feeding the city rome and the annona - mit opencourseware · 21h.331s16 fall of the roman republic...

13
Feeding the City Rome and the Annona 1

Upload: others

Post on 25-Jun-2020

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Feeding the City Rome and the Annona

1

Page 2: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Population of Augustan Rome

Low High

Plebs frumentaria + families 520,000 520,000

Freedmen + families 150,000 200,000 Slaves 50,000 200,000 Poor & recent migrants 50,000 150,000 Soldiers and members of elite 20,000 20,000

Total 790,000 1,090,000

2

Page 3: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

© 2003 Ancient World Mapping Center. Released under CC BY-NC 3.0.3

Page 4: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

© 2003 Ancient World Mapping Center. Released under CC BY-NC 3.0. 4

Page 5: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Diocletian’s Price Edict – AD 301

• Price of Wheat – 1 modius castrensis (= 1.5 modii) = 100 denarii

• Cost of transport of wagon-load (= 90 modii?) of wheat

– 20 denarii per mile

5

Page 6: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Diocletian’s Price Edict – AD 301

• Transportation of wheat by sea:

– Alexandria to Rome • 16 denarii per castrensis modius

– Syria to Lusitania • 26 denarii per castrensis modius

6

Page 7: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Forum Boarium

Reconstruction in Museo della Civilta Romana

Image courtesy of Alessandro57. This image is in the public domain.Source: Wikimedia Commons.

7

Page 8: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Severan Marble Plan, showing the Theatre of Pompey,

AD 203-11

Image courtesy of Ulysses K. Vestal.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.8

Page 9: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Monte Testaccio

This image is in the public domain.Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Image courtesy of Tyler Bell on flickr. License CC BY.9

Page 11: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Grain laws of the late RP

123 BC – Gaius Gracchus’ law: subsidized monthly ration at a fixed price for all citizens at Rome.

90s BC – Law of Octavius: reduces number of recipients?

81-80 BC – Sulla abolishes distributions.

73 BC – Law of consuls Terentius and Cassius re-

establishes Gracchan rations at fixed price, but for limited number. 11

Page 12: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

Grain laws of the late RP

62 BC – Cato increases number of recipients.

58 BC – Popular tribune Clodius makes the distributions

absolutely free.

12

Page 13: Feeding the City Rome and the Annona - MIT OpenCourseWare · 21H.331S16 Fall of the Roman Republic Lecture Slides: Feeding the City Author: Broadhead, Will Created Date: 3/27/2017

MIT OpenCourseWarehttps://ocw.mit.edu

21H.331 Julius Caesar and the Fall of the Roman RepublicSpring 2016

For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: https://ocw.mit.edu/terms.