Notes on Ancient Disasters: Famine, Plague, Volcanic Activity, and Related Topics

Overview: course reorganization and context

• Instructor notes a reorganization of the course structure: famine, cornucopia, plague, and volcano are the focus, with earthquakes moved to another lecture and later final exam coverage.
• Volcano focus: Vesuvius is discussed; the instructor wears a Vesuvius t‑shirt; new material added this year; smoke over Vesuvius observed in the current recording.
• Vesuvius status: last eruption in $1944$; pressure buildup signals unrest.
• Interrelated disasters: famine, plague, volcanoes, earthquakes, climate change, tsunamis, and sea level rise are interrelated rather than isolated topics.
• The lecture’s structure moves through famine first, then broader climate and disaster interactions, with historical case studies and archaeological evidence.

Famine as a starting point: historical evidence and pattern

• Timeline context: in the late 13th–14th centuries, Europe experiences cascading crises including papal relocation, banking crises, famine, and plague.
• Papal/political backdrop:
  • In $1309$, Pope Clement V flees to Avignon (Babylonian Captivity reference in Catholic history).
  • Bank failures occur in $1343–1346$, triggering riots, public distrust of political, religious, and banking systems, and contributing to broader social instability.
• Famine onset in the Italian context:
  • In $1347$, famine hits (illustrated with Florence as a representative case).
  • Bank failures contribute to foreclosure on farms; farmers lack seed and capital; landowners struggle to sustain crops.
• The plague follows famine:
  • The Black Death peaks in $1348$, but plague years continue beyond that date: $1363, 1374, 1383, 1389, 1400$, etc., often in periods of political disunity.
  • Social responses to famine and plague include extreme actions by elites (e.g., a knight roasted on a spit for greed; the knight’s family forced to eat him). Periods of famine and drought often coincide with political and religious upheaval (three competing popes between 1410–1414).
• Key takeaway: famine, plague, and political-religious fragmentation tend to cluster; not easily separable.

The evidence base for famine: pattern, sources, and interpretation

• Long historical record of famine evidence:
  • Over a $900$-year period, there are $244$ floods, $68$ instances of high precipitation, $47$ droughts, $8$ heat events, and $40$ cold winters.
  • This translates to roughly $499$ years out of $500$ where some adverse weather phenomenon affected agricultural productivity; overall, famine-like stress appears at a relatively high frequency over long timescales.
• Implications for famine frequency:
  • On average, there is roughly one famine episode per decade, across long horizons.
• Limitations of historical records:
  • Many famine events are only well documented when they touch religion or major social institutions; otherwise, records are scarce.
  • Core evidence (cunei or clay tablets) and other non-literary sources help fill gaps where historical texts are silent.
• The role of cores and non-text evidence:
  • Cores (clay tablets with impressions) provide independent evidence of famine periods, sometimes including signatures that indicate famine-era events.
  • Tree-ring data (dendrochronology) can corroborate famine years and drought episodes; famine-slavery tablets can be dated and linked to drought years via tree-ring chronologies.
• Takeaway: a multi-source approach (textual, archaeological, and environmental) is essential to reconstruct famine dynamics.

The Neolithic transition, Bronze Age, and the famine paradox

• Neolithic transition (End of Mesolithic / Beginning of Neolithic, around $+3{,}000 ext{ BCE}$):
  • Major innovations: settled agriculture, permanent dwellings, and village life.
  • Early starvation signals: skull and skeletal evidence show shorter stature, lighter builds, reduced cranial measurements, and higher incidence of famine at the outset of settled agriculture, contrary to the assumption that agriculture immediately boosts food supply.
• Bronze Age transition (roughly $3{,}000 ext{ BCE}$ onward):
  • Invention of the wheel and domestication of the horse accompany easier transport and greater agricultural reach, yet early Bronze Age periods show increased famine and death by starvation.
  • The Yamnaya culture emerges as a key migratory group: spread into eastern regions (northern India, Pakistan, Tibet, western China) aided by dairy production (milk, yogurt, cheese).
  • Lactase persistence vs. lactose intolerance: the Yamnaya had a genetic advantage enabling milk consumption, giving them energy; neighboring eastern populations often lactose intolerant, which created a comparative disadvantage despite Yamnaya mobility.
  • Evidence basis: skeletal calcium content (bone density and teeth) supports milk consumption advantages; bone structure benefits observed in Yamnaya compared to lactose-intolerant neighbors support a selective edge.
  • Beaker culture parallels: similar considerations about dairy and mobility are noted in Beaker-associated populations.
• Takeaway: technology and age-wide innovations initially coexisted with famine; genetic and cultural adaptations played a crucial role in later success and expansion.

