THE BAZAAR FISH MARKET IN FOURTH-CENTURY GREEK COMEDY1

Paulas describes the bazaar fish market in fourth-century Greek comedy. The fish market seems to be similar to those in modern bazaar economies. The audience of fourth-century comedy would have been aware of a lack of quality and price information in the fresh-fish market. As in bazaar economies of the 20th century, sellers bore the brunt of the criticism about these conditions, not because they were, in fact, dishonest, but rather because bazaar-market sellers are perceived to embody the trickiness of gathering information on price and quality in the marketplace. In light of that fact, the comic fish market should be considered no only a place where the desires of the Athenians were in display to all, but also where both information and communication were in short supply.