Social economy in classical times

The prominent feature of Greek social economy in the classical period was the extremely unbalanced development. On the one hand, in a few city-States, handicraft industry and commerce have been relatively highly developed, and slave labor has been widely used in the production field; On the other hand, most city-states still maintain the ancient appearance, and the self-sufficient natural economy continues to occupy the dominant position. The polis maintained the characteristics of agriculture, which was still the leading sector of the economy in classical times, and the land ownership and civil rights continued to maintain an inevitable relationship. Most citizens live in rural areas, especially in Tessali in northern Greece, Biotia in central Greece and most parts of southern Greece. The same is true in some city-states with highly developed handicrafts and commerce, such as Athens and Corinth, but to different degrees.

In terms of land relations, small and medium-sized land ownership still dominates, so most of the classical period is the period of the rise and stability of polis. Taking Athens as an example, due to the victory of the Greek-Persian war, the opening of overseas military colonies and the improvement of national economic conditions, the number of third-class citizens living a well-off life increased from about 1 10,000 at the beginning of the war to 20,000 in 430 BC. In the city-states where industry and commerce are relatively developed, private ownership of land is also relatively developed, thus forming some relatively large real estates, such as the famous Athenian politicians Meng Ke and Perikles, who are relatively large landlords. In economically backward areas, land ownership is different. Sparta and Crete, some Dorian-ruled city-states, kept the real estate basically flat, while in northern Greece, Thessaly was popular with aristocratic real estate. In addition to private land of different sizes, many Greek city-states also have a certain amount of public land. For example, Athens directly controls woodlands and grasslands. Each village also has its own small piece of public land.

Different management methods are implemented for citizens' land of different scales. On Tessali's large estate, dependent farmers like Spartans and Silos (Pi? estas) cultivated in their families. They are the conquered, and they have to pay part of their income to the real estate owners every year, and they are obliged to go out with their owners. In Athens, most citizens who own a lot of real estate are descendants of old nobles. How they operate is unknown. Judging from the existing historical data, some owners live in their own real estate and directly manage the economic activities on the real estate, such as guest Mongolia. Some were handed over to slave butlers. For example, Perikles's property was managed by his slave Vangel, and the products were shipped to various cities for sale, but the output and income were not much, even not enough for Perikles's political activities. As for the nature of the direct producer of its real estate, it is not clear at present. At that time, the agricultural field in Athens used the labor of slaves, employees and tenants at the same time, so all three forms could exist.

The management mode of independent citizens' small real estate varies according to the specific situation of the country. In Sparta, Crete and other places, small property owners are still small slave owners, cruelly exploiting the labor of plowing slaves. In Athens and most city-states, independent small producers and their family members are hard cultivators.

State-owned land is usually used for lease For example, public land in Athens is one of the regular sources of national fiscal revenue. The lease term is generally 10 year, and the lessee pays the rent during the term of the presidium of the ninth 500-member Council every year. All land owned by village units can also be leased for a long or short period. The term of long-term lease can remain unchanged for 40 years. There are certain procedures for signing a lease, and the lessee needs to pay a deposit or some personal property as collateral. The obligations of the lessee at least include paying the rent on time, not cutting down the trees on the leased land and caring for the buildings on the leased land. For those who fail to pay the rent on time, the landowner has the right to cancel the lease, confiscate the products in the land, and even deprive the lessee of his citizenship. National pastures are also used for leasing, and the lessee can be a collective, an individual or even a foreigner.

Private ownership of land developed in classical times, but there is no modern concept of private ownership that any city-state can arbitrarily control, buy, sell and transfer. In the states with slow development of private ownership, the prohibition of non-transferability of citizens' land has been maintained for a long time, and the land system in Sparta is a typical example. In Athens, private ownership developed rapidly, and the transfer of land took place long before Solon's reform.

As far as crop varieties and farming techniques are concerned, there is basically no difference between classical times and ancient times. Only in the city-states with developed industry and commerce, due to the increase of urban population, the demand for commercial agricultural products has increased, which has prompted farmers to change the planting area of traditional crops and the treatment methods of products to a certain extent, plant more cash crops such as olives, grapes and figs, and commercialize the remaining products and transport them to the urban market for sale. In aristophanes's comedies, we often meet small farmers who sell their products directly. In the classical era, the industry and commerce developed greatly, the division of labor within the handicraft industry deepened day by day, and the local fair trade market has been formed. In some cities with rapid economic development, the transformation from political, religious and cultural centers to handicraft and commercial centers has been completed.

