<Articles>Maritime Traders and the Food Supply in Fourth-century B. C. Athens

It is known from several sources that Athenian society in the fourth century B.C. suffered severe grain shortages. Athens tried to deal with the matter mainly in two ways, that is, by attracting maritime traders and securing the system of maritime loans. Concretely, they not only instigated special legal procedures for maritime traders, but also granted honors and privileges to those who performed trade-related services. Since maritime traders were thus extremely important for fourth-century Athens, research focusing on them is needed to gain a better understanding of Athenian society. Nevertheless, previous studies have not examined this issue sufficiently. The problems encountered in these studies are as follows. First, previous studies of maritime traders have chiefly discussed social status, namely, whether the conduct of maritime trade was limited to poor non-citizens or not. However, such a distinction seems rather unimportant in terms of actual commercial activities for in many cases both citizen and non-citizen maritime traders engaged in trade together. Thus, instead of social status, more attention is needed on the private relationships of maritime traders that appear to have been essential for their commercial activities. Second, previous studies of the Athenian food supply have mainly discussed how Athens intervened in commerce. In other words, they rarely focused on the role of the maritime traders who actually engaged in trade and imported grain to Athens. In order to solve these problems, this paper examine the following two issues: firstly, the characteristics of the private relationships of maritime traders, and secondly, the role of maritime traders in determining Athenian policy on the food supply. Through these analyses, it will become clear that the private relationships of maritime traders sustained Athenian policy on food supply. Focusing on inscriptions recording the deliberations for honorary decrees, one sees that there were many kinds of trade-related services such as "gifts of imported goods, " "sale of imported goods at reduced prices, " "simple importations of goods, " and "securing shipments." Although most of these were services to Athens, "securing shipments of goods" had a double role, that is, it brought benefit to both Athens and to the maritime traders. One example shows that some maritime traders testified in favor of an honorand who secured their ship. This case reveals that mutual relationships between the honorand and maritime traders could have been created within the framework of Athenian policy on the food supply. Also, as a result of a closer look at these inscriptions about honorary decrees, it can be pointed out that some maritime traders repeatedly provided many kinds of service, which signifies that those who engaged in other kinds of services could also "secure shipments." To sum up, Athenian policy on the food supply contributed to creating the private relationships of the maritime traders, that is, relationships between those who performed trade-related services and those who gained profit and appreciated them in tum. Turning to the role of maritime traders in determining Athenian policy on the food supply, I examined both law court speeches and honorary decrees in this paper. Firstly, focusing on law court speeches, I analyzed two main processes of maritime loans, namely, their contracting and repayment. Through this analysis, I clarified that the private relationships of maritime traders were necessary to maintain the system. Secondly, focusing on the inscriptions for honorary decrees, I examined the notable fact that some of the deliberations for honorary decrees contain additional information. As a result, I pointed out that the private relationships of maritime traders played an important role in sustaining the Athenian system of honors for trade related services. In short, this paper clarifies that Athenian policy on the food supply created private relationships for mar