Economic Growth in Ancient Greece

Economic Growth in Ancient Greece
Author(s): Ian Morris

Source: Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift für die
gesamte Staatswissenschaft, Vol. 160, No. 4 (December 2004), pp. 709-742
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709
EconomicGrowthin AncientGreece
by
Ian Morris*
1 Introduction
Douglass North [1981, p. 3] famouslydefined"the task of economic history[as

being] to explain the structureand performanceof economies throughtime."By
thiscriterion, scholarshipon ancientGreekeconomic historyis a strangecreature:
it is all structureand no performance.But thereis an obvious reason forthis.The
literary textsthat survivefromancientGreece - the epics of Homer,tragediesof
Euripides, forensic speeches of Demosthenes,and militaryhistoriesof Herodotus
and Thucydides- hardlylend themselvesto measuringeconomic performance.
Thereare onlyscattereddata on wages and hardlyany long seriesof prices.Moses
Finley,who did more to elucidateGreek economic sociology thananyoneelse in
thetwentieth century, largelyignoredperformance (neithergrowthnorperformance
evenappearin theindexof his classic workTheAncientEconomy(FlNLEY [1973]),
whilehis formerstudentPaul MiLLETT [2001, p. 35] wentfurther still,concluding
thatthe"scope forsustainedgrowthin thecenturiesBC was elusiveor non-existent."
In thispaperI make a verydifferent argument.This essay is merelya firstsketch,
butI suggestthatby framingthequestiondifferently and drawingon archaeolog-
ical evidence as well as literary, we can in factdocumenteconomic growth(both
aggregateand percapita) across thefirstmillenniumBC. I focusin particularon the
periodc. 800-300 BC, coveringthe archaicand classical periodsof Greekhistory
(see Table 1 and section2 below).
The problemwiththisargumentis thatthearchaeologicalrecordwas generated
in complexways,and itsrelationshipto ancienteconomicactivityis oftenobscure.
But thatsaid, I arguethatper capita consumptionaround300 BC musthave been
* I wouldlike to thank
BarryWeingastfororganizingtheinitialsessionon ancient
historyat themeetingsof theInstitute
fortheStudyof New InstitutionalEconomicsat
Berkeleyin September2001, JohnNye forhis commentson thepapersthere,and El-
marWolfstetter forinvitingthesubmissionof thepanel to JITE. Audiencesat theAl-
in Jerusalem,
brightInstitute theUniversity
of BritishColumbia,BrynMawrCollege,
theUniversityof Göteborg, MountAllisonUniversity, OberlinCollege,PrincetonUni-
and theUniversity
versity, of Southern
Californiahaveprovidedvaluablecomments on
moreextendedversionsof theargument. StanfordUniversity,theNationalEndowment
fortheHumanities, and theGuggenheim Foundationhave supported theresearchthat
thispaperdrawson.
Journalof Institutional
andTheoretical
Economics
JITE 160 (2004), 709-742 ©2004 MohrSiebeck- ISSN 0932-4569

710 Ian Morris JITE 160
Table 1
Standard ofAncient
Periodization GreekHistory
Name Dates
BronzeAge c. 3000-1200BC
Late BronzeAge c. 1600-1200BC (also knownas Mycenaeanperiod)
EarlyIronAge c. 1200-700BC (also knownas DarkAge)
Archaic c. 700-480 BC
Classical 480-323 BC
Hellenistic 323-30 BC
EarlyEmpire 30 BC-AD 284
Late Empire AD 284-526
EarlyByzantine AD 526-1081
50-100 percent higher thanaround800BC. I alsosuggest thatwecanusethearchae-

ologicalevidence inthree moreways:( 1) Wecancompare theGreekexperience with
thatfrom otherancient societies.Thissuggests thatattheend of this process, around
300 BC, Greekstandards oflivingwerehigh;butGreecewas mostunusualaround
800,whenstandards wereextremely low.Therapidimprovement inGreekpercapita
consumption acrossthis half-millennium was largely not
(though entirely) a process
of convergence between Greek poverty and the higher standards elsewhere in the
eastMediterranean. (2) As well as providing the firstreal evidence on economic
performance, thearchaeological dataalso speaktoeconomicstructure, suggesting
thatconsumption wasmoreegalitarian inGreeceinthefifth andfourth centuriesBC
thaninotherMediterranean societies.(3) Expanding thetimeframe, we cancom-
paretheeconomicgrowth in first-millennium BC Greecewithtwootherepisodes,
thefirstbetween1800and 1300BC, andthesecondbetweenAD 300 and550. In
all threecases,risingpercapitaconsumption coincidedwithdemographic growth.
I beginbyproviding a briefsketchofthestandard narrative ofGreekhistory to
orient non-specialists,then insections 3-5 explain my approach tothe archaeologi-
cal dataandsummarize themainpatterns. In section6, 1 showhowwe might move
from concretedatafordifferent indicesofmaterial wellbeingtomoregeneralstate-
mentsaboutpercapitaconsumption, andfinallytoaggregate estimates ofeconomic
growth. In section7, 1briefly comparetheGreekdatawithfindsfrom otherregions,
toassessthesignificance ofthefirst-millennium-BC growth. In section8, 1 lookat
someofthespecifics ofGreekculture inthisperiod that correlate withrisingstan-
dardsofliving,andconclude in section9 byrelating consumption todemography.
2 Narrative
Background
complexsocietiesemerged
The first (whatis nowsouthern
in Mesopotamia Iraq),
Egypt,theIndus
Valley(inwhatis now and
Pakistan), Chinaaround 3500-3000BC.

(2004) Economic inAncient
Growth Greece 711
Theirrulersclaimedspecialrelationships withthegods,and organizedat least

somesectorsof theeconomythrough redistribution.Palace-or temple-based bu-
reaucracies oversawcertainkindsof production, bringing goods intothecenter
andredistributing themas rations to different kindsofworkers. The Egyptian and
Mesopotamian palacesystems variedindetails,butsimilarpalacesspreadsteadily
through theMiddleEast,appearing on Cretearound2000 BC, and in mainland
Greeceby 1600. The palatial elites shareda sophisticated international
culture,
linkedbyletters, and
giftexchange, dynastic marriages.Finds ofGreekartifacts in
easternSicily,southern Italy,and Sardinia from 1400 on suggest thatthesystem
was stillexpanding atthispoint.
Around1200,though, mostofthegreatpalacesintheareasthatarenowpartsof
thenation-states ofGreece,Turkey, Syria,Lebanon,andIsraelweredestroyed by
fire.Wedo notknowexactlywhathappened, although migrations andearthquakes
wereinvolved.Egyptand southern Iraq escapedthedestructions, buttheentire
region suffered demographic decline and a weakening of stateauthority.Egypt
faredbest,andGreeceworst.In Greece,palacesdisappeared after1200,andwith
themwriting and manyadvancedartistic skills.By 1100 a majorsocialcollapse
was underway,usheringin a periodnormally knownas the"Dark Age." For
severalcenturies, Greecewas depopulated, withsimplesocietieslivingat a low
technological level.Thischangedrapidly intheeighth century,as populationgrew
all acrosstheMediterranean, traderevived, andcompetition betweencommunities
stimulated theformation ofsmallcity-states. Learningfrom thePhoenicians (natives
ofmodern Lebanon),thousands ofGreekscolonizedthecoastsofSicilyandsouthern
Italy.Greeksinvented a newstyleof writing around775-750 BC, andusedit to
recordHomer'sepicpoetry. Monumental architecture revived,andrepresentational
art.
The Greekcity-states developedpeculiarformsof male civic egalitarianism,
basedon theidea thatall locallybornfreemenweremoreor less equal.In some
city-states,thisdevelopedby 500 intodemocratic in whichall male
institutions,
citizens(definedonlyby birthintothecommunity, notby wealthor anyother
criterion)votedequallyon all majordecisions.Elsewheremorelimitedgroupsof
men(usuallydefinedby wealth)madethekeydecisions,butwerenevertheless
answerable tothelargercommunity.
Sparta,Athens,and Syracuseemergedas themostpowerful in the
city-states
sixthcentury. In 480 SpartaandAthensledan alliancethatrepulseda majorattack
fromthePersianEmpire,and in thesameyearSyracusedefeateda Carthaginian
invasionof Sicily(see Figure1). Athensand Syracusethenwenton,in verydif-
ferent ways,to buildup powerful statesin thefifth century.Bothcitieshadurban
populations of40,000-50,000. Thisperiodalso sawa dramatic culturalflorescence,
withGreektragedy, historiography, art,and architecture reachingunprecedented
levelsof sophistication.By the430s itlookedas ifAthensmightconvert mostof
theAegeanintoa unified statewithAthensas itscapital,so in 431 Spartawentto
warwithAthensandherallies/subjects. ThisPeloponnesian War(431^404) drew
in mostGreekcities.It endedwhenSpartasecuredPersianfunding, builta great

712 lanMorris JITE 160
navy,andstarved Athensintosubmission. SpartathentookoverAthens'empire,

butfailedto holdittogether;
whilein Sicily,afterrepulsing attackin
an Athenian
415^13, Syracusewasbadlybattered byCarthage after
409.
Figure 1
MajorSitesMentioned
intheText
- ' Conttrttat*-!-- - -f
~~^ =^ ^-*^ <y
Ξχ 1 PWhatouMrt ^*y / /" "^^» /*
=====
r%^> ^^^^^
''
In theearlyfourth century no Greekcitycouldrebuilda politicalorganization

Athens',and Persiaand Carthagewieldedgreatinfluence.
likefifth-century The
Greekstatesfoughtbloodybutfruitless warsforhalfa century. These drewin
thelarger,looserstateslikeMacedonthatlaynorth oftheregionofcity-states.In
thefifthandearly-fourth Macedon
century, had suppliedtimber, and
silver, other
primary goodsto themoresophisticated city-states.In theprocess,Macedonian
kingsadoptedGreekmilitary and organizational skills.After359, KingPhilipII
centralized underhischarismatic
institutions leadership andtamedthearistocracy.
By 338 he had humbled themain Greek powers. goal all alongwas probably
His
notto conquerGreecebutto pacifythecitiesso he couldconcentrate on thereal
prize:Persia.Philipwas murdered in 336 as he was about to invadePersia,buthis
sonAlexander wentahead,andin 331 killedthePersianking.He spentthenext
eightyearssubduing theempire.

