View source for Pasion

{{Short description|4th-century BC Greek merchant and banker}}
{{For|the Spanish word for passion|Pasión (disambiguation){{!}}Passion}}
{{About|the Ancient Athenian banker|the mercenary|Ten Thousand (Greek mercenaries)}}
'''Pasion''' (also '''Pasio''';<ref name= "David Matz">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkuS2l5rqTgC&dq=Apollodorus+greek+banking&pg=PA49 |author=David Matz| title=Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life|date=March 2012|accessdate=2015-02-12|publisher=ABC-CLIO, 1 Mar 2012|isbn=9780313387388}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Πασίων}}; {{Circa}} 440 &ndash; 370 BC) was a slave who rose to become a successful banker and Athenian citizen in [[Ancient Athens]] in the early 4th century BC.
==Life==
Pasion was born some time before 430 BC.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=J. K.|title=Athenian Propertied Families, 600&ndash;300 B.C.|year=1971|page=429}}</ref>
It is unknown where Pasion came from nor when he arrived in Athens. It is widely presumed that he originated from Syria and the Levant, {{Circa}} 440 BC when vast numbers of Syrian slaves were brought to Greece through Phoenician ports, [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and [[Sidon]]. In [[Classical Athens|Athens]], he was owned by the bankers Antisthenes and Archestratus, who had a bank at the [[Piraeus]], the harbour five miles out of [[Athens]]. During his slavery, he quickly rose to chief clerk ([[Argyramoiboi|Argyramoibos]]) in charge of a money-changing table at the port, and proved so valuable that by 394 BC, he had been manumitted and granted resident alien status as reward for his faithful service.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=J. K.|title=Athenian Propertied Families, 600&ndash;300 B.C.|year=1971|page=428}}</ref>
When his owners retired, Pasion inherited the bank and established a shield factory. The gifts he provided Athens included one thousand shields and a [[trireme]]. Ultimately, Pasion was granted Athenian citizenship and started investing in real estate in order to accumulate more wealth. When he became too old to work, Pasion had Phormion, another slave, take care of the bank.
Pasion was married to Archippe, who "was thoroughly conversant with the [banking] business; she had access to the bank's records, and detailed knowledge of its complex operations" and was evidently involved in his business.<ref>Morris Silver: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2GbgfLmCR-YC&dq=ancient+businesswoman+antiquity&pg=PA176 Economic Structures of Antiquity]''</ref>
When Pasion died in 370 BC,<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford Classical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald00hamm|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald00hamm/page/786 786]|edition=2|editor1-last=Hammond|editor1-first=N.G.L.|editor2-last=Scullard|editor2-first=H.H.|year=1970|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford}}</ref> his widow married Phormion in order to keep the bank in the family.<ref>Meltzer (1993), pp. 77–78.</ref>  Reportedly, she destroyed some of the bank records in order to protect Phormion and the business.<ref>Morris Silver: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2GbgfLmCR-YC&dq=ancient+businesswoman+antiquity&pg=PA176 Economic Structures of Antiquity]''</ref>
Pasion had two sons with Archippe: [[Apollodorus of Acharnae|Apollodorus]] and Pasikles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hamel|first=Debra|title=Trying Neaira|year=2003|page=136}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Sources==
*Meltzer, Milton. ''Slavery: A World History''. Da Capo, 1993. {{ISBN|0-306-80536-7}}
*''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', ''s.v.'' Pasion.
[[Category:Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek merchants]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek bankers]]
[[Category:Metics in Classical Athens]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Greek people]]
[[Category:370 BC deaths]]