Poiesis

Manufacturing in Classical Athens

By: Peter Acton

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Paperback | 1 August 2016

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Paperback
408 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 2.29

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Poiesis brings together archaeological finds, ancient texts and inscriptions, recent scholarly analysis, and the expertise of modern craftsmen to investigate every known facet of Athens' manufacturing activities. Despite the fact that Athenians consumed great quantities of manufactured goods, and around half of the residents of classical Athens can be shown to have been dependent for survival on manufacturing in some form, the subject has been almost completely neglected by historians. The book draws on the analytical techniques of contemporary business economics--supply and demand, competition theory, and risk-return analysis--to explain events and choices. Manufacturing operations are classified in an original framework that explains why certain segments were suited to the sole craftsman and others to teams of slaves, and deduces earnings potential based upon barriers to entry and competitive differentiation. The result is a new and refreshing angle on how Athenian society
operated that complements political, military, and literary perspectives, with important and often surprising implications. Among other insights the analysis shows how fragmented industry structures were fundamental to the workings of Athenian democracy by enabling citizens to supplement their income through casual manufacturing activity.

Industry Reviews

"Peter Acton's book revolutionizes the current views on the ancient Athenian economy. Against old orthodoxies, it proves that just like the towns of medieval and early modern word and despite the inevitable differences in institutional framework, Athens was an 'industrious city.' The Weberian model of the 'ancient consumer city' is dead and should definitely be replaced by that of the 'manufacturing city.'" --Alain Bresson, University of Chicago "Only highly fragmentary information has survived concerning any aspect of Athenian manufacturing, and almost all of this scanty evidence is preserved merely in passing in works devoted to cultural and/or literary aspects of Athenian high culture, or in material remains lacking context. This void has precluded-until now-any serious scholarly investigation of Athenian manufacturing. Acton's efforts to place the fragmentary ancient evidence within a matrix of considerations developed by modern business analysts and consultants, supplemented by insights from modern craft activities, augmented by comparative evidence skillfully selected and honed by the author, here generates a new, and persuasive, paradigm relating to Athenian manufacturing. It is a pioneering academic advance." --Edward Cohen, University of Pennsylvania "Poiesis is a remarkable book, which gives us not just the first detailed look at classical Athenian manufacturing in more than a century, but also a whole new way for thinking about ancient industry. Drawing important lessons from his own extensive experience as a business consultant, Peter Acton has made a major contribution to the ongoing debates about the structure and performance of the ancient Greek economy." --Ian Morris, Stanford University "Acton takes on the whole of the manufacturing landscape of the classical Athenian polis with remarkable success. . . . It is difficult to find fault with his book, and some hard-won insights result from his comprehensive approach." -- Michael Kulikowski, London Review of Books

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