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Tour the bustling port of Piraeus.
- Aspasia: Greetings, wanderer, and welcome to the port of Piraeus.
("Who are you?")
- Aspasia: My name is Aspasia. Though I am not original from Athens, I have climbed to the top of its social ladder using my wit and intellect. I've even earned the love of Perikles, one of the most powerful men in the city. The mind truly is a beautiful thing.
("What do you think of this place?")
- Aspasia: Piraeus is one of the busiest, most important ports in the Greek World. Money flows through here like a river. A river that runs all the way to Athens.
("Let's begin the tour.")
- Aspasia: Acting as a port for Athens, Piraeus welcomed merchants, goods, and travelers from all over the world. It was a central part of Athens' economy, but it was also fortified enough to protect the city's considerable fleet. When you finish exploring the port, find me, and we will talk further.
Map of the Piraeus, from Pausanias' Description of Greece, Translated with a commentary by J.G Frazer, London, 1898 / 1898
Piraeus, a peninsula southwest of Athens, became the city's main port after the politician Themistokles encouraged the development of its natural harbors.
These developments led to the gradual abandonment of the older harbor of Phaleron.
Piraeus' fortifications were further developed by Kimon and Perikles, along with the Long Walls which ensured goods could still be moved during sieges.
Piraeus was divided into three main sectors: the military port, the emporion, and the residential area.
By the 5th century BCE, it had become not only Athens' naval headquarters, but also the mercantile center of the Mediterranean.
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Piraeus was divded into three sectors: Zea and Munichia on the east side, and the grand Kantharos harbor on the west side.
Piraeus' agora – called the "Hippodamian agora" in honor of the architect Hippodamos – was located near the cove of Zea. It functioned as a local market, but also as a political and military meeting place.
The Munichia harbor was Piraeus' main military port, and was mainly made up of storage areas and shipsheds.
The Kantharos harbor – which was also the largest natural harbor in the Mediterranean Sea – housed the emporion, where international trade took place.
Terracotta statuette of Artemis Bendis with a hind / 4th cent. BCE (Classical Greece)
Piraeus' development during the 5th century BCE attracted a large population.
Many craftsmen, merchants, bankers, sailors, and ship-owners moved to the port in great numbers.
The population was a mix of Greek citizens, foreign visitors, and immigrants known as metics.
The variety of the port's inhabitants gave Piraeus a cosmopolitan atmosphere.
Most of the residents involved in trade, but others worked on ship building, or in larger scale industries like shield factories.
Piraeus' commercial focus offered many opportunities for those seeking to increase their wealth and status.
One such "rags to riches" tale is that of Pasion, a slave who eventually became a citizen and earned a fortune thanks to his bank and his shield factory.
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Metics made up a large part of the port's population. It's estimated that at the end of 5th century BCE, there were anywhere from 5000-6000 metics living in Piraeus. These varied inhabitants added to the port's cosmopolitan atmosphere.
Metics also had an impact on religious practices in Piraeus. From at least the 5th century BCE onward, metics introduced the worship of various eastern deities such as the Thracian goddess Bendis and the Egyptian goddess Isis. The cults these immigrants brought with them created a varied and colorful spiritual life within the neighbourhood.
Terracotta figurine of a merchant selling bread / 540 BCE (Archaic Greece)
Piraeus was a deme, or distrct, of Attika.
Because of its size, function, and varied population, it had a much more complicated administrative structure than other demes.
Above all, Piraeus was closely monitored and controlled by the Athenian assembly, due to its importance to the city.
Within the port, there were two seperate categories of trade: international trade, which took place in the emporion, and retail trade, which was managed by kapeloi in Piraeus' agora.
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In 393 BCE, Piraeus' emporion was attacked in a daring raid by the Spartan Teleutias.
Teleutias was the commander of a small fleet based on the island of Aegina. His forces sailed twelve triremes into the grand harbor at daybreak and took the Athenians by surprise. As a result, Teleutias was able to capture a number of merchant ships.
The raid ended up discouraging foreign traders from travelling to Piraeus, which put Athens' economy in jeopardy. Consequently, Athens was forced to negotitate peace with Sparta.
Terracotta amphora with unpainted clay / 3rd cent. BCE (Hellenistic Greece)
The emporion was a commercial port dedicated to trading goods from overseas.
All international transactions were required to be made within its limits, and needed to be exclusively wholesale.
Elected magistrates managed all business and laws in the port.
Meanwhile, port authorities known as epimeletes oversaw trade and took care of the regulation of prices.
This was an especially crucial duty, as the amount of supplies and goods could fluctuate wildy based on factors like bad harvests or lost cargo.
Common products sold in the emphorion included vegetables, fruits, fish, leather, timber, marble, metal, weapons, and ceramics.
According to Hermippos, Athens was also wealthy enough to afford the finest goods from all over the world, including figs from Rhodes, almonds from Thasos, oil from Samos, and wine from Chios.
Taxes were collected on all merchandise that came into the emporion, which provided Athens with a major source of income.
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The epimeletes who administrated the emphorion were apponted on an annual basis. Their duties included overseering trade and ensuring the quality of goods and commodities.
They enforced rules of law and made sure no transactions were concluded outside the emphorion, and they supervised money-changers and took care of complaints regarding exchange fraud.
In large cities like Athens, the epimeletes shared some tasks with other specialized magistrates. These magistrates included the anutodikai, who were in charge of justice, the sitophylakes, who supervised the sale of grain, and the pentekostologoi, who collected commercial taxes.
Black-figure cup with scene of king Arkesilas of Cyrene watching men who are packing, weighing and stacking goods / 565-560 BCE (Archaic Greece)
After arriving in the emphorion, merchants set up samples of their goods in a display area called the Deigma.
