[German version] (λύτρον/ lýtron, mostly used in the plural λύτρα/ lýtra). The ransom for prisoners of war was called lytron in Greek (similarly: ἄποινα/ ápoina). The expression was also used for buying the freedom of victims of piracy. Buying the freedom of prisoners was, alongside exchanging prisoners, enslaving or killing, a common practice in Greek warfare from Homeric (Hom. Il. 6,425ff.; 11,106) to Hellenistic times. According to Ducrey [1], selling into slavery was, of course, more common than buying a person's f…

[German version] [1] Unit of weight (also pondus, ‘pound’, metonymic ‘what has been weighted’; Greek equivalent: λίτρα/ lítra). Terminus technicus for the unit of weight of 327,45 g of the Roman measuring system; a libra corresponds to the as , which in the duodecimal system was divided into 12 unciae of 27,28g [2. 706 fig. XIII]. The standard very likely remained unchanged until early Byzantine times, as evidenced by weighing coins of precious metals and silver implements. [3. 222]. As weights, we find librae of bronze and of lead, also of stone. They are to be differentiated…

[German version] (δάνειον; dáneion). The  loan, limited assignment of fungible goods (in kind or money) was an everyday way of doing business throughout the regions inhabited by the Greeks. It took place between private individuals as well as in public life. The lenders were often banks or temples and the borrowers often states, which often also owed debts to private individuals (e.g. IG VII 3172: Orchomenus is indebted to Nicareta). This practise was generally known as daneion, but sometimes   chrḗsis was used; the   eranos loan is a special type. The daneion was set up with a fixed r…

[German version] (σεισάχθεια; s eisáchtheia). Greek authors used the term seisachtheia (lit.'shaking off of burdens') from at least the 4th cent. BC to denote the abolition or mitigation of debts by Solon [1]. The portrayal of Solon's measures in Aristotle suggests that the word was in general use in the 4th cent. (Aristot. Ath. pol. 6,1). While according to Androtion (FGrH 324 F 34; Plut. Solon 15,4), it was coined by those who had been freed from part of their debts by means of a reduction in interest, D…

[German version] Although ἐμπόριον ( empórion, Lat. emporium) could originally be translated by ‘port/trading centre’, there arise a variety of problems of definition because of the changing meaning in antiquity due to regional differences and historical developments, and this caused the term to become a reflection of economic and cultural structures. Consequently, in modern research emporion is neither used as a topographical term, or as a distinct form of settlement, nor as a well-defined economic institution, but only to cover some fundamental, distinctive features: 1. An empo…

Relates to the systems of weights upon which ancient coinage was based. [German version] A. Greece In the Greek coinage system ( Money;  Minting), there were various standards; however, the designations of the nominal values and  weights were uniform and usually had the following ratios: 1  talent = 60 minai, 1  mina = 50 staters, 1  stater = 2 drachmas, 1  drachma = 6  oboloi [1. 159]. The determination of ancient standards of coinage is based on the average weight of the largest possible number of well-preser…

I. Greece [German version] A. Definition A fragment of Lysias distinguishes between 'invisible' (ἀφανής/ aphanḗs) wealth (οὐσία/ ou sía), such as money, animals, slaves and equipment, and 'visible' (φανερός/ phanerós) wealth, such as land (Harpocr. s. v. ἀφανής). Spielvogel, Jörg (Bremen) [German version] B. Archaic Era The Protogeometric grave finds at Lefkandi ( c. 1050-850 BC) reflect the assets of aristocratic warriors in the 'Dark Ages': weapons, horses, and tools and equipment such as whetstones, snaffle bits and spits. In Homer, Odysseus' w…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt As early as the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC metals (copper and silver, later also tin and gold) fulfilled monetary functions as a medium of exchange, a means of payment for religious, legal or other liabilities, a measure of value and a means of storing wealth. Until the 1st millennium fungible goods, primarily corn, also served as a medium of exchange and measure of value. Economies in the Near East and Egypt were characterised by subsistence production, self-sufficient palace and oîkos economies. The need for goods or services w…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient (Egypt, South-West Asia, India) Archaeologically attested since the Neolithic and documented since the 3rd millennium BC, long-distance or overland commerce -- as opposed to exchange and allocation of goods on a local level according to daily needs -- was founded on the necessity for ensuring the supply of so-called strategic goods (metal, building timber) not available domestically, as well as on the demand for luxury and prestige goods, or the materials required for producing them. In historical times, the organization of commerce was a…