LE NEGATIF ORIGINAL DE CET OUVRAGE A ETE REPRODUIT D'APRES LES SPECIFICATIONS DU ALA MICROFILM NORMS ET EST CONSERVE A LA BIBLIOTHEQUE GENERALE DE L'UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE OF THIS WORK WAS REPRODUCED ACCORDING TO ALA MICROFILM NORMS SPECIFICATION AND IS KEPT AT THE GENERAL LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA LA QUALITE DE CETTE MICROCODE REFLETE CELLE DE L'ORIGINAL DONT NOUS DISPOSIONS THE QUALITY OF THIS MICROCOPY IS FAITHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL COPY WE HAD THESE UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA THESIS UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA UNIVERSITE DOTTAWA UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA UNIVERSITE DOTTAWA UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ECOLE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES ET DE LA RECHERCHE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH PERMISSION DE REPRODUCE ET DE DISTRIBUER LA THfeSE PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE THE THESIS MOM D€ ! AUTO1R* NAMF n*" *uruo<n HENDRICKS, David J. ADRESSC POSTALF «M«•«! APn»r« 52 Conroy Avenue Ayimer, Quebec J9H 5L5 ANNEE DtWTENTION-V&tfl GRANTED M.A. (Classical Studies) TFTHE D£ LA THtSE rmf or THFm CULTURAE AFRICAE Rural Labour and the Organization of Agriculture during the Principate L'AUTEUR PERMET, PAR LA PRESENTE, LA CONSULTATION ET LE PRET THE AUTHOR HEREBY PERMITS THE CONSULTATION AND THE LENDING OF DE CETTE THESE EN CONFORMITE AVEC LES REGLEMENTS ETABLIS THIS THESIS PURSUANT TO THE REGULATIONS ESTABLISHED BY THE PAR LE BIBLIOTHECAIRE EN CHEF DE L'UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA. L'AUTEUR CHIEF UBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA. THE AUTHOR ALSO AU­ AUTORISE AUSSI LUNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA, SES SUCCESSEURS ET CES- THORIZES THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGN­ SK3NNAIRES, A REPRODUIRE CET EXEMPLAIRE PAR PHOTOGRAPHIE OU EES. 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Noc. 24. 1988 (AjtW*) SIGNATURE •HUE MMCUUN COME nop ttutftrm LE rtimmi ^^^^$^s^^^^^ UNIVERSITY DOTTAWA UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA ECOLE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES ET DE LA RECHERCHE AND RESEARCH JBENDRICKS.^ Dav±d__JL AUTEUR OC L» IHtSevWTHM OF TNESW M.A. (Classical ..SmrilegJL-g-^ -CLASSICAL .STTJODJLES FACurt. EctxE. DtPtmuon-fACuar. SCHOOI. ofnwrHENr TITHE DE LA THESE-T7Ti£ OF THE THESIS CULTURAE AFRICAE RURAL LABOUR AND THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE PRINCIPATE tMcrai* oa IA mm-mas SUFUMSOM s"^ EXAMNATEURS DE LA THESE-THES/S EXAMINERS R. Blockley M. J anon ^ ^ liMDCHtMDtLlccLtDatnjonmjrtmuimjiX aawouw /oiMO^ncsotoatcvamouAnrsTupati V ROCIAMCHBIO« I I *MO KSfJJKH J s&&X&X&^ CUL TURAE AFRICAE Rural Labour and the Organization of Agriculture during the Principate David J. Hendricks A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Ottawa in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Classical Studies Ottawa, Ontario, Canada August, 1988 David J. Hendricks, Ottawa, Canada, 1988 UMI Number: EC56262 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI EC56262 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ORIGINAL SUIVANT ETAIT PARTIELLEMENT ILLISIBLE FOLLOWING ORIGINAL ILLEGIBLE IN PART TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........ i'v * INTRODUCTION ............ ...... 1 CHAPTER CNE Agriculture in Pre-Roroen Africa . 1? CHAPTER TWC Instrumentalities of Agrarian Charge .,,..., 60 CHAPTER THREE Continuity and Change in the Organization of Agriculture ' ,..,.... 123 CHAPTER FOUR The Management of Imperial Estates ....... 185 CONCLUSIONS ..................... 25? APPENDIX ONE .......... ......... 263 APPENDIX TWO . 271 SELECTr BIBLIOGRAPHY 281 ABSTRACT .... ......... 274 Hi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would lite to tnant. my adviser, Dr. Colin Wells, for his guidance arte" advice in the writing of this thesis. My thanks also to Dr. Michel Janon and Dr. Roger Blocteley, for agreeing to read the thesis and for their valuable comments. Many thanks are also due to Patricia, Stavros and Leon Cor.'jtart j.r.3'.,, for the use of the comp_>t.ng facilities which not only made tf e preparation cf th;; thesis inf mitrly easier, but which were a!sr i- er' '-aLion in themselves. I also than! David citch for his assistant . n p-epn^ing the Appendix. ^y greatest than'-s, however, are to my mother, -^cr r £r constant suppc""': and