In classical antiquity, the grain supply to the city of Rome could not be met entirely from the surrounding countryside, which was taken up by the villas and parks of the aristocracy and which produced mainly fruit, vegetables and other perishable goods. The city therefore became increasingly reliant on grain supplies from other parts of Italy, notably Campania, and from elsewhere in the empire, particularly the provinces of Sicily, North Africa and Egypt. These regions were capable of shipping adequate grain for the population of the capital amounting to 60 million modii ( 540 million litres / 540 tonnes or 135 million gallons / 16.8 million bushels ), according to some sources. These provinces and the shipping lanes that connected them with Ostia and other important ports thus gained great strategic importance. Whoever controlled the grain supply had an important measure of control over the city of Rome.
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The widespread use of water mills or grain crushers in Italy is mentioned in passing by Pliny the Elder in 79 AD. A sequence of water mills was established at the terminus of the highest Roman aqueduct, the Aqua Traiana in the second century AD. Traces of the water channels and equipment have been excavated on the Janiculum. Protecting this valuable industrial complex was important, as attested by the actions of Belisarius in the Siege of Rome (537–538) when the city was besieged by the Ostrogoths. When the water supply to the aqueduct was cut off, he built a bridge of boats across the Tiber and used floating mills to crush the grain and so kept the supply of bread intact.
The complex of mills bear parallels with a similar complex at Barbegal in southern Gaul built in the first century AD.
Throughout most of the Republican era, the care of the grain supply (cura annona) was part of the aedile's duties. The annona was personified as a goddess, and the grain dole was distributed from the Temple of Ceres. As early as 440 BC, however,[1] the Roman Senate may have appointed a special officer called the praefectus annonae with greatly extended powers. An emergency cura annona was an important source of influence and power for Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") in his later career. Under the Principate, the position of praefectus annonae became permanent, while a range of privileges, including grants of citizenship and exemption from certain duties, were extended to ship-owners who signed contracts to transport grain to the city.
A large part of the city's supply was obtained through the free market. Prices in the city were invariably high, and merchants could count on making a profit. Grain was also collected as tax in kind from certain provinces; some of this was distributed to officials and soldiers and some was sold at market rates.
Grain supply was an important issue for the Gracchi, with the elder brother Tiberius Gracchus arguing that consolidation of Roman agricultural lands in the hands of a few had pushed landless Romans into the city, where they found poverty rather than employment. Under the grain law of Gaius Gracchus in 123 BC, a portion of the grain collected as revenue for the state was sold at a subsidised rate to citizens. The grain supply was a consistent "plank" in the popularist platform for political leaders who appealed to the plebs.[2]
The price of grain became a major issue when the Roman province of Sicily revolted repeatedly, thus pushing the price to unaffordable levels. Lowering grain prices became an important part of the political platform of the radical popularist Saturninus, who acquired the office of plebeian tribune an unusual three times.
In 58 BC, the patrician-turned-plebeian Clodius Pulcher advanced a popularist political agenda in his bid for the tribunate by offering free grain for the poor. The expense was considerable, and Julius Caesar later reformed the dole. Augustus considered abolishing it altogether, but instead reduced the number of the recipients to 200,000, and perhaps later 150,000.
Later emperors all used free or greatly subsidized grain to keep the populace fed. The political use of the grain supply along with gladiatorial games and other entertainments gave rise to the saying "Bread and circuses". As the empire continued, the annona became more complex. During the reign of Septimius Severus, olive oil was added to the distribution, and during that of Aurelian, pork and wine.
With the devaluation of currency in the course of the third century, the army was paid in rationed supplies (annonae) as well as in specie from the later third century, through a cumbrous administration of collection and redistribution. The role of the state in distributing the annona remained a central feature of its unity and power: "the cessation of this state function in the fifth century was a major factor leading to economic fragmentation, as was the end of the grain requisition for the city of Rome". Averil Cameron notes.[3]