Chapter 745: Thuriis Chamber of Commerce (I)
Chapter 745: Thuriis Chamber of Commerce (I)
“My wound is almost fine now and will be healed by the time the army departs. Take a look if you don’t believe me!” Adoris stood up and tried to take a few steps to prove his words.
Crotokatax smiled and said, “Brother, there’s no point in telling me since the one you need to convince is father and mother.”
Adoris felt vexed since he knew he had worried Davos and Cheiristoya with his conduct in the previous battle. Hence he asked his younger brother for help, “Croto, mother and father love you the most, so you must help me and persuade them to let me join this expedition…”
Although Crotokatax was four years younger than Adoris and had just come of age, his political sense was much stronger than Adoris’ since he was accompanied and taught by Davos for the past two years. So he knew that unless Adoris was seriously injured, his father would unlikely leave him behind. Otherwise, some will get the wrong impression that Adoris is relying on his relationship with Davos to deliberately not participate in such an important war, which will significantly impact Adoris’ future career just because of an injury.
Crotokatax, however, continued feigning ignorance and said, “Brother, you also know father’s temper…”
“Croto, you must help me! As long as you can persuade Father to allow me to follow the army to Latium, I will do my best to help you with whatever you ask!” Adoris begged.
“Er…I’ll give it a try.” Crotokatax was pleased to see Adoris, who liked to lecture him like a big brother, pleading with him like this.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the inner city of Thurii, Sostratus had gathered over twenty people in the hall of the residence he had inherited from his father, Kunogelata; all of them were prominent merchants in Thurii.
There was excitement on everyone’s faces at the moment as they looked eagerly at Sostratus sitting in the middle.
Finally, someone could not wait any longer and shouted impatiently, “Sostratus, everyone is almost here; what are we waiting for? Quickly tell us what good stuff you want to announce!”
“Yes, hurry up! Will His Majesty reward us for donating food without asking for compensation?” Another person shouted.
All the merchants shouted one after another.
Hearing them, Sostratus glanced at Tios to his left.
Tios was one of the most important merchants in the kingdom of Theonia. He owned three ironworks in Lucania, one copperworks in Thurii, two weapon shops in Thurii and Amendolara, and many more weapon shops and ironworks in all the cities of the kingdom. The Ministry of Military and the soldiers had even contracted him to manufacture most of the excellent weapons and armour they use. Apart from those, he was also the special supplier of surgical tools to hospitals in the kingdom, and the daily ironworks he produced were widely popular with the public. His family’s workshops were indispensable in the iron casting of most large-scale public projects. Therefore, besides being received and praised by King Davos, he also had close contact with officials from the Ministry of Military and the Department of Construction. Finally, he also frequently donated to the construction of public buildings in the kingdom.
As a result, Tios was highly regarded by the kingdom’s merchants and people, which led to his election as the head of Thurii’s local council on several occasions. However, he was not particularly interested in politics. Instead, he was more focused on his company, constantly striving to improve the iron-making process, increase the temperature of the furnaces, enhance the quality of the iron, and design sharper and more precise weapons, as well as better armour. Since he understood that in the kingdom of Theonia, where military and technology were highly valued, remaining technologically advanced would ensure appreciation from the king and officials of Theonia. And for this reason, besides hiring good smelters and casters at high salaries and making numerous donations to the Theonian Akademia, he also cooperated with the schools by funding experiments and sharing patents on technologies.
But Tios just shook his head as he met Sostratus’ pleading gaze. Then he held out his hand in a gesture for him to do so.
Sostratus could only turn his head to look at Dicaeapolis to his right.
Dicaeapolis was the first foreign merchant to come to Theonia to trade, and he was also the first merchant to decide to stay and become a citizen. With his warm and friendly personality, Dicaeapolis persuaded many foreign merchants to come to Thurii and eventually become citizens of Theonia, including Tios.
But the truth is that Dicaeapolis wasn’t a successful merchant initially. On the contrary, he was just an average merchant who made and sold pottery.
