Agricultural Development in the Homeric Era

摘要

In this work, the Homeric references to plants and their way of cultivation in the Iliad and the Odyssey are briefly presented. The plant species are described, as appear in a table, and are similar to those cultivated nowadays. However the analysis of references concerning the plant species zia (ζεlα) and olyra (oλvρα) indicate that translations given to day do not correspond to the real meaning. The two paragraphs referred to these plants indicate undoubtedly that are not species of barley, as usually translated by the scholars. The probability that they were species of the genus Sorgum is the most significant, as this genus is indigenous in Greece since antiquity and still exists under several names. From the above mentioned we could draw the conclusion that the agricultural practicing in the Homeric period is similar to that existing during two or three millennia before. It is described as typically specialized and intensive Mediterranean multi-cultivation, due to the natural adaptation of cultivated plants to the particular Greek peninsula environment. Other scholars however, consider that little evidence survived concerning specificity of cultivations in the areas described in Homeric poems which by no means shows cultivation intensity. In spite of academic disagreements the model of this agricultural development which was applied for almost five millennia - from at least the Late Neolithic to our days - is the one that contributed to the establishment of the Greek civilization and its dramatic evolution.