Ancient treaties on agriculture

The Scriptores rei rusticae or Geoponici (Latinized form of the Greek Γεωπονικοι) is a term which gathers the authors Greek or Roman on the breeding and the Agriculture. The geoponic are compilations of works on this same subject.

Greeks

The Greeks considered, during the traditional time, work on these subjects as a branch of the economic scenes as in the works of Aristote and Théophraste. In the same way the Oeconomicus and Memorabilia (ii.4) of Xénophon contain moreover a praise of agriculture and its moral beneficial effects. The treated on agriculture (Περι Γεωργιας) of Démocrite d' Abdère has him much quoted and used in compilations former. Later, Cassius Dionysius translated and simplifies the great work of Magon the Carthaginian, which is condensed even more by Diophane de Nicée for the use of King Deiotarus of Bithynie. Hiéron II and Attale III Philométor are also quoted by the Roman compilers.

More an great attention on the subject was given in the period Alexandrine. The Roman Authors then were considered little by the Greeks.

Romans

The Roman , to profit as well as possible from the resources that got their lately acquired colonies to them, very early sought to optimize their agriculture by adopting more productive techniques. Decimus Silanus on the order of the Roman senate translates Mago. Caton Old the writes its agri will cultura in easily comprehensible Latin and by avoiding the theory, for the landowners. It was followed from both Sasernae (father and wire), and of Gnaeus Tremellius Scrofa, whose work is lost. Varron still student produces his Rerum rusticarum libri very treated agriculture, of breeding and pisciculture. It is the first to establish a systematic compilation and it also added there the practical experiment acquired during its voyages. Compilations are called Géoponiques. Virgile produces its poem Géorgiques .

During the century of Auguste, Julius Hyginus writes on the Maraichage and the Apiculture, Sabinus Tiron on the Horticulture, then at the beginning of the empire Julius Graecinus and Julius Atticus write on the culture of the Vigne S, and Aulus Cornelius Celsus on the Affermage ( De Medicina ). Work more succeeds is that of Columelle with its De Arboribus and De Agricultura which was translated into Greek. It is paradoxical to note that work of Columelles influancé much less the Italy than the province of Gaulle or of Hispanie or the agricultural instruction was the principal instruction which the notable buildings received. The work of Columelle produced a kind of school handbook popular. At the 3rd century, Quintus Gargilius Martialis of Maurétanie compiled a work in which medical botany and the veterinary art were included. Most of this work is preserved. The Opus Agriculturae of Palladius at the 4th century, in fourteen books, mainly derived from Columelle, is rearranged in a calendar way in order to facilitate the work of the farmers. The fourteenth delivers treating sylviculture is written in the form of poem. The totality of the work of Palladius is known.

Byzantine

Cassianus Bassus compiled its Géoponiques at the 7th century based on the work of the 4th century of Vindonius Anatolius. Michel Psellos also produces (Περι Γεωργικων). The Géoponiques last are a collection of twenty books of agricultural knowledge, compiled towards 950 for the emperor Constantin VII Porphyrogénète. The final sources include elements of Pline Old the, various Greek authors or Romans lost, on Magon or even of the work allotted to treating Zoroastre on subjects of the Omen, the Agriculture, the Agronomie, art Vétérinaire, the vermin, the Apiculture, the Oléiculture, the Viticulture, the Pisciculture, the techniques of salting… The quotations and attributions are not very precise and not very sour. The manuscript remains obscure by place. The translations in Syriaque, Pahlavi, Arab and Armenian testifies to its popularity and its diffusion but also complicate its comprehension.

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