Growth Greece 1 13
By thetimeAlexander diedin 323,theold city-states in theAegeanandSicily

werelosingtheirrelevance. Hundredsof thousands of Greeksand Macedonians
settledinthenewlyconquered MiddleEast,particularly inEgypt, coastalSyria,and
whatis nowTurkey. Thegreatest Greekcity,Alexandria inEgypt,grewto500,000
people,dwarfing anything in theold Greekworld,and severalcitiesin Syriaand
Iraqreached100,000inthethird century.
Alexander'sgenerals fought overhisempire fora quarter-century,
before breaking
itintothreemajorkingdoms inEgypt, theNearEast,andMacedonia,andnumerous
smallerones (Manning [2004]). Greekemigration to theMiddleEast slowed
after
dramatically 250, and the kingdoms declined military and financially.From
200 onward, Romesystematically destroyed these Hellenistickingdoms, in one of
thegreatest of
outpourings military in
energy premodern history (QuiLLlN[2004]).
Twocenturies ofwardevastated theGreekworld,whichexperienced demographic
collapse.Recoverycameonlyin thefourth century AD: fromthenuntilc. 550,
theeast Mediterranean saw populationgrowth, expandingcitiesand trade,and
a remarkable outpouring of wealth intochurches. As thewestern RomanEmpire
disintegratedbefore Germanic invaders in the fifthcentury, the eastern (Greek)
partflourished. But in thelatesixthcentury itsexpansionslowed,and crippling
plagueshittheGreekeast.In theearlyseventh centuryIslamicArabscompounded
thisdecline,sweepingawayGreekcontrolof Egypt,Israel,Lebanon,and Syria.
Constantinople itselftwicecameclose to falling, although in factitresisted Islam
untiltheTurkstookitin 1453.
3 AnArchaeological toStandards
Approach ofLiving
Ancient historianshavesaid verylittleaboutstandards of livingoreconomicper-

formance, becausemostof themhavefeltthattheirevidencegiveslittleinsight.
Certainly theancientworldhas leftno evidencelikethedocuments thatfueled
debatesin the 1950soverthestandards of livingof Englishworkers duringthe
Industrial
Revolution (see Taylor [1975]).However, sincethe1980smodern eco-
nomichistorians havegenerally movedaway fromearlierattempts to calculate
changesin therealwage,concluding thattherewas too muchvariation between
individual tradesand townsto maketheexerciseveryuseful,and also recogniz-
ingthateventinychangesin theweighting of variablestransformed theoutcome
(see Lindert and Williamson [1983],[1985];Crafts [1985];Mokyr [1987];
Feinstein [1998];Allen [2001]).In the1990stheyundertook studiesofdiscrete
indicesofwellbeing,suchas stature, nutrition,mortality,
morbidity, housing, and
clothing(e.g.,Floud, Watcher,and Gregory [1990];Fogel [1993];Komlos
[1996];Steckel [1998];Haines and Steckel [2000]).
Ancient literature
tellsus as littleaboutnutrition
as aboutrealwages,butthegreat
attraction
oftherecent workis thatsomeofthemostimportant indicesofstandards
oflivingare,atleastpartially,
archaeologically In
visible. particular,skeletal
analysis
candocument statureatdeath, mortality and
patterns, some forms ofmorbidity,while

excavatedhousescan tellus aboutthequalityandsize of houses,and sometimes

abouttheassemblage ofmaterial goodsthatpeoplelivedwith.All thesecategories
ofevidencehaveproblems, sincethearchaeological recordis neversimply a neutral
mirrortotherealities
ofeveryday life.Itis shapedbycomplexformation processes,
someofthemtheresultsofancientdecisionsabouthowto disposeofthings, and
otherstheresultsof naturalforcesof erosion,decay,and deposition. But all is
notlost:formationprocessesarearchaeologists' majorpracticalconcern,andmore
thana centuryof sustainedthought about thenature
of the archaeologicalrecord
hasproduced a robustbodyoftheory andmethod. Anyparticular of
interpretation
an archaeological is to
deposit alwaysopen debate, but therules of thesedebates
arewelldefined,andtheconclusions opentoempirical testing(Morris [2005]).
4 TheBody
A massofdatasurvives I amstillata relatively

fromGreece.Although earlystage
ofanalysis, are
patterns emerging.
interesting
4.1 Ageat Death

LawrenceAngel,whoestablished physicalanthropology as a seriousdiscipline,
studiedhundreds of skeletons fromall overGreecein the 1930s-1970s (Bisel
and Angel [1985]).The solidlinesin Figure2 showhis conclusions on mean
adultage atdeathformenandwomenbetween1600and300 BC. Thereis a clear
pattern,witha sharpdeclinein theDarkAge (c. 1100-700BC), andan increase
in classicaltimes(500-300 BC). However,techniques havechangeddrastically
in thelast25 years.Aftera periodof hyper-skepticism in the1980s,whensome
paleodemographers arguedthatestimates of adultages at deathwerepractically
worthless, a newconsensusis forming thatthetechniques do work,just notas
preciselyas scholarsusedto believe(e.g., Paine [1997],Meindl and Russell
[1998],Jackes [2000]).Analysts nowtypically present estimates withinbroadage
bands,andalso producelowerestimates thanformerly. In addition toAngel'slarge
dataset,Figure2 also showsas dottedlinestheresultsofseveralanalysescarried
outin the 1990s.Theypointto loweradultages at deaththanAngel's;butthe
distribution through timemirrors his resultsin sharper form,witha markeddip
in theDarkAge followedby highclassicallevels.Demographically, an increase
in adultwomen'saverageage at deathfromroughly 26 to roughly 36 is highly
almostdoubling
significant, thepotentially fecundperiod(Rpot).
I shouldemphasizethatthedatain Figure2 showadultage at death,notlife
expectancy atbirth(e0).Therepresentation ofsub-adult skeletons variesenormously
from to 40
period period.Roughly percent of classical
burials areinfantsorchildren,
as opposedto just 5-10 percentof Dark Age examples.This almostcertainly
reflectschangesintheritualtreatment ofchildren, ratherthanactualdemographic
differences (MORRIS[1987],[1992,pp. 72-81]). If,forthesakeof argument, we

(2004) Economic
Growth
inAncient
Greece 715
Figure 2
AverageAdultAgesat Death,1600-300BC
45
η
.^male (Angel)
male(1990s)
^s^
^ /iemale (Angel)
'Z y^^/fcmalc (1990s)
25"^ 1 ! 1
1200 700 300
YearsBC
Note:The solid linesrepresent
Angel'sresults,collectedin the 1930s-1970s(n = 433
males,294 females),and thebrokenlinesresultscollectedwithnew techniquesin the
1990s (n = 357 males,416 females).
assume40 percentmortality beforeage 5, then(usingAngel'sdata)e0 fellfrom

23.1 yearsintheLateBronzeAgeto22.3intheDarkAge(a declineof3.5percent),
beforejumpingto26.1 yearsinclassicaltimes(a 17 percent
improvement).Andif
anything,theseestimatesofe0 understate
thedeclineintheDarkAge andtherate
ofthesubsequent improvement, sinceinperiodswhenadultagesatdeathwerelow,
sub-adultmortalitywas probably moreseveretoo.The age-at-death
dataindicate
majorimprovements between800 and300 BC.
4.2 Health
Steckel and Rose [2002]haverecently usedskeletonsto calculatea "wellness
index"for5000 yearsofNewWorldhistory. We cannotyetdo thisin Greece,but
we can geta senseof somehealthtrends. The patternsare complicated, and we
cannotalwaysdistinguish thecausesofskeletalpathologies.Angelpaidparticular
attentionto porotichyperostosis,strainer-like
lesionson theskullcausedby low
intakeorpoorabsorption ofiron.He believedthatmalariawasthecause,butitnow
seemsthatotherinfestations andchildhood malnutrition
arealso involved (Angel
[1977],[1978];Stuart-Macadam and Kent [1992]).As Figure3 shows,porotic
hyperostosis fellin Angel'ssamplefrom9 percentin theLate BronzeAge to
6 percentinclassicaltimes.In classicalMetapontum,thefigure wasjust4 percent

716 lan Morris JITE 160
(Henneberg and Henneberg [1998]). Whether becausechildren's

dietswere
morereliableorinfestations
declined,orboth,anaemiaswererarerbetween1600
and300 BC thanbeforeorafter.
Figure3
The Frequency
ofPoroticHyperostosis
W Chania
φ
30-
c
ο
'c/3
I 20-
JP ig _ Metapontum
I ·
Ο-· 1 1 τ-
1200 700 300
YearsBC
Note:Thesolidlinerepresents (n = 480).Theisolated
Angel'sresults points
represent
1990sanalyses(Chania,η = 22; Metapontum,η = 272).
Angel'squantification ofvertebral arthritis

also suggests betterhealthin theDark
Age (Figure 4). 52 percentofthe skeletonswere arthritic,
compared to 63 percent
intheLateBronzeAgeand76 percent inclassicaltimes.78 percent oftheclassical
skeletonsatMetapontum hadvertebral arthritis.
AtMakriyialos inMacedonialevels
ofvertebralarthritiswerehighinboththeupperandlowerbackintheLateBronze
AgeandDarkAge,suggesting a combination ofroutine tasksandheavyagricultural
labor.DarkAgemendidheavierworkthanwomen, butwomenhadmorerepetitive
injuries,
particularlyintheforearms. Genderdifferences inlabormayhaveincreased
intheLateBronzeAgeandDarkAge(Triantaphyllou [2001]).
On theotherhand,Angelfoundthatoralhealthdeclinedslightly betweenthe
Late BronzeAge and DarkAge,beforeimproving sharplyin classicaltimes.At
classicalMetapontum, though, cariousteethweretwiceas commonas in Aegean
Greece.Cariesarenormally linkedto sugarsfromcarbohydrate-based foodssuch
as fruit
andnuts,orstarches. A remarkable recentfindfroma waterlogged context
on Samosshowsthata widevariety offruitswas availablearound600 BC, at least
insanctuaries(Kucan [2000]).
WhileDarkAge Greeksdied younger thanthoseof theLate BronzeAge or
classicaltimes,theirhealth,whiletheylived,was notnoticeably worse.However,
theevidenceis meager,and intersite variability is oftenstronger thandiachronic
trends.

