Shopping and Money

The marketplace in a Greek city was called the agora. In Athens it was surrounded by iportant public buildings. Traders set up stalls in the open air or in the stoa (the colonnade). Others sold goods straight from their workshops. It was usually the men who did the shopping. The richer ones would take a slave with them to carry the purchases home. The agora was also a place where men went to meet their friends. Employers went to hire workmen or buy slaves. In Athens, officials were appointed to check the weights and measures and the quality of goods on sale. In early times there was no money, so people exchanged goods that they agreeded were of similar value. Later, goods were exchanged for an agreed amount of metal, such as gold, silver, copper or iron.

The first coins Coins were being made in Lydia, a greek colony in Turkey, sometime before 600 BC. Electrum (a mixture of gold and silver) was made into pieces of exactly the same weight and purity. They were stamped by the goverment to certify this. Later, other Greek cities adopted their own coinage.

Greek coins were made of gold and silver. At first each coin was stamped with the symbol of its city. Later gods and goddesses were shown, and later still, portraits of rulers. The most common Greek coin was the drachma.

In Athens there were six obols to one drachma, two drachmae to one stater, 50 staters to one mna and 60 mnae to one talent.