ANNONA (from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. annul,

See also:

• YEAR

year)  , in Roman mythology, the personification of the produce of the year . She is represented in works of art, often together with Ceres, with a cornucopia (horn of plenty) in her arm, and a ship's prow in the back-ground, indicating the transport of grain over the sea . She frequently occurs on coins of the empire, standing between a modius (corn-rheasure) and the prow of a galley, with ears of corn in one hand and a cornucopia in the other; sometimes she holds a rudder or an anchor . The Latin word itself has various meanings: (1) the produce of the year's harvest; (2) all means of subsistence, especially grain stored in the public granaries for provisioning the city; (3) the market-price of commodities, especially corn; (4) a direct tax in kind, levied in republican times in several provinces, chiefly employed in imperial times for distribution amongst officials and the support of the soldiery . In order to ensure a supply of corn sufficient to enable it to be sold at a very low price, it was procured in large, quantities from Umbria, Etruria and Sicily . Almost down to the times of the empire, the care of the corn-supply formed part of the aedile's duties, although in 440 B.C . (if the statement in Livy iv . 12, 13 is correct, which is doubtful) the senate appointed a special officer, called praefectus annonae, with greatly extended powers . As a consequence of the second Punic War, Roman agriculture was at a standstill; accordingly, recourse was had to Sicily and Sardinia (the first two Roman provinces) in order to keep up the supply of corn; a tax of one-tenth was imposed on it, and its export to any country except Italy forbidden . The price at which the corn was sold was always moderate; the corn law of Gracchus (123 B.C.) made it absurdly low, and Clodius (58 B.C.) bestowed it gratuitously . The number of the recipients of this free gift grew so enormously, that both Caesar and Augustus were obliged to reduce it . From the time of Augustus to the end of the empire the number of those who were entitled to receive a monthly allowance of corn on presenting a ticket was 200,000 .

In the 3rd

century, bread formed the dole . A praefectus annonae was appointed by Augustus to superintend the corn-supply; he was assisted by a large staff in Rome and the provinces, and had jurisdiction in all matters conrected with the corn-market . The office lasted till the latest times of the empire .