3. Greek Agriculture in Cyrenaica
The pioneers of Thera and the other Grecian settlers reached Libya equipped with a good knowledge of agriculture,[503] but some time certainly passed before they achieved the full development and exploitation of the country’s natural resources, and it may be assumed that in the first phase they imitated the agriculture of the Libyans. Italian experts have remarked[504] that the natural course of agricultural development in Cyrenaica is from livestock breeding through the cultivation of cereals to the growing of fruit and other specialized crops.
Cyrene achieved renown in the ancient world for her fertility. We find among the epithets applied to her the expressions “fruit-bearing” (καρπόφορος);[505] “not without her share of all fruitful plants” (οὑ παγκάρπων φυτῶν νήποινος);[506] “deep-soiled” (βαθύγειος),[507] and “bearer of fair fruits” (καλλίκαρπος).[508] Herodotus writes of the district round Cyrene[509] that “it has abundant fruits”, and Strabo speaks of it as a fertile area;[510] both he and Pliny state that its climate favours agriculture.[511] But there is no doubt that Cyrene’s principal reputation was initially derived from her livestock, — her flocks, cattle and horses. Thus her name was associated with the terms “flock-feeding” (μηλοτρόφος),[512] and “of many sheep” (πολύμηλος).[513] Arrian speaks of her abundance of sheep and cattle.[514] Her cattle are mentioned by Herodotus[515] and Hermippus,[516] and Cyrene is variously described as “mother of horses”, “owner of fair horses” (κάλλιππος, εὐίππος),[517] “horse-pursuing” (διώξιππος),[518] “best of horserearers” (ἀρίστη ἱπποτρόφος),[519] “mother of renowned steeds” (clarorum mater equorum),[520] and “mistress of horse-pasture” (ἱππόβατος).[521] Horse-breeding in the Plain of Barka is explicitly referred to by Arrian,[522] and the poetry of Pindar in the 5th century celebrates in lyric language the victories of Cyrene in the races held at Olympia, Corinth, and Delphi. The city’s pastures are also praised: she is “mistress of broad meadows” (εὐρυλείμμων).[523] With one exception indeed, these expressions do not precede the 5th century B.C., but it may be assumed that the livestock branch was already well-developed when the people of Thera arrived in Cyrene, for the Libyan tribes owned numerous cattle and goats in the 12th century B.C. during their wars with Egypt,[524] and also possessed horses.[525] Homer already speaks of “Libya of the numerous flocks”,[526] whence it may be supposed that the rearing of sheep, cattle and horses was important in the Cyrenean economy from the first. When Barka was founded in the middle of the 6th century the figure of a bull appeared on her coins, and the kylix of Arkesilaos II is evidence of the royal trade in wool. Although we hear nothing of horserearing before Pindar, Herodotus tells us that the Cyreneans learned the use of the quadriga from the Libyan Asbystae,[527] showing that the branch was then an ancient one.[528] The monopoly of the silphium trade was associated with Battus I,[529] and the plant is represented on the city’s first coins in the 6th century.[530] The silphium plant grew, according to Herodotus[531] and Theophrastus,[532] throughout Libya, but more especially in the west in the vicinity of Berenice and the Syrtic Gulf,[533] and it is clear that it belonged essentially to Libyan life, for Theophrastus informs us[534] that only the Libyans knew how to treat it. Hence Jones was probably right in his belief[535] that this produce was paid by the Libyans to the Battiads as tribute. It is known that the silphium had to be protected from the flocks which coveted the plant,[536] and a synthesis of the details makes it clear that the growing of silphium and the rearing of sheep were carried on in large measure on the fringes of the plateau among the native tribes living about the Greek settlements, so that their direct association with these branches, and the feudal patriarchal relationship apt to develop between the Libyans and the royal house in these circumstances, induce the supposition that the areas concerned became in course of time the property of the dynasty.
Arable farming, on the other hand, began to develop as an export-branch, it would seem, in a later period. Pindar in the 5th century knew Cyrene as “grain-bearing” (πυροφόρος),[537] and Herodotus reports that the soil of Euesperitae produced a hundred-fold.[538] Under Darius (521-485 B.C.) the country together with Egypt and Libya paid the Persian king a tribute of 120,000 artabae of wheat,[539] although Cyrene’s share in this payment cannot be determined. Only in the 4th century do we encounter the testimony of Theophrastus that Cyrenean wheat was being sent to Athens.[540] At the end of that century a well-known inscription reveals that Cyrenaica was growing wheat on a considerable scale, sufficient to supply a number of Greek cities and islands in a time of shortage. This event will be discussed below (see p. 97). Theophrastus reproduces technical details on the development of Libyan wheat, which was a quick grower, needed a “strong” soil and possessed a stout stalk.[541] Pliny states of this wheat that it needed no cultivation during the growing period.[542]
We know little of the plantation economy of Cyrene. Vineyard products appear first in the Demiurgi stele of the 5th century, together with olives and figs.[543] Pseudo-Scylax (mid-4th century[544]) and Diodorus (3rd century)[545] record the country’s vineyards, but apparently their produce was not of the best; Marmarica at any rate, gained a reputation for inferior wine; over forty vineyards or groups of vines are nevertheless recorded in the Martuba district at the end of the 2nd century A.D.[546] In the first century B.C. Strabo wrote that wine was being smuggled into the country from the region of Carthage.[547] Theophrastus, Scylax and Diodorus speak of the olives of Cyrene, and the large number of presses scattered over the plateau, especially on the eastern Jebel, witness that oil-production flourished at least in the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the ist century B.C. Barkaios son of Theochrestos bequeathed to the gymnasium of Cyrene an olive grove and its oil produce.[548] The numerous cisterns in the enclosure on the southeast edge of the city, it has been suggested, were for the storage of olive oil; were this correct, they would testify to the scale of production at the beginning of the Roman period, but the theory is disputable. Cyrenaica was also well-known for its growing of vegetables, table-herbs and perfume-plants, and some of these will be noted in the course of the discussion on Cyrenean agriculture.
503
Thera, for instance, already possessed a reputation for its wine. — Glotz,
544
Ps.-Scylax, 108, 109, — cf. the name Ampelos; Schol. Aristoph.