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The Olive Boom. Oil Surpluses, Wealth and Power in Roman Tripolitania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

D. J. Mattingly
D. J. Mattingly*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford
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Abstract

This paper is a sequel to an earlier study of the archaeological evidence for olive oil production in Roman Tripolitania, and combines archaeological information on olive presses with the evidence for trade in Tripolitanian oil, as manifested by the identification of Tripolitanian containers (amphorae). Attention is drawn, in particular, to the apparent correspondence between conclusions made in respect of the settlement data and of the socio-economic significance of stamps on Tripolitanian amphorae. Both sets of data support the view that the urban elite of the region, and in particular that of Lepcis Magna, had control of a very considerable quantity of surplus oil production and that this constituted a major source of individual prosperity, in part manifested by the extravagant donations of public buildings. The notable wealth of the Lepcitanian aristocracy enabled increasing numbers from amongst it to participate at a high level in the central government of the Roman Empire as senators or equestrians. The culmination of this process was the elevation of Septimius Severus as the first African Emperor in AD 193. His reign brought clear short term advantages to his home town, but after his death and the assassination of both his sons by AD 217, the fortunes of the town changed for the worst. Under Severus the town had offered the Roman State a voluntary ‘tax’ in olive oil and this together with the absorption of much land into Imperial estates must have taken a significant amount of agricultural surplus out of local control. In an Appendix, some comments are made on the problems of attempting to quantify the scale of oil production, and some broad estimates are suggested.

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Libyan Studies , Volume 19 , 1988 , pp. 21 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1988

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