There are certain articles of which various districts make a specialty, and which Athens is constantly importing:  Boetia sends chariots; Thessaly, easy chairs; Chios and Miletos, bedding; and Miletos, especially, very fine woolens.  Greece in general looks to Syria and Arabia for the much-esteemed spices and perfumes; to Egypt for papyri for the book rolls; to Babylonia for carpets.  To discuss the whole problem of Athenian commerce would require a book in itself; but certain main facts stand out clearly.  One is that Attica herself has extremely few natural products to export—­only her olive oil, her Hymettus honey, and her magnificent marbles—­dazzling white from Pentelicos, gray from Hymettus, blue or black from Eleusis.  Again we soon notice the great part which grain plays in Athenian commerce.  Attica raises such a small proportion of the necessary breadstuffs, and so serious is the crisis created by any shortage, that all kinds of measures are employed to compel a steady flow of grain from the Black Sea ports into the Peireus.  Here is a law which Domsthenes quotes to us:—­

“It shall not be lawful for any Athenian or any metic in Attica, or any person under their control [i.e. slave or freedman] to lend out money on a ship which is not commissioned to bring grain to Athens.”

A second law, even more drastic, forbids any such person to transport grain to any harbor but the Peireus.  The penalties for evading these laws are terrific.  At set intervals also the Public Assembly (Ecclesia) is in duty bound to consider the whole state of the grain trade:  while the dealers in grain who seem to be cornering the market, and forcing up the price of bread, are liable to prompt and disastrous prosecution.

79.  The Adventurous Merchant Skippers.—­Foreign trade at Athens is fairly well systematized, but it still partakes of the nature of an adventure.  The name for “skipper” (naukleros) is often used interchangeably for “merchant.”  Nearly all commerce is by sea, for land routes are usually slow, unsafe, and inconvenient[*]; the average foreign trader is also a shipowner, probably too the actual working captain.  He has no special commodity, but will handle everything which promises a profit.  A war is breaking out in Paphlagonia.  Away he sails thither with a cargo of good Athenian shields, swords, and lances.  He loads up in that barbarous but fertile country with grain; but leaves enough room in his hold for some hundred skins of choice wine which he takes aboard at Chios.  The grain and wine are disembarked at the Pireus.  Hardly are they ashore ere rumor tells him that salt herring[+] are abundant and especially cheap at Corcyra; and off he goes for a return cargo thereof, just lingering long enough to get on a lading of Athenian olive oil.

[*]Naturally there was a safe land route from Athens across the Isthmus to Corinth and thence to Sparta or towards Ellis; again, there would be fair roads into Boetia.