Agricola: A Study of Agriculture and Rustic Life in the Greco-Roman World from the Point of View of Labour

by Bloomsbury Academic

Overview

William Emerton Heitland (1847-1935) was a Cambridge classicist, who was described as having 'a passionate desire to attain the truth'. His most distinguished work, Agricola, published in 1921, is a detailed study of agricultural labour in classical times. He makes use of a wide range of sources, from Homer in the eighth century BCE to Apollinaris Sidonius in the fifth century CE. In asking the question, by whom and under what conditions was the work done, he deals with land tenure, taxation, military service and political theory. He argues that changes in agricultural production were necessarily connected to changes in other areas of society. To a large extent, classical agriculture was based on slavery, and even those who were free tenants had limited legal rights. Roman poets such as Virgil idealised the pastoral life, but may not reflect reality. It is an important sourcebook for social and economic history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780837140889
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/10/1970
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Introductory: 1. Evidence; 2. Land and labour; Authorities in Detail - Greek: 3. The Iliad and Odyssey; 4. Hesiod, works and days; 5. Stray notes from early poets; 6. Traces of serfdom in Greek states; 7. Herodotus; 8. The Tragedians; 9. The 'Constitution of Athens' or 'Old Oligarch'; 10. Aristophanes; 11. Thucydides; 12. Xenophon; 13. The comic fragments; 14. Early lawgivers and theorists; 15. Plato; 16. The earlier Attic orators; 17. Aristotle; 18. The later Attic orators; 19. The Macedonian period and the Leagues; Rome - Early Period to 200 B.C.: 20. The traditions combined and discussed; 21. Abstract of conclusions; Rome - Middle Period: 22. Introductory general view of period 200 BC-180 AD; 23. Cato; 24. Agriculture in the revolutionary period; 25. Varro; 26. Cicero; 27. Sallust etc; Rome - the Empire: 28. Agriculture and agricultural labour under the Roman Empire. General introduction; Rome - Augustus to Nero: 29. Horace and Vergil; 30. The Elder Seneca etc; 31. Seneca the Younger; 32. Lucan, Petronius, etc.; 33. Columella; Age of the Flavian and Antonine Emperors: 34. General introduction; 35. Musonius; 36. Pliny the Elder; 37. Tacitus; 38. Frontinus; 39. Inscriptions relative to Alimenta; 40. Dion Chrysostom; 41. New Testament writers; 42. Martial and Juvenal; 43. Pliny the Younger; 44. Suetonius etc; 45. Apuleius; Commodus to Diocletian: 46. General introduction; 47. The African inscriptions; 48. Discussion of the same; 49. The jurists of the Digest; 50. The later Colonate, its place in Roman history; From Diocletian: 51. General introduction; 52. Libanius; 53. Symmachus; 54. Ammianus; 55. Claudian; 56. Vegetius; Christian Writers: 57. Lactantius; 58. Sulpicius Severus; 59. Salvian; 60. Apollinaris Sidonius; 61. Concluding chapter; Appendix; Indices.