Publications of the Association of Ancient Historians - #9
Pastoral Politics:
Animals, Agriculture, and Society in Ancient Greece
Publication Date: 1 June 2008
Despite
a century of vigorous scholarship our knowledge of ancient Greek animal
husbandry, the politics it inspired, and the patterns of land use that it
shaped has remained woefully incomplete, scattered across many different (and
highly technical) sub-fields and as such has remained isolated from mainstream
Greek historical discussions and teaching. This volume focuses on the
interdependencies between land use, animals, agriculture and politics in ancient
Greece. In keeping with the goals of the series, the book provides an overview
of the interactions between animals, land and agriculture to ancient historians
who had little or no knowledge of the subject. This book study justifies why
ancient historians should care about animals and agriculture. Animal husbandry
itself seemed too narrow, especially for something that should be accessible to
non-specialists, hopefully spark wider debate and even provide a pedagogical
resource for a subject traditionally isolated from mainstream historical
debates.
Thus
it seemed that the best way to treat the subject was through a discussion of
land use, especially politicized land non-use,
and to start with three simple questions: (1) why did wealthy (and even some non-wealthy)
people in a dry, mountainous region like Greece prioritize the production of
animals to such a degree that they removed some of the best land from cereal or
other food cultivation; (2) how did these people justify taking much needed
land away from subsistence food production in order to raise non-food animals
such as horses; and (3) how did these animal production choices affect those
individuals directly and not directly involved
in animal production? What follows is the author’s attempt to answer these
questions and show that Greek choices about animal production and animal
consumption affected ancient peoples at all levels of society in a multitude of
ways.
An excellent reading choice for academic scholars of the Roman period.
Features: Bibliographical data, extensive notes..
Howe, Timothy
154 Pages (PB)
$ 19.95