As the Greek law of sale was based on the principles of the cash purchase, according to Plato,
Aristotle or Theophrastus credit buying did not cause any legal effect. The Greek system of
contract law, which – in contrast to classical Roman law – did not know consensual contracts,
invented other possibilities how to perform sale on credit: The papyrological evidence shows that this was transacted with the help of fictitious loans; but only a few documents can be
identified as proving loans that in reality had not been concluded to lend money but to defer the purchase price.
