religious or secular, facilitated certain loans, which could have been ingots of silver or other metals or even other forms of wealth such as grains to the slave nobility. Consequently, they became integral partners in the distribution of surplus goods derived from slave labor, capitalized directly by the slave aristocracy and indirectly by the Greek clergy's financiers. Just like in Mesopotamia from Sumer to classical Greece, silver and gold were dedicated as offerings in temples in the form of metal ingots. This seems to have emerged as the most appropriate forms for giving gifts to the gods. Athens is often viewed in the United States as the cradle of Western civilization. In large part, it is thanks due to the forced labor of the slaves and a system of accumulation of wealth, which was built upon a reliable monetary system from their silver mines, which isn't unlike the United States in that the US was also built on the use of slave labor. Then it was split from there, with the Ionians named after Ion, one of Zuthus's sons, so was the grandson of Helen, and then the other grandson, Recaius, the other son of Zuthus. The Achaean branch played a significant role in the Horic Age during which they perfected the art of war. Sparta, Argos, and Mycenae were prominent centers of activity. They were the central figures in the Trojan War, which recent discoveries appear to have shifted from a view that was once believed to be pure myth to a narrative likely containing elements of historic truth due to the excavations on the western shores of modern day Turkey. So, in other words, people thought it was a myth forever, and recent evidence seems to point that maybe there's a certain element of truth. The Ionians and Dorians initially had a minor role in ancient Greece, but later became prominent tribes, aiding in the rise of Athens and Sparta. Spartans were known for the military strength, they even trained children from the age of seven. In fact, in ancient Sparta, the only people honored with a name or marked graves and public ceremonies were men who died in battle and women who died in childbirth. Dying in combat was considered the highest sacrifice for a male Spartan, while women who died given birth were honored for their contribution to producing future warriors of the state. Other deaths did not receive public ceremonies or marked graves. Furthermore, they were so extreme that the newborn that was deemed to be too weak was often left to die, ensuring that only the strong survived. This reflected Sparta's strict societal values, which prioritized duty, sacrifice, and the collective good. Therefore, the granting of tombstones was a symbolic act of honor, primarily reserved for those who contributed directly to the state's warfare. Julius Caesar claimed that he was descended from the Trojan War Aeneas, son of Venus and Achaezus. Aeneas had journeyed from Troy to Italy as described in Virgil's Aeneid. As such, he was seen as the foundation for the Roman people. Caesar's family claimed to be part of this line, associating themselves with Romans' heroic origins. The Iliada and the Odyssey are considered the earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, though the exact composition dates are debated, with most scholars placing them around the 8th century BCE. These two epic poems, traditionally attributed to Homer, are foundational to Western literature, of which they came down to us from the archaic period of Greece as oral stories passed down through the generations. They were typically spoken or even sang in front of an audience as they were composed in a rhythmic form that's suited for oral performance. Scholars generally believe that the Iliad took place before the Odyssey and revolves around the Trojan War. The Odyssey, on the other hand, occurs after the events of the Iliad, as it was the tale of the heroic Odysseus, who returned home after being away for about 20 years, while his wife Penelope remained faithful to him. As such, Penelope would have been admired by the audience as she was a dedicated and loyal wife. Homer Troy, as depicted in Homer's Iliad, is generally believed to have existed around the 12th century BCE, sometime after the late Bronze Age collapse. Additionally, both epics are attributed to Homer. However, scholars debate whether he was a single poet or a collective name for generations of poets. These poems were likely written down some four to five hundred years after the fact in the 8th or 7th century BCE. Therefore, significant time would have passed from the time of the events before it was officially written down. So it would be nearly the equivalent of oral stories being passed down for the past 500 years of Columbus settling to the New World, but were finally written down within the past few decades. The city, possibly identified with the archaeological site of Hyserlich in modern-day Western Turkey, was a significant Bronze Age settlement that shows evidence of destruction layers during the time period of approximately 1180 BC, which matches Homer's timeline. Furthermore, it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Since it was believed that Troy may have actually existed, the question that many want to know is why was it destroyed? The myth says it was because of the abduction of Helen of