occupations: Greece The world depicted in Homer’s Odyssey gives us insights into the development of occupations There the oikos, or household, is the basic economic unit and strives insofar as possible for self-sufficiency Agricultural labor and domestic chores are performed by family members and by slaves, with clothing production and food preparation in the hands of the female members of the oikos Necessary crafts, such as carpentry, are performed by the head of the oikos (Odysseus builds his own house and is capable of shipbuilding when necessary.) In ancient Greece the chief exceptions were metals (for which specialized workshops, often linked to major shrines, such as Delphi, existed from an early date) and luxury goods, which were obtained from itinerant traders Settlement in cities led to specialization, but for nonurban dwellers of sufficient means most work was done in-house throughout the historical era Related food-production occupations (sheepherding, goat herding, and fishing) were common in some areas, though notoriously difficult to make a living at In cities there was a variety of manufacturing industries, but of limited size The largest we know of is a 120-person operation to manufacture shields; workshops of 10 or so people were much more common Given its size and wealth, Athens gives us the most complete picture of the variety of manufacturing trades: stonemasons, carpenters, shipbuilders, shoemakers, potters, and blacksmiths Surviving goods show that some of the work was of the highest quality Athens was a magnet for talent, and many workers were foreigners, often slaves Citizens were involved in the crafts as well—Socrates’ father was a stonemason—but the presence of slave labor presumably drove down the profitability of most crafts, and even skilled artisans did not enjoy great prestige Among practitioners of the other arts, poets and musicians sometimes enjoyed high status Given the frequency of war in the Greek world, most citystates were in a more or less permanent wartime economy, which provided many career opportunities Armies were made up of citizen soldiers—unpaid part-timers expected to supply their own equipment, so that military service, far from being a career, was a detriment to having one There were exceptions, however In Athens during the fi ft h century b.c.e the development of a naval empire led to increased demand for sailors and ships, and paid service in the navy became an economic cornerstone of the Athenian democracy (The number of jobs for shipbuilders must also have been significant.) Greeks could serve as mercenaries, often in the armies of non-Greek rulers, such as the king of Persia The historian Xenophon (ca 431–ca 352 b.c.e.) was one such mercenary, and Greeks were highly sought after for their discipline and their specialized fighting skills Trade grew in importance, along with Greek prosperity, and provided a variety of employment opportunities Banking and insurance were of particular importance for longdistance trade Some cities, such as Aegina, became wealthy on account of long-distance trade (especially with Egypt and 815 Italy), and successful merchants became the new elite Piracy flourished alongside trade, as did robbery on land Groups of individuals, or even whole communities, could earn their livelihoods in this way, especially given the possibility of selling captured travelers as slaves Retail sales of food were a common way of earning a living among the poorer classes Vegetable and fish merchants plied their trade in the market, and purveyors of hot foods were to be found at festivals and other public gatherings Cities also would have had hot food for sale in small shops (large, sit-down restaurants being a modern invention), and there were many bakeries as well Most houses had cooking facilities, but ovens were rare Healing professions provided employment for some Doctors were probably in short supply and often were itinerant The surviving works of the Hippocratic corpus show a remarkable degree of sophistication but depict the status of only a small segment of the medical professions Most doctors were probably ill trained Surgery was performed by specialists (who often were not doctors) Midwives usually were responsible for childbirth and probably for other gynecological issues as well Healing also came from drug specialists (sometimes called rhizotomoi, or “root cutters,” in reference to the source of their medicines) and from magicians Although magic is rarely mentioned in literary sources, nonliterary evidence shows that it was always popular and must have been a vocation or an avocation for many Education was limited to the upper classes, and the number of teachers must have been small They included many household slaves, but at the far end of the scale were the Sophists, the great teachers of rhetoric who came to Athens in the fi ft h century b.c.e Athens’s status as a center of Frieze of hydriaphoroi (water carriers) from the Parthenon (Alison Frantz Photographic Collection, American School of Classical Studies at Athens)