Tilling the Hateful Earth: Agricultural Production and Trade in the Late Antique East
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Author Description
This book explores the agrarian landscape and economy of the eastern Mediterranean from modern Israel to Turkey. This region experienced a surge in population between the fifth and sixth centuries AD that raised the population to levels often only regained in the late twentieth century. Cities expanded and the eastern lands reached a pinnacle of cultural expression and economic prosperity in the century before the arrival of Islam. Behind all this lay the ability of Roman farmers to feed themselves by producing a reliable surplus of food. Michael Decker describes precisely how this was done: how plants critical to survival were grown and how new plants were introduced. He also catalogues the range of intensive farming methods used and the rise of cash-crop farming based on olive oil and wine that was traded throughout Europe, western Asia, and parts of Africa.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the agricultural mechanisms and economic structures that sustained the unprecedented population growth and urban expansion in the eastern Mediterranean during the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Michael Decker, an expert in the economic history of the Byzantine Empire, utilizes archaeological data, paleobotanical evidence, and historical texts to reconstruct the Roman agrarian system. He argues that the region's prosperity was fundamentally rooted in the sophisticated intensification of farming practices and the strategic development of cash-crop economies, specifically olive oil and wine production.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of agricultural production techniques in the eastern Mediterranean from Israel to Turkey.
- Examination of the transition from subsistence farming to intensive cash-crop cultivation.
- Data on the trade networks connecting the eastern provinces to Europe, western Asia, and Africa.
- Documentation of crop diversification and the introduction of new plant species during Late Antiquity.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and historians frequently cite this text as a vital resource for understanding the economic foundations of the Byzantine Empire. Readers often note the technical density of the research, which provides a comprehensive look at the logistical realities of feeding a pre-modern urban population.
Page Count:
360
Publication Date:
2009-10-04
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0199565287
ISBN-13:
9780199565283
History
Economic History
Byzantine History
Late Antiquity
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