Bread and Circuses
Yesterday, a story on Marketplace made reference top the famous “bread and circuses” quote about controlling the ancient Roman crowds as an analogy to the cash Middle Eastern despots are busily dolling out to try and calm their own discontented populaces. Never missing a chance to comment on ancient Roman politics – especially when it’s in the news – it made me think many people will get the circuses references, but maybe not the whole depth of the bread one.
Grain in the Republic was a huge political issue because Rome could not feed itself from the surrounding countryside, so wheat had to be imported from all over – including especially Campania, Africa (the Roman Province), Sicily and Egypt. Custody of the state’s grain supply was a top political job and at various times, subsidized or even free doles of grain were given to citizens as a way to exert political power over the masses. Especially notable for this were the Gracchi and the great Publius Clodius. The other upshot of this was that you tended to want a really reliable person as governor of Sicily, since it was not only a major producer of grain for the city, but also the main staging point for the grain fleets out of Africa and Egypt. During the political turmoil of the late Republic, this was a frequent concern. Finally, it is worth noting that greater security over the grain supply was a major geopolitical justification for the annexing of Egypt.
