The grain trade of Athens in the fourth century bc

It used to be widely accepted that Athens at the height of its power in the fifth and fourth centuries bc had regularly to import very substantial quantities of grain to provide for the population of Attica. In this respect Athens differed from all other Greek poleis, and this abnormal dependency upon foreign production was held to explain aspects of Athenian actions abroad – indeed to build up a notion of an Athenian foreign policy. Scholars might differ about the starting date of this process, whether the imbalance between home production and consumption was already in existence in the time of Solon, because of his ban on the export of produce other than olive oil, and whether the Peisistratid interest in the Hellespont area already demonstrated concern for the Pontic grain route, but there were no serious doubts about the importance of the trade. This traditional view, indeed, still has supporters. ¹