Copyright by Margaret Kathleen Clark 2019 The Dissertation Committee for Margaret Kathleen Clark Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation: Laying the Groundwork: Soil in the Roman Agricultural Imaginary Committee: Andrew Riggsby, Supervisor Ayelet Haimson Lushkov Adam Rabinowitz Rabun Taylor Timothy Beach Laying the Groundwork: Soil in the Roman Agricultural Imaginary by Margaret Kathleen Clark Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2019 Dedication D.M. JCHB, Sr., KSB, TEC, Sr. and VSC Acknowledgements Completing this dissertation has felt, at times, like a solitary task, as I spent so many hours by myself, with my own thoughts, hammering away at a keyboard. However, in a convoluted way, the isolation I felt sometimes during this process actually speaks to the amount of support, encouragement, and help I received from so many people. I now face the daunting task of trying to acknowledge all those who were alongside me, supporting me in my work. I begin with my committee, who patiently contributed their expertise and guidance. Andrew Riggsby, my supervisor, usually understood what I was trying to say before I could articulate it coherently. His precise questions pushed me to think more clearly about my project. Rabun Taylor stepped in at a moment’s notice and provided helpful feedback in the final stages. Ayelet Haimson-Lushkov is perhaps most responsible for my discovery and subsequent deep affection for agronomist writing, after she half-jokingly suggested in seminar one day that I write a dissertation on Columella. Tim Beach gave me very helpful suggestions as I set out on an exploration of soil science and modern geography scholarship. I only wish that we had come into contact sooner. Adam Rabinowitz always reminded me to think about what questions the evidence I was looking at could actually answer. Although not a final member of my committee, Alice König of the University of St. Andrews gave wonderfully useful feedback earlier in my dissertation process. I extend my sincere thanks to these scholars for all their help over the course of this project. This research was assisted by a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. v Others at the University of Texas at Austin have been significant to my development as a scholar. In particular, I would like to thank Alex Walthall for always being willing to listen and bounce ideas around when I dropped by his office. Deborah Beck served as the advisor of my masters report, and her guidance during that process made me a better researcher and writer. I would be remiss to not mention the wonderful staff of the Department of Classics at UT – Beth Chichester, Vanessa Noya, and Khoa Tran. Not only did they make my life easier almost every day, but they are also remarkably warm and kind people. I am so profoundly grateful for their presence and generosity. I extend my thanks to fellow graduate students at UT who been sources of friendship, support, and inspiration. In particular, I must recognize Chuck Oughton, Steve Lundy, Colin Yarbrough, Paul Hay, Andrea Pittard, Becca van der Horst, TJ Bolt, Lizzy Adams, and Jane Millar. It has been a pleasure to get to know you all. Thanks also to Sara Saylor and Sierra Senzaki for leading the best writing groups I joined at the University Writing Center. Before landing at UT, the teachers and faculty mentors I had at other institutions have contributed to this work, directly or indirectly. At the University of Oxford, Henriette van der Blom taught me how to think and write like a historian, and Luke Pitcher advised my masters project on Sallust. Both of them helped me learn how to be a scholar. The community of the Classics Department at Middlebury College embraced me in a way that still gives me warm and fuzzy feelings, and the professors there are among the best scholastic exempla I could have ever had. Their continued enthusiastic support means the world to me. I must also thank Cindy Harrison and Patsy Ricks for setting me on this journey in the first place. Their tireless enthusiasm for Latin and the Roman world have inspired me for over a decade, and I hope I can be as warm and encouraging to my students as they have been to me. Instrumental to my decision to pursue Classics was my experience as a high school junior at School Year Abroad in Viterbo, Italy. I am absolutely still over vi the moon to have written a dissertation that brought me back to central Italy (both in practice and in spirit). I must thank my teachers, fellow students, and host family. That year brought the ancient world to life, but it also brought me to the modern Italy that I love so much. Then, there are the most important people in my life, my family and closest friends. Alice Hargreaves has been a rock star friend for the past almost seven years, and I especially appreciate her understanding when I have forgotten to follow up on Skype dates in the past few months. I will be eternally grateful to my parents, especially for the sacrifices they made in order for me to be able to pursue every educational opportunity I set my sights on. They instilled in me early on a love of learning and reading and the importance of knowing all kinds of history, and they have supported me unconditionally. I cannot say thank you enough. Most of the things I did growing up I did because my sister Susie did them first. Including Latin. I remember her reading aloud a story she was translating for 7th grade Latin homework, and I guessed at the meaning of the words and acted out what I thought was happening. After that, I couldn’t wait to study Latin, and I haven’t stopped. She’s also my oldest friend and has always believed in me. I extend my thanks to her also for bringing Connor into the world just in time for me to put things into perspective while stressing about finishing my dissertation. While living in Austin, I was lucky to have the support of my in-laws (Polly and Bill, and also Ryan and Hallie) who welcomed me into their family and gave me another home. I appreciate the help, support, and encouragement they have given me over these years. Most of all, I thank my husband Will. He never wavered in his belief in me, including the validity of my ideas and goals and my ability to achieve them – even when I was doubtful. He has supported and pushed me every day. Bouncing ideas around with him has made me (and this dissertation) vii immeasurably better. He’s also been understanding when my head has been in the soil. I really am the luckiest. Will et Margaret contra mundum. I dedicate this project to the memory of my grandparents, all of whom have been enormous influences on me, each in their own way. viii Abstract Laying the Groundwork: Soil in the Roman Agricultural Imaginary Margaret Kathleen Clark, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 Supervisor: Andrew Riggsby In this dissertation, I examine how soil functions as an integral part of the Roman agricultural imaginary (a shared conceptualization of farming and farmland that informs agricultural practices as well as intellectual approaches and cultural stances towards farming). Farming was integral to the Roman presentation and understanding of Roman culture. Grounded in the stories Romans told about themselves and their history, Roman ideas about agriculture can reveal how reveal how they conceived of Roman values, identities, and imperial expansion. Using the centrality of farming to the Roman worldview as a point of departure, I argue that Roman attitudes towards farmland, particularly soil, evince the agricultural foundations of an imperial habitus. To do so, in the first chapter, I introduce three modes of considering soil that are present in the Roman agricultural imaginary. By looking at soil as a raw material, as an object, and as a place, I argue, Roman sources use soil as a lens or prism for understanding and conveying how interactions between humans and nature reflect the relationship between Rome as an imperialist power and conquered peoples, cultures, landscapes, and natural resources. In Chapter II, I introduce the French concept of terroir as a tool for understanding the differentiation of regional soil types in central Italy. Most often used in ix the context of oenology, terroir outlines how, in addition to local agro-climatic factors, notions of regional identity and tradition affect the agricultural practices and output of a region, which in turn structure conceptualizations of the same regions. I apply the framework of terroir to the characterization of regional soils in three case studies, focusing on Pupinia (an area near Rome with infamously poor soil), the Sabine Hills (one of the first regions conquered by Rome, which becomes synonymous with Rome’s Italian heritage), and the ager Falernus (a wine-growing region in northern Campania, which produces a famous wine and represents the dangers posed to Roman culture by excess and indulgence). I conclude that the ideas about regional soil qualities grew in response to forces which we now categorize as urbanization and globalization, which brought distant regions into more contact with each other. In Chapter III, I apply this framework to Italy as a whole. I show how an emphasis on Italian agricultural superiority – grounded in the soils of the Italian countryside – emerged over the course of the physical expansion of the empire.