In ancient Greek the word chora meant a piece of land of any size from the entire territory of a polis to a tiny field. Today and in the recent past, the agrarian landscapes of Greece and many other parts of the Mediterranean have been characterized by fields in small areas of plains land combined with a patchwork of terraces on the hill slopes (Figure 13.11). It is not clear, however, that the fields of classical Greece were farmed in the same way. Although several scholars claim to have discovered terraces dating to the classical period (Lohmann 1992), the chronological evidence for these is dubious. Indeed, it is not certain, except in very unusual circumstances, that an agricultural terrace from classical times would easily survive to the present day. Terraces are continuously built and re-built, even in more recent periods. These are landscapes which have been repeatedly re-sculpted by a combination of the people who worked the fields and natural forces such as tectonic activity, forest fires, floods, wind, erosion and alluviation. Among the few descriptions that we have in ancient literature and inscriptions of ancient fields, there are no unambiguous references to
Terraces or terrace walls (Foxhall 1996). In contrast, there are numerous references to other techniques for soil management on steep slopes.
The main purposes of terracing are not only to get rid of the rocks, but also to hold soil in place, to create a level area for cultivation and to slow run-off from the winter rains. Many of these aims can be achieved by other means. In the absence of terraces, many hill slopes were planted with all kinds of fruit trees and vines (Theophrastos De Causis Plantarum 3.6.7). The trees themselves helped to hold the soil in place. Wealthy farmers who had slave labour available were able to dig trenches around trees, shaped like basins sloping in towards the trunk, which caught precious rainwater and kept it where it would most benefit the tree. In areas where drainage was a problem in winter, these basins around trees could be connected by ditches dug across the slope (Theophrastos De Causis Plantarum 3.6.3-4). Repeated digging around trees also removed weeds which would compete for moisture and nutrients, and kept the top layer of soil dry and crumbly, thus reducing the loss of water from lower soil levels via capillary action and evaporation. Theophrastos, writing about plants in the fourth century, was clearly familiar with this practice and recommended a regime of regular digging around trees three times throughout the year (Theophrastos De Causis Plantarum 3.12.2; 3.16.2, 3). Indeed, repeated ploughing and digging were considered the best way to work land for arable crops as well as for trees, though this would have needed much labour, possibly more than a poorer household could manage on its own without the help of slave labour.
Cultivation consists of ploughing in both seasons, both in summer and in winter, so that the soil may be exposed to winter and to the sun, a point we also made in treating the planting of trees. For by being turned up often the soil becomes open textured, light and free of woody plants, so that it can easily bring up the crop.... Snow is considered excellent for fields ploughed in winter, and hoar frost no less, for they say it eats through the ground and gives it an open texture. Again when farmers after the first ploughing plough again in spring they turn the earth to destroy the weeds that come up, and then plough in summer and plough lightly once more just before sowing, with the idea, as we said, that one must work the land before sowing and make this one’s chief task. This is why the authorities prefer working the land with a mattock, and consider that working it with the plough misses much. (Theophrastos De Causis Plantarum 3.20.7-8)
It is therefore probable that such ideal regimes of cultivation reflect the practices of the rich and that less well-off farmers did not follow them closely, even though they may have aspired to them. Greek farmers were adept at managing to make the most of a wide range of soil types and conditions.
The tools of ancient farming were basic, as the passage of Theophrastos quoted above shows. Simple ard ploughs, appropriate for the shallow soils of the Mediterranean region, mattocks for digging (they did not have spades or shovels), sickles, axes and adzes, pruning knives, winnowing forks and baskets, and sometimes basic threshing sledges comprise virtually the entire repertoire (Figure 13.12). Very little metal was used in their manufacture, and even implements such as ploughs might be almost entirely made of wood. Though sickles were sometimes made of metal, the teeth could also be triangular flakes of obsidian (volcanic glass) set in a wooden haft—even stone tools still had their place (Figure 13.13). Transport and other motive power was supplied by cattle, donkeys and mules. Much of the agricultural machinery of
Classical times, such as wine and oil presses, was simple and modular—assembled for the job in hand then taken apart so that the components could be used for other tasks (Figure 13.6c).
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