Talk ‘Fraudsters. The schemes and tricks of merchants in the Greek city-state’

Cecilia D’Ercole (EHESS)

In several Greek texts, whether written by philosophers (eg. Plato) or authors of comedy, merchants are systematically associated with the notion of fraud. These ruses concern both the quantity (weight, volume) and the quality of goods: they were applied to a wide range of items, from foodstuffs and textiles to living beings (slaves, livestock). Modern historiography has often approached these practices from the perspective of the law, which establishes norms and punishes fraud. This paper also explores Greek terms that expose the practical methods, gestures and actions mobilized to deceive, particularly in relation to measurements. Thus, fraud, in a sense, reveals itself to be the flip side of the merchants’ knowledge.