The Grain Supply
Images of Ceres and Annona

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The general purpose of this discussion is to take you through one of the most vital and key elements in Roman history, and one that is often neglected. It is the grain supply of ancient Rome. By the time of Augustus, Rome had reached an unprecedented one million inhabitants, which required up to 40 million modii every year (Rickman, p.10), about 300,000 tons of grain. To do this, the entire agricultural output of the empire had to be geared to support the stomach of the capitol of the Empire. At first, they used Etruria and Sicily. Later, once Egypt was in the fold, and was entirely a domain of the Emperor, Egypt became the breadbasket of the Empire (Rickman, pp. 12-13).

Two broad periods separate this; the first was the Republic, where no unified policy existed as to how to feed the ever-increasing population. These people had come from the countryside, where they had been driven off the land by richer aristocrats who could drive them out of business, steal their land, or give them too good an offer to purchase their land. They had to be fed, and since they could vote, and were no longer far away from the Campus Martius, they became an ever-growing political force that could be wielded by demagogues, who would get the vote through people's stomachs. We would expect the Republican period to be characterized by widely changing coin types that reflect the individual's policy, rather than a set, uniform policy.

What began the political turmoil that ended the Republic was the land redistribution plans of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. It had been the practice, when Rome took land, to give some of it to the poor with a small rent, and for the rest to be given up to auction. The poorer people were forced off the land by the rich, and the small landowners were being replaced by slaves. Tiberius' plan was to enforce the ancient law that had forbid anyone owning more than 500 jugera of land. (Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, 8). But, lacking a complete policy on this, it was up to individual members of the aristocracy to do something about it, to tap into that plebeian vote. A good way to do that would be to promise them grain, or to associate themselves with something of that nature.

Works Cited:

Rickman, Geoffrey. "The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome." Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980.

Plutarch. Scott-Kilvert, Ian, tr. "Makers of Rome." New York: Dorset Press, 1985.