On the lexical diversity of grain supply systems in the Roman East

Urban grain supply was a major concern for the Greek cities of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as for most pre-industrial societies. Trade and benefactors no doubt played a crucial role in making the food markets more fluid, but civic systems and distribution schemes were also pervasive and were often responsible for the most regular interventions. Yet, grain-related offices and supply schemes display a considerable lexical variability which could hardly be explained a priori. On the basis of a comparison between epigraphical and literary sources, this paper thus aims at emphasizing the different patterns explaining their terminology, focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean. It reveals, inter alia, that such variability results to a significant extent from the intense institutionalization of the grain supply.

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