(2004) EconomicGrowthinAncientGreece 111
Figure4
of
Percentage Skeletons Arthritis
withVertebral
80 Π Metapontum ·
- /
J 70
1 6°- '. /
50-1 1 1 Γ
1200 700 300
YearsBC
Angel'sresults(n = 229); theisolatedpointrepresents

Note: The solid line represents
Metapontum (n - 272).
4.3 Nutrition
Age-specificstatureseems to be a verygood indicatorof nutrition (Floud [1994],

Steckel [1995]). Staturecan be relativelyeasily establishedfromthelong bones
of ancientskeletons.There are debates over the relativemeritsof studyingadult
or sub-adultstatureand the best regressionformulasto use (see Goodman and
Martin [2002, pp. 18-22]), but so long as we compare like withlike, these are
merelytechnical.
The mainproblemwiththeGreekevidenceis thatso fewaccuratemeasurements
have been published.Figure 5 shows the mean adult staturesof the major groups
of skeletonsfrom1800 through300 BC. The male and female curves are quite
different; male staturepeaks in theDark Age, whilefemalesinksto itslowestpoint.
The male Dark Age resultis perhapsan anomaly(only 12 skeletonsare available),
but the main conclusionsto be drawnhere are probably(a) thatresearchis at too
earlya stage to produceclear results,and (b) staturedid not change dramatically
across thisperiod.The moststrikingchange is a nearly5-cm increaseforwomen
betweenDark Age and classical times,althoughthe low female Dark Age score
is just as likelyto be anomalous as thehighmale score. Differencesbetweensites
withina singletime-period throughtime.Giventhe
seemtobe as largeas differences
varietyof ecological niches in Greece, thisis hardlysurprisingin a small sample.
Figure 5 may be measuringlocal variationsand inter-observer errorratherthan
genuinediachronictrends.We mustawait further data.
One of thebest skeletalindicatorsis enamel hypoplasia(also knownas "Harris
lines"), defectsin the formationof toothenamel, probablycaused by periods of
childhoodnutritional stress.Figure6 showstheresultsthatAngel collectedbetween
the 1930s and 1970s. Hypoplasia was common and stable across time; and more

Figure 5
The Statureof Adult Skeletons
1.70-
^ male
I 1.60-
S * -- - '- *~~~~ female

^
1.50-1 1 1 ρ
1200 700 300
Years BC
Note: Calculated according to TROTTER AND GLESER's [1958] regression formulae

(n = 403; but NB the small Dark Age sample, where η = 16).
recentstudieshave documented evenhigherlevels- 78 percentof all teethat

fourth-centuryMetapontum (Henneberg and Henneberg [1998,
wereaffected
p. 532]),andallteethatLateBronzeAgeChania(McGeorge [1992]).Likestature,
thesedatasuggestpoorlynourished rightacrossthesecondand first
populations
millennia BC.
Figure 6
ofMouths
Percentage with
Enamel
Hypoplasia
100-i ·
Chania
'í/3
'S-75- ·
C3
ο, Metapontum
8)50-
1 - __ .
# ·
25 -
1200 700 300

YearsBC
Angel'sresults(n = 257). The isolatedpointsrepresent

Note:The solidlinerepresents
1990sanalyses(Chania,η = 12; Metapontum, η = 272).

Growth Greece 719
Carbonized seedsandpollenshowthatthe"Mediterranean triad"ofgrains, olives,

andwinewasestablished inthethird millennium BC, andhasremained thebasisof
Greekdietseversince.Butseedandboneevidencesuggests thatmeatandfishplayed
a largerpartin someperiodsandsomeregionsthanothers, andthatthequalityof
nutritionvaried.Itis oftensuggested thatmoremeatwaseatenduring theDarkAge
thanbefore becausepopulation
orafter, declinegavemoreroomforpastoralism. But
onlya fewarchaeologists havetestedthisproposition. AtNichoria cerealagriculture
definitelycontinued acrosstheDarkAge(Shay and Shay [1978]),butanimalteeth
suggestthattherewas a shift fromrearing cattleformilkandmusclepowerbefore
1200toward rearing them fortheirmeat afterthisdate.However, thestudyis based
on just 18 teethoutof thousands collected(Sloan and Duncan [1978]).New
pollenanalysessuggestthatoak forests coveredas muchas halfthelandsurface
in theareaaroundDarkAge Nichoria.Perhaps10 percent of thelandwas under
olivesintheLateBronzeAge,falling tojust5 percent intheDarkAge,before rising
to a peakof 25 percent in thethirdcentury BC (Zangger et al. [1997,pp. 589-
594]). AtTiryns cattlewerealso beingkilledyoung(i.e.,formeat)intheeleventh
century (Von DEN Driesch and Boesseneck [1990]).Cattlearemoreprominent
atNichoriaandTiryns thansheeporgoat,instriking contrast witharchaic, classical,
andHellenistic deposits,where are
sheep/goat strongly dominant (e.g.,Jameson
[1988],HÄGG[1998],Legouilloux [2000]).Thismightmeanthat"expensive"
beefcalorieswereavailableintheDarkAgethenhadtoyieldto"cheap"mutton and
goat in later as
periods population grew. However, sheep/goat dominated the Dark
Age depositsat Kalapodi(Stanzel [1991])andKavousi(Kuppel and Snyder
[1993],Snyder and Klippel [2000]),and at thelattersite- an inaccessible
mountain refugeineastern Crete- breakage patterns showthatjointswerechopped
intosmallpiecesforboiling, toreleasethemarrow tomakea nutritious "potliquor."
Theboneswerenotbeingcrushedtomake"bonegrease,"whichis oftena signof
severenutritional stress,butpeopleat thissitenevertheless neededto geta lotof
nutrition outofeachanimal.
Overall,we see twopatterns. First,as withtheevidenceforstature, inter-site
variation is as strongas diachronic change.Tirynshas good cattlepasture,and
peoplemayhaveeatenmorebeefthereintheDarkAgethanatmostsites.Kavousi
does not,and peopleate moresheep/goat. Kalapodiwas in a woodedarea,and
reddeeraremoreprominent. Butthesecondpattern is thattheredoes seemto be
a generaltrendacrossthefirst millennium BC towarda vegetable-based diet(see
Amouretti[1986],[1994]).
4.4 Conclusion
I shouldemphasizeagainthatwe havefewhigh-quality data.Interobserver
and
intersite mayaccountformoreoftheobservedpatterns
variability thandiachronic
andnewfindings
trends, maychangethepicture Buttheavailableevidence
radically.
suggeststhat
after between
falling 1200 and the
1000, averageage atdeathofadults
of bothsexesrose between800 and 300. The frequency of cariesdeclinedfor

bothsexesacrossthisperiod,andwomen'sdietgenerally improved. On theother

hand,anaemiasdeclinedsteadily fromtheLateBronzeAgethrough classicaltimes,
arthritis
vertebral andenamelhypoplasia intheDarkAge,andmen's
dippedslightly
dietimproved. The DarkAge dietmayhaveincludedmoremeat,fruit, and nuts
thantheseotherperiods,butpollendiagrams fromaroundNichoriasuggesta low
pointinolivecultivation.
In somewayspeopleseemtohavebeenphysically better offin800 BC thanthey
were500yearsearlier orlater;insomeways,worse.Hennebergand Henneberg
[1998,p. 537] suggestthatin classicalMetapontum "premature mortality was
high,they were riddled by numerous and
diseases, they were not alwaysgiven
medicalhelp... ina ratherunhealthypopulace,painmusthavebeena commonplace
experienceformostindividuals." The"Wellnessindex"changedlittlebetween1600
and300; themaingainswereinlongerlives.
5 Housing
Otherthanthesharpincreasein adultages at death,changesin bodilystatuswere

relativelylimitedandinvolvedconflicting trendsin thefirst millennium BC. But
in of
changes quality housing were not. By 300, the typical Greek house cost
something likefive
to ten timesas much as thetypicalhouse had around 800. Itwas
bigger,better better
built, drained,and had betterprotectionagainst theelements. The
contents ofhousesareharder to quantify, becauseprocessesofabandonment vary
so muchandhavea largeimpactonwhatarchaeologists find, buteveryindication is
thattherewasa similar in the
improvement quantity, and of
quality, variety people's
material possessions acrossthisperiod.
Figure7 showstrendsin medianhousesize. It is basedon a sampleof more
than400 completely excavated houses.The lower,solid,lineshowstheamountof
roofedspacein thegroundplansofexcavatedbuildings, whiletheupper,broken,
lineshowsa reasonableallowanceforsecondfloors:10 percent in theninthand
eighth centuries, 25 percent in the seventh and sixth,and 50 percent in thefifth
andfourth. VeryfewDarkAge housewallsare sturdy enoughto havesupported
a secondfloor,whilethoseof thefifth and particularly thefourth century could
easilyhavedoneso. Severalfifth- andfourth-century houseshavetracesofstaircases
leadingup toa secondfloor. Onefourth-century houseat Kassopestillstoodtothe
secondfloor(Dakaris [1986]);andon Santorini, wherea BronzeAge townwas
destroyed bya volcaniceruption in 1628 BC, numerous secondandeventhird floors
survive (MICHAILIDOU [1990],Palyvou [1999]).The roofed space typicalfloor
of
plans increases between theninth century and fourth from about 70 m2to about
240m2- analmost250 percent increase. Iftheestimates inFigure7 arereasonably
accurate, housesize actuallyincreasedmorethan350 percent, fromabout80 m2
to about360m2.If,on theotherhand,we bias thedataagainstthehypothesis as
as
stronglypossible, assuming thatallDark Age houses had second floors,50 percent
ofarchaicones,andno classicalones(whichis patently false),theworstwe could

