Regular reader Cyril Morong sent me a link to a PBS special on Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Unfortunately, I need to pay a membership fee to get access, but the good news is that Cyril sent me excerpts from the transcript.
Here they are:
Narration
In the Berlin Museum, fragile scraps of 2000-year-old papyrus give a glimpse of the political control Cleopatra wielded during her reign.Dr. Dorothy Thompson –
This dates from 50 B.C, it’s from within a year and a half of her coming to the throne, and it says at the top the queen – Basiliais, that’s Cleopatra made this Royal order – prostaxsantone.Dr. Dorothy Thompson –
Cleopatra is concerned that the people of the capital city should have enough to eat.Narration
An astute leader, Cleopatra made the proclamation when Egypt was under severe threat of famine. She was well aware that hunger could lead to dangerous unrest.Dr. Dorothy Thompson –
She’s making a decree saying that no one who purchases corn may take it either to the north or to the south, everybody must bring it to the capital city….and anyone who disobeys this is to be punished by death.Narration
This is Cleopatra far removed from the Hollywood glitz and glamour.Dr. Dorothy Thompson –
This is a real politician, somebody who’s aware of problems and prepared to do something about them.Dr. Dorothy Thompson –
This isn’t Cleopatra the seductress, this is Cleopatra the working queen.
It is true that Cleopatra was aware of problems and was prepared to do something about them. She was worried that hunger could lead to dangerous unrest. Where would it be most dangerous to her? In the capital, of course.
So by banning trade with the north or south, she kept more corn than otherwise in the capital. It may have helped solve her political problem, but at the expense of causing further starvation in the north and south.
READER COMMENTS
Miguel Madeira
May 6 2018 at 9:46pm
This is a minor point, but… corn in ancient Egypt?
Robert
May 6 2018 at 9:48pm
Did the north and south need grain at this time? The delta region where the capitol lay was surely the most fertile region, but it was also the most heavily populated.
Serious question.
@Miguel “Corn” is a generic term for grain crops. Maize is the specific term for what’s known in the Americas as corn.
robc
May 6 2018 at 10:30pm
Other Robert is right about “corn”. Also, the English Corn Laws werent about Maize. Although it is possible that it was in the mix, but I am not sure if much at all was being grown in Europe at that time.
Mark Z
May 6 2018 at 10:32pm
Robert,
I would surmise that, inasmuch as the delta region was the more heavily populated, it would also have more demand for corn. If the famine wasn’t as bad in the north or south, ‘naturally’ those regions would become net exporters of food to the delta region. It is highly unlikely that food would flow from the region that needs it most to the one that needs it least, as the latter would be able to make good money selling to the former instead of selling intra-regionally.
RPLong
May 7 2018 at 2:53pm
Not to dodge Robert’s question, but in my view it doesn’t exactly matter which region needed more grain at the time. The reduction in the level of trade between regions caused all of these regions to consume below their free trade levels of consumption of all goods. Perhaps one region consumed less corn, while another consumed fewer dates, while another consumed fewer farming tool with which to produce a bumper crop of corn. But, assuming typical economic conditions, all regions affected by the trade restrictions would have been made tangibly poorer, and thus the famine would have been worse for them.
Robert
May 7 2018 at 9:04pm
Thanks Mark Z and RPLong.
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