ABSTRACT
In the course of the thousand years before the Christian era, economic life in the Eastern Mediterranean went through brilliant and fruitful stages, both before and after the conquest of the East by Alexander. Already organized in a collective form in the society depicted in the Odyssey, the Iliad, and the poems of Hesiod, it advanced from stage to stage, as the field of action of Greek civilization extended, until it acquired a remarkable amplitude, variety, and complexity. The monarchical conception of the State inherited from the old Eastern empires had a very special influence on the economic organization of the Hellenistic period, and that influence continued to be felt for many centuries.
