Pastoralism

The role of livestock in Greek farming regimes has been much debated (Skydsgaard 1988; Hodkinson 1988;Forbes 1995). Certainly it is clear that the keeping of animals was closely integrated with other agricultural activities, and as noted above, animals exploited resources which humans could not otherwise use directly, such as plant growth on fallow and uncultivated land and agricultural by-products. The evidence is scanty for specialized transhumance, that is the movement of flocks seasonally from one environmental and/or climatic zone to another, and some scholars (Hodkinson 1988: 51-8) thus think that it was not widely practised. Certainly the kinds of longdistance transhumance routes found in later periods in some parts of the Mediterranean world seem inherently unlikely given the territoriality of classical Greek poleis, and the relatively constrained sizes of their territories (Hodkinson 1988: 53). In areas where borders were relatively clear-cut shepherds would have been unlikely to graze animals or walk them through land that was not deemed to be part of their own polis. On the other hand, there are indications that the movement of flocks over short distances from winter lowland grazing to upland summer grazing was regularly practised, as suggested in the discussion of the Vari House (see above). From the Temple of Athena Alea, located in the mountains of the central Peloponnese near Tegea, an early fourth-century inscription (IG 5 2) lays out the regulations for grazing livestock on both the land owned by the sanctuary and land within the sacred precinct. Certain officials of the temple are allowed grazing rights for restricted numbers of animals. However, there also seems to be provision for people who are not citizens of Tegea to stop overnight at the sanctuary with their flocks while moving animals from one area to another. This could imply that the sanctuary was located on a well-established transhumance route in the broken upland landscapes of Arkadia.

In [the sanctuary of Athena] Alea there is to be no grazing [of animals] by either foreigners or citizens unless they are coming for a feast, but for foreigners leading down [flocks?] it is permitted to graze the animals for a day and a night, and if they should graze for longer they will owe a drachma per sheep for each day more, and their right of grazing will be revoked. (IG 5 2.11-15)

Similarly in Sophokles’ tragedy Oidipous the King, the secret of Oidipous’ (Oedipus) adoption is revealed by an old shepherd who explains how he met a fellow shepherd from the territory of an adjoining city when both were grazing their sheep (presumably in summer) up in the mountains in the no-man’s-land between the two poleis (Sophokles Oedipus Tyrannus 1026-50; 1121-40).

I am sure he knows well of the time we dwelled in the region of Kithairon for six month periods, from spring to Arktouros he with two flocks, and I, his comrade, with one. And then for the winter I used to drive my flock to my own fold, and he took his to the fold of Laios. Did any of this happen as I tell it, or did it not? (Sophokles Oedipus Tyrannus 1134-40)

The animals most commonly kept were sheep and goats, well adapted as they are to the rugged landscapes and the harsh, dry conditions. Flocks were probably relatively small—generally 50 animals or fewer—because of high mortality rates from disease and parasites in the absence of modern veterinary medicine. They were versatile and were exploited for wool, milk and meat, though it is clear that a number of specific breeds were recognized. Contrary to popular belief, goats are much fussier eaters than sheep, but both can survive on rough Mediterranean grazing when desperate in the dearth of midsummer, even consuming desiccated, prickly thistles. Nonetheless, they must have considerable amounts of water to survive.

Cattle were important as traction and transport animals, but are more difficult to maintain in the drier parts of the Mediterranean as they need good-quality grazing and/or browsing as well as very large amounts of water, far greater than the quantities needed by sheep and goats. Beef was a luxury as only small numbers of cattle were kept, except in localities where appropriate resources were available, such as marsh lands. Pigs were useful in areas of upland forests, as they could be left to forage for acorns, beech mast, arbutus and cornel fruits and a wide range of other foods. Sows and piglets could be kept in pens, but boars may have been too wild and dangerous to keep as domestic animals. Chickens arrived in Greece from the Near East in the eighth century and were ubiquitous by classical times.