Land and Labor in the Greek World. Ancient Society and History.

Cover slightly discolored. - Preface -- The intention of this study has been to consider ancient Greek society in the context of land tenure and agriculture, and the relationships within it which were determined by landed interests in the first instance. Like Hesiod�s Works and Days, it has never been meant to stand as a complete reference work on all legal and technical aspects of owning and cultivating the land; it does not begin to take full account of the economic factors at work, beyond suggesting ways in which they may have affected policies and attitudes of mind. Nor does it pretend to any arithmetical or statistical precision in the matter of population, acreages planted, demand, yields, man-hours expended, or productivity achieved, except in a very small way; for, as valuable as such computations can be, there is also something to be said for the argument that, so fragile and fragmentary is the evidence, so vast are the unknown entities, to focus too closely on exact figures is to go beyond the limits both of what is possible and of what is useful, and to blur rather than enhance the outlines of the subject under scrutiny. -- I owe much to the numerous publications that, especially during the last few years, have contributed to the debate on these subjects. The extent of my indebtedness I have attempted to indicate by reference throughout the discussion and in the Bibliography; but inevitably in a book of this scale I have not done justice to the pioneering works of such scholars as Guiraud or Jarde. Nevertheless it should be understood that they form the foundation of my approach. The topic was originally suggested to me some years ago by M. I. Finley; this account of it sadly lacks the benefit of his criticism. -- 1 am most grateful to the staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Ramsey Library at the University of North Carolina at Asheville for help in gaining access to research material. I also wish to thank Nayyir Bayyan and, in particular, Christine Waters, for secretarial assistance of an exemplary kind. -- The anonymous reader of the Johns Hopkins University Press and my husband, Guy Cooper, provided constructive comments of which I was very glad to take heed, and the editorial staff has given courteous and patient guidance at every stage. ISBN 9780801844638