(2004) EconomicGrowthinAncientGreece 72 1
Figure 7
MedianHouseSizes,800-300BC (n = 406)
400-
secondfloor
including
&
03
I
/
S" 300 - /
I /
g I floorplan
200- / /
|
I loo- jSC^*^
800 700 600 500 400 300

YearsBC
Note: The lower line shows roofedspace in the ground-floor

plan; the upperline
shows estimatedtotalroofedspace, assuming10% of houses have second floorsin
theeighthand seventhcenturies,25% in thesixthand fifth and 50% in the
centuries,
fourthcentury.
do would be to eliminategrowthuntil400, withtypicalhouses of roughly140 m2

across theperiod800-400, beforehouses suddenlyjumped to 240 m2in thefourth
century.
In the Dark Age, houses were squalid. On the mainlandtheywere normally
single-roomed,with beaten earthfloors,low stone foundationsbuilt directlyon
the ground,mudbrickwalls, few windows, no drainage facilities,and thatched
roofs.On Crete and in the Cyclades theywould normallybe all-stone,withtwo
or more small rooms,and flatroofsof stone and clay laid on timberbeams. By
thefourthcenturyBC Greekhouses were typicallylargerthantheaveragemiddle-
class Americanfamilyhouse,withfiveor six roomsgroupedarounda courtyard that
providedshadefromthesunand rain.Theyretainedmudbrickwall construction, but
else
everything changed.They now had substantial
buried foundations of dressed
stone,paintedplasterwalls, stone drains,oftenbath tubs,tile roofs,gutters,and
complexcarpentry. Many had paved floors,and therichest10 percenthad plasteror
mosaicfloors(Mazarakis Ainian [1997], [2004]; Lang [1996]; Nevett [1999]).

Across theperiod 800-300, house sizes normallyclusteredquite tightlyaround

the median.Figure 8 shows the 25th and 75th percentiles.Greek social theorists,
above all Hippodamos,saw urbanplanningas a way to createegalitarianideolo-
gies among citizens.The issue has been debated,but many archaeologiststhink
thatthe tightclusteringof classical house sizes and theirgeneralsimilarityin de-
sign shows the success of theseideas of citizenshipin classical times(Hoepfner
and schwandner [1994]; schuller, hoepfner, and schwandner [1989];
Morris [1998]).
Figure8
HouseSizes (roofedspaceinground-floor
25thand75thPercentiles, plans)
300 H
75thpercentileΤ
£ /
"Η. / I
ο 200- I
J /
ζΞ (Ρ
03 / /
<■£ / / 25thpercentile
1 loo- /* /
I · * j/
• #^^^
800 700 600 500 400 300

YearsBC
Hoepfner and Schwandner [1994, p. 150] suggestthata typicalhouse cost

somethinglike3000 drachmasin themid-fourth century.The house pricespreserved
in inscriptionsat Olynthos(Nevett [2000]), large town destroyedby firein
a
348 BC, indicatea lowerprice,perhapscloserto 1500 drachmas.One drachmawas
thenormalwage fora skilledlaborerfora day,or fora rowerin a fleetor a hoplite
in the phalanx. If we assume thatmen could expect 200-250 days of productive
laborperyear,thena typicalhouse cost betweensix and fifteen years' income.The
cheapest house at Olynthos went for230 drachmas, and theAthenian oratorIsaeus
speaks of a littlehouse (oikidion)going for300. The simplesthouses knownfrom

Growth Greece 723
fourth-century Greece,liketheoneexcavated inBlockII attheSilenGateonThasos

(Grandjean [1988]),arebetter builtthantypical DarkAgehouses,reinforcing the
impression thatfourth-centuryhousesrepresent a percapitaconsumption fivetoten
timeshigher thanthatoftheninth century.
As notedabove,householdcontents areharderto quantify, becauseso manyof
themareperishable, andpeoplenormally removeeverything thatis portableand
worth takingon departure.Butifwe lookat sitessuddenly destroyedbyfire- for
example, Nichoria UnitIV-1(Coulson [1983];Catling, Carington Smith,and
Hughes-Brock [1983],burnedaround800) and the citiesof Himera (Adriani
et al. [1970]; Allegro et al. [1976],burnedin 409) and Olynthos (Robinson
[1931-1952];Robinson and Clement [1938],burnedin 348) - therecanbe no
doubtthatclassicaldomestic assemblages werelarger, richer,andmorevariedthan
thoseof theDarkAge. Exactlyhowmuchso is debatable, buta five-to ten-fold
increaseagainseemsreasonable.
Archaeological datahavetheir limitations. Oneofthemainissuesforhistorians of
modern is
housing crowding, but we cannot tellfrom excavation how manypeople
livedina house.Theliterary sourcesdo nottalkas ifcrowding wasa majorproblem
inclassicalcities(forvillagesandearlierperiods, we havealmostnoevidence);the
onetimewe hearaboutovercrowding is in AthensduringthePeloponnesian War,
whenfrom 431 through 421 countryfolk wouldfleetothecitywhileSpartaravaged
thecountry during thesummer, andfrom 412 through 404 a Spartan garrisonforced
themto decampto thecityyear-round. is
Thucydides very clearthat the urban
squalor thiscreated contributedto the devastating plague of 430-428 (which he
himself caught, and which killed Pericles). But the almost totalsilence of Greek
authors aboutcrowdedconditions - inmarked contrast, say,toCicero'scomments
-
onRome suggests thatthiswas nota majorissue.
6 A SimpleEstimate 800-300BC
ofChangesinConsumption,
Some of theindicesthatmoderneconomichistorians havefocusedon cannotbe

observedat all. The mostimportant are clothingand fuel.Thesewerenotquite
so criticalin theMediterranean as in thenorthEuropeancases thatmodernists
generally but
study, they stillmattered. In winter,owninga cloak was a major
concern. A standard to
way say a man was generouswas to tellstoriesabouthow
he gave cloaksto thepoor;suchstoriesclustered aroundmanywidelyadmired
leaders.In somecities,cloak-theft was a capitaloffense.Butwe haveno wayto
quantify changing accessto good clothing. in winterfuelforfireswas
Similarly,
important, and year-round it was crucialforcookingand crafts.ModernGreek
peasantsconsumevastquantities of firewood (Forbes [1976]).Charcoal-burners
are well attested in Athens,and one richmanin thefourth century was said to
make 12 drachmasper day by sellingfirewood fromhis estate,employing six
donkeys year-round tohaulthefueltomarket (Demosthenes 42.7 (Murray [1939,
p. 35ff.])).Pollendata,liketheNichoriaexamplecitedabove,showthatforests

724 IanMorris JITE 160
inmanypartsofGreeceafter800 as population
retreated grew,butagain,we have
nowaytoquantify theincreasing costs.
Despitetheseuncertainties,theimprovements thatwe saw insections4 and5 in
in
age atdeath,perhaps stature, in
andclearly housingsuggest thattheoveralllevel
rose
ofconsumption strongly between 800 and 300. In Figure9, 1offer
verysimple
models
quantitative of how theoverall consumption bundlechangedacrossthis
half-millennium.To do this,I makeonemajorassumption, whichinvolvesa series
ofsmallerassumptions. The majorassumption is thatintheDarkAge,thetypical
Greeklivedclosetosubsistence. I define"closetosubsistence" intermscommonly
used by ancienthistorians: averagedaily food was
consumption something like
1700caloriespercapita(moreforadultmen- say 2000 perday- and less for
womenandchildren). I assumethatmuchofthiscameas "cheapcalories,"in the
formof barleybread,supplemented by varying amountsof "expensive calories,"
fromoil, wine,some fruit, pulses,legumes, meat, and (in favorable locations)
seafood.Therichwouldsubstitute expensive forcheapcalories.I also assumethat
cropyields were low.Hopkins [2002, p. 198-203] has madea goodcase for4 χ
seedas thetypicalyield inthe western Roman Empire.Itis notlikelythatDarkAge
Greeksexceededthis;northattheyfellmuchbelow3 χ seed,becausetheneven
a fewbadyearswouldmeanthattheystarved. Research oninterannualvariability in
(Garnsey [1988,p. 8-16]) hasprovedthattherewerebadyearsinplenty:
rainfall
oneofthemainreasonsthatbarleybreaddominated consumption was thatbarley
wasmuchmoredrought-resistant thanwheat.
Figure 9
Simple Models of Consumption
a b'c d
a bed
a b | c I d
Note:Topbar:c. 800 BC; middlebar:c. 300 BC, making minimal bot-

assumptions;
tombar,c. 300 BC, makingmaximal assumptions.In eachdiagram,areaa represents
basicconsumption(food,seed,fuel);b is housing; andhousehold
c is clothing goods;
andd is taxandrent.
Theseassumptions canbe challenged,buttheyseemconsistent of

withthepoverty
In linewiththem,
record.
thearchaeological thetopbarinFigure9 showsthehypo-
thetical
consumption bundleofan imaginarytypicalGreekaround800 BC, broken
into100units.Ofthese,80 go to"basic"consumption(areaa) - food(forhumans
andethnographically
andanimals),seed,andfuel.Itis verycommoninhistorically

