Geography/Trade Expert
MAP OF SPARTA
MAP OF SPARTA
The city-state of Sparta didn't produce enough resources even with some slave.They didn’t trade because their money was different from other city-states. But they did have a very powerful army most of their citizens became warriors.That way whenever they needed something they took it from others and made survivors slaves.
Map of Greece:
Map of Greece:
This map shows important cities, regions, and historic sites of ancient Greece.Ancient Greece consisted chiefly of a peninsula that separated the two seas, nearby islands, and the coast of Asia Minor.
Trade
Greek merchants sold surplus goods abroad in exchange for slaves and such products as grain, timber, and metals. The Greeks' major trading partners included Egypt; Sicily; and Scythia, a region near the Black Sea. In each city-state, inspectors made sure that merchants used proper weights and measures, charged fair prices, paid taxes, and observed restrictions on the import and export of certain goods.
Trade in Ancient Greece
Trade was a the greatest aspect of the ancient Greek world and following territorial expansion, an increase in population movements, and innovations in transport, goods could be bought, sold, and exchanged in one part of the Mediterranean which had their origin in a completely different and far distant region. Food, raw materials, and manufactured goods were not only made available to Greeks for the first time but the export of such classics as wine, olives, and pottery helped to spread Greek culture to the wider world.
From Local to International Trade
In Greece and the wider Aegean, local, regional, and international trade exchange existed from Minoan and Mycenaean times in the Bronze Age. The presence, in particular, of pottery and precious goods such as gold, copper, and ivory, found far from their place of production, attests to the exchange network which existed between Egypt, Asia Minor, the Greek mainland, and islands such as Crete, Cyprus, and the Cyclades. Trade lessened and perhaps almost disappeared when these civilizations declined, and during the so-called Dark Ages from the 11th to 8th centuries BCE international trade in the Mediterranean was principally carried out by the Phoenicians.
The earliest written sources of Homer and Hesiod attest to the existence of trade (emporia) and merchants (emporoi) from the 8th century BCE, although they often present the activity as unsuitable for the ruling and landed aristocracy. Nevertheless, international trade grew from 750 BCE, and contacts spread across the Mediterranean driven by social and political factors such as population movements, colonisation (especially in Magna Graecia), inter-state alliances, the spread of coinage, the gradual standardisation of measurements, warfare, and safer seas following the determination to eradicate piracy.
Traded Goods
Goods which were traded within Greece between different city-states included cereals, wine, olives, figs, pulses, eels, cheese, honey, meat (especially from sheep and goats), tools (e.g.: knives), perfumes, and fine pottery, especially Attic and Corinthian wares.
Fine Greek pottery was also in great demand abroad and examples have been found as far afield as the Atlantic coast of Africa. Other Greek exports included wine, especially from Aegean islands like Mende and Kos, bronze work, olives and olive oil (transported, like wine, in amphorae), emery from Delos, hides from Euboea, marble from Athens and Naxos, and ruddle (a type of waterproofing material for ships) from Keos.
The goods available at the market places (agorai) of major urban centres which were imported from outside Greece included wheat and slaves from Egypt, grain from the Black Sea (especially via Byzantium), salt fish from the Black Sea, wood (especially for shipbuilding) from Macedonia and Thrace, papyrus, textiles, luxury food such as spices (e.g.: pepper), glass, and metals such as iron, copper, tin, gold and silver.
Trade Incentives
The involvement of the state in trade was relatively limited; however, a notable exception was grain. For example, so vital was it to feed Athens’ large population and especially valuable in times of drought, trade in wheat was controlled and purchased by a special ‘grain buyer’ (sitones). From c. 470 BCE the obstruction of the import of grain was prohibited, as was the re-exportation of it; for offenders the punishment was the death penalty. Market officials (agoranomoi) ensured the quality of goods on sale in the markets and grain had its own supervisors, the sitophylakes, who regulated that prices and quantities were correct.
Besides taxes on the movement of goods (e.g.: road taxes or, at Chalkedon, a 10% transit charge on Black Sea traffic payable to Athens) and levies on imports and exports at ports, there were also measures taken to protect trade. For example, Athens taxed those citizens who contracted loans on grain cargo which did not deliver to Piraeus or those merchants who failed to unload a certain percentage of their cargo. Special maritime courts were established to tempt traders to choose Athens as their trading partner, and private banks could facilitate currency exchange and safeguard deposits. Similar trading incentives existed on Thasos, a major trading-centre and large exporter of high quality wine.
Climate
The climate in Greece is typical of the Mediterranean climate: mild and rainy winters, relatively warm and dry summers and, generally, extended periods of sunshine throughout most of the year.
The year can be subdivided into two main seasons: The cold and rainy period lasting from mid-October until the end of March, and the warm and dry season lasting from April until September.
During the first period the coldest months are January and February, with, a mean minimum temperature ranging, on average, between 5 -10 degrees Celsius near the coasts and 0 – 5 Celsius over the mainland, with lower values (generally below freezing) over the northern part of the country.
Long stretches of consecutive rainy days are infrequent in Greece, even during the winter, and the sky does not remain cloudy for more than a few days in a row, as it does in other regions of the world. “Bad weather” days in winter are often interrupted, during January and the first fortnight of February, with sunny days.
The winter is milder in the Aegean and Ionian Islands compared to Northern and Eastern mainland Greece.
During the warm and dry period the weather is usually stable, the sky is clear, the sun is bright and there is generally no rainfall. There are, however, infrequent and brief intervals of rapid rain or thunderstorms chiefly over mainland areas.
