Mago (, ) was a
Carthaginian writer, author of an
agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
manual in
Punic
The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...
which was a record of the farming knowledge of Carthage. The Punic text has been lost, but some fragments of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
translations survive.
Work
Mago's long work was divided into 28 books. It incorporated local
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
and
Punic
The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...
traditional practices. Carthage being the granary of the central Mediterranean, knowledge of agricultural and veterinary practices was extensive. It began with general advice which is thus summarized by
Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...
:
After Rome's destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, the Carthaginian libraries were given to the kings of
Numidia
Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...
. Uniquely, Mago's book was retrieved and brought to Rome. It was adapted into Greek by
Cassius Dionysius and translated in full into Latin by
D. Junius Silanus, the latter at the expense of the
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...
. The Greek translation was later abridged by
Diophanes of Nicaea, whose version was divided into six books.
Extracts from these translations survive in quotations by Roman writers on agriculture, including
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...
,
Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...
,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
, and
Gargilius Martialis. This is a partial list of surviving fragments:
*If buying a farm, sell your town house.
*The most productive vineyards face north.
*How to plant vines.
*How to prune vines.
*How to plant olives.
*How to plant fruit trees.
*How to harvest marsh plants.
*Preparing various grains and pulses for grinding.
*How to select bullocks.
*Notes on the health of cattle.
*Mules sometimes foal in Africa. Mules and mares foal in the twelfth month after conception.
*Notes on farmyard animals.
*Getting bees from the carcass of a bullock or ox.
*The beekeeper should not kill drones.
*How to preserve pomegranates.
*How to make the best ''
passum
''Passum'' was a raisin wine (wine from semi-dried grapes) apparently developed in ancient Carthage (in now modern Tunisia) and transmitted from there to Italy, where it was popular in the Roman Empire. The earliest surviving instruction constitu ...
'' (raisin wine).
[Columella, ''De Agricultura'' 12.39.1.]
See also
*
Phoenicians and wine
The culture of the ancient Phoenicians was one of the first to have had a significant effect on the history of wine. Phoenicia was a civilization centered in current day Lebanon. Between 1550 BC and 300 BC, the Phoenicians developed a Thalassocrac ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
Information on Mago with translation of selected fragments
{{Authority control
Geoponici
Punic-language writers
Carthaginians