The Exportation Of Corn, Of Which
Attica Produced Very Little, Was Also Forbidden; And What Was Brought From
Abroad Was Not Permitted To Be Sold Any Where Except In Athens.
By the laws
of Solon, they were allowed to exchange oil for foreign commodities.
There
were besides a great number of laws respecting captains of ships,
merchants, duties, interest of money, and different kinds of contracts. One
law was specially favourable to merchants and all engaged in trade; by it a
heavy fine, or, in some cases, imprisonment, was inflicted on whoever
accused a merchant or trader of any crime he could not substantiate. In
order still farther to protect commerce, and to prevent it from suffering
by litigation, all causes which respected it could be heard only during the
period when vessels were in port. This period extended generally to six
months - from April to September inclusive - no ships being at sea during the
other portion of the year.
The taxes of the Athenians, so far as they affected commerce, consisted of
a fifth, levied on the corn and other merchandize imported, and also on
several articles which were exported from Athens. These duties were
generally farmed. In an oration of Andocides, we learn that he had farmed
the duty on foreign goods imported for a term of three years, at twelve
talents annually. In consequence of these duties, smuggling was not
uncommon. The inhabitants of the district called Corydale were celebrated
for illicit traffic: there was a small bay in this district, a little to
the north of Piraeus, called.
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