A T H 



a mcrcliant of any crime which he was unable to prove. 

 As Attica produced but little corn, the exportation of it 

 was prohibited ; and thofe who fetched it from foreign 

 countries were forbidden, under rigorous penalties, to carry 

 it to any other market hut that of Athens. A great 

 quantity was broug!it from Egypt and Sicily ; and a greater 

 quantity from Panticapsum and Theodofia, cities of the 

 Chei-fonefus Taurica, becaufe the fovereign of that coun- 

 try, the mailer of the Ciinmeriau Bofphorus, exempted the 

 Athenian veffels from paying the duty which he levied on 

 the exportation of that commodity. In confequence of 

 this privilege, they traded in preference to the Cimmerian 

 Bofphorus, from which Athens received annually 400,000 

 medinmi of corn. The Athenians alfo imported from Pan- 

 ticapxuni, and -the different coafts of tlie Euxine fea, tim- 

 ber for building, (laves, filt, honey, wax, wool, leather, 

 and goat-flcina ; from Byzantium, and other parts of 

 Thrace and Macedonia, falt-fifh and wood ; from Phrygia 

 and JNLletus, carpats, coverlets for beds, and the fine wool 

 of which they made their cloths ; from the iflands of the 

 ^gean fea, wines of the various kinds of fruits which they 

 produce ; and from Thraci-, Theifaly, Phn,-gia, and many 

 other countries, a great number cf flaves. Oil was the only 

 commodity which Solon allowed them to exchange for 

 foreign merchandize ; the exportation of all other produc- 

 tion"; from Attica was prohibited; nor was it permittedto 

 carry out of the country, without paying heavy duties, 

 the timber of the fir, the cyprcfs, the plane, and other 

 trees which grow in the environs of Athens. In their filver 

 mines the Athenians found a great relource for their com- 

 merce. As feveral ilates debafcd their coin, the money of 

 Athens, in greater eftimation thun that of other countries, 

 procured for them an advantageous exchange. In general, 

 they purchafed wine in theidands of the jEgean fea, or on 

 the coafts of Thrace ; for it was pri:.cipally by means of this 

 commodity that they trafficked with the people who in- 

 habited the borders of the Euxine fea. The talleconfpicuous 

 in the works of their artills, rendered the produftions ol their 

 Ikill and induftry defirable ; fo that they exported to dillant 

 countries fwords and arms of different kinds, cloths, beds, 

 and various utenfils. Books were with them alfo an article 

 of trade. They maintained correfpondenis in aimed all 

 the places to which they were attrafted by the hope of 

 gain ; and, on the other hand, many of the ftates of Greece 

 appointed agents at Athens to fuperintend the interefts of 

 their trade. The Athenians for the moll part employed 

 their money in trade ; but they vvere not allowed to lend 

 it for any place but Athens. The lender had his fecurity 

 on the merchandize or goods of the borrower ; and as the 

 dangers of the fea were partly riflced by the former, and the 

 profit of the latter might be very confiderable, the intereft 

 <of money thus lent might rife as high as 30 per cent, 

 more or lefs, according to the length and hazards of the 

 voyage. The landed intereft amounted to 12 per cent, per 

 annum, fometimes to 16 per cent, monthly, and among the 

 lower claffes of the people, the quarter of the principal was 

 exafted for daily intereft. Commerce, by increafiiig the 

 circulation of wealth, gave rife to the occupation of bankers, 

 and thus its circulation was ftill more facilitated. 



Athens, Money of, was of three forts. Silver was firft 

 coined, a.'"terwards gold, and lalUy copper. The mod 

 common coins were thofe of filver, and they were of dif- 

 ferent value. Above the drachma (gd. Englilli), confid- 

 ing of fix oboli, was the dldrachma, or double drachma, and 

 the tetradrachma or quadruple drachma ; below it were the 

 pieces of 4, 3, and 2 oboli ; after which were the obelus and 

 femiobulus (i. e. 6d. 4|d. 3d. i f d. and \ d. Enghlh). The 



A T H 



latter being found inconvenient for common ufc, copper 

 money was coined about the beginning of the Peloponnefian 

 war, and pieces of that metal were druck, which were not 

 worth more than the eighth part of an obolu?. The Urged 

 piece of gold weighed two drachmas, and was worth 

 twenty filver drachmas (i. e. fiitcen fliiUings Englilh). Gold 

 was very fcarce in Greece ; it was brought from Lydia and 

 Macedoma, where the peafants collected the' fmall pieces 

 which the rams wafhed down from the neighbouring moun- 

 tains. See Money. 