Sparta by Paris, the Prince of Troy, an act that led to Helen's husband Menelius to assemble the Mycenaean Greeks to attack the city of Troy and to retrieve her. But the real reason for its destruction could have been from the result of conflicts over trade routes rather than just Helen's abduction. Furthermore, Hittite texts mention Welusa, possibly Troy, and a conflict with Ahihwa, which was possibly the Achaean Greeks. Also, in Frank Holt's book When Money Talks, he pointed out that in Wolfgang Peterson's Troy, which was made in 2004, King Priam handled coins. However, coins weren't invented for another 600 years or so when the Lydians invented them in Western Anatolia. Frank Holtz had an analogy that placing coinage in Humeric Troy is like putting Joan of Arc in a jet fighter at the 1429 siege of Oleon. Historians trace the Greek language back to the Indo-Europeans, a large and mysterious group of people from the distant past. In fact, Indo-Europeans spread so far and wide that approximately 42% of the world's population, or over 3.4 billion people, speak an Indo-European language as its first language. This makes Indo-European the largest language family in terms of the number of speakers. The first wave of Indo-Europeans arrived during the early and middle Heledic periods, which was around 2000 BCE. The archaeological record indicates that these Indo-Europeans were likely not peaceful settlers, as evidenced by the sudden destruction and displacement of pre-existing inhabitants. If some groups were not entirely displaced, they intermingled and intermarried with the newcomers. This cultural blending forged the Greek language as we know it today. During the Middle Hellic period, which was around 1600 BCE, Greeks and the Indo-European descendants began creating a sophisticated civilization, complete with citadels, temples, and palaces. Much of the civilization is found in the southern Greek city of Mycenae, leading historians to refer to this society as Mycenaean. For clarity purposes, historian W. H. Goltzman defines cultures as a structure of interrelated institutions, languages, ideas, values, myths, and symbols. They tend to be exclusive and even tribal. Civilizations, on the other hand, are open to new customs and ideas. Much of ancient Greece was governed similarly to the ancient Sumerians 2000 years prior, in that the society was run primarily through tribute and redistribution. However, the Sumerians were much more advanced in that they had established Canaan form as a written language, and from an operational standpoint, they had a version of ancient accountants that tracked all the comings and goings of the palace and the temples, something that the Greeks wouldn't have for quite some time. From these ledgers, leaders of the community would have accumulated excess foods and other items, and then they would have redistributed them back to the local population. The ancient Greeks also practiced ritual sacrifice, primarily involving animals, but also occasionally involving human beings, though human sacrifice was generally rare and viewed as an anomaly. Animal sacrifices were an essential part of Greek religious rituals, while human sacrifice occurred mostly during the times of crisis or as part of a special ritual. All male tribe members participated equally in the ancient rituals to express and understand tribal unity. Like gift exchange, this ritual was about reciprocity between individuals and the tribe, affirming each member's equality and obligation for survival. Just like the Sumerians in 3500 BCE, the Greek kings and priests were crucial for distributing necessities and maintaining order for the people and the gods. The people of Mesopotamia and the Levant were active in long distance trade well before and after the Bronze Age collapse. These traders coming to Greece would have transacted in goods, but more importantly, they would have shared their technologies and their mathematics and accounting or bookkeeping with the primitive and tribal institutions of Greece. Trade is more than just goods flowing from one civilization to another. Trade often involves the sharing of ideas, and these ideas will filter down to the population and ultimately will cause the local societies to evolve and adapt to new technologies and science. However, in this time period, the trade was still somewhat primitive as they were centuries away from developing financial markets, as financial markets allow strangers to exchange value through time more efficiently rather than the traditional reciprocity arrangements do. They do not require shared belief systems or cultural norms, but instead they need to simply have a structure in place for a documentation and enforcement of the trade. The economy in Homeric Greece was primitive in relation to the economies of Mesopotamia and the Levant. For one, there wasn't a currency. Wealth was measured in livestock, land, bronze tripods, and armor. An example being Achilles' prize in the Iliad Book 23. They relied on a guest friendship network, which was a sacred bond where strangers exchanged gifts. So an example being Odessa receives gifts from the Phaeacians in the Odyssey. Redistribution was a key factor. Chiefs redistributed war spoils, reinforcing social hierarchy. This was primarily used in primitive