A Moral Economy of theDemosin Early Archaic Greece

Abstract

AbstractThe Works and Days attributed to Hesiod appears to give a coherent formulation to principles guiding economic action, bound into a moral framework in such a way that they may be considered an example of a moral economy as defined by E. P. Thompson. On the other hand, these same principles appear as active ideas in the struggles over political rights and economic entitlement that lie at the heart of the formative phase of Greek city states. Some city states were deeply influenced by this set of ideas, rooted in the experience of small peasant communities.