While history tends to be told in terms of battles and important figures, Quebecois historian Léopold Migeotte reminds us here that the founding purpose of civilizations is economic, and here offers readers a clear and concise overview of ancient Greek economies from the archaic to the Roman period. He approaches Greek economic activities from the perspective of the ancient sources from the context of the city-state (polis) and explains how citizens intervened in the economy in such key sectors as agriculture, craft industries, public works, and trade over the course of a millennium.
"A very mature and thought-provoking book introducing an immense range of aspects in very little space."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"Eschewing the anachronistic oversimplification of modernist and formalist theory ... Migeotte's accessible text restores the ancient economy—embedded, as the sources show, in a political, social, and cultural context—to its proper place in Greek civilization. A triumph of scholarly yet readable exposition."—Nicholas F. Jones
