Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
seat of evil spirits and death. By the way, the modern term desert has common roots
with
deshret
. Later on, but still in ancient Egypt, the soils were classifi ed according
to their quality, and they had commercial values. The cost of the best of them,
nem-
hura
soils, was three times more than
shata-teni
soils. There are no known indica-
tions about soil quality in Mesopotamian culture except for the differentiation
between soils suffering from strong salinization with a distinct decrease of harvests
and slightly saline soils where the harvests were not yet infl uenced by salinization.
In the fourth century BC, the Greek historian and philosopher Xenophon wrote
about the system of two soils in his treatise
Oikonomikos
(more familiar under the
title
Oeconomicus
) where he devoted a component to agriculture. Translated in our
recent language of soil science, we speak about his two fallow-fi eld systems. One
fi eld is used agronomically, and the next fi eld is land lying fallow. After 2 years the
fallow is plowed and seeded while the fi rst fi eld is left fallowed. The two-year period
was not strictly kept: it was frequently exceeded. The famous Roman politician,
orator, and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero considered the Xenophon's
Oeconomicus
three centuries later so important that he translated it into Latin. One century earlier
the fi rst great Latin prose writer Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder) wrote a topic
about agriculture having the title
De Agri Cultura
. The topic is wise but also amus-
ing. In the fi rst chapter that deals with establishing and equipping a farm, he wrote
that the price of land depends upon the quality of soils. He recognized 21 classes of
soils mainly according to fi tness of each of them for the highest harvest of a certain
plant and ultimately of a small group of plants. In practical parts of the topic, he
recommends the best time for performing a certain activity on specifi ed types of
soil. As, for example, he recommends the best time for tillage. In the spring after a
wet winter, the farmer should start plowing sandy soils fi rst and, then later on, con-
tinue to plow the remaining soils. Cato is an important author for us soil scientists
owing to his perceptive observations of nature followed by his practical recommen-
dations in farming. When his famous phrase
Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem
esse delendam
(English: “Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed”)
was fi nally realized and the Romans razed the city of Carthago in the third Punic
War (149-146 BC), the fertile soils of Carthago's land and colonies partly compen-
sated the Roman soils already attacked and even destroyed in some regions by water
erosion, again according to Cato writings. Hence, we appreciate and know that
Cato's famous sentence as he used it at the end of each of his speeches had some-
thing in common with soil, too.
Following orators' tradition we should repeat a slightly modifi ed sentence
Ceterum autem censemus
,
solum providerum esse
(Furthermore we consider that
we must take care of the soil). There was a substantial difference between classical
Greeks and classical Romans. Compared to Greeks who pursued arts and philoso-
phy, the Romans commonly devoted most of their time to practical aspects of life
and ensuing activities. Hence, we fi nd unique essays and topics about agriculture
and the importance of soils written in Latin. One century after the writings of Cato,
another Roman writer and politician, Marcus Terentius Varro, presented the treatise
De Re Rustica
(About Agriculture). He was fi rst engaged in political activities, e.g.,
he was the member of the commission of 20 that carried out the great agrarian
