Sitopolai" and "Sitophylakes" in Lysias' "Against the Graindealers
Governmental Intervention in the Athenian Economy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3939678 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas J Figueira (0000-0002-6957-8033, corresponding author), T Figueira (0000-0003-4749-8574) |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 149 |
| Publication date | 1986-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Phoenix (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1088509 |
| OpenAlex | W2327024246 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 41 |
L YSIAS' ORATION AGAINST THE GRAINDEALERS (22) provides us with a rare glimpse into Athenian governmental supervision of the trade in grain, that most vital of imports. This speech by an unknown speaker was delivered in court against a group of metics who were sitopolai (graindealers). The charge involves purchases of more than a permitted amount of grain, 50 phormoi. Our subject will be how and why the graindealers transgressed this law, and what was the economic context of this legislation and what were the likely effects of the transgression. While most scholars have seen their crime as hoarding (or striving for individual monopoly), I shall argue that Athenian legislation acted against collaboration in the buying of grain and against anti-competitive practices which involved pricefixing. Lysias' client, the speaker of Oration 22, who paints a dark picture of the destructive machinations of the anti-social sitopolai, has been followed all too quickly. Previous work on this speech has over-estimated the extent and efficacy of regulation of the grain trade and exaggerated the individual actions of sitopolai and emporoi (importers), the principal agents in supplying Athens with food from abroad.' This episode ought not to be made a test case for an evaluation of the management by the state of crisis in the grain supply. Moreover, this speech is discernibly a bad brief (below
Economics · Economy · Intervention (counseling · Political science · Classical Antiquity Studies · Medicine
Military Manpower
The Dynamics of Defence
Economic Fragilities in Fourth‐Century Athens
Warfare and the Athenian Countryside
Defending the Polis
People of Attica
Friends Abroad
Saving the Polis
Conclusion
Sitophylakes
Piraeus and ‘Peraea’
The Early Roman Empire
Society and Economy
The Early Roman Empire
The Early Roman Empire
Realized Choices
Law and Economic Institutions
Classical Greece
Early Iron Age Greece
Early Rome and Italy
Hellenistic Greece and Western Asia Minor
Household and Gender
The Late Republic
Ancient Greek Hospitality, Food Habits, and Grain Supply
Archaic Greece
The Early Roman Empire
Classical Greece
The Transition to Late Antiquity
Classical Greece
The Persian Near East
Values, prices and natural liberty
Law and Order in Ancient Athens
The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor in Classical Greek Literature
Feeding the Democracy
Maritime Traders in the Ancient Greek World
The Grain Market in the Roman Empire
The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World
The Bazaar Fish Market in Fourth-Century Greek Comedy
Values and institutions as determinants of entrepreneurship in ancient Athens
A democracia ateniense pelo avesso
War, Food, and Politics in Early Hellenistic Athens
| Unique citing works | 41 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,21 |
| Citation span | 1992 - 2024 (33) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 41 |