societies. So for example, this was how goods were redistributed in Sumer around 4000 BCE. Lastly, they relied on oaths and divine sanction. Enforcement relied on honor, fear of the gods, and social pressure, not legal contracts. In large part because with the small population size, oftentimes trade would have happened between people in the community. So one could risk being a social outcast if they did not follow societal norms. As such, there are several reasons why financial markets could not have existed yet. The most obvious being there wasn't a standardized money yet. Coins didn't appear until about the 7th century BCE when the Lydians invented them. But even before coinage, the people in Mesopotamia and the Levant were using metal ingots such as silver as a common and preferred medium of exchange. Even gold was used on occasion for luxury items. But it doesn't appear that this was very common in Greece at the time. They hadn't developed in personal exchange. Transactions required trust, kinship, or divine sanction, not neutral documentation. In other words, they just didn't have written contracts yet. Written contracts were definitely used in Mesopotamia and the Levant, but not in ancient Greece at this time. There wasn't a credit system. Loans existed, but they were not personal and not tradable. Unlike in Mesopotamia, where there was a thriving debt market that saw loans being actively bought and sold. And there was no legal infrastructure. Enforcement depended on customs, not courts or contracts. There wasn't a code of Hammurabi like there was in Babylon in 1750 BCE that would have established a legal framework for trade and debt. Additionally, it wasn't uncommon for lawsuits to happen at the time of Hammurabi that would have worked their way through the courts for literally years. This just wasn't the case in ancient Greece at this time. And the time frame we're talking right now is around the Bronze Age collapse, that time period. In Homeric Greece, trust was established through personal and familiar bonds. Whereas in modern economies, trust is established through impersonal contracts. Value was stored in Homeric Greece through prestige objects such as gold and arms. Whereas in modern economies, value is stored through money, stocks, and bonds, for example. Enforcement was mainly through the fear of public shame in Homeric Greece, unlike modern economies, where courts and regulators enforce economic activities. Lastly, the time horizon for economic activities was extremely short in Homeric Greece because it relied on gift giving and fees, whereas in modern economies, it can be short term in overnight lending, or it can be long term with 30-year bonds. The Greeks started to develop their financial system around the 6th and 5th century BCE when the use of coinage spread and they had maritime loans that appeared for long distance trade. Then in the 4th century BCE, banking became more commonplace. So for example, Passion's bank in Athens was started by a man who was once a slave, became a freedman, and ultimately owned his own bank. By the Hellenistic era, more complex credit was established. However, unlike in Mesopotamia a thousand years or so prior, there was still no secondary market to buy and sell debt that was available. Homeric Greeks relied on face-to-face exchange, not abstract financial instruments. Because financial markets require standardized money and personal trust through law code and the courts, and they also require tradable debt and equity. As much as the American school systems want to say that Greece was the foundation of Western civilization, one could make the argument that it was Sumer, not Greece, as it was flourishing over 2 to 3,000 years prior in southern Iraq. As such, they were much more advanced society in comparing them to the Greeks and basically every other culture for that matter. They had developed cuneiform writing around 3200 BCE, and the Babylonians around 2000 BCE were already working out mathematics, including advanced algebraic equations, quadratic and even cubic equations, as well as an innovative base 16 numeric system. They also made significant contributions in trigonometry, geometry, and astronomy. However, the Greeks were entering their dark age, which began after the late Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BCE. They still had little to no knowledge of numeracy, let alone a system of accounting that was already in place in Mesopotamia for nearly a thousand years by this point. The Macedonians were the first Greeks to develop writing, inventing linear B around 1000 BCE. Despite the rapid rise of Mycenaeans, their downfall was swift. Around 1200 BCE, their civilization abruptly collapsed as part of the overall late Bronze Age collapse. This period witnessed a widespread downfall of many civilizations, including the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, and the weakening of the Egyptian and Assyrian empires. The Mycenaean collapse was likely a combination of many factors, which included potential invasions, droughts, earthquakes, and disruptions in trade. This event ushered Greece into what is termed the Dark Ages, or sometimes referred to as the Homeric period following the Dorian invasion. The Dorian sect of the Greeks from the north seized control of