owners, though there were also more modest estates owned by
locals. Scholars believe that about half a million tons of wheat
left Carthage annually. Th e province of Carthage’s capital city
(also called Carthage) became the second-largest city in the
Mediterranean on the basis of its agricultural exports. By the
second century b.c.e. North Africa was also exporting olive
oil, fi gs, grapes, and beans.
All African farmers had to irrigate their crops, and they
invented some elaborate systems of getting water to their
fi elds. Th e simplest forms of irrigation were ditches dug
from rivers to fi elds and dams to hold the water in place,
but African farmers also used machinery to move water me-
chanically. Th e shaduf was a seesaw-like device consisting of
a bucket attached to a long counterweighted pole on top of
a frame; the weight opposite the bucket allowed farmers to
lift water easily and swing it over to an irrigation ditch. Th e
Archimedean screw was a large screw in a tube resting on
an inclined plane. Th e bottom of the tube sat in water, and
as the screw turned, it lift ed the water up and out of the top
of the tube. Th e saqiya was a type of water wheel turned by
donkeys or oxen.
Rome took over Egypt in 30 b.c.e., aft er Augustus de-
feated Marc Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium.
Augustus annexed Egypt as a Roman province. Th is event
caused Egypt’s fortunes to plummet. Augustus consid-
ered Egypt his own personal estate and exploited it at the
expense of its inhabitants. Most of the country’s land was
turned over to agriculture, and Egypt ended up growing
a large portion of the grain eaten by Romans. Egypt also
supplied Rome with papyrus, a reed used to make paper.Section of the facade of a Roman aisled barnlike building on a villa estate in the parish of Meonstoke, Hampshire, England, dating to the early
fourth century c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)
44 agriculture: Rome