Finances of Greek cities. In the classical and Hellenistic periods.
Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 18272 |
| Format | 17 x 24.6 |
| Détails | 778 p., hardcover with dust jacket. |
| Publication | Paris, 2014 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
A disciple of Louis Robert, Léopold Migeotte, now Professor Emeritus at Laval University (Quebec), first studied the indebtedness of Greek cities, then other aspects of their finances. The synthesis he offers today is the culmination of research he has pursued in this field for several decades. He thus fills a gap long lamented by the scholarly world and profoundly renews the study of the subject. He addresses all aspects: modalities of financial administration, more coherent and more complex than has often been claimed; diversity of income, three of whose original features were the wealth of patrimonial revenues, the diversity of taxation, and the commitment of wealthy citizens; and relative simplicity of types of expenditure. He asks the same questions in his last two chapters, devoted to Athens and Delos. Drawing on the teachings of Greek philosophers and historians, and especially on the ever-increasing body of epigraphic documentation, he reexamines old problems and poses new questions. His approach is constantly based on the careful analysis of ancient evidence and not on the application of models borrowed from other periods or other disciplines, because the latter, due to their reductive effect, are not sufficient to explain the originality of Greek institutions. At each stage, his analyses lead to pages of synthesis in which he identifies the striking characteristics of what he calls "the financial system of the cities." Indeed, beyond their local variations and their evolution, the financial institutions of the Greek world had many common features, the establishment of which was completed in the classical period and which were maintained for centuries without notable changes. Greek financial management certainly had weaknesses and flaws, but it was rooted in the exercise of direct democracy, and therefore subject at all times to popular control: when it was effective, this served as a bulwark against the invasion of the common interest by private interests. This observation may give food for thought today.
A disciple of Louis Robert, Léopold Migeotte, now Professor Emeritus at Laval University (Quebec), first studied the indebtedness of Greek cities, then other aspects of their finances. The synthesis he offers today is the culmination of research he has pursued in this field for several decades. He thus fills a gap long lamented by the scholarly world and profoundly renews the study of the subject. He addresses all aspects: modalities of financial administration, more coherent and more complex than has often been claimed; diversity of income, three of whose original features were the wealth of patrimonial revenues, the diversity of taxation, and the commitment of wealthy citizens; and relative simplicity of types of expenditure. He asks the same questions in his last two chapters, devoted to Athens and Delos. Drawing on the teachings of Greek philosophers and historians, and especially on the ever-increasing body of epigraphic documentation, he reexamines old problems and poses new questions. His approach is constantly based on the careful analysis of ancient evidence and not on the application of models borrowed from other periods or other disciplines, because the latter, due to their reductive effect, are not sufficient to explain the originality of Greek institutions. At each stage, his analyses lead to pages of synthesis in which he identifies the striking characteristics of what he calls "the financial system of the cities." Indeed, beyond their local variations and their evolution, the financial institutions of the Greek world had many common features, the establishment of which was completed in the classical period and which were maintained for centuries without notable changes. Greek financial management certainly had weaknesses and flaws, but it was rooted in the exercise of direct democracy, and therefore subject at all times to popular control: when it was effective, this served as a bulwark against the invasion of the common interest by private interests. This observation may give food for thought today.