The Political Economy of Classical Athens: A Naval Perspective

390 Pages·2018·1.87 MB·English

by  Barry O'Halloran

Mnemosyne
Supplements
history and archaeology
of classical antiquity
SeriesEditor
HansvanWees(UniversityCollegeLondon)
AssociateEditors
JanPaulCrielaard(VrijeUniversiteitAmsterdam)
BenetSalway(UniversityCollegeLondon)
volume 425
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/mns‑haca
The Political Economy
of Classical Athens
ANavalPerspective
By
BarryO’Halloran
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Coverillustration:TriremeFleet.ThisimageisanoriginalwatercolourillustrationbyartistMieke
Vanmechelen.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailableonlineathttp://catalog.loc.gov
TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill‑typeface.
ISSN2352-8656
ISBN978-90-04-38614-3(hardback)
ISBN978-90-04-38615-0(e-book)
Copyright2019byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillHes&DeGraaf,BrillNijhoff,BrillRodopi,
BrillSense,HoteiPublishing,mentisVerlag,VerlagFerdinandSchöninghandWilhelmFinkVerlag.
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Συνοδοιπόροιςτεκαὶσυμπλοῖς
∵
Contents
Preface xi
Figures,TablesandGraphs xiii
Introduction 1
1 PrimitivePositions—theOikosDebate 15
1 TheDefiningQuartet—Marx,Weber,PolanyiandFinley 15
2 TheAncientEconomyPost-Finley 33
2 NewPerspectives 37
1 Institutions—theEnginesofHistory 37
2 MaterialistManandHisMotivations 40
3 TheOnlyConstantisChange 42
4 Commerce,ConquestandColonisation 43
5 TheMalthusianTrapandEconomicEfflorescences 46
3 WarfareStates 51
1 PathDependence 51
2 ThePoliticalEconomiesofAthensandSparta:aComparative
Analysis 57
3 TheSpartanNavalMirage 70
4 War,Strategy,andtheTransitiontoTriremes 76
1 TheGiftofAresandAthenianConquestStrategy 76
2 EmergingPatternsofWar 77
3 Strategy 80
4 EarlyAthenianExpansionism 84
5 TheTransitiontoTriremes 88
6 PrivatetoPolisNavies 97
5 TheLateArchaicTransition—theNavalEvidence 102
1 Athens’‘TurntotheSea’ 106
2 CasusBelli 112
3 TheAthenianNavalRevolution 116
4 Themistocles’NavalExpansion 119
viii contents
6 Money,MarketsandNavalProcurement 128
1 Coinage,SilverandMoneySupply 128
2 TriremeCostsandLifespan 138
3 TriremeTimberandNavalProcurement 141
4 ProvisioningtheFleet—aNetworkofMarkets 153
7 NavalInstitutions—Trierarchy 164
1 TheRulesoftheGame 164
2 Liturgy—DeliveringPublicGoods 165
3 Trierarchy—DeliveringtheFleet 167
4 TrierarchyinTheoryandPractice 171
5 Trierarchy—InstitutionalEvolution 173
6 Cleruchy—FurtherInstitutionalAdaptation 177
8 NavalInnovation 183
1 TheArchaicFleetandAthenianDefenceStrategy 183
2 NavalTechnologicalInnovation—theRam 190
3 GreekInnovationinNauticalDesign 198
9 NavalDefenceInfrastructure 212
1 Shipsheds 213
2 TheAthenianCircuitWalls 217
3 ThePiraeus 218
4 TheLongWalls 223
5 EstimatingtheCosts 226
10 Soldiers,Sailors,Citizens 229
1 HopliteIdeologyandItsPersistence 231
2 SchoolsofDemocracy 238
3 AthenianTriremeCrews 245
4 Mercenaries,Metics,andSlaves 247
5 TheTriremeSchoolofDemocracy 254
11 TheAncientAthenianNavalEconomy 263
1 EconomicGrowth 263
2 InstrumentalBehaviour,Self-Interest,andMarkets 267
3 TheAthenianLabourMarket 275
4 TheNavalEconomy 279
5 SizeMatters 285
contents ix
12 TheWealthofNavalAthens 291
1 TheVersatileTrireme 291
2 CountingtheCostofNavalDeployments 294
3 TheBusinessofEmpire 300
4 CostsofWar 303
5 AncientAthenianKeynesians 307
Conclusions 315
Appendix:Sources 327
Bibliography 335
Index 372
Preface
Attheendof 1979,IspentamonthinGreecemakingafilmdocumentaryfor
IrishstatetelevisiontomarkGreecebecomingthe10thmemberof theEuro-
peanUniononJanuary1st,1980.Recently,thePresidentoftheEuropeanCom-
