Roman Agricultural Failure

In order to understand the causes behind the agricultural collapse of ancient Rome, the local environmental implications of ancient Gaul will be investigated. The province of Gaul was a major source agricultural goods and thus a large contributor of agrarian tax revenue for the central government. The agricultural failures in Gaul can be attributed to the exploitation of natural resources to fill the needs of society. The Romans exhibited a clear lack of understanding and appreciation for the natural world and sought to conquer it as they frequently did with foreign enemies. This practice of unreserved dominion over nature is one of the primary causes of the Roman agricultural collapse. The native crops of Gaul exhibited diversity and resilience

to environmental change following the premise of natural evolution, however “in many areas the Romans replaced native production systems with nonresilient, inflexible, cash cropping that was linked hierarchically to urban markets and the needs of the state” (66). Unsustainable cash cropping in Gaul is an example of the clash between hierarchy and heterarchy when considering the environmental impact of resource use. A heterarchical agrarian system promotes local crop specialization which increases the resilience of agricultural products. The Romans chose to implement a hierarchical system which legislated crop production over the entire empire without taking local conditions into account. Due to climate and landscape variation within the Roman Empire, the hierarchical system remained sensitive to changes in local conditions, and therefore lacked the robustness of a heterarchical system. (68-69).
Unlike previous civilizations, the Romans developed an unprecedented relationship with nature in which nature was no longer “being revered but being commodified, traded, and sold: and that its possession was seen as a means to wealth and capital accumulation” (Williams, 100-101). As previously discussed, the Roman political system was designed to benefit the upper class and in the process nature was minimized to a means by which landowners could improve their financial status. The ancient Roman politician Cicero highlights the commodification of nature in his work De Natura Deorum stating “We enjoy the fruits of the plains and the mountains, the rivers and the lakes are ours, we sow corn, we plant trees, we fertilize the soil by irrigation, we confine rivers and straighten or divert their courses. In fine, by means of our hands we essay to create as it were a second world within the world of nature” (101). This passage reflects the Roman belief that humans are no longer a part of nature, but rather seek to hold dominion over the natural world.
Examples of this dominion over nature include the role of the classiarii, a support unit in the Roman military responsible for clearing forests prior to engagement in war. Conquests into new territory prompted deforestation on a scale that converted dense forests into barren landscapes for battle. Another example of the shifting relationship with nature in Roman times is the commissioning of a fighting class known as Bestiarii, whose sole occupation was the hunting of wild animals to protect urban areas. Romans no longer sought to coexist with the natural world, but identified it as an enemy similar to the foreign armies defeated in conquest. Military campaigns devastated farmlands and the agrarian system as a whole. Most of the taxes used to fund the military originated from farmers, who often times had crops requisitioned to feed soldiers. Farmers in foreign territories were often slaughtered before their crops and building were destroyed by the Roman army. Roman generals also deliberately employed environmental warfare including the destruction of an enemies food supply to achieve victory in war. Although military conquests acquired newfound land to the Roman Empire, the destruction of war often left conquered lands barren.
The development of new technology by Romans played a significant role in the ability of humankind to exploit natural resources on an unprecedented scale. The development of the Roman Mechanicus provided engineered solutions by which nature could be further exploited and controlled to fill the needs of society. Tertullian, a Roman priest in the province of Africa noted the implications of engineering on the natural world stating:
All places are now accessible, all are well known, all open to commerce; most pleasant farms have obliterated all traces of what was once dreary and dangerous wastes; cultivated fields have subdued forests; flocks and herds have expelled wild beasts; sandy deserts are sown; rocks are planted; marshes are drained; and where once was hardly solitary cottages, there are now large cities. (101)
This primary account identifies a critical shift in the development of the Roman Empire by which humankind achieved nearly complete dominion over nature.

Although expansion of the Roman Empire allowed the civilization to reach new heights, scholars including Vladimir Simkhovitch suggest that exploitation of natural resources were a primary cause of the collapse of civilization. Deforestation by the Roman army led to soil erosion, depleting once fruitful farms and the forced extinction of animal species caused instability in the environment. The elimination of apex predators allowed rodent species to flourish which prompted the spread of disease and devouring of crops (Hughes, An Environmental History of the World

74).
Industrial development also played a significant role in the decline of environmental conditions during the Roman Empire. Mining and smelting activities also increased during Roman expansion leading to pollution of groundwater and air. Recent studies indicate an increase in lead pollutants in the air during Roman times which were likely caused by unregulated industrial development. Although the aqueducts efficiently provided water to urban centers, waste was discharged into the main drain system known as the Cloaca Maxima. Ancient Romans lacked modern water treatment facilities and as such waste was disposed of in the Tiber River, leading to contamination of drinking water downstream and accumulation of waste when the river flooded. These unsanitary practices undoubtedly contributed to the outbreak of the plague during the rule of Marcus Aurelius during the second century, which has been noted by scholars as a potentially significant cause of Rome’s collapse (74-75).
Although the fall of the Roman Empire was surely a result of multiple causes, the collapse of the unsustainable agrarian system remains a significant factor in the decline of Roman civilization.

The socioeconomic structure within Roman society encouraged resource exhaustion by allowing landowners to exploit slave labor. The large slave workforce provided a means by which landowners could maximize profits without concern for the effects of development on the natural world. Slaves also were unable to build a connection with the land on which they worked due to required obedience and the transient nature of the slave system. Population growth during the Pax Romana also contributed to the agrarian collapse by forcing unsustainable agricultural expansion. Military conquests left entire forests barren and exhausted resource surpluses as the Roman Empire expanded beyond sustainable bounds. Lack of a heterarchical crop system left many agrarian regions vulnerable to poor yields which contributed to resource scarcity leading into the third century. The underlying cause of the agrarian collapse within ancient Rome was unsustainable expansion driven by the ideal that Romans are not part of nature, but rather superior rulers of the natural world. Although the modern agricultural system maintains distinctive differences from that of ancient Rome, the fall of Roman civilization should serve as a historical reminder of the potential consequences of unsustainable

development.