Slavery in the ancient world: types, dynamics, and famine connections

• Slavery is more complex than often assumed; three main types are distinguished:
  • Chattel slavery: the enslaved person is treated as property; saleable, with family separation, potential mistreatment, and the possibility of lifelong enslavement. Commonly acquired through capture in war or piracy; children of enslaved mothers inherit status.
  • Debt slavery: slavery tied to debt with the possibility of release after debt payment or time-based terms; often not permanent; in many cases, the enslaved person could live at home and continue some family duties while paying off the debt. Debtors may transfer the debt to another family member (e.g., wife, daughter, son) to satisfy the obligation.
  • Famine slavery (famine debtedness): enslaved individuals are not sold; they work to repay famine-related debt; sometimes forced to feed or support dependents; often the enslaved do not lose citizenship and may be freed when the debt is repaid or famine ends.
• Significance of each type for interpretation of sources:
  • Documents such as debt contracts (e.g., Nexum in Rome) and chattel-slave references help date events and reveal social conditions.
  • Tablets from Hittite law and Babylonian tablets sometimes use footprints as signatures, underscoring illiteracy and the practical realities of famine-era contracts.
  • Famine-era contracts can be dated by signatures or tablets and correlated with tree-ring data to identify drought years.
• Economic aspects of famine slavery:
  • Interest rates in famine slavery were typically simple and relatively low (e.g., around $11 ext{–}14 ext{ percent}$) with little to no compounding; this reflects a different economic structure than ordinary lending.
  • The practice of famine slavery often involved a temporary, survival-based form of servitude rather than permanent bondage.
• Religious and social dimensions:
  • Some religiously inspired practices (e.g., certain ISIS-related pledges) result in voluntary or ritualized forms of servitude, illustrating the social acceptability and complexity of slavery in ancient contexts.
• Practical implication for archaeological interpretation:
  • The presence of a famine-era debt or chattel contract helps date a famine and situates it within the broader economic and social framework of a city or region.
• Summary insight: famine and slavery are deeply intertwined in many ancient contexts; different forms of servitude reflect varying mechanisms of coping with food shortages and societal stress.

Egypt, Greece, and the religious–political response to famine

• Drought relief and religious legitimation:
  • An example from Egypt: Imhotep, the famed architect of the pyramids, is invoked as an agent of drought relief when the temple of Canum at Aswan helps end a seven-year drought; the temple is endowed, and prayers shift from the god of denial (Happy) to Canum, the god of the Nile’s source.
  • The inscription is hieroglyphic, read top-to-bottom and right-to-left; it emphasizes the temple’s efficacy in averting famine and asserts that without Canum’s aid, famine would have continued.
• Greek colonial and mythic ties to famine:
  • The founding of the first Greek colony in Egypt is linked to drought relief and to a mythic narrative connecting Hercules with the ending of human sacrifice in Greek culture.
  • Delphi oracle: a Nubian pharaoh seeks Delphi’s prophecy during famine; the prophecy promises relief in exchange for annual sacrifices of a foreigner. Hercules’ intervention interrupts the cycle by killing Bucyrus’ attendants and Bucyrus, breaking the curse and ending human sacrifice as a practice in Greek tradition.
  • Cannibalism and famine narratives appear in the broader mythic and historical record as responses to severe food shortages.
• Athens and famine policy:
  • Pericles revamps citizenship law, requiring both parents to be Athenian; this change is interpreted as a famine-era measure to reduce the burden of allocating free grain to citizens during shortages, highlighting the political use of famine management.
  • The law’s motivation is to reduce the number of households eligible for free grain distribution during repeated grain crises in the early to mid-5th century BCE; this has implications for the Peloponnesian War and broader demographic and political changes.
• Great famine in Classical Greece and inscriptions:
  • A multi-year drought around the death of Alexander the Great creates widespread crop failures across Olympia, Athens, Crete, and other city-states; the inscriptions enumerate the years and cities affected, recording the scale of the grain shortage.
  • Inscribed on stelae (e.g., grain distribution tallies in Cyrene) and in other inscriptions, the record demonstrates how cities managed famine through grain distribution and public relief.
• Language and dating challenges:
  • Dates are given in various formats (e.g., “03/1926” or year ranges) that may require historical-context interpretation; inscriptions often reference specific months and ritual cycles (e.g., the new year beginning at spring).
• Political and military consequences:
  • Famine undermines military strength, reduces recruitment, and leaves populations vulnerable to external threats (e.g., Hun incursions), illustrating how famine has direct implications for defense and state power.
• Religious leaders and famine discourse:
  • Ambrose and Libanius (late antiquity) discuss famine in religious terms; some of their statements may serve as theological or rhetorical truths rather than precise historical facts; their speeches are used to illustrate how famine narratives intersect with religious rhetoric.
  • The Great European famine narrative later connects with the broader climatic downturn of the Little Ice Age, indicating long-term climatic drivers across Europe.

