The Fabric of GiftsWhen the Greek leader Agamemnon took for himself the woman awarded to Achilles as his spoils of battle, the warriors resulting anger and outrage nearly cost his side the war. Beyond the woman herself was what she symbolised a matter of esteem rather than material value. In Archaic Greece the practices of gift giving existed alongside an economy of market relations. The value of gifts and the meanings of exchange in ancient societies are fundamental to