The Aristocratic Revolution in Greece

The sudden abundance of chattel slaves in tur completely transformed the nature of greek society. The old aristocratic classes developed more and more elaborate means of setting themselves off from what they considered the tawdriness and moral corruption of the new democratic state. Aristocrats disdained the market, yet tried to set themselves apart from the values of the ordinary denizens of the market place. They placed a world of gifts, generosity and honor above srdid commercial exchange. This resulted in a slightly different play of push and pull than we saw in mesopotamia. On the one hand, we see a culture of aristocratic protest against what they saw as the lowly commercial sensibilities of ordinary