I j. 2, TRADERS AND CRAFTSMEN y
time past, one, to give the people all it needed, chiefly food,
and the other, to gam by harbour dues public revenues as large
as possible. What we are told sometimes about all the allies,
namelv that they could not exist without imports and exports,1
was even truer for the State that ruled the sea and had the
widest political and economic power of control
We learn from our survey that corn, wine, silphmm, certain
articles of luxury, fish and slaves were the chief Athenian
imports - The list could be enlarged from other sources, but
its character would be unaltered Only some important raw
materials should be added, such as timber and other wood,
iron and bronze.a The so-called 'industrial' production cer-
tainly supplied a large part of the export trade It is neverthe-
less clear that the extent and intensity of Attic trade did not
depend on the extent and intensity of 'industry' Mass pro-
ducnon was out of the question, because the requisite con-
ditions of either production or sale did not exist On the other
hand, the smallness of the average workshop did not by any
means prevent the general importance of trade
The goods mentioned were dealt with by various people,
some of whom dealt with their production or import, others
with the sale to the consumers Here we can speak of inter-
mediary trade The fishmonger made his purchases partly
from the Attic fishermen, partly from the emporoi The wine-
seller was, in most cases, identical with the innkeeper, he
bought Attic wine from the vme-dresser, imported wine from
the emforos Some of the articles of luxury and some delicacies
may have been sold by the kape/os In corn and flour, provided
it was not taken over by the State, there doubtless existed inter-
mediate trade between peasant or miller on the one hand, and
baker or consumer on the other. The conditions of the slave
trade were somewhat exceptional, certainly the emporos who
traded in slaves not only brought them into the country, but
sold them himself in the market. Timber and metals too may
often have been sold directly by the emporos to the craftsman.
Taking all these facts together, we may say that some of the
* Ps.-Xen II, 3
2 I do not think the characterization by Michell, 234, is to the point He
minimizes the importance of Athenian trade by regarding many of the imported
goods as occasional curiosities onh
3 W 301, Xen hell VI, i, 11, Ps -Xen II, r r