The warmest period occurs during the last ten days of July and the first ten days of August, when the mean maximum temperature lies between 29.0 and 35.0 degrees Celsius. During the warm period the high temperatures are tempered by fresh sea breezes in the coastal areas of the country and from the north winds, known as ‘Etesian’, blowing mainly in the Aegean.
Trade
Greek merchants sold surplus goods abroad in exchange for slaves and such products as grain, timber, and metals. The Greeks' major trading partners included Egypt; Sicily; and Scythia, a region near the Black Sea. In each city-state, inspectors made sure that merchants used proper weights and measures, charged fair prices, paid taxes, and observed restrictions on the import and export of certain goods.
Trade in Ancient Greece
Trade was a the greatest aspect of the ancient Greek world and following territorial expansion, an increase in population movements, and innovations in transport, goods could be bought, sold, and exchanged in one part of the Mediterranean which had their origin in a completely different and far distant region. Food, raw materials, and manufactured goods were not only made available to Greeks for the first time but the export of such classics as wine, olives, and pottery helped to spread Greek culture to the wider world.
From Local to International Trade
In Greece and the wider Aegean, local, regional, and international trade exchange existed from Minoan and Mycenaean times in the Bronze Age. The presence, in particular, of pottery and precious goods such as gold, copper, and ivory, found far from their place of production, attests to the exchange network which existed between Egypt, Asia Minor, the Greek mainland, and islands such as Crete, Cyprus, and the Cyclades. Trade lessened and perhaps almost disappeared when these civilizations declined, and during the so-called Dark Ages from the 11th to 8th centuries BCE international trade in the Mediterranean was principally carried out by the Phoenicians.
The earliest written sources of Homer and Hesiod attest to the existence of trade (emporia) and merchants (emporoi) from the 8th century BCE, although they often present the activity as unsuitable for the ruling and landed aristocracy. Nevertheless, international trade grew from 750 BCE, and contacts spread across the Mediterranean driven by social and political factors such as population movements, colonisation (especially in Magna Graecia), inter-state alliances, the spread of coinage, the gradual standardisation of measurements, warfare, and safer seas following the determination to eradicate piracy.
Traded Goods
Goods which were traded within Greece between different city-states included cereals, wine, olives, figs, pulses, eels, cheese, honey, meat (especially from sheep and goats), tools (e.g.: knives), perfumes, and fine pottery, especially Attic and Corinthian wares.
Fine Greek pottery was also in great demand abroad and examples have been found as far afield as the Atlantic coast of Africa. Other Greek exports included wine, especially from Aegean islands like Mende and Kos, bronze work, olives and olive oil (transported, like wine, in amphorae), emery from Delos, hides from Euboea, marble from Athens and Naxos, and ruddle (a type of waterproofing material for ships) from Keos.
The goods available at the market places (agorai) of major urban centres which were imported from outside Greece included wheat and slaves from Egypt, grain from the Black Sea (especially via Byzantium), salt fish from the Black Sea, wood (especially for shipbuilding) from Macedonia and Thrace, papyrus, textiles, luxury food such as spices (e.g.: pepper), glass, and metals such as iron, copper, tin, gold and silver.
Trade Incentives
The involvement of the state in trade was relatively limited; however, a notable exception was grain. For example, so vital was it to feed Athens’ large population and especially valuable in times of drought, trade in wheat was controlled and purchased by a special ‘grain buyer’ (sitones). From c. 470 BCE the obstruction of the import of grain was prohibited, as was the re-exportation of it; for offenders the punishment was the death penalty. Market officials (agoranomoi) ensured the quality of goods on sale in the markets and grain had its own supervisors, the sitophylakes, who regulated that prices and quantities were correct.
Besides taxes on the movement of goods (e.g.: road taxes or, at Chalkedon, a 10% transit charge on Black Sea traffic payable to Athens) and levies on imports and exports at ports, there were also measures taken to protect trade. For example, Athens taxed those citizens who contracted loans on grain cargo which did not deliver to Piraeus or those merchants who failed to unload a certain percentage of their cargo. Special maritime courts were established to tempt traders to choose Athens as their trading partner, and private banks could facilitate currency exchange and safeguard deposits. Similar trading incentives existed on Thasos, a major trading-centre and large exporter of high quality wine.
Climate
The climate in Greece is typical of the Mediterranean climate: mild and rainy winters, relatively warm and dry summers and, generally, extended periods of sunshine throughout most of the year.
The year can be subdivided into two main seasons: The cold and rainy period lasting from mid-October until the end of March, and the warm and dry season lasting from April until September.
During the first period the coldest months are January and February, with, a mean minimum temperature ranging, on average, between 5 -10 degrees Celsius near the coasts and 0 – 5 Celsius over the mainland, with lower values (generally below freezing) over the northern part of the country.
Long stretches of consecutive rainy days are infrequent in Greece, even during the winter, and the sky does not remain cloudy for more than a few days in a row, as it does in other regions of the world. “Bad weather” days in winter are often interrupted, during January and the first fortnight of February, with sunny days.
The winter is milder in the Aegean and Ionian Islands compared to Northern and Eastern mainland Greece.
During the warm and dry period the weather is usually stable, the sky is clear, the sun is bright and there is generally no rainfall. There are, however, infrequent and brief intervals of rapid rain or thunderstorms chiefly over mainland areas.
The warmest period occurs during the last ten days of July and the first ten days of August, when the mean maximum temperature lies between 29.0 and 35.0 degrees Celsius. During the warm period the high temperatures are tempered by fresh sea breezes in the coastal areas of the country and from the north winds, known as ‘Etesian’, blowing mainly in the Aegean.