Pottery industry is a rapidly developing handicraft sector in classical times. Pottery has always been the most common necessity of ancient people. It is not only an indispensable item in people's daily life, but also used to preserve and transport products over a long distance. In classical times, with the prosperity of cities and the activity of commercial trade, the demand for pottery increased, which led to the prosperity of pottery industry. Athens, Corinth, Thessaly, Aegean Islands, the Black Sea coast, Sicily and the Greek city-states in southern Italy all have their own pottery manufacturing industries to meet the needs of local residents. Pottery industry is dominated by individual craftsmen. But in some cities, there are also large-scale workshops, using dozens of slave craftsmen. In the pottery workshop, there has been a very fine internal division of labor, including molding, painting, firing and other processes. Slaves usually finished some standardized products, and painted pottery with high technical level was mostly made by foreign craftsmen. In the 5th century BC, the most popular decorative form of pottery was a red pattern on a black background. In this respect, Athens is in a leading position in pottery making, and the so-called "red line" pottery made by its craftsmen is the best in classical painted pottery.

The deepening of the division of labor in handicraft industry is not only manifested in pottery industry, but also in various handicraft departments related to residents' lives, all of which have similar trends of progress and specialization. In aristophanes's comedies, we can see all kinds of craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, masons, shoemakers, tanners, jewelers, weavers, carpet workers, woolen workers, carpenters, bricklayers, cheese workers, bakers, flour grinders and so on. Some blacksmiths specialize in making weapons, while others specialize in making farm tools. In addition to pottery workshops, there are weapons workshops and furniture workshops.

The development of cities in the classical period promoted the construction industry, especially in Athens. When Perikles was in power, in order to create employment opportunities for poor citizens and beautify the city, the state allocated huge sums of money to build a large number of public buildings, such as the gate of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the concert hall and many other buildings. The construction method adopts the contract system, that is, the relevant responsible departments of the state divide the architectural design into several pieces and hand them over to the contracted citizens for construction. The contractor can hire craftsmen, rent slaves from others for direct construction, or sublet them to other contractors for indirect construction. On a large construction site, citizens, foreigners and slaves can be seen working together.

Mining industry was the handicraft sector that accommodated the largest labor force in ancient times. Los Tam silver mine in Athens was widely mined in classical times. The state divides mines into several parts and rents them to individual citizens. The lessee uses his own slaves or rents the slaves of others, and employs poor citizens to mine, screen and smelt. The work in the mine is done by slaves, and the work in the pit does not exclude the work of citizen employees. When silver mines flourished, the number of miners was as high as 20,000-30,000.

The development of handicrafts and commerce go hand in hand. The concentration of population and the accumulation of wealth in cities lead to frequent commodity exchange. Besides grains, fruits, honey, wine, eggs, poultry and textiles, there are various products, such as fish, oil, vinegar, onions, charcoal, wood, shoes, clothes, swords, guns, shields, carpets, locks and cheese. Due to the increasingly close combination of daily life and exchange in cities, smaller coins appeared in Greece at the turn of the 5th-4th century BC. With the commercial development of cities all over the world, a few remaining city-states have developed active foreign trade. However, the foreign trade of Greek city-states is a private matter, and the state only gives encouraging policies. The foreign trade of Athens, Corinth, Caius, Megara, Ejina and Syracuse is very prosperous. Some shrewd businessmen from all over the world have been running around, buying, transferring and selling profitable goods. In international business communication, Athens has obvious advantages, because it established maritime hegemony after the Greek-Persian war, and it controlled the trade routes in the Aegean Sea. For some rare items it needs, such as red lead on the island of Caius, a monopoly is imposed, stipulating that operators can only export their products to Athens.

The development of commodity exchange relations has caused difficulties in currency exchange between countries. The complex exchange value is difficult for businessmen to master. So in those cities with frequent transactions, a group of money changers called "people sitting at the table" came into being. Because they always set a table in the market and sit there to do business. In Athens, Xiju 'ang, Thebes and other states, there are also banks specializing in currency exchange and deposit and delivery. These earliest financial personnel are familiar with the currencies and transactions of various countries, charge a certain fee when exchanging money with customers, and concurrently engage in usury. Lenders need to use their own property as collateral. The most profitable law is the loan for overseas trade, because the risk is greater.

Due to the active business and market, the state has set up special market managers to maintain the normal conduct of transactions. Athens has public offices such as market supervisor, weighing instrument supervisor, grain trade supervisor and port supervisor.

The composition of city-state industrialists and businessmen is diverse. Take Athens, which has the richest historical materials, as an example. Most employees are foreign immigrants without nationality, which is called "metics" in Greek. In terms of identity, Maitik does not refer to people who live and do business temporarily in other countries, but refers to foreigners who live in Athens or Paris, another city in Athens for a long time, especially foreign immigrants who have settled down. For example, the owner of the largest handicraft workshop in Athens is Metic, the original financier is Metic, and most professional businessmen are Metic. Their social status in Athens is low. People with Metik status must be approved by the Athens government, registered on the relevant roster, and have special obligations, such as paying poll tax, business tax and military service. The wealthy Maitik also needs to pay a special property tax-social donation, which is used to build warships and hold festivals. Metik's rights and interests are only limited protected by the government. For example, if a citizen kills Maitik, he is only sentenced to manslaughter, and the sentencing shall be subject to manslaughter. On the contrary, if Metik violates the laws of Athens, he will be sold as a slave and his property will be confiscated. In addition, Metik must have a citizen guarantor in Athens to handle possible legal disputes for him. Metik, who has made great contributions to Athens, can be granted citizenship after discussion and approval by the citizens' assembly. The number of immigrants in Athens in classical times is not clear, but at the end of 4th century BC, there was a figure of 10000. It is speculated that the prosperity stage of the city-state in the classical era may be greater than this figure.

