For all the grain of ... Africa

The Roman Empire depended on Africa for its supply of grain. When there was trouble in Africa, the price of bread went up. Whoever held the African game token, always held the threat of a power play. And when the empire began to really fall apart in the late 4th and early 5th century, things really went into panic mode when the African provinces went to war. Africa was the breadbasket of the empire.

 This comes up again and again in Gibbon's history. I shake my head every time. What? Really? You can't grow wheat in Italy? This seems completely counter-intuitive. I thought you could grow wheat almost anywhere.

 Well, during the African war, about 400, in the days of the Roman General Stilicho, they hit on a brilliant solution to replace the grain from Africa: import it from Gaul. Float it down the Rhone to the Mediterranean, then down the coast to the Tyber. Which, of course, will work only until there's trouble in Gaul. And it seems you never have to wait long for that.