Agricultural Implements of the Roman World

This book deals with the tools that the Roman world used in farming and with the way they used them.

K. D. White (Author)

9780521147576, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 August 2010

266 pages
24.6 x 18.9 x 1.4 cm, 0.48 kg

Most of the inhabitants of the Roman world lived by farming. The kinds of farming they practised varied as Roman domination spread north of the Alps. This book deals with the tools they used, in all their variety, and with the way they used them. It describes in detail agricultural implements, both simple and complex, from shovels, spades, saws and sickles to ploughs, harrows and reaping machines. Each description carries full references to the sources of information, including allusions in literature and the evidence of monuments and mosaics. The book ends with a catalogue raisonné of the implements illustrated in the text. The author uses practical knowledge of agriculture, as well as learning, to identify and interpret the objects under examination; this is, literally, scholarship brought down to earth.

Notes on the plates
Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Description of Manual Implements: 1. Spades and shovels
2. Mattocks, hoes and axes
3. Knives, sickles, hooks and scythes
4. Forks
5. Saws
6. Shears
Part II. Description of Machines: 7. Ploughs
8. Harrows
9. Drags and threshing machines
10. Reaping machines
Part III. Catalogue Raisonné of All Implements Illustrated in the Text: Manual implements
Machines
Appendices
Bibliography
General index
List of Greek words
List of Latin words
List of passages cited.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]