- Gentle, fragrant, kindly, with the sweet drink
[kîlâla] in her udder, rich in milk, the broad
earth together with [her] milk shall give us
courage!... - Th y laps, O earth, free from ailment! Free
from disease, shall be produced for us! May we
attentively, through our long lives, be bearers of
bali-off erings to thee!
63. O mother earth, kindly set me down upon a well-
founded place! With (father) heaven cooperating, O
thou wise one, do thou place me into happiness and
prosperity!
From: Max Müller, ed., Sacred Books of
the East. Vol. 42: Hymns of the Atharva-
Veda, section 12:1, translated by Maurice
Bloomfi eld (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1897).... Perform the vow for the health of the cattle as
follows: Make an off ering to Mars Silvanus in the
forest during the daytime for each head of cattle:
3 pounds of meal, 4½ pounds of bacon, 4½ pounds of
meat, and 3 pints of wine. You may place the viands in
one vessel and the wine likewise in one vessel. Either
a slave or a free man may make this off ering. After the
ceremony is over, consume the off ering on the spot at
once. A woman may not take part in this off ering or
see how it is performed. You may vow the vow every
year if you wish....
... Before harvest the sacrifi ce of the porca praecidanea
[the hog off ered in sacrifi ce before the harvest]
should be off ered in this manner: Off er a sow as porca
praecidanea to Ceres before harvesting spelt, wheat,
barley, beans, and rapeseed and address a prayer, with
incense and wine, to Janus, Jupiter, and Juno, before
off ering the sow. Make an off ering of cakes to Janus,
with these words: “Father Janus, in off ering these cakes,
I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to
me and my children, my house and my household.” Th en
make an off ering of cake to Jupiter with these words:
“In off ering this cake, O Jupiter I humbly beg that thou,
pleased by this off ering, wilt be gracious and merciful to
me and my children, my house and my household.” Th en
present the wine to Janus, saying: “Father Janus, as I
prayed humbly in off ering the cakes, so wilt thou to the
same end be honored by this wine placed before thee.”
And then pray to Jupiter thus: “Jupiter, wilt thou deign
to accept the cake; wilt thou deign to accept the wine
placed before thee.” Th en off er up the porca praecidanea.
When the entrails have been removed, make an off ering
of cakes to Janus, with a prayer as before, and an
off ering of a cake to Jupiter, with a prayer as before.
After the same manner, also off er wine to Janus and
off er wine to Jupiter, as was directed before for the
off ering of the cakes and the consecration of the cake.
Afterwards off er entrails and wine to Ceres.”From: G. Goetz, ed., De Agri Cultura
(Leipzig, Germany: Teubner, 1922).
Republished in Cato and Varro:
On Agriculture, translated by
W. D. Hooper and H. B. Ash
(Loeb Classical Library, 1934).Cato: On Agriculture, excerpt, ca. 150 b.c.e.
RomeFURTHER READING
E. N. Anderson, Th e Food of China (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni-
versity Press, 1990).
Graeme Barker, Prehistoric Farming in Europe (Cambridge, U.K.:
Cambridge University Press, 1985).
Peter Bellwood, First Farmers (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2005).
Amy Bogaard, Neolithic Farming in Central Europe (New York:
Routledge, 2004).
Andrew Dalby, Cato: On Farming/De Agri Cultura (London: Pros-
pect, 1998).
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel (New York: Norton, 1997).
André Dollinger, “Hymn to Hathor: Th e Egyptian Agricultural
Cycle.” Available online. URL: http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/
texts/hathorhymn.htm. Downloaded on August 7, 2006.
Stephen L. Dyson, Th e Roman Countryside (London: Duckworth,
2003).
Paul Erdkamp, Th e Grain Market in the Roman Empire (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Peter J. Fowler, Farming in the First Millennium a.d.: British Ag-
riculture between Julius Caesar and William the Conqueror
(Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Victor Davis Hanson, Th e Other Greeks: Th e Family Farm and the
Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (New York: Free Press,
1995).
Victor Davis Hanson, Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
Catherine C. Harris, “Ancient Egyptian Agriculture,” To u r
Egypt Monthly 2, no. 7 (July 1, 2001). Available online. URL:agriculture: further reading 51