Notable famine episodes and their broader implications

• Parallel and contemporaneous famines:
  • The European famine during the Little Ice Age is used to illustrate a broader climatic downturn that impacts agriculture and food security across centuries.
  • The Napoleonic Wars devastate agricultural land and animal populations; after the wars, famine still claims more lives than the wars themselves due to reduced agricultural capacity and supply constraints.
• The Irish famine as a modern analogue:
  • The course reading that focuses on the Irish famine highlights two key problems: monoculture dependency on potatoes (potato blight) and flawed social and landholding structures that amplified suffering.
  • The instructor invites comparisons between ancient famines and the Irish famine, suggesting a potential course essay topic that examines structural vs. climatic drivers of famine across ages.
• Takeaway on historical famine dynamics:
  • Famine is rarely purely natural; social, political, economic, religious, and military factors interact with climate to produce famine outcomes.
  • The relationship between famine and plague, military vulnerability, and political legitimacy creates a feedback loop that reshapes societies over long timescales.

Key methodological themes: evidence, dating, and interpretation

• Multi-source corroboration:
  • Textual records (e.g., inscriptions, chronicles), archaeological evidence (slavery contracts, bone analysis), and environmental data (tree rings) are used in tandem to reconstruct famine events.
• Dating famine episodes:
  • Famine-related tablets and inscriptions often include date windows or reign periods (e.g., pharaohs’ reigns, priestly cycles) which, when dated, align with tree-ring data to confirm drought years.
• The value of non-literary signatures:
  • Footprint signatures on clay tablets provide a tangible link to illiterate signatories and early forms of contract during famine periods, enabling dating and cultural context.
• The role of myth and narrative in scientific interpretation:
  • Myths connecting famine with divine intervention, human sacrifice, or heroic deeds (e.g., Hercules and the end of child sacrifice) illustrate how societies narrate famine to make sense of hardship; these narratives can guide or constrain interpretation of purely material data.

Connections to broader themes in the course

• Interconnectivity of disasters:
  • Famine is linked to plague years, drought, flood, and war, with political disunity often both a cause and a consequence of famine.
• Technological advances and famine risk:
  • The transition to new technologies (wheel, plow, domesticated animals) initially coincides with higher famine risk, implying that innovation can yield both benefits and challenges for food security in the short term.
• Human responses to famine:
  • Slavery (in its multiple forms), public grain distributions, religious appeals, and strategic political maneuvers (citizenship law changes) are all strategies societies use to cope with famine pressure.
• Ethical and practical implications:
  • The lecture highlights difficult ethical questions around famine, including cannibalism in extreme cases, coercive state actions (blockades, sieges), and the moral responsibilities of rulers during food crises.
• Practical relevance for exam preparation:
  • Expect questions about distinguishing famine causes (natural vs. human-induced factors), identifying types of evidence (inscriptions, tablets, tree rings, skeletal data), and explaining how famine interacts with plague, war, and political change.

Consolidated takeaways for study

• Famine is a recurring, multifaceted phenomenon tied to climate, agriculture, economy, politics, religion, and warfare.
• Evidence for famine comes from a combination of textual sources, archaeological artifacts, and environmental proxies; these sources can be cross-validated (e.g., tree rings with famine tablets).
• Slavery in antiquity is diverse: chattel, debt, and famine-related slavery each have distinct mechanisms, implications for citizenship, and dating value for famine years.
• The ancient world linked famine to divine and political legitimacy; relief efforts often involved temples, oracles, and laws designed to stabilize populations during crises.
• Large-scale famines in classical and medieval Europe frequently precede or accompany military setbacks and imperial collapse, illustrating the power of food security to shape history.
• The modern Irish famine provides a critical comparison point for understanding chronic vulnerabilities (monoculture, landholding structures) and the social responses to famine.

Quick glossary of key terms mentioned

• Nexum: ancient Roman debt contract, often connected to debt slavery concepts.
• Footprint tablets: clay tablets bearing imprinted footprints used as signatures by illiterate signatories.
• Canum: Egyptian god associated with the source of the Nile; the temple at Aswan invoked for drought relief.
• Imhotep: architect of the first pyramids, invoked in famine relief narratives.
• Yamnaya culture: Bronze Age steppe culture associated with dairy-based mobility and spread into Eurasia.
• Beaker culture: later European culture with related dietary and mobility patterns.
• Cannibalism: reported in famine narratives as a grim consequence of severe food shortages; used in myth and history to illustrate desperation.
• Sitton/siton: inscriptions describing grain distribution or famine relief to cities.
• Nexum and debt slavery: contract types used to describe debt-related servitude in ancient economies.
• Athenian citizenship laws (Pericles): reforms impacting grain distribution during famine crises.
• Great European famine: downturn during the Little Ice Age with political and military consequences.