The economy of classical Athens is one of the few complex economies of antiquity about which we have detailed information. Compared to other cities, Athens was an outwardlooking polis, even extremely so, if one considers Athens’ deliberate policy of large-scale imports of food and its central position in a trading network. Many poleis were much more introverted, largely agricultural, and strove for self-sufficiency. Sparta, Athens’ opposite number, was self-sufficient as far as food was concerned, and it was not much dependent on the outside world for anything else either. One might say that the economic life of Sparta was of a decidedly primitive character when compared to that of Athens. During the period under discussion, the same conclusion applies to Rome. So it seems reasonable to focus on Athens.
Every Athenian had to spend on food, mostly grain: some wheat, but above all barley; on clothing, or on the raw materials for making clothes, which often was done at home; on shelter; on fuel; and on ironmongery, ceramics and the like, products usually provided by specialist craftsmen and not produced in the house. All but the poorest also spent money on a range of products and services to assist in the fulfillment of one’s religious duties. Almost every Athenian had to save some money for the occasional bigger outlay, such as investment in one’s own or someone else’s enterprise, providing one’s daughters with a dowry, or paying taxes, if one was wealthy enough to be liable to being taxed.
Under normal circumstances, the ordinary Athenian citizen did not pay any poll taxes; only the wealthy were supposed to contribute the so-called leitourgiai (liturgies). A liturgy is taxation in the sense that liturgies were a way to cream off the highest incomes in the Athenian polis, but the ideology was different. Whoever took it on himself to pay a liturgy, or rather was compelled to do so, at the most once every two years, presented to his fellow citizens something concrete, such as the defrayment of the costs of a religious festival or the fitting out of a warship. Thus, a liturgy was presented not so much as taxation than as a particular kind of patronage.
Antiquity: Greeks and Romans in Context, First Edition. Frederick G. Naerebout and Henk W. Singor. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Map 11 Athens, 5th-4th c. BC
The costs of a so-called common liturgy were a few hundred drachmas, while the so-called extraordinary liturgies, such as the trierarchy, that is, the fitting out and sailing of a trieres, caused the generous trierarch to lose at least one talent (a talent is 60 mina, or 6000 drachmas) of his property. Liturgies were imposed upon the small group of wealthy citizens whose property was valued at one talent or over. This group consisted of 2000 people at the most. The even smaller group of those possessing 3 to 4 talents, a half to one percent of the total citizen population, bore the brunt of this system of compulsory gift giving. In return, the liturgists got to pull strings in the political life of Athens. These very few well-to-do individuals were not only notable because they spent so much on liturgies, but also for conspicuous consumption: by spending on luxury goods and services, they displayed their wealth and status.
Of other forms of benevolence by the wealthy, there is not much to tell: they assisted their friends and relatives in times of financial crisis, and made regular small contributions as the patron of a circle of dependents. But charity did not exist. Distributing food certainly was one of the many ways in which the rich let their fellow citizens share in their opulence, to the credit of themselves and their families, but this was never restricted to the needy:
Every citizen got his share, including the affluent, who often got a larger share precisely because they were rich and distinguished. Benevolence, whether in the form of a liturgy or an occasional gift, was aimed at the entire community, and not only at the needy members of that community.
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