encouragement over the many months during which I wa& labouring .r the fields of Africa. r XV Kai phaie tis an epi ton agron estekenai tas poleis kakeinous einai krepida tautais par' on puroi, krithai, botrues, oinos, elaion, trophe men anthropois, trophe de tois allois zoois. Ei de me boes esan med ' arotron mede spermata mede phuta mede agelai boskimaton, oud' an egenonto ten archen poleis. Kai genomenai de tes ekeinon exertentai tuches, kai to eu te kai cheiron autais prattein ekeithen esti. - Li banius De angariis 34 Nam is demum cultissimus rus habebit, ut ait Tremelius, qui et colere sciet et poterit et volet. Neque enim scire aut velle cuiquam satis fuerit sine sumptibus, quos exigunt opera; nee rursus faciendi aut impendendi voluntas profuerit sine arte quia caput est in omni negotio nosse quid agendum sit, max 1meque in agri cultura, in qua volontas facultasque citra scientiam saepe magnam dominis adferunt iacturam, cum imprudenter facta opera frustratur impensas. - Columella De re rustica 1.1.1-2 Nam paene, ut recordaris, cessante Africa fames in limine erat... - Symmachus Epistles 3.55 INTRODUCTION The wealth of the Roman Empire came from agriculture. This is often obscured by the written records and "... those cities whose ruined buildings still survive as silent monuments of the immense majesty of the Roman peace", ensuring that knowledge of antiquity has urban orientation.* "The cities have told us their story, the country always remained silent and reserved."2 The reality, however, was quite different. For every person who lived in the cities, there were probably ten in the countryside. The cities were "... atolls of civilization (etymologically 'citification') on an ocean of rural primitivism".3 In modern economic terms, the majority of the labour force was employed in subsistence agriculture. Furthermore, the lack of any challenge from industry, which remained almost entirely small-scale and non-capital intensive, or trade, which suffered from a lack of demand and an excess of risk and expense, meant that land remained by far the greatest avenue for investment. It provided a secure and steady income, and social prestige as well. Agriculture's primary importance in the ancient economy was never challenged.* This truth was as applicable in the African provinces as anywhere. To early imperial writers Africa was a byword for a land of grain growing - to Pliny cereri totum id natura concessit.s In later years, in the areas not suited to grain cultivation, there arose a great oleoculture, producing an east coast of Africa proconsularis that 1 was one huge olive grove, and able to claim that paene ipsa omnibus gentibus usum olei praestat.*' Pliny chose Africa as his example of a province whose large agricultural estates were the dominant feature of the social-economic fabric."* Yet this agricultural system was of significance to more than just Roman Africa. In fact, by becoming the producer of a large exportable surplus of grain, which was sent to Italy to become the food supply of the million consumers of Rome, African farms gained an importance far beyond their own shores. As early as the days of the late Republic, Africa was one of baec tria frumentaria subsidia rei pubJicae, along with Sicily and Sardinia." To these there would later be added Egypt, but Africa was to continue its role as granary of Rome: sed Africam potius et Aegyptum exercemus, navibusque et casibus vita popuJi Romani permissa est." By the Late Empire, when Egyptian grain was diverted to the east to feed the new rival to Rome, Constantinople, Africa was supporting Rome by itself.40 At its height during the Principate Africa was supplying Rome with perhaps as much as three hundred thousand tonnes of grain annually.*1 At the same time, Africa came to export olive oil to such an extent that, as just noted, it could eventually claim to supply the whole world alone. But perhaps the most revealing proof of the international importance of African agriculture -and of the Romans' recognition of the fact- is the regularity with which rebellious generals bidding for the purple made certain to capture Africa, in order to use the threat of withholding its agricultural products as a political weapon.12 As late as the end of the fourth century, rebellion in Africa meant potential starvation 2 in Italy.13 Africa was not the only land whose food exports were vital to the Empire's urban life <even if its role as the chief supplier of Rome meant that it received more notice from Roman writers), but it certainly was one of the most important.