High Profit and High Culture: Maritime Trade in Fourth-Century Athens
Athens not only pioneered many forms of high culture ––– artistry, tragedy, philosophy etc. etc. –– but within these novel genres it produced works that have never been surpassed. Yet, Athens was also a pioneer in financial and economic genres, inventing the private bank (trapeza), maritime courts (dikai emporikai), and sophisticated forms of credit (think intermediation and letters of credit!).