(2004) Economic
Growth
inAncient
Greece 725
documented agrariansocietiesfortheprimary agricultural producers to consume

75-80percent oftheir outputatthepointofproduction, intheform offoodandseed:
I suggestthatthesamewastrueinDarkAgeGreece.Housing(areab) accountsfor
just5 units(averagedoutacrossa lifetime, andincluding bothnewconstructions
andmaintenance); clothingandhouseholdgoods(area c) another 5; and taxand
rent(aread) thefinal10."Taxandrent"arebroadly definedas mechanisms sucking
wealthoutof theprimary producing unit,thehousehold.Theycovereverything
fromlargelyvoluntary contributions toreligious festivals,through customary dues
and servicesforlandowners, to laboron buildingprojectsor in wars.DarkAge
Greecewas a simplesociety, butthereweresomelargebuildings, andtherewas
fighting.All this had tobe paid for.
I havealreadycommented thatwe completely lackevidenceforsomeofthese
categories:we do not know what rents were in Dark Age Greece,or whatpeople
on
spent clothing. But thecrucial is
question always:How wrongcan thismodel
be? IfI amright thatDarkAgeGreekson thewholelivedclosetosubsistence, and
ifI amright thattheiragricultural was
technology primitive, then the 80-unit figure
mustbe moreor less right;and ifwe acceptthis,thenthereis notmuchleftfor
housing, clothing, andtaxandrent.The numbers inthetopbarareconsistent with
whathistorians haveobservedinothersocietiesata comparable technological and
organizational level(e.g.,Cipolla [1976,p. 27^5]). Wecantinker withcategories
b-d,butcannotchangethemverymuch.
Themiddleandlowerbars,showing equivalent hypothetical consumption bundles
around300 BC, buildon thetopbarbyfactoring intheempirical dataforchanges
in nutritionandhousingthatI summarized in sections4 and5. Thebasicquestion
is how muchconsumption levelsmusthavechangedto producetheresultswe
observearchaeologically. The difficulty, ofcourse,is thatwe haveno independent
evidenceon thepriceelasticity of different goodsin ancientGreece.I offertwo
reconstructions, one (themiddlebar) minimizing thescale of changessincethe
ninthcentury, theother(thebottombar)makingmoregenerousestimates. In the
middlebar,basicconsumption increases just 12.5percent, from80 to 90 units;in
thebottom baritincreases25 percent, to 100units.Housingincreasessomewhere
between five-fold,from5 to25 units,andten-fold, from5 to50 units.Clothing and
goodsdoublesin theminimal model,from5 to 10 units,andtriplesin thesecond
model,goingto 15units.
Tax and rentare morecomplicated. Theyinvolvedifferent problemsfromthe
dataI presented in sections4 and5: therethechallengewas to geta samplelarge
enoughtodeducestatistically significantestimates ofmeanpercapitaconsumption.
Whentalkingaboutcommunal spending - on temples, wars,fortifications, public
etc.- we havetoworkintheoppositedirection,
sacrifices, first
forming an overall
senseof theGreeks'totalspending, thendividingit by changesin population
size.Thisis muchmoredifficult, because(a) thedatabaseis enormous, and(b) it
is incomplete in unpredictable ways,requiring constant guesses.Butonce again,
somegeneraltrendsare clear.Spendingexploded:theParthenon alone,builtin
Athensbetween447 and 432, costmorethanall thetemplesof archaicCorinth

combined (Salmon [2001]),andAthensspent45,000-50,000talentsfighting the

Peloponnesian War.In aggregate thefortifications builtin fourth-century Greece
costfarmorethanthis,notto mention all thestatues, fountain-houses, gymnasia,
and otherpublicamenities. Of course,muchof thisspendingfedback intothe
basicsubsistence category bygoingtopaysoldiers, stonemasons, etc.Further, the
natureofextraction changed.Probably fewerGreekspaidsimplerentsthanin the
DarkAge,sincetherewas a trendtowardindependent freeholding citizens.More
extractionwentonthrough indirect taxes(especially harbor andmarket dues,which
formed themainsourceofstaterevenue inalmosteverydocumented city-state).
I havenotyetcollectedthesedatainthedetailthatis necessary, butinthemiddle
andbottom barsin Figure9, 1 tryto showtherangeofplausiblepreliminary esti-
mates.I suggestthatextraction through tax andrent increased at least 150 percent,
butnotmorethan200 percent (i.e.,from10 unitsto25-30 units).
Depending on whichassumptions we use,we getoverallpercapitaincreasesin
typicalconsumption between 800 and 300 BC of50 to95 percent. In ourownage,
whenwehaveseenpercapitaconsumption doubleina decadeinChinaandIndone-
sia,thisseemstrivial; butbyancientstandards, itranksas a majortransformation.
EricJones [2000]famously argued that the world beforetheeighteenth century
sawepisodesof"growth recurring," in which economies wouldexpand,sometimes
raisingstandards ofliving.He singledoutSungChinaas themostimportant such
event.Thewestern RomanEmpirebetween200 BC andAD 200 was another (see
Scheidel [2004]),andHopkins[2002]andSaller [2002]haveestimated thatit
sawimprovements ofa rather similar ordertothoseproposed hereforGreece.Aver-
agedoutacross500years,theimprovement inlivingstandards illustrated inFigure9
comesto 0.07-0.14percent per annum,whichwe mightcompareto 0.2 percent
forHollandin theperiod1580-1820,and 1.2 percentfortheUK between1820
and 1920.Theperformance oftheGreekeconomyin thefirst millennium BC was
a wholeorderofmagnitude lowerthanthatofpost-Industrial Revolution Britain,
butitbearscomparison withthesomeofthemostdynamic pre-industrial economies
thatwe knowof.
Whenwe movefrompercapitaconsumption toaggregate consumption, thepic-
tureis evenmoreremarkable. Ancient textspreserve many numbers that can be used
forpopulation estimates, although are
they highlyproblematic, and come mostly
fromthefifth century BC onward.KarlJuliusBelochcollectedtheevidencelong
ago (Beloch [1886],[1889]). Archaeology and moresystematic use of demo-
graphic theory now allow forlonger-term and more robust estimates (see especially
Scheidel [2001a],[2001b],[2001c],[2003],[2006]),although itis surprising how
oftenBeloch'sfigures turnouttobe roughly correct.
Themostimportant technique forarchaeological estimatesofpopulation is inten-
sivesurface survey, collectingmaterials onthesurface toproducemapsofchanging
settlementpatterns acrossthewholeofhuman history. Thistechnique involves many
tricky issues,fromgeomorphology
interpretive toratesofdiscardandproblems of
dating(see Sbonias [1999]),butinthelasttwenty yearsarchaeologists havebuilt
up a largeandimpressively consistent bodyof results.Figure10 showsmyvery

Growth Greece 727
roughestimateoftotalGreekpopulation trends,
800-300,coveringtheAegeanand
thecoloniesinsouthernItalyandSicily.Thisdrawson Beloch'sstudyofthetexts,
themostrecentsurveydata,andrelevant Tables2 and3 summarize
excavations. the
andpopulation
results estimatesoftwoofthebestpublished surveys,on theisland
ofKea andinthesouthern Argolid(Cherry,Davis, and Mantzourani [1991];
Jameson,Runnels, and Van Andel [1994]).The bestsurveys haveproduced
withpopulation
broadlysimilarresults, increasing
apparently almostten-foldbe-
tween800 and300 (andevenfasterinSicily,wheretherewasin-migrationfrom the
Aegean(Scheidel [2003],De Angelis [2003]).
Figure10
TheEstimated
Population theAegeanandwestern
oftheGreekWorld(including
800-300BC
Mediterranean),
800 700 600 500 400 300

YearsBC
A ten-foldincreaseacross500 yearsrepresents growthat an averagerateof over

0.4 percentper annum. This is rapidfor a premodern population (see Livi-BACCI
[2001,Figure1.8]), and Scheidel [2004] estimatesthat growth Mediterranean
in
Europe as a whole in this was
period just 0.1 percentper annum.If theresultsin
Figures9 and 10 arereasonably accurate,then aggregateconsumption intheGreek
worldincreased fifteen-
totwenty-fold between800 and300- i.e.,atanannualrate
of0.6-0.9percent. Wemight comparethistoaggregate growth ratesof0.5 percent
forHollandfrom1580through 1820,and2.5 percent forBritain1820-1920.
Givenalltheuncertaintiesinsurvey archaeology,Figure10maywelloverestimate
demographic growth (although itcouldequallywellunderestimate it).Butevenifwe
slashedtheestimate inhalf(whichseemsextreme), theaverageaggregate increase
inconsumption wouldstillbe 0.3-0.5percent, comparable toGoldenAgeHolland.
By anypremodern standards,theeconomyperformed wellinarchaicandclassical
Greece(see Goldstone [2002]).

Table 2
Estimates
Population fortheTerritory
ofKoressoson Kea
Period Population Units
900-700 ?100 1.0

700-480 570-810 5.7-8.1
480-323 1020-1455 10.0-14.5
323-31 495-600 5.0-6.0
Source:CHERRY,DAVIS,ANDMANTZOURANI
[1991,p. 340].
Table 3
Population fortheSouthern
Estimates ArgolidRegion
Period Population Units
750-650 1100 1.0

650-480 5880 5.3
480-^c.200 10,855 9.9
c. 200-AD 100 4570 4.2
Source:JAMESON, ANDVANANDEL[1994,p. 544f.].

