The Political Economy of Classical Athens : A Naval Perspective

In The Political Economy of Classical Athens - a Naval Perspective , Barry O'Halloran offers an account of the economic history of classical Athens in which its strategy of naval conquest provided the foundations for a period of unprecedented economic efflorescence. ‎Contents 5 ‎Preface 8 ‎Figures, Tables and Graphs 10 ‎Figures 10 ‎Tables 10 ‎Graph 10 ‎Introduction 11 ‎Chapter 1. Primitive Positions—the Oikos Debate 25 ‎1. The Defining Quartet—Marx, Weber, Polanyi and Finley 25 ‎2. The Ancient Economy Post-Finley 43 ‎Chapter 2. New Perspectives 47 ‎1. Institutions—the Engines of History 47 ‎2. Materialist Man and His Motivations 50 ‎3. The Only Constant is Change 52 ‎4. Commerce, Conquest and Colonisation 53 ‎5. The Malthusian Trap and Economic Efflorescences 56 ‎Chapter 3. Warfare States 61 ‎1. Path Dependence 61 ‎2. The Political Economies of Athens and Sparta: a Comparative Analysis 67 ‎3. The Spartan Naval Mirage 80 ‎Chapter 4. War, Strategy and the Transition to Triremes 86 ‎1. The Gift of Ares and Athenian Conquest Strategy 86 ‎2. Emerging Patterns of War 87 ‎3. Strategy 90 ‎4. Early Athenian Expansionism 94 ‎5. The Transition to Triremes 98 ‎6. Private to Polis Navies 107 ‎Chapter 5. The Late Archaic Transition—the Naval Evidence 112 ‎1. Athens’ ‘Turn to the Sea’ 116 ‎2. Casus Belli 122 ‎3. The Athenian Naval Revolution 126 ‎4. Themistocles’ Naval Expansion 129 ‎Chapter 6. Money, Markets and Naval Procurement 138 ‎1. Coinage, Silver and Money Supply 138 ‎2. Trireme Costs and Lifespan 148 ‎3. Trireme Timber and Naval Procurement 151 ‎4. Provisioning the Fleet—a Network of Markets 163 ‎Chapter 7. Naval Institutions—Trierarchy 174 ‎1. The Rules of the Game 174 ‎2. Liturgy—Delivering Public Goods 175 ‎3. Trierarchy—Delivering the Fleet 177 ‎4. Trierarchy in Theory and Practice 181 ‎5. Trierarchy—Institutional Evolution 183 ‎6. Cleruchy—Further Institutional Adaptation 187 ‎Chapter 8. Naval Innovation 193 ‎1. The Archaic Fleet and Athenian Defence Strategy 193 ‎2. Naval Technological Innovation—the Ram 200 ‎3. Greek Innovation in Nautical Design 208 ‎Chapter 9. Naval Defence Infrastructure 222 ‎1. Shipsheds 223 ‎2. The Athenian Circuit Walls 227 ‎3. The Piraeus 228 ‎4. The Long Walls 233 ‎5. Estimating the Costs 236 ‎Chapter 10. Soldiers, Sailors, Citizens 239 ‎1. Hoplite Ideology and Its Persistence 241 ‎2. Schools of Democracy 248 ‎3. Athenian Trireme Crews 255 ‎4. Mercenaries, Metics and Slaves 257 ‎5. The Trireme School of Democracy 264 ‎Chapter 11. The Ancient Athenian Naval Economy 273 ‎1. Economic Growth 273 ‎2. Instrumental Behaviour, Self-Interest and Markets 277 ‎3. The Athenian Labour Market 285 ‎4. The Naval Economy 289 ‎5. Size Matters 295 ‎Chapter 12. The Wealth of Naval Athens 301 ‎1. The Versatile Trireme 301 ‎2. Counting the Cost of Naval Deployments 304 ‎3. The Business of Empire 310 ‎4. Costs of War 313 ‎5. Ancient Athenian Keynesians 317 ‎Conclusions 325 ‎Appendix: Sources 336 ‎Bibliography 344 ‎Index 381 Recently there has been a welcome revival of scholarly interest in the economy of classical Greece. In the face of increasingly compelling arguments for the existence of a market economy in classical Athens, the Finleyan orthodoxy is finally relinquishing its long dominion. In this book, Barry O{u2019}Halloran seeks to contribute to this renewed debate by re-interrogating the ancient evidence using more recent economic interpretative frameworks. The aim is to re-evaluate accepted orthodoxies and present the economic history of this emblematic city-state in a new light. More specifically, it analyses the economic foundations of Athens through the prism of its navy. Its macroeconomic approach utilises an employment-demand model through which enormous naval defence expenditures created an exceptional period of demand-led economic growth.--Publisher's description Recently there has been a welcome revival of scholarly interest in the economy of classical Greece. In the face of increasingly compelling arguments for the existence of a market economy in classical Athens, the Finleyan orthodoxy is finally relinquishing its long dominion. In this book, Barry O'Halloran seeks to contribute to this renewed debate by re-interrogating the ancient evidence using more recent economic interpretative frameworks. 0The aim is to re-evaluate accepted orthodoxies and present the economic history of this emblematic city-state in a new light. More specifically, it analyses the economic foundations of Athens through the prism of its navy. Its macroeconomic approach utilises an employment-demand model through which enormous naval defence expenditures created an exceptional period of demand-led economic growth