Athens, Revenues of, fometimes amounted to the fum of 

 2000 talents or 450,000 I. and thefe revenues were of two 

 kmds ; thofe which were raifed in the countryitfelf, and thofe 

 that were drawn from the tributary cities and dates. The 

 fird clafs comprehended the produa of tlie houfes, lands, 

 and woods appertaining to tlie republic, and farmed out 

 for a certain fum ; the twenty-fourth part refcrved from 

 the filver mines, payable by individuals whu had permiiTion 

 to work them ; the annual tribute received from freedmen 

 and the 10,000 foreigners fettled in Attica; the fines and 

 confifcations, the principal of which went into the treafury 

 of the date ; the fifth levied on corn and other merchan- 

 dize imported, and alfo on feveral commodities that were 

 exported from the Piraeus; which, during the Peloponnefian 

 war, were farmed at thirty-fix talents (8100I.) ; and a num- 

 ber of other taxes of lefs importance, yielded hy commodi- 

 ties fold in the market, and levied on fuch as kept courtezan* 

 in their houfes. Mod of thefe duties were farmed ; and 

 the farm.crs remitted, before the ninth month of the year, 

 the fum ftipulatcd to the receivers of the revenue. The 

 fecond and principal branch of the revenues of the date, 

 confided in the tributes which were paid by a number of 

 cities and iflands dependent upon it. Its claims of this 

 kind were founded on the abufe of pow'er. After the 

 battle of Plalpea, the conquerors having refolved to revenge 

 on Perfia the infults otlered to Greece, the inhabitants of 

 the iilands who had entered into the league agreed to fct 

 apart every year a confiderable fum to defiay the expences 

 ot the war. The Athenians collefted in different places 

 460 talents (103,5001.) ; and by degrees, as their power 

 increafed, they changed the gratuitous contributions of th<: 

 allied cities, into an humihating exaction, impofing on 

 fome the obhgation to provide (hips whenever they (hould 

 be called upon, and demanding of others the annual tribute 

 to which they had formerly fiibjetted themfelves. In the 

 fame manner thty taxed their new conquells, and the fuia 

 total of the foreign contributions amounted, at the begin- 

 ning of the Peloponnefian war, to 600 talents (135,0001.) ; 

 and towards the middle of the fame war, to twelve or 

 thirteen hundred. y>The conquefts of Piiilip reduced this 

 fum to 400 talents, and the Athenians flattered themfelves 

 they fhould again be able to advance it to i2co (270,000!.) 

 The 460 talents drawn annually from the dates leagued 

 againd the Ptrfians, and dtpofited by the Athenians in the 

 citadel, at fird amounted to the fum of :o,ooo talents 

 (2,250,0001.) according to Ifocrates (t.i.p.395.) ; or9700 

 (2,lS2,50ol.) according to Thu<!ydides. (l.ii. c. 13.) Peri- 

 cles, during his adminiftratic.ii, had laid up 8000 ; but 

 having expended 3700, cither in the erahelhlhment of the 

 city, or the expences of the fiege of Potidiea, the 9700 

 were reduced to 6oco (1,350,000!.) at the beginning of the 

 Peioponnelian war. This war was fufpencied by a truce, 

 which the Athenians entered into witli the Lacedxmonians, 

 and the contributions which they had then received amounted 

 to 12 or I 300 talents; and during the fcven years of the 

 trtice, they placed 7000 talents (1,575,000!.) in the public 

 treafury. Thefe revenues, however confiderable, were in- 



fufficient 



