Awards
- Runner-up for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 1993
- Runner-up for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 1993.
- Short-listed for Choice's Outstanding Academic Books 1993 (United States)
- Winner of Herbert Feis Award 1993
- Winner of Herbert Feis Award 1993.
Overview
In this ground-breaking analysis of the world's first private banks, Edward Cohen convincingly demonstrates the existence and functioning of a market economy in ancient Athens while revising our understanding of the society itself. Challenging the ""primitivistic"" view, in which bankers are merely pawnbrokers and money-changers, Cohen reveals that fourth-century Athenian bankers pursued sophisticated transactions. These dealings--although technologically far removed from modern procedures--were in financial essence identical with the lending and deposit-taking that separate true ""banks"" from other businesses. He further explores how the Athenian banks facilitated tax and creditor avoidance among the wealthy, and how women and slaves played important roles in these family businesses--thereby gaining legal rights entirely unexpected in a society supposedly dominated by an elite of male citizens. Special emphasis is placed on the reflection of Athenian cognitive patterns in financial practices. Cohen shows how transactions were affected by the complementary opposites embedded in the very structure of Athenian language and thought.In turn, his analysis offers great insight into daily Athenian reality and cultural organization.
Full Product Details
Author: Edward Cohen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Width: 19.70cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780691015927
ISBN 10: 0691015929
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 26 January 1997
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language: English
Reviews
Cohen embodies a role of traditional relevance in research on classical antiquity, but one that is increasingly a rarity: he is a 'man of affairs' who brings his practical, professional experience to bear on his historical research... [He] has now given us a very fine book on ancient banking, a work that has been well worth the wait. -- Thomas J. Figueira Bryn Mawr Classical Review [Cohen] possesses an impressive knowledge of the relevant classical and modern literature as well as a close practical acquaintance with contemporary banking, an unusual but fortuitous set of qualifications... Highly readable and contains a wealth of interesting details on social conditions generally. -- John R. Love American Historical Review A thoroughly documented and imaginatively argued book that will mark a new stage in the study of Athenian banking. -- David C. Mirhady Classical World
Author Information
Edward E. Cohen is Chairman of the Executive Committee at JeffBanks, Inc., a bank-holding company based in Philadelphia. He holds a Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University and is author of Ancient Athenian Maritime Courts (Princeton).
