Trade in the Greek World from the Sixth to the Fourth Century before Christ

The new conditions of farming and the rise of industry transformed the economic life of the Greek world more and more. In Homeric and Hesiodic society, that life is chiefly of a domestic, family nature. Like Alcinoos and Odysseus, Perses obtains most of the food which he needs on his own land and himself makes his tools and implements; purchases outside the household are quite exceptional, and the little trade which is done takes the form of barter.