the remnants of the Mycenaean settlements. This invasion prompted some older settlers to migrate across the Aegean Sea, establishing new communities on the west coast of Anatolia. The Dorians also crossed the sea heading towards Crete, Rhodes, and Lycia. However, part of the reason for the migration could have been from the fact that mainland Greece had poor soil, as it lacked rich alluvial valleys like the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia, which got its name because it was the land between the rivers. Mainland Greece possessed only a thin limestone soil, which was watered by an average of just 16 inches or 40 centimeters of rain per year, and it didn't have vast rivers and natural floods to provide hydration and the new soil. However, despite this, agriculture was the foundation of the Greek economy, involving nearly 80% of the population. Barley and olives were the main crops. It is also worth noting that olive trees required long-term investments, taking 20 years to mature and producing harvest every other year. They also grew grapes as well. These fruits could produce sufficient wine and olive oil to exchange for more abundant wheat and barley from abroad. Thus, trade became vital for its citizens to get enough caloric intake for survival. The fact remains that the mainland and even its islands had limited agricultural opportunities. Its population clustered on the coasts and as such, it ended up moving to more of a maritime society, even though philosophers such as Plato believed that the sea was corrupting and thus wanted Athens to adopt a more agrarian society despite its poor soil. Therefore, this developing maritime society pivoted from pure agriculture and started to engage in fishing, manufacturing, and trade. The ability to grow olive trees meant a proper management team would need to adequately plan and grow these trees for consumption and trade. Despite the long-term investment and yields that wouldn't be had every year, they could still be very valuable for those willing to invest time and resources. We have examples from the ancient world on how this would have been accomplished. For example, the Egabe family in the Neo-Babylonian and Persian empires were extremely successful bankers and businessmen from around 600 to 482 BCE. One of their most important and valuable investments was when they reworked the land leases with the farmers that allowed these farmers the time and resources to shift away from grains to grow date palms. And the return from planting date palms for the Agaby family lowered their rent to the tenants in their early years because this type of farming took longer to develop. So, therefore, they would have foregone short-term gains and rent to obtain much higher long-term gains from these trees, which typically took years to mature to yield crops. Babylonia had access to river water and didn't have to rely on rainfall, which was crucial because these trees required quite a bit of water and therefore typically had to be grown close to water supplies. So, in other words, growing fruit-bearing trees requires a huge investment. Olive trees were a long-term investment, taking many years to reach their full production yield. While they might start bearing fruit within four to eight years, they can take up to 15 to 20 years to reach their full production yield. The olive tree and its products, especially the olive oil, held immense economic and cultural importance in ancient Greece. Olive oil was a key commodity that they traded and it was used in various aspects of daily life, from food and cooking to medicine and religious rituals. As such, owning olive groves was a sign of wealth and social status. In addition, as the population rebounded, more fruit trees and land were needed to accommodate the repopulation of Greece. During the late Bronze Age, prior to the collapse, some scholars estimate that the population of Mycenaean Greece, which dominated the mainland during this period, would have been in the range of 500 to 700,000 people. However, this figure is uncertain. Following the Bronze Age collapse, which was from around 1200 BCE onwards, Greece experienced a significant population decline, with some estimates suggesting a decrease as much as 90% in certain parts of Greece in the following centuries. This decline is evidenced by the abandonment of many settlements and a shift to more rural living. This collapse pushed Greece into the dark ages starting around 1100 BCE following the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. While precise population numbers are difficult to determine, it is estimated that the population was significantly smaller than during the peak of the Mycenaean period. By 700 BCE, some scholars suggest that the total population of the Greek world, which would have included the mainland, the islands, and the colonies by the end of the Archaic period would have been around 1.5 to 3 million people, though estimates vary wildly. These population figures are rough estimates. However, as the population recovered from the Bronze Age collapse, the land couldn't support its population growth. Still, the ancient Greeks needed to import grains to sustain the repopulation growth and therefore began expanding trade by taking to the sea during the geometric period in