Social History of Ancient Greece
* Book: Social History of Ancient Greece (900–338 B.C.) and the Small Property Mode of Production. Thanasis Athanasopoulos-Kalomalos (Greek: Θανάσης Αθανασόπουλος-Καλόμαλος). 2004
Description
ChatGPT:
"the book argues against treating classical Greek society primarily as a slave-based economy. Instead it emphasizes a “small property” (smallholder / peasant) mode of production and presents a social history centered on free, self-managing peasants and small proprietors.
Thanasis Athanasopoulos-Kalomalos (Θανάσης Αθανασόπουλος-Καλόμαλος) — born 1928 (Athens). Trained in law (University of Athens), studied sociology at LSE and in Paris; worked as a lawyer and was politically active in Greece, for example with PASOK. He would be 90+ years old in 2025.
Review
ChatGPT:
"Summary of the Tetradia book review (Vivliokritiki Tetradia 49)
📍 The review appears in Τετράδια: πολιτικού διαλόγου, έρευνας και κριτικής, issue 49 (winter 2004-2005), authored by Spyridon Asdrachas (Σπύρος Ασδραχάς) — a Greek scholar known for work on ancient economy and social structures. The PDF review is archived at the Panteion University repository and covers the book:
Θανάσης Αθανασόπουλος-Καλόμαλος, Η ελληνική κληρονομιά ανεξαρτησίας: Μικροϊδιοκτητικός τρόπος παραγωγής στην αρχαία Ελλάδα και μέχρι σήμερα (Athens: Στοχαστής, 2003). pandemos.panteion.gr
Here’s a substantive content summary based on the review’s framing and surrounding academic context:
📌 Core focus of the book (as interpreted by the reviewer)
The review frames Athanasopoulos-Kalomalos’s book as a systematic attempt to place the small-property mode of production (Μικροϊδιοκτητικός Τρόπος Παραγωγής) at the core of ancient Greek social and economic history, instead of the conventional slave-mode narrative. (pandemos.panteion.gr)
It connects this argument to Marx’s notion of modes of production, stressing that the peasant / small independent proprietor class was structurally significant in the archaic and classical Greek world."