Late Roman Grain Supply -- A Bibliography

In March, 1998, Lars Lordahl asked the LT-ANTIQ discussion list for books and articles on the Late Roman grain supply. With the help of list members, he compiled the following list. Both he and the maintainer of this site, Steve Muhlberger, would be glad to hear of other relevant materials.

Last updated on February 8, 2001

Online Bibliographies of Late Antiquity

General information on food and agriculture in Late Antiquity

Amouretti, M-C. Le pain et l'huile dans la Grèce antique, de l'araire au moulin, 1986.

Bowman, A. K Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier 1994.

Brothwell, D. and P. Food in Antiquity: A survey of the diet of early peoples. London, 1969.

Foxhall, L. and Forbes H. A. - "Sitometreia: the role of grain as a staple food in classical antiquity", Chiron 12 (1982): 41-90.

Frayn, J. M. Subsistence Farming in Roman Italy, London 1979.

Garnsey, P. Cities, peasants and food in Classical Antiquity, 1998.

 Mortiz, L. A. -Grain-mills and flour in Classical Antiquity, Oxford 1958 Scott, E. "Romano-British wheat yields", in Chapman J. and Mytum H. (eds), Settlement in north Britain 1000 bc to 1000 AD. Oxford; British Archaeological Reports, 118 (1983): 221-222.

White K. D. "Cereals, bread and milling in the Roman world", in Wilkins J., Harvey D. and Dobson M. (ed), Food in antiquity, 1995.
 
 

Food supply and population

Barnish, S. J. B. "Pigs, plebeians and potentes: Rome's economic hinterland, c. 350-600 AD", Papers of the British School at Rome. 55 (1987): 137-185.

 Casson, L. "The role of the state in Rome's grain trade', in D'Arms, J. H. and Kopff, E. C. (ed), The seaborne commerce of ancient Rome: studies in archaeology and history. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 36(1980): 21-33.

 D'Escurac, H. Pavis "A propos de l'approvisionnement en blé des cités de l'Orient romain", in Frezouls, E. Sociétés urbaines, sociétés rurales dans l'Asie mineure et la Syrie hellenistiques et romaines, Strasbourg, 1987.

Garnsey, P. - "Grain for Rome",in Garnsey P et al., Trade in the ancient economy. London (1983), pp. 118-130.

Garnsey, P. -"Famine in the ancient Mediterranean", History Today 36.5 (1986): 24-30.

Garnsey, P. -"Famine and food supply in the Graeco-Roman world: responses to risk and crisis". 1988.

Garnsey, P. and Saller, R. P. -"The Roman empire: economy, society and culture", 1987.

Garnsey P. and Whittaker C. R. (eds.) -"Trade and famine in classical antiquity", 1983.

Gebhardt, E. Studien Über das Verpflegungswesen von Rom und Constantinopel in der späteren Kaiserzeit. Dorpat, 1881.

Graeber, A. "Ein Problem des staatlich gelenkten Handels: Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus, praefectus urbis Romae und die Versorgungskrise 353-359", Münsterische Beiträge zur antiken Handelsgeschichte 3.2 (1984), 59-68.

Herz, P.Studien zur römische Wirtschaftsgesetzgebung : die Lebensmittesversorgung. In Historia Einzelschriften vol. 55. Wiesbaden, 1988.

Hollerich, M. J. "The Alexandrian bishops and the grain trade: Ecclesiastical commerce in Late Romen Egypt", in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 15.2(1982): 186-207.

Jaidi, H. L'Afrique et le blé de Rome au IVème et Vème siècles, 1990.

Kohns, H. P. Versorgungskrisen und Hungerrevolten im spätantiken Rom. Bonn, 1961.

Krakauer, G. "Das Verpflegungswesen der Stadt Rom in der späteren Kaiserzeit. Leipzig, 1874.

Maier, F.G.: "Romische Bevolkerungsgeschichte und Inschriftenstatistik", Historia, 2(1953/54): 318-351.

Paul, G.M. "Josephus, the Epitome de Caesaribus and the Grain-Supply of Rome," The Ancient History Bulletin 4.4 (1990): 79-83.

Rickman, G.E. Roman Granaries and Store Buildings. Cambridge, 1971.