mission,Jean-ClaudeJunckersaidthereasonGreecejoinedthenwasbecause
‘wedidn’twanttoseePlatoplayintheseconddivision’.1Forthosefashioning
thenewEuropeanproject,itwasunconscionablethatGreeceshouldremain
outsideforpoliticalandideologicalreasons.Aswasapparentatthetime,this
wasregardlessofPlato’sleveloffitness,oreveniftheEuropeanPremierDivi-
sioncouldaffordtheultimatetransferfee:thefinalreckoningofwhichhasstill
tobecalculated.
IntheinterveningdecadesIhavetravelledmanytimestoGreeceandcon-
sumeditshistory,bothancientandmodern.Asafrequentvisitortothesites
(the Parthenon, Delphi, Epidaurus, Olympia, and others) it became increas-
inglyobvioustomethattherewasadissonancebetweenwhatIwaslooking
at and what I was reading. How could all of this extraordinary display—the
GlorythatwasGreece—havebeencreatedbyasocietywhich,accordingtothe
prevailingacademicorthodoxy,hadonlyaprimitiveeconomy.Myjournalistic
impulsesandtraininginthedismalsciencegraduallyconspiredthatIshould
investigatethisdichotomyfurther.Ultimately,thisledtomycompletingaPhD
inClassics,thethesisofwhichisthebasisofthisbook.
Thispublicationoffersmeanopportunitytoexpressmyheartfeltgratitude
to a number of people whose generous assistance and advice has made this
endeavourpossible.Mythesissupervisor,Prof.BrianMcGing,providedboth
invaluablecounselandunstintingsupportthroughoutmyyearsasadoctoral
student.FrommanyothermembersofthestaffatTrinityClassicsdepartment
Ireceivedmuchhelpandencouragementduringthewritingof boththedis-
sertation and this book. I would like to thank Dr. Martine Cuypers for her
patienteffortsintutoringmeinancientGreekandinsuperintendingmyefforts
in that regard for this book. Dr. Shane Wallace was a willing and congenial
sourceof adviceinClassicsresearchfortheuninitiated,andhelpednavigate
methroughmyencounterswithGreekinscriptions.Myexternalthesisexam-
iner,Prof.HansvanWeesof UniversityCollegeLondon,wasinstrumentalin
havingthisbookpublished,thefinalversionofwhichhasprofitedenormously
1 Guardian3.7.2015.
xii preface
fromhisadviceandsuggestions.Additionally,Iwouldliketoexpressmyappre-
ciationforthevaluablesuggestionsandcommentsmadebyBrill’sanonymous
reviewer.
Aswithallostensiblyindividualenterprises,awidercommunityofsupport
isvital.Ioweadebtofgratitudetomanypeople,butespeciallytothefollowing;
PeterBarryforreadingthematerial,Dr.MaryCoddforstatisticalsupportandto
DanaStroiescuforherelectronicpublishingskills.TheartistMiekeVanmeche-
len,fromwhomIcommissionedasuiteof drawings,hasrecreatedaspectsof
classicalAthensforwhichlittleornomaterialevidenceexists.Thesedrawings
haveaddedavaluablevisualdimensionforwhichIamdeeplyappreciative.I
wouldalsoliketoacknowledgethesupportshereceivedforthisworkfromthe
ThomasDammannTrust.Asusual,however,noneoftheaboveisresponsible
forthiswork’sremainingfaultsorflaws,theresponsibilityforwhichrestssolely
withme.
BarryO’Halloran
Dublin,July2018
Figures,Tables and Graphs
Figures
1 Olympiastrireme.HellenicNavyGeneralStaffArchives 90
2 Themistocles:architectoftheAtheniannavalexpansion 120
3 TheramoftheOlympias.TheTriremeTrustArchiveatWolfsonCollege,
Cambridge 191
4 Olympiasraminaction.TheTriremeTrustArchiveatWolfsonCollege,
Cambridge 194
5 Sewn/laced(left),mortiseandtenon(right) 203
6 TheshipshedsatPiraeus 216
7 Piraeus 221
8 TheLongWalls 224
9 TheLongWallsconnectingAthenswithPiraeus 225
10 TheOlympiasunderfulloar-power.TheTriremeTrustArchiveatWolfson
College,Cambridge 246
Tables
1 TransitioninGreekboatconstructiontechnology 206
2 Athenianfleetsize480–322 288
3 Recordednavalactivities480–322 301
Graph
1 TrendinAthenianfleetsizeduring5thand4thcenturies 290