ancient Greece, which was roughly between 900 and 700 BCE. This period saw them establish colonies and expand their influence around the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The Archaic period, which was from the 8th to 6th century BCE, further solidified their maritime dominance, with Greek colonies flourishing in various regions as its population recovered. In other words, as the population boomed, Greece cities needed to feed itself with imported wheat and barley. However, the Greeks weren't known to be cooperative with each other as they were constantly at each other's throats. They could have been viewed as cousins who couldn't get along. They had cultural and linguistic similarities, but they were not a unified nation. The only time they could truly unify was when there was an external threat, such as the Persians, but even then, they still couldn't get all the cities on board in defending the Greek way of life. However, population growth meant that the Greek farmer and its international maritime traders would need to get clarity on the supply and demand of domestic products. For this reason, Greek farmers depended on trade, especially with Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and the Near East. As such, Greek farmers and merchants needed to understand market demands to optimize surplus production. This growth in trade encouraged specialization, whether it was producing olive oil, wine, or pottery. The ability to generate surplus for trade allowed farmers to generate extra income that would have allowed them to afford hoplite armor and dedicate time to political life. The hoplite fan lanks, which was a heavily armored infantry, would emerge in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE as a result of the growing class of independent farmers. The cost of armor, whether it was the bronze helmet, the shield, or the swords, were very expensive and only manageable for those with steady surplus income. Hoplites were often viewed as the backbone of the early Greek democracies and oligarchies, especially in Athens and Sparta. Their military role gave them political leverage, thus reinforcing the link between economic independence and civic rights. This was especially true in the polis, which was the city-state, where landowning citizens were expected to serve as soldiers. In addition, this excess income through trade afforded the time and resources needed for participation in assembly as well. Some of this free time and money was attributed to slavery, but before the classical period, the landholdings were generally much smaller, so there weren't large plantations with numerous slaves yet. So in other words, slavery played a role, but not nearly as large as a role as it would play another couple hundred years later, where slavery was the backbone of their economic output. There is also believed that since Athens had poor soil, then the city would have been unappealing to invaders and plunderers, thus affording it a sturdy political climate. Greece's barley production was probably adequate, at least before the major population boom. Additionally, it wasn't long before Greeks began to demand wheat. However, growing wheat was a difficult task because of the air condition of Greece, as it just didn't produce dependable rainfall. However, producing wheat was a difficult task because of the air conditions of Greece, as it just didn't produce enough adequate rainfall. Therefore, even though wheat was in strong demand, wheat bread was only eaten on Greek feast days. This begs the question: where did the Greeks get the adequate wheat supplies? Before the 6th century BCE, it was mainly through the trade with Egypt. Much of this trade enabled goods to be bought from and sold to countries along the Mediterranean Sea. An extensive trade network developed between Greece, Egypt, and Anatolia, which included Lydia and small islands such as Crete and Cyprus. Despite all this, information about the Greek Dark Ages remained sparse at best. Nevertheless, it lasted until about 750 BCE when the Hellenic civilizations began to flourish once more. As the populations recovered and expanded, it would mean that trade and conflict would become much more central to its culture as the need to secure valuable resources became vital to its people's survival. Even after the Greeks began documenting events, it took time for them to become prolific writers. Therefore, it was around the end of the Dark Ages that the Greeks first learned to express themselves in writing and document their own history. Much of what we know comes from the Greek work of archaeologists and historians. In the early 1900s, the famous professor Carl Polani, who studied ancient economies, stated that the markets weren't part of Greek society, but were acting in a more primitive way than in later centuries. People became market centered much later with the development of the agora. The first agoras in ancient Greece began to emerge in the 8th century BCE during the geometric period. This period is known for the emergence of distinctive artistic styles, particularly in vase painting when Greece was coming out of the Dark Ages. These spaces served as central public areas for various activities, including political gatherings, marketplaces, and social events. The