Generally speaking, the Greek economy at this time is a mixed economy of agriculture, industry and commerce, in which agriculture occupies an overwhelming advantage. Each state has its own handicraft industry and commerce, but according to different historical conditions, both of them account for more or less of the economy. Sparta is the largest country in Greece, and its industry and commerce are the most backward. The country has only industry and commerce for its own consumption in Pirasian villages and towns. And Athens has the most developed industry and commerce. But it did not deviate from the road based on agriculture in ancient times. During and after the Persian War, the demand for weapons and equipment, the increase of urban population and the rapid accumulation of personal wealth, especially monetary property, stimulated the development of handicrafts and commerce. Some city-states took advantage of the victory of the war and began to widely use slave labor in the field of commodity production. Greek slavery entered a prosperous stage, which was manifested in the following aspects:

1, the number of slaves has surged and the sources are extensive. After the middle of the 5th century BC, the number of slaves increased significantly in Athens, Corinth, Russia and a few other industrialized city-states. Although there was no exact demographic data in ancient times, from the perspective of Athens with a large number, the total number of slaves was at least 70,000-90,000, almost equal to the total number of citizens and their families. No country in the ancient world had such a high proportion of slaves and freemen. Moreover, the sources of slaves are obviously diversified and there are rules to follow. Debt slaves have been banned in Greece, and three main channels are popular: prisoners of war slaves, slave trade and natural reproduction of slaves. The Greeks believe in the principle that the winner is king and the loser is slave. In peacetime, the slave trade is more frequent. Greece bought a large number of slaves from surrounding areas, especially from the Black Sea coast, Thrace and Illyria, where tribal leaders often sold their clan members as slaves. In addition, debt slavery prevailed in Asia Minor, which was another stable source of Greek slaves. Greek slave owners also attached great importance to the natural reproduction of slaves, and they did not prohibit slaves from getting married and having children. Many domestic slaves can bring rich income to their owners through skills and self-cultivation training.

With the development of slavery, large slave markets appeared in Athens, Russia and Taylor. Slaves were traded in the same way as other commodities. Slave dealers show their slaves naked, introduce their temperament and age to buyers, let them see and bargain with them. The price of male slaves is 70- 100 drachma, and that of female slaves is 135-220 drachma. The price of a slave is equivalent to a year's meal for an adult. Owning slaves is not only a symbol of decency, but also a source of income.

2. The widespread application of slave labor. During this period, slave labor was widely used in various production departments of some polis. The most concentrated use of slaves is mining. At the most, there were about 20,000 to 30,000 slaves working in the mine of the Lorovin silver mine in Athens. The second slave workshop that accommodated a large number of slave laborers was in Athens, Corinth, Megara, Syracuse and other cities. The largest slave workshop used as many as 120 slave craftsmen. As for the handicraft and commercial sectors such as construction and navigation, there are also many slaves. Slave labor is also increasingly infiltrating into the agricultural field. In addition to Sparta, Thessaly and Crete, which have always been dominated by slave labor, slave farms have also appeared in the agriculture of city-states such as Athens, which are dominated by citizen labor. Due to the in-depth development of slavery, a few slave owners began to give part of their property to slaves in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of slave labor and collect the income created by slaves. Such slaves can have families and live a relatively independent life, which is better than that of slaves in agriculture and mines. Similar to their situation is a large number of domestic slaves. They act as janitors, cleaners, cooks, hairdressers, kabuki, maids and so on. The more advanced slaves are the knowledge slaves such as the housekeeper, documents, teachers and doctors of the slave owners. In Athens, a country with obvious slavery nature, there are still some special slaves, that is, slaves in the state machine, such as junior civil servants, jailers, street cleaners, coin mints, policemen and so on. There are about 700 slaves in charge of public affairs.

3. The social status of slaves. Greek thinkers defined slaves as "living property" and "the most perfect tool among all tools". Because slaves are objects and tools, the Greeks generally excluded them from the scope of legal protection and did not treat slaves as human beings. For example, disobedient slaves can be punished: chained, tortured, twisted joints, filled with vinegar and burned to death. However, in some areas, such as the Golkin Law in Crete, slaves are allowed to marry with freemen, and children born out of wedlock can become freemen. Slaves in Athens can walk in the streets like citizens and will not make way for free people. Slave owners have no right to kill slaves at will. Although the status of slaves in different city-states is different, this does not change the fact that slaves are the lowest, most oppressed and exploited class in society. Because slavery penetrated into every field of city-state life, it left a deep imprint on the whole Greek society.