Alain Bresson

Biographic Data

ID1429147
NAMEAlain Bresson
GIVEN NAMESAlain
FAMILY NAMEBresson
SIGNATUREBRESSON A
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Chicago
ORCID0000-0002-6622-2533
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS82
TOTAL CITATIONS173
AUTHOR COUNT79
EDITOR COUNT3
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1979
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX5

  • Conclusions: Critical Overview and Future Directions in the Study of Ancient Greek Institutions

    Alain BressonCHAPTERRediscovering Greek Institutions2025

  • Chronique d’Orient: Chronique 2024

    Open AccessHadrien Bru, Claire Balandier et al.ARTICLEDialogues d histoire ancienne2024

    212 -CC-BY L'approvisionnement en eau sur la colline de Fabrika aux poques hellnistique et romaine : un ouvrage hydraulique souterrain de type alexandrin.tat de la rflexion mi-parcours du 4 e programme de recherches de la Mission archologique franaise Paphos (2023-2024) Le quatrime programme de recherches de la Mission archologique franaise Paphos, intitul De la fondation ptolmaque la reconstruction impriale de Paphos : une cit en transformation,…

  • Athens and the Aegean

    Open AccessSylvian Fachard, Alain BressonCHAPTERCambridge Companion to the…2022

    Athens and the Aegean were at the centre of the economic life of the Greek world in the late archaic and classical period. Like the other cities of the Aegean, Athens actively exploited its territory, but the specific characteristic of its economy was the presence of the Laurium mines, which gave it an unbeatable natural advantage over the other players. In the Hellenistic period, the Aegean cities were only one of the many players on the interna…

  • Markets

    Open AccessAlain BressonCHAPTERCambridge Companion to the…2022

    The market in ancient Greece should be understood as a specific institutional construct, that of the city-state, which allowed its citizens to exercise private property rights guaranteed by law. By extension, free foreigners were also acknowledged these rights, which however extended to the private ownership of human beings (slavery). The city-state also created the conditions for an unusually high division of labour. Each city was a market space…

  • Luxury and Wealth in Sparta and the Peloponnese

    Sophia Aneziri, Alain Bresson et al.BOOKLuxury and Wealth in Sparta and…2022

  • Fates of Romes

    Open AccessAlain BressonARTICLEThe Journal of Roman Studies2020References: 3

    Kyle Harper's book The Fate of Rome marks the thunderous entry of Nature into the world of ancient history of the twenty-first century. This is not the first book devoted to questions of climate and diseases in the ancient world, but its publication nonetheless represents a turning point. From now on, whether they work on political, social, economic, or even religious history, ancient historians will no longer be able to ignore these factors in t…

  • Pidasa, Miletos, and the Karian revolt

    Open AccessAlain Bresson, Olivier Henry et al.CHAPTERKaria Arkhaia. La Carie, des…2019

    Herodotus (6.20) tells us how after the revolt and defeat of Miletos of 494 BC its mountain territory was given to the Karians of Pedasa1. Modern literature has hesitated on the identification of this Pedasa, although more often it has been considered that the city of that name was the homonymous Pedasa located north of Halikarnassos. However, this identification should be abandoned. Despite the apparent name difference, it can be proved that the…

  • City-States, Taxes, and Trade

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the taxation system for trade and commerce in ancient Greece. It first considers how foreign trade and customs duties were supervised before discussing the system of taxation for maritime trade. Citing documents concerning tax exemptions, the chapter shows that traders were constantly seeking privileges in an effort to avoid paying taxes. Maritime shipping was the quickest and least expensive way to move goods, and ports wer…

  • Nonagricultural Production, Capital, and Innovation

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the logic of capital and innovation in nonagricultural production in Classical and Hellenistic Greece. It begins with a discussion of fish production and consumption in ancient Greece, focusing on salt production and the preservation of food supplies by means of salt and salting, before discussing the Greek cities' exploitation of their coastal waters. It then considers the importance of fish trade and fish consumption to fo…

  • The Economy of Ancient Greece: A Conceptual Framework

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter describes the conceptual framework used by the book to study the economy of ancient Greece. It begins with a discussion of the debate between “primitivists,” represented by Karl Bücher, and “modernists,” represented by Eduard Meyer, over the nature of the ancient Greek economy. It considers Bücher's adherence to the so-called German Historical School of Political Economy and goes on to examine the views of Moses I. Finley and Max Web…

  • Agricultural Production

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the growth of agricultural production in the Greek city-states. It traces the evolutions and mutations of agriculture in the ancient Greek world as well as the consequences of these changes, first by discussing the so-called Mediterranean trilogy that comprised ancient Greek agriculture: grain, olives, and grapes. While cereals, grapes, and olives constituted the heart of agricultural production in ancient Greece, the role p…

  • The Greek Cities and the Market

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the extent and the limits of the market system in ancient Greece. It begins with a historical overview of the center-periphery model that emerged during the period, predation as a defining characteristic of the ancient Greek market, and the divergence of prices from one region to another—often seen as a symptom of a lack of market integration. It then compares the overall performance of the market in the city-states with tho…

