Military Provisioning in the Sixth-Century Balkans

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It is often argued that the Balkan agricultural economy failed to recover from the impact of the late fourth- to fifth-century Goth and Hun raids, and that the eastern Roman government was thus compelled to supply these war-torn regions from without in the sixth century. This paper argues, conversely, that the Balkan provinces were largely self-sufficient in cereals and meat, and that only the northern provinces required imports of wine and olive oil, goods not produced in that region. Much of this argument is based on recent palynological, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence from the region. Imperial decrees concerning military supply, meanwhile, exaggerated the terrible plight of peasant farmers in their attempt to wrestle control of land and food supplies from landholding elites, many of whom were military officials. At the same time, legislation concerning coemptiones (compulsory purchases) was designed to ensure that soldiers, especially field troops, were not left at the mercy of the market when procuring supplies and were instead supplied in kind via official middlemen who purchased goods at market rates on their behalf. By contrast, limitanei and federate troops nearer the frontier had more stable relationships with local socio-economic systems and were thus paid more regularly in gold coin.