108 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
production through the life cycle. Kehoe (1988b) examines the situation of the
tenants farming the vast imperial estates of Tunisia. The papyrological evidence from
Egypt is especially illuminating: Rowlandson (1996, 1999), Sharp (1999). Halstead
(2014) provides a panoramic view of the Mediterranean peasant and a thick
description of their ways and wiles, combining ancient evidence with fi rst- hand
observation of, and conversation with, ‘recent farmers’.
Harper (2011) is an outstanding monograph on slavery: although focused on the
period AD 275–425, it addresses all the major issues that arise in relation to Roman
slavery in earlier periods (such as numbers and supply, the household economy and
occupational structure), and constructively challenges the ‘dominant paradigms’ of
Roman slavery. The question of the prevalence, profi tability and possible decline of
slave labour in agriculture continues to be debated: Scheidel (2005b, 2011), Roth
(2007), Launaro (2011). Studies of villa agriculture include: Scheidel (1994), Haley
(1996), and Marzano (2007, 2013a). Marzano (2007) includes an imposing
catalogue of Roman villas from large areas of central Italy. Roth (2007) challenges
orthodox views of the role of women slaves and slave families in agriculture. In the
management of slave estates the pivotal fi gure was the vilicus , studied by Carlsen
(1995). Rathbone (1991) stands out as a remarkable reconstruction of the
management of a large non- slave estate in Egypt from a substantial collection of
disparate fragments of papyri.
Attitudes toward investment in agriculture have been illuminated by Kehoe
(1988a, 1992, 1993, 1997) and Rathbone (2005). The alimenta have been discussed
by Jones (1989) and Woolf (1990).
Key to the Roman economy’s potential for growth was the degree of increased
agricultural productivity through capital investment, organization of labour and
technical improvements. For agricultural productivity in general, see Spurr (1986),
Horden and Purcell (2000), Goodchild and Witcher (2009). For intensifi cation of
capital investment, see Mattingly (1988, 1993), Hitchner and Mattingly (1991),
Hitchner (2002), Bowman and Wilson (2009, 2013). Erdkamp (1999) emphasizes
the organization of labour; more generally, Erdkamp (2005). For a highly optimistic
view of technical improvements, Kron (2012); de Ligt (2012) offers a more sober
view of productivity gains. Shaw (2013) examines the technology for harvesting
(and much more). There is a growing focus on the impact of ecology and climate on
production: Sallares (1991), Horden and Purcell (2000), McCormick et al. (2012).
The production of wine and oil is the subject of Brun (2003, 2004). Studies of
animal husbandry include King (1999), Kron (2000), and MacKinnon (2004). For
aquaculture, see Marzano and Brizzi (2009).