Detailed case studies of Athens and Rome, the best known states of antiquity, reveal the effects of the breakdown of the food supply systems and response to the crisis by the masses of the ancient Mediterranean cities.
Contents
Part I. The Incidence and Severity of Food Crisis; 1. Famine and shortage; 2. The frequency of food crisis; 3. The infrequency of famine; Part II. Survival Strategies: 4. Subsistence and survival: the peasantry; 5. Supply and distribution: urban communities; Part III. Food Supply and Food Crisis in Athens c. 600–322 BC; 6. The resources of Attica; 7. The beginnings of dependence; 8. Rulers of the sea; 9. Vulnerability and vigilance; 10. From uncertainty to crisis; Part IV. Food Supply and
Review
"...accurate and stimulating interpretative account of several interconnected issues to do with the incidence of shortages, and the responses to them of rural dwellers, patrons or benefactors, and governments...Garnsey presents extremely complex, and interrelated, issues and problems, and advanced hypotheses, with exemplary clarity, coolness, and good sense...The book will function both as a reliable introduction to its issues, and as a contribution to them; both functions are ably supported by the full references throughout the book to the best of the literature on the subject." Greece & Rome
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