Sea Traders and Military Service in the Polis

[Eleatic Guest]

I was wondering whether in the classical Greek polis, with its brief but regular campaigns, citizens who worked as maritime traders were also required to fulfill their civic duties and go to war alongside the other professions. Since sailing and campaign season largely overlapped, it is hard to see how they could have managed to squeeze a war between their trading trips. Coming back from a dangerous sea journey they were probably also not too eager to risk their lives immediately again in some neighbour war they may not even have heard about until their return.

And considering that their line of work was likely more dangerous than that of a hoplite they would have had a good case to argue for their exemption from military service.