Greek Economy

After the Peloponnesian War was over in 404 BC, everyone in Greece was poorer than before, and many men who had been soldiers were out of work. So a lot of those men went to be mercenary soldiers for Persia. We hear about it from a Greek general named Xenophon, who wrote about fighting for Persia.

When Alexander conquered Greece, and then all of West Asia in the 330's and 320's BC, the Greek economy picked up again. Greek traders were able to travel all over West Asia, all the way to India, selling their wine and olive oil, and buying all kinds of things. The Hellenistic period was a good time for the Greeks - until they were conquered by the Romans in the 100's BC.

To find out more about the Hellenistic economy, check out these books from Amazon.com or your library:

Trade & Warfare, by Robert Hull (2000). For kids ages 9-12.

The Ancient Economy by Walter Scheidel, Sitta Von Reden (2002). A collection of essays by different specialists, but written for the non-specialist.

Economy and Society in Ancient Greece, by Moses Finley (revised edition 1983)

The Ancient Economy, by Moses Finley (revised edition 1999). This has been the starting point for academic discussions of the Greek and Roman economy since it first came out thirty years ago.

The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests, by G.E.M. De Ste Croix (1989). A Marxist interpretation.

Hellenistic Economies, by Zofia H. Archibald, John Davies, Vincent Gabrielsen, G. J. Oliver (2001). By specialists, for specialists.