THIRD SEAL

Revelation  6:5 & 6	5:	And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.  And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
	6:	And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Since the soil of Greece was not good for grain and other staple foods.  The Greeks sought these products through trade and thus developed into a seafaring, venturesome people.

In ancient times, therefore, little could be grown in summer except drought resistant fruit like olives and grapes.  For the rest, the farmers produced barley and other grains that could be harvested in the early summer, wine, honey, and very little else.

The Greeks quite early carried on an active maritime trade; they exchanged the olive oil and wine of the Aegean world for the metals, grains, and slaves needed in the homeland.

With wheat from Egypt, wine and olive oil from Greece, spices from Arabia, or tin from Britain providing ready cargoes for the ships as they moved back and forth like shuttles weaving a vast web, irresistibly into a single complex economic and cultural pattern.

Greeks had, at first, little to offer until they increased their production of wine and olive oil and began to manufacture products for sale.

As more Greek tribes moved into the valleys, the people found that they could not grow enough food there.  They began to plant figs, grapes and olives on the hillsides.  From the olives they made olive oil.  This was a precious product.  The Greeks used it for cooking, as butter, as a body lotion, and as oil for their lamps.  In the valleys and on the coastal plains they raised WHEAT, BARLEY, and vegetables.  Because there was so little good land in Greece, they used ever bit  they could to give them food and materials for their clothing.  The farmers produced more of some foods than they could use at home.  They traded these foods, such as olive oil and wine, with Egyptian and Phoenician merchants for much needed grain.  The ancient Greeks raised olive trees on their hillsides.  From the olives they pressed olive oil which was a rich food product and also valuable for trade.  Today it is still an important product of Greece and one of her chief exports.

The soil of Greece is not suitable for cultivation on a large scale.  As the population grew it thus became necessary to import grain from everywhere.