Money and Credit

Abstract

This chapter examines the relation between credit and money, as well as the possibility that credit might have an autonomous role as a monetary instrument, in ancient Greece. It first considers the use of precious metals, including gold and silver, as monetary instruments in trade before discussing the rise of coinage in the Greek city-states, the connection between coined money and market exchange, minting and the question of how minted money was used, and the monetization of everyday trade in the agora. The chapter goes on to explore the impact of coined money on economic growth and how credit operated in the Greek monetary system. In particular, it describes forms of credit in ancient Greece, focusing on maritime loans.