In many ways western democratic countries are modeled on ancient Greece. However if you look closely at Greece, some flaws begin to appear – votes were for free men only. Ancient Greece had many slaves or free labourers to do the work necessary in the city, in modern times one can argue about the amount of compensation but there generally is a minimum income for work. In a interesting book David M Schaps wrote a book called Economic Rights of Women in Ancient Greece, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1979. Ancient Greece similar to many societies was dominated by men, who wrote the rules favouring men, for example property left to the oldest son,but what about women? It turns out women had economic rights and although many looked after the household – the running of it, the care of the children and be given a dowry at the time of marriage. Marriage was a contract between the bride’s father and the groom. The groom would then be responsible for the maintenance of the wife and children. If there was divorce the dowry goes back to the wife. In ancient Greece there were rich women and poor women, some owned property although not many are recorded for most records are dominated by male names.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the dowry often times was movables such as furniture, but it had the great appeal of preservation of capital and some growth. As it was back then, it still is, one of the best strategies to earning wealth is not losing it or preserving it, which is why investments in dividend paying stocks is of great benefit. The dividends ensure a return and because of the company consistently earning a profit to pay the dividends the stocks grow over the years to increase the wealth at a low risk to the holder. In Ancient Greece, there was a dowry from the bride’s family, a good thing to invest the money is dividend paying stocks for the long run of the marriage.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions