The Staff of Life, Our Daily bread

Those of us who like to study the culture of Antiquity, in this case its food, are well aware of the importance of grains, olives and grapes in the ancient diet. In this thread we are going to delve into the grains part, the basis of the diet of Mediterranean peoples from the Black Sea to the Pillars of Hercules and not just as diet. but as part of governing and even a major cause of of everything from angst to riots to hostilities.

First a little bit on the word, grain. In British English the common word for grain is "corn". That creates some confusion with English speakers in North America where the word, corn, means American Indian corn or maize so, when the words for grain in Latin (frumentum) or Greek (sitos, chondros) are rendered into English by British writers North Americans get the wrong idea. I don't know if this is so for Australia and New Zealand, but maize is native to the New World and was unknown to the ancients. The ancient grains we are talking about are mostly wheat and barley (maybe oats for the Picts and Caledonians) which were used by the ancients for foods like porridge and bread, especially for bread. For them bread was the staff of life, the main source of calories in their daily diet, common at all meals, dipped in olive oil and washed down with wine. The ancient words for bread "panis" in Latin, "artos" in Greek (both attic and Biblical Koine) appear commonly in the writings of the period. As the raw material, grain, they appear commonly in legal and historic writings, and as we will see, on their coinage.

For the governing of ancient polities, ancient leaders had to be aware of where their supply of grain was coming from. A few states, Egypt, Carthage, early Rome, were self sufficient and did not need to import it. Athens became dependent on imported grain early on and the creation of an Athenian Empire was largely explained as a need to control grain at its source. No imported grain, famine. Sparta won its great Peloponnesian War when it closed the port of Piraeus and shut off Athens from its suppliers of grain. For Rome grain meant "Bread and Circus", and order in the streets of Rome. No grain, riots in the streets, and maybe a new emperor. Vespasian understood that when in 69 AD he made his bid for the throne by initially going, not to Rome, but rather to Alexandria to gain control of much of Rome's imported grain. When you have them by kernels of grain, their hearts and minds will follow. Rome even had an official, the "Praefectus Annonae", whose main job was to make sure that grain got to the granaries and the bakers and that emperors could sleep well at night.

As for the grain itself, wheat was the preferred grain by most Mediterranean peoples. It made the finest bread. In some areas where wheat was marginal, barley was grown but it made what was considered an inferior bread, though Egyptians were long brewing it for beer. Roman soldiers were sometimes put on a ration of barley bread as a mild punishment for some infractions. Normally their supply of barley went to the pack animals, cavalry and auxiliary troops ("bucellarii", biscuit eaters). The name, Frumentarius came to mean not just the officials who checked up on the grain supply and in the market place but by extension came to mean the emperors' secret police who started checking up on everything else while they were at it. The production of grain was not always a rewarding one. A typical return on a field of grain was often as low as a four to one ratio of return from a seed (in drought, maybe only two to one). Varro puts the normal return in a decent year at ten to one, fifteen to one in Etruria. Cicero writes of a norm of eight to one, presumably on his estate in the vicinity of Rome itself. A modern wheat ratio is something like 30 to 40 to one.

Now for the coins. Ceres, the goddess of the grain harvest (as in cereals), is frequently found on Roman coins (New Jersey has her image on its state flag today, referencing its agricultural heritage). The first coin is a tetradrachma of Leontini, a Greek Colony on Sicily, which, for a while, was a major producer of grain for Rome. Notice the ears of grain around the lion's head. I think they may be barley corns (a measure of length in Merry olde England, one third of an inch). The second is a stater of Metapontum with a very large stalk of grain, wheat I think, and certainly an advertisement of the importance of grain for that city-state. That's Demeter on the other side (Sear 416). The third coin is a denarius of Republican Rome, 63 BC, with Ceres on the obverse. She is wearing a crown made of stalks of grain and behind her head is a clear stalk of probably wheat and in front of her a single grain of what looks like a barley corn. The last coin is one of the Roman Emperor, Vespasian (my favorite. My Confirmation name is Flavian), the emperor who knew the value of those kernels of grain in securing power. On the reverse is a modius (a peck, eight quarts) of grain stalks, a reminder of the emperor bringing home the biscuits. By the way this is one of the unusual coins of Vespasian, facing to the left. It is Sear 2293.

Now it's the reader's turn to show us some of their ancient coins with some reference to the staff of life or our daily bread.

 

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Thanks, @kevin McGonigal ... great coins!

I have a few, here are some of my grain ears...


Carthage - LIBYAN REVOLT Rebels 241-238 BCE 9.63g 24mm Shekel Sardinia mint Tanit 3 Grain ears Crescent SNG Cop 247



Campania CAPUA AE 14-5mm 216-211 Hera Oscan Grain ear Hannibal capital Italia SNG Fr 517 SNG ANS 219 HN Italy 500 EE Clain Stefanelli



Luceria AES Grave Anonymous 217-215 BCE Uncia 7.35g Frog-Corn Ear pellet retrograde L T-V 285

 

Thanks for the write up, Kevin. I like it.

 

Yes, it was important to keep the grain supply open between Egypt and Rome. Even today, Egypt offers subsidized bread at a nominal price, where a loaf of flatbread costs 5 piastres. There are 100 piastres to the Egyptian pound. Today the Egyptian pound according to the exchange rate for February 12th is worth $.064 dollars. If you do the math you can see that bread is basically free, and has driven the country's growth to over 100 million people.

Phillip I the Arab.

AR Antoninianus

23mm 4.35 grams

Obverse: Radiate, cuirassed bust. IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG

Reverse: Annona standing left, holding cornucopia, modius to left ANNONA AVGG

Reference: RIC 28

 

I don't think I have ever seen an ancient coin with a frog on it. I didn't know there was one.

