The paper reexamines labor perceptions in ancient Greece by analyzing the words and objects left behind by banausoi (manual laborers). Since the late nineteenth century, studies on labor in ancient Greece have primarily relied on elite discourses from figures such as Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle. Moroo’s study shifts focus to non-elite perspectives, utilizing sources such as dedicatory inscriptions, epitaphs, curse tablets, and oracular plates—materials that have not been comprehensively analyzed in prior research. By emphasizing the active role of workers in economic activities, this study challenges traditional interpretations and calls for a reevaluation of prevailing understandings of labor in ancient Greece.