RUNNELS,
inAncient
ofEconomicGrowth
7 TheSignificance Greece
Scholarsand thepublicalikeregularly talkof a "Greekmiracle," whichcreated

recognizablymodern forms of philosophy, drama,
history, art,andmale
naturalistic
democracy. This, after
all, has been themain reason thatEuropean American
and
societieshavedevotedso manyresources tothestudyofancientGreeceacrossthe
last200 years.The arguments I havepresentedaboveraisethepossibility thatthe
Greekmiracle- howeverwe chooseto defineit - was drivenby an underlying
economicmiracle.
The onlyway to evaluatethisidea is of coursecomparatively, and thistime
themostusefulcomparisons willbe notwithearly-modern Europe,butwithother
ancientsocieties.A systematiccomparison willbe a verylargeresearch far
project,
beyondthescopeof thisessay.Buta quickcomparison of typicalhousesizes in
GreeceandtheNearEastsuggests thatwhileGreecedidbecomeoneoftherichest
areasoftheancientworld, much ofitsrapidgrowth between800 and300 mustbe
put down toconvergence, catching up with generallyhigherlevelsofconsumption
acrosstherestof theeastMediterranean. As notedabove,thedestruction of the
BronzeAge palace centersaround1200 hittheAegeanharderthananyother
partof theeast Mediterranean. In theeighteenth and seventeenth centuriesBC,
MinoanCretanhouseswereroughly thesamesizeas orslightlylargerthanthosein
Egypt,Babylonia, andtheLevant(Whitelaw [2001,pp. 19ff.]). In thefourteenth

Growth Greece 729
andthirteenth centuries Mycenaeanhouseswereclose to theeastMediterranean

average.Butbetween1200and700,westAsianandEgyptian housesizesdidnot
declinesignificantly, whileAegeanhousesweretypically halfthesizetheyhadbeen
before1200.In thefifth andparticularly thefourth centuries,Greekhousespulled
aheadofNearEasternsizes.Themeanhousesize inNeo-Assyrian northern Iraqin
theeighth andseventh centurieswascomparable withtheGreekmeaninthefourth
century, buttherewas a majordifference theAssyrianmeanwas
in distribution:
pulledup byeightpalatialstructures withareasofover1000m2(Castel [1992]),
whilesuchgiantbuildings wereveryrareinGreeceuntilthelatefourth centuryBC.
Thesubject callsfor more sustainedstudy,but itlookslike much of the improve-
mentin Greeklivingstandards between800 and300 was a matter ofcatching up
fromtheunusually deepdepression after1200.By archaictimes,Greekstandards
of livingwerecomparable withthosein theMiddleEast; in classicaltimes,they
pulled ahead. The economy performed taking
strongly, Greecefrombeingthemost
depressed area in the easternMediterranean to beingwhatWrigley [1988] has
calledan advancedorganiceconomy.
Interestingly, classicalGreekauthors likedtocontrastGreekpoverty withPersian
wealth, oftenarguing thatpoverty madetheGreekstoughandwas oneofthemain
explanations fortheirmilitary victory overPersiain 480. Herodotus evenclosed
his accountof thePersianWarswitha (surelyapocryphal) storyabout howthe
PersiansonceurgedtheirkingCyrustomovetheentire population down from their
ancestral homelandin themountains of southwest Iranto therichplainsof Iraq.
Cyrusrefused, tellingthemthathardlandsmadehardmen.The story'splacement
impliesthatHerodotus sawthisas themoralofrecent Yetthegeneral
history. picture
of livingstandards in Greeceandhereasternneighbors in theearlyfifth century
suggeststhatthemeanstandard in Greecewas at leastas highas in thePersian
Empire.The explanation probablylies in Herodotus'(and otherGreeks')focus
on thespectacular wealthof thePersianelite.Afterthebattleof Plataeain 479,
theGreekscould notbelievetherichesthatthePersiangeneralMardoniushad
brought withhim;andwhenAlexander conquered Persiain 334-330,he released
previously unimagined flowsof wealthfromits treasure houses.He spent9780
talentsona singledinner forhistroops;theentire annualincomeofthefifth-century
Athenian Empirehadbeenroughly 1000talents.
Fromanancient perspective,theremarkable thingaboutGreekeconomicgrowth
maynotbe theabsolutelevelthatconsumption reached.Whilehighbypremodern
it
standards, mayonly have outstripped thePersian Empireby a relatively small
amount.It mayhavebeenmoreunusualin theevennessof itsdistribution across
thepopulation. Butthissubjecttoorequires morestudy.
8 TheCausesofEconomicGrowth
inAncient
Greece
Whatdrovetheimpressive improvementin Greekstandards

oflivingbetween800
and 300? Therewas no technological
revolution,
althoughwe can see a number

of small improvements accumulatingacross thesefivecenturies.A generationago

Moses Finley [1965] arguedthattechnologywas almoststagnantin Greco-Roman
antiquity,because slave labor was so cheap thattherewas no incentiveto find
economic applicationsforinventions.More recentlyhistorianshave criticizedthis
position(e.g., Greene [2000], Wilson [2002]), buttheadvancestheypointto only
began in the thirdcenturyBC, and mostclusterin the Roman Empireof the first
two centuriesAD.
The crops cultivatedin Greece did notchange muchacross the firstmillennium
BC, althoughthereis growingevidence thatclimaticchanges startingin the ninth
and eighthcenturiesmade the Mediterraneanenvironment more favorable.From
about 1500 BC till 800, theMediterraneanexperienceda Sub-Boreal climatesys-
tem,characterizedby averagetemperatures perhaps2°C higherthanthosetypicalin
recenthistory, and by weak westerlywinds,bringinglow winterrainfall.After800,
climateshiftedtowarda Sub-Atlanticpattern,withtemperatures similarto thosein
recenttimes,and more reliable and higherwinterrains (Lamb [1972]). Paleocli-
matologistRaymondBradley [1999, p. 15] commentsthat"If such a disruption
of theclimatesystemwere to occur today,thesocial, economic,and politicalcon-
sequences would be nothingshortof catastrophic."In theMediterranean basin,the
effectsof theshiftwere generallypositive,reducingtheriskof cropfailureand ac-
celeratingsoil formationin whathad previouslybeen semi-aridzones (Ortolani
and Pagliuca [2003]). In temperateEuropetheshiftto a Sub-Atlanticclimatehad
theoppositeeffect,makingsome of themostfertilevalley soils too wet and heavy
to cultivatewithprimitiveIron Age tools (Bouzek [1997], Kristiansen [1998,
pp. 28-31 and408ff.]).
The basic techniquesof plow agriculturedid not change much.Iron tools were
used across the whole period 800-300, thoughearlyon theymay have been rare
and expensive.The earliestcache of irontools knowndates around700, butby the
fourthcenturytheyare commonon sites like Olynthus.Roads remainedprimitive
untilRoman times.Harborswere verysimpleuntilthe fifthcentury, but again the
Romans broughtin the most importantinnovationsafterthe second centuryBC.
Shipsdid improve,though,particularly inthelatersixthcentury,whenbroad-bodied
specializedmerchantvessels are attested.Cranes,hoists,and otherliftingmachinery
also improvedinthelatersixthcentury. Methodsofminingand metallurgy improved
in classical times,althoughcomparedto thehugeRoman silverminesin Spain,even
thefourth-century silverminesofAthensseemsprimitive. Fromthethirdcentury BC
on therewere some remarkablewater-and steam-poweredmachines.The Romans
broughtsome oftheseintominingand water-lifting, buton thewhole theyremained
elitetoys.1
Technologicaladvancesthatwerenotdirectlyproductive, whichwe mightclassify
as extensionsof thestockof knowledge,mayhave been moreimportant. Afterfour
1 Thereis a Humphrey,Oleson, and Sher-

on technology.
growingliterature
wood [1998] collectthe maintexts;Meijer and Van Nif [1992] do the same for
For generaloverviews,see Greene [2000], Wilson [2002], Schneider
transport.
[2006].

Growth Greece 731
centuries theperiod800-300openedwiththeinvention
ofilliteracy, oftheGreek
alphabet. Thissurelymadecommercial activity easier,although all surviving texts
fromitsfirst twocenturies arepoetic,noteconomic(Powell [1991]).By thelate
sixthcentury tradersweredefinitely sendinginstructions overlongdistancesvia
writing. Theease ofthealphabetcompared tomostNearEasternscripts mayhave
beenimportant: probably10 percent offourth-century Athenian citizens hadbasic
literacy 1 of or
skills,as againstperhaps percent Egyptians Babylonians (HARRIS
[1989]).Greeknumeracy was also bothhighlydevelopedandwidelydiffused by
classicaltimes(Netz [2002]).
Thefirst coinswerecastinLydia(inwestern Turkey) inthelateseventh century,
buttheGreeksleapedon thisnewmediumin theearlysixth.The earliestissues
probably hadmorepoliticalthaneconomicfunctions, sincetheywereforverylarge
denominations, and made of a
electrum,naturally occurring alloyofgoldandsilver,
whichmadeit hardtojudgetheirmetalvalue.By thelatesixthcentury, though,
smalldenomination bronzecoinswerecirculating, whichmustmeanthatexchange
wasalreadybecoming monetized; andcoinswerecirculating farfrom thecitiesthat
issuedthem(HOWGEGO [1995], Kim [2001]).
NewInstitutional Economists havegenerally arguedthattechnology is as much
a consequenceas a cause of economicgrowth, and havesoughtmorepowerful
explanations in thedefinition andenforcement ofproperty rights andthelowering
of transaction costs.We can traceboththeseprocessesacrosstheninththrough
fourth centuries. The mostimportant of themwas probablythedevelopment of
citizenship - theideathatall locallybornfreemenwithin a city-state hadroughly
equal rightsand protections, regardless of wealth,birth, education, or anyother
factor.Thisidea was probably established in theeighthcentury (Morris [1987]),
butwas definedincreasingly clearlyacrossthearchaicperiod.In seventh-century
Athens, therichground downthepoorintoa kindofsemi-serfdom, largely through
manipulating debt.Resistanceraisedthecostsof maintaining thesystemto crisis
levels,and in 594 Solon was appointedas a mediator. The overalleffectof his
reforms wastodefineAthenians' rights intheirownbodies,whichcouldnotlonger
be seized,andinproperty (Morris [2001a]).He canceleddebts,didsomething to
redistribute land,encouraged craftsmen to settlein Athens,and oversawa crude
kindof import-substitution program, banningtheexportof all agricultural goods
exceptoliveoil, in which Athens had strong comparative advantages. His lawsdealt
withinheritance, weightsand measures, and marriage, as well as debtand land
and
ownership; according to Aristotle {Constitution of Athens 9 (Rhodes [1984,
p. 50])), one of themost important things he did was togive all Athenians theright
ofappealtolargejuriesofhundreds oftheirpeers.Lawgivers inothercitiesmade
similar reforms.
Ideologywas veryimportant in thedevelopment of thecity-state. Greek-style
citizenship dependedon certainideas abouttheplace of manin thecosmosthat
wereabsentin mostancientsocieties.The principlethatall menwereroughly
thesamewithintheircommunity diminished theimportance of wealth,whichin
mostancientsocietieswas themajorsociologicalfactor. In muchof theMiddle

