Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:36:24.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Labor and Employment

from Part III - Business/Commerce

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2021

By
David M. Lewis
Edited by
Jenifer Neils  and
Dylan K. Rogers
Jenifer Neils
Affiliation:
American School of Classical Studies, Athens
Dylan K. Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get access

Summary

This chapter studies working life at Athens, sketching the range of occupations in the Athenian economy, from farming in the countryside to artisans, vendors, and purveyors of services in the city.

Keywords

laboreconomyoccupationsslaveryartisans
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens , pp. 217 - 230
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Much has changed in the last two decades regarding general views of the ancient Greek economy; a splendid, detailed, and up-to-date vade mecum is Bresson 2016. On the range of occupations in Attika, see Harris 2002, with supplements in Lewis 2020. Taylor 2017 provides an overview of the working population of Athens’ living standards; Lewis 2018, 167–193 discusses the slave population, whilst Brock 1994 discusses the labor of women. Spantidaki 2016 provides a wide-ranging study of textile production. Hasaki 2012 is a useful entry-point to the study of the crafts of potter, smith, and mason, while Sanidas 2013 provides a catalogue of excavated workshops. On masons, Hochscheid 2015 is fundamental. See Vidale 2002 for a detailed study (with many images) of the iconography of artisans, along with Oakley 2020, 47–70 for depictions of workshops on Athenian vases. Acton 2014 contains useful discussion of manufacture but should be used with caution (see the useful review of Rotroff in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.04.23).

Bibliography

Acton, P. 2014. Poiesis: Manufacturing in Classical Athens. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bresson, A. 2016. The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy: Institutions, Markets, and Growth in the City-States. Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, R. 1994. “The Labour of Women in Classical Athens.” CQ 44.2: 336–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll-Spillecke, M. 1992. “The Gardens of Greece from Homeric to Roman Times.” Journal of Garden History 12.2: 84–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, J.K. 2016. “Aristonikos and the Fishmongers.” In Studies on Wealth in the Ancient World, eds. Santangelo, F. and Bissa, E., London, 21–32.Google Scholar
Dercy, B. 2015. Le travail des peaux et du cuir dans le monde grec antique. Naples.Google Scholar
Fachard, S., and Bresson, A.. Forthcoming. “Athens and the Aegean.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy, ed. von Reden, S., Cambridge.Google Scholar
Faraguna, M. 2008. “Calcolo economico, archivi finanziari e credito nel mondo greco tra VI e IV sec. a.C.” In Pistoi Dia Tèn Technèn: Bankers, Loans, and Archives in the Ancient World, eds. Verboven, K., Vandorpe, K., and Chankowski, V., Leuven, 33–57.Google Scholar
Foxhall, L. 2007. Olive Cultivation in Ancient Greece: Seeking the Ancient Economy. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, E.M. 2002. “Workshop, Marketplace, and Household: The Nature of Technical Specialization in Classical Athens and its Influence on Economy and Society.” In Money, Labour, and Land: Approaches to the Economies of Ancient Greece, eds. Cartledge, P.A., Cohen, E.E., and Foxhall, L., London, 67–99.Google Scholar
Hasaki, E. 2012. “Workshops and Technology.” In A Companion to Greek Art, eds. Smith, T.J. and Plantzos, D., Malden, MA, 255–272.Google Scholar
Hochscheid, H. 2015. Networks of Stone: Sculpture and Society in Archaic and Classical Athens. Oxford.Google Scholar
Hurwit, J.M. 2015. Artists and Signatures in Ancient Greece. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ismard, P. 2017. Democracy’s Slaves: A Political History of Greece. Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korres, M. 2001. From Pentelicon to the Parthenon: The Ancient Quarries and the Story of a Half-Worked Column Capital of the First Marble Parthenon. Athens.Google Scholar
Lewis, D.M. 2018. Greek Slave Systems in their Eastern Mediterranean Context, c. 800–146 bc. Oxford.Google Scholar
Lewis, D.M. 2020. “Occupational Hazards: Gauging the Extent of Horizontal Specialization in the Classical Athenian Economy.” In Professionals and Skilled Labour in Ancient Greece and Rome, eds. Stewart, E., Harris, E.M., and Lewis, D.M., Cambridge, 129–174.Google Scholar
Lohmann, H. 1992. “Agriculture and Country Life in Classical Attica.” In Agriculture in Ancient Greece, ed. Wells, B., Stockholm, 29–57.Google Scholar
Loomis, W.T. 1998. Wages, Welfare Costs, and Inflation in Classical Athens. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Oakley, J.H. 2020. A Guide to Scenes of Daily Life on Athenian Vases. Madison.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, R. 1985. Demos: The Discovery of Classical Attika. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. 1991. “Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Subsistence: Exchange and Society in the Greek City.” In City and Country in the Ancient World, eds. Rich, J. and Wallace-Hadrill, A., London, 119–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pernin, I. 2014. Les baux ruraux en Grèce ancienne: corpus épigraphique et étude. Lyon.Google Scholar
Raepsaet, G. 2002. Attelages et techniques de transport dans le monde gréco-romain. Brussels.Google Scholar
Reger, G. 2005. “The Manufacture and Distribution of Perfume.” In Making, Moving, and Managing: The New World of Ancient Economies, eds. Archibald, Z., Davies, J.K., and Gabrielsen, V., Oxford, 253–297.Google Scholar
Sanidas, G.M. 2013. La production artisanale en Grèce. Une approche spatiale et topographique à partir des exemples de l’Attique et du Péloponnèse du VIIe au Ier siècle avant J.-C. Paris.Google Scholar
Spantidaki, S. 2016. Textile Production in Classical Athens. Oxford.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. 2017. Poverty, Wealth, and Wellbeing. Experiencing Penia in Democratic Athens. Oxford.Google Scholar
Vidale, M. 2002. L’idea di un lavoro lieve. Il lavoro artigianale nelle immagini della ceramica greca tra VI e IV secolo a.C. Padua.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×