ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The supply of wheat for the ancient Attica has a fundamental role in the supply of the region of ancient Athens, very populous and with few territories suitable for the cultivation of cereals, food at the base of nutrition.

Description
The Attica land was favourable to the production of figs, olives and grapes but was not very suitable for the cultivation of wheat; in the period of maximum splendor of Athens, on the other hand, the population was very large – free men and slaves according to the estimate of Böckh –, so that it became necessary to import grain from the outside for its subsistence.

The region, extending over a surface of 64 000 stages, produced annually about medium-sized cereals, especially barley. The consumption of the whole population was about half a year, and therefore at least one million was imported. The grain came from areas overlooking the Black Sea, more particularly from the Bosphorus Cimmerio and the Tracico Cresson, but also from Syria, Egypt, Libya, Cyprus, Rhodes, Sicily and Eubea.

The great need for food made the Athenians very concerned to guarantee a plentiful supply and the strategists took every precaution for this purpose. The Sunio demo was fortified so that the ships carrying the crabs could sail quietly around the promontory. Sometimes warships were also used when there were no threats from enemies While Pollide, Spartan admiral, was stationed in 376 BC. with his fleet off Egina, the Athenians armed quickly and, under the command of Cabria, they gave him battle so as to allow ships with cereals to safely reach the Piraeus.

When Philip II of Macedonia attacked Byzantium his purpose was to control the entrance to the Black Sea so as to keep under check the supply of wheat for Athens; the orator Demostene, therefore, forced himself a lot to bring the inhabitants of that city to the Athenian side.

The importance of grain supply for the Athenians promoted the development of an efficient commercial system with a lot of price balance in the various areas according to availability. Trade was regulated by the government, which was often not far-sighted and very greedy; Athenian legislation punished speculators, prohibited export and prohibited the delivery of imported grain in any other port of Attica except Athens. No one could lend money to a ship without it having promised to return with grain; if a citizen had contravened this law, it would have been prosecutable penally, the trade agreement would have been declared null and the entrepreneur would have lost his sum of money.

The magistrates who dealt with the control of the observance of these laws were the epimelets, which strictly controlled the sale of grain on the market and the affairs of merchants. The illegal agreements to buy very big