The Big Role Of Farming In Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, farming was a big role because Rome was a large population and it needed a large food supply. In Roman times, if you lived in the country, you were a farmer. Most people in the Roman world were farmers. Some who worked on the farm were slaves but most were free. They grew wheat, barley, olives, grapes, apples, onions, and celery. Rosemary was grown and used very widely in medicine. They used a lot of different tools on the farm. One of them was a reaping hook. It was a short handled tool so you would be bent over all day which could have hurt your back. Another one was a sheep shear. Sheep shears were iron tools used to shear sheep, they were used ever since roman times. Romans used mostly slaves to work on the farm. They used slaves because they provided cheap labor.

Olives were squeezed in special presses for oli. The presses were designed not to crush the seeds which would give the oil a sour taste. Olive oil was used for cooking and also used as fuel for the lamps. Grapes were pressed either by treading on them or with a screw press to be made into wine. Winemaking was another big part of the Roman agriculture.

In ancient Greece farming was difficult due to the limited amount of soil and crop land. The crop land was so small that it was estimated that only twenty percent of the land was useable for growing crops. The main crops were barley, grapes and olives. Grain crops such as barley and wheat were planted in October and harvested in April or May. Barley was the main crop for ancient Greek farmers. They mad barley into porridge or ground it into flour to make