Pottery is an everyday item used by the people of the Mediterranean and is the most common craft in the Greek city-states. Most Greek city-states did not have fertile land to produce abundant grain, so wine and olive oil became their specialities, which they sold in exchange for grain. Naturally, the containers for these two liquid commodities became another development focus for the city-states; thus, many Greek city-states had pottery merchants. But the most famous pottery came from Athens, where the Athenians, using the excellent clay of Attica and after much time and experimentation, produced black earthenware vases with red decorations that were not only of the highest quality but were also beautifully and creatively painted, making them the best in the trade.
The second is the black earthenware of Corinth, which pioneered the creation of exquisite paintings on pottery and made the whole pottery industry highly organised. At one time, they produced almost half the pottery sold in the Mediterranean, only to be beaten a century later by the new Athenian potteries.
Born on the island of Crete, Dicaeapolis had no skill advantage in making pottery. Yet, with his vision and determination, he moved all his belongings to the economic development zone in Amendolara shortly after the founding of the Theonia Union. He then sold his cheap pottery to the common people of Theonia, who were rebuilding their homes, and gradually made a name for himself.
Then, with the establishment of the kingdom, the expansion of the territory, the increase in the population and the growth of the market, the sales of his potteries went through the roof, and the low-interest loans from the Bank of Cheiristoya gave him the means to expand and upgrade his pottery workshops. Besides building pottery workshops in various parts of the kingdom where good quality clay was available, he had also hired excellent potters at high wages from Greece, where the turmoil and frequent wars of the time provided good opportunities for his poaching. And since then, the pottery he sold has taken a step into a high-end product.
More importantly, Dicaeapolis was able to improve his management and organisational model for the pottery industry, as well as the whole division of labour. Of course, he didn’t invent it.
Firstly, how the craft industry was managed and organised. Before the founding of Theonia, all Greek city-states were cities, so the merchant’s workshops were usually in one city or the like. And because of the city-state’s small size and limited resources, the merchant’s workshops could not become larger even if they had more financial resources. Of course, it was easier to manage, but no large workshops existed, even in Athens, where the economy was booming.
But the establishment of large workshops was possible in Theonia, a kingdom as vast and populous as Greece, with countless freemen willing to settle there. In addition, the Bank of Cheiristoya and Cheiristoya’s Restaurant’s management chain in all the kingdom’s towns and cities inspired the kingdom’s merchants to break away from their conservative mentality of having their workshops in one place. They then boldly spread their workshops over a wide area and managed them effectively through a pyramidal system of hierarchical responsibility.
Next is the fine division of labour. Although pottery was one of the earliest Greek crafts to have a highly organised workflow, it was still not free from the home-based tradition. The potter was still involved in digging, transporting, shaping, lighting fires, baking the potteries, painting, carving…and so on., which undoubtedly made production inefficient. After Davos taught the kingdom’s weapons merchants, such as Tios, the division of labour method to meet the Theonian army’s weapons and armour needs as quickly as possible, the kingdom’s other merchants promptly adopted the technique.
Of course, Dicaeapolis also implemented a fine division of labour in his pottery workshop, with specialised personnel responsible for each process, leading to a significant increase in the quality and production of pottery. This naturally led to a corresponding reduction in price, making Dicaeapolis’ pottery even more popular with the people of the kingdom, accounting for more than half of the kingdom’s pottery sales. So except for a few high-quality Athenian potteries, the potteries of the other city-states could no longer compete with Dicaeapolis in the kingdom, allowing him to become the undisputed great pottery merchant of Theonia.
But like the other merchants in Thurii, Dicaeapolis is busy upgrading his workshop while also occupying the market of the expanding kingdom. This meant he had to rely more on the pedlars Sostratus led for his foreign sales, which was one of the reasons why the wealthy and well-connected Dicaeapolis was willing to make Sostratus head of Thurii’s Chamber of Commerce, while he took a back seat. But the more important reason, of course, was Sostratus’ father, Kunogelata, who was a loyal and important official of King Davos. And even though he had passed away, Sostratus could still rely on his father’s shadow to visit the palace and the Ministry of Commerce occasionally, getting some business information earlier and winning some concessions for the Chamber of Commerce, such as this one.
So, with a smile, Dicaeapolis said, “Sostratus, there’s no need to be polite. You are the head, and this good news is the result of you and everyone working together, so you, of course, have to be the one to announce it!”