Sara Baldin
The Agrarian Economy of Roman Egypt
This PhD research investigates the dynamic interplay between environmental changes and the agrarian economy of Roman Egypt, with a particular focus on the third century CE. By analyzing papyrological evidence, the study explores how fluctuations in natural resources—such as soil fertility, water availability, and environmental conditions—shaped agricultural productivity and how human strategies, from state policies to local farming practices, evolved in response. The Arsinoite nome, with its uniquely rich agricultural landscape, serves as a key case study for understanding these interactions.
Egypt played a vital role as one of the principal grain suppliers for Rome and the Roman military, alongside North Africa and Sicily. However, Egypt’s exceptionally rich documentary record offers a more detailed perspective on the mechanisms that sustained agricultural output in the face of environmental and economic challenges. By assessing sowing and harvest dates, state interventions in land and water management, and shifts in cultivation practices, this research reconstructs the adaptive measures employed to maintain productivity in a changing landscape.
Through this approach, the study integrates climate history into the broader understanding of the ancient agrarian economy and establishes a model for how societies in antiquity responded to environmental stressors. By bridging environmental and economic perspectives, it sheds light on the resilience and vulnerabilities of one of the ancient Mediterranean’s most crucial agricultural systems.