Poverty, debt and dependent labour in the ancient Greek world

Abstract

This chapter explores some methodological questions concerning the study of poverty in the ancient Greek world by using debt and debt bondage as a means for theoretical reflection. It examines questions relating to evidence survival and the conceptualisation and characterisation of poverty, particularly in contexts of debt, before exploring the different forms of debt bondage that are attested in the ancient world, how they overlapped with slavery and the slave trade across time and space, and how they created systems of dependency that structure social and economic relations. By using debt and debt bondage as a lens through which to explore ancient Greek poverty, this chapter raises a number of theoretical and methodological issues inherent within the study of subaltern groups, explores the relationships between social structures and historical agency, and suggests that historians think more carefully about the gendered implications of debt bondage in the ancient Greek world.