Rickman, G. E. The corn supply of ancient Rome. 1980.

Rickman, G. E. -"The grain trade under the Roman Empire", in D'Arms J. H. and Kopff E. C. (ed), The seaborne commerce of ancient Rome: studies in archaeology and history. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. 36 (1980): 261-275.

Rowland, R. J "The 'very poor' and the grain dole at Rome and Constantinople", in Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte 21 (1976): 69-72.

Schneider, H. "Die Getreideversorgung der Stadt Antiochia im 4. Jahrh. n. Chr", Münsterische Beiträge zur antiken Handelsgeschichte 2.1 (1983): 59-72.

 Sirks, A. J. B. Food for Rome: the legal structure of the transformation and processing of supplies...in Rome and Constantinople. Amsterdam, 1991.

 Sirks, A. J. B. "The size of the grain distributions on imperial Rome and Constantinople", in Athenaeum: Studi di lettera e storia dell' Antichita 79 (1991): 215-237.

 Teall, J. L -"The grain supply of the Byzantine Empire 330-1025, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers 13 (1959): 89-139.

Tengstrom, E. - "Bread for the People. Studies in the corn-supply for late ancient Rome", 1975.

 Vitelli G. "Grain storage and urban growth in imperial Ostia: a quantitative study', World Archaeology 12.1 (1980): 54ff.

Whitehouse, D. "The Schola Praeconum and the food supply of Rome in the fifth century", in Barher, G. and Hodges, R. (eds.), Archaeology and Italian society, British Archaeological Reports International Series 102 (1981): 191-196.

Archaeological material

Hayes, J. W. Late Roman Pottery. London, 1972.

Kahane, A. et al. "The Ager Veientianus, North and East of Rome, in Papers of the British School at Rome 36, London, 1968.

Partner, P. "Notes on the Lands of the Roman Church in the Early Middle Ages," in Papers of the British School at Rome34 (1966): pp. 68-78.

Trade, economy, and the Pirenne debate

Barnish, S. J. B. "The Transformation of Classical Cities and the Pirenne Debate" in Journal of Roman Archaeology 2(1989): 385-400.

Cubberley, A. L. "Bread-baking in Roman Italy", in Wilkins J., Harvey D. and Dobson M. (ed), Food in antiquity, Exeter Univ. Press, 1985.

Freyberg, H. U. von. Kapitalverkehr und Handel im römischen Kaisereich. Freiburg 1988.

Grierson, P. "Commerce in the dark ages: a critique of the evidence", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series Vol. 9 (1959): 123-140.

Habermann, W "Ostia - Getreidehandelshafen Roms', Münsterische Beiträge zur antiken Handelsgeschichte 1.1 (1982): 35-60.

Hodges, R. "Dark Age Economics: the origins of towns and trade AD 600-1000", 1982.

Miller, J. I.The spice trade of the Roman Empire 29 B.C. to A.D. 641, Oxford 1969.

Van Dam, Raymond - "The Pirenne Thesis and fifth-century Gaul" in Drinkwater and Elton, eds., Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? (Cambridge, 1992) pp. 321-333.

Whittaker, C. R "Late Roman trade and traders", Garnsey, P et al. (eds.), Trade in the ancient economy. London (1983), pp. 163-180.

Wickham, C. "Marx, Sherlock Holmes and Late Roman Commerce", in Journal of Roman Studies 78 (1988).

Administration and urban society

Christie, N and Loseby, S. T. Towns in transition, 1996.

 Delogu, P. "The 'Rebirth' of Rome in the eighth and ninth century" in The Rebirth of Towns in the West, 700-1050, ed. R. Hodges and B. Hobley (London, 1988), pp. 32-42.

Krautheimer, R. Rome: profile of a city 312-1308. Princeton, 1980.

Ramage, E.S. "Urban Problems in Ancient Rome", in Aspects of Greco-Roman Urbanism, ed. by R. Marchese, British Archaeological Reports International Series 188, 1993.

Ward-Perkins, J. B. "Central authority and patterns of rural settlement", in Man settlement and urbanism, (eds.) Dimbleby, G. W. et al., London 1972, pp.867-882.

Ward-Perkins, J. B. From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Urban public building in northern and central Italy AD 300-850. Oxford, 1984.