 

Mine was a star in the Frogger Game back in the 80's... he survived.






Luceria AES Grave Anonymous 217-215 BCE Uncia 7.35g Frog-Corn Ear pellet retrograde L T-V 285

 

Well then, let me say hello, quoting Aristophanes in his "the Frogs", Brekka kakax, koax, koax, or something like that in the Dorian dialect.

 

L VALERIUS FLACCUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS VALERIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Draped bust of Victory right, star under chin
REVERSE: Mars walking left, carrying trophy; L. VALERI./ FLACCI. and a flamen's cap before and grain-ear behind
Struck at Rome 108-109 BC
3.7g, 18mm
Cr306/1, Syd 565, Valeria 11

L CALPURNIUS PISO CAESONINUS & Q SERVILIUS CAEPIO ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS CALPURNIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Head of Saturn facing right, harpa and legend PISO behind, CAEPIO and symbol below, Q below chin
REVERSE: AD FRV EMV EX SC, the two quaestors seated left between 2 grain ears
Struck at Rome 100 BC
3.6g, 20mm
Crawford 330/1a; Syd 6031

C NORBANUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS NORBANA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: C• NORBANVS, head of Venus right, wearing stephane, earring, and necklace; XVIIII behind
REVERSE: Prow-stem, fasces, caduceus and grain ear.
Rome 83 BC
3.9g, 18mm
Crawford 357/1a. Sydenham 740. Norbana 1

 

Very nice thread. I like bread, perhaps even too much... Before the pandemic I would buy the unhealthy mass-produced stuff you can find in supermarkets, but during the first lockdown we invested in a bread-maker and it was God-sent! Now I haven't bought bread in months, and we make all kinds.

When it comes to bread-money, I believe the closest match are the lovely coins of Metapontion. They liked bread too!

 

Hmm. Interesting, bread money. I think I'll tell the wife we need to allocate more of our budget to "bread money". Know any ancient gold with grain on it? By the way, your Demeter is strikingly beautiful.

 

Bing, any ideas on why Mars would have had an ear of grain behind him? WE need to conquer some more territory to get some.

 

Grain


Sicily Akragas Punic occup 213-210 BC AR Half Shekel 19 mm 2.9g Male head r Triptolemos wreath grain -Horse leaping r Punic Ḥ SNG COP 378



SICILY Kentoripai Æ Hexas 16mm 3.0g 344-336 BCE Persephone r grain ear plow w bird two pellets Calciati III BMC Sicily 12ff



RI Augustus 27BC-AD14 Æ20 5.5g 12h Apameia Phrygia Magistrate Attalos c 15BC Two corn-ears above maeander pattern RPC I, 3125 SCARCE

 

Agrippa I (37-44 AD). AE Prutot. Jerusalem mint. "Of King Agrippa" in Greek around umbrella-like canopy with fringes. / Three ears of barley and leaves, with date (year 6 of his reign, 41/2 AD) flanking.

 

Augustus; 27 BC - 14 AD. Cistophoric tetradrachm (Silver, 11.85 gm, 12h), Ephesos, c. 25 BC. Obv: IMP CAESAR. Bare head of Augustus to right. Rev. AVGVSTVS Bunch of six ears of grain, tied together. RIC 478. RPC 2214. Sutherland 186.

 

Thank you for the informative write-up, @kevin McGonigal. Here's my only ancient coin that is related to the overall subject of this thread.

Antoninus Pius
AR Denarius
144 A.D.
Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III; laureate head right.
Reverse: ANNONA AVG; Modius with four-grain ears and a poppy.
RIC III 62a

Regardless, here's a more recent and lesser-known depiction of grain on a silver threepence from Australia.

 

Only a Poor Old Man is correct there something about the coins of Metapontion (Different spelling Metapontum) that it the epitome of "bread money" From the beginning of their coinage to the end sometime during the Second Punic War the grain ear was the predominate symbol on the coins minted at that city. Furthermore the history of this coinage is a long one and unlike so many Greek cities does have some variety especially in the treatment of the obverse deities. Even though my collection of Greek coins is rather small I have something like 8 coins from this mint.
Metapontion Ar Nomos 540-510 BC Obv. Ear of barley with rows of eight grains. Rv. The same incuse. Noe 19 HGC 1027 8.20 grms 28 mm Photo by W. Hansen This coin fall in with some of the first coins produced from this mint. It also follows in the rather unusual "spread flan" format that was popular at the time among the city states of south Italy. There are a number of theories as to why this may have happened, however it is likely that the citizens of south Italy wished to produce a very impressive looking silver coinage which would make them readily acceptable. However they soon tired of this. One reason was that these coins would be somewhat time consuming (thus expensive) to produce. The other might be phycological. As the weight of these coins are spread out over a larger area they feel "lighter" when placed in the hand.

 

Athens New Style Tetradrachm c155/4 BC
Obs : Athena Parthenos right in tri-form helmet
33mm 17.2gm Thompson issue 10
Thompson catalogue: Obs 50 : Rev: (not in plates)/ NEW?
Rev : ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
2 Complex magistrates monograms in both fields
LF symbol: Ear of Grain
All surrounded by olive wreath

 

I really like that plow coin. I had not thought of that as a connection to the grain. Too bad they did not yet have a combine harvester for the end of the growing season.

 

This one had completely escaped my mind when thinking of grain on coins.

 

Now I hope you don't think something from 1943 is all that ancient as that was the year I was born. By the way, any chance you are from the Land down Under? If so does Australian English use "corn" for any kind of grain as in the UK or does it, like in North America mean maize, Indian corn?