East,therichhad traditionally claimedspecialrelationships withthegods,and

couldoften usetheserelationships togenerate newwealth.Greeksacceptednosuch
privilege, distancing mankind fromthegods.The onlybasisforbinding decisions
wasdiscussion withinthecommunity. Through thearchaicperiodcitizensgenerally
accepted thatmenwithmoreeducation andleisurewerethebestplacedtodeliberate.
Oligarchies ranthecities,although ordinary citizensretained rights ofcriticism and
even resistance that would have seemed scandalous in Egypt or theNear East.
By 500, theprivileges of theirweakoligarchies beganto seemunacceptable to
many Greeks. The traditional response to eliteincompetence in
(particularlywar)
had been a violentuprising to replacethefailedoligarchswithbetterones,but
nowtheoutcomeof suchrevoltsstarted to be thetransfer of important questions
to an assemblyof all male citizens.This strengthening of male equalitywent
hand-in-hand withstrengthening theboundaries betweenequalmenandall others:
gender and
inequality large-scale chattel slavery were hallmarks ofclassicalGreece
(Morris [2000]).
Inhisstudyofcyclesofeconomicexpansion anddeclineinpremodern societies,
EricJones[2000,p. 187] concluded that"Perhapsgrowth canoccuronlywithin an
Optimality band' where factor and commodity markets arefreed and thegovernment
is neither toograsping nortooweak."ClassicalGreekcities(oligarchies as wellas
democracies) areoutstanding examples ofsuchanoptimality band.Theirinstitutions
guaranteed citizens'securityintheirownbodiesandtheirproperty. Therichmight
findit easierto winand thenenforcefavorable decisionsthandid thepoor,but
thewealthycitizens'advantagewas smallerthanin otherancientor medieval
societies.The mainworry in Athenian literatureis in factthatthepoorwoulduse
democracy to plunder therich.All ofthisliterature was written byrich,educated
men,butmuchofitwas produced fordelivery beforelargejuriesofpoorcitizens,
suggesting thatthiswas notsimplyan upper-class obsession.However, justas in
nineteenth-century England, thefearproved misplaced, andjuriesrespected property
rights.
The mostimportant factorin theGreekcitieswas notformaldemocratic con-
stitutions, butthebeliefsandinstitutions of male egalitarianism. Citizens held that
directtaxesweretyrannical, and thatstate institutions (which should do littleex-
ceptorganizereligion, and
war, law) should pay for themselves from indirect taxes
(Andreades [1933]remains thebestsurvey ofGreekpublicfinance). Fortunately
forthisphilosophy, thevolumeofinter-state tradewas high,andharborduesand
market leviescoveredmostcostsuntilthefifth century.
Thereis nosignthatGreeksconsciously thought alongtheselines,butinstitutions
andideologiesdidcombinetocreatesecureproperty rights,andgeopolitical factors
encouraged large-scaleinter-regional trade. The population of the Aegean began
growing in theeighthcentury. A fewGreekswerealreadyfamiliar withsouthern
ItalyandSicilyfromtrade,andthousands ofthemnowmovedwestto settle.The
earliestcolonialsitewas Pithekoussai nearNaples,around750. By 700 it had
a population ofatleast4000.In the730sGreekssettled ineastern Sicily.Although
initialsettlements generally consisted ofjusta fewhundred men,natural population

Growth Greece 733
increase,intermarriage withnatives,and continued emigration fromtheAegean

combinedto createa population of 500,000or morewestern Greeksby thefifth
century. The landtheytookhad a higherproportion of arableand morereliable
rainfall thanthattheyleftbehind,andby 500 roughly twiceas mucharableland
wasunderGreekcontrol as in750 (De Angelis [2000]).Thewestern foundations
werein constant contactwiththeAegean,andthereis a littleevidencethateven
before700 someofthemwereexploiting theirhinterlands toproducecropsto sell
the
backto Aegean(De Angelis [2002]). The colonial movement openeduphuge
newpossibilities forexploiting comparative advantages, withSicilyexporting grain
todenselysettled areaslikeAthens, whichcouldincreasingly concentrate onhigher
valuecropslikeolivesandwine,andpettycommodity production. In thesixthand
fifthcenturies theCrimeaandUkraine weredrawnintotheGreeksystem as suppliers
offood,andTurkey andtheBalkansas suppliers ofslaves.Theterritory controlled
by Greeks in the fourthcentury could not have fed three million or more people
without extensive tradeexploiting itsecologicaldifferences, anda relationship with
a broader non-Greek worldinwhichGreeksimported foodandslavesandexported
value-added goods.
Geopoliticalpressures continued to stimulate economicdevelopment. In 483,
whenit becameclearthatPersiawas aboutto invadetheAegean,Athensbuilt
a largewarfleet,andin481 Spartaorganized an anti-Persian alliance.The Greeks
repulsed theattack, butby478 everyone wasawarethattheonlywaytokeepPersia
outoftheAegeanwasthrough a continuing multi-city navalalliance.Spartahadno
interestinthis,so Athens tookover.Topayforthefleet - themostexpensive military
forceGreecehadeverseen- theAthenian statesman Aristides setcontributions for
eachcity,either inshipsandcrewsorinmoney. Thealliesthought theassessments
wereextraordinarily butfound
fair, payments incashmoreacceptable thanpayments
inlabor.Duringthe470smostcitieswentovertomoneypayments. Thetribute that
thecitiespaidwas effectively a tax.We knownothing abouthowthecitiesraised
themoney, butthesilenceofthesourceson thissubjectprobably meansthatitwas
inaccepted, traditional
ways;andtheacceptedwaytoraisemoney, as notedabove,
was through indirecttaxeson trade.The fifth-century Athenian Empireprovided
low-costsecurity fortheAegean,createdthefirst effective taxsystem, andrapidly
advancedmonetization (Morris [2001b]).Tensofthousands ofmenservedinthe
fleeteachyear,and werepaid in coin.According to Herodotus, Persianssaw the
agora - a central market in each town - as a particularly Greek institution,and
excavations at Himera(destroyed in409) andOlynthos in
(destroyed 348) suggest
thatshopswerecommonevenin second-rank cities,withhouseholds combining
pettycommodity production, retailing, andagricultural activities in verydifferent
ways(seeparticularly Cahill [2002]).Asthefifth century wenton,Athens imposed
uniform coinage,weights, andmeasures (probably tofacilitate collection oftribute:
Figueira [1998]).Athens'harbor inthePiraeusemerged as a central marketplace,
wherealmostanything couldbe boughtor sold.AndeventhoughAthens'defeat
in404 endedtheEmpire, theunderlying trends werestrong, andcontinued through
thefourth century.

9 Standards
ofLivingandPopulation
Growth
It is easyenoughto tracethedevelopment of institutionsand ideas thatfavored

economicgrowth between800 and 300. For the firsthalfof thisperiod,Greeks
livedin a powervacuum,withno imperialstatesthreatening them.Theyhadthe
of an
luxury developing ideology ofmale and
egalitarianism, strengthening citizens'
liberties andproperty rights,even when thatmeant weakening power.In fact,
state
rulersbecameso weakvis-à-viscitizensthatby 500 maledemocracies emerged.
Pressure fromPersia(and,in thewest,fromCarthage)forcedstatesto centralize
after 500,butbythenproperty rightsandcivicfreedoms werefirmly established,and
state
growing power in factencouraged economic expansionbyreducing transaction
costs.In thefourth century Greekstandards oflivingsurpassed thoseofanyother
ancient societyofthe time,and thefruits of theireconomy's performance also seem
tohavebeendistributed moreevenlythanwas normal.
I have suggestedthatmuchof therateof increasein Greekconsumption -
equalingthatof early-modern Hollandin aggregate terms,if thecalculations in
sections4-6 are roughly correct- can be explainedthrough convergence, with
Greecehavingdiverged fromitslong-term growth pathafter1200,andcatching
backupwithitbetween800and500.1assessedthesignificance ofGreekeconomic
growth by broadening theframework of analysisto makecomparisons withthe
ancientNearEast.I wantto concludethispaperbybroadening theframework in
a different direction,lookingatGreekeconomicperformance between800 and300
againstthebackground ofverylong-term trends from3000 BC through AD 1000.
Thiscomparison remains impressionistic atthemoment, butraisessomeinteresting
issues.
Whenwe maketheseverylong-term comparisons, we findthattheremarkable
combination ofrapidpopulation growth andrisingpercapitalevelsofconsumption
was notuniqueto theperiod800-300 BC. In fact,thereweretwoothermajor
episodes.The firstwas on Cretebetween2000 and 1500 BC, and thesecond
in all theGreekregionsof theeast Mediterranean betweenAD 300 and 550.
Although detailedcollectionandstudyofthedatamaylead to otherconclusions,
it currently seemsas ifneither of theseexpansionswas quiteas dramatic as the
archaic-classical episode; but both are nonetheless The
striking. first
saw rapid
demographic growth, largeand luxurious houses,a well fedpopulation, and the
riseof thefirstpowerful statesin theAegean,focusedon magnificent palaces
likeKnossos(Branigan [2001]).The secondsaw population recoveringfromits
depressedstateundertheearlyRomanEmpire,a revivalof tradeand urbanism
afterthethird-century AD Germanic raids,another phaseof largeand luxurious
houses,andan extraordinary florescence ofchurch-building (RANDSBORG [1991,
pp.44-53]).
Themostinteresting thingaboutthislong-term comparison is howdifferent the
threecasesareinsociological terms. MinoanCretewasdominated byredistributive
palaces,running muchoftheeconomy through bureaucracies issuingcentral com-
mands.Many,orevenmost,Minoanpeasantsweretiedtothepalacesinrelations of