  • The Economy of the Agricultural World

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the social and technical conditions that both structured the Greek agricultural economy's permanent features and presided over the changes it experienced. It first considers the structures of real property, with a particular focus on the distribution of property, the size of the estates, and access to land and farming systems. It then discusses the crucial questions of risk management in an unpredictable environment, taking …

  • Energy, Economy, and Transport Cost

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the role of energy in the economic growth of ancient Greece, with particular emphasis on the impact of the cost of transportation. It first considers the different sources of energy in the Greek city-states, including heat generated by the sun, wood, and charcoal, before discussing the question regarding the cost of energy and the economic conditions for using steam engines during the period. It then explains how wind energy…

  • People in Their Environment

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the demography of ancient Greece from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods, focusing on the role of people in the development of the ecological environment. It first considers the ecological framework, taking into account the constraints imposed by topography and soils as well as the variability of the climate and vegetation. It then describes the demographic model of the world of the Greek city-states before taking up the…

  • The Emporion and the Markets

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines how the emporion served as an important tool for Greek city-states to regulate the markets. It first provides an overview of the emporion , defined as a “trading port” or “the port area,” and thus also the “business area,” along with its constraints and advantages. It then considers how foreign trade was supervised in cities and goes on to describe the function of the deigma , the place where business was transacted. It also…

  • Strategies of International Trade

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the strategies employed in international trade in ancient Greece. It explains how the rules of trade and the distribution of “natural advantages” played the role of a system of constraints within which genuine strategies of foreign trade could be constructed. To better understand the specificity of these trade strategies, the chapter first considers the two institutional logics that prevailed in the international market: the…

  • International Trade Networks

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the complex commercial networks of international trade in ancient Greece, made possible by “creating” new products through the exploitation of the natural environment or through artisanal production and commerce. It begins with a discussion of how division of labor emerged in foreign trade and how it led to gains in productivity. It also describes the center-periphery model of the late Archaic period and the Classical period…

  • The Institutions of the Domestic Market

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the institutions of the domestic market system in the Greek city-states. It begins with a discussion of private property in relation to trade, noting that, in the framework of the kind of collective appropriation constituted by the city-state, citizens were free to use their property as they wished. It then considers the city-states' law and legal practices relating to transactions, with particular emphasis on the law of sal…

  • Money and Credit

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the relation between credit and money, as well as the possibility that credit might have an autonomous role as a monetary instrument, in ancient Greece. It first considers the use of precious metals, including gold and silver, as monetary instruments in trade before discussing the rise of coinage in the Greek city-states, the connection between coined money and market exchange, minting and the question of how minted money wa…

  • The Polis and the Economy

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the process that allowed the Greek city-states to achieve an impressive level of economic growth. It begins with a short historical overview of the development that took place in Greece from the end of the Bronze Age until the Archaic period, when the “eighth-century revolution” enabled Greece to experience a first phase of significant growth, including population growth. It then considers the taxation system of the city-sta…

  • The Logic of Growth

    Alain Bresson, Steven RendallCHAPTERThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018

    This chapter examines the logic of growth in the Greek city-states. It first considers the relationship between self-consumption and economic growth, focusing on the roles played by self-consumption and the market in agriculture and in the ancient Greek economy more generally. It then explains how the Greek cities managed to become the dominant culture in the Mediterranean between about 700 BCE and 300 BCE after experiencing negative growth at th…

  • The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy: Institutions, Markets, and Growth in the City-States

    Open AccessAlain Bresson, Steven RendallBOOKThe Making of the Ancient Greek…2018Cited by: 16

    This comprehensive introduction to the ancient Greek economy revolutionizes our understanding of the subject and its possibilities. The book combines a thorough knowledge of ancient sources with innovative new approaches grounded in recent economic historiography to provide a detailed picture of the Greek economy between the last century of the Archaic Age and the closing of the Hellenistic period. Focusing on the city-state, which the author see…

  • À Conomie Et Finances Publiques Des Cités Grecques, Vol. 2: Choix d'articles publiés de 2002 à 2014 by Léopold Migeotte

    Alain BressonARTICLEPhoenix2016

    196 PHOENIX an argument for the continuing relevance of the Athenian conception of courage. By presupposing a less sharp distinction between individual and community, and emphasizing the importance of deliberation, Athenian democratic courage can inform contemporary discussions about the scope of courage and its connection to violence and justice in modern democracies. As is evident from the summary of this rather long book, Balot has mastered an…

  • The Ancient Greek Economy: Markets, Households and City-States

    Open AccessAlain Bresson, Sélènè Psoma et al.BOOKAncient Greek Economy2015

    The Ancient Greek Economy: Markets, Households and City-States brings together sixteen essays by leading scholars of the ancient Greek economy specialising in history, economics, archaeology and numismatics. Marshalling a wide array of evidence, these essays investigate and analyse the role of market-exchange in the economy of the ancient Greek world, demonstrating the central importance of markets for production and exchange of goods and service…