Agora of Athens, which became the most famous example, developed significantly during the 6th century BCE and continued to grow in importance through the classical period, which was from around 500 BCE to 323 BCE. Agores were vital for social and political life in the Greek city-states, playing a crucial role in the development of democracy and civic life. Modern historians have argued that earlier historians like Polani had little archaeological evidence to support their hypothesis, and there is a lack of evidence to support the absence of markets among the lower classes. Additionally, the total absence of marketplaces could be impractical for exchanges and surpluses. Therefore, modern historians see markets existing in cities of early antiquity similarly to modern societies. Since Europe was sparsely populated, most European tribes would have been rural in nature and hadn't developed any cities like Babylon or Nineveh, with the exception of the farmers, most were nomadic or herding dominions with large herds of oxen, cows, and sheep. Cattle was their most valuable asset. As such, eventually became the traditional value standard, whereas in Mesopotamia it was silver that functioned as their unit of account. This standard using cattle as their unit of account dates back to before Europe as cattle was unit of account in India back around 2000 BCE. Just as the cow is the equivalent commodity of exchange in the Vedic texts in India, an ox appears as unit of account in Homer's Greek poems. The primary difference between an ox and a cow lies in their use and sex. Oxen are typically castrated in male cattle, which was the steers that were trained to pull heavy loads, whereas cows are mature female bovines, primarily used for milk, dairy products, and occasionally meat. Functional money needs to be able to be divided up into smaller units. It's quite obvious that this doesn't apply to cows or oxen. If you try to divide up an ox, you are going to kill it, and therefore you have to trade it or eat it right away. Also, cattle aren't very portable as livestock is expensive and cumbersome to move. Cattle isn't a good store of value either, because a good store of value is an asset that retains its value over time, allowing it to be saved, retrieved, and exchanged in the future without significant depreciation. It essentially ensures that well today will not lose much of its purchasing power over time. The issue with oxen is that they generally have a working lifespan of about 10 years, plus they are expensive to maintain in terms of feed and protection. Also, they are prone to disease and can be eaten by predators such as wolves and large cats. In the society described by Homer's Iliad, a single gold talent was roughly equivalent in value to one ox. The epic features both goods-based units of value like cattle and a talent, which served as a standardized weight of precious metal. It is for this reason that the Latin word for money, pecunia, is derived from pecus, which means cattle. Across the ancient world, including Sumer, a few thousand years prior, the origin of interest derived from the offspring of livestock. The Sumerian word for interest signifies a calf or tidgoat. The ancient Egyptian equivalent mes means to give birth. In ancient Greek, interest is tokos or calf. The word usury derives from the Latin usurus, meaning one who has the use but not the ownership of a thing. In the 17th century, a loan was still commonly referred to as the use of money. While slavery was initially used but not widespread, Greek colonists expanded in the Mediterranean during the 8th century BCE, greatly institutionalized slavery and the commercial slave state, so much so that by the time we get to classical Athens, which had an estimated population of 430,000 people, slaves made up about 35% of the population, which would have put them between 60,000 and 150,000 individuals, posing significant political challenges. For comparison purposes, as of the 1860 census, the final census before the American Civil War, nearly 4 million enslaved people lived in the American South, making up approximately one-third of its total population. This percentage varies significantly across state lines, but this one-third is roughly the same as it was in Athens. However, chattel slavery in America was vastly different than that of slavery in Athens. The increased production capacity of Greece was only possible thanks to slavery. Without the institution, the Greeks could not have escalated productivity in agriculture and non-agricultural work. This institution was expanded greatly when the aristocracy in the cities stopped killing prisoners of war along with the families of the POWs. This would have included the elderly and the children, because they realized they could be a source of free labor and therefore could increase productivity that would contribute mightily to their wealth. Since these slaves were mostly from non-Hellenized territories, they were therefore classified as barbarians and not as equal human persons. Unlike in the American South and the Americas in general, slave labor in Greece went well beyond agriculture. It was also used in the construction industry and iron and silver and gold mines. In fact, the slaves that worked the Lurian mines nearer Athens enabled the