Greek Agriculture Work

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In this essay, it will be demonstrated how important agriculture work was to those in Ancient Greece. Agriculture work in Olive production will be a focus in one part of this essay. The other part will focus on the importance of different techniques that the agriculture work plays within Ancient Greek society. This will include the connection between war and certain production of foods or lack there of. Agriculture work mainly consisted of growing certain plants such as grains, grapes, and olives, whereas the process of animals being involved was less common. Olive oil was a common food item used throughout Ancient Greece, this will be elaborated on more later. Much of the society in Ancient Greece relied on farming and agriculture work, “possibly …show more content…

The establishment of field camps would be the number one priority before any attack of crops would take place. The military would build these camps and make sure they were fortified before they would ever do any type of attack. It would be their base of operations allowing for a relatively safe place for those men who attacked the crops to stay or retreat to in case of emergencies. The tools used during invasions could play a role in what each type of army personnel could destroy. For example, hoplites would most likely destroy the grain crops just by walking over the enemy territory, whereas those unarmed men would likely have some smaller types of weaponry that could have been used to destroy fruit trees and vines. These tools could consist of axes, hatchets, hoes, shovels, scythes, sickles, and others that could easily be hidden. The other consideration to take into account, is the timing of when these attacks would take place. Much of the crops relied on specific seasons to grow. It could be suspected that certain times would be more likely to have attacks because more food would be able to grow. Typically, they would target the crops right around harvest times because the plants were most vulnerable, specifically, grains such as wheat because it was dry. They would burn such crops destroying any possibility for harvest. This would contribute to financial difficulties too, …show more content…

It could be used across these varying fields, which makes it an extremely important product that could be sold to support the farmers and their families. The downside to cultivating olive crops was the issue of them being inconsistent. Olive crops either failed or they were destroyed, which meant the farmers often needed large amounts of the trees to have enough oil for their families or to trade. Olive oil during different times, in Ancient Greece, either cost more or was more difficult to produce. This was due to the weather and equipment available during different times. Olive oil was more commonly used in wealthy families, as they could afford the cost of the pressing of the olives. The people who lived in rural Greece, and the poorer of those in the towns and villages, often had diets that were based around cereal and as wealth increased so did the amount of oils in the diets. Although, olive oil was used in rural homes, it was more common in the wealthy, especially, for their guests. Olive oil would be used in the food and for use as a hygienic. The idea, being for the wealthy, that the olive oil added flavour to their food, thus distinguishing it from peasants’ food. Olive oil was used in the cleansing of a person, particularly after a visit at the gymnasium. The gymnasium was used by men and boys as part of their

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