Growth Greece 735
dependence (Bennet [2006]).Thesituation inarchaicandclassicalGreece,which

I described insection8 above,wasverydifferent: thesocialstructure wasdominated
byindependent citizenfarmers, owningtheirownland,payingminimal taxes,and
oftenevenrunning theirstatesas democracies. Late RomanGreece,finally, was
different again.It was movingtowardbecominga theocratic empire.A massively
wealthy aristocracy andanevenwealthier Churchownedvastestates, onwhichfor-
merly freecitizenswererapidly beingground downintoserfdom (Haldon [2004]).
Yetinall threecases,Greeksexperienced notonlyrisingpopulation butalso rising
standards ofliving.Why?
Theanswermaybe thatthepreciseformsoftheinstitutions andideologiesthat
Greeksdevelopedactually didnotmatter very much. as
If, demographers generally
assert,population growth is a primemoverdrivenlargely bychangesinthedisease
pool thatarebeyondhumancontrol(see Scheidel [2004]),thelessonof Greek
history might be thatwhenhungry mouths demanded food,humaningenuity found
adequateresponses. In each the
case, responses were and
different, path-dependent.
It was outofthequestionthatfourth-century AD Greekswouldreinvent classical
democracy: they had to deal with emperors, an institutionalizedarmy, threatening
Germanic andPersianneighbors, andan increasingly powerful Church. Theyacted
within thebeliefsandinstitutions thatcurrently existed.
Whenpopulation was high,standards oflivingwerehigh;whenpopulation was
low,standards of livingwerelow too.As a closinghypothesis, I suggestthatthe
Greeks'maincomparative advantage in thetechnological andpoliticalcontext of
thepremodern Mediterranean wastheirgeographic location.Theirheavilyindented
coastlinemademaritime activity easy;theirsplintered landscapewithtinyplains
also madeit necessary ifcommunities wereto growbeyondtheNeolithiclevel.
Whenpopulation grewwithinGreece,itforcedpeopleto takeadvantage of these
conditions; andwhenpopulation was highin Greeceitwas also highin thelarger
eastMediterranean, providing opportunities forGreeksto expandtheiractivities
intolargermarkets, fueling increasinglycomplexdivisionsoflaborandrisingliv-
ingstandards, feedingbackto encouragefurther population growth in an upward
spiral.Thefirst andlastepisodesofeconomicexpansion endedwithmassiveshocks
tothesystem, joltingthemoutoftheirgrowth trends. The second-millennium BC
Cretan episodeendedaround1500withthedestruction ofnearlyallMinoancenters,
possiblyassociatedwithan invasion fromtheMycenaean mainland; andtheMyce-
naeans'ownperiodofexpansion endedwiththestillmoreviolentdestructions and
dislocations around1200(Gitin,Amizar,and Stern [1998]).The lateRoman
episodeendedwithterrible plaguessweepingthrough theBalkansinthe580s and
after.
Population tumbled, and inthe630s Arab armies overran mostoftheGreekter-
ritoriesinwestern AsiaandEgypt(Haldon [1990]).Thearchaic-classical episode,
ontheotherhand,petered outintostagnation inthethird century BC beforeslowly
decliningin thesecondand first centuries BC. The turning pointwas Alexander
theGreat'sconquestof Persia:tensof thousands of Greeksemigrated to thenew
worldbetween330 and 250, drawingtheeconomiccenterof gravity to theeast.
After250 population fellin theAegeanand socialpolarization increased, before

theRomaninvasions ofthesecondandfirst centuriesBC thoroughly devastatedthe

region.
Itwouldbe a mistake toconcludethatinstitutions,
ideologies,andstatestructures
- history,
in short- didnotmatter. The culturethatGreeksdevelopedat theend
of theirDarkAge provedunusually well suitedto exploitingfavorableeconomic
andclimaticconditions. Property werestrong,
rights citizens'freedomswerewell
developed,intellectual
lifewas vigorous,
andtransaction costswererelativelylow.
And,as thebitterexperience of laterMediterranean societiesdemonstrates,rapa-
ciousrulersactinglikerovingbandits(see Olson [2000])couldeasilyhavekept
Greeceoutoftheoptimality band.Buton theotherhand,thelong-term historyof
Greecefrom3000 BC through AD 1000also suggeststhatmuchoftheeconomic
miracleofthefirstmillennium BC wasdriven byforcesthattheGreeksthemselves
didnotcontrol.
10 Conclusion
I havearguedtenconnected points:
(1) Contrary to whathistorians regularlyassert,we can use archaeological evi-
dencetodocument theperformance ofancienteconomies, via standardsofliving.
(2) In Greece,standardsoflivingrosesignificantly between800 and300 BC.
(3) Fromthesechanges, wecaninfer thatby300BC, percapitaconsumption had
increased tosomewhere between150and200 percent ofits800 BC level.
(4) Aggregate consumption increased acrossthesameperiod.
fifteen-fold
(5) The Greekeconomyperformed spectacularly well:in aggregate terms, itis
comparable tothegainsmadeinearly-modern Holland.
(6) Muchofthisimprovement inperformance canbe explainedthrough conver-
gence:Greeklivingstandards hadsunktounusually lowlevelsafter1200BC.
(7) However,by thefourth century BC Greeceprobablydid havehigherper
capitaconsumption thanotherMediterranean societies,and also enjoyeda more
evendistribution ofmaterial goodsthanothersocieties.
(8) Therearetwomajorsetsofproximate causesforthisstrong performance: first,
thecreation ofuniquenotionsofcitizenship, whichfostered strong propertyrights
andstatesoperating inwhatEricJonescallsan "optimality band";andsecond,the
of
developmentstrong comparative advantages,beginning theGreeksettlement
with
ofSicilyandsouthern Italy.
(9) However,comparison of archaic-classicalGreecewithMinoanCreteand
lateRomanGreeceencourages speculationon deeper causesofeconomicgrowth:
despitewildlydifferent socialstructures,
politicalhierarchies, andbeliefsystems,
all threesocietiesresponded topopulation growth in waysthatraisedstandards of
living.
(10) The detailsof institutions and ideologiesmayhave mattered less than
Greece'sgeographic position,whichwas well suitedto actingas a trading mid-
dlemanintimesofhighpopulation density.

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Ian Morris
Department ofClassics
StanfordUniversity
CA 94305-2080
Stanford,
USA
E-mail:
imorris@stanford.edu


Economic Growth in Ancient Greece

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Economic Growth in Ancient Greece

Author(s): Ian Morris

This content downloaded from 109.129.219.103 on Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:39:23 PM

Douglass North [1981, p. 3] famouslydefined"the task of economic history[as

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50-100 percent higher thanaround800BC. I alsosuggest thatwecanusethearchae-

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Theirrulersclaimedspecialrelationships withthegods,and organizedat least

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navy,andstarved Athensintosubmission. SpartathentookoverAthens'empire,

In theearlyfourth century no Greekcitycouldrebuilda politicalorganization

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By thetimeAlexander diedin 323,theold city-states in theAegeanandSicily

Ancient historianshavesaid verylittleaboutstandards of livingoreconomicper-

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excavatedhousescan tellus aboutthequalityandsize of houses,and sometimes

A massofdatasurvives I amstillata relatively

4.1 Ageat Death

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'Z y^^/fcmalc (1990s)

assume40 percentmortality beforeage 5, then(usingAngel'sdata)e0 fellfrom

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(Henneberg and Henneberg [1998]). Whether becausechildren's

Angel'squantification ofvertebral arthritis

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Angel'sresults(n = 229); theisolatedpointrepresents

Age-specificstatureseems to be a verygood indicatorof nutrition (Floud [1994],

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S * -- - '- *~~~~ female

Note: Calculated according to TROTTER AND GLESER's [1958] regression formulae

recentstudieshave documented evenhigherlevels- 78 percentof all teethat

1200 700 300

Angel'sresults(n = 257). The isolatedpointsrepresent

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Carbonized seedsandpollenshowthatthe"Mediterranean triad"ofgrains, olives,

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bothsexesacrossthisperiod,andwomen'sdietgenerally improved. On theother

Otherthanthesharpincreasein adultages at death,changesin bodilystatuswere

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800 700 600 500 400 300

Note: The lower line shows roofedspace in the ground-floor

do would be to eliminategrowthuntil400, withtypicalhouses of roughly140 m2

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Across theperiod 800-300, house sizes normallyclusteredquite tightlyaround

800 700 600 500 400 300

Hoepfner and Schwandner [1994, p. 150] suggestthata typicalhouse cost

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fourth-century Greece,liketheoneexcavated inBlockII attheSilenGateonThasos

Some of theindicesthatmoderneconomichistorians havefocusedon cannotbe

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Note:Topbar:c. 800 BC; middlebar:c. 300 BC, making minimal bot-

Theseassumptions canbe challenged,buttheyseemconsistent of

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documented agrariansocietiesfortheprimary agricultural producers to consume

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combined (Salmon [2001]),andAthensspent45,000-50,000talentsfighting the

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800 700 600 500 400 300

A ten-foldincreaseacross500 yearsrepresents growthat an averagerateof over

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Period Population Units

900-700 ?100 1.0

Period Population Units

750-650 1100 1.0