‘Merchants fond of corn’: Citizens and foreigners in the Athenian grain trade

Abstract

It has been suggested that the Athenian citizens were prevented by over‐riding moral values from being engaged in the grain trade, which could be very profitable. Trade as such was seen as a dirty job. This article will bring into focus other explanations of their passivity in this sector of the Athenian economy. The technical problems always offered by long‐distance trade and the complicated loan‐transactions behind every trading venture made metics and other foreigners key persons as grain merchants as well as financiers in this risky trade.