GROUP 2

Trade was a fundamental aspect of the ancient Greek world and following
territorial expansion, an increase in population movements, and innovations in
transport, goods could be bought, sold, and exchanged in one part of the
Mediterranean which had their origin in a completely different and far distant
region. Food, raw materials, and manufactured goods were not only made
available to Greeks for the first time but the export of such classics as wine,
olives, and pottery helped to spread Greek culture to the wider world.
 From Local to International Trade
In Greece and the wider Aegean, local, regional, and international trade
exchange existed from Minoan and Mycenaean times in the Bronze Age.
The presence, in particular, of pottery and precious goods such as gold,
copper, and ivory, found far from their place of production, attests to the
exchange network which existed between Egypt, Asia Minor, the Greek
mainland, and islands such as Crete, Cyprus, and the Cyclades. Trade
lessened and perhaps almost disappeared when these civilizations
declined, and during the so-called Dark Ages from the 11th to 8th
centuries BCE international trade in the Mediterranean was principally
carried out by the Phoenicians.
 The earliest written sources of Homer and Hesiod attest to the existence of trade
(emporia) and merchants (emporoi) from the 8th century BCE, although they often
present the activity as unsuitable for the ruling and landed aristocracy. Nevertheless,
international trade grew from 750 BCE, and contacts spread across the
Mediterranean driven by social and political factors such as population movements,
colonisation (especially in Magna Graecia), inter-state alliances, the spread of
coinage, the gradual standardisation of measurements, warfare, and safer seas
following the determination to eradicate piracy.
 From 600 BCE trade was greatly facilitated by the construction of
specialised merchant ships and the diolkos haulway across the isthmus of
Corinth. Special permanent trading places (emporia), where merchants of
different nationalities met to trade, sprang up, for example, at Al Mina on
the Orontes river (modern Turkey), Ischia-Pithekoussai (off the coast of
modern Naples), Naucratis in Egypt, and Gravisca in Etruria. From the 5th
century BCE, Athens' port of Piraeus became the most important trading
centre in the Mediterranean and gained a reputation as the place to find
any type of goods on the market.
 Traded Goods
Goods which were traded within Greece between different city-states included:

- cereals
-wine
-olives
-figs
-pulses
-eels
-cheese
-honey
-meat (especially from sheep and goats)
-tools (e.g.: knives)
-perfumes
-fine pottery, especially Attic and Corinthian wares.
 Fine Greek pottery was also in great demand abroad and examples have
been found as far afield as the Atlantic coast of Africa. Other Greek
exports included wine, especially from Aegean islands like Mende and Kos,
bronze work, olives and olive oil (transported, like wine, in amphorae),
emery from Delos, hides from Euboea, marble from Athens and Naxos, and
ruddle (a type of waterproofing material for ships) from Keos.
The goods available at the market places (agorai) of major urban
centres which were imported from outside Greece included:

-wheat
-slaves from Egypt
-grain from the Black Sea (especially via Byzantium)
-salt fish from the Black Sea
-wood (especially for shipbuilding) from Macedonia and Thrace
-papyrus
-textiles
-luxury food such as spices (e.g.: pepper)
-glass
-metals such as iron, copper, tin, gold and silver.
 OMAÑA JENITH R
Pomida, Sweet Charmaine H.
Pablo, Alyzza P
Tongon, Jessah T.
Nimer, ELEONOR
Faburada, Marisa A.
Damian, Resty
Veruen, Angelito
Prudente, Roann
Dilao, Maricris
Gongob, Shiela