Greeks to defeat the Persians as it allowed the Athenians to build a powerful navy. And slave workers built public works projects, including temples and roads, but also private projects. Slave labor was a vital part of their workshops for pottery, weapons, and textiles. The money invested by free Greek aristocrats and citizens to appropriate the surplus labor of the slaves and its surplus product will become capital, that is, a means of exploitation for the reproduction of the current slave system. The profits from enslaved labor reinforce the slave economy, creating a cycle where elites depended on the exploitation to maintain power and economic dominance. The major downside to slavery, besides the obvious human rights issues, is the reliance on slave labor discourages technological innovation, unlike later capitalist incentives. In Athens, debt bondage was a common issue among the citizens. This form of slavery persisted until 594 BCE when Solon, a legislator, abolished the law that permitted this practice against free Greek men as only Greek men could be citizens. Solon announced his cancellation of all mortgages for free men and reduced the interest rates on loans. Aristotle noted that before these reforms, the poor together with the children, were enslaved to the rich. Interest rates in ancient Greece remained constant for centuries. From the 5th century to the 2nd century BCE, the Temple of Apollo and Delos imposed a 10% interest rate on loans. This idea of canceling debt wasn't uncommon in the ancient world. In Mesopotamia, around 2,000 years prior, the rural poor were so far in debt that they were forced into debt bondage. However, this was bad for a couple reasons. For one, it appears that in Lagash, around 2400 BCE, an outright revolt happened, leading to an unstable government. Another issue of debt bondage of the rural poor meant that they couldn't fight for the king if they were called upon, or they couldn't harvest their crops to feed its soldiers and its citizens in a time of need. Therefore, it wasn't uncommon for Mesopotamian kings to implement clean slate programs to eliminate all debts by rural farm workers. Just like early bankers of Mesopotamia, Greek bankers operated in the institutions such as temples and palaces. However, financial services for farmers were likely more limited. Many farmers practiced subsistence agriculture, and the mountainous terrain and rocky soil meant large-scale grain production was difficult. While financial systems did not directly smooth consumption for the poor citizens, the large-scale state import of grain that was facilitated certainly did. The reason being was Greek city-states, particularly Athens, relied on grain imports and a system to manage these food supplies during famines. For example, Athens had special grain buyers and laws to control the import and sell of wheat. Early banking, both temple-based and later private, helped finance these large-scale state imports. The system was vital because Greek cities, including Athens, were unable to produce enough grain to feed its population due to the limited arable land. Therefore, financing trade was a key engine of Greece's economic and cultural interaction with other civilizations. Greek merchants sailed throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea, trading in goods and forging relationships with foreign peoples. So, therefore, if it wasn't for long distance trade, Greek cities could not grow as populations couldn't be supported. As such, the Greeks had no choice but to take to the sea and along overland trade routes. Long distance trade came with numerous risks, as it often meant long gaps between investment and return, created uncertainty. On top of the investment risk, there was the security risk as well as traders, whether they're Greek, Mesopotamian, Persian, these merchants all had to deal with deadly pirates, shipwrecks, political instability, and market fluctuations. These threats and uncertainties led to the development of maritime loans. Greek traders and their Phoenician counterparts developed early forms of maritime insurance, where loans were repaid only if the ship arrived safely. In the end, even though the Greeks were far behind technologically and even educationally in comparison to their Mesopotamian and Anatolian neighbors to the south, trade ultimately allowed them to play catch up and even pass these much more advanced civilizations economically. As the saying goes, it's not where you start but where you end. As the Greeks became better shipbuilders and sailors, it would go from being a minor player on the international stage to developing new forms of government, warfare, and technology. In addition, certain Greeks would take the Lydian invention of coins and enhance its development and expand the use of coinage throughout the Mediterranean, setting the stage for the building blocks of a banking sector to develop, which in turn allowed them to build one of the best navies in the known world. I want to thank you for taking your time to listen or watch this episode. If you like what you hear and want to donate to the show, you can visit us at patreon.comslash history of money banking trade. Or you can visit our website at moneybankingtrade.com. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.