This was where citizens and foreigners gathered to officially make their deals, and almost all merchandise that came into the emphorion was traded within the area.
The Deigma was under constant supervision by magistrates, who negotiated price control with the importers.
They would occassionally give special privileges to those who agreed to sell at lower prices.
These prices ranged from tax exemptions, to specially reserved seating in the theater.
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Athens was the head of the Delian League, and would often wield its maritime power and influence agaisnt other Greek cities by creating trade blockage.
For instance, when the sacred land between Attika and Megaris was occupied by the Spartan-allied Megarians, Athens forbid Megara from trading in any harbor belonging to the Athenian Empire, and in doing so cut off the city's main economic resource.
Bronze weight of a one mina (100 drachmae) from Seleukia Pieria depicting an elephant / 250-200 BCE (Hellenistic Greece)
Piraeus was a deme, and as such was supervised by a magistrate called the demarchos.
While most demarchoi were chosen locally within their deme, Piraeus' was appointed directly by Athens, so the city could better monitor its commercial interests.
In fact, matters regarding the emporion, the military harbor, and the grain trade were regularly debated and decided by the Athenian assembly.
Transactions within the Piraeus were supervised by metronomoi.
These were magistrates responsible for keeping track of weights and measures.
They made sure merchants' measurements were always accurate to prevent bad deals and scams.
Even though Piraeus would eventually develop into a city in its own right, it always remained under the control of Athens.
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The trade conducted in the emphorion was subjected to tighter surveillance than other places in Attika, and merchants who violated the rules could find themselves facing serious consequences.
Metronomoi probably had the authority to impose penalty charges and bring fraudulent merchants to court, and other magistrates like agoranomoi and sitophylakes likely had similar powers.
Inscriptions from the 2nd century BCE suggest that magistrates also had the right to destroy any undersized container and confiscate its contents.
Red-figure pelike with scene of a man (magistrate) in front of a woman holding a hydria / 480 BCE (Classical Greece)
A commercial tax of 2 percent, or a pentekoste, was placed on all cargo entering and leaving Piraeus.
The tax was collected by a group of give people called the pentekostologoi.
According to Andocides, this position could be bought for the hefty sum of thirty talents, or 180, 000 drachmae.
However, most of these officials made a profit of up to six talents, making the job very lucrative.
While merchants were responsible for setting the value of their goods, pentekostologoi had the power to challenge the value if they saw fit.
Furthermore, merchants were required to register with these officials before they could transport, display, and sell their goods.
Overall, this system provided Piraeus - and by extension, Athens - with a tremendous amount of money.
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Justice in the emporion was upheld by a group of magistrates known as the nautodikai. The first record of a nautodikai goes back to around 450 BCE, and their increased presence at trials runs parallel to the increasing financial and political power of Athens.
The nautodikai were also responsible for administering the law of retaliation. According to this law, if a foreigner injured someone, the nautodikai had the right to seize the goods or property of the perpetrator's fellow traders. As a result of the law of retaliation, some traders avoided certain harbors so as not to be penalized for their associates' actions.
To counter the nautodikai's power, some states had a judicial convention called the symbola. It protected merchants from harassment by ensuring them the rights to be judged by a city court.
The magistracy of the nautodikai was eventually abolished around 350 BCE.
Ear of barley from a stater of Metapontion in Lucania / 530-510 BCE (Archaic Greece)
The sale of grain was overseen by special magistrates called sitophylakes.
Since some Greek cities had a grain deficiency and relied heavily on imports, these officials were extremely important.
Their duties encompassed all aspects of grain commerce, including price control and profit margins, to ensure Athens remained well-fed.
This is of no surprise; grain was so important to Athens that two-thirds of all stocks were required to be transported and sold at the city's agora by law.
According to Demosthenes, the significance of the sitophylakes was such that if they failed in their duties, they faced the death penalty.
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The Peloponnesian War saw some changes in how bread was producted and consumed.
Firstly, poor people began to eat bread - a food previously reserved for the rich. Similarly, bread started to be baked commercially, rather than just in individual households, giving bakers the opportunity to make small fortunes.
Athenian tetradrachm with Athena on obverse and a owl on reverse / 454-404 BCE (Classical Greece)
The emporion operated on a foundation of credits and loans.
Overseas commerce was handled by two types of tradespeople.
Emporoi transported cargo in borrowed ships, while naukleroi were ship-onwers who moved goods on their own vessels.
Elsewhere in the emporion were bankers and accountants who arranged loans and kept track of incoming and outgoing ships.
Emporoi and naukleroi financed their maritime voyages with these loans, which often had a high interest rate due to the dangers of sea travel.
Emporoi used the loans to pay for both the cargo and the right to a ship, while naukleroi only had to pay for their crew.
Loans and interest were repaid upon a ship's return to port.
However, in the event of a catastrophe such as a shipwreck, the merchant and ship-owner were released from their obligations, and the losses were transffered to the lender.
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In Greek cities, some temples held reserve funds stored in rows of pottery.
These temples also provided loans. For example, according to an inscription from around 430 BCE, the Parthenon in Athens lent city funds at an interest rate of six percent.
- Aspasia: You've returned! I hope you enjoyed your stroll through the port. Piraeus was important to Athens' commercial interests, but it eventually came into its own as a vibrant and bustling port. If you have any questiosn, don't hesitate to ask.
("I'm ready for the quiz.")
("Take on the next suggested tour.")
("Take me on a random tour.")
([LEAVE] "That's all for now.")
- Aspasia: As you wish. Thank you for visiting.
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