PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

In early Roman times the land was owned by the
State and by private owners. The land had been
surveyed and divided up into small farms and large
estates owned by wealthy landowners. The small
farms were worked by the farmer and his sons, for
women didn’t usually work in the fields.
After the wars against Carthage ended around 200
BC, Rome regained control of Italy, but many farmers
serving in the Roman army had died in battle and
their farms had been destroyed. When the State sold
the land only the rich could afford the price and the
labour required to repair the damage, so huge
farming estates with large villas developed over the
years. These estates were worked by slaves and though
some estate owners looked after their workers, most
slaves worked very long hours in all weather
conditions. Some were eventually set free when they
were too old to work.
Activity Box
1. Who didn’t work in the fields on farms?
2. Which two activities did Cato say gave farmers
most profit?
3. Which animals were used to make milk and
cheese?
Farming
Most Romans made their living through agriculture,
and Marcus Cato, a famous soldier-politician,
remarked that the most profitable farming was
growing vines for wines and olives for olive oil.
Raising sheep and cattle and growing grain were
other important farm activities. Sheep were bred
mainly for wool and around the Mediterranean were
used to produce milk and cheese.
The farmers irrigated their land and fertilised it with
animal manure. They kept cattle, sheep, goats and
pigs and noticed that the soil was more fertile where
animals grazed on the land. Crops like wheat, barley,
beans, turnips and cabbage were rotated, with some
fields also left fallow to recover. A wide range of
vegetables was grown throughout the Empire, along
with fruit like peaches, plums, grapes and cherries
and nuts, which included almonds, walnuts,
hazelnuts and chestnuts.
4. How did farmers enrich their land?
5. How would you have treated your slaves had
you been a rich landowner?
6. Colour in the picture of slave farm workers in the vineyard of a rich man’s estate with the villa
in the background.
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