Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World

323 Pages·2009·17.101 MB·English

by  Garnsey, Peter

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FAMINE AND FOOD SUPPLY
IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
RESPONSES TO RISK AND CRISIS

FAMINE AND FOOD SUPPLY
IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
RESPONSES TO RISK AND CRISIS
PETER GARNSEY
Reader in Ancient History and
Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY IOOI 1-42 I I USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
©Cambridge University Press 1988
First published 1988
First paperback edition 1989
Reprinted 1993
British Library cataloguing in publication data
Garnsey, Peter
Famine and food supply in the Graeco-Roman world:
responses to risk and crisis.
1. Famine — Mediterranean Region
I. Title
363.8 HC244.5.Z9F3
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Garnsey, Peter
Famine and food supply in the Graeco-Roman world:
responses to risk and crisis/Peter Garnsey.
p. cm.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
. Food supply - Greece - History. 2. Food supply — Rome - History.
3. Famines - Greece - History. 4. Famines - Rome - History.
I. Title.
HD9015.G82G37 1988
87-16737
ISBN o 521 35198 7 hard covers
ISBN 0521 37585 1 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 1999
CONTENTS
List of tables and figures page vn
Preface ix
Abbreviations xiii
Maps xvi-xix
PART I THE INCIDENCE AND SEVERITY OF FOOD CRISIS
1 Famine and shortage 3
2 The frequency of food crisis 8
3 The infrequency of famine 17
PART II SURVIVAL STRATEGIES
4 Subsistence and survival: the peasantry 43
5 Supply and distribution: urban communities 69
PART III FOOD SUPPLY AND FOOD CRISIS IN ATHENS
C. 6OO-322 BC
6 The resources of Attica 89
7 The beginnings of dependence 107
8 Rulers of the sea 120
9 Vulnerability and vigilance 134
10 From uncertainty to crisis 150
PART IV FOOD SUPPLY AND FOOD CRISIS IN ROME
C. 509 BC - AD 25O
11 The beginnings of empire 167
12 Rulers of the Mediterranean 182
13 Food and politics 198
14 Rulers of the world 218
15 The subjects of Rome 244
Contents
CONCLUSION 271
Bibliography 278
Index 295
VI
TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
page
1 Thessaly (1911, 1926-36, 1955-6, 1959-80): interannual vari-
ability of the major cereal and leguminous crops 12
2 Samos (1926-36, 1955-6, 1963-80): interannual variability of
the major cereal and leguminous crops 13
3 Percentage probability of crop failure in Larisa, Athens and
Odessa 17
4 Estimates of population density, persons per km2, Greece 90
5 The harvest of 329/8 BC (accounts of the epistatai of Eleusis, IG
112 1672) 98
6 Attica and Lemnos: product and estimated area under grain
in 329/8 BC (from IG 112 1672) 101
7 Consumers supportable by domestic grain production in
Attica 102
8 Sitonia contributions, ?328/7 BC 156
FIGURES
1 Graphical representation of Table 7 103
2 Communities receiving grain from Cyrene (as listed in SEG ix
2 = Tod 11 196 160
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