Pistis and Apistia: Aspects of the Development of Social and Economic Relations in Classical Greece

This paper focuses on the notion of pistis, and in particular on the emergence of the concept of «economic» pistis, a topic which has generally been neglected by modern scholarship. It attempts to trace the semantic evolution whereby pistis (and the adjective pistos), originally indicating an aristocratic virtue associated to hetaireia and xenia-relations, came to acquire a broader meaning in «democratic» political and ethical theory referring to the state of mutual trust and confidence which is a prerequisite for the circulation of money, for credit and prosperity in the community. Starting from Homer and from Theognis, where prosperity is paradoxically seen as the product of apistia, «mistrust» (ll. 831-832), the essay concentrates on the philosophical work conventionally known as the Anonymus Iamblichi. Here the well-being and good functioning of society are presented as a direct result of pistis, since «where there is trust money enters into the communal sphere and in this way, even if it is scarce, nonetheless it is sufficient in so far as it circulates» (frg. 7). The second part of the essay is dedicated to the Greek law of sale and to the problem of consuensual contract which, as Aristotle recognised, was based on pistis and, at least in some Greek poleis, was legally actionable. This model of social interaction should be a warning against interpreting economic relations and civic ideology in a Greek polis exclusively in terms of social attitudes, personal bonds and reciprocity.