SUPPLYING THE ROMAN EMPIRE 127ADDENDUM
The largest cities of the empire, above all the megalopolis Rome, outgrew the
capacity of the surrounding countryside to supply their needs. In addition, the army
required provisions of food and other materials on a substantial scale. It is a
reasonable guess that roughly half of the consumption of the empire’s households
was in the form of foodstuffs (in contrast to around ten per cent in the wealthiest
countries today). Consequently, most of the research on how the cities and armies of
the empire were supplied has focused on foodstuffs, above all grain. Over the past
twenty- fi ve years there has been continuing debate over the balance between a
command economy, in which demand was met through imperial taxes and rents, and
a free market economy, in which prices drove the movement of grain and other
supplies. A related, but not identical, question is the extent to which Rome and the
legions were supplied in kind directly from the taxpayer to the urban or military
consumer, or were supplied by goods purchased through the markets. If the latter,
how adequate was the information about prices in the varied regions of the empire
to allow traders to make decisions about the sources and destinations of their goods?
Wide- ranging discussions of these issues can be found in Garnsey (1988, 1999),
Le ravitaillement en blé (1991), Marin and Virlouvet (2003), Erdkamp (2005),
Morley (2007b), Bang (2008) and Tchernia (2011). The question of market
information and prices and the extent to which the market was integrated is discussed
by Erdkamp (2005) and Bang (2008). There is a sharply contrasting account in
Temin (2013); cf. Kessler and Temin (2008) along with critique of Bransbourg
(2012). For the supply of Rome see also: Giovannini (1991), Sirks (1991), Garnsey
and van Nijf (1998), Mattingly and Aldrete (1999), Mattingly and Aldrete (2000),
Tchernia (2003), Virlouvet (2003), de Romanis (2003). For the distribution system
in Rome, see the substantial volumes of Virlouvet (1995, 2009). Sharp (2007) uses
papyrological evidence to shed light on the supply of Oxyrhynchus.
For the supply of the army, see Duncan-Jones (1994), Roth (1999), Wierschowski
(2001), Carreras Montfort (2002), Erdkamp (2002), Eck (2006), Herz (2007),
Kehne (2007); for the supply of the army in Roman Egypt, Adams (1995, 1999), Van
der Veen (1998), Cappers (2006).
There has been discussion about the fi nancing of grain supplies to the cities of the
Empire, especially in times of shortage: Garnsey (1988), Strubbe (1989), Zuiderhoek
(2008, 2009a), and Erdkamp (2008).
The distribution of olive oil, another basic staple of the Roman diet, has received
attention from Christol (2008) and Broekaert (2011).
Bibliography for the role of taxes and trade in economic growth can be found in
Chapter 5 Addendum.