Farming in Ancient Greece

If you look at the comments on the last blog Jessica asked, “How was farming in ancient Greece different from the farming in other river valley civilizations?”

This is a great question. The actual farming was not much different. They would have used irrigation, tilled the fields with bronze and later iron plows, planted the seeds and cared for the crops until harvest time. The difference lay in the soil. Due to the climate and rocky soil of Greece the farmers could not produce the same amount of foods that could be produced in the more fertile river valleys of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Harrapa, and the Huang He. Even with the same tools, technology, and knowledge the ground simply did not have enough nutrients to grow an equal amount of food.

The climate and soil did allow them to grow two very important crops. Those were Grapes and Olives. Grapes were important to make wine. Wine was a common drink in the ancient world but not for the same reason it is today. Back then people got their drinking water from the same place they threw their trash and sewage, where they bathed, and sometimes where they disposed of their dead. Needless to say the water was not exactly clean. By making wine the water was disinfected by the alcohol that was produced when the grapes fermented. The wine was not as strong as it was today, and was drunk as a source for liquids that did not contain bacteria that could make them sick. Olives were also grown and were an important crop because they could travel a long way without going bad, and could produce valuable oil called olive oil, which has had many uses throughout history. These crops were then traded for the foods that they could not produce, especially wheat, which you know from studying Egypt, is the cornerstone food on which civilization began.

So in reality the farming was not any different, but the soil that they had was. As a result the farmers of Greece had to find different foods to farm, especially ones that could be transported across the sea without going bad and could help drive their main economy of trade. Another solution was to set up colonies all around the Mediterranean Sea to give them access to areas that were more sutable to the crops or materials they needed. This way the Greeks were able to get things that were not available in Greece but did not have to trade with non Greeks, keeping the price down.

I hope this clears everything up for you. Keep the questions coming!