commerce and economics Flashcards
(36 cards)
what did greek farmers mainly produce?
barley, wine, olives
how did greeks get grain?
imported from the black sea
how did greeks use olives?
made olive oil and exported
how did roman agriculture work?
small farms in italy were bought up by wealthy landownders and converted to estates. they used animal labor and slaves.
latin work for estates
latifundia
what was carthaginian agriculture?
based on large estates worked by slave labor with a high degree of specialization and run on a profit-making basis.
land that belonged to the state
ager publicus
acres
iugera
what was centuriation?
public land that was divided up occasionally and allotted to citizens of rome. carefully surveyed and measured into strips
latin word for centuriation
centuriatio
what does “centum” mean?
100
latin word for plots
heredia
latin word for boundary lines
limites
what was used as money in early times?
cattle, tools (axes, rings, metal bars)
word for greek unit of money
balance
drachme meaning
handful
what was the obol?
greek unit for money, consisting of 6 nails
explain the invention of coinage
630 BCE king in asia shaped lumps of metal and stamped them, influencing everyone else
what is numismatics?
study of coinage.
nomisma “custom, coin”
most important denominations
drachma, mina, talent
how did athenians use coins?
their coins had intrinsic value, so they could be used to trade anywhere in the Mediterranean. they passed a decree enforcing the use of coinage which increased their control in the aegean
word for bankers in ancient greece
trapezitai
word for tables in ancient greek
trapezai
what was banking like in ancient greece?
bankers set up tables around temples. they also lent money and had developed insurance practices (bottomry loans for high risk ships)