What made trade difficult in ancient Greece?

Answer 1

Greece traded many things, especially olive oil. They traded and had no problem doing so. To invade Greece now that was the problem. Note from Big Old Bear: You are quite right - the Greeks traded all the time. Despite almost continuous warfare, they traded all sorts of agricultural produce (in the 4thC BC Athens even had a regular grain run from the Black Sea to the City). Oil, wine and honey were constantly in demand. In addition, manufactured goods were profitable to sell. Athens and Corinth were for a long time competitors in the market for ceramics: Athenian red-figure ware finally dominated the market. Trade was almost entirely by sea. Mainland Greece is divided by mountain ranges, making land transport expensive, and much of Greece is made up of islands anyway, so there was a constant traffic using sailing ships. In addition there was (and is, though donkeys are out of fashion in favour of motor transport) a lively local trade in marine produce - fish, sponges, salt - exchanged for fruit etc. which grows less well in a salt atmosphere. Trade on this scale engendered a thoroughly modern insurance and banking industry. One of Demosthenes' speeches deals with an insurance fraud. The usual currency of reference, analogous to the US $ today,was the Attic silver drachma. Every city, of course, had its own currency, but the Attic drachma was the unit of international exchange. None of this changed when the Macedonians invaded and took over the rest of Greece, nor did much (except the currency) change when the Romans did the same.

Answer 2

In ancient Greece, there were many rules and laws which made trade difficult. Also, the mountains were difficult to traverse and there were not many rivers to travel on.